TD Jakes — Put It Behind You
Greeting in the name of Jesus Christ our King. I am so excited and delighted just to be here with you to share the word of God with you. I'm excited because I believe that God has given me a word that's going to be life changing for you that will prepare you to put it behind you and move forward with your life. We have some exciting things to share. The message is in fact - "Put it Behind You". It's a part of our series that I need you to understand that is so important for what God is going to do in your life. If you are dealing with some things that are yesterday; that are of the past, that are hurting you from wounds and injuries that you have incurred in the past it's time to put it behind you. And I'm going to show you how. Take a look at this.
There is not a person in this room that does not want change in some way in some area of their lives. Something that your working on you want to fix. You want to get better at. You want to be a better person. You want to evolve. Your credit, your debt, your bills, your personality, your temper, your temperament. How you handle people. How you handle resources. There is not a person in this room who is so perfect that you are not lusting for change. Crawling, creeping, snatching after it. Trying to attain it. Always smiling at people as it you don't need it. But secretly down on the inside crying to God in the middle of the night - "Fix Me". Fix me where I'm hurting. And fix me where I'm broken. And fix me where I'm tired. Before.... because if you don't fix me fast I'm going to lose everything.
We leap into the life of the text at the moment that we have caught David at the intersection of his life. He's at a crossroads moment in his life. He has been anointed to be King over Israel. He has been endowed with Grace and Power to do exploits in the Kingdom of God. He has been mighty in battle. He has pulverized the Philistines. Rendered them helpless over and over again. He has left the dead carcass of a Goliath laying flat footed in a field. Cut his head off his shoulders. Mocked his name. Ruined his reputation as a giant and walked away a little boy carrying a big head.
He had done some great things. Moved into the palace. Changed his entire life. And yet on the other hand he had had some of the greatest failures you could ever imagine. Moral failures. Character failures. Bad choices. Bad decisions. Fell in love with somebody else's wife. And wanted her so bad he had them killed To get her. AND she is now pregnant. And we find David praying after the word has been delivered to him from Nathan saying that God has pronounced death over the child. David is trying to reverse the curse.
And we find him at the intersection of life asking God to fix it. David knows that God is merciful. He has experienced the mercies of God over and over again. He's seen God forgive. You could not beat David for repenting. David is one of those people that get in so much mess that you don't know what they're going to get into next. And you get ready to just knock them out but they repent so good you can't.... You.... David, David would fall out in the floor and cry until there was a puddle of mud up under his feet. And you'd have to just drop your arms and say, "Alright David. Don't you, do that anymore".
But this time when he prayed there was no answer. And so he laid flat out on the floor. The mighty man of valor who brought GIANTS to their knees is now laying flat out on the floor, face down in the dirt, in the presence of those who follow him. How are the mighty fallen. It's one thing to be on the ground and stay on the ground. But it's another thing to be up and fall to the ground. To of once had it and lost it. To once known it and can't find it. To of touched it and can't taste it is a painful thing.
He came so close to rising up. And now the mighty Kind of Israel lay flat down on the floor. Head in the dirt crying before God. For seven days. Seven days. He's crying out to God working feverishly without food or water. He fast for seven days, face in the dirt, asking God to somehow, somehow save this nameless baby. Save this baby.
Now we have seen people cry for babies before. But David is the first MAN to my recollection in all of the scriptures that we see crying over a baby. We've seen Hannah cry over a baby. We've seen Rachel cry over a baby. We've seen Mary cry over a baby. But we have never seen a MAN Fall out and cry for a baby he has seen and not met and not touched. Not even named. And he is on his face crying for the baby. The man cried. The big man cries for the little baby. God save the baby. Oh!
At the stress of seven days crying out before God is real hard when your trying to save something that God is trying to kill. It takes a lot of energy and a lot of work to resuscitate something that God is trying to terminate. OH GOD KEEP IT GOING! And God said NO I'm trying to kill it. For seven days he prayed trying to save what God was trying kill. I'm wondering if there is anybody in here tonight that has spent 2013, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007... trying to save what God is trying to kill? And before you disrespect him... it is hard sometimes when your at the intersection of your life.
There are some things that come along that knock you to your knees. The preachers up here might not tell you, the preachers down there might not tell you, and all of your hero's might not tell you, but every great man and great woman goes through a time in your life that something knocks you to your knees and makes you doubt yourself. And you wonder Lord is this the big one? Will I ever come back from this? I wish I had a witness of somebody who knows what it is to go through something that you say - I know this is the big one! I'm coming home Weezy. It wasn't this. Please survive this.
He is praying to keep something that God is trying to take. But don't be too hard on him. He is not alone. The Apostle Paul prayed for something that God was not going to do. Take the storm from my flesh. Three times he prayed. God said, "I'm not going to take it. I'm going to give you grace to carry it". What do you do when you are asking for something that is going this way and God's answer is going that way? And you are trying to save what God is trying to kill. And your trying to keep what God is trying to take.
Don't, judge him. Because even Jesus went to the garden alone and said, "Father, if it be thy will pass this bitter cup". I don't want to go through, I don't want to go through this to get to where your trying to take me. I don't want to go through this. I want to know your a healer but I don't want to be sick. I want to know your a way maker but I don't want to be in a jam. I want to know that your a provider but I don't want to be broke. I want to have a great testimony and a strong anointing like the people I see up front but I don't want to go through the hell that they went through to have that power. No! Let me buy it in a bottle and somebody shake me down with oil. Grease me up like I'm a piece of KFC chicken. I don't want to pay the price.
