TD Jakes - Give Us An Awakening
He has made himself comfortable in an uncomfortable situation, oh, God. He has made himself comfortable. He has made himself comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. He has made the uncomfortable work. He has made the uncertain a resting place. And Peter has gone to bed between two soldiers. Sleeping between two soldiers whose assignment is to hold you where you are. There are spirits that have been assigned to your life whose only job is to hold you where you are, to make sure that you don't move too far away from where they put you. There are some demonic influences that have been sent on an assignment to make you accept the unacceptable as acceptable, the abnormal as normal, the uncertainness certain, and they want you to go to bed in something that God wants to get you out of.
God wants to get you out of something that the enemy wants you to sleep in. God wants to move you away from something that the enemy wants to give you a pillow and make you go to sleep in. God wants to pull you away from something that the enemy's trying to lure you into, and he has a assigned, he's chosen, spirits to make you accept the unacceptable, to make you rest in the uncertain, to lull you into the toxicity of sleep and slumber in a situation that God is about to get you out of, oh God. Oh, y'all don't hear what I'm saying. I said the enemy is tryin' to get you to go to sleep in a situation that God is about to get you out of. The enemy's tryin' to make you think that your life is over, and God is about to get you out of it. The enemy is trying to make you think that God doesn't have another sermon, another song, another job, another message, another life, another love, another hope, another house, and the enemy's trying to make you go to sleep, but God... I feel the anointing of the Holy Ghost in this place. I said but God, God is trying to wake you up.
Somebody type, "Wake up". Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up. Somebody type wake up, wake up, wake up. Somebody say, "Wake up". Wake up, wake up. Somebody shake yourself and say, "Wake up, wake up, wake up". This is not your life. This is not your situation. This is not your go-to. This is not your default setting. This is not how your story ends. This is not how you give up. This is not how you die. I shall not die, not today, not here, not like this, no, no, no, no, no. And while Peter was in this toxic environment of uncertainty, this toxic environment of anxiety, this toxic environment of worry, this toxic environment of discomfort, he was asleep. And the angel came in while he was asleep. The angel walked in to his night. I'm gonna say that again. The angel walked into his night. Get ready, somebody, because the angel is getting ready to walk into your night. He's getting ready to walk into your dark place. He gettin' ready to walk into your uncertainty. And I don't care how many hell hounds have been assigned to your life. When God gets ready to come get you, God will come get you, and no devil in hell can stop you when God gets ready to come get you. The angel shows up in the prison.
Tell your neighbor, "An angel is showing up". I'm broke, but an angel is showing up. I've been depressed, but an angel just showed up. I've been in a despair, but an angel just showed up. The Lord told me that if I preached this Word, it was gonna be the Word that woke somebody up. It was gonna be the Word that woke somebody up. Tell your neighbor, "An angel is coming," an angel is coming, an angel is coming, an angel is coming, an angel is coming, an angel is coming, an angel is coming. The angel shook Peter. They didn't hear me. I said the angel shook Peter. Somebody holler, "Shake me, shake me". Whatever you got to do to move me out of this situation, shake me up. Shake me, shake me till I stop accepting a prison to be an apartment. Shake me till my faith is renewed. Shake me till my soul catches afire. Shake me till I get my fight back. Shake me till I get my sword back, shake, shake.
Watch this, oh, I feel the Holy Ghost here. Something's gonna happen in here this morning. Something's gonna happen in here this morning, something's gonna happen in here this morning. Somebody give him 30 seconds of crazy, shaking praise, shaking praise. I want a shaking praise. I want a shaking praise. I want a shaking praise. I want a shaking praise. I want a wake-me-up praise. I want a get-me-out-of-this praise. Shout it out. And then the Bible says something. Nothing really changes in this text until Peter woke up. The presence of the angel didn't stop the problem. The presence of an angel didn't stop the problem. The angel is stronger than all 16 guards, but the presence of the angel did not liberate the apostle. The only thing that will liberate you is when you wake up. Somebody holler, "I'm woke now". Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm woke now. I was depressed, but I'm woke now. I was frustrated, but I'm woke now, hallelujah, hallelujah. You should have killed me before I woke up. You should have killed me before I woke. You should have killed me before I had an awakening. Wake me up, Jesus.
Now, let me take you somewhere. I want to take you somewhere. Peter wakes up, and this is the most important part of the message to me. Peter wakes up in stages. Peter wakes up in stages. The Bible says that the angel woke him up, and the moment that the angel woke him up, he said to Peter, "Hurry, get up". And the moment he said that to Peter, Peter still ain't said nothing. The chains fell off. Now, the angel spoke loud enough that Peter could hear him but not so loud that the soldiers could hear him. What God has for you is for you. And all them wannabees that are hangin' around you cannot get what God has for you. And the moment he said, "Hurry, get up," the chains fell off of Peter's hands, and immediately Peter got up. This is the thing you have to realize. This is important for you to understand. You always wake up in stages. You fell asleep in stages. If you study sleep, there are several different stages of sleep. You fall asleep in stages, and you wake up in stages.
