TD Jakes - Pull It Down
Go to Second Samuel, chapter 5, verses 1-10, and stand to your feet if you would. Second Samuel, chapter 5, verses 1-10. Before we even read the Word, I want somebody with good lungs—like you’re hollering at your kids—to shout, «Pull it down!» Shout it again, «Pull it down!» Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! One more time, «Pull it down!» Yes! That’s what we’re going to preach about today.
Beginning at verse 1: All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, «We are your own flesh and blood. In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.'»
When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David—this is his third anointing—king over Israel. It took a while, but it happened! Glory to God! Yes, it took a while, but it happened. It took some years, but it happened. David was 30 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 40 years. In Hebron, he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem, he reigned over all Israel and Judah for 33 years.
My God! The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites who lived there. Now he is going into his first fight. The Jebusites said to David, «You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.» They thought, «David cannot get in here.» Nevertheless, somebody shout, «Nevertheless!» Oh, there are some nevertheless people in here! Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, which is the city of David. On that day, David said, «Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those lame and blind who are David’s enemies.»
That is why they say, «The blind and lame will not enter the palace.» David then took up residence—oh, I love that! —David then took up residence in the fortress and called what was Jebusite territory the city of David. He built up the area around it from the terraces inward, and he became more and more powerful because the Lord God Almighty was with him. Shout Amen, somebody! One more time, «Pull it down!»
Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on us as we endeavor to preach the Word of God. I thank you for what you’re about to do. Have your way in the ministry; have your way in the midst of your people. Give us clarity of thought, nimbleness of mind, and help us to avoid distraction as we focus on what you have to say to us. This is a prophetic Word; I declare it in Jesus' name. Amen!
You may be seated in His presence. Pull it down! I recently got ready to do some work on my house, and as is my custom, I asked for a lot of estimates. Little do the people know, when they come out to do estimates on the property, I learn from the people who are doing estimates while they are estimating the work. I am estimating them. I’m always asking questions about how they would tackle the tasks, not only to learn but to check their confidence. Not only am I getting a free tutorial when I do that, but I’m also evaluating their knowledge and grasp of their craft and whether they are prepared to do the job. It doesn’t do any good to get the best price if they do the worst job.
Truth be told, all of us are always evaluating each other, whether we want to admit it or not. We’re always evaluating. Not only do we evaluate other people based on simple impressions—our instincts about them, their dress, their voice, their intonation, their body language—we’re reading people before they ever speak. When they speak, they confirm what you read. But we also evaluate the quality of fruit in the grocery store, the freshness of meat, the neatness of homes when we go in, the honesty of individuals, etc. We’re always evaluating things.
This has little to do with our intelligence. You would think that it does, but it doesn’t. It is actually a primal instinct that even animals have in the jungle. It keeps us alive to evaluate the prey or what is preying on us and whether we can handle it. You have to understand this; I was in South Africa on a safari years ago with my son, and we were in a jeep. There was a rhino in the road, and the rhino stood there and looked at the jeep. Now, the rhino didn’t know it was a jeep; it thought it was an animal. Because the jeep was the size of the rhino, the rhino started pawing and put its head down to attack. It had estimated the size of the jeep to be a threat.
Probably if we had been on a bicycle, it would have paid no attention because it was evaluating whether we were big enough to be a threat to it. These innate assessments operate in all living things—everything breathing, everything functioning. You don’t have to be human to evaluate. These innate characteristics operate everywhere. I mean literally everywhere. In a club, if you’re a person who goes to clubs and you don’t evaluate who’s in the room and make an assessment, you could get into all kinds of trouble.
In gangs, it’s true. If you’re in gangs, but it’s also true if you’re in the boardroom or the corporate world. You’re always sizing each other up by their presentation, their language, their protocol, their discipline, to see whether this is a safe person to do business with or not. You will conduct assessments and evaluations publicly and privately before you engage in business, if you are smart, so that you don’t make decisions. Even in church, you evaluate. You try out for the choir, you try out for the praise team; you try out for the day to evaluate whether you can function with others. Can you harmonize with others? Are you looking for the stage or are you here to serve?
That kind of evaluation is necessary. Whether you do it consciously or unconsciously, you’re always doing it. That’s why you date people. They don’t know you’re not there for the food; you could have eaten at home. So you’re having casual conversations, but you’re trying to evaluate if this is a candidate or a one-off experience. Let the church say Amen! We are forever evaluating risk versus reward—risk versus reward. There’s always a risk, and there’s always a reward.
