Creflo Dollar - How To Never Be Hurt Again - Part 2
I like the last part of Luke chapter 10, verse 19. Let's look at that, Luke chapter 10, verse 19. If you're always going around expecting to be hurt, and so even your decisions are governed by your fear of being hurt again, look at what it says here. This is so good. I just didn't even recognize until recently, he says, "Behold, I give unto you power," or authority, to tread over all of the, "to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all of the ability, power of the enemy:" but here's the part, "and nothing shall by any means hurt you". I grab hold of that. Nothing shall by any means hurt me. So, I don't have to be afraid of making a decision to protect my future. I don't have to be going around making decisions to protect my feelings, because nothing will by any means hurt you. Say this out loud: "Nothing, nothing, nothing shall by any means hurt me".
And he told you why at the beginning: because you have authority over hurt. You have authority over the mastery of the enemy. You have authority over demons, serpents, and scorpions. You know, that's demonic powers We kind of don't pay attention to that, he's talking about demonic forces that are doing everything they can to hurt you. That's what their job is. They come up with strategy to try to cause you hurt and try to cause you pain. Because every demon in the demon world knows that he can defeat a Christian who fails to use their authority and believe that nothing shall by any means hurt you. And you're looking at too many horror movies and thinking about demons coming out your wall, and all that thing, and all that, hiding under your bed and all that kind of stuff. And those demons aren't doing that. They're trying to get you to locate the area of your pain and hurt, so they can pour salt in that wound, and which they don't believe in demons.
"He talking about demons. I don't believe in demons". Look in the mirror. When you start acting crazy, look in the mirror. That hurtful thought, one of the most powerful weapons that come from demon powers is suggestion. Guess who continues to pull you back to the past? Demons work overtime to try to get you to think all the time about the pain and the hurt of your past, to create a fear to try to paralyze you. We can become people that cannot be defeated because real destruction in our lives is not going to come from the outside. Real destruction in our lives is going to come from the inside. And same thing with success. Real success is not gonna come from the outside. Real success is gonna come from the inside. You've gotta get this. You can't fall in the form and the formulas of the world, and that's what a lot of Christians are doing. You're trying to use their formulas to try to get real success. You know, if you're successful on the inside, that's going to flow out of you and it materialize on the outside. But if you are a failure on the inside, that's gonna come out of you and materialize on the outside.
Real destruction in your life is not destroyed because of what's happening on the outside. Your life is being destroyed because of what you are allowing to happen on the inside. How long have you been carrying that hurt? Your life is being destroyed because of what you won't deal with on the inside. How long have you been carrying that pain? Seventy-five years old, and you're still carrying a 40-year-old pain and hurt, and you're wondering why you're taking all the medications and stuff you're taking. Because you're being destroyed not on the outside. You're being destroyed on the inside. So, how can we get to the point where we're never hurt again? Well, there's a right way to get to that point, and then there's a wrong way to get to that point. I always like to start with the wrong way. It amplifies when we talk about the right way. There's a wrong way to try to get to that point where you're never hurt again. It's a right way. The wrong way, let me number these so you can keep up with them.
Number one, the first wrong way to handle hurt. Now, our natural response to avoid being hurt is to do the hurting first. I'm gonna hurt you before you hurt me. Some people get on the offensive, and they do the hurting first. And listen, that is a worldly way of dealing with it. That's the world's solution: hurt first. That's not God's solution. See, the problem with that, with taking the first punch, if you're a Christian, is you're going to reap what you sow. So, it's inevitable. If you take the first punch and say, "I'm gonna hurt you before you hurt me," then you set yourself up to receive a harvest of hurt, you. It comes back to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. In a sense, you've activated a law. That's not advisable. So, don't deal with hurt by saying, "I'm gonna hurt everybody before they can hurt me. As soon as I can see the signals of hurt, I'm gonna do something that hurts you first". That's the wrong way to handle that.
Number two, we harden our hearts. "Well, this is how I'm gonna deal with hurt. I'm just gonna harden my heart. I'm not gonna let anybody in. I'm just gonna harden my heart. I'm just gonna just be a hermit and so I won't get hurt". The problem with having a hard heart is that once it gets hard, you can't hear from God. You can't have meaningful relationships when your heart is hardened. You become a prisoner to your own pain. You spent time hardening your heart against everybody. That's certainly not a way to deal with hurt.
What is this, number three? This is really important, number three. We pretend we are really not hurt. So, here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna pretend that when I am hurt, that I'm not really hurt. In other words, you will perfect phoniness in pretending that you're not really hurt. And the problem with that is if you keep walking around pretending that you're not hurt, when you really are hurt, then the abuse is going to increase. And say, for example, you're in a marriage, and words are spoken, and you pretend like those words don't hurt you. Well, they're going to continue. They're going to continue going on 'cause you're trying to pretend that that didn't hurt you. If a wife has been hurt by something her husband said or did, she acts as if it didn't bother her, and she goes around saying, "I'm gonna be tough". And the problem with that is that if a man thinks that he can get away with something or that it doesn't bother your wife, then he can continue to do it, and this invites more mistreatment and more insensitivity on the part of the husband because, you know, he doesn't know that that particular thing bothers you. So, that's not a good way to handle hurt.
