TD Jakes - Prayer Partners - Part 2
What drew me to the text is for Paul to say, "We know not," we don't even know what to pray for, we don't even know what to pray for. If I told you how many times I walked in the hospitals where people were on life support and I didn't know what to pray for. It's not that I wanted them to die, but I'm not sure that I wanted them to live hooked up to ventilators and respirators, and can't breathe, and I'm not sure that I wanted to wake them up to more Alzheimer's. And I'm not sure, that a baby whose heart and liver and lungs are born outside of its body, that I want it to wake up to more pain.
And we know not what to pray for, we don't know what to pray for about the marriage, we don't know what to pray for, you're single and you don't know whether to ask for a companion or not. You're scared to ask for a companion, because all your girlfriends got one and they trying to get rid of them, and you don't know whether you're better off by yourself or with somebody. Oh, come on, talk to me, I dare you to be real with me, I dare you to be real with me, I dare you. We know not. Maybe I'm better off by myself, maybe I could do it, but maybe I can do bad by myself, maybe I do better alone, and I don't know what to pray for, I don't know what to pray for. I'm telling my children what they ought to major in, but now the rules have changed and I'm not sure what I had in mind for them is right.
And I'm not sure that it is any of my business what they do in the first place because they have reached an age that they have the right to be wrong if they want to. We know not. This humility is exacerbated by the contradiction that it comes from an intellectual. The Apostle Paul is one of the most intellectual contributors to the New Testament, he is in part selected because he is an intellectual, he is absolutely brilliant. He speaks in a multiplicity of languages, so God can use him in various countries because he is bilingual. Concerning the law, he is zealous. He is a Hebrew of Hebrew, he is from the Tribe of Benjamin. He's a descendant of Saul the king, he has all kinds of power, his pedigree includes being a Pharisee. He is blameless regarding the law, he is respected by the most intellectual crowd.
You know how deep you are about who hangs around you. He is respected by the upper echelon of the intellectual influences of his society, he has been trained at the feet of Gamaliel, he is able to articulate the word of God in a multiplicity of languages. That means that the ships could not sail any place that Paul couldn't speak. Paul was bright, he was brilliant, he was profound, he was prolific. He is the primary contributor to the New Testament. Most of our theology of the New Testament church comes from the Pauline epistles, he is a major contributor of the New Testament, of which, Romans is the caveat of all of his literary wonders. And his splendiferous ability to articulate wisdom in coherent ways has given us much of the truth that we hold today.
How could Paul, as big as his head is, acquiesce to the statement, "We know not," when everything about Paul was what he knew? You must understand, the finite mind, the intellectual mind is deceitful, it has been so successful that it can create arrogance, the brilliancy of it. Can I take my time? I may have to do this in two parts to do it, but I don't wanna rush through it because I think it's important. The brilliancy of the human's mind is the jackal's speed, the human mind is the jackal's speed, it is the gorilla's strength, it is the leopard's leap, it is the lion's roar. Our defense in the jungle is the creativity and the brilliancy of the human mind. I do not have the teeth of the panther, I do not have the strength of the gorilla, I do not have the speed of the cheetah, But to compensate for all of that frailty, he gave me a brain that is brilliant and intellectual.
And if there's anything on yourself you are to feed, it is your mind, it is your mind, it is your mind. People can only enslave you if you don't feed your mind, that's why they don't want you to read, because the more you read and the more you feed your mind, the possibilities become amazing with feeding your mind. I run for my body, I read for my mind, I pray for my soul. Now, there's a workout plan for you, until every part of you has exercised, mind, body and soul. And you are no stronger than the way you think, the way you survive in the jungles of life is the brilliancy of your intellectual capacity to be able to articulate and enunciate plainly and succinctly your creative influence. It is not about how pretty your selfie is, it is not about how many followers you have, it's not about how many friends you got.
I wanna know, how deep do you think, how far down can you go, how deep is the well of your capacity toward brilliance? Not just degrees, because you can have degrees and still be stupid, I'm talking about intellect, I'm talking about intelligence, I'm talking about God gave you a bright mind to compensate for weak legs and short teeth and no roar. You roar with your mind. When I wrote the book, "Disruptive Thinking," I wrote it because it's all about how you think, it's all about how you think. It's not just about biceps and triceps and quads, it's about how you think. "As a man thinketh, so he is". It is with the mind that we serve the Lord. Lay your hands on your head and say, "Lord, touch my mind".
