TD Jakes - A Fight for the Territory (02/17/2017)
From the deliverance of the Gadarene demoniac in Luke 8:33-39, the preacher teaches that demonic attacks are not personal but strategic—a war for your God-given territory, destiny, and influence—urging believers to recognize their value, stop self-inflicted wounds, and fight to hold ground despite storms and legions arrayed against them.
A Fight for the Territory
Hello, brothers and sisters. What a joy it is to have this opportunity to share the Word of the Lord with you. You know, the Bible is an interesting book and it is full of interesting characters from Old Testament to New. More times than not, when you read in the Old Testament there were bloody fights, and battles, and people being scarred, and skewered, and everything else. And most of the time they were fighting over territory.
The message today is called, "A Fight for the Territory." Do not give your territory over to the enemy. You may have territory that you do not even realize. And this time we are going into Luke chapter 8, verse number 33 through 39. And the message again, "A Fight," yes it is. Life is a fight but it is "A Fight for the Territory."
The Gadarene Demoniac Encounter
There are a few simple points that I want to bring out in this text, that I think are relevant to you. And before I do, let me put the text in its most simplistic form for those who may not be familiar with the text. Jesus has just gotten off of a very turbulent cruise, and reached His destination, and stepped out on dry land in a place that is called Gadarenes. And Gadara is part of ten provinces that were so similarly suited that Jesus purposefully went into them to affect change.
The moment He steps off the boat a wild, hairy, gnarled, grotesque figure comes running toward Him. Gets close to Jesus, and falls down at His feet, and begins to worship Him. He is worshipping at the feet of Jesus. And then the next thing he says, he says to us... Jesus, "Do not torment me. I adore You. I adore You. Do not torment me. Do not attack me."
And imagine being a disciple and you are watching this happen. And the guy is doing the right thing, he is worshipping. But there is something wrong with the worship. And as he worships Jesus, a conversation goes on between them on a different dimension from what the disciples could see. For example, he calls Jesus, "Son of God," and at that time most of His disciples did not even know who they were with. They were not there at the virgin birth and they were not there in the Jordan River. And they had seen Him as a teacher, and a rabbi, and a master, but this guy runs over, and falls down, and starts worshipping, and calls Him "The Son of God."
Negotiating with Demons
And Jesus begins to minister, well not really minister, He begins to negotiate, if you please. In His grace, He negotiates with these spirits who say, "If we must leave the man, do not make us leave the territory." And Jesus cast the demons, who were called "legion," out of the man into a herd of swine and the swine run down the hill into the lake and drown. And all the herdsmen are shocked because they have never seen anything like this before, run to the city to tell them what happened, and the city comes out to see Jesus because of the demon.
If there had not been for the demons, there would not have been a miracle, and if it had not been a miracle, there would not have been a revival. The city comes out to see Jesus because of the demon. You are up under attack for a reason. Jesus went through a storm to get to this man. This man is significant. One guy, one hairy, stinky, smelly, gnarled up, demoniac guy and Jesus went through a storm to get to this guy. In fact He says, "Let us pass over to the other side." So, that is why He got on the boat in the first place, to reach the other side. Jesus said, "Let us expand the territory."
Storms Before New Territory
And whenever you get ready to expand your territory, expect a demon to show up somewhere. As long as you stay over there, and this stays over here, everything will be all right. But the moment you try to break away from where you came from and take over new territory, that is when all hell breaks loose in your life. He is fighting about territory.
I cannot tell you, it is embarrassing how long I taught and preached this text and did not see the point. I did not see the point for the pain. I saw the pain, I did not see the point. The pain, the pain of this man that could not be contained, the pain of this man that could not be stopped, the pain of this man that had no life and had no future, that hated himself, and cut himself in the tombs of pain of this man, the self-annihilation of this man, his tendency to attack his own future and prosperity. I could not see anything but his pain and because of the pain I did not see the point. Because you know when pain gets strong, you cannot think, you cannot reason.
When pain gets strong, you cannot figure things out. Sometimes we are so engrossed with pain that we do not get the point. You can have pain so bad it makes your blood pressure go up. You can have pain so bad that you lose your appetite. You can have pain so bad that you stop eating, and you stop talking, and you stop believing, and you stop smiling, and you do not have your personality because your pain is stopping you from being who you are.
Strategic Attacks
If you take a minute and look at your life, every time you are about to step into new territory all hell breaks loose and sends a storm to stop you from getting there. And the storm does not seem connected to your goal but it is a strategic attack. In fact, I will go deeper than that. I would go far enough to say that the enemy knew who you were going to be before you got here and he did some things early in the game, sometimes 20, 30, 40 years before you reached the destination to try to mess you up, so that you would not be prepared to be who God called you to be.
