TD Jakes - The Theology of Quietness
Go to your Bibles, to the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 27, verses 11-14. There, you will find the word of the Lord, and we are jumping right into the midst of all hell breaking loose. Jesus, the Messiah of Jerusalem, has fallen into the hands of a Roman governor who is about to make a decision about his life. Kingdoms are colliding with kingdoms; disciples are running, and people are scattering. Nobody is sure they have interpreted the scriptures correctly, expecting God to do one thing, only to realize that even the scriptures did not fully articulate the method by which God was going to move. They had seen the Messiah, and the prophets had prophesied it, but no prophecies were given about the cross.
Now, Jesus is headed for the cross. And you know how people scatter when you become controversial; they are with you when you are rising, but if you become controversial, if there’s too much talk at the kitchen table, at the family reunion, or at the barber shop, people start to drift away—they just leave.
You see, the 5,000 were gone; the woman with the issue of blood is gone; all of the people, the 10 lepers, are gone—everybody has gone their own way, and Jesus is standing trial before a governor. Matthew 27:1 says, «And Jesus stood before the governor.» Oh, I love Him! He stood straight up, right in front of him. The governor asked Him, saying, «Art Thou King of the Jews?» And Jesus said unto him, «Thou sayest.» Don’t tell me that Jesus didn’t get smart! Jesus got smart even while in handcuffs, saying, «Thou sayest.»
And when He was accused by the chief priests and the elders, He answered nothing. The governor asked Him, «Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?» And He answered him never a word. So much so that the governor scratched his head; he marveled greatly because Jesus said nothing at all. The governor marveled not at the wisdom but at the silence. Can you hear what I’m saying to you? I want to use a subject today: The Theology of Quietness. If I were to use a subtopic, it would be The Silence of the Lamb.
Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on us today as we embark upon Your word. Help me to complete my assignment effectively and skillfully that I might be seen doing what You called me to do in this last and evil day. I thank You, Lord, for what You have shared with me and for what You are going to do. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen.
You may be seated in the presence of God. It reads as if two men are having a discussion that is very superficial. The veneer of the text looks like there is a controversy between two men, two powers, two authorities. It seems as if one has dominated the other, but that is just the veneer of the text. Most people, when they read the Bible, preach from the veneer without going down to the solidity of the wood beneath. The Carpenter’s Son has worked His way up from obscurity to notoriety, and notoriety always costs you something. Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying; people don’t talk about who they don’t notice!
Give it up for Michael! God bless you; good to see you in the house! If I can’t convey this message, I’ll just get up and tell some jokes; we’re going to be okay. He has the responsibility of standing head and shoulders above other men in what He is able to do. Unlike Saul, it’s not that Jesus is tall; His work is tall—it is impactful, it’s doing something, it’s stirring up something, and it has created a multi-pronged problem. He is not fully accepted by the religious leaders of His time; in fact, they hated Him. Religion always hates revelation. So if you’re going to be a preacher and move in faith, and you have not healed from your need to be liked, run—don’t walk, run—because if you are not disliked, you are unnoticed. While some are running to you, some are going to be running from you; that’s the nature of the job.
It happened to Jesus, and it’s going to happen to you. You can’t tiptoe around trying to be so nice that you don’t make waves because you were called to make waves. You were called to stir up stuff; you were called to get on people’s nerves. Don’t take it personally because it is not really two men bantering over an issue; it is two kingdoms. The kingdoms are in conflict in the text: it is the kingdom of darkness against the Kingdom of Light that is working beneath the story.
You’re praying about your story, but you don’t understand there is warfare going on beneath your story. You’re praying about the details, but I’m talking about the strategy. You’re talking to God about the inconvenience, but you’re not getting to the fact that Satan has a plot against you. The kingdoms are in conflict; not only are the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness in conflict, but you have the Roman sovereign and colonialization that was done then and is still being done now to take over new territories. We have before us Pilate, who is the governor of a colony whereby Rome is spreading and taking authority over Jerusalem—taking authority, taking authority. It is not Rome, but it’s under Rome.
You are not enemies, but you can be under the enemy’s attack, under the enemy’s control. There was a little boy in the airport, perched on his father’s shoulders. He had him by the ears and said, «Daddy, go left!» and the daddy went left. The boy had not possessed him, but he was on him and had oppressed him. It is not so much that Satan is possessing you, but he’s trying to control your peace, your reactions, and your responses. This is a battle for control—power against power, leader against leader, magistrate against magistrate. And we have a governor questioning a king. What kind of madness is that?
