TD Jakes - Purpose in my Prison
I want you to go to Ephesians 3:7-12. At this moment, we interrupt Paul mid-sentence as he writes to the beloved church at Ephesus—a confirming word, a centralized word that places him in the center of his purpose individually and theirs collectively, which he will describe as the eternal purpose of God. Beginning at verse 7: «Whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power; unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ; to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he has purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.»
Come on, somebody! In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Good God, all mercy! I want to talk for a few moments about «Purpose in My Prison.» Let’s pray while we’re standing:
Spirit of the living God, breathe on us, breathe on this word like a smoldering flickering flame; breathe on it till it blazes with the fire of your presence. I thank you, I extol Thee, I adore Thee, I exalt Thee, I honor Thee. I humble myself before you to speak in this place today, in Jesus' name, amen.
You may be seated. About 33 or 34 years ago, I guess I was living in St. Albans, West Virginia, and contemplating making a move to Dallas, but in the meantime, I was traveling around the country preaching. I was traveling by myself everywhere all the time, and by the time I got back to my room, I was wet and tired. One time, I was so tired that I slid down the wall onto the floor and fell asleep in my wet clothes. But I traveled by myself. When I got back home, a gentleman named Holloway Gray, who was my senior deacon at the time, came to me and said, «I want to quit my job and travel with you everywhere you go.» I said, «That’s nice, but I wasn’t really sure I wanted anybody to travel with me everywhere I went.»
That’s number one. Number two, you have a good job working for Columbia Gas Company, and you’ve been there a long time—you’re going to get a pension. I didn’t want to be responsible for a setback. Number three, I’m living by faith; I don’t know what’s going to happen from day to day, and I don’t want to invite you into the vortex of this faith experience because this is not for the faint of heart. Sometimes it’s feast, and sometimes it’s famine. Sometimes they don’t tell you the truth, and sometimes the checks bounce.
Hi Denise, I didn’t know you would be sitting out there talking about her husband. Yeah, he was my best friend, and he had a temper. I don’t know what about my answer gave him an attitude, but he had an attitude—a big one. He said, «I’m just as called to my ministry as you are to yours,» got smart with me, walked out the door, slammed it, and went on about his business. I thought to myself, «Could that be possible—that somebody is actually called to help you?» You see, I was used to being surrounded by people who were called to help themselves, and it sounded foreign to me that somebody could feel that convicted about helping you.
As we traveled, we went all over the world together—through time zones, airplanes, helicopters, boats, and canoes, with water and without water, with toilets and without toilets. We went everywhere together. As he moved from place to place, people would tell him, «You’re going to be a preacher.» He said, «No, I’m not.» He was so sure of his purpose that he did not see being a preacher as an elevation if it meant forsaking his purpose. It is rare to find someone who is sure that they are living on purpose—that they are doing that thing that they were created to do; that thing that releases endorphins when you do it; that thing that gives you energy when you do it; that thing that makes you innovative and creative when you do it; that thing that you think about and enjoy doing, and you don’t even realize you’re working because you’re doing the thing you were created to do.
The thing that God has endowed you with talents, gifts, and resources to accommodate what He designed you to do on earth—that thing is your purpose. Whether it’s a big thing or a small thing, settling into your purpose is being comfortable in your own skin, being sure of yourself, being envious of no man, and knowing that God has put you in a place where He wanted you to be. You are at your best when your feet are planted right in the center of your purpose. When you are in your purpose, the check is just a byproduct of the blessed assurance of knowing that you are doing the thing that you were created to do. When we talk about purpose, most people face a certain mystery. Paul uses the word mystery in the text; there’s a certain mystery as to whether I am living on purpose or not. Am I in my purpose? Am I doing the thing I was created to do? Most of the time, we only acknowledge the purpose of God in what we call big things. Sometimes the purpose of God is demonstrated in big things, and other times, it is demonstrated in small things.
The little maid—you would have never thought that she was living on purpose; she was making up the bed. But God had placed her in close proximity to Naaman’s wife because she knew Elijah. She didn’t write any books of the Bible, she didn’t prophesy, she didn’t do anything; she was just in her purpose—in the right place at the right time, ready to do something that only she could do—and she saved the king because she made the bed. For some people, the purpose of God is to raise a child that nobody else could raise but you. But you have the giftings, grace, and wisdom to guide that child through danger seen and unseen. You are not just a mother because you gave birth; you are a mother because you’re filled with all the tenacity necessary to raise that child to completion. Every woman can have a baby, but every woman is not a mother.
