TD Jakes - Receiving Your Promise
Somebody, holler, "Lord, make me a receiver". There was something that the Lord said in the Word that I thought was really, really interesting. When Jesus was walking the earth and he walked around people that were sick and afflicted, he said to them, "Wilt thou be made whole"? If thou hath the faith to believe thou canst receive, wilt thou be made whole"? That seems like a strange statement to walk up to a blind man and say, "Do you wanna see"? To walk up to a lame man and say, "Will you let me heal you"? But Jesus knew that there were many, many people who do not have the capacity to receive, yea, even good things in their lives. They are self-saboteurs. They sabotage their own successes. Selah.
Go to the book of Genesis for a moment. Let's talk about this a little bit more, Genesis chapter 2. I'm gon' work you today. Some of your Bibles have not been used much since before the flood. Man has been created. He now steps into this environment. Check it out. "God formed man from the dust of the earth," in verse 7, "breathed into him the breath of life, and he became a living soul," all in verse 7. Verse 8, "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed". He planted the garden eastward of Eden and then put the man into that that was finished.
Somebody, say, "Lord, put me in somethin' that's finished". Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, put me in somethin' that's finished. God has a prepared blessing for you. God has a prepared blessing, and he wants to bring you into somethin' that's already finished and already developed, and he's tryin' to get you ready for it. He's not tryin' to get it ready for you. He's trying to get you ready for it. God has a prepared blessing. When you marry somebody, if you marry somebody that God meant for you to marry, you marry somebody that's prepared for you, and you spend the rest of your life, discovering ways that they were prepared for you. They went through certain things, and you went through certain things, and you accommodate each other, and they have certain needs, and you have certain needs, and you accommodate each other, and even your brokenness is broken in all the right places so that you fit together effectively.
I always get people in trouble when I describe what marriage ought to be 'cause people start lookin' at their spouse, "Child, I got the wrong one". But it does help the single people how to understand what to choose. If you're not seein' that chemistry and you don't see the connection, you don't see that fit, maybe this is not the person that he has prepared for you, understand what I'm sayin'? God prepares a blessing for you, and then he brings you into the prepared blessing. He prepared the garden for Adam and then he brought Adam into that that he had prepared for him. Say, "Lord, bring me into that that you prepared for me. That means I don't have to steal that that you prepared for the person sittin' next to me. I don't have to covet that that you prepared for the person next to me. You have somethin' that is prepared for me".
I don't have to covet your stuff, your job, your business, your wife, your husband, your anything. I don't want your car. I don't want your car key, and I'm not waitin' on you to die so I can have your house. I ain't waitin' on nobody to die so I get a house. That's too long. I said, that's too long. I want it now. I want my stuff now. "Oh, when Willie die, he gon' leave me the car". What you gon' drive while he live? "Child, I come pick you up. Willie's in the final stages. They say, 'Any day, he'll be gone.' I'll have a car after that". People think some crazy stuff. "God, bring me into the blessing that you have prepared for me". Is that a good word? Check this out. Check this out. Let's check this out.
"And out of the ground, the Lord God caused to grow every tree," and the Bible talks about the trees that were in the garden. In verse 10, it talks about the rivers that God put into the garden. God is so thoughtful. He puts everything in it that Adam needs. "He put the river in the garden, and he caused it to break down into four heads," four different heads. Verse 11, it starts talkin' about the various streams that feed the garden. It starts talkin' about Pison and Havilah, and it starts mentionin' gold and bdellium and onyx. Isn't God thoughtful? He put some money in the garden, some richest land which, if you study it out, you'll find out that this is on the tip of Africa, and Africa is still the richest continent in the world today, and we still have failed to really tap into or appreciate all of the gross riches that are in the African soil, even to this very moment. God says in the book of Genesis, "I packed it with all kinds of stuff," and the fact that we haven't tapped into it is still indicative of, still, man today hasn't tapped into the many blessings that God has for us.
