TD Jakes - Trust Your Wings
1st Samuel 30:3-9. When you have it, say Amen. If you can’t find it, we’re going to put it on the screen, so you’ll see it anyway. I can tell you this: If you’re lost and going in the wrong direction, you need to go back to the other end of the book. 1 Samuel 30:3 brings us to a perplexing moment in David’s life; it is a challenging time for him. It says, «So David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been abducted; they had been taken captive.»
Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep. That grief is a kind of pain where they run out of tears, and David’s two wives were taken captive: Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. David was greatly distressed. Just because you’re a leader doesn’t mean you don’t feel. Just because you have a degree doesn’t mean you don’t feel.
Just because you have things going on doesn’t mean you don’t feel deeply. David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him; the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved—every man for his sons and for his daughters. So, grief turned to anger. Emotions can switch on you. That’s why people change on you; in one season of their lives, they’re one way, but in another, they will switch. They were crying together, but now they’re ready to kill him because when things go wrong, you always need someone to blame.
When David saw the men he had come back with turn on him, he decided to encourage himself. Tell someone, «Say, I’ll do it myself.» David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, «I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod.» Abiathar brought the ephod to David, and David inquired of the Lord, saying, «Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them?» And he answered him, «Pursue! For thou shalt surely overtake them!» Will somebody shout «surely, surely overtake them!» and without fail? Keep going. So David went, he and the 600 men that were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed. Can you say Amen? Amen.
Now let’s go to Psalms 91, just for a moment. «He shall cover thee with His feathers,» talking about God. «He shall cover thee with His feathers; and under His wings, shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.» Can you say Amen? Can you say Amen? Amen. This morning, for the next few moments, if you will allow me, the Lord has instructed me to give you these instructions as you go back home, as you go back to your cities, your countries, and as you go back to work tomorrow on Monday. The Lord told me to tell you to trust your wings. I want you to touch your neighbor and just say, «Trust your wings.»
Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on us as we go into the word of God. I thank you for your presence, your healing, your power, and Your Glory. Release it in this place. In Jesus' name we pray. Somebody shout Amen!
You may be seated in the presence of God. When my wife and I moved to Fort Worth, we moved to a place where I have access to a really nice back porch where I go to chill out and get my head together. There was a family of hawks when we came there, and now it’s a multitude of hawks; they have been fruitful over the years. They have not moved; they are everywhere. I was talking to my sister on the phone last night, and I said, «Do you hear that noise?» She said, «What is that?» I said, «Those are the hawks flying through the trees, launching in the branches.»
It occurs to me there are a couple of things I want you to understand about the way hawks operate. Very much like eagles, they can fly very high—up to 15,000 feet in the air. They can soar and look down with keen eyes—so keen that they can see a rodent in the field at 15,000 feet and then dive down to attack that rodent. They also rest on branches, but the only thing about resting on branches is that occasionally, branches break. When you watch a branch break that any bird is sitting on, the bird never screams, never shouts, and never seems frustrated, despite the fact what it was standing on broke.
Occasionally in your life, things will break. The reason the hawk doesn’t get upset when it finds itself in a critical situation is because it knows it can trust its wings. Let’s take a moment and pray. Father, right now in the name of Jesus, I know you’re able to do anything but fail. You’re the God of all flesh. There is nothing too hard for you. You’re the master physician, the healer of all diseases. I pray in the name of Jesus that whatever is attacking this brother, the healing power of the Holy Spirit would step in and intervene. Thank you for our metaphorical professionals that are handling this, and anoint them with insight and give victory. In Jesus' name, we pray. Somebody shout Amen!
Amen. What I’m saying is that branches break, and you need to understand that before you get back home and you’re all lit up with the glory of God, and you’ve surrendered everything over to God, that does not mean your family has surrendered, that your environment has surrendered, that your husband has surrendered, nor that your co-workers have surrendered. That doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay taxes or that your bills aren’t due. I don’t want you to have the expectation just because God has revitalized you and set you on a new trajectory that life won’t keep on lifing because branches break. That’s why we have to begin to understand this from the perspective that things will change in your life at such a rapid pace that you can’t keep up with them. You can’t always tell your friends from your enemies; just because someone says something you don’t like, it doesn’t necessarily make them an enemy.
