TD Jakes - A Message on Cutting Away Distractions (05/19/2025)
Spiritual circumcision is a necessary battle tactic before entering God’s promises: cutting away flesh, pride, toxic relationships, and mentors whose season has ended, so the enemy has nothing to exploit as God elevates you. Though the cutting hurts—rejoice while bleeding, for separations and afflictions are by divine design, like rocket fairings falling off at altitude, propelling you into the next level of blessing and flow.
Circumcision as Battle Preparation
Circumcision is a battle tactic because, if I am going to fight the battle, I want to have paid the price to fight the good fight of faith. I want to make sure that I have cut off enough of my pride, my arrogance, my flesh, my temperament, and my attitude so that when I am in the fight, the devil cannot bring up anything. I do not want to give him anything to work with.
I feel like preaching this morning. I do not want to give him anything to work with. There are some people in this room; God is getting ready to take you so high that you cannot afford to play down low any longer. You do not want the enemy to have anything to work with because God is getting ready to take you to—the who am I preaching to?
If I am preaching to you, touch your neighbor and say, «Something is about to happen; something is about to happen; something is about to happen; something is about to happen; something is about to happen; something is about to happen; something is about to happen.» I am cleaning up stuff that I used to let go. I am saying yes when I need to say yes and no when I need to say no because something is about to happen.
If you say I am acting funny, maybe I am, but something is about to happen in my life. Is there anybody in this place that understands the words that are coming out of my mouth? Circumcision is a principle; it is necessary. It was good that I have been afflicted. Had I not been afflicted, I would have never known the goodness of the Lord.
Rejoicing in Affliction
Are there any mature Christians in here that can say it was good that I was afflicted? It was good that we broke up; it was good that you fell out with me; it was good that you left me; it was good that you fired me; it was good that the house did not sell; it was good that things did not work out; it was good!
I want somebody to rejoice while you bleed. You all did not hear me; I am going to say it again. I want somebody who can rejoice while you are bleeding, rejoice while you are still bruised, rejoice while you are still swollen, rejoice while you are still in the hospital. I want somebody in this place that can see that all things are working together for the good of those who love the Lord, who are the called according to His purpose.
The Lord wanted you to be here this morning to say you are still on track. You are hurting, but you are still on track. You are swollen, but you are still on track. You are bleeding, but you are still on track. The battle is not yours; it belongs to God! It belongs to God! Somebody holler, «It belongs to God!»
The Necessity of Cutting
I feel the anointing walking up and down this house. I feel the Spirit of the Lord in this place. I feel handcuffs falling off. I hear chains falling to the ground. I see God opening up doors. This word is for you. Before you cross into the next dimension, there is some cutting that has got to be done. Get your scissors out—snip, snip! It is time to cut away.
Stop trying to be polite; stop trying to fit in; stop trying to get along. Whatever it takes to get to the next level—snip, snip! It may hurt, but I am going to cut. I might be lonely, but I am going to cut. I may cry myself to sleep, but it has got to be cut.
Now I want you to understand this—I am still developing this just a little bit; can I go deeper? I said, can I go deeper? You must understand that before they ever got to the Jordan, they lost Moses. They lost Moses! The losing of Moses is a professional circumcision.
No Moses Stays
The person who mentored you, fed you, brought you through the wilderness, and brought you to where you need to be is a professional circumcision. No Moses stays! I am going to say it again to see if you all get it: no Moses stays. That is why you have to value them while you have them, because no Moses stays.
That is why parents do not outlive their children; because no Moses stays. No Elijah stays; no Paul stays; no Naomi stays. God puts people in your life to hold you up like jet propulsion. He puts them in your life to hold you up until you get to a certain height, and then they fall off.
When our purpose is completed, our separations occur. It does not have to be a devil; it does not have to be a witch; it does not have to be Satan—it can be by design.
The Rocket Fairing Illustration
The device attached to the top of a rocket is called a payload fairing, and it is put there knowing it is coming off. They put it on for it to come off. The standard payload fairing is typically a cone-shaped cylindrical object on the top of the apparatus. Due to aerodynamics, it is put in place with the consideration that, although other specialized fairings are in use, these are designed to come apart and fall off.
The type of fairing that I am talking about in this illustration, which separates into two halves upon jettisoning, is called a clamshell, like a clam opens up and releases what is important on the inside. It is designed to come off. There are some people in your life that were there for a season, and they were designed to come off.
When you get high enough, when you get high enough, when you get high enough, when you get high enough, when you get high enough, when you get high enough, when you get high enough, when you get high enough—things start coming apart. Things start falling off. Everything that was not necessary starts moving out of your way because you are airborne now.
Airborne and On Track
I want to talk to some people that are airborne. Everybody that started with you is not staying with you. Everybody that launched with you is not staying with you. But you are right on track. God designed you so that once you got to a certain height, they have gone as far as they can go. They have to come off for you to go to the next level.
You have been feeling like your life is falling apart, but your life is not falling apart; it is doing exactly what it is designed to do. It is the principles of circumcision: when you get so high, it has got to come off!
What the law said is to circumcise a baby when it is 8 days old, but in Gilgal, these are grown men. If they had gotten cut when they were supposed to, they would not even remember it now. But everything you do not cut when you are supposed to cut it—the later you wait to cut it, the more it hurts.
The Pain and the Promise
Come on, come on, come on. Stay with me! If I had cut it when I was 20, I would not be fighting with it in my 40s. If I had cut it when I was 40, I would not be fighting with it when I am 60. That is why the Bible says the day you hear my voice, harden not your heart.
The moment I tell you to let them go, let them go! Let Lot go; let his wife go; let him pick what he wants; let him rip you off, as long as they leave. The children of the born wife will not inherit with the children of the married wife. Tell her to get out of the house!
All of this is circumcision. All throughout your life, if you look back over your life, every so often, something fell off. Every time you went a little further, something stepped off. Every time you climbed a little higher, something fell off.
If nothing is falling off of you, you are in trouble. If everybody still likes you, you are in trouble. There ought to be something falling off of you because you are about to go into the next level.
Touch your neighbor and tell them, «It hurt, but it is worth it; it hurt, but it is worth it. I cried, but it is worth it; I was in turmoil, but it is worth it; I was angry, but it is worth it; I had anxiety, but it is worth it!» These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work for us a far more exceeding weight of glory.
For we look not at the things that are seen, for the things that are seen are temporal, and the things that are not seen are eternal.
High five somebody and say, «Cut it off! Cut it off! Cut it off! Cut it off! You are going to the next level! Cut it off! God is about to do a new thing in your life! Cut it off! God is about to give you houses you did not build! Cut it off! God is about to put you in the flow! You are about to step into the flow! You are about to step into the flow! You have been walking through dry places all your life, but God is about to put you in a place where the milk and honey is flowing in your direction!» Somebody step into the flow!