Or the little boy who, had he skipped church that day with his two fish and five loaves of bread, who would have known that he would have wrecked the whole service and shut down the meeting? Or David, who went down to bring lunch to his brethren, never realizing that he was living on purpose. By leaving the sheep and carrying a lunch, he entered a different dominion of purpose because he was obedient in the small things. God made him ruler over many things because he wasn’t trying to be big; he was trying to fulfill his purpose.
Lift your hands and say, «Set me in my purpose!» I’m best in my purpose. The world is better when I’m in my purpose. I feel better when I’m in my purpose. I function better when I’m in my purpose. My moods, my attitudes, my emotions, my disposition, my character, and my personality are all affected by allowing me to do what I was created to do—whatever it is—whether it’s big or small, whether I’m in midstream or at one stage of development that will ultimately go to another level—but I have been created to do this.
Paul calls it the grace of God. The grace of God simply means that God has equipped you to do that; it’s within your power to do it. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Purpose can be painful; purpose can be problematic. The first time I stood up in front of a decent-sized crowd to preach, my hands were shaking so badly that I couldn’t hold the mic. If I had judged myself by my feelings, I would have quit because I was trembling on the inside and trying to keep people from seeing it on the outside. The more I thought they saw it, the more nervous I got; the more nervous I got, the more my hands shook. It just did not look like it was going to go well. Getting into your purpose doesn’t always mean getting into your comfort. The purpose of God can escape the parameters of your comfort and put you in a position that causes things to come out of you that have never been challenged before.
Being in your purpose challenges you to discover aspects of yourself that life has never brought out before. In your purpose, you are fruitful; in your purpose, you are bountiful; in your purpose, you are fulfilled—because everything you do in your purpose reflects how God formed you. He told Jeremiah, «Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. I ordained thee, and I sanctified thee to be a prophet unto the nations.» Being in your purpose doesn’t mean you won’t have problems. Purpose and problems go together. The more you are in your purpose, the more problems you are bound to encounter because hell hates you in your purpose. I’m going to say that again: Hell hates you in your purpose. It does not want you to be in your purpose; it wants to drive you away from your purpose so that you can do lots of work but get no reward because you were never in your purpose.
God does not reward me for doing what He didn’t call me to do. God does not reward me for what He didn’t create me to do. God does not reward me for needing to please you so badly that I succumb to the need to please you more than the need to please God, and I step out of my purpose to satisfy you. When I make you my god, and God says, «Thou shalt have no other gods before me,» if I’m a people pleaser more than I’m a God pleaser, I’ll never discover my purpose because I will live to make you smile.
God says to Jeremiah, «I knew thee; I ordained thee; I sanctified thee to be a prophet unto the nations.» Before you got here, I equipped you for Omega while you were still Alpha. Somewhere inside of you are the clues, the ingredients necessary to collaborate and form the essence of your purpose. Sometimes those things inside of you are complaining and murmuring, pushing and nudging you to take risks and chances you wouldn’t normally take because they know the fact that God knew you, ordained you, and sanctified you to be something you are not being.
Sometimes you have to break barriers in order to be. Sometimes you have a job grinding at the mill, or you are harvesting in the field, plowing the land, but there’s a prophetic unction in you like Elijah, and you’re waiting for the right moment to pass by. I believe this is a pass-by moment where people will come into a realm of destiny that is going to disrupt your circumstances, break ties with friends, and even family. To be in your purpose may require you to relocate, to move you, to overcome fear, or to learn to hold a mic. It may require that you leave behind feeling insufficient with just two fish and five loaves of bread. But if you’re in your purpose, God will amplify your gift to the level of your purpose. When you’re in your purpose, put me in my purpose—that’s where I want to be! I want to be in my purpose! And if I’m in my purpose, my problems lose their ability to be my focus. The reason we are so sensitive, so on edge, so upset, and so offended today is that we have very few people living in their purpose.
You must realize that Paul has had a hard road to hold. He has faced a lot of suffering, agony, pain, and problems. He has been beaten half to death, thrown into prison—lacerations have covered his body, swelling has engulfed the lacerations, and blood is oozing out of the pores of his skin. Not a soft mattress to lay on, but a stony bed to lay on. And yet, he does not write to us saying, «God, get me out of prison.» He writes to us saying, «God, get me into purpose!» Wow! I admit if they had beaten me and thrown me into the inner sanctum of a prison, my first letter wouldn’t have been to Ephesus; my first letter would have been to my attorney. My second letter would have been to my mama: «Get me out of here! Pay the bail! Do something! Whatever it takes! Do you know anybody? Can you work anything out?» Because a lot of times we think that our conditions ought to be the object of our prayer rather than our purpose.
