TD Jakes - Dedication to Destiny
There were three things that God gave Joseph in the prison that that helped him through the prison. Number one, the Bible says the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. He gave him company in the prison. He said if you're in it, I'm in it with you. I don't know who I'm teaching today, but the Lord said I'm in it with you. You had to sell the car, I'm in it with you. You had to sell the house, I'm in it with you. He left you for another woman, he said I didn't. I'm still in the house with you. I'm still going to open doors for you. I'm still gonna make ways for you. I will not leave you by yourself. She don't appreciate who you are as a man, God says I do. I am with you in the prison. Not just in church, not just on Sunday morning, not just when the praise team's singing, not just when everybody's beating the drum, not when people are happy and shouting, God says I'm with you when it doesn't look profitable to be with you. I am with you.
That's what separates me from some of them folks you call friends, even when there is no opportunity. Oh God, you don't hear what I'm sayin' to you. So, you go ahead and praise him for your car, and you praise him for your stocks, you praise him for your mutual fund, I praise him for not leaving me. Thank you for being with me when all hell was breaking loose. I'm just glad that you was with me. We're gonna practice that. Shake somebody by the hand and say, "The Lord is with me". The Lord is with me. I may be sleeping on this floor, but the Lord is with me. I may be in some kind of trouble right now, but the Lord is with me. I may have a lump in my breast, but the Lord is with me. I may be down on my luck, but the Lord is with me. Luck comes, luck goes, but the Lord is stable. The Lord is with me. I don't know who I'm talking to, the Lord is with me. He was with me in 2019. He's with me in 2020. He's gonna be with me in 2021.
If you want to get with God, get with me, 'cause the Lord is with me. If you want to fight God, fight me, 'cause if you and me get into it, he's on my side. That's how I feel about it. You got to know that you know that you know that you know I'm with you, even when you don't feel me, even when you don't like the condition, even when you don't like this circumstance.
So number one, the Lord is with him. Number two, he showed him mercy. Mercy sure do look good when justice ain't just. He showed him mercy. He showed him mercy, have mercy. I don't understand how people who need mercy can be so merciless. His mercies are new every morning. He showed him mercy. That's why I beat everybody praising God, 'cause he showed me mercy, and I owe him a praise. I don't mind raising my hand. I don't mind clapping my hands, 'cause had God dealt with me according to my sins, I would've been cut off, but the Lord showed me... whoo, whoo I feel a shout coming on. I feel a shout. I'm not even trying to shout, but I feel a shout. 'Cause when I think of the goodness of Jesus, and all that he's done for me, my soul cries out. He showed me mercy. He showed me mercy. He showed me mercy. He showed me mercy.
Number three, he gave him favor with the warden. He gave him favor with the warden. He gave him favor with the warden. You might not believe this, but God will make folks like you. You think it's just 'cause you're so charismatic, no, God will make folks like you. He gave him favor with the warden. You walk in like you know they like you, 'cause God is gonna give you favor. Favor with the person in power. Am I talking to anybody in here? Now, let me go a little bit deeper with this. I'm almost where I want to be. The thing that gets me about Joseph is that he was dedicated in a deficit. I understood him being dedicated in Potiphar's house, 'cause he was on the upside, but this boy is dedicated in prison. He's runnin' the prison. The inmate is running the prison. If you stop crying about being an inmate, you'll see why you're in the situation you're in. Because God's going to get some glory out of the situation that you're in. God doesn't just reveal himself by changing situations, sometimes God uses the situation to change you.
So, what gets me about him is that he's dedicated in a deficit. In prison, he's still serving, he's still leading, he's still helping, he's still giving. And had he not been dedicated in a deficit, he would have never reached his destiny. Had he gotten bitter, or depressed, or discouraged and said I'm through, last time I was dedicated, it didn't work. I'm not gonna do it anymore. I'm not goin' out there like that. I'm not going out like that. I'm not going to do it. He would have died in prison, but he was dedicated in a deficit. Can you be dedicated in a church that's not growing? Can you be dedicated to a job you think that's beneath you? I know you say you're gonna get dedicated when you get the promotion. No, you're going to be dedicated now, that's how you're gonna get the promotion. I'm helping somebody, I don't know who it is.
So, dedication has to be an internal impulse and not an external reaction. He must be dedicated because he's dedicated. He is not dedicated because things are going good. He has not allowed external circumstances to define internal character. He's just dedicated. He's a dedicated person. He's been dedicated all his life. When he's in, he's all in. When he's there, he's really there. When he's giving, he's really giving. When he's serving, he's really serving. Regardless, this is who he is. Don't let life change who you are. You gotta be consistent even when life is chaotic. Because now I see why God chose Joseph. He could trust him. He chose Joseph because he could trust him. And Joseph ends up the Prince of Egypt because he's consistent. Can God trust you in prison? No pay, nobody there to say attaboy. God blesses people he can trust. Can he trust you with power? See, 'cause power, see, see, see, trusting you with money ain't the problem, trusting you with power?
All of us have some area that we have not mastered. I'm not preaching this to convict you, I'm preaching this to challenge you. What is it about you that is consistent, that you're willing to be dedicated to? Because that's all we can use for destiny. Joseph, down in jail, interpreting other people's dreams, and he's doing it for people, and saying, "Man, this is what's gonna happen. You're gonna get out in three days. You're going to get out, and you're goin' back to the king. And in three days," to this other joker, "You're gonna be dead. You're faking, you're phony, you don't know who you are, you didn't dream nothin.' You're tryin' to slip in on somebody else's anointing. In three days, you're gonna be dead," and he's dead. The butler gets out and forgets Joseph, but Joseph is still dedicated. The butler forgets him for two years. I told you it's gonna take a decade. It's gonna take a decade to anchor down everything that you're doing right now. It's gonna take a decade to get it where it's established, and it's solid, and where you're fully respected on the next level of where you're goin.' Expect it to take some time.
