TD Jakes - As a Man Thinketh: The Battle of Wits (01/20/2026)
Powerful message on spiritual warfare from heaven’s beginning in Revelation 12—Satan cast down, fights in earth realm, tempts with shortcuts to avoid process. Jesus defeated him in wilderness weakness; believers must step forward, get weaned from carnal sources, stand self-sufficient in God, break yokes, possess land, and tap into pre-existing divine power and wisdom for every problem.
War Started in Heaven — Revelation 12
The war started in heaven. In Revelations 12, the war started in heaven amongst the angels. And from the beginning of time, Satan was cast down. Lucifer was cast down out of heaven because Michael kicked him out. If there was a war in eternity, there was a war in time. So Satan comes down in time and he cannot create anything. God, all he does is hear what God has promised him. And God said, be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, and subdue.
Satan Twists God’s Promise — Shortcuts Temptation
So Satan took that fruit and said, I’m going to use the fruit to tempt you with. I’m going to tempt you with something that looks like it’s almost God. So that you can feel like there’s another way to be fruitful without going through the process. And you’ve been looking for shortcuts for years. You got to go through what you got to go through to get to where you’re trying to go. Do you hear what I’m saying?
Every step of a good man is ordered by the Lord. Every step. Some of the steps are in potholes. Some of the steps are up the hill. But every step you take is getting you closer to your destiny. Slap somebody and say, it’s time for you to step. Slap somebody else and say, get to stepping. Get to stepping. Get to stepping. Don’t get to shouting. Get to stepping. Get to stepping on serpents. Get to stepping on cockatrice. Get to stepping on the powers of darkness that are standing in your way. Get to stepping.
Your Season to Step and Be Weaned
This is your season for you to get to stepping. This is your season to be weaned. Notice that Hannah could not bring Samuel into the temple until he was weaned. We are tired of you still being on milk and you got more title than you got food. You got to be weaned in order to be able to serve. So when she had weaned the baby, she brought him into the house of the Lord and his life began when he broke his hold on her nipple.
So Samuel couldn’t find out who he was, nursing on the nipple of where he started. He had to break away from the source of his flesh to find the source of his life. And you still hanging on to the nipple and trying to be a great prophet, but you still get nourished from that which is carnal. That nourishment has to come from another place. It’s got to come from another area because what God has for you, you can’t be dependent on mama or daddy or sister or brother.
Stand Alone — Thus Saith the Lord
You got to be able to stand on your own two feet and say thus saith the Lord. And when God says it, it is so. It is finished. It is done. How many men are hearing what I’m saying right now? And so from the battle that began in the book, Revelation says, began before the foundations of the world and Satan got cast out of heaven. So he got cast out of the heavenly realms into the earth realm.
So he had to fight Jesus in the earth realm. So Jesus, as soon as he got baptized, the spirit led him out into the wilderness so they could fight. Y’all didn’t hear that. The spirit led him out into the wilderness so they could fight. Lucifer lost the fight in heaven. Now he has to fight him on another terrain.
Same Devil, Different Realm — Same God Delivers
If you notice, you’re fighting the same thing in different realms. The names change. The address changes. But it’s the same devil that you had to fight over here is now meeting you over here. But the same God that delivered you over there will deliver you over here. And the Bible said that they waited until he had fasted 40 days. And he was weak. And he was tired. And then the enemy came.
Because the enemy had learned in heaven that he was fooling with power and the wisdom of God. And he was afraid to take him on at full strength. So that the devil won’t fight you when you’re at full strength. He’ll wait till you get weak, till you get tired, till you get depleted. Because when you get tired, he thinks he can trick you into taking a shortcut.
Temptation in Weakness — Jesus' Response
If thou be the son of God, turn this stone into bread. Why would I turn this stone into bread? When I am the bread of life. I don’t have to turn a rock into bread. Because I am bread. Your father’s ain’t manna in the wilderness. But I am the true bread that cometh down out of heaven. If you eat this bread. If you drink this water. If you receive who I am. I’m water that don’t need a source. I don’t need a stream. I don’t need a creek. I can come out of rock.
I’m self-contained. I’m self-sufficient. I’m a root springing up out of dry ground. I can’t depend on people to supply my strength. I’m self-contained. Because I understand this is a fight. They fought out in the wilderness. Jesus defeated him in the wilderness. And the Bible said that when Jesus got tired, the angels came down to minister to him.
Restored in Presence of Beasts — Table Before Enemies
And when you read it, only one gospel brings out this notation. It says it was in the presence of beasts that they restored him. God will restore you in the presence of beasts. The beasts were waiting on him to die so they could come in and kill him. But God said, hell no. It’s never gonna happen. I’ll wake him up. I’ll shake him up. I’ll stir him up. And they were looking at him in the presence of beasts.
It means I will prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies. And I’ll let the same people that talked about you have to realize that you are my beloved son. In whom I’m well pleased. And I will feed you. And I will nurture you. And I kept your enemies alive so they could watch you come back. Good God Almighty. I feel like I’m preaching to somebody. And I don’t even know who it is.
This Is Your Season — Double for Trouble
But God kept your enemies alive. You wanted him to destroy them. But he didn’t want them to destroy them. He wanted you to have an audience. So that when he raises you up, there’ll be no doubt that God is inside of you. So pull up a chair and watch this. This is my season. This is my hour. This is my time. This is the time that I get double for my trouble. This is the time that I get my sucking wind. This is the time that I destroy the Philistines. This is the time that the temple comes down.
This is the time that Dagon loses his grip. This is the time that I walk in full strength. This is the time that my Red Sea parts. This is the time that I roll back Chili Jordan. This is the time that I possess the land. And this is the time that I removed the Gideonites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and everything that plagued me.
Out for Blood — Messed with the Wrong One
I’m out for blood. I’m out for revenge. I’m out for attack. I’m gonna show every devil that tried to take me out. You messed with the wrong one. You’re fooling with the wrong one. I might have looked weak, but when I look weak, I’m strong. When I look tired, I got strength. When I look poor, I’m rich. Cause I got hidden treasure. I got hidden mysteries. I got hidden wisdom.
Can you hear what I’m saying? Let me show you one final difference between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of men. You don’t know that the man is wise until you ask the question. And when you ask the question, the wisdom is revealed by the question. But God had wisdom when there was nobody to ask. There was nobody to measure. He is wisdom. He is the ancient of days. He is God. All by himself.
God Is Self-Sufficient — Tap Into Power
He is all sufficient. He is El Shaddai. He is wonderful. He’s my counselor. He’s my resurrection. He’s my life. Excuse me. He’s my lily of the valley. He’s my bright and morning star. He’s everything I need. He’s bread when I get hungry. He’s water when I get thirsty. Whenever I get thirsty, he’ll turn into whatever I need.
Who should I say, send me? I am that I am. I’m whatever I need to be, whenever I need to be. Hallelujah. I don’t turn into it when you ask for it. I’m already in. There’s so much healing in Jesus that he didn’t even know that the woman with the issue of blood had touched the hem of his garment. But he was so loaded that when she tapped in, all of a sudden the healing began to flow.
Power Was Already There — You Tap In
The reason yokes broke in here, it wasn’t that God showed up. God was in here before you got here. It was that you tapped in. And as many as you that tapped in, you received the power of God. But the power of God was always there. He’s omnipotent. He’s omnipresent. He’s omniscient. He’s already there. But you’re not tapping in because you are not listening for his wisdom.
For every problem in your life, there is wisdom for every problem. God will give you the gift of wisdom so that you can respond in wisdom. But God has a wisdom that doesn’t have to respond. He is not reactive. He is proactive.