He had gone through things that were unspeakable, and as he writes this letter—footnote—he is writing from a prison, but it does not stop him from discussing his purpose. It is an oxymoron that he is in a prison talking about freedom. It is a dichotomous situation to recognize that he is discussing purpose while he is incarcerated. He thought it was so important and necessary that he writes to us about the purpose of our lives being far greater than our own personal fulfillment. Many of us call God’s purpose our purpose, and we are praying for our purpose to be accomplished, which is witchcraft. Anytime you try to manipulate the situation according to your will, that’s witchcraft. But when you pray, «Not my will, but thine be done,» that’s holy.
I want to be where you want me to be; I want to have what you want me to have. Even if it’s a big thing or a high thing, if it’s not my thing, let it fall apart! Let it break away; let it fall to pieces! Because I would rather have a lower thing and be in your will than go after a big thing that’s not mine. Not all money is good money; not all success is good success. David said, «I don’t deal with things that are too high for me.» In other words, nothing is too high for me if it’s in my inventory, if it’s in my power to do it. It’s so natural to me that I don’t know I’m extraordinary. Yeah, that’s true; it takes somebody outside of you to tell you it’s extraordinary. You’ve been so equipped to do it that when you do it, you don’t know what the fuss is about because you are living your life on purpose.
It makes sense to you; it is organic to you; it is natural to you—you are equipped for it, you are prepared for it, and even when you have problems with it, the problems can’t stop you from doing it because greater is the purpose than the prison. I like it! You can’t put parameters on purpose; right? A prison has parameters. It puts guardrails; it puts limitations. But if you let me get in my purpose, there are no limitations on what I can do. If I’m in my purpose, the jail cell can’t stop me from being effective. I can be effective and hated all at the same time, and be good with both of them. I can be okay with you hating me; I can be okay with you talking about me. I can’t be okay if I’m not in my purpose.
Touch somebody and say, «I’m bad when I’m in my purpose!» The truth of the matter is, most of us are not sure; many of us are not certain. We don’t know why we are here, and if we were to be honest, often we ask God, «Why am I placed on this planet?» You ask God because He placed you here! Stop asking people; they don’t know. You must begin with God because He has determined the end from the beginning. According to Jeremiah, He says that you might have an expected end. God has so fixed things that He has not only an end for you, but He expects you to get there. He doesn’t shout when you get there; He doesn’t dance when you get there; He’s not shocked when you get there. He planned for you to get there, and He has an expectation for you to get there.
If you could just get your expectation to line up with His expectation, then you would stop being shocked, too. Rick Warren wrote a book, «The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?» Until I can answer that question, I cannot feel successful, accomplished, or fulfilled. And, Lord, please don’t let me die not knowing why I’m put on this Earth. God has a purpose and a plan for your life, not just for the things that go right, but also for the things that go wrong. In fact, the Bible is audacious enough to say that all things work together for good for them that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. That means if I’m in my purpose, it might not look good, it might not feel good, it might not sound good, but it’s going to work together for my good. It might be a season of discomfort; it might be a season of tears; it might be a season of pain.
But if I just have patience, eventually I’m going to look back and say, «It was good that I was afflicted; it was good that I went through the divorce; it was good that I was forsaken; it was good that you walked off and left me.» If I really look back at it, I can now understand in hindsight what I didn’t see in foresight because God has a plan for your life. God doesn’t exempt us from problems; we all have them. Stop being jealous of people who don’t have your problem; they have their problems, too. There is not a person in this room who doesn’t operate within the parameters of some confinement—yes, sir—some limitation, some guardrails, some prison. Because purpose is often manifested in prison; it’s manifested in prison.
The last thing Joseph went through before he became the Prince of Egypt was a prison because the prison was the incubation place for purpose manifested. When the seventy souls, descendants of Abraham, came into Egypt, as long as they were in Egypt, they were in a prison—enslaved, captured—and the more they afflicted them, the more they beat them, the more they ostracized them, the more they humiliated them, the more they grew. Yes, sir, because purpose grows in prison—bless you, sir, bless you! Purpose grows in confinement, purpose grows in restriction. Yeah, yeah, purpose grows in pain. I know you don’t want to hear that; I know it’s not popular; I know it’s taboo because we run away from anything that is contrary to what we had in mind.
That’s true! We don’t get incarcerated and start writing letters to people on the outside encouraging them because we are narcissistic by nature. It has become a part of the culture: «What’s in it for me?» This is not a «Woe is me» letter. Paul does not write about what’s in it for him; he doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about his problems. He understands that problems are often used to introduce you to a deeper ability to discern your purpose. Often, your passion aligns with your purpose, but sometimes your passion resists your purpose. Father, if it be thy will, pass this bitter cup from me. I don’t want to do something that is inconvenient, but through my obedience, I discover a purpose that may not be evident by how I feel about it.
