TD Jakes — Tell the Devil I Changed My Mind
My brothers and sisters what a joy, what a blessing it is to share the Word of the Lord with you today. I'm so honored to be in your home and part of your life and God's allowed me to share his word with you. We're showing some T.D. Jakes classics, messages that are timeless I believe have revelation in them that you yet can benefit from. This one I'm excited about. Tell the devil I change my mind. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. If you change your mind, you can change your out contentment. Take a look at this.
We have a father in the text who has two sons. The only other character that's mentioned in the text is a nameless citizen of a far country that the younger son attaches himself to in the time of adversity. So we have in this text four expressed characters and one implied character. His name was never mentioned and there's no particular reference made to him but there is a character that's implied in the passage that we must talk about. And that is saran. He always drapes himself and hides himself and generally doesn't come to the forefront because his strength is in anonymity. As long as he can be invisible he does his best works in the shadows. And though he's not expressed he is implied in the text before us.
We have here a certain man, could be any man who has two sons and the younger of the two sons have said to his father, give unto me the portions of good that fall to me. Because he has asked his father for substance or wealth or inheritance, we have presumptuously assumed that he asked his father that because he was greedy. I want to deal with that erroneous concept. This young man was not greedy. It is not a rags to riches story. He is not somebody who came from the wrong side of the tracks and was looking for an easy break to move to the east side. No, no, no. He was a young man who was important with a silver spoon in his mouth.
He didn't come to his father and ask him for money so he could change his standard of living. He was born into money. Asking his father for the money would have never made him any richer than he already was. He already had servants. He already lived in a palace. He already had people waiting on him and taking care of him and running bath water and wiping his mouth and hanging his clothes and taking care of him. He had it going on. The problem was, he wasn't satisfied the have the benefits of the house. He wanted control of the house.
We're not looking at greed or a lust for money. We are looking at a lust for power. He wants to be in control of his future. He says, father it's not enough that I'm living the blessing. I want you to give it to me so I can do what I want to do when I want to do it how I want to do it. Now notice just a detail or two. It was the younger son that came to the father and said give me the portion of goods that falls unto me. The Bible says he divided unto him his living. So even though the younger son made the request because of his request, the father divided unto them, meaning both sons, his living. But incidentally it will help you to understand that the younger son got a blessing and the elder son got a blessing but isn't it funny how some folks when they get blessed will change.
Some people can receive a blessing from the Lord and come up in their standards and be able to get authority and power and still maintain their focus. Other people, the moment they get two nickels and a dime, they start acting like strangers you never new before. They just cannot handle the blessing of the Lord. One good blessing and they can't speak to anybody. And one good blessing and they're shaking their hand with three fingers out. You know what I'm talking about, one good blessing. Finally get a dress that wasn't 69.99 and now you can't speak to anybody when you come in the house of the Lord.
But this younger brother exemplifies this situation because he got the blessing and he stayed in the house for a while. But it wasn't too long before he came restless this the house. Now, there is a doctrine that I want to touch on before I really jump down into this text. It is implied, it is the doctrine of Balaam that is mentioned in the book of revelations. The Bible calls the doctrine of Balaam a doctrine God hates. I want to introduce it because it's subtlety in my text. If you follow me, I'm going somewhere.
The doctrine of Balaam is preempted that satan doesn't have a witch or a warlock or a root worker or a dust thrower that can curse what God can blessed. Balaam has employed Balak a curse on Israel and this experienced, this experienced sorcerer could not fine in his book of recipes a special or a hex, a root or some dust he could throw. An incantation for a maneuver that could curse what God had blessed. Hear me today. If you are blessed, you don't have to live in fear of being cursed. Because hell cannot curse what God has blessed. Look at somebody right in the eye and tell them, I'm blessed.
See, sometimes we're too timid about letting people know we're blessed. We act pitiful so we can get along with people. From time to time you need to let them know, I'm blessed. There's power in being blessed. Say amen somebody. When you understand what blessed is, you're not blessed because of what you wore to church or because of the house you live in or because of the kind of shoes or how much money you have in CDs or annuities or anything like that. You're not blessed because of the house or the car or the shoes or husband or children or wife or anything like that. That's not really what I'm talking about.
