TD Jakes - Breaking Free from Limiting Beliefs (05/19/2025)
God imparts supernatural gifts and revelations that go beyond training or experience—things wired into your spirit that you simply know and can do by His grace alone, even if others resent it or you feel insecure about it. Paul’s profound insight into the Lord’s Supper, despite never being at the table, shows this divine enlightenment; the key is to steward these unearned gifts responsibly and step boldly into them, recognizing they are pure grace from God.
Gifts Beyond Experience
Sometimes, God will give you revelations into things that do not align with your experience. You know it; you just know it. You do not know how you know it, but you just know it. You can do it; you do not know how you can do it, but you can just do it. You were not trained to do it; you did not go to school to do it.
Yet, certain things are wired into your DNA that God has gifted you to do, and you know you can do them. It does not make any sense that you can do it, and many people do not like that you can do it. They resent you for it, but you can still do it because the Lord has revealed it unto you. The Lord has shown it unto you. The Lord has expressed it unto you. The Lord has given it unto you.
You are gifted. How many people are honest enough to admit that some of the things you are able to do, you cannot explain? You are just gifted. Touch your neighbor and say, «I have been gifted.» With that gift comes a responsibility. If God thought enough of you to give you a gift, there must be a certain level of responsibility that comes with that gift—that you be a good steward of it.
The Enemy’s Strategy Against the Gifted
What the enemy tries to do to the gifted is distract them with trials and temptations so they do not walk into their legacy or understand who they are because they are gifted. What the enemy tries to do with the gifted is raise up and anoint people to hate you because they do not understand why they worked so hard and got so much less, while you did so little and God used you in such a mighty way.
It is just that God gave it to you. The gift is the grace of God, the gift is the grace of God. I am going to say it again for the people over here: the gift is—let me say it for the people in the balcony—the gift is the grace of God. The gift is the grace of God, and the enemy is trying to tell you that you do not have anything to offer, but the devil is a liar.
Everything you have is a gift from God. Somebody shout me down right here!
Paul’s Divine Revelation
In our text, Paul seems to have the greatest depth of insight and revelation about the Lord’s table and the Lord’s supper, and he did not even have a seat at the table. Who can do that but God? Who can get you up to speed? You are three years behind, yet God, all by Himself… you all did not get that.
Let me try it again: you are three years behind, and God just goes and brings you knowledge. Knowledge from God does not come through letters or words; it is just something you know. You do not know how you know it. You cannot prove it or explain it to people, but you know that you know that you know.
If you are gifted, sometimes you do not even recognize that you are gifted because gifted feels normal to you. That is why you need certain kinds of people around you who are not intimidated, so they can reflect the glory of God. Sometimes you do not even notice how effective you are.
Gifted Yet Insecure
So, you can be gifted and insecure, especially if you do not have people who are secure enough to reflect your glory. That is why God created man in the first place: to reflect His glory. God said, «I want to see what I look like, ” and He made man out of the dust of the earth so He could see Himself in Adam.
But when Adam sinned, God could not see Himself and said, „Adam, where art thou? I cannot see Myself.“ Something has darkened the glory. You should be illuminating the Garden of Eden; if you have glory, you have light. When you walk into a room, you bring light into it. Glory to God!
When you have glory on your life, you have enlightenment. Enlightenment is separate from education. I am a great proponent of education; that is why we have a divinity school. But education will never replace enlightenment.
Resistance to True Blessing
Paul is enlightened in a way that causes other disciples to be a little off-putting toward him. When you are truly blessed, people will get an attitude and resist you simply because you are blessed, leaving you wondering, „What did I do to them? Why do they not like me? Why are they talking about me?“
They do not understand that light is coming off you in a way that makes men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil, and some folks are just evil. Stop trying to psychoanalyze it; you cannot counsel it. They are just evil.
Judas was just evil; he was the son of perdition, and evil people will always act according to their nature. Once you teach me you are evil, I do not expect anything good to come from you. You should know the tree by the fruit it bears, so I cannot expect you to produce good things when your roots are nasty.
I just helped somebody right there; I just helped someone. If you are feeling disappointed with their behavior, how could they act any other way? They are acting that way because that is who they are.
Stepping Into the Gift
I have got something; you have got something; we have got something. We did not earn it; we did not work for it; we did not labor for it—we just stepped into it! Tell your neighbor, „I just stepped into it.“ I did not earn it; I just stepped into it. I just stepped into it!
I have not been trained; I did not go to school for it. Does anybody know what I am talking about? I just stepped into it! Sometimes I was in it, and I did not even know I was in it until someone told me the effect it had on them.
I did not even know it was valuable; I just stepped into it. I can just fix cars; I can just build houses; I can just fix things; I can just do things; I can just bake things. I just… somebody is getting ready to… in fact, let us decree and declare: shake hands with somebody and say, „In 2024, I am just going to step into it!“