Maybe God meant for me to be married to that person just to produce that offspring. Oh, y’all are not going to talk to me! He makes the difficult decision—the choice that all of us have to make. He makes the difficult distinction between focusing on the humiliation, the injustice, the betrayal, and the deeply painful but temporary discomfort of his inhumane treatment—the many lacerations on his body, the scars freshly inflicted, liable to be infected. Not even his eventual death would deter him from his purpose. Am I talking to anybody in here? Often changing our adversity dismisses the opportunity to soar to a higher consciousness of God. You see, God is a present help in times of trouble. So if you never get into times of trouble, you never get a manifestation of God.
I don’t mind if you don’t like this; I don’t like this, but it’s true anyhow! I have learned more about God through tears than I have ever learned through running, dancing, leaping, and praising God. In fact, I would dare to say I have seldom learned anything about God in a praise. I have never danced my way into a revelation, but I have cried my way into a revelation. I have been wounded; I have been stoned; I have been forsaken; I have been left for dead. And then, all of a sudden, I got up and shook myself and found out greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world! But I learned it through tears. Paul had to learn to use his pain as a catalyst to catapult him into a deeper, richer revelation of the purpose of God. It’s easier said than done, but it is necessary for you to understand when you are weak, you are strong; when you are poor, you are rich; when you are sick, you are healed.
Oh my God, I’m talking to somebody! I didn’t get my drive at the top of my life; I got my drive at the bottom of my life. I got my drive when we were frying chicken down at the women’s club, trying to get up $200 to pay the rent to keep the church open another month. I got my drive when we were painting on ladders, wearing coveralls. I got my drive when we were nailing wood, and most of the time I was nailing my thumb, building the first church. I got my drive building a baptism pool that leaked all the water out, and the whole church was flooded overnight. I got my drive through adversity, trials, and tribulations. You don’t have to fight Bishop T. Jakes; you have to fight Elder Jakes.
Yeah, yeah; Bishop Jakes is easy to whip, but that old Elder Jakes is relentless! He’s tenacious, he’s reckless, he’s raw! That old Elder Jakes will work all day at work, get off work, drive up the road, teach Bible class to a handful of people, and then after they leave, paint the bathroom before he goes home because he has to be back at work at 7:00 in the morning. Elder Jakes is pretty tough; you can’t tell what he might do! He might bite your ankles; he might pull your ears; he might pull on your nose. That old Elder Jakes—that radical Jakes—doesn’t need a choir, a crowd, a band, a group, or an assembly. Oh, Elder Jakes can stop his foot and start playing the piano!
Now, is there anybody in here who has had enough struggle to understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? Look at your neighbor like you’re half crazy and say, «You don’t even know who you’re fooling with! Do you know what I survived? Do you know what I endured? Do you know what I did without? Do you know I know how to make cornbread with no milk?» Oh, y’all don’t hear what I’m talking about! Do you know anything about hot water cornbread? Do you know anything about slow-cooking grits that take 45 minutes to get done? No, you are a quick grit person! If it doesn’t happen right now, you don’t think it’s going to happen. But some of us have had such setbacks, such delays, such obstacles, such trials that it did something to us on the inside.
We may be down, but we’re not out. We may cry, but we’ll still hit you back! We may be delayed, but we’re not denied because we had to fight to get where we are. I wish I had 100 people that would bear witness with me. And here’s the crazy part—now that I reach the point where I get interviewed, people often ask me if there’s anything in your life that if you could, you would go back and change. Even though there were many things in my life that hurt, that I regret, that caused me discomfort and delayed my arrival, I wouldn’t change a thing! Hallelujah! Because it took everything to get me where I am. And if I hadn’t had to go through the hell I’ve been through, I wouldn’t be where I am.
The Bible said, «If the princes of this world would have known what they were doing, they would have never crucified the Lord!» Because the more you crucify us, the more we become! The more you afflict us, the more we grow! The more you nail us down, the more deadly we are in resurrection! We will walk through doors; we will show up in cities; we will appear on the road to Emmaus; we will show up and do amazing works. Because you nailed us! Thank you for every nail! Thank you for every drop of blood! Thank you for every time I sweated! Thank you for every time I almost gave up! Do you know there were times I wanted to die? There were times I wished to die; there were times I prayed to die! But let me tell you, purpose woke me up! Purpose woke me up this morning! Is there anybody in here that purpose woke you up this morning? Purpose! Purpose! Purpose! Tell three people, «I got purpose! I got purpose! I got purpose! I got purpose!»