I personally have a rule: never go to battle where there are no spoils. If there’s nothing to be won, what are we fighting about? What are we talking about? This text is really about how King David was extremely underestimated—not just because he was royalty, not just because he was anointed, and not just because he was chosen, but also because David was relentless. I suggest for your consideration that one of the reasons David was chosen was because he was relentless. You don’t want somebody who’s going to be a fighter and give up in the middle of the fight. David was chosen because he was relentless; he was tenacious.
But the Jebusites underestimated him. Give me a few minutes because you’re very familiar, if you’ve been in church for very long, with who David is, but you might not be familiar with who the Jebusites are. Understanding who the Jebusites are will help you understand why they made the gross mistake of underestimating David. The name Jebusites means «of the trodden underfoot» or «the down tramplers.» They had a reputation for taking you down, for destroying you. The name literally means «the down tramplers.»
According to the Bible, the Jebusites were ancient descendants of Canaan, who was a descendant of Ham, who was a descendant of Noah. You will remember when Ham sinned, God cursed Canaan. So the Jebusites were the descendants of Ham. They occupied this particular territory, which is Jerusalem. They were cursed by God throughout history. They were attacked by Joshua, but a remnant remained. God sent later an angel to remove them, yet a portion of them continued to reside in the high country north of the Dead Sea because of poor access to water.
The Jebusites had built these underground huge waterways to irrigate the land with water. When I was in Jerusalem—this territory that we’re talking about is actually going to be Jerusalem—I had an opportunity to go through the waterways. The waterways are big enough for four or five people to stand side by side and walk through them. The Jebusites had developed this irrigation system to accommodate their living in the high places.
If you start in Jericho and go to Jerusalem, you have to go up. If you start in Jerusalem and go to Jericho, you have to go down because Jerusalem is a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. So the Bible says a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. I want you to see the height. David is now coming to attack the Jebusites because the Jebusites are dwelling on what will become Jerusalem. They perched up on the hill for a reason, so that they would have a strategic advantage, though constantly facing people, angels, and plagues.
If I’m not mistaken, it was over 52 plagues throughout history that had hit the Jebusites, and they had survived them all. Angels had come against them and attacked, and the Jebusites had survived. When Joshua came to Jericho, the Jebusites fought with Joshua, and the Jebusites had survived. You see, when something has survived a long time and survived for generations, there’s a certain arrogance that comes with longevity.
When David comes to attack them, the generationally cursed people scoffed at him, saying, «We don’t even have to fight you; our handicapped people are enough to totally annihilate you. We could defeat you with crippled people.» Now, they are talking to the king of Israel, but nobody had totally annihilated them because of their position, not necessarily their power. They dwelt in a high place that would become Jerusalem, what was considered in the Scriptures the capital of Israel. Today, Tel Aviv is considered the capital of Israel, but biblically, Jerusalem would become the capital of Israel—not only that, going on into the deeper understanding that Jerusalem is the capital for three different major religions.
But at this time, it is occupied by the cursed descendants of Ham, called the Jebusites. They dwelt in the high places, and David has paid his dues and become the king of Israel. The first thing that stood out to me when I read the text is that the text calls the king of Israel a shepherd. Now, it is interesting to call the king a shepherd because that was his old job. Okay, so when God calls him, «I have called you to shepherd over Israel and to rule over them,» that shepherd lit off in my head.
So, if you’re taking notes, write down «the scuffling shepherd.» The scuffling shepherd seems like an oxymoron because when you call someone a shepherd, you would think of somebody who’s basically babysitting sheep. But David wasn’t just any kind of shepherd; he was a scuffling shepherd. Now, the scuffling shepherd seems like an oxymoron because when you call someone a shepherd, you would think of someone babysitting sheep.
But David had learned how to scuffle. The reconciliation of Israel comes after a long, hard battle. There was a time when David had ruled over Judah but not Israel, because Saul and his descendants controlled Israel. There was a time that Israel did not accept David as king. David has, bear with me, three anointings. The first one is given to him by Samuel, which anointed him while he was yet a shepherd boy to be the king over Israel. The second anointing comes years later when he is anointed by Judah to be the king of Judah, but he is still not the king of Israel. The third anointing comes when he is 30 years old, and he is anointed king over Israel.
