TD Jakes - The Lion's Lair
The leap is where we start our battle. Transitions are important. Nobody teaches you how to transition, how to be transitioned from being single to being married, from being a renter to being an owner, to go from being a taker to being a giver. There are no classes on how you leap from being an employee to an entrepreneur. People are trying to figure this out right now. It is clear by the gate's cage that every trainer knows that domestication isn't a natural phenomenon. Domestication is not a natural phenomenon for the lion, who's wild nature precludes him from ever being comfortable in the cage, yet even though his instincts are fully wild, he has to overcome the abusive background that has been his home. His instincts are for the wild, but he has to overcome the abusive background that has been his home.
Now, I know you don't think it's abusive, because you're not a lion. Because from the spectator's perspective, you go to watch the lion for entertainment, but your entertainment is his incarceration. And yet, if he has been raised in captivity, his background is so abusive, but it has become so natural that how do I get out of an abusive background when it has become my norm? You're living in a zoo, and somebody benefits from your captivity. Even if the only benefit is for the sake of what they call normal, they like to keep you in a certain little box, and we'll come watch you move around the box, and don't do anything different, and don't go anywhere else, and stay right here in this cage, and, all of a sudden, you start coming and hearing this old country preacher from West Virginia teaching about instincts, and you dare to believe that you can get out.
Touch your neighbor and say, "you can get out". Just because something is familiar doesn't mean that it's natural. I said just because it's familiar doesn't mean that it's natural. It doesn't mean that it's right. His instincts is to leap to freedom, but intelligence requires that he gradually make the transition. I wanna talk to people who are making transitions this morning. Anybody making transitions? Hold your head up, yeah. Tell your neighbor, "I'm in the middle of transition". The real question is, there is something between staying and leaping. There is something between working your job and quitting your job and starting a business with no money. There is something between being single for 40 years and jumping into a marriage.
This is about whatever your cage is. Everybody in here has a cage. It may be a spiritual cage, it may be a moral cage, it may be an emotional cage, but everybody in here has a cage. David says we were born in captivity. He says it this way, verbatim, "We were born in sin, shapened in iniquity". We were born in the box. What do I do when all of my experiences validate my incarceration, and yet my instincts keep nagging me in this cage, saying there's something out there for you? I go to the bars, "Grr," and I growl. I go back and look at it again, "Grr," and I back up again. I go to church, "Grr," Monday morning I'm, yeah, Monday morning I'm back in the cage again.
Let me hear that roar again. Let me hear that. That's what's roaring down inside of somebody sitting next to you right now. That is how a soul sounds when you want to escape the parameters of your situation. Let me hear it again. That's in that man sitting next to you. That's in that woman right behind you. That's in your sister to the left. That's what's going on in this choir stand back here. That's what's happening on the praise team. You may not see my lips moving, but my soul is saying... And I came to church this morning not just to sing, and dance, and shout, I want somebody to show me how to get from point A to point B.
Give me my second point. Am I helping anybody? The limp, the limp, you may leap over here, but you're gonna limp back. Transitions are important, and transitions are tough. It is not easy to go through the process without pain. Go to Genesis 32 for a minute, I want you to look at something. Genesis 32:27, "And he said unto him, 'What is thy name?'" Who are you? Have you ever wondered who you are? Are you the one in the cage, or are you the one in the wild? Are you Jacob, the trickster like your mama? You know, your mama was slick, Jacob. Are you slick like your mama, Jacob, or like your Uncle Laban? Are you slick like Laban? All of your kinfolks are sneaky, Jacob.
And here God asked you, "Who are you"? And he says, "My name is Jacob". He says, "I guess I am who they call me". Jacob means trickster. Just because somebody called you something, just because somebody said something about you, or did something to you, or took something from you doesn't mean that they get the right to define your destiny based on your history. Oh, this is good. And he said, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob". "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob". Whoo, it's gonna be hard. It's hard 'cause I feel something. I'm trying to teach, but I feel something. "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob". Say that with me, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob". Say it again, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob". Now, this time, when you say it, instead of saying Jacob, whatever label they put on you, say it that time. "Thy name shall be called no more..."
Now, let us be clear that when this is over, verse 30, "And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved". Verse 31, "And as he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon him". When you get past this, the sun is is going to rise upon you. The sun is going to rise upon you. When you get over this hurdle... I want you to understand that you will limp back. You will limp, you will limp back. The limp is not designed to cripple you, but the limp is designed to remind you how much freedom costs. The limp is the telltale sign that you didn't get here without struggle. You didn't get here without pain. And I will let you run with the rest of the lions, but when you run, you gonna be limping. And I meant for you to limp. This is not the devil, I meant for you to limp. I designed your limp to make you humble, to make you thankful, to make you grateful.