Peter woke up, and the Bible said that he followed the angel out. Put my text up. He followed the angel out, but he followed him out, but he wasn't sure what was happening. He followed him out of the prison not knowing. Wait a minute, I thought he was awake. Yeah, he was awake. He was awake, and he was following the angel. Look at the text. He was following the angel not knowing. That's why can't I have a lot of people asking me a lot of questions, 'cause sometimes I'm following the angel, but I'm not knowing I'm awake. The angel is in front of me. I'm following the angel. But I can't answer no questions. I can't answer no questions, because I'm not knowing. And he thought that he was seeing a vision. That means that my dream and my reality have collided so much so that I don't know whether to believe that my dream is real.
I wanna talk to somebody that's starting to see a change, but you scared to believe it. You're scared to believe it. You're scared to trust it. You've been asleep so long that you're following the angel, and the chains are falling off, but you don't know whether to trust it, 'cause it could be a dream. It could be a fantasy. It could be a vision. You believe it, watch this, you believe it, but you don't know it. There is a difference between believing something and knowing something. He is believing it, but he doesn't know it. And he's thinking, now, he doesn't know, his spirit doesn't know, his mind thinks, "Could be a vision". Why is that so? Because you wake up in stages. It takes you a while to wake up fully to what God is doing in your life. For we walk by faith and not by sight. You don't see it, but you're walking in it. You don't know it, but you're walking in it. God's bringing you out, but you're afraid to trust it, because it's not real.
Now listen, you gotta get this, because this is important. Whenever I'm interviewed, people ask me, I started out, I started out my life, I was doin' fine, I was working a job, had a good job, had a tiny church, could take care of myself, had a new car, had a new wife, had a new family, had a new life, lost my job, lost all my income, lost everything, went down to food stamps, repossessed the car, lost everything I had, and then I started the slow climb back up. And people always ask me, "When did you know that you were coming out"? And it is the hardest question in the world to answer, because I followed the angel not knowing. You got to be willing to follow the angel not knowing, still uncertain, awake but not fully awake. You just got to trust that the one in front of you knows what he's doing while you are still uncertain, because you wake up in stages. You don't know who you are yet. You might have a clue, but you wake up in stages.
Give me the 10th verse. When he starts to wake up, they pass by the first guardpost, and then the second, and then they came to the iron gate leading into the city, and the gate opened by itself. So the angel who was capable of killing all 16 soldiers didn't kill any of them, just walked past 'em. I wanna talk to the people who walked past stuff that could have killed you, but God just let you walk past. Oh, I wish I had a witness in here. Somebody knows what it's like to walk past something that should have kill you, but God walked you right past it, and you didn't kill it, and it didn't kill you. You just escaped it. They passed by the first guardpost, and then they passed by the second, and they came to the last, to the iron gate that led to the city.
This is the final demarcation between ideas as reality. And the Bible is careful to note, Luke is writing here. Luke is a physician. He is given to details. He takes the time to note that the gate was iron. It is an iron gate. What had you locked in is an iron gate, but by the time you get to it, hey, by the time you get to it, don't worry about the fact that it hadn't opened yet. By the time you get to it, you won't see it opened in advance, but the Holy Ghost said by the time you get to it, by the time you get to it, yes, I'm talkin' to you right in your house. By the time you get to it, by the time you walk up on it, God said he has so arranged it that it's gonna look immovable, but by the time you get to it, it is going to open by itself. Whoever I'm preaching to, take about ten seconds and praise him like a gate just opened.
Praise him like a gate just opened. Praise him like a financial gate, a physical gate, a healing gate, a blessed gate, praise him. Open, open, open, open, open. Open, open, open, open. Open, open, open. Open, open, open, open, open. Open, open, open. Open, open, open, open, open, open. Open, open, open, open, open. Open, open, open, open. Open, open, open, open, open, open, open. Pastor Bonet, it just opened. Peter don't get no credit for it. The angel don't get no credit for it. The soldiers don't get no credit for it, there are some things God is going to do for you that nobody will ever get credit for. It's just that by the time you walked up to it, it just opened, just that simple, just that fast. It just opened.
My credit rating, my business, my personal life, my relationship with my child, we hadn't been speaking for ten years, but by the time I got to it, it just... oh, y'all don't know. Y'all don't, y'all don't, y'all don't, y'all don't believe... I was a storefront preacher, but by the time I got here, the door just... I prophesy to you a door is about to open in your life. A door is about to open in your life. I said a door is about to open in your life. Don't tell me about your circumstance. Don't tell me about your problem. Don't tell me about your situation. Don't tell me about your crisis. Don't tell me about your accountant. Don't tell me what the devil said. The Holy Ghost said that a door is about open. Whoever I'm talking to, you ought to just lose your mind in a Holy Ghost praise.
The thing that gets me, Marcus, a door just opened, and then the Bible said they just went out. They just, without restriction, without contradiction, without conflict, they just went out, with 16 soldiers assigned to hold them in. Deliverance was easier than anything you could have imagined. Once he woke up, once you wake up, I wanna make sure I give you what God said. Once you wake up to who you are, God will maneuver you past all of these soldiers that have been assigned to you to keep you isolated. And you're just gonna walk out. You just walk out.