TD Jakes - Keep It Moving: The Fear Factor
Fear does stuff to the body. Living under constant fear, though it is an emotion, it actually takes toll on the body. It affects your physical health. It even weakens your immune system, affects your digestive tract, does damage to your cardiovascular system. Fear does stuff that doctors can detect in the body that you have no reason to be sick and yet your body is responding to something that the doctor cannot detect. They're just seeing the effects of fear on the body.
Irritable bowel syndrome, all kinds of stuff happens to you, decreased fertility because you're afraid, because your body is taking all of your blood and directing it toward fight or flight, increasing your sight so you can see and your legs so you can run. The blood that normally feeds your body and your functions is fleeing because you are in fight or flight mode. So fear takes a toll on you because our primal instinct is to flee or fight. But fear doesn't just take a toll on your body, it also takes a toll on your mind. They call it amygdala hijack. It affects your mind. It hijacks everything.
Your brain perceives everything differently when you're afraid. You can't trust your judgment when you're afraid. You see everything as negative when you're afraid. It affects everything about your decisions when you're afraid. We used to call it paranoia. You're just paranoid. And is there anybody in here that's ever just been paranoid? The phone rings and you jump, or you just feel like something is about to happen. My wife describes it feeling like a balloon, it's full of water and it's about the bust up over your head, and you don't know who's got the pin.
Anxiety, it affects everything. And if you're up under it long enough, it causes the brain, now hijacked, to remember certain things, like how something smelt, or a sight, or a sound will take you right back to that spot. So you end up with post-traumatic stress disorder. It's over, but it's not over for you. And there are triggers that can take you right back to that space, and you will react off a trigger though the problem is gone.
I want you to think about that because I think what I'm teaching right now has destroyed more marriages and more ministries than anything we could talk about. It's not what's going on, it's that what is going on has triggered something that went on. Nobody ever got destroyed by hoofbeats, but the sound of the hoofbeats is a trigger and reminds him of the abuse of 400 years. And Pharaoh has actually hurt nobody, but they heard him coming and they were struck with terror. You have to be careful.
We were singin' a minute ago, "The devil is a liar," and he is, but the lie can be a trigger. And when he brings up what could happen and you remember something that did happen, it's almost as if it is happening. And all of a sudden you over react in a situation and people who haven't been through what you've been through don't understand why you are flipping out over this situation. But it's a trigger, and you're horrified. And it doesn't always have to be a horse coming. It could be a heartbreak. It could be a disappointment. It could be a lost job. It could be a lost opportunity. And all of a sudden, instead of being rational and sayin', "Well, I have to find me another job," you wanna kill yourself. "Oh God, my life is over. I'm cursed. Nothing goes right". And you just spazzing out.
And Pharaoh hasn't even touched you. You just heard hoof prints. And your life, your joy, your peace, your amygdala has hijacked the opportunity you have to be happy right now because it keeps dragging you back into something that you are actually out of. Oh, y'all missed that. Y'all missed that. See, the Bible says, "The enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy". And one of the things he will do is steal the peace of where you are with the threat of where you've been. And all of a sudden, when you hear the hoof prints coming, it's not like he got ya, but it reminds you that he used to have ya, and all of a sudden it's as if you're already dead.
Now they're cursing where they're at and wishing for where they've been, and saying, "Why didn't you leave us in Egypt? Why didn't you leave us where we just got through praying to get out of"? Because if you're not careful, fear will cause you to be stuck at 10 rather than risk goin' to 11. Oh God, who am I talking to? I'm talking to somebody. I don't know who I'm talkin' to. Somebody is getting ready to step into the next dimension, and God is getting you ready for something and he needed you to hear this message. Nudge your neighbor and say, "Don't get stuck". Because fear can paralyze you.
Fear can shut you down. Fear can immobilize you. Fear can make you run everybody away, even people who were gonna help you. But the fear that you might get hurt again, "Oh, just get out. Just pack your stuff and get out of here. You're just like my daddy. Go on, get out. I'm not going through this again. I've already been through this". And fear can make you drive away people who are trying to help ya.