The storm always occurs before you get the territory to stop you from getting there in the first place. I bet you there is some people in here almost died in the crib. I bet you there is some people that almost died in the first couple of years of your life. I guarantee you there is some people that were abused, and molested, and ostracized early in life before anybody got a chance to see who you were going to be.
The storm started before the boat landed. If Jesus had not rebuked the storm, He would not have ever made it to Gadarenes. And then I did not recognize that Gadarenes was inhabited by Gentiles. Why did I not know. Why did I not have the sense to know that in that era, no traditional, orthodox Jew would be raising pigs? Now, when I hear "Jesus, let us pass over to the other side," I am not sure whether He is talking about geography or nationality. He was crossing more than regions, He was crossing cultures, and anytime you start crossing cultures, all hell will break out because the one thing the devil hates is for all types of cultures to bow down and call Him Lord.
The Demons' Real Target
The demons did not care nothing about that man. When Jesus came along the demons did not worry about leaving the man, they just did not want to leave the territory. That devil is not interested in you, he is interested in your territory. He is interested in your region. He is after your turf. He is after your stuff. There is something that you have that he wants and he does not care about you. He says, "I can use her. I can use a pig. I could use a goat. I could use a dog. I could use her sister. I can use his brother. I can use somebody close to them."
In fact, demons have been known to jump from place to place, from house to house. That is why it is not good to have your spirit open, even in a funeral, because when the devil gets through with one person. Do not be distracted by what he is doing to you. He is not after you, he is after your territory. Kathy, he is after your territory. He is not after you, he is after your territory, your influence, what you are doing, what you trying to get done. He is not after you, he is after your territory.
Stop taking the fight personal. The fight is not personal. It is not even about you. It is so strong. Look at the storms that preceded it in your life. When you did not even know who you were storms broke out. Storms are things that happen beyond your control and you become victimized by a storm that is out of your reach. Go back into your life for a minute and look at the things that happened that you could not control before you even got to where you are now. He knew you were going to be something. He is scared to death of you or he would not fight you like that. You do not pull out big supernatural warfare to fight somebody that does not have any threat. If he were not threatened by you why would he start a storm way over here?
Legions: Organized Attack
We never see this anywhere else in the text. He is afraid of what you would become. So, he said, "I better start early before she grows up, before she learns Scripture, before she gets washed in the blood, before he gets up in the anointing, before he gets himself together, I am going to catch him about 3 or 4 or 5 or 7 or 8, and I am going to start a storm to stop him from becoming who he was created to be." And then Jesus has to come through the storm to perform the miracle.
What are the storms that Jesus has to come through to get to you? What are the walls and the barriers that you have built up consciously or unconsciously that Jesus has to come through to get to you? But good thing about it is Jesus woke up and rebuked the storm. "Peace, be still," and the winds and waves were slain. He lands, the second level of attack occurs.
Now, the enemy runs out to Him and falls down. "I could not stop You from getting here, let us make a deal. I have enjoyed, I have enjoyed attacking this man. I messed him up so bad he could not live with nobody, he could not stay with nobody, he could not even live with himself. I brought him down so low that he ended up all alone and all he does night and day is cut himself in the tombs. I have enjoyed abusing him. I have enjoyed attacking him. I have enjoyed watching him eat himself up, and say what he could not be, and what he could not do, and what he could not have, and what he could not enjoy."
I am talking about self-inflicted wounds. The things we do to ourselves, the things we say when nobody is around to ourselves that stops us from doing what we do. Do you think you got that mentality by yourself? No, there is a spirit using that to attack you so that you are... even when we got you away from your haters, you were back in the tomb cutting yourself. He said, "I have enjoyed doing all of that. I have enjoyed convincing you that you are nothing, you are never going to be nothing, you came from nothing, and you will never get out. You will never be loved. You will never be happy. You will never be blessed. You will never be free. You will never get yourself together. You will never be nothing. I have enjoyed attacking him."
But he was not the point. You got to hear this because he was not the point. It was the territory. It was Gadarenes. It was the region. Do not you come over here, Jesus, on my territory. This man had so much demonic influence on him that we do not really know the name of the demon because it was not just one. It was so many that they were called, "Legions." Legions are regimented, augmented, gathered together in force, united to destroy and uproot whatever they can. Legions is organization, it is structure, it is order. Legions, you do not use "legions" when you talking about, "We just hanging out." Legions are trained, skilled soldiers that are marching at the same time.
[h2]It's About Your Destiny
Attacks confirm destiny and value—God sees purpose and influence worth defending.
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