TD Jakes - The Principles of Promise (09/22/2018)
God's promises come with principles: we must first empty ourselves of bitterness and baggage to make room for the blessing, trust His word completely even through a servant, and put first things first by offering the firstfruits back to Him—as Hannah's release of Samuel proved, unlocking not just one child but abundant fruitfulness, showing that the real faith test is in giving back what God gives.
Hannah's Desperate Prayer and Misunderstanding
Hello, everybody. I am excited to have the opportunity to share the Word of the Lord with you today. I believe this word is really going to speak to your life in a powerful and pragmatic way. The message today is "The Principles of Promises". Did you know that every promise has some principles that go along with it? Or are you so excited about the promise that you do not check out the principles?
Well, my friend, let us go to the Word of God, 1 Samuel chapter 1, verses 14 through 24, and hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the church.
So she goes into the temple and she cries out unto God, and this is what really got me. Eli thinks she is drunk. She was acting so crazy. She said, "Do not think I am a daughter of Belial. I know I might be acting like a heathen, but I am not." She says, "I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have to get this out of me so I can receive what God has for me. I have to get this out of me so I can receive what God has for me."
The Necessity of Emptying Out
God cannot give you what you are asking for if you are going to still be filled with anger and hostility and unforgiveness and pride and jealousy and envy and strife. We need a good purging in this house. We need a good cleaning out in this house. We need a good release in this house because God has something for you.
You see, this is why we do not get things from God, because you cannot fill what is already filled. There has to be an emptying out. And the reason I wanted to call... I almost called the message "First Things First". It is because God says, "I cannot give you what you are asking for until you release all of that bitterness and all of that anger and all of that hostility and all of that pride and all of that unforgiveness. I have to get it out of you. First things first."
I feel like I am talking to somebody. I do not even know who it is. But you have been wondering why it has been so long, and you have been praying so long, and you have been asking so long, and you have been waiting so long, and you have been saying, "When are you going to do it?"
God's Waiting on Us
And God is saying the same thing to you that you are saying to Him. He said, "I have been waiting so long. I have been expecting so long. I have been looking at you so long. When are you going to do it? Because I cannot do what you want until you do what I want. Dump that out of you."
And Eli spoke to her and says, "Be it unto you as you have said." It is going to happen. And what gets me about this girl who has been screaming and hollering and crying and yelling and shaking her hair down and making all kinds of noise and acting like a heathen, when she got a word, she got up.
"Oh my, all I need is a word from God. I do not need a pregnancy test. I do not need my cycle to stop. I do not need any outer sign of a breakthrough. All I need is a word."
A promise is built on His word. A word is built on integrity. In spite of all of her issues, she knew that if God said, "It is going to happen," it is going to happen. It seals the deal, and she walks out and says, "There, glory to God."
The Power of God's Word to Transform
What happened to faith? What happened to us getting word after word after word after word after word and still walking out unchanged? How can we hear so much preaching and still walk out unchanged? She did not even get it from God. She got it from God's servant, but it was still God's Word, and it changed her countenance. She did not even look like the same woman.
I do not know who it is for, but you are not going to leave here like you came. You are not going to leave here like you came in here.
God Moving Through People
And the Bible says, "Elkanah knew Hannah." When she got home... He said, "I could not wait for you to get back home." This phrase says that God will move men to set up His promise in your life. He will not do it without them. He will do it through them.
Watch this, "Give, and it shall be given unto you again, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over." Watch this, "shall..." "Shall men give into thy bosom." God said, "You gave it to me. I am going to give it back to you, but I am going to give it back to you through..." He will make people like you.
I am looking for somebody that believes the Word of God. He will make people like you. He will make people choose you. He will make people want you. He will make people pick you. Somebody in here who has been walking in divine favor understands the words that are coming out of my mouth. Will He not do it? I said, "Will He not do it?"
You might not think that was God that made Elkanah know her, but yes, it was. They came home from church and Elkanah said, "I kind of feel like going on," praise the Lord.
Divine Favor and Human Instruments
I want you to understand that the heart of the king is in the hand of God, that your boss is in His hands, that your neighbors are in His hand, that the judge is in His hand, that the courtroom is in His hands.
I want you to know that when God gets ready to bless you, He will give people a different attitude about you, open doors you could not see, make ways you could not imagine. I do not care how many other people put in an application. When God gets ready, He will bring yours to the top.
I had to praise Him a minute in it because I have seen Him bless me through people I knew did not like me. I have seen Him make my enemies my footstool. I have seen Him turn it around and they had to bless me. Can I get a witness in here?
And the Bible said, "While Elkanah was knowing her..." Sit on down, I am just talking to you. "While Elkanah was in the process of knowing her, God remembered her." That is a tag-team situation. Elkanah is doing the knowing, but God is doing the remembering.
If Elkanah does not do his part, it will not happen. But let us face it, Elkanah had done his part before and it did not work. But when God gets behind it... I do not know who this is for, but the Lord remembered you.
