TD Jakes - How to Get Your Fight Back
They used to be an army. They made a living fighting. These were not wimps, these were not weak men, these were fighters. These were warriors. They had swords and shields, and now all they had was bones and smell. Have you ever seen anybody lose their fight? Get where they didn't care what they put on, whether they brushed their teeth, whether to comb their hair. You can lose your fight so bad that you despair of life itself. The apostle Paul talks about one time.
Now, he's writing the Bible and said, I went through a time that was so piercing and so deep, he said, that I despaired of life itself. I didn't even want to be here anymore. He cries out at another time, O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body, this death? I know you're up right now and everything's going wonderful, right now. You don't think you need to hear this, but put this message back and save it, because there are some things that can attack you so severely and so consistently, and one thing after another after another after another, until after a while you get tired, you can't fight everybody all the time, 24/7, and you finally give up! Them bones, them bones, them dry bones.
God took Ezekiel on a field trip to see a future conflict that was so bad and so overwhelming that even God's prophet did not know whether these bones can live again. He said, Lord, I don't know. What I love about the text is what Ezekiel says. So I prophesied as I was commanded. This is a great thing. Preachers, teachers, Bible students, scholars, sometimes you don't have the faith for the text, but you gotta have the obedience for the text. He said, I didn't know whether it was gonna work or not, but I just did what I was told. Obedience is better than sacrifice. He stands over something that he is not sure that it will ever be resurrected.
Some of you have been to cities that are so dry, and so very dry, you're not sure that you could ever build what you see in that city. Some of you are in marriages that are so dry, and so very dry, that you have given up all hope that the marriage would ever get any better because it is so hopelessly dry. But still he said, I prophesied as I was commanded. The Word of God is the first step to the rejuvenation of those who have lost their fight. You cannot rejuvenate based on your feelings. Ezekiel did not have the feeling. Everything was, I got a feeling everything's gonna be... That's nice, but if you go down low enough you won't have a feeling. If you grieve deeply enough, if you lose a loved one that's close enough to you, you don't have a feeling that everything is gonna be all right. Nothing in you says it's gonna be all right.
If you get heartbroken bad enough, you lose your feeling that everything's gonna be all right. But you cannot get your fight back based on your feelings. You have to get your fight back based on what God said. Prophesied to the bones that they may live. If there's any hope for you to get your fight back, it's going to come through the Word of God. It's not gonna come through cussing and fussing, and fighting and shooting, and slamming and banging, and laying people out. That will not get your fight back, that will get you killed, that will get you locked up in jail, that will get you put it into a mental institution. That will not work.
The Word of God, coming into your heart, and coming into your spirit on a daily basis, starts to rejuvenate your spirit again. You have to fight back. You have to fight fire with fire. The enemy's tried to slay you with words, and you have to be revived with words by applying God's Word in your spirit every day. I prophesied as I was commanded. I did what he told me to do. That's what I hope to be said about me when everything is said and done. I did what he told me to do. I preach what he told me to preach. I said what he told me to say. I gave what he told me to give. I serve where he told me to serve. I was faithful to my calling. I did what he told me to do, in-season and out-of-season. Packed stadiums and coliseums, filled up auditoriums, filled up parks, millions of people, preaching the word of God. But I preached no less when the house was empty, because I prophesied as I was commanded.
It wasn't my job to fill the house, it was my job to preach the Word. It wasn't my job to take care of the crowd, it was my job to preach the Word. It's not my job to heal the sick, it's my job to pray for the sick. I prophesied as I was commmanded. I did what you told me to do. You want me anointed with oil? I anointed with oil. You want me to pray the prayer of faith? I prayed a prayer of faith. I already know I'm not the healer, you're the healer. But I did what you told me to do. This is not about your confidence in yourself, or thinking that you can heal somebody, or you can fix somebody, or you can straighten out something. The problem with us right now, we have tried to straighten each other out 'til we have messed each other up.
Stop practicing on people. Just do what he told you to do. I prophesied in a valley full of dry human bones. Remains. Remains of what used to be. I stood in the midst of what was and is no more. And I stood there and I prophesied. I prophesied to something that I didn't even think could hear. The reason I can preach to pews and chairs and rocks and hills is that it's not about your hearing, it's about me prophesing as I was commanded. It's not my business whether you hear me or not. It's not my business whether you like me or not. It's not my business whether you agree with me or not.