Two years he spent forgotten by the people he helped. But Dr. King said, "Truth smashed down to the ground will rise again undaunted". It may take a long time, but if you just keep doing right, if you just stand your ground and be dedicated, if you keep doing right, you can overcome anything. You can lose weight, you could go back to college, you can get your doctorate, if you just keep... God can only bless what you are consistent about. Dedication to destiny. This is my opportunity to dedicate my way unto the Lord, and say you know what? I'm going to stop being up and down, and back and forth, and flipping in and flipping out, and I'm going to be consistent, even though my life is not. Even though this year will not be consistent, even though my friends won't be consistent, and my family won't be consistent, my spouse won't be consistent, everything around me may not be consistent, these are the areas that I vow I'm gonna hold too.
I will not drop this. I may drop somethin' else, I ain't say nothin' about no banana pudding, but we still workin' about that. Well, that's where the mercy, that's where the mercy back another part. That mercy, and the pudding, and the mercy, and the pudding and the mercy go together. Lord, have mercy. But this right here, this right here, Jesus, this right here, we're gonna lock this down. We're gonna walk this out. If I don't save but $10 a week, we're going to walk this out. If I don't lay but 200, if I don't lay but 200 pounds, 200 calories down a week, we're going to walk this out. If I don't take but one class a year, we're gonna walk this out. This right here? I'm gonna put this on lock. I'm gonna put this a lock. Because if I put this on lock right now, by the time I get through walking through this, I'm going to be exactly where I need to be.
Shake your neighbor and say, "I'm after somethin.'" I'm after somethin.' I'm after somethin.' I'm after somethin.' And I'm willing to lock down to get it. I'm willing to be stable to get it. I'm willing to dedicate myself toward it. I am not waiting on you to give me nothing. You ain't got to give me a thing. I'm not gonna be chasing them behind you, sniffing up behind you, trying to get on your good side in the... I ain't tap dancing or none of it. I'm gonna get this myself. And whatever it takes, I'm gonna pay the price, and I'm not gonna owe nobody when I get it. It's gonna be me and Jesus. It won't be nothin' about you. It's gonna be me and the Lord. Touch three people and say, "I'm after somethin.'" Yeah, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do it when I'm in jail. I'm gonna do it when I'm out of jail. I'm gonna do it when things go right. I'm gonna do it when things go wrong. I'm gonna do this. I'm going to be consistent.
Lord, you can count on me for this. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall what? What can he count on? I learned a long time ago, 50% of winning is showing up for the fight. The fight is half over when you show up. You'll never win a fight you don't show up for. I'm showing up for this. I'm showing up for the fight. Here I am, ready for duty. I am through hiding in the shadows for fear that I might fail. I'm going to face this head on and let the chips fall where they may. Yes, sir, let the chips fall where they may. I'm going to show up for the fight. You can count on me. I'm going to show up every day. I'm gonna make a little dent in it every day. I'm gonna hit it every day. I'm gonna sharpen every day. I'm gonna swing every day. You can count on me to take action. I will not waste another decade complaining about who didn't love me, and who didn't raise me, and who didn't invest in me, and who didn't teach me. I'm tired of my old story. I want a new story. I want a new testimony. I wanna see the hand. Oh, I feel God in this place.
Took them two years to get rid of the amnesia, and all of a sudden, Pharaoh had a dream, and nobody could interpret it, and the butler said, "You know that old whatchamacallit down there in prison, Joseph, yeah, I was in the joint with him. Yeah, he pretty good, Lord. He's pretty good". Had he not been good in prison, he would have never got to the palace. It was what he did in prison that brought him to the palace. Suppose he would have cussed the butler out and said, "Forget you, get out the best way you can. I got my own problems right now". But he was consistent, and they came and knocked on his jail cell, said, "The king has need of you". And he washed up, got a line, got his face just right, said, "I'm going to see the king". I prophesied to you this day, somebody is going to see the king. Your eyes have not seen, your ears have not heard, neither has entered into your heart where God is about to take you. He's about to take you into another dimension. You're going to see the King.
Touch your neighbor and say, "I'm going to see the King". I'm going to see the King. I'm going to see the King. I'm going to see the King. I'm going to see the King. I'm going to see the King. I'm going to see the King. I'm going to see the King. I'm going to see the King. I'm going to see the King. I'm not dressing for where I was, I'm dressing for where I'm goin.' I'm goin' to see... The guy who was an inmate in one chapter, becomes the head of the treasury for the nation of Egypt. That's why I don't believe in killing yourself. 'Cause when you're killing yourself, you killing a self you ain't met yet. You killing yourself over your past, but what you killing is not your past, it's already happened. You're killing your future. Twenty-four hours can turn your entire life around. You can be on your way down, and God can turn your whole... I wish I had a witness somewhere. I wish I had one Holy Ghost witness. I wish I had a fire-baptized witness. So, now it comes down to your part.
Why does God have you here today? What do you need to be more dedicated to in order to win? You know, most people have never thrown their whole weight at anything, ever. Most people have never put in the work for their dream. The 10.000 hours, no, no, no, they want it on credit. They won't read what they're supposed to read, work the way they're supposed to work, do what they're supposed to do, and they will blame God for their own trifling, lazy, inconsistent, behavior. And they will act like God didn't come through, when the truth is, you didn't come through. And God has been waiting on you. God has been waiting on you. And he says as soon as he will, I will. As soon as she does, I will. So, here's the question. What is this about? What is he talking to you about? And only you can answer that. What dream do you have that you have not fully been dedicated to? That you've not thrown your full self at it, consistently? Because God said if you do it consistently, he'll bring it down. He'll bring it down.