That's my weapon, that's my tool, that's my defense, that's my survival mechanism, that's how I operate, intelligence. Intelligence, it has created the wheel, it has crafted weapons, it has tamed horses, it has trained camels, I'm talking about the mind. It has created steam engines, come on, it has built stage coaches, it has melted metals, it has rose chariots, it has built automobiles, it has cured diseases, it has built homes, I'm talking about the mind. I'm talking about the mind, it has created aircraft, it has developed telephones, it has built homes, it has done amazing things, it has developed Morse Code, radios, televisions, it has done heart surgery, it has replaced organs, it has developed stem cells, it has harnessed energy, it has created spaceships, it has developed technology, it has created the metaverse, it has monitored algorithms, it has split atoms, and so much more, I'm talking about the mind.
I'm talking about the mind, I'm talking about the mind, I'm talking about what's in between your two ears, your intellect, your ability to reason, your ability to speak, it is powerful. Paul is an intellect. Look at your neighbor and say, "I am an intellect". I want you to respect me for my mind. You telling me how you feel about me, but until you respect my intellect? I'm gonna always feel disrespected. You can use nice words to describe me, but if you don't respect my thoughts, I will lose self-esteem. Respect the thoughts of your children, it's how you build confidence in them, by listening when they speak teaches them to have a respect for their own opinion. Your mind is everything, your mind is important, your mind is significant, don't let anything tear down your mind, don't let anybody destroy your mind.
I don't care what they call you, I don't care what they bring up, I don't care what they say about you, the devil is a lie, you are what you think you are. Oh God, oh. If I start talking to them, I'm gonna go off, glory to God, glory to God. Touch three people say, "Get it in your head, get it in your head, get it in your head". Paul is intellectual, Paul is powerful, Paul is brilliant, Paul respects cultures, Paul has written books, yet he limited intellect in one powerful, prolific statement that requires humility. Watch this. It is humbling for a brilliant man to say, "We know not". It's important that you know what you know, but it is more important that you know what you don't.
If you know what you know, but you don't know what you don't know, you're still gonna mess up, there has to be a humility to keep you from the arrogance of worshiping at the shrine of your own opinion. After all, intelligence is colored by your experience, whatever you experienced in life becomes your intelligence, whatever you read becomes your intelligence, you can only rise to the height of what you've been exposed to. If you haven't been exposed to certain things, you can't do certain things. If you haven't been exposed to sushi, you say, "I don't like sushi," when, in fact, it's a result of your exposure.
Come on, talk to me, somebody. If you haven't eaten Japanese food, you will get in a Japanese restaurant and ask for a fork because you haven't been exposed to it. It's not that you can't maneuver it, but if you haven't been exposed to it, we tend to avoid what we haven't been exposed to. So intelligence is limited to experience and exposure. That's why Paul said, "We see through a glass, darkly," because you can only see through the prism of your experiences, so, what you call intelligence may not be facts, it may be perspective.
Come on, come on, come on, come on with me, come on, come on, come on with me. Come on, I can't have a dumb church, I can't have a dumb church, I can't have a dumb church. If you're gonna belong in here, you got to come up, you got to come up. I can't just serve chitlins and collard greens and hot sauce, I know how to serve it and I know how to eat it, but I can do some caviar up in here too, and some filet mignon up in here too, because I'm that deep, I'm that kind of deep. I can go down, come on, let's go down, come on, we're going underwater, we're going underwater. Can you take the pressure? Who's with me? Holler at your boy.
There is no question that Paul, in spite of his intellect, is a prayer warrior, he has modeled prayer for us. Paul is so powerful that he has raised people from the dead. Paul was preaching his intellect, and a man fell asleep and fell out the window, and Paul walked down the steps and raised him from the dead, and came back upstairs and kept preaching. He has escaped prisons, he has survived stonings, he has endured shipwrecks, he has taught us to, "Pray without ceasing," he has taught us to, "Pray one for another". All of this is done through the intelligence of prayer, and yet, he says, "We know not". It is through this humility, this small nail hole, "We know not," these three small words open up a gateway to partnership.
You don't partner with people who are good at what you're good at, you don't partner with people to duplicate your success, you partner with people to accessorize your limitations. So until you know what you know, number one, and then, number two, know what you don't know, you can't choose a good friend, because you don't have the humility to understand where the void is. That's how I know you fit, because my down is your up, my out is your in, I'm an introvert, you're an extrovert. Come on, talk to me, somebody. I can make money but you know how to budget and you know how to manage money. You pick somebody who is good at what you don't know how to do, and that begins when you stop worrying about your ego and find your humility, because ego-driven people can never say, "We know not".