And I'm not here to convince you to like me. It doesn't make any difference. I prophesied as I was commanded. I did what he told me do. So when I get back home he's not gonna ask me, did they like you? He's not gonna ask me, did they agree with ya? Did they approve? No! He's gonna say, did you do what I told you to do?
Ezekiel said, I prophesied as I was commanded. I speak to you. We need a spirit of obedience, we've lost it. We've lost it in our nation, we've lost it in our churches, we've lost it in our family, we've even lost it in our children. Everybody does whatever they want to do, say whatever they want to say. But God gives merit for obedience. Obedience is better than sacrifice. So Ezekiel said, it in order for them to get their fight back, I prophesied as I was commanded. And suddenly there was a noise, and there was a shaking. And it started coming together. There is a move of God that brings things together that have fallen apart.
And I wanna take a moment and talk to some people today who are dealing with things that are falling apart and gone dry and seem hopeless and in despair. There is a move of God that will cause things to come together. And when God starts bringing things together, he will bring things together that fit together. When you get in it, you'll put bones together that don't go together, but when God start doing it, he will put the right bone in the right place to connect with the right bone.
Stop manipulating people, because you're gonna create a distorted body. God brought together bone to his bone. Everything moved toward what it was supposed to be connected to. You can't tell other people who to work with, who to serve with, who to grow with. Bones come together based on fitting, based on function, based on service. And I don't know who I'm talkin' to, but God is going to cause a drawing to happen, and bones are going to come together, bones to his bone. I feel it coming together.
I want to stop here and thank God for a coming together. A coming together. A coming together. A coming together. After a long time of being in a valley of distraction and disruption, a long time of being fragmented and disoriented, God is bringing about a coming together. I need about 30 seconds of praise for a coming together, a coming together, a coming together, a coming. I know it's not back yet, but it's coming. I know it's not fixed yet, but it's coming. I know you're not all the way out of the woods yet, but it's coming. It may be your finances coming together. It may be your family coming together, it may be your siblings coming together, it may be your children coming together, but God has a way of knowing how to shake things back together that you couldn't get back together, that you couldn't fuss back together, that you couldn't worry back together, that the counselor couldn't get back together, but the Lord said, it's coming together.
And you gotta have enough faith to praise him for the coming together. You've got to believe that God is bringing it together, and start thanking him. You can't wait 'til it's over to give him the praise, you gotta praise him in the middle of the process that things are coming together. I want you to make a righteous declaration, my life is coming together. Say it out loud. My life is coming together. Everything that's been scattered is coming together. Everything that's been lost is coming together. Everything that's been broken is coming together. Everything that's been wounded is coming together. Yes, I'm talkin' to you.
And I want you to see quite clearly and understand that it's not too late for you to get your fight back. I want you to tweet somebody, I want you to tell somebody, I want you to declare it right now, I'm getting my fight back, I'm getting my fight back. I'm getting my fight back. I'm getting it in my closet, I'm getting it in my wardrobe, I'm getting it in my plans, I'm gettin' in my attitude. I cannot fix my past, I cannot change yesterday, I cannot re-fight the battles I lost, I lost that battle, that battle is over, that battle was awful, that battle is ended. But I am not here to fight the battles that I lost. I am standing up to fight the battles that are in front of me.
So I'm forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching to those things before me. I'm getting set up to fight again. Hallelujah! Look at your neighbor and say, I will fight again. I will fight again. I know you counted me out, I know you walked past me, I know you thought I was finished, I know you thought I was prehistoric, I know you thought I was just history, I know you thought I wouldn't be back, I know you thought I was yesterday's news, I know you thought I failed so bad I couldn't get up, I know you thought I was finished, I know you thought I was over, I know you thought I'd never get up on my feet, I know you thought I'd never get my business back, I know you thought I'd never open up a church. I know you thought I'd never survive. But I'm here to tell you that I feel a shaking down in my valley, and I've got a feeling that something is starting to come together, and I'm not gonna wait til I see it. I will praise him right now, I'm going to thank him right now, I'm gonna glorify God!
