TD Jakes - Guided by the Light
I want you to focus not so much on the birth of Christ, as splendorous and wondrous as it might be, not so much on the swaddling clothes, and the manger, and all the imagery and messages that are drawn from the understanding that the King of Glory chose purposefully to be born in a barn, wrapped not in fine designer clothes, but in dirty milk rags. He came into this world and none of the milk rags and the stench thereof could stop the glory of his coming and his splendorous grace. He understood who he was. He was not defined by what he wore, he was not defined by where he lived, he was defined by the inner treasure that possessed his soul.
I want you to focus on the magi, the wisemen, the whole process whereby they came to find the baby Jesus. They are guided, and when you have that guidance, it is the kind of guidance that is a sure anchor for your soul, if you will understand this, you did not get to where you are by yourself, that you have been guided all of your life. When we hear Scriptures like, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way", sometimes we hear them, but we don't think them.
You have to think those Scriptures and understand that your steps have been ordered or ordained by God, not just the good ones. You shout and say God ordered your steps when something wonderful happens, and you give God the praise for it, and when something bad happens, you say it came from Satan, but that is not true. Satan cannot get you off step, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord", even if the good man is going through a bad place. Oh, you're not gonna talk to me this morning. He ordered your steps. Somebody say, "He ordered my steps".
Job said, "The Lord knows the way that I take, and when he has tried me, I shall come forth". At that point, Job was broke, and Job was down and out. His children were dead, and everything was going crazy. His property was besieged. His house was burned. And Job said, "God knows where I'm at. He knows my good times and my bad times, my uprisings and my down sitting". He knows my financial situation. He knows what's going on in my house, and in my emotions, and in my heart. He knows the turbulence that's going on in my body and with my children. He knows what's going on in my neighborhood and in my family. He knows how I feel in my flesh and how I feel in my heart. He knows what's going on in my family and my situation. He knows what's happening on my job and in my career. He knows what's happening in my ministry and in my church. God knows, and if he guided me into it, the same God will...
Whoo, oh, my God, what a wonderful thing it is to be guided by the Lord, to understand that our coming in and our going out is determined by the Lord. No wonder the Bible says I'm blessed in the city, blessed in the field, blessed in my uprising and blessed in my down sitting, blessed in my going in and blessed when I'm coming out. What that means is, everything doesn't feel blessed, but I just call it blessed. I'm blessed when it's in, I'm blessed when it's out. I'm blessed in the city, I'm blessed in the field.
Paul said, "I know how to abase, I know how to abound. I know how to have, I know how not to have, because I know that God is"... oh, I don't mean to get excited, but when I think about how he guided my own life, I find myself getting emotional. I know that God will speak to you and tell you when to be still and when to go forward, and when to hush and hold your peace, and wait on me, and trust me, and use a little patience. You tried to rush me, "Be still and know that I am God". Don't move to the left or the right, just... I don't know, that's somebody's word, I feel it in my spirit. Not a map, not a navigational system, go down five blocks and turn left. Not a drawing, all they had was a light. Not a big light, not a bright light, not a light big like the sun where you can see details, just a twinkling star against the blackness of night. Painted on the canvas of total ebonized circumstances, there was one twinkling light.
All hell may be breaking loose in your life, but if you've still got one twinkling, twinkling, almost blinking, flashing, on again, off again, there it is, there it is, and there it is, there it is, but I can see it well enough to take another step. I can't see every rock, I can't see every pothole, I didn't see that turtle, I didn't know where that opossum was, but I saw enough light to take another step. God leads his children through dark places, dark places so strong you would think that the darkness would destroy the light. But we have a light that the darkness cannot comprehend.
John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shined in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not". I don't care how dark things might be, it will never swallow up the light of a born-again, baptized, spirit-filled believer. God will get you light in the hospital, in the nursing home, in the unemployment line. I don't care how dark it is, there's still enough light to guide.
Oh, I praise him for the light, for the light, for the guiding light. "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, I ordained thee, I sanctified thee to be a prophet unto the nations". You didn't just happen, you weren't an accident, you weren't an incident. You weren't born by happenstance. You're not the result of a mistake, whether your mother raised you or not, whether you met your father or not, whether you know who your father is or not, whether you were passed from foster home to foster home, and house to house. Don't feel like you were an accident. God said I planned you, I purposed you, I created you, I formed you, and I ordained you. I'm guiding you step, by step, by step, by step, by step.
Whoo, I got a word for somebody. Will you help me deliver it? Touch somebody and say, "You're right on course". You're right on course. You're right where you're supposed to be, when you're supposed to be there. You're right on course. That's why you don't have to be bitter at anybody, or anything, because all they did was keep you on track. They might have meant it for evil, but God made it good. He used them to order your steps.
I wanna talk to somebody this morning who has always had a feeling that you were guided. Something just drew you. There's a whole lot of places you could have been by now, but every time you got in the wrong place, something just kind of drew. You don't even know how you got out yourself, but something just drew you. My God, who am I preaching to this morning?
He drew you away from people you thought you loved. Oh, you don't wanna mess with me this morning. You don't wanna mess with me this morning. He drew you away from people that you thought loved you. He drew you away from friends that you thought were really your friends. Sometimes you didn't know 'til you were out what they were really all about, but God... Oh, when you see me shout, that's what I'm shouting about. I'm shouting about the hands of the witches that he snatched me away from, the warlocks he pulled me away from, the pretenders he snatched me away from.
