Every Day a Friday: How to Be Happier 7 Days a Week (40 page)

A
few years ago, a well-known reporter referred to me as “the smiling preacher.” That story caught on and went all over the world. But some people use that term in a derogatory sense, as in, “Why does he smile so much? What’s wrong with him? He couldn’t be that happy.”

I was young and new to the ministry, and at first I thought,
Well, maybe I shouldn’t smile so much. People are making fun.
Then I realized I don’t have to hide God’s blessings. I don’t have to apologize because I smile all the time. I’m wearing my blessings well.

When you keep God in first place and do your best to honor Him, the Scripture says, “all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you” (Deuteronomy 28:2
NKJV
). That means you will come into happiness, increase, promotion, and good breaks, even some that you didn’t necessarily deserve. That’s God rewarding you for walking in His ways.

We see this principle in the Old Testament with Ruth. She was out in the fields following behind the workers and gathering up the leftover wheat they had missed.

One day the owner of the fields, Boaz, told those workers to leave handfuls of wheat on purpose for Ruth. Now Ruth didn’t have to struggle anymore. She didn’t have to work night and day. Ruth came into blessings that were simply dropped at her feet.

Every one of us can look back and see times where God has left us handfuls of blessings on purpose, something we didn’t deserve, we didn’t
have to struggle for, we didn’t even ask for it. We just stumbled into it. Now here is my challenge: Don’t apologize for God’s goodness. Don’t downplay what God has done in your life. Don’t make excuses because a friend might be jealous. Don’t try to hide God’s blessings because a co-worker might judge you and think it’s not fair.

One key to happiness is to wear your blessings well. You may not feel you deserved a blessing, but favor is not always fair. It’s just the goodness of God. The moment you start apologizing for what God has done and downplaying His goodness, God will find somebody else to favor.

I’m not saying you should show off and brag on what you have and how great you are. But you should brag on how great God is. We used to sing a song growing up called “Look What the Lord Has Done.” That’s the song to sing. All through the day, praise God’s goodness. When you’re bragging on God’s goodness, when you’re giving Him all the credit, you are wearing your blessings well.

David said in Psalm 118:23, “This was the L
ORD
’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (
NKJV
). That is a great attitude. Give Him credit for every good thing that happens: “This was the Lord’s doing.”

“You know what this beautiful building is? It’s the Lord’s doing.”

“My mother is still enjoying life thirty years after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. You know what that is? That’s the Lord’s doing. It’s marvelous in our eyes.”

If you always see the promotion, the good break, the healing, the new, and the opportunities coming your way as the Lord’s doing, you won’t have any problem wearing your blessings well.

I used to feel kind of guilty that God has given me such a great life. I’ve always been happy and blessed to have great parents and grandparents, a beautiful wife, and wonderful children. Again and again Victoria and I have seen these handfuls of blessing on purpose.

We’ve just been blessed, and it’s the Lord’s doing. But when I used to see people dealing with hardships and struggling to overcome, I tried to downplay how God has blessed me so they wouldn’t feel badly. But I’ve learned that doesn’t bring any honor to God. God wants us to be an exam
ple of His goodness. I don’t have to apologize if I get a handful of blessings on purpose and somebody else doesn’t.

You don’t have to hide your happiness, your peace, your victory, or your possessions. You don’t have to dress down and look poor and pitiful and depressed to show people you are humble. When you wear your blessings well, giving God all the credit, talking about His goodness, thanking Him for what He has done, that’s what really brings honor to our God.

If God has blessed you with financial success or helped you through a challenge in a relationship, a job, your health, or your finances, wear that blessing well. Tell everyone what God has done for you. If they make fun of you like they make fun of me and ask why you are so happy, just tell them, “I’m wearing my blessing well. God has been so good to me I can’t keep it to myself. I’ve got to tell somebody. I once was lost, but now I’m found. I should be dead, but I’m still alive. Look what the Lord has done.”

Some critics and doubters may tell you to calm down or chill out on the happiness stuff. Let that go in one ear and out the other. Keep wearing your blessings well, and over time, instead of them affecting you, you will infect them. You will help them come up higher.

When you dress your best, you’re wearing your blessings well. When you step up and take that promotion, you’re wearing your blessings well. When God opens the door and you move into that new house you’ve been believing for, others may be critical. But don’t allow those who are negative, jealous, judgmental, bitter, angry, and nonsmiling to bring you down.

If you want to please God and live in happiness, don’t drag around broke, defeated, or depressed. Wear your blessings well. Step up to a new level. Enjoy God’s favor. Be proud of who you are and of what God has done in your life.

The Scripture says, “Let the L
ORD
be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant” (Psalm 35:27
NKJV
).

I say this respectfully, but we have to fight the religious spirit that says we’re supposed to be poor, broke, and defeated to prove to everyone that we’re really humble. When we’re poor, broke, and defeated, all that proves is that we’re poor, broke, and defeated. Nobody will want what we have. I can be poor, broke, and defeated without serving God. We’re supposed to be examples of what it means to live for the Most High God.

We should be so blessed, so prosperous, so kind, so generous, so happy, and so peaceful that people will want what we have. If you think you’re showing God how holy you are and how humble you are by not wearing your blessings and not taking that promotion, your own thinking is what is keeping God from doing something new in your life.

You have to enlarge your vision. God owns it all. God’s blessing you in a greater way will not bankrupt heaven. God makes streets out of gold. If you want to bring a smile to God’s face, embrace an abundant-life mentality.

Victoria and I found these two acres we wanted to buy for a home some day. It was a great piece of property close in to the city. God has blessed us through our books and other avenues. We tithe our income and we give generously, but we also believe in making good investments. I was praying and debating whether we should buy this property. I thought,
You know what? We don’t really need two acres to live on. We’re fine where we are.