Paul makes the decision to focus on his purpose and not his prison. It’s a decision! You’ve got a choice: either you can look at your prison or you can write about your purpose. It’s a decision! Most people spend too much energy focusing on the prison and not enough energy focusing on the purpose! And if you focus on the purpose, whatever the prison is, it’s going to work for your good. I feel a shout coming on! If you came in here worried this morning, if you logged onto the broadcast worried this morning, if you’re upset about something and tossed and turned all night long, I got one thing to tell you: it’s going to work for your good! If I’m talking to you, praise Him! If I’m talking to you, praise Him! If I’m talking to you, praise Him! If I’m talking to you, praise Him! Praise Him! If you got to cry while you’re praising Him, praise Him! If you have to get on your knees and praise Him, praise Him!
You were left for dead; it’s still going to work for your good. If they bypassed you and overlooked you, if they never gave you a chance and ignored you, praise God anyway! It’s going to work for your good. You didn’t need to be in the circle; the circle was toxic. God brought you out for a reason. To God be the glory for the things He has done! His right hand and His holy arm have gotten Him the victory. Sing unto the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things. Somebody open your mouth and shout! When I was a little boy—sit down!
When I was a little boy, we didn’t have commercials like we do today. The commercials we have today tell everything; you can get sex education from them. They talk about everything, and then you have to explain to your kids what that is. It didn’t used to be like that. Remember back when we used to have the Gerber baby? It was a beautiful, chubby baby on the cover of baby food. The Gerber baby was their logo, their mantra, their example. So when my wife got ready to have a baby, I thought the baby would come out smiling, with eyelashes and hair, grinning and beaming.
But the baby was bloody and covered with mucus and had to be cleaned up before being presented. Because birth—write this down—birth is a bloody business. You can’t birth the Gerber baby and keep throwing away babies because they don’t look right. Whether the baby is a dream, a business, a company, or a marriage, it doesn’t always look like what you had in mind. It wasn’t advertised that way. You got an idea of how marriage works because you watched «Days of Our Lives,» and you think your life is supposed to align with that script. But birthing is a bloody business, type it in the line: «birth is a bloody business.»
Ezekiel 16:3-5, take a look at this: «Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother was a Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the day that thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to be salted at all, nor swaddled at all. Nobody cared for you; you didn’t look good, because birthing is a bloody business.» If you’re going to be birthed, it’s about what you come through. Birthing is a celebration of what you overcame to get where you are. And this is why this book is birthed in a prison, because birthing is a bloody business. Hit your neighbor and say, «Birthing is a bloody business!»
If you start anything, it’s going to be bloody. If you start a business, it’s going to be bloody. If you start a church, it’s going to be bloody. If you start a ministry, it’s going to be bloody. I always get amused at people who run out to start churches because they think you start here. You don’t start here; you start way back there. You’re coming in at the end of the movie; you missed three-fourths of it, and you think this is natural or normal. Birthing is a bloody business. Starting your own company is bloody. It’s painful; it’s stressful. «Can I make payroll? Can I get caught up on rent? Can I get the right customers?» Your relatives want to help, your friends want to help, your neighbors want to help—everybody wants a hookup, except the bank. The bank doesn’t want a hookup; they want a cash payment. And birthing is a bloody business. Hit your neighbor and say, «Birthing is a bloody business!»
If you’re waiting on the Gerber baby to come out, it ain’t coming. If you’re going to live your life on purpose, the prison is part of the process. He is expressing to us the mystery of godliness, that’s what the text is about. He would unveil to us mysteries, and the mystery is birthed in a prison. God gives you revelation in a prison; in fact, the Book of Revelation is written in a prison—in a grotto, in a cave—rejected and ostracized, surrounded by murderers, rapists, and killers. And John ignores all his surroundings and says, «I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day and saw things that were not lawful to be uttered.» How did you get in the spirit when your body is in the cave? It doesn’t matter where my body is; it matters where my head is. And my head is in heavenly places!
I want to talk to somebody in this room whose body may be in one place while your head is in another place. The enemy has trapped you in one way, but God has strengthened you in another. They call the book «The Book of Revelations.» «Apocalypse» literally means in the Greek «unveiling,» that God unveils Himself, that God strips Himself in the furnace of affliction. God shows Himself when things are at their worst. He shows Himself in times of trouble. He shows Himself in the fiery furnace. He shows Himself when they stone you. He shows Himself when they leave you for dead. He shows Himself when you’re in captivity for 400 years. He shows Himself! Shake your neighbor like you’re about to shake them off and tell them, «God’s about to show Himself!» God is about to reveal Himself!
