TD Jakes - Defense Against Offenses
Now, to the Word of God: can I take just a moment to look at you? You just look so good! You don’t look like anything you’ve been through. You don’t look like you’ve faced a storm, a test, a trial, a tribulation, a pandemic, a sickness, a disease, an affliction, a divorce, a crisis, a dilemma, a stress attack, or trauma. You’re just looking so good with your saved and sanctified self. It looks like Jesus has been keeping you, preserving you, taking care of you, and providing for you. Is there anybody here that Jesus has kept alive through hell and high water? He’s been keeping you alive! Make some noise in this house!
I believe, with all my heart, I have a word from God. I believe it is a prophetic word that is going to speak to somebody and deliver someone. Before I give you my scripture, I want us to act like we’re not at church. I want us to act like you’re talking to your best friend, and we’re hanging out at Starbucks having a latte. Yeah, we’re having a latte. I can’t smell it, but I can drink it. Yeah, we’re having a latte with that special pumpkin bread they make, you know, that bread that’s juicy when you bite into it, and it doesn’t have any calories because you prayed in tongues, and all the calories just drip away! You know the one I’m talking about! Come on, come on, come on, you know the one I’m talking about! Glory to God!
I’m going to let you hear me and Jesus have a conversation about this text. It is in the Gospel of Saint Luke, chapter 17, verses 1-10. I’m reading out of the King James Version; no particular reason, I study all of them, but I think I read out of King James because it’s old and I’m old, and we’ve been hanging out so long that there’s no need for us to break up now.
Then said He unto His disciples. He’s not talking to anybody but His disciples. «It is impossible but that offenses will come; but woe unto him through whom they come. It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against you, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to you saying, 'I repent, ' thou shalt forgive him.»
This is my favorite part. And the apostles said unto the Lord, «Increase our faith!» They said, «We’re all right, we’ve forgiven you one time, but if it’s seven times seventy, you’re going to have to do some work on me to increase our faith!» And then the Lord said, «If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, 'Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea, ' and it should obey you.»
Notice that this time, Jesus says something He said before, but differently. The first time He says, «If you have the faith as a grain of a mustard seed, you shall speak to the mountain.» But this time, He doesn’t use a mountain as an analogy. This time He says, «If you have the faith as a grain of a mustard seed…» A mustard seed is so teensy-weensy, itsy-bitsy that it would fit right in between my fingers like that. He said, «If you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, you might say to this sycamine tree, 'Be thou plucked up by the root and be thou planted in the sea, ' and it should obey you.»
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by when he has come from the field, «Go and sit down to meat»? And will not rather say unto him, «Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward thou shalt eat and drink»? Does he thank that servant because he did the things which were commanded him? I think not.
So likewise, ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, «We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do.» We’ve made the Lord add a blessing to the reading of His Word. That’s more Word than some of y’all read in a month! That’ll last you a day!
I’m going to use something I never use; I’m going to use a subject and a subtopic because I couldn’t choose between the two, and one of them sounds real cool, and the other sounds very intellectual. So, I’m going to use both of them, okay? The subject is «Defense Against Offenses,» and the subtopic is «Get Out of Your Feelings.» So, one of them ought to grab you; you pick the one you like. Can we stand and have prayer before I go into this? Yeah, ooh, I like the sound of all those seats going up, and just the sound rumbling like I’m in a big stadium, which I am! That’s so cool! Can y’all hear me up in the balcony? Yeah, y’all got in here, didn’t you? Glory to God!
Spirit of the living God, fall fresh like dew in the morning. Cascade upon us, open up our tendency to be religious and superficial, and expose the innermost sanctums of our hearts that we might receive and digest the Word of God. I thank you in advance for what you’re going to do here tonight at Victory Church, at Potter’s House, and all around the world wherever people are listening—that lives would be changed, that marriages would be changed, that ministries would be changed, that workplaces would be changed, that hearts would be changed, that the power of the Holy Spirit would get so deep down inside of us that we are freed on the inside, freed in our hearts. Thank you for what you’re going to do in Jesus' name. Amen!
Let me hear a victory praise! Come on, show Potter’s House what a victory praise looks like! Now, sirs, you may be seated in the presence of the Lord. I feel good! Glory to God! I feel like doing a split. I’m not going to do it, but I feel like doing a split! I’m like James Brown after he got in his 60s, when he was in his 30s he did a split, you know? But when he got in his 60s, he kind of… yeah!
So, that’s it right there! When I was a young man, I danced in the spirit; I danced so long they’d have to put me in the car, and I’d still be dancing! Now that I’m older, I act like I’m dancing… yeah, faking them out! God is good! We are fearfully and wonderfully made, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. We are unique, authentic, autonomous, and individually defined by the Master Himself. We are a designer’s original in a category all by ourselves; there has never been another you, and there will never be another you again! Even if you have a twin, it’s not you. God has put so much detail in the specificity that even your fingerprint stands in a category all by itself.
God Himself shows up in the Scriptures; the very first time we see Him, we see Him stooping over clay. The stooping God shows us that throughout the Book of Genesis, God will be stooping to reach us. He stoops down and forms man from the dust of the earth, and man is just a ceramic clay pot until He breathes the breath of life into him, and he becomes a living soul. The word «living soul» in Hebrew is «nefesh.» He becomes aware of himself. He’s not just alive like a rose bush or a plant or collard greens or potatoes! Or anything like that—I’m kind of hungry, so you know all of my illustrations will be food illustrations tonight! But he becomes aware of himself. If you cut a rose bush, it doesn’t scream. If you cut celery, it doesn’t cry. But because we are aware of ourselves, we have feelings. The gift of feelings is unique. We are created in the likeness and the image of God; God has feelings! The Bible says, «And the Lord was angry with wrath,» which means anger with fire. God has feelings!
Jesus comes to Lazarus' funeral service and weeps with Mary and Martha. God has feelings, and we need feelings. I know this is a faith church, but we need feelings! Faith and feelings are not necessarily at odds with each other; we need feelings! We were created to be a feeling species. If we had no feelings, we’d have no love. How could God ask us to love Him with all our heart and mind and soul if we couldn’t feel anything? Our feelings are a gift to us! Besides, the Bible says we can be touched. He can be touched by the feelings of our infirmity, tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. God cares how you feel, and so He wants us to have feelings. He doesn’t want us to be led by feelings, but He wants us to have them.
