TD Jakes - Storm Drains
Jesus crosses a demonic storm to reach Gadarenes—meaning "rapid and uncontrolled movement"—revealing resistance to entering enemy territory for Gentile deliverance. The external storm becomes internal possession in the demoniac, but Christ's authority rebukes both, freeing the man to testify simply of what God did, showing storms precede destiny and often target our seed or testimony.
Steady in the Storm
In other words, do not let what you are going through get to you. When Jesus was asleep on the bow of the ship, when Jesus was asleep in the bottom of the ship and the storm was raging around the ship, and Peter gets flustered and Peter lets the storm that is on the outside, get on the inside till he doubts the sleeping Jesus. The sleeping Jesus in the middle of a hurricane is a picture of the peace of God, that God can go through storms and snore, is indicative of how strong his peace is. He is not conformed to the weather. He does not react to the climate. He does not respond to external circumstances. Jesus is the only one asleep on the boat.
Peter goes down there and knocks on the door and says, "Get up, Jesus! Carest thou not that we perish?" And Jesus gets up and rebukes the winds and the waves, wipes sleep out of his eye, and says, "O ye of little faith." What did he do wrong? His emotions conformed to his environment.
Crossing to the Other Side
I am just not happy, I thought I would be married by now. So, you are gonna delay your peace, waiting on... I am oh, excuse me, I am not happy because I am married. So, you are gonna let your spouse have your peace. The storm on the outside has gotten on the inside. That is what makes boats sink. Clearly, the storm had not gotten on the inside, lest Jesus would have been wet, and if Jesus would have been wet, he would have been awake.
So, we have a dry Jesus in a hurricane, asleep on a pillow. I do not care how deeply you sleep, if I turn the shower on you, you are gonna wake up. We have a sleeping Jesus and a wet boat. The boat is wet on the outside, but dry enough on the inside that Jesus sleeps and Peter is panicked because the storm that is on the outside has gotten in his soul. So, the sleepy Jesus wakes up and says to Peter, "O ye of little faith." He rebukes not only the winds and the waves, he rebukes Peter because Peter has let the external become internal.
Gadarenes: Rapid and Uncontrolled
I want to make you understand that when you start talking about Gadarenes, it is an adjective that means, in the Greek, it means to move rapidly and without control. To move rapidly and without control. That is the name of the area: To move rapidly and without control. And Jesus comes to Gadarenes, whose name is to move rapidly without control, and he has come to Gadarenes through a storm that moved rapidly and without control. Now, you gotta marry the two texts. You gotta marry what I preached Sunday, okay, "Steady in the Storm." And you gotta remember the fact that when they got on the boat and Jesus said, "Let us cross over to the other side," now, we understand that Jesus is crossing to the other side, not only of the lake but the other side theologically, to reach the Gentiles.
And when they started out, everything was cool. But the closer they get to their destination, suddenly a storm comes out of nowhere and Peter freaks out and questions God's love because of his storm. Have you ever questioned God's love because of your storm? "Carest thou not that we perish? How can you sleep through a moment of my discomfort? You ought to be doing something to make me feel secure and safe." In other words, he has put the burden on Jesus to deal with his complex crisis, while Jesus is asleep.
A Sleeping Jesus Builds Faith
We will talk about a sleeping Jesus. Sometimes a moving Jesus does not build your faith like a sleeping Jesus. This storm is an exercise in faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We understand then that the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. So all of a sudden, we begin to catch a glimpse of the fact that when Jesus woke up and rebuked the winds and the waves, he says to Peter, "Where is your," come on, "Where is your faith?" Where is your faith? Because this is a spiritual battle, okay? Yeah, this is a spiritual battle.
Somebody say, "This is a spiritual battle." We are living in a time that we are fighting spiritual battles and we are fighting them with carnal weapons. The Bible said, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and brings every thought into captivity unto the obedience of Christ." You are in a fight, so, "Master the tempest, he is raging."
Demonic Resistance to Destiny
And we think we are just talking about rain, wind, and water. But if all that Peter was fighting was rain, wind, and water, why did Jesus use the word "rebuke"? You do not rebuke a storm, you rebuke a spirit. Come on, people. You have to understand that these two stories are connected, that the enemy over Gadarenes, moving fast and furious, has to move quickly because Jesus is crossing over to the other side. So you think the story about the demons begins with Legion? No, it begins with the resistance to you coming over into the enemy's territory.
So when Jesus gets up out of the sleep, he rebukes the winds and the waves, and a great calm came upon the face of the waters because this was not a storm in the first place. It was a manifestation of demonic resistance that wanted to stop Jesus from crossing. Y'all not ready for me tonight. Come on, y'all not ready for me tonight. When God has something for you, the enemy wants to block your pathway into the destiny that God has for you. And the storms that you are fighting are not your fault or your issue. It is Satan's fear that you are coming after him and crossing over into his territory. Type it on the line, I am crossing over. I am crossing over. I am crossing over. I am crossing over.
From Outer to Inner Storm
Peter has given up his peace and lost control of the circumstances. What I want you to see tonight is what started out as an outward storm leads into an inward possession. So when the storm came the other night, we had to unblock the drain because even when the storm stops, the water has to drain somewhere, and this text is a storm drain. "What manner of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey his will?" Why are you all riding with a Jesus you do not know? You are just, you just on the boat, just going along with the flow, until he starts manifesting in the Spirit. And all of a sudden you understand, this is not just no regular dude. This dude is operating in another dimension and I have underestimated who I am following.