If it be thy will pass this bitter cup from me. Is there a way I can be what I need to be without going through what I got to go through? Is there a way that I can come to power without going through this terrible moment? And David is wrestling. And it is the worst kind of fight. David was good at fighting external fights. Give him a giant he'd kill it. Give him an army... He'd destroy it. Give him a soul... he'd handle it. But what do you do when your greatest enemy is not out there? Oh! I wish I had some real people that would admit I am not scared of you. I will fight you everyday! But the fight that threatens to kill me is what I have to fight myself....
How do you win the fight when the enemy Is in Me? He's fighting the fight of his life with his face down in the dirt. Because the real battleground is in your mind. It's never in your circumstance. It's always in your head. You can be mighty in your circumstance and be Minnie Mouse in your head. You can have advice for everybody else's situation and when it comes to your own you can't get it together to save your life. You can tell everybody else what they ought to do and then go home and eat dirt because you can't figure out If it was a Goliath I'll kill it! This is the battleground. It's not a geographical location. It's not debt. It's not money. It's not haters. It's not enemies. It's not liars. It's not back biters. That's not the battleground.
Stop wasting your weapons on what people say. Because it is not what they say about you that matters. It is what you say about you that threatens your destiny. You will never be defeated by what they say about you. You will be defeated by what you say and YOU. The battleground is in my mind. That's where the enemy fights. It's in my head. It's a war that I have inside of me. That's where the fight is. You lay down with it. You get up with it. You go to work with it. You can't digest your food because of it. Smiling at in front of people and nobody knows that there is gun fire going off in your head all night long.
SEVEN DAYS! Why is David crying over this child? He is the only man we see in scriptures crying over a baby? Perhaps the truth lies in the fact that some historian suggest that David's own birth was questionable. That when he says, "In sin did my mother conceive me. I was born in sin and shapened in iniquity". Some suggest that he said that because Jessie looked at him and said, "Mama's baby". Could it be possible that the questionable shadow over David's life might be the reason why Jessie does not readily point to him as one of his son's when Samuel comes looking for somebody to be King. Could it be that it is more than his stature? Could it be that Jessie Wasn't really..... Wasn't really sure about him. And why do we have this mighty man of valor crying over a baby if he did not see himself in the baby?
And don't you really work twice as hard to save people who are troubled with your kind of trouble. You are energized and motivated to fight for people who remind you of you. No wonder David is laying on his face eating dirt saying, "Save the baby". Because he relates. Perhaps he relates to the baby himself. And for seven days he would not eat. And all the men around him came and saw him eat dirt. And the Bible says they tried to raise him up but he would not be raised.
Have you ever been so low that nobody could raise you? Nobody could lift you. Nothing they said, nothing they did, nothing that they proposed to you made things any better for you because you were going through a personal hell and they didn't understand that what you were trying to save is something that you are related to. Connected to. Sometimes your history determines the fierceness with which you fight against what is in front of you. What I'm trying to tell you beloved is that you can have a new year, but it don't mean Jack Diddley if you don't have a new mind. I'm telling you that you can buy a new car, but if you put the old man in the new car, your still going to have the old experience. I'm telling you that a new house doesn't make a new marriage. I'm talking about a new outfit doesn't make you a new person. And if you think that you are magically going to be a new person... I hate to be the bearer of bad news because new life comes from a new mind. And a new way of looking at your life.
Ya'll ought to hear what I'm saying to you. Touch people and say, "I got to change my mind". I can't go into 2019 with 2018's mentality. I cannot step into the future and still think in my past. I cannot let the rumors and the stain of what they said about me destroy my opportunity. God who am I preaching too? Slap somebody and tell them I got to kill it tonight. I got to destroy it tonight. I got to get rid of it tonight. I've got to throw it behind me tonight. I can't drag that same old mess into another year.
Somebody started whispering. They started whispering. What? He's dead? Don't tell David. He's already flipping out. We've done everything that we normally do to raise him up and it hadn't worked. We've said all the things we normally say to lift him and it has not worked. Somebody in here your used to being in trouble and normally you do certain things and it fixes it - this time it it's not working. The people who normally come to your rescue... They didn't come. The things that normally lift you up - they didn't come through. Oh I'm talking to somebody tonight. The things that normally give you power and passion - they didn't come through.
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN WHAT NORMALLY WORKS doesn't work? We tried to lift him but we couldn't lift him. And now we hide the truth from him because we don't think he can handle the truth. So, don't tell him that the child is dead cause he's really going to flip out if he finds out that bad has gotten worse. He's tripping over bad and if we tell him bad has gotten worse he's going to go absolutely madness. BUT THE BIBLE SAID That while they were whispering David looked up and saw them whispering and it said that he perceived. He perceived that the child was dead. Perceive means his mind. In his mind he sensed that the child was dead and that's what changed everything. Because if you can kill it in your head. If you can kill it in your head you can kill it in your life.
Now the clock can strike midnight all it wants to, but if that thing is still living in your head it's going to still be living in your life. If your still bitter in your head, your going to be bitter in your life. Your just going to have a new calendar to work that same old conniving hateful stuff that you did last year. Your still going to be jealous. Your still going to be insecure. Your still going to be cussing people out and drinking communion. But if the clock strikes twelve and something flips in your mind and you say, "Wait a minute devil IT IS OVER. I'm going to leave that in 2018. Forgetting those things which are behind me and reaching to those things that are before me".
Slap somebody and say, "I got to get it behind me. This is my year of destiny. I got to get it behind me. I got too much in front of me to let this destroy me. I got to put it behind me. I got to get loose. I got to get free. I got to get over". Look at your neighbor behind you and say, "Watch out I'm getting ready to throw something". Every doubt, every fear, every worry, every anxiety, every burden, every dilemma, everything that ever held you back, everything that kept you up at night.... Tell your neighbor, "I got to throw it behind me". I'm getting ready to forget those things which are behind me and reach to those things which are before. Give God a Praise right now!