This man represents Rome, which means he wasn’t a very great governor because Rome had sent him to a detail that was not highly respected, throwing him down in Jerusalem. Little people always try to be big—oh, I’m preaching way better than y’all are receiving! Little people—you give a little person a title, and you have hell to pay. Herod has a little title, and he’s standing here questioning the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He’s questioning the Ancient of Days; the Creator is being tested by the creation. He is questioning Him under duress because his wife, on one hand, has had a dream and told him, «You’ve got to be careful about this Jesus thing, 'cause it’s not what it appears to be.»
I had a dream in the night, and it’s going to cause you some trouble. Let me tell you something—I cannot prove it with the Bible, but there’s something in women. I don’t know whether it’s a chip or a device, but there is something in women. I won’t say you’re always right; I won’t give you that much credit, but you all do have a metal detector! Herod’s wife told him, «This is not what it appears to be. There’s something working beneath this, and you’ve got to be careful how you handle this Jesus thing,» which led to Herod washing his hands with water because he didn’t want the blood of Jesus on his hands. His wife had shaken him up, telling him, «You don’t want to get into this mess.»
There are some messes you don’t take on; you don’t get into every fight, every storm, or every test. So you have that dynamic going on, and there he is, testing the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. He is talking to the great «I Am,» as if he has power over his Creator. He is interrogating Him as if Jesus is subservient and as if he has power over Jesus' future, and then he is shocked because Jesus does not answer a word.
And it is hard for you to conceive because there are three things that the enemy is after. I want you to get these down; they are very important. The reason he is doing what he’s doing to you is that he’s after your power. He’s after your power until you don’t know who you are. He wouldn’t be fighting you if you didn’t have power—he’s after your power, your purpose, and your press, your abilities, your talents, your skills—the way you do what you do. He hates the way you influence others. He does not want your power; he does not want your purpose; he does not want your press. So anything he can do to destroy your press, he will do it. If it keeps you up at night, if it makes you walk the floor, if it oppresses your mind, if it breaks your heart, if it ruptures relationships, if it worries you to death about situations you cannot control—anything he can do to incarcerate you, he’s doing it because of your power, your purpose, and your press.
Over time, he wants you to lose your press—where you don’t have that thing, that nebulous thing, that press that makes you do what you do like you do it—your thoughts, your function, your drive, and your movement. He’s after your press. He wants to beat you down until you are only a shadow of what you could be; he’s after your press.
That’s why you were molested; that’s why you were raped; that’s why you were rejected; that’s why you were ostracized. The enemy would never have let you go through whatever you went through if it were not for your power, your purpose, and your press. He wants you to be crippled; he wants you to be needy; he wants you to be shattered; he wants you to be independent or codependent; he wants you at your wit’s end; he wants you to have no confidence in yourself because he’s after your power, he’s after your purpose, he’s after your press.
What? What? What? Say it again. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. See, that’s the sum total of what you need to get through this world. You are going to need some power, some purpose, and some press. Press is what sets you apart from every other person in the room; press is what makes you unique. Nobody can duplicate you; they can imitate you, but they can’t duplicate you because your press is as unique as your DNA. Your press—the way you do what you do when you do it—that’s your press. He wants to take it away from you. He wants to break you down; He wants to make you subservient. He wants to make you submit; He wants to make you answer to him, and He wants to make you obey him.
Because in so doing, if you answer him, you also acknowledge him as the greater power. And there are some things you don’t answer to. I don’t care how many times they say it; when you know you’re not, don’t answer to it! If your name is Susie and I’m calling you Mary, just keep on walking. There are some things you don’t respond to because you know who you are; you know your power; you know your purpose, and you keep your press. You might lose your job, but keep your press; you might have to move in with your mama, but keep your press; you might go through a storm, but keep your press because that’s what got you up in the first place. If you lose your power, your purpose, and your press, you have lost everything. Power is your decision-making ability to act on the decisions you make. Purpose is what guides you as to what not to fight, because once you understand your purpose, you stop swinging at things that don’t have anything to do with your Divine Purpose. There are some things that the enemy sends to distract you—who am I preaching to in this place?
So Pilate is having this discussion with Jesus, and he’s consulted the religious leaders because he doesn’t want to be guilty of making a Roman decision against the King of the Jews. He wants the Jews to reject Him, and he needs to be rejected. Oh, I wish I had time! He needs to be rejected because the Bible says He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. And so that the scriptures might be fulfilled, there are seasons of rejection. You’re not being rejected because you’re not good enough; it’s part of the plan of God that you be rejected. You only praise God when He opens doors, but I praise God when He shuts them. You only praise God when you’re comfortable, but I’m learning to praise God when I’m afflicted. Because the more they afflicted them, the Bible says, the more they grew.