So the storm comes to put Jesus's power on display, not only for the rebuking of the demons, but for the education of the disciples. See, your real power does not show in the quiet. It shows in the storm. Are y'all following what I am saying? So in order to see the complexities of the text and to become advised of the wiles, which means techniques, of the enemy. You have to understand that this fight started before this fight started, okay?
Signs of Demonic Control
In other words, the enemy has been setting up this defense for a while, and everything was cool. It was going according to plan. The man was cutting himself, he had stripped himself of clothing, he had no boundaries. Each one of these descriptions are signs of what happens in the life of a man who is under demonic control, okay? He stripped himself. He has wounded himself. You understand what I am saying? He hates himself and he is only comfortable in the tombs. When the enemy's taken over your life, death is comfortable.
So, in the presence of Jesus, in the presence, just the presence, April, just the presence. He had not even done anything yet. The demons come in and start begging him, "Do not torment us before our time." So the demons know that Jesus is Lord, while the disciples are trying to figure out what manner of... come on, with me. The disciples still are trying to figure out what manner of man is this, and the demons already know and they call him "Lord" and fall down at his feet. And the reason they kept falling in the floor is because they knew that the power in him was greater than the power in them.
Storms Precede Destiny
Can I go deeper? So, what we are looking at, I want you to get this. There are two different kinds of storms. The first story that I taught you on Sunday is a storm in the elements, in the exterior. It is outside attack, environmental attack, attack in your circumstances, attack in your situation, attack in your finances, attack in your family, attack with your stuff. It is the same spirit, but it is a different tactic, because what was an outer storm, now in the second phase becomes an inner storm.
Everything this man is doing he is doing to him, yeah, he is doing to himself, because the storm has moved out of the exterior to the interior and this man has been tormented by the demons who are now asking Jesus, "Please do not torment us." "What? Really, devil, you want me to be cool and casual after you have been tormenting this man for years?" And the sign that you have set up residence is how he feels about himself.
Oh, wait, we are coming for you. We are coming for you. We are coming for you. This man hates himself. This man has no constraints. This man is gnashing on himself because the storm is no longer on the exterior. Listen to me tonight. There is a storm that can go on inside of you, that the person sitting next to you knows nothing about. You can lay beside somebody who is right in the middle of an internal tsunami and not be cognizant of the fact that the person you lay with or work with or are eating with is under attack on the inside.
The Enemy Needs a Drain
The pressure that I am seeing attack people today is not just an external attack is not nothing that you can fix by changing their conditions, because the storm has moved inside and the enemy's tormenting you internally and he do not want you to say nothing and he has got control of the conversation. We do not even get to hear the man talk. All we get to hear is the enemy talk because the enemy has taken over the territory and he has moved the attack on the inside because, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Satan is the Prince of the Power of the, what? Of the air. Have you noticed how he has been working in the air? Have you noticed that as he takes over the air, the diseases are being loosed like you have never seen before? And the disagreements are so crazy that you do not even know how to argue back, because people are falling out about stuff. You cannot even figure out what they mad about? Storm drains.
The enemy has always worked through the elements to shut down the movement because he is the Prince of the Air. Check out the weather. Check out how unpredictable, how crazy. You do not know whether to put on a coat with shorts and flip-flops and an umbrella. You trying to figure out can I put away my summer clothes and bring out my winter clothes? And your closet looks schizophrenic because the moment you folded up all your sweaters, then it got cold and you almost froze to death. Do you see the Prince of the Air creating turbulence on the outside so that he can access your inside?
Because some of you have outer storms and others of you are fighting inner storms and you do not understand it is the same storm. And the storm needs somewhere to drain. So Mama, cover your children. Daddy, cover your son. Cover all your stuff, your property, your possessions, because the enemy needs somewhere to drain. So the more anointed a man or woman of God is, the more likely their seed is to come up under attack because the enemy do not want to leave the region.
Your Testimony Liberates
So you gotta cover your children because there is a battle for the seed. Are you hearing what I am saying? I mean a sown-up battle too. I do not mean a little patty-pat stuff. I mean, a real knuckle-up battle for the seed because storms need to drain somewhere. Next takeaway. There are some doors God did not open so that you could have direction. If he did not open it for you, it was not going to be consequential to what he has designed for you.
Ephesus, Athens, Rome. The acts of the apostle is strategic. God will make the right folk like you to maneuver you into a position and a posture. Somebody online, God is positioning you and do not be afraid to cross over to the other side. Your anointing will work in the board room, in the courtroom, in the Oval Office. It does not matter. God will position you into an area because the Bible has prophesied that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ.
So if the church will not invade the world systems, then how is the wealth of the unjust laid up for the just, if you will not go get it? If I am speaking to you, say, "Type it on the line," or write a note to yourself, "Go get it." These texts married together is about going to get it. The final takeaway that I want you to be sure that you get is this man who had not been to Bible school, had not been trained, was not raised in the synagogue, was not Orthodox, just got delivered. No credentials.
And Jesus leaves him here and said, "Just tell everybody what I did for you." You do not have to explain the Tabernacle in Solomon's Temple and you do not have to speak Hebrew and you do not have to be kosher. Just tell everybody what I did for you. The Lord wants to use your testimony tonight. He delivered your tongue from the enemy. The whole fight was over this man's mouth. Did you get that? The whole fight is over his mouth. The enemy would not even let him speak. Now Jesus tells him, "Go talk to everybody." And I found out the more you give, the more God will give back to you.