I want to stop there; that is a fulfillment of the first anointing. Look at how long it took for David to become what he was anointed to be. The problem with our culture and our society is that we get a little dab of anointing, and we want to run out and move in that anointing when we don’t understand that we have to pay our dues, fight our battles, and go through our tests before we reach that point. Just because the prophecy doesn’t happen immediately doesn’t mean that God is not going to do it. You have to have patience.
He was anointed to be king while he was a shepherd boy, and he is now 30 years old before he walks into the fullness of what was prophesied years ago on his life. But when he walked into it, he walked into it to rule for 40 years. I’m trying to tell you it may be a long time coming, but when it comes, it’s going to last longer than it took to get it. David threw out his rejection. He was rejected by Israel. By the way, Wednesday night I’m going to be teaching on rejection. Yeah, we’re going to pick up where we left off from the past Wednesday night. Something is happening in this church on Wednesday night. It’s just been amazing. Last Wednesday night, you would have thought it was Sunday morning.
But David is anointed to be king over Israel, and he has now stepped into the full vesture of his anointing. It takes time to come into the full vesture of your anointing; it takes time to realize who you really are. He was anointed way back then, but the fullness of it didn’t manifest until he was 30 years old. Don’t miss the fact that Christ started His ministry when He was 30 years old, and Christ is called the Son of David. So there’s a little shadow there in regard to David becoming the king of Israel at 30. At 30 years old, Christ seeks to be accepted by Israel as king, though they rejected Him. If you want to go deeper into this, David was a shepherd boy, but he was a scuffling shepherd. He had fought all his life; «All my life,» he would say, «I had to fight.» He had to take care of sheep, and yet he had to fight lions; he had to take care of sheep, and yet he had to fight bears. But he was so precise in the fight that he was able to fight a lion and a bear with a lamb in his mouth.
Watch this: he was able to kill the lion and the bear without harming the sheep. Some of us fight, but in the process of fighting, we kill what we’re fighting for while we’re trying to stop what we’re fighting against. That’s why you can’t be promoted. It’s not that you’re not a rock thrower, but your aim is bad. You’ve got to be precise enough to save what God wants saved and kill what God wants killed. David was a scuffling shepherd; that’s why Samuel, when he found him, said, «I found a man after God’s own heart.»
David knew how to be a shepherd, caretaker, tender, and yet he knew how to go to war and fight. More importantly, he knew when to do which. There are people who have both natures, but they’re fighting when they need to be gentle and gentle when they need to be fighting. But David was a scuffling shepherd who understood what the time was and when to do both. He is no longer that shepherd boy; that is his old job. When he killed Goliath, he got promoted to his next job. You know you’re promoted by the level of attack that comes against you. If you kill the lion, the trophy is you get to fight the bear. If you kill the bear, the trophy is you get to fight Goliath. David was a boy when he killed Goliath, but that didn’t make him any less dead. Now, David, who has fought a lion and a bear and then Goliath, has fought his way into transition.
Now moving from the shepherd fields, he has come into the palace, and now Saul is trying to kill him. David cannot afford to use the same rock that he used on Goliath against Saul, because then he would have assaulted what David called God’s anointed. So David had to duck. God is looking for somebody who knows when to fight and knows when to duck, because had David tried to fight Saul, it would have been the anointing fighting the anointing. Jesus said, «A house divided against itself shall not be able to stand.»
So God doesn’t anoint people to bring anointed people down. All of these bathroom prophets who got you pulled off in a corner and these parking lot prophets who say they have a word aimed at God’s anointed: you are unbiblical, unscriptural, and unholy. The Holy Spirit doesn’t work against the Holy Spirit. You can’t pray that other wife away from her husband and call yourself anointed, because God’s Spirit will not work against His Word. Talk to me, somebody! That’s not an anointing you’re practicing; it’s witchcraft.
Now David has to be shrewd enough, because now he is being attacked by someone he respected. He’s shrewd enough to make his way into Saul’s tent and leave evidence there that he could have killed him, but he wouldn’t kill him lest the charge be laid on him that he has touched God’s anointed. We don’t have enough respect for God’s anointed. When God anoints a person, no matter what they do, be careful about putting your mouth on them because they belong to God. If it’s any bringing down to be done, God will bring them down, not you, because if you touch what God has anointed, you become an enemy—not of the person, but an enemy of God. Talk to me, somebody! Come on, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me! I want you to understand that Saul, from the beginning, had promised David things he didn’t receive. He had promised him that if he killed Goliath, he would get Michal, his daughter, but he never paid up.