We're so busy tryin' to run down some oil that we haven't appreciated the gold and the bdellium and the onyx and the many, many - God has blessings all around. You don't be narrow-minded about how God blesses you. God has a whole lot of ways to bless you. Come on, somebody. And the Bible says, "And the name of the second river was Gihon. The same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia". See, Bishop isn't crazy. "And the name of the third river is Hiddekel". It goes on and talk about Assyria. "And the fourth river is the Euphrates. And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it". God said, "All I want you to do is keep what I've given you. Just keep it. Don't lose it. Don't mess it up. I'm gonna give you somethin'. I just don't want you to blow it. I'm gon' bless ya. Don't blow it. I'm gon' bless you. Don't blow it". That's what God wants you here to get this morning. God is saying to you, "I'm gettin' ready to bless you. Don't blow it. I'm gettin' ready to bless you. Don't blow it. I'm gettin' ready to bless you like you've never been blessed before. Don't blow it".
Mm, glory to God. Verse 16, "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree, you can have any tree in the whole garden. You can eat it freely.'" You can eat it in the morning. You can eat it at night. You can eat it for lunch. You can eat as much as you want. Put any kind of thing, you don't have to have no diet. You don't have to have no limitations. You can have all you want. "There's only one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that thou shall not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest of it, thou shalt surely die". That's what he said to him, "Anything else, you can have".
Now, you know, when I get to heaven, I want to walk up to Adam, and I know we're not supposed to fight, but just, you know, if I can't fight him, I'd like to just slap him, just one time. I won't slap nobody else. I'm a heel. I don't have no enemies or nothin' I wanna slap, but Adam, if I could scratch him or somethin', kick him in his knees or somethin' 'cause Adam messed us all up. Everything was wonderful. God had fixed us up. We were set for life. We'd have never been broke. We'd have never been sick. There'd have been no arthritis. There'd have been no cancer. There'd have been no leukemia. There's have been no diabetes. There'd have been no adultery. There'd have been no whoremongering. There'd have been no lust. Adam messed us up, and I got a 'tude about it, which is Ebonics for "attitude," means I'm frustrated and disturbed and aggravated and agitated about Adam in my mind.
And I wanna know "What in the world made you do that? Why did you mess us up"? because, when Adam did what he did, he threw us in the chaos, and suddenly, I begin to understand Adam's problem. Adam didn't have the capacity to receive the magnitude of blessings that God wanted to give him. It wasn't Eve that caused us to come into chaos. Stop blamin' the woman. It is not the woman that caused us to come into chaos because the Bible is clear it is not the woman's fault. The woman was deceived. She didn't know any better. She did what she did. She didn't know any better. God didn't charge it to anybody's account. Eve was a partaker of the fruit and all of creation did not fall, but when Adam was a partaker of the fruit, God got upset, and all of humanity failed when Adam did it. You know why? The woman didn't know any better, but Adam knew what he was doin'. He knew it was a blessing that he was giving away, and he was a partaker of the fruit anyway, and God gets upset when you curse yourself.
When you knowingly sabotage your success, God gets upset. The Bible said, "To him that knoweth to do good and doeth not, to him it is sin". Adam sabotaged his own success because one of the hardest things you'll ever do in your life is to be able to receive the many blessing that God has for you without getting an inferiority complex, and sometimes people sabotage their success because they don't feel worthy to walk in the blessing that God has for them, and so when things are going too good, they mess it up on purpose because they're used to problems.
Oh, you keep sittin' there, 'cause I'm comin' right up your street. I'm gon' make you itch today because there are so many people who are hooked on pain and problems and negativities. You can't help 'em to save your life because they don't mind you talkin' about it, and they believe it, and they shout about it, but they can't receive it because, when it gets down to receivin' what they built, they always tear it up because they're used to a torn-up world. They're used to bein' mad at somebody. They're used to arguments and havin' problem and somebody to fight, and they only feel comfortable when things are goin' down, and so, every so often, when things are goin' good, they self-sabotage things because they feel better when things are bad. And all of the creation fell because Adam was a fool. He wouldn't receive what God had for him. He sabotaged himself.