I don’t want anybody to praise Him except those who are in prison. Help! Help! I feel the glory of God about to hit this place. Open your mouth and give me 30 seconds of crazy praise! Praise Him if you’re an inmate! Praise Him if you’ve been in confinement! Praise Him if you’ve been stuck! Praise Him if you’ve been down! Praise Him if you’ve been sick! Praise Him if you’ve been alienated! Praise Him, because it’s good for us to be afflicted! These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work for us a far more exceeding weight of glory! For we look not at the things which are seen; for the things that are seen are temporal, and the things that are not seen are eternal. Can I get a witness in here? That means God’s going to get some glory out of this! I don’t know when; I don’t know where; I don’t know how; I don’t even know who He’s going to use, but God is going to get some glory out of this!
And I’m praising Him in the middle of my prison because I have a purpose. There’s a reason I’m here. There’s a reason my mother didn’t raise me. There’s a reason my father didn’t raise me. There’s a reason I was rejected. That’s the reason my life fell apart—it was for my good! I want all the people who believe it’s for your good to give God praise! I want you to praise Him until hell gets confused, until demons are frustrated, until they call a board meeting and say, «What is she doing praising God? I thought we left her in prison!» And there she is, getting a revelation and unveiling the mysteries of God—the wisdom of God, the manifold wisdom of God!
Shout! Can I go a little bit deeper? You see, Paul now says it is the grace of God to minister to the Gentiles when, a few years ago, he wouldn’t even eat with them. But look at how his character has changed. He now considers it a privilege to lead people he wouldn’t eat with. Just because you think about something one way today doesn’t mean you’re going to think about it the same way tomorrow. He said, «I am the least among all of them.» Imagine that! He spoke five different languages; he was part of the Sanhedrin Court; he was a Hebrew among Hebrews; concerning the law, he was zealous; he was a Pharisee. And yet he says, «I am the least of the Gentiles.» Look at how God has humbled him!
In the prison, God puts you in some situations to get your head straight. Preaching is good; counseling is good; therapy is good; medication is good. But trouble is better! Because trouble will get you to the bottom line; trouble will make you humble yourself; trouble will make you stop looking down your nose at anybody else. Trouble will make you careful; trouble will make you relentless! If I had 10 witnesses in here, I would preach this place on fire! Because I feel a blessing about to break loose in this place! Somebody shout a hallelujah!
Text three people and tell them, «There’s purpose in my prison! I’m not in here for no reason! I’m not in here by mistake! There’s purpose in my prison! God’s going to get some glory out of my prison! There’s purpose in my pain! For every night you cried, for every night you sat up wondering which way to go, God’s going to get some glory in your life! There’s purpose in your prison!»
In fact, the Lord brought you here this morning to receive this message as a witness. It’s not that God didn’t hear you; it’s not that you didn’t pray. The fact that He didn’t move doesn’t mean that He’s deaf; it’s just that He works all things together after the counsel of His own will! And when He gets finished with it, you’re going to come out looking good! Take a little strut around—just take a little strut! You’re going to come out like that. You’re going to come out with your dignity, your joy, your power! You’re going to come back with your shoes on; you’re going to come back wearing your heels; you’re going to come back speaking in tongues; you’re going to come back with more victory; you’re going to come back with more power!
Somebody shout yes! I need five seconds of praise in this place! He says in the text that «I am the least among all,» and then he calls himself not an apostle, not a doctor, not a Ph.D. He doesn’t call himself a «dem man.» He says, «I’m a servant.» And the word «servant» in Greek is «diakonos,» where we get the word «deacon.» It means to serve. Let me tell you something: everything you’re going through is going to serve your purpose. It’s going to serve your purpose. It’s going to usher you into your destiny!
It’s going to serve a purpose in your life! And let me tell you something: for every night you cried, for every time you did without, for every time they laughed at you and thought you’d never make it, for every time hell broke loose—it’s going to serve His purpose! For every person who walked away, it’s going to serve His purpose! Stop leaving the door open; stop waiting on them to come back! Stop texting them, asking them whether they will let you back in! It’s going to serve His purpose! All things work together for the good of them that love Him!
I don’t even know who I’m preaching to, but I feel like I’m talking to somebody. I’m talking about something that I don’t even know in my head, but I sense in my spirit that God’s about to do something! Can you feel it? I said, God’s about to do something! Can you feel it? Is there any evidence in your life? It looks like things have been going crazy, first one thing and then another. As soon as you get straightened out, you go through that! If it’s not you, it’s your kids; if it’s not your kids, it’s your spouse; if it’s not your spouse, it’s your dog; if it’s not your dog, your fish dies! All kinds of hell is breaking loose! You go to work, and you’ve got hell; you come home, and you’ve got hell; you go to church, and they’re trying to take your parking space. All hell is breaking loose!