In a moment of pain and grief, people need to attack you or blame somebody. We can’t be so sensitive that we’re not successful because if you’re not careful, you become so sensitive that you won’t be successful at what God called you to do. You’ll stop to argue with someone, straighten someone out, or fix someone, thinking that is the victory, when the enemy is just distracting you from your assignment. The enemy wouldn’t be distracting you if you didn’t have an assignment. One of the great things I’ve learned about life is to learn to distinguish distraction from assignment because many are the times you will land on a branch, and when the branch breaks, if you don’t remember your wings, you will fall. The gravitational pull is never up; it’s always downward. So, we are always fighting against a gravitational pull that wants you to fall, and you have to remember your wings—that God covers you with wings and that the angels of the Lord encamp around those that fear Him.
In the presence of God, there is fullness of joy, and in His presence, you have power. Sometimes when the branch breaks, you forget your wings; you’re so busy looking at the breaking of the branch and the pain it caused, and the fear that it brought that you don’t recognize that you have wings. Look at your neighbor and say, «I got wings!» Yes, I want you to love me; I want you to support me; I want you to be with me. But if you don’t, I want you to be my prayer partner; I want you to be my secret keeper; I want you to be my sister and my brother’s soldier. But if you don’t, I want to keep my job; I want to keep my house; I want to keep moving forward. I have plans, ideas, and things I hope to accomplish in my life. But if everything doesn’t come together exactly the way I want it to, I must always remember I got wings.
Look at somebody and say, «I got wings!» There is a moment in David’s life where he has seen a series of breaking branches. In fact, David’s whole life is full of branches that break. He is born into a family that really wasn’t a good fit; it wasn’t a good match. They weren’t exactly excited about him. Some theologians and scholars think that his father didn’t really pick him out or point him out or appreciate him because he suspected that David wasn’t his. I believe he was, but he suspected David wasn’t his. That’s why David said, «I was born in sin and in iniquity.» Did God form me? He was a reject; whether that’s right or wrong, he was a reject in the family. He was ostracized in the family; he felt more comfortable with sheep than with family.
Sometimes what you do is pushed on you because of what you’re trying to avoid. Does anybody understand what I just said? So he goes through that, and he goes through this, and he goes through the other, and yet God has a plan for his life that is far beyond what it looks like right now. Because in this season, he is taking care of sheep, but in the next season, he is going to be a great leader. But this doesn’t happen as quickly as it does on television; life is not a television show. Life is not TikTok; life is not Instagram; it doesn’t happen that fast. It takes time, it takes life; it takes suffering, it takes enduring hardness, and it takes branches breaking for you to really understand not only that you have wings but to trust your wings.
It’s one thing to have them; it’s another to trust your wings. This is not just a sermon; it’s a prophetic word to somebody, so I want you to be listening not just to the continuity of the address but to the specificity of the rhema that God is saying to you. You’re getting ready to face some things, and when you do, you have to be able to trust your wings. David has been sent on a menial task to bring lunch to his brothers, who are more mature and who are in the army. David is just an errand boy until he sees Goliath. Goliath introduces David to the world. Goliath is a great thing; he’s not a bad thing. I know he’s ominous; I know he’s foreboding; I know he’s intimidating.
The massiveness of the challenge before him is how David got discovered. When God gets ready to really introduce you to the world, he will often use a giant problem in your life to bring you to the stage you need to be on. Amen! Come on, talk to me, somebody. God uses Goliath to create a platform for David to stand on, and David is discovered in a fight. So if you run from every battle, if you hide from every breaking branch, if you’re scared to land on something because you’re so intimidated, you may miss the very usher that’s going to bring you into the next stage of your life.