Number four, we decide, "Well, hurt is painful. I don't want it. Here's how I'm gonna deal with it. I'm gonna decide not to trust anymore. I'm just not gonna trust anybody anymore". Now, this is a path that I took at one time. I just thought, you know, after my first experience with church, I just assumed that, everybody got saved. We're all saved. We all love each other, and this is gonna be like the coolest calling in the world. Everybody's gonna love each other. We're gonna be love, love, love, you know, kumbaya experience, and it was not like that at all. I think I told you this testimony. My first few years in church, I went outside in my garage and sat on a green bucket and negotiated with God. "How do I die? How do I get out of this, this whole situation? This is terrible". So, my solution was I just, I'm not gonna trust anybody.
And when I married Taffi, she said, "Be careful, don't create an atmosphere of distrust". Well, I'd already created that atmosphere of distrust. I was just waiting for the next betrayal. I was just waiting for the next, "We love you, we thank God for you". And ooh, watch your mouth. I almost got emotional. I was just amazed at how things were. But you know what happened to me? Because of my decision to try to handle it with just I'm not gonna trust anybody, I became a cynic. I became cynical about everything and pushed away relationships that could have been beneficial, relationships that could have been a blessing, and that's not the right way to handle it. When you refuse to trust again, it causes you to become cynical and suspicious of everyone that's ever involved in your life, even those that could do you good, even those that could be a blessing to you. And so, I need to make sure I clarify something. I'm not saying to put all of your trust in people. That's not what I'm saying. Hear me well now. But to close your heart off and to say, "I'm never trusting anyone ever again" may cut you off from godly friends that can be a blessing to your life.
So, these are wrong responses to being hurt, and you don't deal with them this way. It's just, it's not the right way to do it. Take it from me personally, it's not the right way to do it. Thank God, I was able to deal with it, and I recognize, well, if there's something about an individual, I trust God. He'll let me know. And he can. You can do the same thing. You can meet people. You know, some of you single people, you go out on a first date, and you meet this dude. There'll be signals he didn't even mean to display. God'll let you know. Nah, this ain't the one, this ain't the one. "Well, you gonna call me"? Uh, I'm gonna call the Lord first, and then we'll talk about whether or not we gonna call you, okay? That's so, so very important. Now, let's look at some steps of how to walk out of this, because this is big time. All right, how do I step into the freedom from hurt? How do I step into the freedom from hurt? Look at Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 16. This is so good.
Number one, take up the shield of faith. Now, for some, that sounds so spiritual. You're telling me that taking up the shield of faith is a way that I can walk out of hurt? Yeah, if you understand what the shield of faith is all about. Most Christians don't. Most Christians are just caught up with the picture of, you know, the armor that goes on somebody, and you're not understanding what the shield of faith is. The Bible says in verse 16, "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one". A shield of faith where you can quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. We're talking about words. My shield of faith is, watch this, I won't be hurt. That's my shield of faith. I put that shield of faith up, and then the darts come in that are a bunch of words of hurt. You have to establish a shield of faith. "I will not be hurt". So, if the shield is what God says about us, and that's what the shield is. The shield is what God says about us. Then when we listen to what other people say about us, we are putting our shield down.
See, the shield is what God says about me. I put it up. But I start listening to what other people say about me, then I put the shield down. It causes me pain because I didn't have my shield up. I put what God said about me down, and I received what other people said about me up. When we put more value on other people's opinions, then we put the shield down instead of putting the shield up. If you take what God says about you and keep it up, then when those other people opinion show up, it's not gonna bother you because you already have the shield of faith up, and that shield has allowed you to receive all those doubts. They say what they want to say, but you've already said what God wanted you to say. As soon as we make what they said more important than what God says, we have lowered our shield of faith. And unfortunately, in the lives of a bunch of Christians, we put down what God says about us or don't understand what God says about us, and we start taking everything else, and it gets to us, because we no longer have our shield of faith up. And as a result, whatever they tell us becomes our shield, and what they said isn't enough to protect us.
What's God say about you? Don't forget about what he said about you. That is your shield of faith. That's why it's so important to get in the word. That's why it's so important to get in a church that preaches the Word of God. You, that's your shield of faith. You've got to know what you have in your armor. You've got to know what you have in your arsenal. You have a shield of faith. And especially the day and the time of social media, it's not just sin. You've got to know what the Bible says about you. And that's what you hold up in front of everything. The world tells you you're broke. No, my God shall supply. That's my shield of faith. I put my shield up. Sometimes you see the darts coming; but before they reach you, make sure you stick the shield up and say, "You can't touch this". That's your shield of faith.
