TD Jakes - The Power To Stop (02/04/2024)
When Joshua leads the Israelites across the Jordan at flood stage, God stops the downward-flowing river to grant them passage into the Promised Land, showing that He can break natural laws and deadly trajectories to bring His people from wilderness to abundance. Just as Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, symbolizing the end of the old life, God stops the flow of curses and provides a new way forward.
And when Joshua crosses the Jordan, it is at the peak of a season where the banks are overflowing. But don't let it be lost on you that the Jordan is coming down. In fact, some scholars teach us that the literal translation of the word Jordan means to come down. The text doesn't give us the topography. You have to do your own research to get the topography. But the water is coming down.
So if the water is coming down, the river is flowing downward. I was having a conversation with a girl who is a scientist, and I asked her what she thought about the rainforest in Brazil. She said before we talk about the rainforest in Brazil, we have to deal with the sub-Saharan desert in Africa because it is the dust storm in the sub-Saharan areas of Africa that creates the clouds that blow over to Brazil and cause the rain. Cause and effect.
The Downward Flow and Its Consequences
If there were no Mount Hermon, there wouldn't be a Jordan. If there wasn't a Sea of Galilee, there wouldn't be a Jordan. It starts up high with fresh water, but as it goes down, that's when it starts to get salty. It gets salty because it goes below sea level, and when fresh water gets contaminated below sea level, it becomes a dumping place for salt.
You remember that Lot's wife would have escaped Sodom and Gomorrah, but she had to look back one more time, and her judgment was to become a pillar of salt. They went forward, but she went down. The Jordan means to go down.
The Significance of the Jordan River
I want to spend some time on the Jordan River because it is very important for a whole lot of reasons. It is the Jordan River that is the deciding fault line between Jerusalem and what is now called Jordan. It is the Jordan River where Jesus is baptized. When He comes up out of the water, a voice speaks from heaven and says, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Why is it important that Jesus is baptized in the Jordan? Jesus has to be baptized in the Jordan because He brings us into the promise, just like Joshua had to go through the Jordan to bring the people into a land that flows with milk and honey.
The Fault Line Between Wilderness and Promise
The Jordan is the fault line. When I saw it, I was amazed because everything on this side of the Jordan is dry and parched and lifeless and sandy and desert. Everything on that side is plush and green and alive and vibrant with all types of life. A land that flows with milk and honey and a wilderness that is dry and parched are only separated by the Jordan.
What was water you could fish in, like the Sea of Galilee, has now ended up so salty because it kept going down. The reason you are dealing with people who are salty is because they keep going down. Throw your hands up and say, "Stop me from going down."
Asking God to Break the Downward Pull
Now you have asked God to break the gravitational pull that is part of the centrifugal force of a revolving earth, because it is the movement of the earth that creates gravity and a downward motion. You are asking God to break a law to stop you from going down. Say it again, "Stop me from going down."
I didn't come this far to go down. I didn't go through all the tests I have gone through to go down. I didn't survive all these years to go down. I didn't endure all the pain I have been through to go down. Whatever You have to do, stop me, Lord, from going down. Hallelujah to God.
God Has the Power to Stop the Flow
I feel something in this place because you wouldn't be here on a Wednesday night at Bible class if you weren't serious about this and wanted the power to stop. Somebody say, "Give me the power to stop." The gradation of the mountain is against me. The centrifugal force of the earth is against me. The gravitational pull of the planet is against me.
But You have the power to stop. That which pulls me cannot have me because if God gets ready to stop it, He can stop it even though nature is pulling it, even though gravity is pulling it, even though circumstance is pulling it. If God stops it, He will break a law to create a dry place for me to cross over.
Jesus' Baptism and the End of the Old Life
The Bible says that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist, and straightway the Spirit sent Him into the wilderness. It is because the wilderness is on this side of the Jordan and the Promised Land is on that side. The fault line between the two places is the Jordan itself.
Jesus is baptized in the Jordan to typify my sins being washed into the sea of forgetfulness, not to be remembered in this world or the world to come. Jesus is baptized in the Jordan to typify that my old man is as dead as the Dead Sea.
Breaking the Flow of Curses
Everything—every curse, every reproach, every hex, every spell, every wicked device, every enemy thing—has flowed into the Dead Sea where nothing can grow. That is why He doesn't want me talking about my past because He can't see it anymore. It is gone into the Dead Sea.
The thing that caused the Canaanites to become terrified is that God was so with the Israelites that He broke the flow. Somebody say, "Break the flow." I am on a trajectory that doesn't look good, but You have the power tonight to break the flow.
God Stops What Should Destroy Us
There are some things that should have killed you. There are times you should have lost your mind or thrown in the towel. Just when the enemy was coming in for the kill, God stopped it. God is getting ready to stop some things. Some things the devil meant for evil, God is going to stop.
Somebody praise Him because God is going to break the flow, break the current, break the curse, break the generational curse. He is going to stop it.
The Moat: The Jordan as Defense
There are three quick points: the moat, the manna, and the method. The Jordan River acts as a bit of a moat for the city of Jericho. A moat is a waterway dug as an extra layer of defense so enemies cannot cross easily.
Cities were built around geographical terrain for strategic advantage in times of war. To put your city on this side of the Jordan was a layer of defense because crossing the swelling Jordan was difficult.
God Stops Even the Fiercest Flow
What caused them to be terrified is that God stopped it. It is one thing to stop a level flow, but when the water is galing down off the mountainsides with intense pressure, God still stopped it. No matter how much force is behind it, if God gets ready to stop it, He can.
This is different from the Red Sea because the terrain did not lend itself to stopping what was pouring down, but God stopped it. When God gets ready to break the flow, no man's hands are big enough to stop what God is going to do in your life.
Dry Ground: No Residue of the Past
Not only did He stop it, but He dried it up so they could go across on dry land. God stops the water and dries up the mud. When you walk through this, you are not going to have any sign or residue on your life.
People are not going to believe your testimony because there will be no mud left on your sandals. You are going to walk across on dry ground, and nobody will ever know what you have been through.
Divine Access to the Promised Land
The Jordan has sectioned off the wilderness from the Promised Land, but God is going to give you divine access to something you didn't have before. Not only will He stop the flow, He will dry the ground.
All of this is done so you can have unbridled access to what others have enjoyed for years. You thought your destiny was to live and die in the desert, but God says it is possible to be born in a desert and die in the Promised Land.
The Manna Ceases: A New Season of Abundance
They have passed the moat, terrified the enemy, and God has changed their diet. What you ate in the wilderness you will not need in the Promised Land. There is an association between the manna and your clothes and shoes not wearing out.
God sustained you in the wilderness, but now He is delivering you into abundance where everything you need is growing all around you. You will not have to look up and pray for basic needs anymore.
No Going Back to the Old Life
Once you taste the food of what is yours, the manna will cease. The ceasing of the manna means there is no going back to who you were or what sustained you while waiting.
God is bringing a complete shift—your diet, appetite, disposition, personality, walk, dress, thinking, everything is about to change. This word is for your deliverance and breakthrough.
The Power to Stop
God is giving you the power to stop. You can't be threatened, abused, or controlled anymore. Sin has no more power because you have the power to stop.
The Method Changes: Victory Without Fighting
Joshua runs up on a man and asks whose side he is on because his old method was built around warfare. God says if you keep thinking like who you were, you won't be prepared for who you are.
This battle will not require your talent or old methods. God will give you victory without sweat, without swords or shields. He changes your method.