Avoiding broken branches, Goliath was used, and now he’s fighting Goliath, who is a Philistine for the king of Israel. All of a sudden, the king discovers him in the fight. Hear me right now: there is a fight that you have been in that God ordered, and even though you prayed, He didn’t move it. Even though you spoke in tongues, He didn’t move it. Even though you anointed yourself with oil, He didn’t move it. There’s a fight going on in your life; if God doesn’t move the fight, then that means God is going to use the fight to become a platform for you to discover what you can do, what you can endure, what you can stand, and what’s next in your life. I don’t know who I’m talking to, but I’m going to unravel some things this morning; I’m going to share some things this morning that are going to revolutionize your life.
And suddenly King Saul likes him and invites him into the palace, and David must make the transition from being a shepherd boy, where what you smelled like didn’t matter, and what you wore didn’t matter, and what you looked like didn’t matter. Suddenly he is catapulted into the palace, where there is protocol, where there is order, where there is structure, where there is ambiance, where there are rules, and David has nothing in his background that has prepared him for the platform he is about to stand on. But David is fluid enough that he’s able to adapt to different situations rapidly, and God uses Jonathan. God will send someone who loves you enough to school you to get you ready for what He’s about to do in your life. After you’ve discovered your goal, you have to find your Jonathan. When you find your Jonathan, they will dress you; they will change places with you. I wish I had time to really delve into David and Jonathan because in David and Jonathan, I see substitution; I see Jesus trading places with us.
I see him giving us his righteousness and us giving him our sins. The prince in the house dressed David as a prince and gave him something he didn’t work for, something he didn’t earn, and something he had no background for. But through relationship, there was a conveyance—a conductor—that brought him into a power he never would have had if he had not been in that relationship. So protect your relationships because God often will bless you through the relationships that you have if you protect them. And it happened—boom! David is there; David is in the palace; David is in the palace, and he kills a thousand, or maybe three thousand, Philistines and brings their forkins and throws them down at the king’s feet. But then David was so good at what he did that it created jealousy.
Saul was good with David as long as they sang about Saul, but when they changed their song to «Saul has killed his thousands, but David has killed his tens of thousands,» all of a sudden, the branch broke. Some people only like you in one dimension of your life, but when God finally brings you into the next dimension of your life, don’t be surprised; everybody can’t handle role reversal. I said everybody can’t handle role reversal. The first shall be last, the last shall be first; we shout about it, but when it happens, everybody can’t handle that. David ends up having to leave the palace and runs from the very person he was fighting for. The reason David is running from Saul, who is now trying to kill him and throwing javelins at him, is that you’re under attack because the enemy only tries to take you out because of your destiny, and he’s trying to stop you before you get there.
You don’t understand why it’s happening, because sometimes he sees things that you don’t see, and you don’t understand why he’s throwing javelins at you. Why would the king throw a javelin at a boy? But God knew what David was going to be, and Saul knew what David was going to be, and it got on his nerves. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all. All of a sudden, David finds himself in a situation of transition. When we settle on the text, David has gone through a period of hiding among the people he was fighting. Look at how fluid he is—he is now hiding among the Philistines from the people he was fighting for. Sometimes when you shut doors, you shut them prematurely because you don’t understand how the branch will break and the situation will change, and you’ll find yourself on the opposite side.
David has had to hide among the Philistines, thinking himself mad, finally ending up with 600 men and their families in Ziklag. He is in Ziklag because he’s too much an Israelite to fit in with the Philistines, but he’s been with the Philistines so long that he can’t go back to the Israelites. Sometimes you have to create your own camp, come on somebody, because I’m talking to the misfit people. All you fit people don’t get it, but to the misfit people, I want to talk to those of you who are not quite this, not quite that, not quite here, and not quite there. You can’t really explain where you’re at. Sometimes you got to create your own camp. David is in Ziklag with 600 men fighting for them, their families, their children, their goats, their cattle, and their oxen. They have just come back from a mission, and sometimes when you come back from a mission, you come back weary and tired.