Glory to God—this is going to be a tough one today, but I’m going to preach it till I get where I’m trying to go and in the middle of the affliction, keep your power, keep your purpose, keep your press. Yeah, you’re broke, but yeah, you’re down, but yeah, you’re uncertain; keep your press, because that’s what the fight is about. The fight is about your power; the fight is about your purpose. That means He’s not fighting you over where you are; He’s fighting you over where you’re going. Purpose speaks to destiny; purpose speaks to how things end up. Because you’re worried about where you are, you think the fight is about now.
No, the fight is about tomorrow; the fight is about a stone being rolled away; the fight is about you ascending in a cloud; the fight is about you reaching the throne and putting the blood on the mercy seat. So, He’s after His purpose— the end of all things, eschatology; His purpose, my destination, my «I have arrived.» You know how you’re driving with your GPS, and you get to a certain point, and all of a sudden, it stops giving you directions because it says you have arrived at your destination? Some of you, the enemy doesn’t want you to arrive at your destination, but hell is a liar because God is about to do something in your life. Shout «Hallelujah» in this place!
Now we know that Jesus does not want to go to the cross. It is proven in the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus has an aversion to the cross. We know that He didn’t want to go to the cross; we know that He didn’t enjoy being betrayed by a disciple He picked, by a disciple He fed, by a disciple He traveled with. That’s not fun. We know that He despised the shame of the cross, but for the joy that was set before Him, He endured it.
So, we’re talking about endurance; we’re talking about enduring things without murmuring; we’re talking about enduring things without complaining; we’re talking about enduring things without disrupting your attitude. What we’re talking about is not easy. So, the Jesus who cried out to the Father, who cried out to the Father, «If it be Thy will, pass this bitter cup from me,» gets before Pilate and says nothing. You know why He doesn’t say anything? 'Cause Pilate doesn’t have any real power. If I’m going to empty out how I feel about it, I’m going to empty out that feeling before the Holy Spirit, who is my comforter, who is my counselor, who is my therapist. But I’m not going to empty it out in front of someone who has no power to change my circumstances.
How many times have we said the right thing to the wrong person? We know that He’s the captain of the host and that He could have called 10,000 angels. We know that He has the power of God in Him. We know that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, and if He had wanted to, He could have stopped all of it at will just by opening His mouth. There was so much power in His mouth that when they came to arrest Him and said, «Are you Jesus?» He said, «I that speak am He,» and they fell back as dead. The power in His mouth was so potent that we understand that if Jesus opened His mouth, court would be closed. Y’all didn’t hear that.
If Jesus opens His mouth, cancer would disappear. If Jesus opens His mouth, the gun wouldn’t go off even if it was loaded. If Jesus opens His mouth—the real question of the text is, is it better to fight this fight as the Lion of the tribe of Judah or the Lamb of God? Because Jesus has duality, and so do you. There are two sides, and you don’t know which one to throw. Do I come in on a horse with my sword drawn, ready to kill, or do I come in as a lamb? Both things are true about all of us; we all have a lion and a lamb, but not all of us have direction as to which one you need for the fight you’re in. And sometimes, you’re roaring when you ought to be quiet, and sometimes, you’re quiet when you ought to be roaring.
Jesus has decided that in order to accomplish His purpose, He can’t roar through this. Isaiah 30:15 says, «For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.» So this is what strength looks like: strength looks like quiet. In other words, «Be still and know that I am God.» Oh, in other words, «Hold your peace, and the Lord will fight your battle.»
I feel like I’m prophesying to somebody, and I don’t know who it is. It’s not that you can’t think of anything to say; it’s just that this is not the time for the lion to roar. This is the time you’ve got to come as a lamb. You’ve got to be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove, and you’ve got to know when to lose. I told a friend of mine who was getting ready to play a golf game; he’s getting ready to play a golf game against a client, and I said, «Listen, don’t let your ego get the best of you; lose the game because sometimes, what good is winning the game if you lose the deal? Your ego is stroked, but we lost the deal.» Sometimes the strongest thing is to let them win.