God, I'm gonna praise ya! God, I'm gonna praise ya! God, I'm gonna praise ya! God, I'm gonna praise ya! It's coming together. It's coming together. It's coming together. It's coming together. That's what ought to be in your mouth, it's coming together, it's coming together, it's coming together. How you doing? It's comin' together. How you feeling? It's comin' together. How things with you? It's coming together, it's coming together, it's coming together, it's coming together, it's coming together, it's coming together, it's coming together. And up under the first advent of the anointing, God brought things back together, bone to his bone. He didn't bring the hip bone and connect it to the neck bone.
Stop trying to connect with people you don't fit. Y'all don't hear what I'm sayin' to you. If it don't fit, don't force it. Stop trying to connect. And the fact that it doesn't fit with you doesn't mean that they're not in the body, it just means that you all aren't a good fit. So stop trying to take the hip bone and attach it to the neck bone. 'Cause that's not where it goes. When you find the bone that fits you don't have to work so hard at it. If you got to put it in all kind of work, you are joining somethin' together that's not supposed to be together. You're gonna have a hard time attaching my knee to my head, 'cause they're not designed to fit together. But if you put my knee to my leg bone, it is designed to fit right.
Stop trying to force what doesn't fit. It's coming together. It's coming together. Coming together means that you have to be willing to see some bones shake past you. There was a shaking in the valley and the bones came together, bone to its bone, but that meant that some bones had to shake pass other bones to get to the right bones that fit together, so that they could be connected. And you cannot count it failure because you're seeing bones go past you. If it went past me, it wasn't for me. If it went past me, it wasn't my bone. If it went past me, it didn't fit me. Good luck, I hope you find the bone you fit with. Good luck to you, may the Lord be with you. Ain't no hate over here. God bless you. Find your bone, 'cause I don't want anything clinging to me that don't fit me.
I don't want anything clinging to me that I have to maintain and wrestle with and struggle with all the time. I don't want anything clinging to me that I have to beg to cling to me. I want to find what fits me, so that when I get my fight back, I can stand up on you, and you can hold up to the weight. Do you hear what I'm saying? I don't want anybody up under me they can't hold up to the weight of what it takes to be who I am. I am who I am, and it costs what it costs, and it takes what it takes, and if you can't take it, let me know. 'Cause somebody out here in this field has the power to undergird what God gave me.
I've got a mind that somebody out here will stand up to the weight of me standing up to my calling, will stand up to the weight of me standing up to my life, will stand up to the weight of me standing up to the challenge that is before me. Because I know that this is not my last battle. I gotta have the right bones in the right place at the right time, because I got devils to fight. I got devils to fight. I say I got devils to fight. I say I got devils to fight. I got devils to fight, I'm not here for no beauty contest I got devils to fight. I'm not here for no beauty pageant, I got devils to fight. I'm not here for a fashion show, I got devils to fight. I'm not here to impress people, I got devils to fight. I'm not here for a popularity contest, I got devils to fight. I gotta have the right stuff around me.
The Bible says, little by little, God brought the bones together. God is bringing the bones, yes, Lord, ooh! Thank ya. God is bringing the bones together. He's bringing the bones together. The skeletal formation of your new business move is coming together, the right people are coming in at the right time. God said he's been Lebo shaky. God said he's bringing the bones together. He said, I'm bringing the bones together, I'm bringing the bones together, I'm bringing the bones together. I know you don't see flesh yet, I know you don't see skin yet, but I'm bringing the bones together. I'm bringing the skeletal part together, I'm bringing the infrastructure together, I'm putting you in the right place at the right time, 'cause I'm getting ready to do some crazy things in your life.
And God said he's bringing the bones together. There is a skeleton coming together. There's a skeleton coming together, a framework whereby you're going to face the future without living in the fear of the past. I want you to get rid of your valley mentality. I want you to get rid of the defeat that happened in the valley. I want you to shake off the shame of what you went through in the valley, because God is getting ready to take you to the mountain. And you can't go to the mountain lookin' back at the valley. The bones are coming together, the bones, the bones, the bones. Them bones, them bones, them bones, them bones, them bones, them bones, them bones, them bones are comin' together, the bones are comin' together, them bones are comin' together.