And so there the Israelites are, mad at Moses, because your perception of who's with you and who's against you can be disrupted by fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of disappointment. Fear of failure can make you not try. Fear of falling can make you not climb. Fear of being defeated can make you not fight. There are a lot of you, you're not as passive as everybody thinks you are and you're not as apathetical as they define you to be, it's just that you're afraid you'll fall. So maybe I shouldn't climb. If I don't climb, I don't fall. If I don't go, I won't have to go back. If I'm a slave, I wouldn't have to deal with this. Take me back.
And all of a sudden, the sights, the sounds, the smells become triggers that make us forfeit what God has in front of us. And yet in spite of all of this, in spite of what fear's done to the mind, in spite of what fear does to the body, in spite of all of these circumstances, the Bible says that God is going to get some glory out of this. Now, I want you to say that with me. God is going to get some glory out of this. It's about to... let's do it again. God is going to get some glory out of this. I want you to think about whatever your "this" is, whatever your catfish are, whatever your Pharaoh is, whatever that thing that kept you up at night. Say it again. God is going to get some glory out of this.
Now give him 30 seconds of crazy praise. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. See, the reason I got you praising him, I'm trying to break that paralysis. I'm trying to break that paralysis that has got you stuck in the same spot, buffering, buffering, buffering, buffering, buffering. Worrying, worrying, worrying. Upset, upset, upset. Mood swings, mood swings, mood swings.
If you praise him, you'll break that paralysis. I'm going to praise him 'til I get my family back. I'm going to praise him 'til I get my courage back. I'm going to praise him 'til I get my strength back. I'm gonna praise him until I get my fight back. I'm going to praise him 'til I get a sense of direction back. I'm going to praise him 'til I get up off the floor. I'm going to praise him 'til I stand up and start walking. Somebody help me praise him. Touch three people that are being blessed around ya and say, "Keep it moving. Keep it moving. Keep it moving. Keep it moving".
When you don't know what to do, when you don't know where to go, when you're worried about what might happen, when the enemy is threatening your future, when your past is trying to overtake you. Oh my God, I feel you preaching to me this morning. I feel you preaching to me this morning. I don't know whether I'm preaching to you or you're preaching to me. Or maybe where iron is sharpening iron. Iron is sharpening iron. Iron is sharpening iron. So Moses had... sit down. I'm just talking to you. I tell you you didn't have to get up no more.
Moses is talking to God, because sometimes you don't have nobody else to talk to. He can't talk to Pharaoh. Pharaoh is chasing him. And he can't talk to Israel 'cause they're mad at him. And sometimes in the fearful place, the worst part of the fear is that there's nobody to talk to. And maybe I wouldn't be so afraid if I could just talk about it. And Moses has nobody to talk to, so he cries out to God. The best prayer meetings come out of the worst situations. You don't have a great prayer meeting 'cause it's Wednesday. You have a great prayer meeting because all hell is breaking loose. You have a great prayer meeting 'cause the catfish are in your tent. You have a great prayer meeting because Pharaoh is after your hind end. It will make you give it...
I know, oh, you're conservative, and you're quiet, and you're just not that kind of person, and you don't, but if you get in enough trouble, if you get enough trouble goin' after you, trouble will make you act like you're Pentecostal whether you are or not. It'll have you runnin' around your house, talking in tongues. I wish I had a witness in this place. And Moses is lookin' up to God like, "I didn't sign up for this". Have you ever told God, "I didn't sign up for this"? I didn't ask for this stuff that's happening in my life right now. You didn't tell me I was gonna get in school and my parents were gonna get a divorce. I didn't sign up for this. You didn't tell me my husband was gonna cheat on me. I didn't sign up for this. You didn't tell me my baby was gonna be born deformed.