Have you noticed that we have been in a series of battles? Maybe it’s just me, not you. How many people, as soon as you get out of one thing, here comes something else? As soon as you survive this, now you got that. You finally got the house paid off, and now your body’s acting crazy. You finally got your head on straight and got your therapy together, but your credit is jacked up. How many people have gone from battle to battle to battle to battle? I don’t care how strong you are, I don’t care how anointed you are, and I don’t care how gifted you are; when you come back from a battle, you are tired, and it’s called battle fatigue. Some of you have not been diagnosed yet; you are numb because you have been in so many battles that you have battle fatigue, and you’re trying to find a place to just perch on.
«Can you watch with me for a few hours? Will you stay and stand with me? Will you be there with me?» And there he is, coming home from battle with 600 men, and he’s coming to a place where there should be dancing, there should be singing, there should be rejoicing. There should be someone—the women normally would run out to meet you, and they didn’t. There is no sound of the laughter of the children, and there is no smell of the breaking of bread. He comes home, and instead of smelling bread, he smells smoke. He smells smoke. Somebody in here smells smoke, and the smoke is the first indication that something is wrong. When he gets back to the camp, having survived being in Israel and with the Philistines, he runs into the fact that while they were gone, the Amalekites have come in, abducted all the women and children, and burned the camp. They are devastated, and sometimes you just got to admit, «I’m devastated.»
I know you’ve been taught positive confession, that you can just name it and claim it and quote the word, but sometimes you got to open your mouth and say, «I’m sick of this! I’m sick of this! I’m sick of this!» Because until you get that pain out, you can’t get that direction in; you got to open your mouth and holler. That’s why I hope you all don’t get rid of all the old school stuff, because there was something the old church mothers knew. They didn’t speak Greek, they didn’t speak Hebrew, they didn’t understand Swahili, but old church—oh, there was something that they released that broke out of their spirit, opening them up to what God was about to do next in their lives.
If you understand what I’m talking about, let me hear you shout unto God! You cannot deny this hurt—this hurt, this hurt; this is painful! The branch broke! The branch broke, and I don’t know what to do. Then he finds himself in an even more perplexing situation. I need to teach this for a minute. He finds himself in the perplexing situation that the people he could count on have stopped weeping with him and decided to blame him. They turn on him. Ahithophel is gone; Abigail is gone; and now his own soldiers have turned on him. The Bible says that David encouraged himself in the Lord. We often preach this kind of stuff, but we don’t tell people how to encourage themselves in the Lord because we’re so used to needing the whole 600 behind us in order to get encouragement. When that branch breaks or that relationship changes or that voice ceases to be in your ear, you don’t know that you’ve got the power inside of yourself to encourage yourself.
I know it looks silly, but sometimes you got to lay hands on your own head. You got to speak to yourself. You got to encourage yourself; you got to ignore all the ugly stuff and look for something that’s lovely, look for something that’s true, look for something that’s real, and decide what you’re going to worry about and what you’re not going to worry about. Make it up in your mind: I’m going to trust my wings even if the branch breaks. Now, somebody say, «Trust your wings, baby! Trust your wings! Trust your wings!»
You’re in a season where you got to trust your wings; you got to trust your wings. You got to trust that what God gave you is enough to handle whatever life throws at you. You got to trust that he who began a good work in you shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. You got to trust that God is not just Alpha, but Omega—the beginning and the end, the first and the last. You got to trust that God is with you always: if the branch breaks, he’s with you; if the credit breaks, he’s with you; if the marriage fails, he’s with you; if your body gets sick, he’s with you; if you’re backed in a corner, he’s with you; if the storm is raging, he’s with you; if life is going crazy, he’s with you; if your body’s wracked with pain, he’s still with you; if you’re backed up and had to start over, he’s with you; if you make your bed in hell, he’s with you; if you take the wings of the morning and ascend to the uttermost parts of the earth, he’s still with you.
The reason you’ve got the kind of power you have is not just because you read your Bible, but because your Bible read you. What you read in the Bible is going to be walked out in your life, and you don’t get to choose how it’s walked out in your life; it just happens the way it happens, and branches break. David was left to encourage himself. This fascinates me because sometimes I overlook what fascinates other people. Other people are fascinated by the fact that David encouraged himself, but I am fascinated with how David handles conflict. See, all conflict is not bad. It seems like we are extremists; either we are extremely full of conflict to the degree that we avoid constructive conflict, or we have people who just say yes to everything and we’re not growing because we have not created an atmosphere that enables our ideas to be challenged. We are only comfortable when we are in control.