Abner comes along now that David is king—actually, before he becomes king—and says, not only will I help you to become king, and I wish I had time; if we were in Bible class, I would go through how God used a rumor against Abner to turn his heart toward David, and how all of a sudden Abner, who is with Israel, starts working with David, who is in Judah, to undermine the distance to help him to become king. If I had time to show you that, then you would understand how all things work together for good for them that love the Lord, and God will use somebody who’s on the other side to help you accomplish your destiny and your purpose. But I don’t have time for that.
Abner did help David regain the kingdom, and Michal, who was rightfully David’s wife but had been married off to another man, part of Abner’s influence was to get David to say, «I will take Israel if you will get Michal back.» Because David is still suffering from a promise not kept. Is there anybody in here who is still suffering from a promise not kept? And David says to Abner, «I want what was promised to me. I killed Goliath; give me my Michal.» Michal is now married to somebody else. Abner pulled Michal out of her husband’s bed and brought her to David, with her husband walking behind her crying. Abner told her old husband, «Go back home.» The reason Michal ends up resentful of David is because David had pulled her away from one man to another man, because Saul, her father, had never kept his word before she met the first husband. God is bringing things into alignment, but Michal has an attitude.
Come on, stay with me! The term «shepherd» just blew me away. It explains to me that all he has prepared him for in his destiny is locked up in his history. All that is in his destiny is hidden in his history. So all of you who can’t find your purpose and can’t figure out what you’re supposed to be doing, God left clues in your history, because your history is the foundation that prepares you for your destiny. This is where history and destiny collide in the scuffling shepherd. It is not that God has forgotten that David is king, but He called him «shepherd» to draw an association between the skills He taught you as a shepherd boy; you’re now going to need them as a king in order to survive in this environment. Who am I talking to?
Nothing that you’ve been through shall be wasted. Stop bemoaning what you went through, no matter how painful, grievous, or difficult it may have been. No matter how embarrassing or humiliating it might have been, God took you through whatever He took you through to prepare you for what He’s about to do next in your life. Get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, especially those who went through hell! God didn’t take you through it for you to stay in it, but He was preparing you with the uniqueness of your history because of the dynamics of your destiny. There’s nobody like you; your story is unique from anybody else’s story. Your set of experiences is unique from anybody else’s experiences. So stop trying to deny where you’ve been, because God is going to use where you’ve been to establish you in where you’re going.
Somebody ought to help me praise Him about now! When we first meet David, he is shepherding sheep, but the seed of his greatness germinated in a position of weakness. All that David has become is all that he was in the first dimension of his life. He went all the way full circle to come to the next level. One is always about coming to the next level. Eleven is the next level of one. Twenty-one is the next level of eleven. Thirty-one is the next level, but you’re back at one again. Now David has come through years and years and years to become king, only to be called shepherd on the next level. Can I go deeper? Can I go deeper? But don’t forget he is a scuffling shepherd boy. He was fighting in his early days, and God has chosen him because David would not become weary in the battle. David had endurance, stamina, and tactics.
David led the armies of Israel when he was working for Saul. His military strategic attack started when he was killing animals. All his life he’s been a fighter. You’ve got to understand this so you can understand why they underestimated David. David had been raised up for such a time as this because God wanted this territory to become the headquarters, and it remains a headquarters today for all three major religious expressions. If David didn’t overtake the Jebusites, there would be no Jerusalem, which is the foundation of our faith, and that would have stopped the messianic reign of Christ because Jerusalem was paramount, but it was occupied. I’m telling you, a devil may be occupying the territory that God is going to use in your life to exalt you to the next level.
I’m telling you that the qualifications for the new thing God is going to do in your life are hidden in the old thing that you’ve already done. Your triumph is often a derivative of your trauma. Oh, can I go into just a minute? Your triumph is often a derivative of your trauma. You wouldn’t fight that hard if you hadn’t been hurt that bad. You wouldn’t have a made-up mind if you didn’t have a broken heart. You wouldn’t have a tenacity that made you indifferent to the opinions of others if you hadn’t been raised in isolation, rejected, and ostracized.
What you call trauma could be training for triumph. Your power for the next dimension is born from your pain. You can’t be exceptionally successful if you haven’t been exceptionally hurt, because it is the hurt; it’s what you’re running from that gives your legs the strength to keep on fighting for what you’re running to. If you had been raised in a lot of luxury, you wouldn’t have the fight to go through what you’re going through. But because you were raised in the lap of suffering and you have so much behind you, you say, «Whatever I’m going to be, I refuse to be what I used to be.» That’s what causes you to have the power to go to the next dimension.