So, there is a natural feeling we have when we birth a child; there’s a natural protectiveness that we have over a child. You can take the tiniest woman in this room, and mess with her kid, and she will turn into a serial killer! I would rather fight any dude in the room right now than to fight an angry mama! Because God equipped a mama with feelings. I mean, fathers will knock you out too; they’ll bust your chops. But a mama will pull your teeth out of your gums and look at you like you’re chopped liver and say, «Don’t get near my child again!» God gives us those feelings and those instincts so that we might be protective, so that we might be corrective, and so that we might have empathy.
We need those feelings! These feelings cause children to feel loved, safe, and nurtured. But the problem is, those feelings, as many wonderful things as they do, can also do negative things. We can get hurt in our feelings; we can get bruised in our feelings; we can get disappointed in our feelings; we can be forsaken in our feelings; we can be rejected in our feelings—and not even show anybody because you can’t see a feeling. If you break your leg, you can see a broken leg. If you break your arm, you can see a broken arm. A broken heart cannot be seen, and a broken heart cannot be treated. There is no prescription for a broken heart, for a disappointed child who was not raised by their parents. There is no prescription that will take away that pain!
There are feelings that we have to manage in order to be successful. We have to manage them like we manage money. You have to budget your feelings; you have to put guard rails around them. You have to control your feelings! Because if you listen to your feelings, you’ll make snap decisions that you later regret. I often say, «Never make permanent decisions over temporary circumstances!» Because in a temporary moment of passion, you can make a permanent decision that you live to regret. Feelings are very, very important to us, but they must be managed!
He became a living soul means that he had a place to warehouse his feelings, so your feelings are not homeless. They are sheltered in your soulless man, not exhibited in your body, not shown in the way you walk. If you are wounded in your feelings, you can hide it, and nobody can see it. Nobody can know it, and you can smile and say, «Good morning, welcome to J.C. Penney’s,» and nobody’s ever the wiser to the fact that you have a broken heart, that you have a broken marriage, that you don’t feel comfortable in your own job, that you wonder why your mother didn’t raise you, or why she treated your sister better than she treated you, or why they never asked you to sing a solo unless it’s so low. It hurts your feelings!
And we have all of these feelings. At the beginning of the text, when Jesus is talking to His disciples, He is talking to them about feelings. When I started reading this text, I said, «Lord, You spent all those verses—11 verses—talking to us about how we feel,» and I got teary-eyed, and I said, «Thank You for caring about how I feel!» Thank You for caring about how I feel! Because I’m not sure that people always care about how you feel. It is much easier for us to care about how we feel than it is to care about how others feel. To care about how others feel is empathy, but not everybody is equipped with the ability to be empathetic. They can be selfish; they can be narcissistic; they can be tied into themselves.
Sometimes, when your feelings are wounded and you’re surrounded by people who are oblivious, willingly or unwillingly, to how you feel, you are alone— even in a crowd! Now, Jesus is preparing His disciples to take over the world, and He does not want them to be petty. So He says, «It is impossible for you to not be offended.» It is impossible. That means if you tiptoe around and are real quiet and nice and do all the right things for everybody, and you’re just as kind as Mother Teresa does not exempt you; you will still get offended. That means that if you change your hair and change your dress, you will still get offended. If you don’t believe it, go on social media.
If you lose weight, they say you’re too skinny; if you gain weight, they say you need to work out more. If you dress dolled up, they say you need to be simple; if you dress simply, they say you need to freshen up. There’s always somebody out of 8 billion people on the planet who is going to get on somebody’s nerves. I don’t care what you do, and you can’t manage 8 billion people’s feelings. So Jesus does not want to raise up 12 disciples who think victory is managing how other people feel. Oh, that was good, because for some of you, victory is changing people’s minds, and you think that if I do this well enough, long enough, right enough, left enough, or short enough, it will work. You’ll get tips in your hair, get tints in your hair, get weaves in your hair, get my lips plumped, or get my jaw done, so I can get my tummy tucked and take my tummy and put it behind me.
Then when I did, did I say that out loud? I didn’t mean to say that out loud; I’m sorry! We’re always trying to manage what people think of us, and Jesus says it is impossible. He just comes right out, slaps us across the face, bam! It is impossible for you to live your life and not be offended, so you might as well quit running from it. You might as well quit making it the achievement of your life to get everybody to like you. I don’t care what you do; somebody’s not going to like you. That was one of the greatest lessons my father taught me in an old red pickup truck that had a bumper on it that he had gotten from the junkyard. He was coming back from a job, and I was coloring in the car. I was eight years old, having a father-son talk with him about some kid at school who didn’t like me. He said, «Boy, I don’t care what you do; everybody is not going to like you.»
Stay with me all my life, because all of us want to be liked, and we want to be loved, and we want to live our lives without offense. Because offense is stressful. It’s stressful! Yeah, I know you say you don’t care, but it’s stressful. People will say things to you that will make your hair stop growing, and Jesus clearly says it is unavoidable. There is no way to live your life without offense. If you chew long enough, your teeth are going to bite your tongue. I know you married Harry, and he’s six foot two, fine, and he’s got biceps and triceps and everything else all over, and he’s so gorgeous. He treats you like a lady as you’ve never been treated before in all your life, and I know he’s so wonderful, so thoughtful, and so kind. When you looked into his eyes, you saw all the way down into his heart, and you knew you would always love each other forever and ever until you found out that he leaves his socks on the floor and his dirty underwear in the bathroom. Suddenly, you get an attitude about the way he smacks his food at the table. «Can you please shut your mouth while you chew? You’re cute, but you’ve got no manners.»
It’s true; you’re going to have conflicts, and you’re going to have offenses. It’s going to happen sometimes; you’re going to go through things. But God cares about your emotional well-being, because if you get emotionally off, it affects everything else. When we go on an interview, they want to know our IQ—our intellectual quotient. How intelligent are you? There is a measurement whereby we can measure the quotient of your intelligence. Okay, but there is also an EQ whereby you can begin to evaluate the emotional quotient. Don’t gloss over this; write this down because a lot of people with great IQs have poor EQs. You hire for intelligence, but you’ve got to live with the EQ. And by the time they get to wreaking havoc in your job, life, marriage, and with your kids, you would take somebody with a lower IQ if they had a little bit higher EQ. Can I get a witness up in here?