As long as you are in total control, you are completely comfortable. But when you find yourself in a situation where you have to be inclusive of people who think differently than you and your ideas are challenged, you must be comfortable with that. Here lies the challenge of great leadership: to become comfortable with other smart people in the room. You see, when you build your own camp, you are often the only smart person in the room. But when you get ready to take dominion over what God has for you, you have to be able to deal with being in the room with other smart people. It doesn’t have the same ring that it used to have because now you’re outside the camp.
Tell somebody, «Now you got to get out of the camp! You got to get out of your camp to get the victory! You can’t stay in your circle, you can’t stay in your clique, you can’t stay around people who always salute you and celebrate you. Now you got to deal with other people, and how you handle conflict determines whether you will become king or not.» This was a tremendous moment in David’s life, solely because of how he dealt with conflict. All conflict is not bad. I want to address the fact that we are in a drought of conflict. The reason I say we are in a drought of conflict, despite all the chaos you see going on in the world and on social media, is that you can choose the news you want, giving you a false sense of what is happening in the world.
You always stay in your own camp and are unwilling to have your ideas challenged because when someone challenges your ideas, you feel like they are challenging you. You have not separated yourself from your ideas, and that’s why your ideas don’t grow; because ideas grow in conflict. That’s why you’ve been in the same place for ten years—you have a conflict avoidance that was likely prewired in you, either by your history or your DNA, thinking your job is just to keep the peace. We like to talk about Jesus being the Prince of Peace, but when Jesus discusses it, he says, «I came not to bring peace but a sword. I came to stir things up. I don’t mind a little conflict!»
To set it off in here, I’m going to do some radical stuff. I’m going to get on everybody’s nerves. My church isn’t going to like it; my synagogue isn’t going to like it; the priests aren’t going to like it. Everybody’s going to be upset, but I’m willing to set it off to reach my destiny. I’ve got to be willing to disrupt some things, but we have a conflict avoidance culture, so we go along. I’m going to ask you for something—where are my «go along to get along» people? You see all kinds of stuff, but you don’t say anything because you don’t want to be the one to make waves. You’re comfortable without conflict. Oh, you’re not going to raise your hand? I get it, I get it, I get it.
Yeah, you were the kid in the family that brought everybody together. You spent your whole life explaining your mother to your father and your father to your mother. You spent all your life explaining your big brother to your little brother, just running from fire to fire trying to put everything out. And now, your idea of heaven is quiet, and anything that draws attention to you and puts you at risk of conflict, you dodge. But David deals with conflict head-on. He confronts it, and in the process, he creates an environment where people feel safe enough to challenge his ideas without losing their relationships. That’s how relationships last for years. Relationships don’t last because you’re always right; they last because you know how to accommodate somebody else’s ideas.
Oh, I knew you were going to shout about that! I knew you would! Businesses explode when you surround yourself with bright people, but bright people don’t always agree. If you listen to a podcast, they don’t always agree. One is telling you not to eat meat, the other tells you that you have a protein deficiency. One is telling you not to drink water, while another says coffee is good for you. One tells you a glass of wine is good for your blood vessels; the other says any alcohol consumption will tear down your brain. You’re just going from person to person, and rather than being in conflict, you step away and say, «I’m not going to do anything.» But how long can you do that? David has the conflict because his soldiers, his troops, his boys, his camp is in flames, and they’re ready to stone him. He’s now had to encourage himself first in the Lord.
Once he encourages himself, he goes to Abiathar to ask him for the Thummim and Urim, which were in the high priest’s vest. Whenever a decision needed to be made, these prophetic stones were used. That’s why he said, «Bring me the ephod so that I can find out if God is for me, if God is with me.» Because I don’t mind the branch breaking as long as I still have my wings. But if I lose my wings, I lose my mind. If I lose my wings, I lose my peace. If I lose my wings, I can’t make a great decision. Oh God, that’s why David said, «Take whatever you want from me, but whatever you do, don’t take your spirit away from me, because I need your spirit. Without your spirit, I’m a fool. Without your spirit, I’m a hothead. Without your spirit, I’ll be antagonistic. Without your spirit, I’ll fail you in an instant.»