What do you do when you find yourself in something that you didn't sign up for? 'Cause you know something I found out about God? God is weak on details. He don't tell you all the details. "Just go down there and tell Pharaoh to let my people go". He didn't mention he's going to try to kill you when you do it. Them little details kinda help a brother out. I would kind of like to know if you're gonna assign 600 hit men to come kill me before I get started. I didn't sign up for this. And he looks up to God and he says, "What am I supposed to do"?
The people you sent me to help, they don't even like me. The people I'm tryin' to help don't like me. My own child don't like me. My mama don't like me. The people who are supposed to be on my team. I don't mind having to fight the devils, but the people that are... oh no, y'all ain't ready for me. I thought y'all wanted me to come home. What do you do when the very people that you're trying to help don't even appreciate you? I don't mind fighting my enemies, but I didn't expect to have to fight you too. And then God says the strangest thing to him. He calls on God to help and God does absolutely nothing.
Now, preachers don't preach about that. They preach the sermons where you called on the Lord and the Lord moved. I don't really need you to tell me what to do when I call on the Lord and the Lord moves. I need somebody to tell me what to do when I call on the Lord. I want a tape series on that. Why do you do when you ask him to heal and he doesn't, and you ask him for prosperity and they take your car? What do you do when things aren't turning out the way you had in mind? I'll tell you what you do. Keep it moving.
Oh, y'all don't hear what I'm saying. You don't hear the power of what I'm sayin'. You don't understand that some of the release of the power of God can only be released if you... yeah, if you don't keep it moving, it's not gonna work. The enemy's tryin' to shut you down and leave you paralyzed, but the Lord said, "I don't care what triggers you hear. I don't care what sound you heard". So God says to Moses, "Tell the people to keep it moving".
And God said to me to tell you, "Keep it moving. I know you're scared, but keep it moving. I know the enemy is playing your triggers, but keep it moving. I know you don't know the outcome of this situation, but keep it moving. I know you wish I would clear the tank of all the catfish, but keep it moving. I'm God and I know what you need. And I know what it takes to keep you fresh. And I know what it takes to get the glory out of your life. And it's my job to be God and it's your job to", I made it all the way.
I started preaching when I was 19, and they said I wouldn't last two weeks, and I made it all the way to 62. I'm chasing ya. I ain't got there yet, but I'm on your heels, buddy. I'm comin' after you. 'Cause you can't go ahead if you don't keep it moving. So I kept it moving when I was broke. And I kept it moving when I had some money. And I kept it moving when things were going right. And I kept it moving when things were going bad. And I kept it moving when I had the faith. And I kept it moving when I was scared out of my mind.
To all of it, I just, "I know you're scared, but keep it moving. Keep it moving. What I got planned will only work if you... see, I got somethin' set up down the road that's gonna fix this whole problem, but you've got to be in the right place in order for my plan to activate. If you stop right here, I can't get no glory out of your life. But if you'll just keep it moving, right down the road, I got a set-up for everything that's trying to attack you right now".
Who am I preaching to? You see, what I'm trying to get you to understand is that if they would've stopped right there, Pharaoh would've overtook 'em. He would have destroyed 'em. The miracle was in the movement. The miracle was in the movement. The miracle was in the movement. The miracle was in the movement. The miracle is in the movement. And there's somebody this morning that the enemy's tryin' to paralyze you with fear and he's causing all your triggers to go off, and the Lord said, "If you just keep it moving, you're gonna walk right into the power of God and God's going to get the glory".
See, we always preach about what happened at the Red Sea, but you've got to get to the Red Sea in order for that to happen. And the enemy doesn't even want you to make it to the Red Sea. The other reason God didn't say anything is that he wanted Moses to discover what was in his hand. God didn't need to do anything else because he had already equipped Moses for where he was at this stage in his life. And I don't know who I'm preaching to, but God has already equipped you and his grace is sufficient. Somebody talk to me this morning. I know it's painful, but his grace is sufficient. I know you're crying all night long, but his grace is sufficient.