TD Jakes — There is Purpose in Your Pain
Hello, everybody. I'm excited to have this opportunity to share the Word of the Lord with you. The flower fades, the grass withers, but the Word of the Lord shall stand forever. The Word that I'm going to share today is going to be strength to you. Are you ready to receive your strength for today? Get ready, get ready, get ready, here it comes.
Purpose is not always visible. Problems are visible, purpose is not visible. The problem is, Pharaoh is chasing me, that's the problem. The problem is if he gets me back, he may kill me. The problem is, I have left who I used to be to become who I wanna be. And my past is chasing me, but the purpose is in the chase. Y'all don't hear what I'm saying to you. See, what I want you to get right now is that there's purpose in your pain. There's purpose in your problems. There's purpose in your storm. You're looking at what happened, but God is looking at why it happened. And you'll never be able to praise him about the "what" until you look at the "why".
I don't like what happened, but I do trust why it happened, because even though I don't like what happened, all things work together for the good of them that... who are the called according to his... oh, there is a purpose behind everything you're going through in your life, but the revelation comes in retrospect.
Let's look at this. Let's go deeper. These were runaway slaves. Even if they outran Pharaoh, they would always be runaway slaves looking over their shoulder, wondering when they would get caught. Because as long as Pharaoh was chasing them, they would always be slaves. Even though they were no longer being oppressed, as long as the oppressor lived, the potential to be oppressed remained which is oppression within itself. I don't have to be a slave in bondage to be a slave to fear. So I'm delivered out of the bondage, but I'm still bound by the fear of maybe he'll get me back.
I wonder how many people in this room are living with the fear of maybe he'll get me back. I wonder how many people are afraid to be happy this morning because maybe it won't last. What I'm wondering is how many people in this room are afraid to love because maybe it might go bad. I'm wondering how many people in this room are afraid to try because maybe you might fail. You see, as long as you allow Pharaoh to chase you, you will always be a slave. You'll never be free to be your highest and best self because your oppressor is always approaching.
Any day now, I'm gonna get you back. I'm gonna bring that addiction right back in your life. I'm gonna bring that compulsive behavior right back and you will never be free. You ever seen somebody try to dominate somebody and... you'll never get free. You'll always be my woman. I don't care where you go, I don't care where you hide. Oh, I brought back some memories with that. Living with the threat is not living at all. So God takes the children of Israel through the water. They were saved through the water because their oppressor chased them to the water. Everything that was God's came out of the water. Everything that was not of God drowned in the water.
There are some things that God takes you through just to destroy... did anybody see how pretty that was? There are some things that God takes you through just to destroy what is chasing you. You can't tell whether it's of God or not till you come out of the water and it ain't on you no more. Somebody shake yourself. I got it off me. I went through at test but I got it off me. I stopped being my friend, I don't even know what day it was, but I got it off me. Death, burial, resurrection.
Paul says in Romans 6, "He that is dead is freed from sin". He's teaching about baptism. That if we are buried with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection so that the debt is paid by death, burial, and resurrection. Pharaoh really was chasing them because he thought he owned them. But God told Pharaoh, through Moses, "Israel is my son, my firstborn son. Israel is... in fact, I'll tell you what. I'll show you it's my firstborn son". He says, "I'll kill your firstborn son until you let my son go".
The night of the Passover, that's why God went from house to house letting the death angel take the firstborn sons of Egypt, because he was saying I'm gonna show you what it's like to lose a son. He says, "Behold, Israel is my son, even my firstborn son". Check it out, Scripture on the board. My son. Pharaoh says, "He's my slave," God says, "He's my son". Pharaoh said, "He's my slave, I paid for him". God said, "He's my Son". Pharaoh said, "I'm going after my slave". God said, "I'm gonna deliver my Son". What you don't understand is they're talking about the same person. The same discussion is being had about you. Whatever is chasing you, the enemy has said, "He's my slave," and God is saying, "No, he's my son". So the slave runs to the water, and the son comes out.
So now, you former slaves are transforming into sonship. This is the place of transformation, where I learn to think differently, where I learn to live differently, where I learn to give differently, where I learn to love differently. This is the place where I start acting like a son and stop living like a slave. This is the place where you are transformed by the renewing of your mind. You went into it a slave. By the time they came out of it, they were sons, transformation.
Which reality are you going to live in, what you were, or what you are? Why is it when people demand you be what you are, you refer them to what you were? "Well, you know I didn't have no father, you know. And I grew up in the hood. And you know, my mama left when I was 7, and it.." No, wait, wait, wait, we left all that in the water. I'm gonna try it again. We left all that in the water. This is the place where it stops. Touch somebody and say, "It stops right now". I don't know what your "it" is. Everybody has a different "it," but look at somebody and say, "It stops right now". He brought them to this place so it could stop right now.