Somewhere, you find out she’s cute, but she’s crazy. She is built like a Coke bottle, but she is empty as a beer drum. You find yourself in this situation where you have these people because you don’t end up married to their IQ; you end up living with their EQ. Yeah, and Jesus said people get offended, and how we manage the offense determines the outcome of our lives. There are no classes that teach us how to manage our EQ. There are no classes; they don’t teach that in school, not even in universities. They don’t teach you how to manage your emotions. They don’t teach you that at home; they teach you your ABCs and which fork to use. I know which fork to use. My mother spent hours teaching me which fork to use.
«That’s a salad fork; don’t eat with that fork. No, that’s a dessert spoon; eat with that dessert spoon.» Does it hurt? «The spoon goes above the plate; this is where the glass goes; this is where the bread goes.» You got her bread plate. She taught me all that kind of stuff. I don’t use any of that. I eat your food, my food, any food that gets in my proximity is at risk of termination. I wish she would have spent a little bit more time telling me how to manage emotions. Jesus says if it’s impossible to live without offense, we should talk to people more about offense rather than acting like once you come to Jesus, you will never be offended. Nobody will ever get on your nerves, and nobody will ever take your parking space.
Some of you, before you get out of this building, somebody is going to get on your nerves, and you’ve got to be okay with it. You’ve got to be able to deal with it because they’re sitting up talking to somebody and are holding up traffic, and you’ve got to go to work at seven o’clock in the morning. She’s having a conversation and praying for somebody out of her car window, and you can’t get around her, and all of a sudden, your anointing dissipates out of your baby toe, and your eyes turn red, and your fangs come out, and all of that. Yeah, you know I’m right about it. He cares so much about it. He cares so much about it. When your feelings are wounded or hurt or in pain, the human body—I’ve done a lot of research on this—the human body cannot differentiate between physical pain and emotional pain.
The same secretions that come out of your body when you have emotional pain, like breaking your leg, are the same reactions that you have to a broken heart. But no medicine, and so there is no treatment. We can’t reset it; we can’t stabilize it; we can’t bring it back to order. Jesus is talking to his disciples, and we get to eavesdrop on the conversation without the FBI. We get to hear Jesus prepping his boys to go out and do kingdom work, and he’s prepping them so that they won’t be petty because you can’t do great, massive promised land work with a petty attitude.
You have to have thick skin to operate for the kingdom. You have to be strong to operate for the kingdom. You have to have some things in place that protect you because if you’re not careful, the offense will become a distraction from the calling, and you’ll put all your energy into settling the offense rather than focusing on the mission that the Lord has given you. Your wounded feelings will be your Sanballat and Tobiah, and you’ll give up on your calling and come down off your wall to have an argument with how you feel. You think you got the victory, but you lost the victory because the disruption was a distraction from the purpose of God that was in your life.
So you be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. And then he says, «I don’t want you worrying about it because I’m going to deal with it.» He says it would have been better that a millstone be tied around your neck and you be cast into the sea than for you to hurt one of mine. He kind of sounds like my mother. I called my mother down to the school because I was having trouble at school, and the vice principal said she was going to call my mother, and I said, «No, you’re not going to call my mother; I’m going to call my mother.»
A few minutes later, this Black woman pulled up in this green Imperial with her wig on backward. I’m not being funny; this is the truth. Her wig was on backward, and her eyes were red like Dracula, and she had fangs coming out of her mouth, and I said, «There’s my mama.» It changed the whole meeting when mama got out of the car. God said, «I will ride up on you like your mama if you hurt one of the least of mine. It would be better that a millstone be tied around your neck and you be cast into the sea than to hurt one of my people’s feelings, their emotions.»
That ought to make you careful; that ought to make you scared. It ought to make you a steward with a fiduciary responsibility to manage the feelings of the people in your life so that you don’t become rude and careless with the way you talk to each other. Because God is watching how you talk to me, and even though I don’t get upset, he gets upset, and vengeance is not mine, but it’s his. And the Lord says, «I will repay you,» if you mistreat not just the big people on the front row but the people way back in the balcony. He says, «I care. Whatever you do to the least of mine, to the parking lot attendant, you have done it unto me.»
Oh, that’s cool! That means God is my security. I don’t have to have security; God is my security, that he’s my protection. And that means that I don’t have to fight back. That means the battle is not mine; it belongs to the Lord. It means I don’t have to fill my heart with anger and bitterness and come up with schemes to get back at you or straighten you out. It means the battle belongs to God, and God will deal with you all by himself because he doesn’t want me distracted from healing the sick and raising the dead and turning water into wine and preaching the gospel and loosening the bound and setting the captive free.
He doesn’t want me to be distracted from laying hands on people and seeing tumors dissipate out of their bodies. He doesn’t want me to be distracted from my divine assignment to preach the gospel all over the world, to change the world, to win people to Jesus Christ. And I can’t win you to a loving God with an angry heart while I’m getting on your nerves. I might as well go a little deeper. He warns husbands. God cares how you treat your wife. God said if you don’t treat your wife a certain kind of way, he said your prayers will be hindered. That’s scary! God says, «I will hinder your prayers.» That means I’m watching, even though you’re bigger than her and even though she, in most cases—AJ, in most cases—in many cases.
See, God says, «I will defend her by shutting up the heavens and stopping everything from going right because of the way you talk to her. And if you don’t want your prayers hindered, he says, exercise whatever influence you have in a measured way, because I’m watching.» And I’m like the Lord; when I meet people for the first time, and I don’t know them, I don’t watch how they treat important people. I watch how they treat people they think are not important. I watch how they treat the waitress and the bus driver and the Uber driver and stuff like that because it lets me know how you would treat me if you ever got the upper hand. I choose my friends by the way they treat people they think they don’t need because the moment they stop needing you, they will treat you that way too.
Oh, this is worth the whole message! This part right there is worth the whole message, so pay attention. If you’re trying to figure out who to date, don’t watch how he treats you. Everybody treats everybody good on a date. Look for how he treats the waitress. Look for how he treats a person who parks your car. Look at how he talks to people that he thinks he doesn’t need or that she thinks she doesn’t need, and you’ll have a clue into the rhythm with which she handles her emotions, because one thing about crazy, it will peak out. It will sneak out. You might get covered up for about two or three days, but by that third week, it will start giving you glimpses. «You know I’m cute, but I will go off on you.»