I need your spirit! I’m not just raising my hands to make women evolve look good; I’m chasing the Holy Ghost. I need a fresh touch of God’s spirit in my life. Somebody take about 15 seconds and give God crazy praise! I’m chasing him down; I need your spirit because I don’t want to be in a battle that I brought on myself. I don’t want to be in a battle that you don’t intend for me to be in. I don’t want to waste time arguing with Sanballat and Tobiah while the walls of Jerusalem lay in ruins. I don’t want to mistake what victory looks like in my life. Victory doesn’t look like you; it doesn’t look like you; it doesn’t look like you; it doesn’t look like you; it doesn’t look like you.
So I’m done imitating people. I’m done pretending to be somebody else. I need to find out what victory looks like on me. It’s got to be tailored to fit me; it’s got to be tailored to fit my gifts; it’s got to be tailored to fit my anointing. And if I have to lay on my face on the altar and call on God, if I have to kick my legs, if I have to shake my hands, if I have to spin around in circles, if I have to jump up in the service and folks can’t see the preacher, I have to get what victory looks like for me! I came too far; I went through too much; I had too many dark days to get here and have a form of godliness, denying the power thereof. I need a touch from God, and I need it before I get on the plane; I need it before I get in the car; I need it before I take off in the air; I need it before we drive back. I need it; I need it; I need it; I need it!
That’s why I came to church this Sunday. After getting all that word, I still needed some more because I’ve got to make sure that if the branch breaks, I can trust my wings. I can trust my wings; I can trust my wings; I can trust my wings; I can trust my wings; I can trust my wings; I can trust my wings; I can trust my wings. See, God is getting ready to do something so mighty in your life that you need this word! Touch six people and say, «Trust your wings, trust your wings, trust, trust, trust, trust your wings, trust your wings, trust your wings!»
When branches break, trust your wings! When trials come, trust your wings! When you’re in a storm, trust your wings! Trust your wings! Trust your wings! When you can’t tell night from day, when you can’t tell friend from foe, trust your wings! When you can’t tell whether it’s spring or winter, trust your wings! Though a whole camp stands against you, your heart can’t fear if you just trust your wings! I don’t know who I’m preaching to, but I feel like I’m preaching to somebody. You might be streaming online; you might be in the overflow, but God is going to overflow in the overflow until the anointing falls where you are because when God brings you out of this place, he’s getting ready to take you into a brand new dimension, into a brand new stage, into a brand new place in God!
And if you can’t trust your friends, trust your wings! If you can’t trust your family, trust your wings! If you can’t trust your faculty, trust your wings! If you can’t trust your board, trust your wings! I need 30 seconds of crazy Holy Ghost praise in this place! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Yes, Lord, yes, Lord, yes, Lord, yes, Lord! That’s a child of destiny! That’s a child of destiny with hands in the air because God is talking to you. He’s feeding something that he’s about to do in your life. There’s a breakthrough that’s about to come in your life. Glory to God, glory to God—bear witness to it! Bear witness to it! Slap three people and tell them, «Something is about to happen in my life! Something’s about to happen in my life!»
I’ve got to get this word! I got to get it in my spirit! I got to get it in my heart! I got to get it in my belly! I got to get it in my system! I got to get it in my practice! I got to get it in my habit! I can’t be distracted! I can’t look to the left or the right! I don’t care what season I’m in; I’ve got to trust my wings! I can’t hear you! Make some noise in this place! Paul says it this way: he said, «I’ve learned how to abase and to abound. I know how to experience abundance, and I know how to survive lack. I know how to abase; I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed, both to be full and to be hungry. I am instructed both to abound and to suffer need.» Because God doesn’t want me to think that the branch is my sustenance.