So Jesus could have stopped it all; He could have swallowed Pilate up, but He held His peace. Oh my God, oh my God, are you with me this morning? I say, are you with me this morning? He did not open His mouth because even on the cross, with His back beaten and His entrails hanging out, as long as He kept talking, He couldn’t die. Because in His hands are the words of eternal life. Because He doesn’t need anything to make something out of nothing, if He opens His mouth and says, «Let there be,» it’ll be whatever He says.
So death couldn’t take Him as long as He was talking. If it’s true about you, the power of life and death is in the tongue, how much more is it true about Jesus that death could not take Jesus as long as He was talking? And if you’re in here right now, you ought to open your mouth and say something. Let hell know you’re not dead! Give me some power on this monitor! Let hell know you’re not dead! Let the sickness know it ain’t working! Let the enemies know that they can’t curse you! Let the witch know she can’t stop you!
If you just wiggle your toe, the whole building might have caved in on you. But if you open your mouth, the power of life and death is in your mouth. Slap somebody and say the power is in the Word! Healing is in the Word! Direction is in the Word! Deliverance is in the Word! Breakthroughs are in the Word! Oh, y’all don’t hear what I’m saying to you! Look at somebody and say it’s in the Word! It’s in the Word! It’s in the Word! It’s in the Word! It’s in the Word! The problem with us is we don’t understand the difference between the Scriptures and the Word. This is the Word of God; the Bible is the Word of God, but it is not all of the Word. Let me prove it to you.
John 1:1 says, «In the beginning was the Word.» There were no pens in the beginning; there were no typewriters in the beginning; there was no printing press in the beginning; there was no Bible in the beginning. And yet, in the beginning was the Word! It doesn’t have to be the written Word to be the Word of God. When God said, «Let there be,» there was nobody there to write it down, but it still happened because the Word stands outside of the Scriptures. Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying to you! You don’t hear what I’m saying! The Word was made flesh, and the Bible had not been completed, so the Bible couldn’t be made flesh.
The Word transcends the Scriptures. Before there were Scriptures, there was the Word of God standing out there on absolutely nothing—the Word all by itself. The Word is so powerful. Oh, I feel like preaching! The Bible said, «Speak the Word only, and my servant will be healed.» There was no New Testament, but the spoken Word! «Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,» and the Bible wasn’t finished being written, and yet the Word existed! The Word said, «Speak to the dry bones,» not the Scriptures!
The Scriptures are written in retrospect to the incident, but the Word pre-existed what happened in the Valley of Dry Bones. So I prophesied as I was commanded, and there was a noise and a shaking. Somebody say the Word! The Word! The Word! In the beginning was the Word—there is, translated in Greek. The very fact that it’s translated in Greek means that it is written after the fact. Paul has not yet been to Mars Hill; the Greek had not yet been converted; therefore, the Bible had not yet been completed. It was completed in Greek, which comes later after the cross. Sir, in the beginning was Logos, and Logos was God, and Logos was with God. The traditional understanding of the Word «Logos» means not just word but thought, principle, or speech. Nothing about Logos means written. There was no Bible in creation! That’s right! Nineveh had no Bible, and yet they repented.
The oldest book of the Bible is the Book of Job. The Pentateuch—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers—is written by Moses, and that’s thousands of years after creation! This comes later; this is the written Word of God. But God is not subject to penmanship! John 21:25, let me prove it: «And there were also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written, everyone I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.» But these are written that you might believe.
So what you have is just a syllabus! Y’all don’t want to play with me this morning! This is just a syllabus; this is just a compacted, concentrated representative of the wholeness of what God has to say. Sometimes, what God has to say, you don’t have a Scripture for it, but God said it! God said it in your belly! God said it in your spirit! God said it to your grandmama! God said it in your soul! Shout «Yes!» The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God! If Jesus would have spoken, He’d have stabbed Herod with a word because the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God! No Bible! The Bible is always written in retrospect; it is after the fact. The Word is present tense. By the time Moses wrote «Let there be light,» the creation was over.
Never confuse the Word with the Bible! The Bible is the written Word of God, and these Scriptures were written that you might believe. It is not the full history of all that God is, and all that God can do, and all that God will do. Oh, let me get out of here, 'cause I’m into something. I got to thinking about it. I said, «Lord, I want to understand this Lamb of God.»
So, which brought me to the question: Is there a difference between lambs in Palestine and lambs in the rest of the world? So I started studying lambs. The lamb that we’re talking about in Palestine is called an ASI lamb. It is a unique brand of lamb that is designed to withstand the climate in the Middle East. You just thought a lamb is a lamb is a lamb, but an ASI lamb has a different nature. It has the ability to survive the hot climate, the sandy dunes, to eat less food, and to hold on to it for longer periods of time. It tends to have a dark face because the melanin protects it from the heat of the sun.