And her head starts spinning around like the Exorcist as she attacks the waitress just because the steak is too done. Just start taking notes right there; you are in trouble, boy; you’re going to be in trouble. Jesus cares how you treat people you think you don’t need. He’s watching how you handle them; he’s watching how you treat them. Anybody can treat somebody good when you want a loan, when you need an equity loan, when you need an investment, when you need a job, when you need some help, when you’re trying to go up. But very few people take the time to respect the janitor, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, the attendant. You’ve got to treat people with the same dignity because that is the commandment of the Lord toward you.
So when Jesus begins to talk about this, he talks about it from three perspectives. He talks about his protection, his purging, and his provision. His protection, his purging, and his prevention. And I just got to talk about how God protects you. You might be the defenseless, the broken, the wounded, the rejected, the ostracized, to the person who has a scarlet letter on their head. I want you to lift up your head; Jesus is watching out for you, for the person who has no recourse and can’t afford help and can’t get the breakthrough that they need. Jesus is watching out for you. To the person who’s tied up in an abusive relationship, Jesus is watching out for you. To the person who’s mistreated on the job and in their neighborhood and in their life, Jesus is watching out for you. And you may not see it, but sooner or later, God is gonna handle the person that’s mishandling you. Glory to God!
I feel like shouting right now. I feel like praising him right now. I feel like giving him the victory right now because if God before you, he’s more than the world against you. If God is on your side, he’ll make a way out of no way. If God is on your side, he will stop the lion from biting you, the fire from burning you. He will stop the enemy from destroying you. He’ll stop the snake from biting you; he’ll stop the sea from drowning you. If God is on your side, he’ll make a way in the middle of the desert; he’ll bring you water out of a rock; he’ll open up the Red Sea to get you across. If God is on your side, he’ll heal you by lifting up a serpent in the wilderness. If God is on your side, you can fight the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass.
If God is on your side, he will make a way out of nowhere; he’ll put streams in the middle of your desert. If God is on your side, he will lift your head up; he will renew your strength; he will encourage your heart; he will renew your spirit. If God is on your side, he will bring you out from under the power of the enemy. He will heal you even when the doctor says no. If God is on your side, he will change the records in the accounting. He will lift your head up; he will make your feet like hind’s feet when you should have fallen over. He’ll stiffen you to be able to stand. If God is on your side, he’ll bring your fever down; he’ll bring your courage up; he’ll strengthen your will and your tenacity.
If God is on your side, somebody shout! If God! So the first thing Jesus does is deal with the people who’ve been dealing with us and who have injured us, not necessarily physically but emotionally, to alleviate us from the responsibility and the heavy weight that vengeance takes on the human soul. It takes so much weight to be vengeful, and Satan tempts us to be vengeful even if it’s in little ways, like rolling your eyes when they come in the room. I will admit, I’ve had some struggles because when you get on my nerves, I kind of want you to know it. And I don’t want to say anything where I can be quoted, but my eyes cannot be quoted. So I close my lips and go, «Hmm.» And then he gets on me. I said, «You don’t have anything to do with that; I will handle that.» And the moment he gets to addressing my enemies, now he brings it home to me.
So he moves away from just talking about protection to purging, and he says if your brother has sinned against you or has hurt you or has offended you. The reason I’m preaching about this is because we are living in an era of offense; everybody’s offended. You can’t say anything about anything that doesn’t make somebody mad. You can tweet «two plus two is four,» and somebody will come back and say, «Who says? Who made you an expert on two plus two?» «B.» and «Four? It doesn’t really have to be four.» Everybody’s offended; rich folks are offended; poor folks are offended; Black folks are offended; white folks are offended; everybody’s offended—the women are offended; the men are offended.
Now we’ve raised up a bunch of kids, and the kids are offended; everybody’s offended. Now, we have to live in the same house with a bunch of offended people. Everybody has something against everybody, and then we come to church and say, «As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.» Are you kidding me? Get out of here! You and your house aren’t even speaking. Your daughter is mad at her mama; the dog bit the cat; the cat ate the goldfish. The husband and wife aren’t talking, and don’t you bring your mother-in-law back into this house on another Thanksgiving. I’ll send her a plate. Everybody’s offended, and we live in a society that makes a career out of keeping us mad at each other.
We live in a society that pits us against one another and tells us what each other thinks, and so we get offended over what we heard someone thought, how they think, and how they feel. They’ll find one foolish individual who represents that group, and they’ll come up and say something stupid, and then you’ll judge millions of people based on that one individual and be offended by that one person. I’ve never seen a time when you can’t say anything; everybody’s offended, everybody’s upset, everybody’s nerves are on edge, and we’re upset about something we don’t even know we’re upset about.
We are living in the land of offense, and we have a God who has told us not to allow offense to get into our spirits because you can’t have great worship and be offended. It affects your harmony, your flow, your connectivity. It affects how the Holy Spirit invades the room. It matters whether you get along with the other singers; it matters whether the drummer likes the guitar player. It changes the atmosphere when there’s something wrong between you and your brother. The Bible says leave your gift at the altar. I don’t care how gifted you are; if you have a bad attitude, God says He doesn’t want your gift until you fix that relational connection. God said He doesn’t want to hear any more vertical stuff coming out of your mouth as long as you’re not speaking to the person you’re shouting beside. God says it does matter how you feel about one another. Can I go deeper?
So now He speaks to the offended. He has moved away from the offender to talking to the offended, and when He addresses the offended, He talks to us about how to remove the contamination. Because it’s easy to get contaminated, and if there’s no way to escape offense, then everyone here has been offended at some time or another. Can we be honest? It’s hard to get church people to admit that because we have our reputations at stake, and we don’t want anybody to know we’re human. But to all the real people in the room, raise your hand if you’ve ever been offended. I have been offended! Sometimes I don’t read the comments because when I’m offended, I tend to say something back. I really struggle inside to shut my mouth because I can think of a whole lot of good things to say back to you, and even when I do respond, I have to edit it so I can keep my day job. Because if I let the full theory of what I could say back to you just flow freely, Marcus would have to play the organ behind me when I start telling you what I think about you! I’ve got to tune up, so I have to hold my tongue.