My power is not in my branch; it’s in my wings. And so God keeps bouncing me from situation to situation to see if they work in this situation, if they work in that situation. Glory to God! The only thing that remains stable is God! And he goes on to say, «I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.» I know how to deal with anything, in any situation because as long as I have my wings, I can survive anything! Trust your wings! I am instructed to abase and abound. I am instructed to be full and to be hungry. I am instructed to fight the Philistines or hide among the Philistines. I am instructed how to win the battle and how to lose a battle. I have learned, whatever state I’m in, therewith to be content.
How can I be content and hungry? I can tell you how: I have meat to eat that you know not of! While my outward man is perishing, my inward man is being renewed! In other words, don’t count me out! I’m trying to tell you, you’ve got wings! I’m trying to tell you, you are enough! I’m trying to tell you that if you encourage yourself and start seeking God, he will prepare you for what he’s about to do in your life! But I haven’t hit my point yet—here’s my point. Once he found out that God said, «If you pursue the Amalekites, you not only will you overtake them; you will recover all.»
Y’all didn’t hear me—NOT most of it, NOT half of it, but ALL of it! Let me hear you in the balcony! Did you hear what I said? ALL of it—everything you lost, everything you cried about, everything you wept over, everything you’ve been in a season of depression about! God said if you listen to what I’m saying, you’re going to get it all back! I don’t know who this word is for, but you could not leave Dallas until you get this word: you’re going to get it all back! For every night you cried, for every night you suffered, for every moment you did without, you’re going to get it all back! So this is what drew me to this text yet again: when he gets instructions from the Lord, he then takes his 600 men to pursue the Amalekites.
You remember that God said he hated Amalek? God hated Amalek because the Amalekites had a system of warfare where they preyed on the weak. They waited until all the men were gone and abducted all the women and children—that was their style. They were known for that. God said, «I hate Amalek!» Now David is about to pursue the Amalekites, but that’s not what got me. What got me is he took the 600 men with him who were about to stone him. In other words, he didn’t let his feelings impact the word God gave him. You may have to release somebody that hurt you in one chapter; God may turn around and use them again in another. The Bible says that God will make your enemies your footstools—y’all don’t hear what I’m saying!
So sometimes, you get rid of people prematurely because God wants to use them to take you to the next level. But you’ve got to get over your grief, your anger, and your hostility because just because you’re done with them doesn’t mean God is through with them! Somebody jump up and holler, «God is not through with me! He’s not through with me! He’s not through with me! He’s not through with me!» Then I thought, «What is it about David using these 600 men?» So I began to investigate. He had trained them; he had prepared them; he had influenced them; he had affected them! And when push comes to shove, David always uses proven weapons. You remember when he was about to fight Goliath, and Saul offered him his armor?
Saul’s armor was bright; it was shining, and it was strong; it looked good. But when he got ready to fight, he said, «I know my slingshot is raggedy; I know it doesn’t look like much, but I’ve proven it! I used it against the lion; I used it against a bear!» Don’t go to battle with stuff that’s not proven! If you have to make it up, if you have to cry out, if you have to come up, whatever you have to do, God says, «I’m going to use you!» I admit it would have been tough for me; it would have been tough for me to go into battle with somebody who was going to stone me. It would have been tough for me! But when you get a word from God, the word becomes more important than your feelings!
I’m almost where I need to be, but you’re about to pursue everything you’ve lost. You’re going to reclaim everything the enemy tried to take away from you! You’re about to step into a dominion that requires you to go outside of your camp, outside of your arena, outside of your circle, and you can’t worry about their disapproval. You have to be willing to step into your destiny and your purpose, and you have to be willing to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. You must be able to deal with challenging ideas. We have to be able to talk! Who am I talking to? Everything you lost is coming back! Hallelujah! Everything that the enemy stole is coming back. Everything they meant for evil, God is going to make it good. For every night you cry, God is going to restore to you the joy of your salvation. You have your salvation, but it’s coming back with joy!