I put my picture of the lamb up; it looks a little different. Yes, it has a slightly different demeanor. This is what an A.R.S.E. lamb has—the ability to withstand adversity. It is adaptable and flexible. If you want to be like the Lamb of God, you’ve got to be adaptable, you’ve got to be flexible; you have to serve God in season and out of season. You have to preach when you feel like it and preach when you don’t feel like it. You have to praise when you’re happy and praise when you’re blue because an A.R.S.E. lamb is able to withstand whatever it faces. It produces more wool; it produces more dairy; it has more ability. It yields 58 to 77 liters of milk during a 150-day lactation. So, the A.R.S.E. lamb has a different value because of the amount of milk that it can produce and the amount of wool it can produce. This puts it in a unique category. It is an A.R.S.E. lamb.
An A.R.S.E. lamb has a different personality; it has a temperament of adaptability. I don’t care where you put it; it will adapt to wherever it is. I’m talking about some of you—you will find a way to survive because you have that lamb-like nature inside of you. Meanwhile, your girlfriend is rigid and stubborn and won’t listen, and you can’t tell her anything. But I don’t care where we put you; you will find a way to shine because you have the nature not just of a lamb but an A.R.S.E. lamb, which is not confined to the Middle East. Are you hearing what I’m saying?
In summary, the A.R.S.E. lamb is a kind of sheep that is not only hearty but also valuable for milk and meat production in the region. Their calm temperament and adaptability contribute to their popularity in the Middle East. They were loved because they were quiet under attack. Jesus acts like the lamb that David raised—the kind of lamb that goes to the slaughter and doesn’t say a thing. In the garden, he was talking, but the closer he got to the cross, the less he had to say because he had to be an A.R.S.E. lamb. An A.R.S.E. lamb is just as calm going to the slaughter as it is going to the grass field. Yes, he humbled himself, and he never said a mumbling word because it is the nature and temperament of an A.R.S.E. lamb to be quiet. This is the theology of quietness; sometimes God says nothing. Go to a land I will show you, he says nothing else. You shall come forth as pure gold, says nothing else. If you destroy the temple, I’ll raise it up again—no details, says nothing else.
An A.R.S.E. lamb just goes, whether it is to the shearers, the slaughterhouse, or the feeding; it just goes. Jesus' power is proven in his submission to the purpose, and because Pilate had nothing to do with the purpose, he got no answer. Anybody who doesn’t have anything to do with your purpose does not deserve an answer. If you argue with them and win, what do you get? So, stop responding to everything they say on Twitter and Instagram because there is no prize or reward for you. Let them say, «I don’t like your hair.» Do you think I’m going to change my hair because some stranger wrote a line that says they don’t like my glasses? These are the tactics of the enemy to distract you from your purpose, and Jesus doesn’t answer him because you can win the battle and lose the war. Oh God, I’m talking to somebody. I don’t know who it is—stop letting the enemy distract you with every battle; sometimes, you just don’t say anything.
It is the theology of quietness. There were times when God said nothing at all, what we historians call the 400 years of silence. God said nothing at all. It mirrors the 400 years that Abraham’s seed spent in Egypt; for 400 years, God said nothing at all. But just because God isn’t saying anything, that doesn’t mean God isn’t doing anything. He’s always doing something, even when he isn’t saying anything. «Though he slay me, yet shall I trust him.»
If he lays me down, he’ll raise me up again. If he puts me in it, he’ll bring me out of it. If he puts me in the lion’s den, he’ll raise me from the lion’s den. If he puts me in the jailhouse, he’ll shake the jailhouse. I feel like doing the Jailhouse Rock because somebody’s about to rock their way out of a jail! Everybody’s laughing at you, but you’re coming out! I don’t know who I’m talking to, but thus says the word of the Lord: they think they’re going to kill you in the morning, but before they get to your cell, I’m going to send a breakthrough into your life. All you’ve got to do is go to sleep like a good A.R.S.E. lamb and know that he that began a good work in you shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Somebody give me my sleepy praise, a resting praise, a praise that releases your anxiety, a praise that comforts your mind, a praise that renews your spirit. You don’t have to say anything; be still and know I’m God. I got this; the battle is not yours; it belongs to me. Give them to me. Can I go a little deeper? I want to differentiate between superficial strength and internal fortitude. We spend six billion dollars a year on weightlifting equipment, gym memberships, personal trainers, and related fitness services—all so that we can look strong and buff. It’s good for your health; I’m not speaking against it. I’m just making a point. But when you get into a spiritual battle, biceps can’t help you; trips can’t help you. It’s nice to have abs, I guess.