The reason they were at the Red Sea is because it was a good drowning place. Oh God, sometimes God will allow you to get into trouble because the trouble is a good drowning place. It will prove to you, "Oh, now well I'm here, I might as well... just look, I might as well fix it". This is the place. We might as well settle the whole thing. I don't know who I'm preaching to, but I feel like I'm talking to somebody right now. This is the place. It stops right here. This is my last cigarette. This is my last drink. This is my last extra boyfriend. Y'all ain't gonna talk to me? Y'all not gonna talk to me? I thought you all was gonna be real with me. Oh, you gonna play with me all day?
This is the place. I know I was weak last week, I was weak the day before, but this is the place. After I came out of the hospital I changed my mind. There are some things that once you go through it, when somebody tries to treat you like they used to treat you, you say... This is the place of termination. This is the place of identification.
Number four, this is the place of identification. They didn't die, they just acted like they did. Death, burial, resurrection. It's what we do in baptism. We don't really die, but we identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The baptism pool is a place of identification. It is where I identify with what he did. That's why we're baptized, suffered to be so that it might fulfill all righteousness. I identify. If you are planted, if you are buried with him in the likeness identify, in the likeness, I didn't die but it was like I did. I didn't die, but it was like I did. So when I'm baptized, it is like I died. Tell Pharaoh I'm dead. When I did this, I'm dead.
I got a call after my mother died, about a year or something, a bill collector called me, and he told me, he said, "I'm calling about a bill Mrs. Jakes owes," and I said, "Well, I'm sorry to tell you my mother's deceased". He said, "Well, how am I gonna get paid"? I said, "I don't know what you gonna do. She owed you till she died". Death pays all debts. Romans 6 says, "He that is dead is freed from sin". You don't owe your addiction nothing. You don't owe your past nothing. You don't have to explain it, you don't have to feel guilty about it, and you sure to God don't have to serve it. If you allow what happened to you to control where you are, you have incarcerated yourself. Man, when we used to baptize people, they'd come up out of the water shouting. I think sometimes they were shouting over what they left in the water.
Come on, number five, this is the place of renewed foundation. This is the place that will be the point of reference for the rest of their experience with God. They would always refer back to this one thing. This is the place of your renewed foundation. This is where God gives you a foundation. This is getting back to what you know about God. This I know, this I know, this I know, this I know. I know. There are some things you ought to know. There are some things that God has proven in your life.
I don't care who comes up and tells you anything, or says read this book, or come up with this philosophy, or have you studied moonwalking, and do you believe in astrology, and all that kind of nothing, nothing, nothing, 'cause I know. I know I had an encounter that is the foundation of my life. I am sure about this. Do you have a foundation? God will make sure that you have a foundation. Whenever your faith shakes, he'll put you in a predicament that only he could get you out of. And then, when he gets you out of it, it proves to you once again... do you know what I'm talking about? He proves to you that you know that you know. And I don't care what you face in the future, your mind always goes back to that foundation. This is the place of foundation. Somebody say, "I got a foundation". I don't know if I should tell 'em that. This is the place of debt cancellation.
You see, the night before they left, the Lord told 'em to borrow the gold and the silver from the Egyptians. Well, they borrowed so much stuff that they couldn't carry it all. The Bible says even their children were bent over carrying the gold and the silver out of Egypt. They borrowed so much. In fact, I really believe that Pharaoh wasn't chasing 'em for the slaves. No, no, no, no, you gotta understand, they had so much gold and so much silver that when Moses got ready to build stuff, he had to stop 'em from giving, 'cause they had so much gold and silver. No, you don't understand. They had so much gold and silver that he had to stop 'em from giving. Let me tell you again. They had so much gold and silver he had to stop them from giving.
Let me tell you where they got it from. It was the wealth of the unjust. Oh, come on with me, somebody. It was the wealth--I don't know whether you all can eat this kind of food or not. It was the wealth of the unjust. What God did was transfer the wealth of the wicked over into the hands of the righteous, and they had so much blessings on 'em, not only were they blessed, but their children were blessed, their children. I'm talking about generational wealth, pressed down, shaken together, running over. That's why they couldn't outrun Pharaoh, they were carrying too much gold to outrun Pharaoh, God had to deliver them.
I tell you, this is the place of supernatural debt cancellation. This is the place where God is gonna send transfers, opportunities, favors into your hands. I don't know who I'm preaching to, but your eyes have not seen, your ears have not heard. I don't know who I'm talking to, you're gonna get so blessed your children, your children are gonna be blessed. I want you to touch seven people and holler, "I'm blessed"!