Now, Jesus moves from addressing the offender to talking to the offended. He says, «If someone offends you and you confront them,» I want to stop there because most of us lack the courage to confront the person we are offended by. You can confront people without being confrontational. Burying things doesn’t heal them; covered wounds don’t heal effectively. Oh, I struck a nerve with that—I could feel it! At least ten couples had a moment right there in their seats. Absolutely, there’s an undeniable truth here. Covering it up will never make it better. You have to have the courage to speak up, and don’t let anyone take your voice away. Don’t let anyone out-talk you to the point that they silence you. Just because you’re out-talking doesn’t mean you’ve changed my mind.
Jesus said to confront them, and if they repent, forgive them. The disciples were cool with that. They were okay, and then He messed around and said, «And if they do it again, and again, and again, and again, and again…» Then He gave them a number: «Seventy times seven.» They did some quick math and said, «Increase our faith.» Because I’m good for maybe a couple of times, three times, or maybe even seven times, but when you jump from addition to multiplication, I’m not sure I don’t need a touch from the Lord to help me do that. Because seventy times seven—Lord, that’s getting into some big numbers there. I don’t know. I mean, I love you and everything, but I’m not saying I won’t do it; I’m just not sure I will. I don’t want to overcommit myself, and I don’t want to lie to you because you know everything from the beginning, and I don’t want to offend anybody. But I just don’t know if I can sign up for seventy times seven. Maybe three times seventy, but seventy times seven might be above my quota.
Then they said to Him, «Increase our faith.» And I thought to myself, «What does faith have to do with forgiveness?» The disciples saw faith and forgiveness as interconnected. They recognized that in order to develop the ability to purge their hearts of how they feel, they need faith. They need to believe that nothing you did stops me from getting to my destination. I need to believe that my destiny is not altered by what you said, did, or didn’t do. I need to make a firm decision that the promises of God are «yes» and «amen,» and that no man or woman—coming or going, leaving or staying, paying or caring—can stop me from arriving at the destiny that God has for me. In fact, I need to believe that it was good for me that I was afflicted. Somehow, God used what you did to fertilize my dreams, and I became stronger, richer, better, and more fulfilled.
Now, I’ve got to learn how to glory in tribulation. I’ve got to rejoice when I’m falsely accused. I have to learn how to praise God even when you don’t like me. My defense is to believe God and say, «Devil, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good!» To God be the glory! You threw me in the pit, you sent me to Potiphar’s house, you put me in prison, and I still landed in the palace of Egypt. I still got to where I was trying to go. You didn’t help me, but I made it! You lied on me, and I made it! You betrayed me, and I made it! You left me, and I made it! You excommunicated me from the family, and I made it! You said I was dead, but I’m back! I’m back! I’m back! I’m back!
Is there anybody who made it back through something? Have you been through something where all hell was breaking loose, and they thought you weren’t going to make it? Jump to your feet and shout, «I’m back! I’m back! I’m back! I’m back!» Like Lazarus came back from the dead, I’m back! Like the woman with the issue of blood is healed from her infirmity, I’m back! Like Luke 13, I straightened myself up and got myself together! Now, you’re talking about a victory when you’ve been through hell, thrown in a pit, made it out of prison, faced storms, crises, alienation, rejection, and still landed on your feet! You’re talking about a shout; you’re talking about a dance; you’re talking about running!
I wish I had thirty people who have been through something and God brought you out! Put your hands together, open your mouth, dance on your feet, do a cartwheel, stand on your head, and let hell know: «I made it anyway! I made it anyway!» To God be the glory for the things He has done. We’re going to make a declaration; we’re going to make a declaration tonight that will make demons run out of every exit door in the room. We’re going to make a declaration tonight that will drive depression out of your spirit.
Suicide will have to flee out of this room. Anxiety and hypertension are gonna have to get up and get out of here! Glory to God! Look at your neighbor and tell them, «I’m gonna be alright.» Tell your other neighbor, «I’m gonna be alright.» Hell gets nervous; hell gets nervous when you start talking faith. Demons start trembling when you start talking faith. Witches lose their power when you start talking faith. Sickness loses its grip when you start talking faith. High blood pressure comes down when you start talking faith. Tumors shrink in your body when you start talking faith. I wish I had thirty seconds of crazy, supernatural, Holy Ghost praise! Tell everybody around here: «I’m going to land on my feet! I’m going to land on my feet!»
It’s my first year in college, but I’m going to land on my feet! I just moved to Tulsa, but I’m going to land on my feet! I’m looking for a job, but I’ll land on my feet! I’m not sure about the student loan, but I’m going to land on my feet! I’m nervous about going to class, but I’ll land on my feet! I started my own business, but I’m going to land on my feet! I don’t have enough capital, but I’m going to land on my feet! I’m raising my kids by myself, but I’m going to land on my feet! This is my first time trying to own something, but I’ll land on my feet! If you don’t help me, I’ll land on my feet! If you don’t stand with me, I’ll land on my feet! If you scandalize my name, I’ll land on my feet! I don’t know who I’m preaching to, but I’m talking to somebody tonight. The Lord sent me all the way from Dallas, Texas, to tell you: you’re going to land on your feet! You’re going to land on your feet!
So sit with me; I’m not through yet. Sit with me; I’m just getting warmed up now! Glory to God! I just kicked into the zone! Baby, don’t you see those devils running out that door right now? Don’t you see them sneaking out of that window? Don’t you see those devils getting out of the way? When Jesus says, «Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,» the word «pure» comes from a Greek word from which we get «catheter.» The root word is «cath,» which relates to how we measure our hearts to ensure they are flowing blood properly without blockages. I won’t go into the other usage, but all the men just said «ouch»! Yes, yes! The catheters are designed so you have a flow, and God says, «I want your heart to be open to a flow.»
I don’t want you to allow any blockages. If you allow a blockage to get into your heart, it will stop you from seeing God. «Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.» If that’s not enough motivation to purge what’s within you, I don’t know what is. I’m not certain if He meant none but the pure in heart shall go to heaven, but I am sure He means you won’t be able to see God in your situation if your heart is blocked up with unforgiveness. I need to see God to figure out how to navigate through the wilderness so I can move when He moves, walk when He walks, flow when He flows, and step when He steps. I’ve got to see God; if I don’t see Him, it’s because He shows me the path. His word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my pathway.