I’ve got some down in here somewhere. But let me tell you something: ABS won’t help you when your soul is under attack. Just because somebody looks strong doesn’t mean they are strong; just because they talk strong doesn’t mean they are strong. We confuse strength with anger, so we think that because someone is angry, they’re strong. Then they get cancer, and you find out they’re cursing; cancer doesn’t drive it out. You talk a good fight, but what is under attack is your inner strength, your inner ability, your fight back on the inside: «I will arise, still I rise; spit on me? Still I rise; beat me? Still I rise; nail me to the tree? Still I rise; put me in the tomb? Still I rise!» Somebody shout «still I rise!»
You ought to be shouting right now when you look at all the hell you’ve been through, and you’re still sitting here today. You know you ought to be praising God. You know they tried to take you out; you know you couldn’t defend yourself; you had to hold your peace, and still, you rise. I want 30 seconds of crazy praise! I want a praise, a praise, a praise, a praise, a praise, a praise, a praise, a praise—a praise! I feel a praise coming in the house! I feel a praise coming in the house! Let it come in; let it come in. «Still I rise!» I thought I would have a nervous breakdown, but «still I rise!» I thought I would lose my mind, but «still I rise!» I thought everything was over, but «still I rise!» I don’t know who I’m talking to, but you’re still here; you need to put on a hat, blow your whistle, and throw yourself a party! Stop waiting for anybody to throw you a party, but celebrate the fact that you’re still here!
It’s not by might; it’s not by power; it’s by my spirit, says the Lord. You may have to crawl like the woman with the issue of blood, but you still touched the hem of His garment. Shout yes! We spend 1.6 billion dollars getting facelifts. The cost of a face and neck lift varies depending on the region; but $1.6 billion is old numbers; it’s probably about 2 billion now. But when you’re in grief, looking younger doesn’t matter; when your daughter gets through cursing you out, when you find your mama with her needle in her arms, this kind of strength doesn’t even matter. You beautiful sister come in looking beautiful, but it doesn’t help if we’re in the emergency room. The strength you need is A.R.S.E. strength, the strength on the inside, the strength to hold your peace, the strength to be still, the strength to intercede, the strength to survive—grief-stricken, heartbroken, mind confused, don’t know where tomorrow is coming from—but still, there’s something inside of you that has the ability to survive. Am I talking to the right people?
I’m going to give you just a few points. Can I go a little deeper? Inner strength evolves from exposure to the Holy Spirit, because it’s not enough for me to tell you that you need inner strength and not tell you where to get it. Inner strength evolves from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. Are you hearing what I’m saying? The Spirit led him. The Spirit doesn’t just lead you to the car lot to get a special price on a car; the Spirit doesn’t just lead you to a house or gold or silver. The Spirit leads you to trouble that strengthens you inwardly.
Oh, ain’t nobody shouting now, because when the anointing comes on you, you think the anointing just comes for you to come in and take over. Sometimes the anointing comes in for you to suffer so that you can develop inner strength. That’s why you’re confused. You think, «How can I be so anointed and still be unhappy?» Because you think the anointing’s job is to make you happy. The anointing’s job is to strengthen you inwardly, and God wants you to stop murmuring.
When you murmur, you turn a three-day journey into a 40-year trip because of your mouth. When you murmur and complain, you elongate the process. Whereas if you just hold your peace and follow the theology of quietness, it will soon be over. «Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.» It’s not just enduring it; it’s how you endure it. You need to be able to endure it and not change your attitude, not get bitter, and not get smart, and not try to straighten people out—that’s not easy to do. But God says that in order to get through this battle you’re in right now, you’re going to have to shut up. It is the silence of the lamb.
In Jude 1:20, I want you to have this; this is very important. I’ve known this scripture for almost 50 years. «But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.» When I get under attack, I start praying in the Spirit; I start praying in tongues because I’ve got to bypass my soulish man. I don’t want my feelings to start directing the prayer, because if my feelings direct the prayer, I’m going to start praying crazy stuff: «Kill them! Kill all of them! May they drop dead and fall over on the floor. May maggots eat them before the EMTs get there!» I can’t trust my mind to pray because my mind has been affected by what my flesh is going through.