The Greater Test of Faith
This is where it gets interesting. She has now had her baby. She has got the promise. I thought the real test of faith is when you do not have it and you have to believe it anyway, but that is not the real test of faith.
The real test of faith is when you finally got it and you have to give it up. After going through all the hell you went through to finally get the breakthrough, and you are holding the baby in your arms, and now she has to give it up.
Now, this is fine for a Bible story, but this is not just a Bible story. This is a relationship between a mother and her child. Brothers, let me talk to you all for a minute. There is something about the bond between a mother and her child. I am not talking about a woman who had a baby. I am talking about a mother, a real mother and her child. It is absolutely amazing.
Hannah's Sacrifice of Samuel
It is that bond between Hannah and her child that when Elkanah gets ready to go to the temple the next time, he said, "Come on, let us go." She said, "No, no, no, I have not yet weaned him." Now, they went every year. So we know she missed the first year. So she has had this child for at least two years.
That is a long time to have a child. That is a lot of bonding between her and the child, but you see, the deal between her and God was this. She told God, "If You give it to me, I will give him back to You."
See, we are always saying stuff to God, but we do not keep our end of the bargain. "Lord, if You just give me this job." "Lord, if I just get a second chance." "Lord, if You get me out of this." "Lord, if You bring me out of this, I will serve You." And after God gets you out, you do not keep your end of the bargain.
She said, "When I have weaned him, I will bring him." And so, it is at least on the second year that she gets an ephah and gets a goat and starts moving to the temple with her child to give him back to God.
"No, stay, Samuel, you cannot go back with me. I am going to leave you someplace you have never been before, and I am going home alone. Do not cry, baby. I will see you from time to time. Mama loves you. You know Mama loves you. This is the hardest thing I ever had to do, but I made a vow to the Lord and I cannot take it back."
The True Purpose Revealed
And she goes back home to the house without Samuel, and there Peninnah is still running around the house with her children. And Hannah has finally got a child, but he is gone. And she is right back in the same situation she was before.
And I asked God, I said, "God, I do not see the point. Why would You take her through all of that? And she finally has the child, but she does not have him. She is a mother, but she is not. She is right back in the situation she was in before."
And He said, "You do not see it." I said, "What?" He said, "It was not ever about Samuel. It was never about Samuel. It was about opening up her womb. And her bringing Samuel to me was first things first. It was firstfruits."
And God said, "If you seek first the kingdom of God and all of its righteousness, you will never out-give me." He said, "You are crying because she gave me one, but I gave her back five."
You Cannot Out-Give God
I want to talk to somebody who had to give up something. Whatever you gave up, God said He is going to give it back to you again, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. The only reason you do not get it is if you do not put first things first.
God said, "All you saw was one child. I wanted to open up her womb, for five more were coming behind that first one. And you see Samuel as the child, but he was not the child. He was the test."
Sometimes God blesses you to test you, to see if you will take the blessing and walk away, or whether you will come back and bring it back to Him.
I remember there were ten lepers that asked the Lord to heal them, and Jesus said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." And the Bible said that they were healed as they went. Nine of them kept on walking, but one of them said, "First things first, before I do anything else, I have to go back to the God that made it possible for me to have this opportunity."
And he said, "Lord, I know I ought to be at the priest's right now, but I just had to come back and say thank you." And the Lord said, "Nine of them got healed, but you were made whole."
Remembering God in Abundance
There is something about coming back to God. Oh, I wish I had a witness. I thought when my lights were off, I was being tested. When they laid me off my job, I thought I was being tested. When I had to go to my mama's house to get water, I thought I was being tested.
When I only had one suit and they called me "One-suit Jakes," I thought I was being tested. When Serita was washing my suits because we could not put them in the cleaners, I thought I was being tested. When I raised my first kids on WIC, I thought I was being tested.
But the real test is never what you do not have. The real test is, when God opens the door, when He opens the blessing, when He makes a way, when He brings you out, how do you remember God?
See, the other part was not a test because I could not do anything about it anyway. It was something I had to go through. But my faith is not proven on what is forced on me. My faith is proven when I have a choice.
See, the real climax of the story was not that God remembered Hannah. It was that Hannah remembered God. And Hannah said, "I am going to pass this test. I would not have this to give if You did not give it to me."
The Principles of Promise
And God says, "This is the principles of promise. I will bless people I can trust." "No man who loses houses or land, sister or brother, if he lose it in this life, I will give it back one hundredfold in this life." That is not in heaven. He said, "Whatever you lost serving me, I will give it back to you 100-fold. Not when you die, in this life."
For everything I took you through, oh, for everything you offered to me, everything you gave me, God said, "I will give it back to you 100-fold."
Hey, everybody, I have got to stop today, but it has been a real privilege to share the Word with you today. Sometimes God cannot fill us with His presence and His blessings because we are carrying so much emotional baggage that we cannot receive it.
Focusing on what you lost and who wronged you is robbing you of seeing the amazing opportunities God has placed all around you. Let go of all that baggage. I know you feel like you need it, but you really do not. Let it go, and God will do such an amazing work in you that you will not even look like what you have been through.