Lift your hands, open your mouth, and let the sound of joy break out into this arena! Let it break out in this church! Let it break out in the overflow! Let it break out in your house! You have the power in your mouth! Let it rip right now! Let it rip right now! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! And I want you to go into covenant with God. I’m going to trust my wings when I can’t trust my feelings. I’m going to trust my wings when I can’t trust my friends. I’m going to trust my wings when I can’t trust my finances. I’m going to trust my wings; I’m getting ready to fly into another dimension. Everything that was held up, everything that was locked down, everything that was shut off—I’m about to get it back! And I have to be prepared for what God is about to do in my life. Tell your neighbor, «Give me some room because I’m getting ready to flap my wings!»
I’m going to flap my wings when all hell is breaking loose. I’m going to flap my wings though a host has encamped against me. I’m going to flap my wings in the middle of the storm, in the middle of the trial, in the middle of the test, in the middle of the tribulation. I’m going to flap my wings. I feel the anointing of the Holy Ghost getting you ready to take flight! I’m not talking about your plane ticket, I’m talking about your destiny! You’re getting ready to fly into another dimension! Somebody take 30 seconds and just try your wings! You still got it! You still got it! You still got it! You still got it! You still got it! The devil is getting nervous!
The devil is getting nervous! Witches are upset! Chains are being broken off your life! Flap your wings! God has you covered! God’s got your finances covered! He’s got your future covered! Everything God said, you’re going to recover it all! I need a recovery praise! A praise of recovery! A praise of breakthrough! A praise of surrender! A praise of saying yes! Whatever I have to go through, no matter how much I have to cry, I’ll let nothing separate me from the love! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! You’ve come this far on your own ideas, but God’s going to take you to a place of innovation. And innovation comes out of conflict. You have to know that we can have conflict and still trust that we’ll end up at the same spot. We might disagree, but we’re going to work until we come up with the best idea, which may be a hybrid of your idea and mine.
But when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all that He’s done for me, I’ve got a feeling that everything—every little thing, every broken thing, every fallen thing, every hurting thing—it’s going to be alright! Can I get a good old Holy Ghost praise in this place? Some trust in horses; some trust in chariots. But I will remember the name of the Lord! I still got wings! I still got wings! Flap your wings in the devil’s face! Right in the enemy’s face! Right in the enemy’s face! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! A thousand may fall at your right side; ten thousand may fall at your left side, but keep on flapping. Sometimes they’re with you; sometimes they’re against you, but keep on flapping!
God said trust your wings for where you’re getting ready to go and for what God’s getting ready to do. See, David was not yet king, but he was practicing, evolving, and getting ready. He had to be able to lead in conflict, or you can’t be king. You can’t be king in a quiet room. You can’t be king and stay disconnected. You can’t be king and not deal with the messy stuff. You can’t be king and not be strong enough to accommodate other people’s gifts. You can’t be king if you’ve got to be bossy and lead a great nation, because if you’re going to lead a great nation, you’ve got to surround yourself with great people and be comfortable with conflict. How do you become comfortable in the conflict?
By creating an environment of trust that says we may disagree, but our relationship is stronger than our disagreement. And if it comes down to a choice, I choose to pursue relationship over disagreement. Perhaps you’re not right and I’m not either. Perhaps it is a combination of ideas that defines innovation. There can be no innovation without disruption, and your hiding from the conflict is stopping the innovation. And so the Lord told me to tell you that you have to create atmospheres of trust. Absolutely, you have to create atmospheres where people can approach you, disagree with you, challenge you, or say, «Have you thought about it this way or that way?»
You can’t keep running from other people’s brilliance just so you can feel important in your own little camp. What was amazing to me about the text is David’s values were based on what had been proven to be true in his life. He always turned down what looked like the obvious answer to use something that appeared substandard, because he valued longevity and history over glitz, glitter, and glam. Have you been proven? I can forgive your mistakes. Have you been proven? I can accommodate your ideas. If you’ve been proven, if I’m going into this battle, I’m not going without you. If I’m going into this next dimension, I’m not going without you because you are a piece of my destiny. And so he took 600 men to battle who were angry with him at first, because he was big enough to choose the better choice of going with that which had been proven. Do you know what I mean by proven? That which has been tested. That which works for me might not make sense to you, but it works for me.