Now God has cleared the way! Tell your neighbor, «God has cleared the way!» God has cleared the way to make sense out of your history as He opens up the door to your destiny. Some things don’t make sense in real time, but by the time you get to the next dimension, it will all begin to add up. You’ll see why you had to go through what you had to go through to get to the next dimension of what God is going to do in your life. The reason it took so much time isn’t just that you needed preparation; God needed to clear the way. By the time David is at the bottom of the hill of the Jebusites, Saul has died on his own sword. Saul has gone out of the way; now Saul has long since died, but his kingdom has fallen to his son, who is also defeated. Now David is able to reign without killing what God has anointed. His most important acquisition is before him, not behind him.
You’ve got to hear this: some of you think your greatest victories are behind you. You’re wrong! You’ve had a lot of victories; you killed the lion, you killed the bear, you killed Goliath, you withstood Saul, you made it out of that alive. You took a thousand foreskins and threw them down at his feet; you’ve been mighty in battle. And now you’re at a stage in your life that you think your major acquisitions are behind you. No, you’re wrong! Your training is behind you; the greatest acquisition of your life is in front of you. If you don’t get this, you will buy into being an old woman or old man. You will believe that you’re 40 and your life is over. You will believe that you’re 50 and your life is over. You haven’t even begun to see what God is going to do in your life. You haven’t even hit the runway of what God is about to do in your life. Who am I talking to in this place today?
Point two: I want to show you this—you’ve been shut out. You come to the door of your destiny and you’ve been shut out because the Jebusites' fortress was in a strategic location. It’s not just that the Jebusites are warriors; they’re strategically located in a position that’s called a stronghold. They thought themselves impenetrable because they were up so high, they could see you any way you tried to access them. So they looked down at David and laughed at him, saying, «Our crippled people can defeat you.» But David had been laughed at before. Goliath had laughed at him and said, «What am I, a dog, that you would send a boy to kill me?» That’s why God let your feelings be hurt early, so that you would have the resistance and the fortitude to take a licking and keep on ticking. Who am I talking to?
God didn’t want you to come to the edge of your destiny and burst out in tears because somebody didn’t believe in you, so they let another person not believe in you early on, allowing them to prepare you against the strategy of the enemy. So that when they insult you now, you say, «Child, I’ve been called everything, I’ve been through everything, and I still know who I am.» If you know who you are, give Him a praise right now.
Now, sit down. This is what the Lord told me to tell you: you’ve been shut out of what’s next because God won’t give it to you just because you want it. God won’t give it to you just because you deserve it. God won’t give it to you just because you think you ought to have it. You’re going to have to use the skill sets that you learned in your history to prepare you for your destiny. That’s why I say whatever you lost is not a loss if you learn from it. If you learn something from it, then you still profited from it because you’ve now got a tool that you didn’t have before. I’m talking to somebody. I’m getting somebody ready for something that God is about to do. The Jebusite strength is in their strategic location; they are in a place of strength. It is not that they are strong, but it is the position that they hold that they lord over you to control you. Weak people have to use position to control strong people lest they get defeated. They had withstood all the attacks of the past.
As strong as Joshua was, he could not completely annihilate them. As strong as the angel was, he could not completely annihilate them. They moved into the mountaintops not because they are strong, but because they are scared. Whatever is yelling at you right now is scared of you. Whatever is making fun of you right now is scared of you. Whatever is belittling you is scared of you. Whoever is talking about you, what you call «haters,» they all hate you because they’re scared of you. You need to make up your mind right now: would you rather be your hater or would you rather be hated? There are only two job openings: either you are going to stand down there and throw rocks at everybody or you are going to be the one who is an overcomer.
Ask somebody this morning: I am going after the thing that you think you can’t attain, the thing that you think you can’t have—what has taunted you and flaunted itself before you as something unattainable or unacquirable? What is the thing that God is talking to you about right now that looks like it is positioned too high for you so that you can’t find a way to get to it without being destroyed? The text has brought us to the point where we must do some self-evaluation. They have underestimated David. That won’t kill him, but if David underestimates himself, it will destroy him. It is not what other people think about you that brings you down; it is the belief system that you hold about yourself that determines your victory.