Those are the symptoms of being blessed. But that's not the root of being blessed. Because the real truth of the matter is, you can be broke, busted and disgusted and still be blessed. You can have to catch the bus and wear your sister's shoes and your mama's has not and your aunt lucy's pocketbook and come in with empty pocketbook with newspaper down in it and still be blessed. A man's life does not consist in the abundance of things which he has. Blessed goes far deeper than anything that a CPA could account for or that you could get interest on in a bank account or you can hang in a closet or send to a cleaners. Blessed goes deeper than that. State of being where the favor of God is upon your life. Hell has a tough time trying to do something with you when you're blessed.
Now there are many definitions for blessed. One of the many definitions that are given for blessed is happy. And happy is okay but it is a little weak of a definition for being blessed. Because happy comes from the latin word where we say happen means something has to happen in order for you to be happy. But you can be blessed when nothing is happening. You can be blessed in a cold, dark, dormant moment of your life and know sitting like the lady sitting at the bus stop waiting for bus to come, you know if you wait a little while longer the blessing of the Lord will run out and overtake you. And you don't have to do nothing but sit there and tap your foot and know that the blessing is on its way.
See, I'm blessed. It doesn't matter whether it's winter, spring, summer or fall. I may have to weep all night. Let me cry. Joy is coming in the morning. Simply because I am blessed. And the devil is limited in being able to do anything to somebody who is blessed. Because he can't stir up or mix or conjure anything that can curse you when you're blessed. I asked the Lord, I'm tired of asking Webster signs and everybody what blessed is. I said if anybody knows what blessed is, let me ask you. I asked him. This is what he told me. To be blessed is the uncanny, innate ability to succeed over adversity.
I said, well it's the uncanny innate ability to succeed over adversity that means I can be blessed and still have adversity. It's adversity that let's you know that you're blessed. Yeah because see if you weren't going anywhere the devil wouldn't be trying to fight you. You can tell when a person is blessed not because they don't go anything but when you're blessed when it's all over, some kind of way you always come out of it. You might have dirt up under your fingernails. You might have stubbed your knees or skinned your legs but when it's all over, you always come out because you're blessed.
Touch somebody and tell them, I am blessed. Yeah, I've been through hell and high water but I'm blessed. If you are blessed, the Lord says, no weapon... formed or mixed or conjured or stirred or baked, no weapon formed, that means you can get a piece but it ain't going to work. You can get a piece of my clothes but it ain't going to work. You can get a picture and burn wax on it, but it ain't going to work. I'm blessed! Somebody is going through a bit of trouble right now. But I came to tell you, it ain't going to work. The enemy is trying to shut you up, but it ain't going to work.
High five somebody, say this ain't going to work either. The last one didn't work. And the one before that didn't work. And the test last year didn't work. And the test last month didn't work. I feel the anointing in here. This is what you got to understand. The devil knows you're blessed. And he's worried about it. He really wants to mess you up. In order to really do what he wants to do, he's got to get you out of the blessed place. He's got to do something to get you out of the house. When you talk about staying in the blessed place you're staying in the place of covenant. You're staying in the place where the riches and promises of God are coming to pass in your life.
There are three blessed places that I want you to hold on to and don't let nobody move you out of them. I want you to stay in the blessed place of the sanctity of marriage. If you are married, stay, invest your anointing into the covenant of marriage. Your marriage does matter. It does matter how you relate to your spouse because it is a covenant, it is a contract and it's a shelter for your passions. It's a shelter for yours needs and personalities. It's a shelter for your dysfunctions. It's what God has given to you when he saw that it was not good for you to be alone. Don't disagree with his gift. If it's not operating correctly, read the manual. Somebody say, yes Lord.
The next blessed place I want you to hold on to is the blessed place of ministry. Don't give up the ministry God puts you in. Come hell or high water. Stay in the house. People that tonight stay in the house don't do well. When God let's ready to speak a word of deliverance. If you're not in the house you can't hear it. Someone that needs to hear this message this morning didn't come. And no matter how much you tell them what it was like they will miss some of the electricity of the touch of God because you have to be there to get the full affect when the hammer falls you got to be up under it. Then you've got to stay in a blessed state of having a mission. That's your purpose. That's your goal.
You have to have something you focused on that you don't move away from. Because the enemy will try to move you. He'll try to move you away from your marriage. He'll try to move you away from your ministry. And he'll try to move you away from your mission. And so we've got to get into the B. Class of the doctrine of Balaam because the doctrine of Balaam simply says this. When the old hex couldn't curse Israel, he said I can't curse them because they're too blessed. But if I can get them to come out of the blessed place, I can perhaps get them to curse themselves. Look at somebody and say, don't curse yourself.