If I allow something to block my heart, it will affect my vision. God says, «Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.» God says, «If you allow blockage in your heart, it will hinder your vision.» So the enemy sends things to contaminate your heart to shut down your vision. Oh my God, this is so good! I’m going to shout out my own preacher! God said, «I made your heart to flow; I made your heart to flow unrestricted.»
I don’t want you to gather plaque or anything else that slows the flow because everything God does is in a flow. Everything God created is in a flow. When God created the earth, He created it in a flow. The rivers spread, the streams fed the lakes, and the lakes fed the ocean. God didn’t create new water; He just maintained His flow. It goes up, it rains down, and it’s a flow. Everything God created has a flow. When God made man from the dust of the earth, He didn’t have to keep creating blood; He let the blood flow through that elaborate highway system you call the cardiovascular system. Your blood was made to flow, and I don’t have to check your heart to see if your flow is right; I can touch your wrist and tell what’s going on inside you!
Your heart, because the rhythm of your pulse tells me the activity of your heart. And God said, if things are shutting down, the first thing I want you to do is check your heart. What have you allowed to get into your heart that has closed down your vision? If I were the devil and wanted to shut down your vision, I wouldn’t have to attack your eyes. If none of the pure in heart shall see God, then all he had to do was contaminate your heart until you lost your vision. If you lost your vision, you couldn’t find your way out. The reason Jesus says «70 times 7» isn’t a particular number; He’s talking about keeping your heart open. So that whatever happens, you keep flowing. You might have the feeling, but as quickly as you can, you let it flow out. You don’t let things stay in and contaminate you or block you.
Let me show you how quickly Jesus was. They beat Him until He was unrecognizable. They beat Him until His entrails were hanging out. They beat Him for so long that Josephus says He should have died on the whipping post. But had He died on the whipping post, we wouldn’t have been redeemed because the Bible says, «Cursed is he that hangs on the tree,» not the whipping post. So He fought death on the whipping post, refusing to die. But when they hung Him high and stretched Him wide, they nailed Him in His right hand and His left wrist and nailed His feet together. When they put Him up on the cross, Jesus is not on the cross cursing at them, yelling at them, telling them, «I curse your unborn children! I curse your future! I curse your destiny! I curse your mama!»
Jesus didn’t say that. I probably would have said that, but Jesus didn’t. Don’t judge me. Jesus wouldn’t say that. Instead of allowing them to contaminate His heart while they are killing Him, He says, «Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.» He said, «I’m going to keep my heart open no matter what I go through. I’m going to keep loving. I’m going to maintain my nature. You’re not going to change my nature from being the person that I am. You’re not going to turn the Lamb into a lion. I could call 10,000 angels and kill every last one of you, but I’m not going to do it because a lion cannot deliver the people. I’ve got to be a Lamb to get this done, and in order to be a Lamb, I’ve got to forgive you while you’re sticking nails in my hand.»
Oh my God, that’s shouting stuff! Glory to God! I wish I had me a Southern church in here right now. I’m going to outsmart the devil. I’m going to outsmart the devil. You’re trying to change my nature. You’re trying to turn me into a lion, but I can’t redeem as a lion. I can only redeem as a Lamb, and in order to be a Lamb, even though you’re nailing me, I’m going to forgive you because I understand that it’s not you that’s doing it; it’s the spirit of the enemy that’s working through you. I ask my Father to forgive you for hurting me because I know it really wasn’t you. If you knew what you were doing, you wouldn’t hurt me like that. You’re just carrying out orders, and the orders are coming from Satan.
I’m under attack, and why would I fight the soldier when the war is not with the soldier; it’s with the enemy? The enemy is trying to get me to mess up what I’m about to do on the cross. I don’t know who I’m talking to, but the enemy is trying to mess up what you’re about to do in your ministry. The reason you’re under attack is that he wants you to contaminate your heart. The Lord sent me from the palace to tell you, don’t you do it! Don’t get bitter! Don’t get even! Don’t get mad! Don’t get upset! Don’t respond! Don’t react! Hold your peace!
I know you look weak. I know you look helpless. I know you know something you could say. I know you can fight. I know you can defend yourself. But this is not a battle you’re going to win with your fist, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities and spiritual wickedness in high places. The weapons that we use are not carnal. You’ve got a weapon to fight with, and there Jesus is bleeding to death on the cross, talking about, «Father, forgive them!» He’s interceding for murderers. Glory to God!
That’s what He means by «70 times 7.» Later in the scriptures, He will tell us, «Let a root of bitterness defile you.» A root, a root of bitterness defiles. They gave Him frankincense and myrrh, which were roots. So there are roots that can anesthetize the pain, and there are other roots that can defile you. Are you carrying a root of bitterness? Because if you are, it will defile you. I’m almost where I want to be. You still with me? You’re not tired of me yet? And so they said, «Lord, increase our faith! Increase our faith until we believe You!»
When our feelings are hurt, anybody can believe You when they’re happy. Increase our faith until we believe You when we’re in pain—when the nails are in our wrists, when we’ve been publicly humiliated, when we are at our wit’s end. Increase our faith to believe that some good is going to come out of this. I remember one time I was under attack, and it was real bad and painful. It’s the only time in my life I’ve ever curled up in a corner of the floor crying and just beside myself. I took a walk in my backyard, crying and talking to God. I said, «I don’t know why You let this happen to me, and I don’t know why You’re allowing this to go on in my life. I don’t know why You allowed me to go through what I’m going through, but I want You to know that I trust You. I trust You. I trust You. If You ordered me to go through this, I’ll go through whatever You want me to go through to be whoever You want me to be because I know You love me and You know what’s best for me. And though You slay me, yet will I trust You.»
I was crying, and I could hardly see the path I was walking on, but I told God I would pass this test because I trust You. I trust You when things go right. I trust You when things go wrong. I trust You when You make me happy. I trust You when You make me cry because I am convinced because of Calvary that You’re in love with me. You can’t be in love with me and do something that’s going to end up bad, and I trust You! I trust You with tears running down my face. I trust You! The more I said, «I trust You,» the more demons began to scream and shake. I trust You! I don’t understand you, but I trust You! I don’t see the plan, but I trust You! You’ve broken my heart, but I trust You! It’s painful, but I trust You! I want to speak to everybody who’s ever lost anybody, lost anything, lost a loved one, or gone through a hard time. You don’t have to understand God to trust Him. You need to let hell know, «I trust Him! I trust Him that somehow this is going to work for my good.»