You have to decide to be happy. Do you not know that I see people all the time who wake up in the mornin' and purposely think of stuff to make themselves upset? They just talk themselves into bein' mad. They don't even notice that the sun is shinin'. They don't even notice that the birds are singin'. They don't even notice that they could walk this mornin'. Nobody had to brush your hair. Nobody had to wash your mouth out, and you got up and walked around in the kitchen, up, under your own strength. No, you choose to think of somethin' that somebody did that got on your nerves, and you keep pickin' at yourself until you make yourself mad. And then you talk about, "Pray for me. I'm depressed". "I guess you are. I guess you are depressed. You talked yourself into depression". That's why the Bible said, "Whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things".
Happiness is a choice. I'm in church all the time. I choose to be happy. I'm in church too much not to be happy. I'm in church. Oh, why you goin' around talkin' on the phone, doin' whatever you doin'. I'm jumpin' on planes, runnin' from place to place, jumpin' off the plane, preachin'. Once, you're on, preachin', once, you're off, preachin', all over the country, all over the world. I'm in church too much to be miserable. I'm not stressed. I'm not uncomfortable, and I'm not nervous. I am not nervous. Anybody been doin' somethin' 27 years, and nervous, they crazy. You should give it up. If, after 27 years, you still shakin', quit.
You have to make yourself content with the life that you have. I could sit up all day, "Some folk don't like me. They was talkin' 'about me at the barber shop. "I heard that somebody down there at the barber shop was talkin' about". I don't care what they said at the barber shop. They was talkin' at the barber shop 'cause they don't have no life, and they got to talk about my life 'cause they don't have one. I ain't talkin' about them. I don't even know them, so why would I make myself upset about them? I would be stupid. When they would switch with me, they'd drop them clippers and run in my house. You know I'm right. They leave that stuff in that woman, that perm would burn her scalp. Say, girl be drivin' my car down the road, that woman be burnin' up under the dryer.
There are people talkin' about you who would love to be you, and if you worry about them, that's the fool it is in you. You have to make up in your mind. You got a decision to make: Are you gonna be the one that people talk about, or are you gonna be the one talkin'? You ought to do somethin' that make the news. Get 'em all stirred up and watch 'em sweat it out. Do somethin' with your life 'cause God has some great things to give you in your life span. The greatest resource you have is your life span. It is the most valuable thing to you, and it is the thing that you cannot get back again. I could take your money. You could get some more. I can take your home. You could get another house, but if I take your life, that's it. Throw your hand up and say, "God wants to bless me. Help me to receive".
Let me show you somethin'. I'mma show you somethin'. Bring me a pitcher of water. I'mma show you somethin' here. Bring me a empty one. Bring me the full one. Bring me the empty... you good, you good, you good, oh. He's a bad man. He got two pitchers ready and a navy blue suit. He sharp, ain't he? Give it up. Give it up. This one. God has all of this to give you. Bring me a glass. Yeah, give me glass. See, some of you all, and I'm not throwin' off on other ministries 'cause there's some great ministries out there, great ones, but some of you came from ministries that had cup capacity, and they had cup capacity to minister, and you had cup capacity to receive, and it was a good match. Then, one day, trouble hits you, and you said, "You know what? This is not enough. I got to go somewhere I can get some real".
Now, if you had a good ministry and the Word is comin' forth, I mean, the Word, the unadulterated Word — I'm not talkin' about theatrics and foolishness — and you able to receive it, the preacher's preachin'. He's preachin' on your life. He's teachin' on the tabernacle. He's teachin' on baptisms. He's teachin' on word of faith. He's teachin' on ministry. He's teachin' on giving, teachin' on abundance, teachin' how to be debt-free, teachin' you how to pull your marriage together, teachin' how to come over adversity, teachin' how do you survive the enemy, teachin' you, "No weapon formed against you shall be able to prosper," teachin' "You're above and not beneath," teachin' you're more than a conqueror through him that love me, just pourin' stuff in. No matter what he pours in, you're able to receive it 'cause you got the... say, "Come on with it, Preacher". Somebody, say, "Come on with it, Preacher".