Number two, the second way to step into the freedom of hurt. Don't wait for an inspirational moment to give inspirational forgiveness. If you've been hurt by someone, forgive them as an act of faith. Don't go through all this drama of, "Oh, well, I've got to get with them, and then it's gotta be the right time". I ain't got to do none of that. If I don't never see you again, between me and God, I am not gonna wait for an inspirational forgiveness to bubble up in me. I set my will to forgive. I set my will to forgive. And every day of your life, you decide, "I set my will to forgive". Because if I don't set my will to forgive, that unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping somebody else will die. I'm not gonna wait 'til I'm inspired to forgive. You don't forgive them because you feel like it. You forgive them because you've made a decision to forgive. Forgiveness is a decision. It is not a feeling. It is a decision. And you can decide every day, "I set my will to forgive anybody for anything, no matter what it is".
Somebody said that's bold. No, that's healthy. That's healthy. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna, sometimes we thought, "If they just apologize, or if they just give me an explanation, then I'll forgive them". Don't hold your breath. We say, "If they change, then I'll forgive them". See, if you can only forgive them when they've changed, then you didn't forgive. You fore-sold. What does that mean? It means you sold your forgiveness to them. You didn't give it to them. There's a difference between giving and selling. Giving means you don't have to pay anything for me to forgive you. Selling means you have to change, and then you can buy my forgiveness. Forgiveness is not for sale. Forgiveness is for free. A little lazy clap, just keep it. God didn't forgive you when you changed. Think about that. When most of us was sinners, like we would inhale, didn't have no God on our side, acting like a fool, trying to be cool. God forgave us without any change, wow.
Boy, I tell you, that grace makes you think about stuff. I don't require you to change before I forgive you. I have already forgiven you. Now, you might find out later on that, baby, I forgave you a long time ago. But there's still some people, you know, you change, here's what happened. God forgave us before we changed. And guess what happened? You changed after he forgave you. That's the thing that brought me to the Lord, when I realized God is willing to forgive a fool like me? All the stupid, foolish, crazy, hurtful, painful things, he forgave me? Shoot, man, I'm ready to change. Anybody that'll forgive me of that much, my God, I thought about the forgiveness, you know, when God tells us to forgive, somebody, it's compared to, like, a penny. God says forgive somebody, it's like a penny, all right?
So, in compared to what he did. Think about what he did. He forgave every human being that ever came on the planet, and it's compared to, I mean 50 dollar amount you can't say. And then he's asking you to forgive, and it's a penny. He forgave all of us. Y'all remember how dirty, how much of a dirty dog you used to be? Your nasty self, you remember your nasty, dirty dog. You remember that? Nasty, lying, dirty dog. And I know some of you, I know you're sitting up here, "Well, no, I've never done like that". You used to be a dirty dog with your thoughts, then. You might not have said it, but we know dirty was around somewhere. And Jesus took all your nasty and all your dirty dog stuff and forgave you. And now when he asks me to forgive you, it's like a penny. Yes, amen, he's worthy of that. Thank you, Lord, amen, amen.
So, if you need something, you've gotta understand this hurt that you're dealing with, you've gotta let it go. You don't need anybody to treat you a certain way in order to feel better because of what Jesus has done. It's when it doesn't matter anymore, it doesn't matter anymore what they do because your freedom comes from within. Doesn't matter what somebody does. Doesn't matter what somebody says. They can just continue to slander and it doesn't matter. Do you understand that no matter what people tell you, the great hope is still a reality? Jesus is coming back. I don't care how many people tell you he ain't coming back. I don't care how many people say they don't believe that. I don't care how many atheists that you bump into. Jesus, baby, he coming back. He coming back, and that's what motivates me to want to saved 'cause Jesus is coming back.
I know one day I'm gonna die. It's like you don't know that you gonna die one day, and you're hoping that what the world told you was true. It ain't. "Well, when you die, you just gonna fall asleep". Well, it's gonna be a hot sleep. 'Cause you know what happen at nighttime when it's hot in a room. It wake you up, don't you? Huh, I done forgot which one of my kids used to say, "the hot place, the hot place". Jesus coming back. Jesus is coming back. My great hope is, all right, let me put my checklist out here. There's some things I want to make sure I'm ready. I want to be ready to see him. I don't want to see him, knowing that I was supposed to do something, and I didn't do it. I want to see him. Everybody in here, you gonna die one day. There used to be people who used to be in here, and they ain't here no more. They're dead. They're graveyard dead. And Jesus, thank God, and most of the folks who were in there, they in heaven. They so glad that they believed. But for you and I, how much of this tomfoolery do you think the earth can take?