If you’ve been going through a very painful place, slip your hands up in the air and give God praise that you trust Him! I trust You! I trust You in this season! I trust You in this season! I trust You when I lose my job! I trust You when my loan didn’t get approved! I trust You when people rise up against me! I trust You when things don’t turn out the way I wanted them to turn out! I trust You when I didn’t bring a medal home from the Olympics! I trust You when I fumbled the ball on the field! I still trust You! I trust You! Order my steps in Your word, dear Lord! Order my steps in Your word! Order my steps in Your word, dear Lord! Order my steps in Your word!
Somebody stomp your foot: Order my steps! Order my steps! Order my steps! Order my steps! I won’t break my cadence! I won’t break my flow! I won’t break my movement! I won’t break my regimen! I won’t break my future! I’m going to keep on doing what You told me to do! Dry these tears up! I can’t stop crying! You’ve got to dry these tears up! But if You dry them up, I’ll preach for You! If You dry them up, I’ll sing for You! If You dry them up, I’ll dance for You! If You dry them up, I’ll run for You! If You dry them up, I’ll leap for You! If You dry them up, I’ll preach the gospel all over the world! If You dry them up, I’ll teach Bible class in other countries! If You dry them up, I’ll help the poor! If You dry them up, I’ll feed the hungry! If You dry them up, I’ll clothe the naked!
So, He deals with us—Is this good? —So, He dealt with us through protection, He dealt with us through purging, and then He deals with us with prevention. This is the prevention part, and it’s kind of weird. He says, «If you have the faith, increase our faith.» Lord, they thought the bigger the faith, the better the fight. Jesus is not going to take that much faith. He said, «If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed.» Now watch this: before He said, «You shall speak to the mountain, and the mountain shall be cast into the sea.» But this time, He said, «If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall speak to a sycamine tree and command it to be cast into the ocean, and it will be cast into the ocean.» I said, «Why did you go from a mountain to a tree?» He said, «Because a mountain has no roots.»
So I started digging into a sycamine tree, and I want to tell you—Can I tell you? Can I tell anybody who wants to know what a sycamine tree is? A very unique tree! It’s not that the roots grow deep—only about 24 inches deep into the earth—but they grow wide, very wide. They take over territory, and when they grow wide, they twist and tangle, so it is almost impossible to uproot the tree. Because the roots are twisted and wide, when a sycamine tree is growing, it’s not the trunk you have to worry about; it’s the root. And Jesus is saying, «Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost!» God said, «If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, I will demolish the system that has you stuck.»
You tried to shake yourself loose, and you couldn’t get loose! You tried to pray yourself loose, and you couldn’t get loose! You tried to talk yourself out of it, and you couldn’t get loose! The reason you couldn’t get loose is that your roots are intertwined. The only thing that will untangle your roots is your conviction of faith in God. He said, «If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, I will untangle the system.» Can I go into the system? You’re hurt over your husband because your husband hurts you, but it’s rooted in something that happened with your father.
Now, all of a sudden, everybody that reminds you of your father gets tied into the system, and now you’re raising a son, and he’s taking on characteristics of your ex-husband. The enemy is tangling your roots! Am I helping somebody? If I’m helping you, holler at me! If you will notice, your life has a system of attack. There is something consistent in the DNA of the things that happen to you. It is the roots of the sycamine tree, and they get tangled up until you can’t take one from another. The same thing that happened to you before is happening to you again. The thing that happened to your father is happening to you, and the thing your uncle went through is now happening to your son.
You can see a pattern because the sycamine roots go wide. They touch your father; they touch your wife; they touch your son; they touch your nephew; they touch your nieces. They affect your job; they affect your economy; they affect your leadership; they affect every area of your life! It affects how you handle money, it affects your business, it affects your future because the roots are intertwined! That’s why Jesus didn’t ask for the mountain, because when it comes to forgiveness, mountains don’t have roots, and unforgiveness has roots. The roots are the roots of bitterness, and the bitterness gets so entangled that sometimes you even forget what you’re mad about. You’re just angry, and it’s all tangled up together.
But the Holy Spirit said tonight, «I’m going to untangle your roots. I’m going to set you free. I’m going to bring you to a place of wholeness. I’m going to bring you to a place of healing. I’m going to bring you to a place of restoration. I’m going to untangle patterns that have been going on for generations and generations in your life. This didn’t even start with you; this started with your mother and your grandmother. This started with your grandfather and your granddaddy, and the roots have gone wide, and your past is trying to reach over and mess up your future! But the devil is a liar! This is going to be a root-untangling service! This is going to be a…»
Root untangling meeting, you watching on the internet: your roots are about to be untangled. Things that have been in your life that you couldn’t get loose are buried deep in the ground, and they’re everywhere, all tied up around rocks, ridges, and dry places. You love the Lord, but you can’t get free. You love Jesus, but you can’t break free. You love your son, but you can’t tell him. You love your wife, but you can’t express it. You love what you do, but all hell is breaking loose at your job, affecting every area of your life. If you’re seeing the same spirit show up in different dimensions of your life, it’s because your life resembles the sycamine tree. However, the Lord sent me here tonight to preach a liberating word that will free you from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet.
Somebody jump up on your feet as if you lost your mind and give me more power! Somebody trip up on your feet like you’ve lost your mind! Yes, yes, yes! You’ve been a prisoner in your own head, a prisoner in your emotions, a prisoner in your own thoughts. It’s not that you don’t look free on the outside—good morning, welcome to JCPenney’s—but it seems everything is going fine while you know that down deep inside, you’ve been tangled up in your mind and spirit. Late at night, when everybody else is asleep, you’re awake; it’s affecting your rest, peace, and mind. But tonight is your night! That’s why the devil didn’t want you to get in here because tonight is your night for a breakthrough. The Spirit of the living God is in this place tonight! We’re going to take faith as small as a grain of mustard seed.