And they just fillin' you, and the more they fill, the more you receive, and you just growin', "pressed down, shaken together and runnin' over". You shall not go out empty, hallelujah. Nothin' just happened. You're just receivin' more and more. The locusts, the ants, you're learnin'. All kinds of stuff bein' poured into your spirit. The spiders, all of it's comin' down in your spirit and you're still able to receive more and more and more and more, and the more they pour, the more you're able to receive, and you do real good.
But some of you, you're sittin' in here with your cup capacity to receive, and God's got all this stuff that he wants to give you, and so, when you first come to the Lord, he's pourin' in you, and you say, "Oh, thank the Lord. Oh, that's good. Oh, that was so wonderful. That was so refreshing. Oh, such a blessing. Oh, didn't you think that was inspirational this morning? That was so inspirational". And so, you come back again. Then they get a little bit more and you say, "Oh, that's so inspirational, Brother Jakes, oh. Oh, it was thought-provoking. The young man is thought-provoking. Oh, he's so animated, so animated. He's so animated". And God keeps filling you, you know, and you get blessed, and you have a little worship experience, you know. You get blessed, you know, tear in the corner of your eye, almost felt emotional this morning, you know, got a blessing, what a blessing. How refreshing. How refreshing.
And then, when we really start pouring more and more, God has more capacity to give you than you have capacity to receive, and after a while, God has given you blessings and jobs and opportunities and sendin' people in your life and giving you new dimensions of favor and grace, and, see, when God starts pourin' more than what you have the ability to receive, it starts wastin', so you start losin' stuff, losin' opportunity, losin' chances, losin' relationships, losin' blessings, losin' chances at life, and everything start leakin', and you're losin' it, and it's just falling to the ground, and you can't figure out if God is tryin' to give you more than what you have capacity to receive, "pressed down, shaken together, and runnin' over," and most of it is lost, not because God didn't wanna give it to ya but because you didn't have the capacity to receive it. Most of the stuff you lost that was good, you lost it because you didn't have the capacity to receive on the level that God wanted to give ya.
That's why you need to say to the Lord, "Enlarge my courts. Strengthen my stakes. Increase my capacity". Shove those neighbors and say, "Give me some room. Give me some room. I'm gettin' ready to grow. My capacity is too small. I've been thinkin' too small. I've been livin' too small. I've been losin' stuff that God wants to give me. I wanna live before I die. I wanna have more life in my life, more joy, more peace, more deliverance". Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about. That's what I'm talkin' about, and you start thinkin' about all this stuff you lost and all the stuff that you got away and all the friends you lost and all the relationships and all the job opportunities and all the educational opportunities and all the spiritual opportunity that you lost, and God just gave you favor and opportunities, and you didn't know how to be a good steward of it, and you didn't even think yourself worthy of it, and you sabotaged yourself because you couldn't see yourself the way other people saw you, and you just didn't think that you deserved to have it, and so you just assassinated your own success until, after a while, you lost everything. Because the thing I gotta tell ya is everything that you lost, God saved it up.
Did you hear what I said? Everything that you lost, God saved it up, and if you will increase your capacity, God said, "I will restore unto you the years that the cankerworm and the palmerworm and the locusts ate up. I'll give you back double for your trouble. I'll give you back everything you lost. I'll give you back everything that got away. I just wanted you to grow up and stand up and get up and fix up and build up and develop up and come up. I got your blessings held up". Eyes haven't seen, ears haven't heard the things God has in store. Touch three people and tell 'em, "I want it back. I want it back. I want it back. I receive it. I receive it. I'm ready. I blew it. I messed it up. Give me one more chance. I'm ready. I'll be a better steward. This time, I'm goin' all the way. Get ready, get ready, get ready. I feel an anointing in this place. I feel the anointing of the Holy Ghost.