Number one: are you willing to fight for it? If you’re not willing to fight for it, don’t go after it. Whether it is prosperity, promotion, depression, lust, or sin, it has built a defense around itself, underestimating your desire to break through. Drugs, alcohol, prosperity—whatever it is that needs to be defeated in your life has taken on a high place. And whatever it is that God told me to preach about is generational. You’re not just fighting your devil; you inherited this devil. That’s why I wanted you to understand how far back the Jebusites go, because David is fighting the Jebusites, which represent a generational curse where God has cursed Canaan—these are his descendants—and they have occupied the territory that belongs to the people of God.
Somebody’s living in your house, somebody’s driving your car, somebody’s sitting at your desk, somebody’s sitting in your position. This is a warfare message about what to do when you’ve been shut out. Nudge your neighbor and say, «I’m through being shut out.» Remember how Jericho was shut out? The walls of Jericho were so high that they couldn’t get access to what was next in their lives. Look at your neighbor and say, «You do have a next, but in order to get to your next, you’ve got to fight.»
Point number three: your stronghold. If it wasn’t valuable, there would be no stronghold. The stronghold and the position, the longevity of the fight and how long it has been there, is an indication that there’s something on the other side of that problem—your insecurity, that addiction, that mindset, that sin that has ingrained itself into your life. It has taken up a stronghold not because it is powerful, but because there’s something on the other side of it that you need to have. And you can’t have it until you take it by force. The kingdom suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
Those three people say, «I’m gonna take it by force! I’m gonna take it by force! I’m going to take it by force! I’m going to fight until I wear it down. I’m gonna fight until I get set free. I’m gonna fight until I dethrone its power over my life. I’m gonna fight until I bring it to its knees. I’m gonna fight until it surrenders to my calling and my destiny. I’m gonna fight until I win.» For Canaan, it was the Jericho wall. There’s been something on the other side called the Promised Land, but it was protected by a stronghold. Joshua has drawn his sword and is ready to fight, but the angel said to him, «You can’t fight this kind of stronghold with that kind of weapon. This is a spiritual fight!» Somebody shout «stronghold!»
Somewhere in your life, whether you’re online or in this room, something has set up a stronghold, and you’re wondering, «Can it be done? Will I ever be happy? Will I ever be free? Will I ever be loosed? Will I ever possess it? Will I ever experience wholeness? Will I ever have completeness?» And as long as that is a question in your mind, you can’t win. Hey, David took the stronghold of Jerusalem and made it his capital. David built a house where he had his greatest fight. David called the Jebusites' territory the City of David when he conquered it. Come on, somebody! God said there’s something that you’ve got to overcome to possess the land, and when you overcome it, you’re going to rename it.
In 2 Samuel 5:6, the Jebusites taunted David. The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, «You will not get in here!» What is saying «You will not get in here?» You will not have wholeness; you will not have healing; you will not have restoration; you will not be loved; you will not have peace; you will not live; you will not survive; you will not have strength again; you will not have health. What is hollering down from the mountain telling you what you can’t have? «You will not get in here!» Even the blind and the lame can ward you off! They thought, they thought this was a stronghold. They believed that David could not get in, and some of us have been convinced.
And here lies the problem: if you believe the lie, you cannot take the land. I’m going to say that again for the people in the back: if you believe the lie, you cannot take the land. Lies like: «This is just how I am; this is how my mama was; this is how my grandmama was; this is how my great-grandmama was.» That’s why I’m preaching; it’s a generational curse. The Jebusites have set up camp on your family territory for years, and if you believe the lie that your mama believed, that your grandmama believed, that your great-grandma believed—that they probably talked to you—you have a self-defeating belief system. Write that down: a self-defeating belief system. We are not so much fighting the Jebusites as we are fighting the self-defeating belief system that’s stopping you from moving into your destiny. That will kill your marriage, ruin your ministry, destroy your relationships, cost you your job, and take away your promotions.
A self-defeating belief system is what you ought to be fighting against. Instead, most of the time, we’re fighting with flesh and blood when, in reality, it is your mindset that has to change for the move to take place. Here’s a good note for you: anybody who is fighting you is fighting their own mindset but finds it easier to attack you than to confront their own self-defeating mindset. Self-sabotage is killing us! You think you’re fighting a demon. You’re not fighting a demon. Satan doesn’t have to send a demon to fight you if you have a self-defeating mindset—a propensity to be self-destructive—has been planted in your background to bring forth fruit right when you’re at the edge of coming into your purpose. But they underestimated David because David was determined.