The only thing you have to worry about is cursing yourself. You don't have to wage time going on a witch hunt. Chasing down demons. You don't have to chase down rumors. You don't have to chase down gossip. You don't have to change anybody's mind about you. You don't have to change their attitude. Your blessing is not predicated on anybody else's opinion. Your blessing is not being held up over who doesn't like you, who doesn't believe in you, who is not with you. Who doesn't want you to get a promotion on your job. Who doesn't want you to get the loan.
When you're blessed God will make people bless you who hate you. He'll make a table right in the presence of your enemies. The only thing you have to worry about is not cursing yourself. The enemy knew that the only way he could get his hands on the prodigal son was to get him out of the house. So he sent a restless spirit. Somebody say a restless spirit. You've never seen so many restless spirit as we're seeing in the church today. Restless spirits. Folks don't know what to do. They're not happy at home. They want to hurry up and get dressed so they can go to church. As soon as they get to church and sit down they get restless in church so they can get up and go back home. They hurry to get to church and hurry out of church to get back home to sit back down in your chair instead of our chair. A restless spirit.
Folks who are really thin are restless spirit. Going to systems folks who are overweight trying to be thin. The fat folks want to be thin and thin folks want to be fat. The old are trying to act young. Folks with long hair are cutting their hair off. Folks that don't have no hair are gluing. You don't have a job giving up a job. Folks who don't have a job are trying to get a job. It's a restless spirit. Folks who are married trying to get rid of their husband. They're sick of him want to be single. Single folks are over there come here, baby. Folks going through change. It's a restless spirit.
When a run away spirit gets down in you, you aren't happy anywhere. You move on this side and you want to be over there. You move over there and you want to be over here. Satan will send a run away spirit into your life. He'll try to make you run away from your ministry. He'll try to make you run away from your marriage. He'll try to make you run away from your mission. Because he knows if you stay in the house he can't stir up anything. He can't mix up anything. He can't conjure up anything to kill you. He's after you. He wants you. He's been looking at you and longing for you but he can't reach you because you're too blessed.
The Lord sent me all the way from the Gray Hills of West Virginia to get an urgent message to someone, the Lord told me to tell you, stay in the house. I don't care what comes or goes, stay in the house. Even if you got tears in your eyes, stay in the house. If you feel like nobody appreciates you, stay in the house. If you are wounded and discouraged stay in the house. Broke, busted and disgusted but I'll stay in the house. Going through hell and high water but I'll stay, stay, stay in the house.
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up on wings like eagles and run and not be weary and walk and not faint. Touch somebody and say, stay in the house. The only thing with the prodigal son is he left the house. The enemy says come on. I can't get you in the house. Come on. Come on out in the blessed place. Come out in the yard. Come out and play. Come out and play. Somebody in the house has gone out to play. Come on. I want you. I want you but I can't. I can't reach you. I really can't quite reach you. I tried to destroy your child but I can't quite reach you.
That's why the car wreck didn't kill you because I couldn't reach you. When you went in the hospital last year I was trying to get you but I couldn't quite reach you. I've been trying to drive you crazy. Crazy and drive you over the edge. I wanted you to have a nervous breakdown but I couldn't reach you. Come a little closer. I want you where I can get my hands on you. He sent a restless spirit. And the prodigal son began to come just a little bit closer out of his house. When he came out of his house, there's a time once you've been blessed, you can be blessed a while and be wrong.
I know some of you ought to say amen. Out of the will and out of the way and still blessed. He had his stuff with him. He is still living saying I got the best of both worlds. Worlds. I have the blessing of the father and I'm going on. He had his stuff, you know. The Bible says if you stay out there long enough you'll start spending your substance in righteous living.
I'm glad it says substance and not money. Or you would think the only thing you lose when you play the enemy is money. The real deal is when you play with the meow lose more than finances. You lose your integrity. You lose your self esteem. You lose your dignity. You lose your self respect. You lose your stuff. Tell somebody, hold on to your stuff. Hold on to your stuff. Your determination. What the Jews call hiss pa your staying power, your guts, your tenacity. Your ability to take a licking and keep on ticking. Your survival instincts. Your overcoming instincts.
Tell somebody don't lose your stuff. Somebody going through a struggle right now. The enemy is after your stuff. He wants you to drop your head and make you say uncle. But the devil is a liar. Never let him see you sweat. Hold on to your stuff. You might be on welfare but hold your head up. Buy your food with food stamps but hold your head up. He may not come when you want him, but the Lord!