Somebody call you who haven't called you in years? Them bones are comin' together, the bones, the bones, the bones, the bones, the bones are comin' together, the bones, the bones, the delta will shut, the bones are comin' together, the bones are comin' together, the bones are comin' together. The right connection to the right place at the right time, even in the middle of the pandemic. The bones are coming together. God, he will sure tie, God, he's getting ready to lift you up, and he's workin' on something. He's workin' on somethin' in the noise. He's workin' on somethin' in the noise. I know it's a lot of noise goin' on right now, but God is workin' on somethin' in the noise. He's workin' on somethin' in the shaking. He's workin' on somethin' in the chaos. He's workin' on somethin' in the chaos. He's workin' on somethin' in the wind. He's workin' on somethin' in the confusion.
I know it's kinda loud, but he's working on something. I know it's disruptive, but he's working on something. I know it's restless, but he's workin' on something. Bones are comin' together, bone to his bone. I don't know who I'm preaching to, but I feel like I'm preaching to somebody. I don't know who it is, but I feel like I'm prophesying to somebody. I don't know who it is, but God is getting you ready! You go get your fight back! You go get your fight back! You go get your stamina back! You go get your fire back!
The bones are coming together. God is a God of structure. So he gets the structure ready before he brings life to the army. He brings the structure together. God builds infrastructure before he blows life. Oh, y'all don't hear what I'm saying. God builds infrastructure before he blows life. Don't be worried that it's not moving right now, it's not supposed to move right now. God is building infrastructure.
The reason we get defeated is often we start moving without infrastructure. If you start trying to move and you don't have structure, you won't be able to stand, that's how you got defeated last time. So the reason God has taken time in putting infrastructure up under you is so that when you move this next time, you'll have the skeletal fortitude to be able to stand up under the pressure, because you underestimated what it cost last time. This time you got to get this right. Do you hear what I'm talkin' to you?
So the Bible says that after everything began to come together, he talked to Ezekiel again. He talks to him twice, first time for him to prophesy to the bones, the second time is to prophesy to the breath or to the wind. He says, now, at one time you are speaking to the object, the second time you are speaking to that which empowers the object. Okay? The first time you are speaking to the condition, the next time you're speaking to the wind that's going to empower the condition.
So first time I speak to the dry bones that are laying in the valley, I speak to what's left of your life, I speak to the remains of your finances, I speak to the remains of your marriage, I speak to the remains of your relationship, I speak to the remains of your ministry, the dry bones, the fragments, the memories, the moments that seems impossible, I speak to that. And God says, I'm gonna shake 'em together. Press down and shake 'em together.
Have you ever noticed when the Bible says press down, it don't just say shaken, but shaken together? Whenever God shakes, he shakes it together. He doesn't shake it apart, he shakes it together. He doesn't shake it apart, he shakes it together. He's shaking it together, he's shakin' in it together, he's shaking it together. And then he says, now I want you to prophesy to the wind. And he says, I want the wind to blow on these that were slain. So God is blowing on those that were slain.
Listen to this closely, I'm goin' in real deep now. God wants to blow on your pain. He doesn't say blow on these that are being formed, he says blow on these that were slain. God wants to blow on the area where you failed, the area of your deepest pain. He says, let my wind at it, let me blow on it, let me breathe on it. I know how you feel about it, you tell me how you feel about it, enough of your feelings, shut up with your feelings, let my wind hit it. And as the wind began to blow, all of a sudden sinews and flesh came up on those bones. And they stood up on their feet, a great army.
Do you have any idea how the world was shocked? In 1948 when Israel, after being burned, 6 million people dead, and the rest of 'em on the run, one third of their population annihilated in the Holocaust, and the rest of 'em on the run all over the world, learn a different language, blending into different cultures, learning how to do business in different environments, learning how to adapt to different cultures. And after all of that time, here they come back into Israel as a nation. Sidewalks and streetlights. Skyscrapers. Tel Aviv looks much like New York City or more. And these people who were once being burned in the fire are moving in a power that was unimaginable to their ancestors who were in the gas chambers.
There is a comeback. If there's a comeback for a country, there's a comeback for a family. If there's a comeback for a family, there's a comeback for a person. You might be in a rehab center right now, you might be watching me in jail, you might be watching me in a mental institution. There's a comeback for you. There's a comeback for you.