I need a thousand determined people to jump up and holler! I wouldn’t have come to church if I wasn’t ready to fight. I didn’t get up this morning because it was easy; I got up and got dressed because I’m determined. I can’t feed off of where I work; I can’t feed off my neighbors, but I had to get some food for the fight necessary for me to possess what God is about to give me. In your life, it’s going to require another kind of weapon than what you used before. What brought you here will not take you there. This is another kind of battle! Joab broke through a tunnel that led to a spring and opened the gates to the citadel. Ancient Babylon was also built up as a seemingly invincible stronghold, but it came down.
Jeremiah 51:53 says, «Even if Babylon reaches the sky and fortifies her lofty stronghold, I will send destroyers against her,» declares the Lord. God said, «I don’t care how high the wall is built in your life; I will send destroyers to bring that thing down! Give me all the power you got. I don’t care how long it’s been around; I don’t care how much damage it’s done; I don’t care how embarrassing it’s been! God said, 'I will bring that thing down! '» And the high places! God said, «I will bring them down!»
Look at somebody who looks like they’ve got some faith and tell them, «Something’s gonna happen in here this morning!» God used Cyrus and the Persians, who weren’t even believers, to overthrow Babylon. God will take somebody who’s not even in your belief system, who doesn’t even believe like you believe, and use them as a weapon to defeat the thing trying to defeat you. You may not get it from your relatives; you may not get it from your members; you may not get it from your church friends; you may not get it from your prayer partner. But God is determined to bring that thing down! Somebody shout, «It’s got to come down!»
Now, I want you to see this: in the Old Testament, David defeated the Jebusites by climbing up through the waterways. He went up through the waterways, and they couldn’t see him because they were big gutters—big tunnels for irrigation. Because the Jebusites were up so high, there was no water up there, so they built a system to irrigate what they thought was their land. David used what they built against them! Wait a minute! That sounds familiar. Did not David use Goliath’s sword to cut off his own head? David knew how to turn the weapons of his enemy against him to bring about the victory! I feel a Holy Ghost breakthrough about to hit this place today! A breakthrough is about to happen in this place today! I mean something that has set up a high place in your life for a long time, God’s about to bring that thing down! In the Old Testament, David defeated the stronghold by going up, but we are not in the Old Testament; we’re in the New Testament.
And in the New Testament, you defeat the stronghold not by going up, but by pulling it down! Shout it! «Pull it down!» Shout it again! «Pull it down!» Oh, do you hear me? 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says, «The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds!» Look the devil in the face and tell him, «I’m gonna pull it down! If it takes all night, I’m gonna pull it down! If I’ve got to talk in tongues, I’m gonna pull it down! If I’ve got to walk the floor at three o’clock in the morning, I’m gonna pull it down! I didn’t fight everything I fought to get here and let you reign over me! The devil is a liar! Whatever it takes to pull down the stronghold in my life, I’m gonna pull it down! I’m gonna pull it down for my daughter; I’m gonna pull it down for my son; I’m gonna pull it down for my grandchildren; I’m gonna pull it down before I die! I’m gonna—what? —before I die, I’m gonna—what? —before I go forward, I’m gonna—what? —before I move in, I’m gonna—what? —shout it like you mean it!
Shout it like you mean it! Sound it like you’re tired of it! Shout it like you want to fight about it, like you’ve made up your mind! Shout it like you ain’t scared! Shout it like you’re ready to fight! Roll up your sleeves and take off your earrings. Do whatever you’ve got to do! Whatever you’ve got to do! Whatever you’ve got to do! Give Him 30 seconds of crazy praise! 30! 29! 28! 27! 26! 25! 24! 23! 22! 21! 20! 19! 18! 17! 16! 15! 14! Don’t stop! 13, 12, come on! 11, 10, 9, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, I, one! The victory is about to break loose in this place! I feel a yoke about to break in this place! I feel a door about to open in this place!
If you’ve got the Holy Ghost at all, give your God a praise! Praise Him until you feel it! Praise Him until you break through! Pull it down, mama! Pull it down, sister! Pull it down, preacher! Pull it down, brother! Pull it down, sister! Pull it down! Take it down, God! Pull it down! It’s coming down! Wait a minute— the Holy Ghost said this is a war dance! I want everybody who’s going to war to give God a war dance right now! For your daughter! For your finances! For your future! For your destiny! For your prophecy! This means war! This means war! This means war! This means I’m gonna fight till I pull it down! Oh, you ain’t ready to fight! You’re standing there looking cute! If you’ve got a devil to fight, you better do what I said and go into a war dance! If you don’t do anything else, pull it down! Pull it down! Pull it down! Pull it down! It’s coming down! It’s coming down! It’s coming down! It’s coming down!