I'm shouting about the things he told me, "Hush, don't tell him that. Hush, don't tell her that. Hold your peace over here, go over there". God has been guiding you all of your life. If I don't say anything else this morning, you ought to praise him for that guiding, twinkling, flickering, flashing, moving, glimpsing, divine, supernatural, holy light.
Many are the times they would have destroyed me, but the light flickered, and I moved just in the nick of time. Day by day, and step by step, sometimes he moved me when I didn't wanna be moved. Sometimes he pushed me out of my comfort zone. Sometimes I had to pray to follow him along the way, but the flickering light has brought me through. I know the witches hated it, I know the warlocks hated it, I know my enemies are mad about it. They were just about to snatch me, and the light moved me.
Yes, everybody who understands what I'm saying, touch your neighbor and say, "I'm not my own". I'm not my own. I'm not my own. I don't make my own choices. I don't make my own decisions. I signed up to follow the light. I want the devil to know, I want the enemy to know, I want Satan to know that the light is taking me somewhere. Oh, if you're on your way somewhere, give God a praise in here. Y'all ain't going nowhere. I said if you're on your way...
My God, I feel something in this place. I better sit down while I can, 'cause if I get stirred up in here, we gonna have trouble in here, because I know that God didn't bring me this far to leave me. If he was gonna drop me, he could have dropped me long time ago. Tell hell, "I'm not coming". Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Slap somebody and say, "I'm on my way". I'm on my way. I'm on my way. I'm on my way. I'm on my way. I'm on my way, Sis. I'm on my way. I'm on my way.
I'm gonna date myself when I say this, but there's a song, there's a verse in "Amazing Grace", my favorite verse, "Through many dangers". Y'all don't know nothin' about that kinda stuff. "Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. 'Twas grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace". Grace, nothing but grace. I don't deserve it, I couldn't pay for it, but grace. That's why I sing. I've got a feeling that everything is gonna be alright.
Somebody shout, "Alright". The devil is saying, "I know that ain't her saying, 'Alright,' all she goin' through. I know she's not gonna get up this Sunday and holler, 'Alright.' All the dark stuff she got to deal with. Ain't no way he gonna be talking about alright, as funny as his money is", but the devil is a liar, holler, "Alright". Alright, alright. Alright, alright. Shout it, "Alright". Let your spirit hear it, "Alright". One more alright, and somebody's gonna get healed. One more alright, and somebody's gonna get loose, one more.
"Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, through this barren, troubled land". Guide me, somebody throw your hands up and holler, "Guide me". I'm not there yet, guide me. I'm not there yet. Oh, Lord, Whoo. I may not be there, but I'm too close to turn back now. I'm too close to give up now. I'm too close to throw in the towel. No, devil, you a liar. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, lead me, guide me, teach me, train me, show me, but whatever you do, don't leave me. I need you. I need you. Somebody help me praise him. Somebody help me give God...
So dark the night, clouds in the sky, but I know it's alright, because Jesus is nigh. He's with you, shout, "Yes". As I close, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, the wisemen were guided by a flickering light to right where Jesus was. God said if you follow me, I'm gonna bring you right to the spot of your predestined purpose. Praise me when you got a job, praise me when you lose the job. Praise me when people come in your life, praise me when they walk out of your life, because it's all me pulling you out, guiding you over, say, "Yes", say, "Yes", say, "Yes". Oh, I gotta quit, I feel like preaching now. I done preached myself happy. Shout, "Yes".
The Bible says that when they got to Jesus, they brought him gifts, frankincense and myrrh, laid it down at his feet. In essence, they're saying it's not about what I went through to get here, it's not about how bad things got for me to get here, it's all about you, Jesus. It's not about me, it's about you. It's not about who came, it's not about who left, it's not about the mountains, the valley, it's all about you. It's not about what I don't understand, it's not about what the light didn't show me.
I thank you for the flickering, flashing light that brought me out of this and brought me through that, and brought me around that right there. I thank you because when you led me down, eventually you led me back up again. And you said if I would acknowledge you in all my ways, you would direct my path. And I just want to say it's not about me, it's all about you, Jesus. It's not about the ex-husbands, or the current husbands, or boyfriends, or who I'm seeing, and who I'm dating, and who I'm loving, and who I wish would love me. I've seen all that come and all of that go. This ain't my first day at the rodeo. It's all about you, Jesus. Whoo, it's all about you, Lord. It's all about you.
I didn't come this far not to bring my gift and lay it at the altar and worship you. Worship you, and honor you, and bless your high name. It's all about you. If I've been murmuring, I'm sorry. If I've been complaining, I'm through. It's not about what I went through, it's about you, Jesus, guiding me, and leading me, and teaching me, and training me, and correcting me, and have I said thank you for not giving up on me? I just wanna thank you. Any other god would have walked out on me, as silly as I've been, and stubborn, and crazy, and backwards as I've been. Thank you for being my night watchman. You brought me through. I wanna say thank you. Yeah. What you say? Somebody lift your hands, and worship him, and say it, come on. "I'm coming back to the heart of worship. It's all about you. All about you, Lord"