But all of it’s going to work for your good, because God’s about to do something in your life! My pain has a purpose; my pain has a purpose in my life! My wisdom is born out of my journey; it’s born out of my affliction! My strength comes from my struggle! If I didn’t have a struggle, I wouldn’t have any strength! Go to the gym and watch them working out; the muscle doesn’t even begin to tear down until it gets to be a struggle. That’s why they’ll tell you to push it to the point of exhaustion! Because when the muscle exhausts itself, it expands itself!
I want to talk to some exhausted people! You’re exhausted because you’re expanding; you’re exhausted because you’re growing! Your capacity to endure is becoming stronger! «Greater is He!» Greater is He! Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world! I’m about to feel like preaching! If I feel like preaching, something is going to get set off in this place today! This prison can’t stop me from preaching the gospel, because I’ve got a purpose, and I’m walking in my purpose! If I walk in my purpose, I can walk through the fire and not get burned! I feel a praise about to break loose in this place! Somebody help me praise Him! Everybody help me praise Him! I feel a blessing about to hit this house!
PT’s house, will you receive the blessing of the Lord? I’ve got grace for this! I can handle this! I can stand this! If somebody else had to go through it, they would lose their mind! But I’ve got the grace for this marriage! I’ve got the grace for this condition! I’ve got the grace to have this baby! I’ve got the grace to deal with this boss! I’ve got the grace to do it! Slap three people!
I got grace for this. If you don’t have grace for it, get out of it. If you don’t have grace for it, walk away from it. If you don’t have grace for it, stop making everybody else miserable and quit. If you don’t have the grace for it, get out of the kitchen. You’ve got to have grace to do this. I got grace to do this. I got the power to do this. I got the anointing to do this. Come hell or high water, I got the grace to do this. Talk about me all you want to, but I’m grace for this. I got enough grace. I got enough fire in my own belly. I’ll shout for myself. I’ll say amen for myself. I’ll dance for myself. I got the grace for this. Slap your neighbor and holler, «Grace!»
It brought me through the fire. Grace brought me through the bloody stuff. Grace brought me through the prison. Grace brought me through the divorce. Grace brought me through the chaos, and grace is going to bring me through this. I feel a praise about to get loose in Zion, and if a praise gets loose in here, all you deadbeat people are going to have to get out of the way, because us crazy folks are about to take over the church. I feel a blessing about to take over this place, 'cause somebody just hit some grace. Somebody just hit some strength. Somebody just hit some power.
I was in a meeting the other day with the foundation, and we were talking about our prison ministry. I got confused because I got two: I got the Tory, which is the re-entry program, and then I got the church. What they don’t realize is that all of us are in prison somewhere, and we’ve learned how to survive the prison of loneliness, the prison of singleness, the prison of being married, the prison of being confined, the prison of not being believed in, the prison of not being supported, the prison of not being encouraged, the prison of not being raised in a perfect environment, the prison of dropping out of school, the prison of hard times, the prison of being dyslexic, the prison of being barren, the prison of not being able to have a child, the prison of having a child that cusses you out—the prisons you don’t talk about, the prisons you don’t mention, the prisons you don’t speak about. God is going to use those prisons to show Himself strong in your life.
I need a minute. Can I have a minute? Can I borrow a minute? Tell your neighbor, say neighbor, «There are a bunch of devils looking at you right now.» They don’t want you to move. They don’t want you to rejoice. They don’t want you to get a breakthrough. But if you pray right now, you’re going to drive the devil crazy. You’re going to drive him out of his mind. You’re going to drive him to have a nervous breakdown if you praise Him right now. If you praise Him right now, everything in you is going to come out. Everything in you is going to come out. Everything in you, everything in you, everything in you has got to come out. Everything in you has got to come out. If you want to go to heaven and you want to go right, everything in you has got to come out. Everything in you has got to come out. Yes, if you want to go to heaven, you’ve got to go right; everything in you has got to come out.
Well, everything, everything has got to come out. If you want to go to heaven, you want to go right, everything in you has got to come out. If you want to go to heaven, you want to go right, everything in you has got to come out. Tenacity, everything in you, got wisdom, consistency, gratitude. Everything in you has got to come out. Everything in you, everything in you has got to come out. If you want to go to heaven, I dare you to call it forth. Call it forth. Come on out. Come on out. Lay hands on your stomach and say everything in you has got to come out. Everything in you has got to come out. If you want to go to heaven, and you want to go right, everything in you has got to come out before you finish. Everything in you has got to come out before it’s over. Everything has got to come out. If you want to go to heaven and you want to go right, everything has got to come out.