But the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. For He that knows the will of God searches the heart of mankind; it’s the catheter—it cleans me out, sanctifies me, and gets me right. He gets my head on straight. So, if you want to strengthen your inner man, you’ve got to start praying more in the Holy Ghost. You’ve got to start walking through the house talking to him. And you say, «What good does that do?» I don’t understand. You don’t need to understand; that’s why we’re doing it. We don’t want you to understand; we want you to obey. We want you to submit; we want you to say yes, and we want a prayer that has not been polluted by your opinion.
This you can do at home; you don’t need any equipment, you don’t need a trainer, you don’t need a device. You can start walking around in your hotel room saying, «I feel it getting to me; I feel it getting to me.» If I’m going to shut my mouth, I’ve got to be strong enough in the Spirit to pray in the Holy Ghost. I feel something about to hit this place; I feel something about to rock this place. Every witch needs to get out the door because the Holy Ghost is about to hit the house. If the Holy Ghost hits the house, every yoke is going to break; every warlock needs to run. I feel the presence of God coming into this place. Somebody give me my praise! I just need a praise! I just need a praise! I need a praise! I need a praise! I need a praise! I just need anybody; anybody that doesn’t care what you’ve got on, doesn’t care what you look like, doesn’t care what you’re built like, doesn’t care how long your hair is—give him a praise like you lost your mind! Give him praise out of your belly, out of your spirit, out of your essence, out of the depths of your being!
I feel something about to break loose; I feel the Spirit of God about to take over this place! Hell is nervous, demons are trembling, Satan is upset because you’re getting strength in your inner man! Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water! I feel water coming into your dry places! If you open your mouth and give God the glory, you’re going to build yourself up! You don’t need a new man, you don’t need a new woman, you don’t need a new job; you need to build yourself up, up, up, up! I set up, I set up. I feel something about to happen in this place. But number two, I want you to get this: you have to understand that inner strength comes from strong associations. You can’t run with weak people and get stronger; you have to run with people that are strong.
Choose strong people, not mean people, not hateful people—strong people. Pick your friends based on how they took a licking and kept on ticking. Choose friends who have been through hell and high water and still got up. Do you hear what I’m saying? Stop being drawn only to people who need you. For this next year we are going through, you need people that feed you, that pour into you, that challenge you, that make you read, that make you study, that make you pray, because you are getting ready to go higher. Slap your neighbor and say, «I’m getting ready for higher! I’m getting ready for higher! I’m training for the Olympics! I’m training for what’s next! I’m training for what God is about to do! I’m training for my purpose! I’m training for my prophecy! I’m training for my progress! I’m training for my power!»
I might not look like I have power; I may only be three feet tall and weigh 85 pounds, but man looks on the outward appearance, while God looks at the heart. I’m stronger than I look; I’m tougher than I look because I’ve been through enough hell that I’ve been exercising the power of God in my life. So I want to attract people that have inner strength so that my associations will reflect where I’m going. Can I go just a little bit deeper? I have two more quick points that I will share, and then I’ll be out of your way. Inner strength comes from prayer, and we have raised a church that has stopped praying. They praise, but they don’t pray; they dance, but they don’t pray. You don’t see any churches anymore that have prayer meetings. Nobody is speaking; there is no big name singing. The star of the show is prayer.
We came in praying, we had a quick devotion, and everybody hit their knees and said, «Satan, you are a liar! You’re coming against my house, but you can’t have my house! I plead the blood—the blood of the Lamb, the blood of Jesus. Holy Ghost, take over me; don’t let me say what I want to say, but help me to hold my peace! The battle is not mine; it belongs to You, Father. I stretch my hands to Thee; no other help I know. I’m not looking to you for help. I’m not trying to manipulate you to get help because you ain’t my God; I don’t have to talk to you, Pilate. You didn’t get me into this, and you can’t get me out. Now unto Him that is able! Oh, there’s something happening in the balcony!