Today is the last day of Mental Health Month. The text I just quoted is a mental health text. It’s about a mindset: the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, so put your slingshot up! But mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds! Watch this—casting down imaginations! Imaginations, the things you imagine to be true! It’s going to cast out imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God! It may be high, but it’s coming down! It may have been around for years, but it’s coming down! It may have set up a stronghold, but it’s coming down! Shout yes! Sound yes! Praise Him! Somebody praise Him! Anybody praise Him! Somebody praise Him! Is there anybody in the Father’s house that’s bold enough and strong enough to give my God some praise? Yes! Oh yes! Yes! Yes! I’m sweating! The reason I’m sweating is because I’m tight! You would expect me to be in a fight and not break a sweat! But when I finish sweating, I’m going back to dancing because I’m about to take new territory!
Somebody shout yes! As I close, yes, I’m in the process of selling off a piece of property and we’re getting ready to shift the name on the deed! I can’t allow the deed to remain the same and shift the territory! So my last point is, shift the territory! If you’re gonna shift the territory, you gotta change the name! Abram was called Abram until God shifted the territory! He said, if I’m gonna shift your territory, I’m gonna change your name from Abram to Abraham, from Sarai to Sarah! Any time there’s a shift, you gotta rename it!
Change what you used to call depression to triumph! Change what you used to call fear! Change what you used to call trauma! It’s time to change the name! Your God is about to shift the name on the deed! And the last thing the Lord said, He’s going to give you houses, hallelujah, that you didn’t build and vineyards that you didn’t even grow! All my life, whenever I went to Jerusalem, I thought the Jews built the underground irrigation systems, but they didn’t build it! The Jebusites did! Yet they got the benefits for what the Jebusites built! Whoever I’m preaching to didn’t build it, but you will reap the benefits of what somebody else built! They didn’t know they were building it for you!
Slap somebody and tell them it’s mine! I didn’t build it, but it’s mine! I didn’t lay the brick, but it’s mine! I didn’t dig the tunnel, but it’s mine! I didn’t go through the pain, but it’s mine! Because God is about to shift the territory! Somebody turn around in a circle—God’s getting ready to shift! I prophesy there will be a shift! The tail will become the head! The last shall become first! The one you made fun of—God is about to exalt! I’m talking about you! I dare you to be glad about it and give your God some praise! I’m finished! I’m gonna quit! I just need you to say, „pull it down“ seven times! This is it! Now, praise for it! Now, praise for it! Coming down! Praise for it! Coming down! Praise the point! Coming down! Praise for it! Coming down! Praise for it! Forthcoming down! Pray that! Pray! Pray! Pray! Pray! Praying for it! Coming down! Praying for it! Coming down! Waving forth! Coming down! Praying forth! Coming down!
Here’s my review! I’m out of time, I gotta stop! Here’s my review: number one, you gotta be a scuffling shepherd! This is a fight! Number two, you gotta take what you’ve been shut out of! Number three, you gotta deal with your strongholds! You can’t keep shutting other people down and not deal with your strongholds! The problem isn’t the Jebusites—it’s how you think! Bring down your strongholds! God said if you’ll be a scuffling shepherd, if you’ll attack what you’ve been shut out of, if you’ll deal with your turbulent strongholds, God said I’m going to shift the territory! To this day, Jebus, where the Jebusites lived, is Jerusalem! To this day, it is the city of David! To this day, it is the epicenter of three of the largest religions in this world! To this day, it is still controlled by the movement and dictates of what David was able to do thousands of years ago! If you pull it down, you’re going to bless generations!
Now, I’m a witness: strongholds don’t come down easy! Don’t picture people as strongholds! This is spiritual! This is something that is taking a position in a high place! It is an imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of God! It’s not that you don’t know God—it’s that you have a conflicting belief system that nullifies your faith!
You may know the knowledge of God, but it has exalted itself above what you know about God! It’s an idol in your life, just like Buddha! We could not get you to worship a statue, but you are more loyal to your belief systems in your head than to your knowledge of God! It has messed you up before and it will mess you up again! And the Lord told me to tell you, as I close this message: properties are going to shift! Opportunities are going to shift! Marriages are going to shift! Home life is going to shift! When you pull down that unforgiveness, that anger, that hostility, that resentment, that bitterness, that silence, that rage, the way you handle things—it’s gonna heal everything! This is a word from the Lord!