Look at your neighbor and say, «You just need a little bit of faith.» Type it online: you just need a little bit of faith! If you get out just a little bit of faith tonight, God will destroy the system trying to destroy you. The odds are against you, the roots are against you, the situation is against you, the times are against you, but greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. A greater power is about to take over your life, to heal your mind, body, emotions, health, and rest. The Spirit of God is present here; I serve notice on every devil in this place tonight: you have no more territory. We will give you no more space, room, or power. Somebody’s eyes are opening up! Somebody’s vision is returning! Somebody’s commitment is being stirred! The Spirit of the Lord is here. Can I preach like I do at home?
I feel the anointing of the Holy Ghost in this place! I feel the screaming of demonic warfare that has been working against you all your life. You’re not bound, tied, or tangled; you’re not an inmate, and you’re not alone. You’ve felt by yourself, but the Holy Ghost says you’re not alone. God is preparing to demolish the whole system and not only pull the tree up but cast it into the sea. If you’re in this place and have something that needs to be cast into the sea; if you’re here and have been carrying a pain that’s too much for you to bear; if you’ve been wounded for a while, I want you to seize the anointing that is in this room to untangle and set yourself free. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty! There will be liberty in this place tonight, and there will be liberty online! Every time you try to move forward, the devil tries to shut you down—but the devil is a liar!
God is about to uproot that thing from your life and set you free! I need a hundred people in this room who feel God pulling the sycamine tree out of your life to give Him praise! I feel the anointing of the Holy Ghost in this place. I’ve got to be free! I’ve got to come out of this! I’ve got to get loose! I’ve got to be whole! I’ve got to be delivered! Whatever it takes, whatever it takes to get me out of this, I’ve got to be free. I didn’t come this far to be bound. I didn’t come this far to be tangled. I didn’t come this far to be blind. I didn’t come this far to go back, never! You’re a liar! Tonight is my night! In the name of Jesus, I declare liberty all over this house!
For the next three minutes, everything that binds you, get it out! Loose your daughter! Loose your son! Loose your job! Loose your finances! Loose your peace! Loose your joy! Loose your vision! Loose your anointing! Loose your calling! I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you! Glory to God! Love three people and tell them, «I’m free! I’m free! My roots are loose, my mind is loose, my heart is loose!» I feel that old-fashioned anointing of the Holy Spirit in this place! Somebody’s got a breakthrough! The devil is mad; hell is upset! The enemy has had a system operating in your life, but you’re going to be the first generation not to have a sycamine tree! I rebuke the tree that’s a part of your life.
So, they’re closed tonight. The defense for an offense is the discovery of mustard seed faith. If you believe God just a little, the entire system will begin to shift. There’s a system working against you—the way you were raised, the things you’ve gone through—designed to take over territory. God is going to remove the tree! I want everyone in this place who feels this message speaks to them in a special way and says, «My God, that man is talking to me!» God has placed an anointing on me for you. You might be watching online, but the anointing is for you. You don’t have to spend your life tied to a dead root. Young people, you don’t have to start your life entangled, angry, bitter, or hurt. There are young people here with old people’s problems. You’ve witnessed things a young person should never have experienced, going through challenges beyond your years. It’s a miracle you’re here, and God wants to pull your sycamine tree up by the roots!
Some couples here were meant to be power couples in the kingdom of God, which is why the enemy fights you so hard. You’ve been hurt and unable to overcome the pain. You’ve said all the right things, but the root system is so complicated that you’re tied to it. There are people here who have incurred injuries, betrayals, and disappointments, leaving you wounded. Every time you see certain people, you feel a certain way, yet you smile and hide it. The enemy is trying to plant roots in you. If you relate to any of these categories, come as close to this altar as you can. Don’t worry about what you’re wearing, what people say, or what they think—don’t worry about it!
The only thing we want is to untangle this root. This root is wide, complicated, and far-reaching. You love Jesus, you worship Jesus, and you praise Jesus, but then go home and wrestle with this root—it’s a root of loneliness, anger, lust, and unforgiveness. The enemy keeps reminding you of what you could have had if things had been different, attempting to kill your faith that God can get you anywhere you need to be—out of the pit, out of Potiphar’s house, out of the prison, and still end up as a prince. But the Lord sent me here tonight to tell you that your destiny is secure! God is about to bring you into the fullness of His purpose and uproot that sycamine tree—the root system, the words they said, the things they did, the memories that brought you to where you are. You’re a king’s kid and on the verge of your deliverance!
The anointing of the Holy Spirit is here right now, and God is about to do something amazing in your life. Glory to God, glory to God! They’re still coming—don’t miss this opportunity! Don’t let pride keep you in your seat; don’t let fear hold you back. You are in the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! God is going to give you a pure heart so you can see Him! Before this year is out, you’re going to see God in a way you’ve never seen Him before. You’re going to love God in a way you’ve never loved Him before. You’re going to reach God in a way you’ve never reached Him before. Before this year is out, God is going to uproot that tree; bitterness is going to go, anger is going to go, frustration is going to go.
Lift your hands and open your mouth! The Spirit of God is in this place! Father, these are your sons and daughters—your people, your children! Like a mother fights for her child, you will fight for them! You will go to war for them! Their enemies become your enemies! I cast all my cares on you right now! I will not carry this another day! I will not lay up at night thinking about it! I will rebuke the images, the memories, the scars, and the constant rehearsals of how I was wounded and hurt. I reserve my feelings for praise, for worship, for love! I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mind!
I feel glory coming into the room! Here comes a wave of glory—it’s all in the aisle, all over the internet! I feel the glory coming! Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty! I declare liberty over your life right now in the name of Jesus! I declare liberty over your life! Shake your hands—your hands are free! Move your feet—your feet are free! Your heart is free! Your vision is free! Now open your mouth and give God the praise tonight! The Holy Ghost said, «Get out of your feelings! Get out of your feelings! Get out of your feelings!»
The enemy’s been trying to contaminate you, always talking to you about how you feel about it. It doesn’t matter how you feel; what matters is what you believe! Turn what you believe away from your feelings and let the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your heart and mind! Come on, somebody! Come on, anybody! Come on, everybody! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! If you’re breathing, give Him praise! If you’re alive, give Him praise! If you have a mouth, give Him praise! If you have a heart, give God praise! Open your mouth to the Lord, open your mouth and shout unto God with the voice of triumph!