There’s something happening in the back! There’s something happening in the center section! Somebody over there got a breakthrough. If you got a breakthrough over there, open your mouth and give God some praise! My fourth and final point on how to strengthen yourself is simply this: inner strength comes from healthy soul talk. What are you saying to yourself? You are making yourself sick by feeding yourself the poison that gives you pain, rehearsing it over and over again, envisioning it over and over again. You can’t be strong eating weak food. It’s not what they said about you; it’s what you say to yourself. It’s not what they did to you; it’s what you did to yourself. You need healthy soul talk. „I’m the man for the job; I know I can do it! I know the favor of God is with me! I know that God is for me! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.“
A thousand may fall at my right side; 10,000 may fall at my left side, but it shall not come near me because I know in whom I have believed. You have to start talking to yourself better, because if you don’t talk to yourself better, you’ll start dating anybody that talks nicely to you. There is such a deficit for positivity that I can trick you just by being nice to you. You haven’t had any kindness in so long that you’re so thirsty that any con man can come along and say something you ought to be saying to yourself. I date myself; I take myself out to dinner. I buy myself some flowers. I give myself something for my birthday every year. I buy myself a present in case everybody else forgets me. I don’t forget myself. I feel the power of the Holy Ghost about to shake this place down! Touch your neighbor and tell them, „I’m about to shake this place down!“
If you’re nervous, you might want to move. If you’re upset, you might want to get out of the way. If you’ve got a hearing problem, you might want to move, because I feel the power of the Holy Ghost about to break loose in this place! Lift your voice and give God a praise! I said a praise! I said a praise! A 30-second praise! Praise Him till you start talking right! Praise Him till you start thinking right! Praise Him till you feel the power of the Holy Ghost in your soul! Praise Him till you become your own best friend! Praise Him till you feel a renewal down in your belly! Praise Him! Praise Him till you stop needing the validation of Pilate! Praise Him until you astound them with what you said—nothing about you ever even indicated it was an issue.
The Bible says Pilate was astonished because of the silence of the Lamb. Jesus could be silent because He knew His purpose was not with Pilate; His purpose was with the resurrection. He just had to go through Pilate, so He didn’t respond to Pilate because Pilate was a part of the process. Judas was part of the process. Jesus knew what He was going to do before He did it, but He didn’t stop him because he wasn’t part of the process. After Judas did it, he regretted it and tried to give the money back. They wouldn’t take the money back because it was too late; he was fulfilling the process. When you’re going through the process, you’ve got to shut up. Shut up! Yeah, you’ve got to be quiet.
This is the theology of quietness; this is what makes you a peculiar people. That’s what makes you peculiar—not dressing weird, acting weird, or saying strange stuff in Kroger. No, the ability to just be still until you bring all parts of yourself into subjection and accept that it is what it is. It’s going to do what it’s going to do. It’s going to be what it’s going to be. When we get through talking, I still have to go through the cross. When we get through negotiating, I still have to go through the cross. But I’m not worried about the cross because I know that I might die on Friday evening, but I know it ain’t over on Friday evening. I might look gone all day Saturday, but I know it ain’t over based on Saturday.
But if you happen to get up early Sunday morning, go down to the graveside and see how He got over. I didn’t say anything over here because actions speak louder than words, and the Lord told me to tell you that you can show them better than you can tell them. I don’t know who I’m talking to, but the Lord said you can show them better than you can tell them. Don’t say anything about it; just be about it! You’ve been in a Friday night experience, but Sunday is coming! And if you hold your peace a little while longer, everyone is going to see God roll the stone. Who am I preaching to?
If this is your word, make some noise in this place! If this is your word, make some noise in this place! If this is your word, let the Lord know you heard Him speak to you right now! So I repent; I’m closing. I repent for my suffering, for my murmuring, and my complaining. I repent because I’ve been verbal about stuff that doesn’t matter. I repent because I’ve been hanging around people that made me respond petty because they were petty. But I refuse to sink down into the quagmire and the abyss of who you are and give up being who I am. The gravitational pull of our relationship has caused me to step back because you’re about to make me say something when I’m being graded on my silence.
The theology of quietness: Elijah in the cave, lightning—God ain’t in it. Thunder—God ain’t in it. All kinds of power—earthquake; God is not in it. But then a still small voice spoke and said, „Get out of here! What doest thou here?“ And the Lord said something. I’m finished. What are you doing in that cave? You’re a mighty man of valor! You’re a mighty man of valor at work; you’re a mighty man of valor to your friends. You’re a mighty man of valor to everybody else, but at 3:00 in the morning, you’re living in a cave. You cave man! You cave man! You cave man!
You cut yourself in the tombs, and God said, „I did not anoint you for you to hate yourself! I did not anoint you for you to cut yourself!“ You stopped the other people who were cutting you because you are better at cutting yourself than they were! In fact, you only drew them because they reflected how you saw yourself. Wow! You had the power to push them back, but then you took their job. What dost thou here? Why have you lowered yourself to debate someone who has less rank, authority, power, purpose, and progress than you? They don’t deserve your answer.