We know not, we know not. That's why you picked the wrong partners, that's why you're married to the wrong people, that's why you hired the wrong people, that's why you enter into the wrong relationships, because you think you know everything, when, in reality, all you know is based on all you saw, and all you saw is not all that there is.
So you think that the world is your world, and you can't understand the difference between your experience and what is available to you globally. The Holy Spirit breaks into Paul's moment at the point of his vulnerability, not at the point of his speech, not at the point of his intellect, not at the point of his power, but at the point where he says, "We know not". From that point on, the Holy Spirit has found a door. Oh God, I'm not gonna make it, I'm not gonna make it, y'all, I'm not gonna make it.
You see, see, God fills all space. If you create vacuums, God will fill it. That's why the Bible says that God formed man, phew, and then filled him. Whatever God forms, he fills, because God is not attracted to that which is full. He told the widow, "Bring me empty vessels, and bring me not a few," because God fills voids, and because you act like you don't have none, you don't get the anointing that you could get, because if you're already full, there's no space left for God to fill.
So, come on, somebody, come on, go with me, this is gonna have to be two weeks. He told Moses, "Build the tabernacle, and I'll fill it with furniture". Glory to God. Any time you create a void, God will fill it. He told the apostles to, "Go to the upper room, and go empty, and wait, And I will fill you with the Holy Ghost". You gotta be empty enough to say, "We know not". And because you sit in church with your legs crossed, trying to be important and impress everybody, you don't get the revival, you don't get the glory, you don't get the anointing, because you're so worried about your image you won't let go enough to say, "I'm empty, and I need something else from God, and something is lacking out of my life, and so I need to impress you".
And so you impress everybody, and you go home and groan, but the day you open up and say, God, "I'm empty," God said, "If you open your mouth, I'll fill it". "If you open your mouth, I'll come in, if you open your mouth, I'll flood you with glory, if you open your mouth, I'll fill you like you've never been filled before". Somebody lift your hands and open your mouth, and give God 30 seconds of praise.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, God wants to partner with you, God wants to partner with you, God wants to partner with you, God wants to come in like a flood, God wants to come in like a mighty rushing wind. God wants to come in and fill every empty place in your life, but you're so busy trying to act like you don't need nobody, not only have you lost companionship, you've lost fellowship with God. Stop being so strong and be weak for a minute, because God said his strength is made perfect in your weakness. That the way to go up is to go down. If you humble yourself, I'll exalt ya. "Cry aloud, spare not," ye inhabitants of Zion. For when Zion shall travail, sons and daughters shall be born. I wanna hear Zion, Zion travail. Zion, travail.
Zion, travail, don't hide it, don't bury it, don't cover it up, don't camouflage it. Open your mouth and God will fill you, open your mouth and God will exalt you, open your mouth and God will intercede. I can't hear you. "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he's yet near". God said, "I want you to seek me, I'm tired of looking for you, I want you to start looking for me". If there's anybody in here that's looking for God, holler right now.
See, that's what's wrong with you, when it comes to seeking God, you'll do it 30 seconds, you'll do it 45 seconds, but if it comes to seeking a man, you'll plot for a month and a half, when it comes to hunting for a woman, you'll get up early, you'll go to the gym, you'll work out like an animal. God said, "I'm jealous, I'm tired of you putting more energy into your false gods than you put into me. I want you to seek for me like you seek for your lover, I want you to seek for me like you're hunting for a job, I want you to look for me like to look for a house, I want you to put some effort to it". I'm gonna give you one more chance, open your mouth and shout out unto God.
Shout, shout til hell gets jealous, shout like you're tired of being empty, shout like you need a breakthrough, shout like you want a door opened, shout like you're tired of being empty, shout. You owe it to yourself to find out what would happen if you entered into partnership with God, the abundant life comes when you get the hook up. You're trying to do it by yourself so you can impress God, God don't need to be impressed, he needs submission. He needs you to confess, "I'm not as smart, I'm not sure, I don't know what to do, I need your help, I need your strength, I need your power". Oh, I gotta stop it. Touch three people and say, "I need it". I'm going through a stage in my life that I need it, I'm in pain and I need it, I'm in trouble and I need it, ah, I'm desperate and I need it. I don't care what I look like, I don't care what I got a on, I don't care what they say.