But deep down I wanted it. It was a desire of my heart, but I felt guilty, like it was more than we needed. Then one day I was on an airplane thirty-five thousand feet in the air. It was a clear, beautiful day. I was sitting by the window looking out toward the ground.

I heard God say something to me, not out loud, but just down inside me; an impression. He said,
You wonder if it’s okay to buy that property. What do you think those two acres look like to Me? What do you think it looks like from My point of view, from My perspective?

Well, from where I was, thirty-five thousand feet in the air, two acres looked like a little dot, just like you took your pen and touched the earth.
It was nothing. I felt God say,
I give you permission. It’s okay to have enough land the size of a pinhead from My viewpoint!

Sometimes, we think so small. We limit our possibilities and our potential. God owns it all. “The earth is the L
ORD
’s, and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1
KJV
). We have to enlarge our vision.

So often we think,
Is it wrong for me to want to live in a nice house? Is it wrong for me to want a bigger piece of property? Is it selfish for me to want to drive a nice car? Is it okay for me to want to bless my children and leave them an inheritance?

God says, “It’s okay. Wear your blessings well.” As long as you’re keeping God in first place and you’re not living selfishly and you’re not making material things your idols, then God wants to give you the desires of your heart. He takes pleasure in blessing His children.

A young man in our congregation came to me after he was promoted to a high position at a major retail company. He was the youngest ever to hold the job overseeing a large region. He was very excited. He knew it was God’s favor.

But he was promoted over co-workers who had been there much longer and were more experienced. They had been his friends, but he felt they were avoiding him since his promotion. He sensed that they were trying to make him look bad by talking about him behind his back.

“I know you’ve quoted Ephesians 3:20 in situations like this,” he said to me. “This is just what you’ve been talking about, but I feel guilty, like I’ve done something wrong.”

I told him what I’m telling you: That is the goodness of God. Wear it well. The Scripture tells us that promotion doesn’t come from people; promotion comes from the Lord (see Psalm 75:6–7).

If you don’t step up and wear that blessing well with a grateful attitude, do you know what will happen? God will give it to somebody else! Don’t worry if others are jealous or turn against you. I’ve learned some people
will be your friend until you get promoted. Co-workers may go to lunch with you as long as you’re at the same level, but the moment you see increase, the moment you come into a handful of blessings on purpose, jealousy takes hold and they try to make you look bad. Don’t worry about it. God will take care of your enemies. Be grateful for the goodness of God.

We see an example of this in the Scripture when Isaac was in the famine. There had been a great drought in the land for some time. It didn’t look like there was any end in sight. Isaac went out to his land and he planted crops, right in the middle of the famine. It didn’t make any sense, but somehow in that same year, without the proper amount of water, Isaac received one hundred times what he had sown because the Lord blessed him (see Genesis 26:12).

Notice where the blessing came from: almighty God. It was a handful of blessings on purpose; supernatural increase. But what’s interesting is when Isaac’s crops came up, when God blessed him, the people he was living around, the Philistines, his friends, all of a sudden became jealous of him.

They were fine as long as Isaac was hungry, too. As long as they were at the same level it was no big deal, but when he stepped up to a new level, when he began to wear his blessings well, the Scripture says, “the Philistines envied” Isaac (Genesis 26:14
NIV
)

If you worry constantly that not everyone likes you, you’ll have a long-term problem with being blessed because when you’re blessed, the haters come out. When you step up to a new level, the backbiters show up. When you wear that blessing well and you take one of those handfuls of blessing on purpose, don’t be surprised if it draws jealousy out of people.

When they come at you, simply say, in a humble way, “I’m wearing this blessing well, despite criticism and jealousy. If my friends aren’t happy for my blessings, then it’s time to find new friends who will celebrate with me as I celebrate with them.”

A friend of mine is pastor to a small church that meets in a high school auditorium. Every Sunday they have to move their equipment in and out. It’s a lot of work. His dream is to one day build his own auditorium.

When he visited us at Lakewood Church, I had some concerns about showing him around because it is so big. I didn’t want to seem like I was bragging and I didn’t want him to feel badly. I was tempted to downplay the size of our church, even to apologize for it.

Then I realized I would not be bragging on anything we’ve done. I’d be bragging on what God has done. I had to shake off that guilt and when we toured Lakewood, I said, “Here it is. Look what the Lord has done.”

Before he left I reminded him, “If God did it for us, He can do it for you as well!”

My parents sowed seeds for forty years before I ever took over the Lakewood ministry. I’m reaping the rewards of a generational blessing. My paternal grandmother made ten cents an hour washing clothes for other people during the Great Depression. She worked twelve hours a day and made $1.20. My father went to school with holes in his pants. He would put cardboard in the bottom of his shoes because the soles were so torn up.

My grandparents and parents made great sacrifices to get us where we are today. So I’m wearing my blessings well. People may criticize us. They may judge. They may find fault, but they don’t know what it took to get where we are today.

They weren’t there when the kids in our family would sweep out the old church and clean buildings. They weren’t there when my father traveled for weeks doing missionary work around the world while my mother took care of five children on her own. They weren’t there when my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer and we fought the good fight of faith. They weren’t there when my father went to be with the Lord and I stepped up to pastor the church practically scared to death.

Some people come in after the struggle and they see you as you are now: blessed, prosperous, healthy, sober, free, and happy. They want to judge you and criticize, but the problem is, they missed seeing the years of struggle. They didn’t see the sacrifices made. They didn’t see the battles fought—the times you felt like giving up but you kept pressing forward,
the nights you stayed up and prayed and believed and gave and served. They didn’t see the price that was paid to get you to where you are.