Well, if you want to go to heaven and you want to go right, everything has got to come out. I’m going to stop there. I’m not finished, but I’m going to stop there. What I’m trying to say is that there’s purpose in my prison. What got me into this message is that Paul spends virtually no time talking about prisons. All he talks about in the book of Ephesians is purpose. In Ephesians, he says, «He wants having made known unto us the mystery of His will, that we might seek Him to abound in all prudence and godliness; that He works all things out after the counsel of His own will; that which He has purposed in Himself before the foundations of the world are now made manifest in us, the manifold wisdom of God, which is the eternal purpose of God.»
Bring me that chair. Bring me that chair. Bring me that chair. God says, «I’ve already set this chair that when it’s all over, she’s going to be sitting right here. She may be way back there right now; she might be crawling on her belly right now. He might be jobless right now. He may be at his wit’s end, but I tell you what, I’m holding you a seat. When I get through bringing you and pulling you and tugging you, if you stop looking for profit and start looking for purpose, the prophet is going to follow the purpose. We got it backwards. We’re trying to make profit where we don’t have purpose. You’ve got to have purpose in order to have profit. If you get the purpose right, the profit is going to come on its own.
Don’t pay the prison any attention. Don’t pay the pain any attention, and for God’s sake, don’t pay any attention to potential. The potential to be a great mother doesn’t help any child. The potential to be a great husband doesn’t help the wife. The potential to be a great wife doesn’t help the husband because potential is inborn; it’s never delivered. Potential just means it’s in there, but it’s still got to come out. The reason I sung everything in this is because, in order to end up here, everything—your pride, your ego, your self-esteem, your worrying about what people think about you—everything in you’s got to come out. Your strife, your jealousy, your self-righteousness—everything in you has got to come out.
That’s why I put you in prison, so it could come out. It’s going to come out. I locked you up so it could come out. I shut you down so it could come out. I shut you down so you could think about it, and before it’s over, everything in you is going to come out. It’s not going to be easy; it’s not going to be nice; it’s not going to be cute like the Gerber baby. But when it’s all over, it’s going to come forth as pure gold—pure gold, pure gold. Everything in you—who am I preaching to? I feel like I’m talking to somebody. I wish I knew who it was. If it’s you online, type it on the line: „He’s talking to me!“ Everything in you. The potter walked up to Kathryn Kuhlman and asked her, „What does it take?“
Some of y’all don’t know who Kathryn Kuhlman is. How many of y’all know who Kathryn Kuhlman is? Okay, to the ones who don’t, Kathryn Kuhlman was a pioneer, one of the first pioneers of women in ministry. She headed the Full Gospel Business Men’s Association and spoke in places that women were forbidden to speak. She laid hands on people, and they came out of crutches and out of braces and out of wheelchairs. They asked her, „What does it take to have your ministry?“ 'Cause everybody wants what somebody else has. What does it take? What does it take to have you? She looked at them and said, „Simply everything, darling.“ Darling, it takes simply everything. It takes everything. Not one tear you shed has been wasted.
The Bible says that He captures them in a vial. If there was nobody there to wipe your face, don’t worry about it; the Holy Spirit got it. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Do you hear what I’m saying to you? And I’m just trying to tell you nothing you’ve been through has been wasted. There is purpose in your prison. I came home with clothes I knew she couldn’t wear right then. I knew she couldn’t wear them right then, but I wanted to remind her of who she was. You’re not braces and ice packs. You’re not pain and swelling. You’re not going to always be confined to a chair. Your leg is not going to always be lifted up in the air. You’re not going to always miss service. You’re going to drive your car again. You’re going to put on your heels again. You’re going to live your life again.
Sometimes you need somebody to remind you who you are, 'cause the prison will make you act like an inmate. The amazing thing to me is that Paul never acts like an inmate. He never stops acting like an apostle. He’s in jail, and he’s bloody and he’s bleeding, and he’s swollen, and his cheeks are all torn and emaciated. His flesh is all jacked up.
There is no medicine; there is no anesthetic for the pain that he carries. There are no painkillers; there are no pharmaceuticals; there are no physicians; there are no medicines; there are no blankets; there are no quilts; there are no thermometers. And he doesn’t even act like he’s in pain, and he doesn’t act like he’s a prisoner. He never forsook being an apostle. Wow! Because he knew his strength was in his purpose. His strength is in his purpose. When you know who you are, don’t let anybody talk you out of who you are. Lift your hands up and say, „There’s purpose in my prison. Purpose in my prison. I will not quit being who I am to succumb to my prison. I will find my purpose. I will live on purpose. I will teach on purpose. I will teach on purpose, and I will die on purpose.“