Are there any limpers in the house? Every time you wanna get puffed up, I want you to just remember what it cost you to get out of that cage. And when others are high-minded and self-righteous, I just want you to promise me that you'll lay on your face before me and thank me for delivering you out of your cage. I left your limp as a reminder that if it had not been for the Lord that was on your side, you would have been swallowed up. Oh, God, oh, God, I wish I had a limping servant in the house, somebody who limped their way into your blessings, and limped your way into owning your house, and limped your way into holding your family together, and limped your way into your promotion, and limped your way into business. You can't ever get high-minded, because you know that it was just yesterday you were stuck by in the cage.
My third point, and I'm almost finished, is learning. You're gonna learn your way. "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me". I have to learn how to hunt now. I have to learn. I'm used to being fed, now I gotta learn how to hunt. Do I chase? Do I bite? Do I roar and then jump? I don't know, I have to learn. And you know what? In order to learn the wild, I have to unlearn the cage. I'm telling you, listen, write this down, your captivity is a learned behavior. Your captivity is a learned behavior. If you learn how to make do in the cage, you can learn how to hunt in the wild. Good God of mercy. I am putting too much energy in supporting a system that I'm not gonna stay in. Did I say something this morning? Do you hear the words that are coming out of my mouth this morning? I have put too much energy into learning to survive in a system. I'm not staying in this stuff. Why am I acting like I'm gonna live over here when I'm called over there? If I'm gonna learn something, I'm gonna learn how to hunt in the wild rather than to eat in captivity.
Number four, I wanna tell you about the losing. Now, the losing will not excite you, but I must tell you about it anyway. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. There will be losses. Shed off that which cannot transform. Shed off everything that won't transform. Either you change, or I'm dropping you. Shed off those things that will not change, cut 'em off. The chicken cannot be hatched without shattering the outer encasement of the egg that held him. There is no nice way for the chicken to get out of the egg without cracking the egg shell, it's gotta go.
Somebody say, "It's gotta go". The seed must lose it's outer encasement to become a tree. Blind Bartimaeus had to shed his coat. The woman at the well had to drop her pots. We all must lose something to move ahead. The snake sheds his skin. The dog sheds his old coat. The worm sheds it's cocoon to access his new wings. Those who cannot handle loss are restricted from leading the way to new turf. If you don't want it bad enough to lose something, shut your mouth. If you're not willing to shake something off to come into a new place, then you don't want it bad enough.
There will be losses. There will be collateral damage. Chalk it up to a business expense. There will be losses. You cannot be innovative and be traditional at the same time. You have to forget those things which are behind, reach for those things which are before. Leave your coat, drop your water pot, come out your cocoon, crack your shell. It's gonna be worth it when you realize that the thing in front of you is greater than the thing that's behind you. "I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus".
I'm almost finished. Am I helping somebody? Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God. I want you to write down some habits, proclivities, and ways that you must drop for the place you're going. Some habits, proclivities, and ways you have to drop. What cocoon do you have to come out of? What shell do you have to crack? What water pots do you have to drop to take Jesus up on this offer? Blind Bartimaeus, what is your coat? Don't tell me that you're gonna come into a new opportunity without losing something. It simply doesn't happen. I want you to challenge yourself this year, this season, what you are willing to drop to get to the next level. If everybody had to drop something, if blind Bartimaeus had to drop his coat, the woman at the well had to drop her water pots, the silkworm had to drop his cocoon, if the outer encasement of the seed had to be shattered, if the chicken had to crack the shell, what are you willing to crack to find your wings?
And finally, the whole premise of my session today is the lair. The lair is the place, where the lion who was once lame, once wounded, once crippled like Jacob, once afraid, once intimidated, the lair is the place where the lion has learned how to live in the wild, and it is where the lion's nest, and lodge, and love, and make love, and procreate, and raise their children. The lion's lair is the place where wounded lions can now rest in the wild and raise their children and families. The lion's lair is the new normal. It is not just about getting in the wild, you did that, it is about being at home in the wild.
You get it? It is about resting in your future rather than wrestling with your fears. Help me, Lord. The Lord said you're in a new place, you have a new opportunity. You have a new land and you have a new language, but if you don't rest in it, you'll lose it. Have you ever been there but didn't feel there? Have you ever been in a new place, but you were so afraid of losing it that you couldn't enjoy it? This is the place where you don't feel at home in your new world, and you're so afraid of losing it that you can't rest in living it.
The lion's lair says not only am I out, and not only am I free, I have come to rest in who I am and not in who I was. This is mine. This is it. This is where I live, I'm there. The Lord said that when I ministered this particular segment, he said I want you to go to all of my children who are living in my promises but not resting in my promises. He said I see them in the blessing, but I sense how tense you are. You are in your wild, you have your lair, but you're pacing in it like I'm going to take it from you. And he said tell my children to rest in Me. Tell my children to be at ease in Zion. Tell my children that I do not like their fear. I have brought you to a new place, but I smell your old fear. Tell my children that the enemies that you see today, you shall see them no more.