TD Jakes - Hidden In Plain Sight (01/09/2022)
Believers must develop spiritual senses through exercise and use, just as physical muscles grow in the gym, so that in trials we see God's greater power surrounding us—like Elisha praying for his servant's eyes to open—rather than panicking with only natural senses, and when victorious, we show Christ's character by showing mercy to conquered enemies instead of destruction.
Serving Without Spiritual Sensitivity
He is serving without senses. He is serving, he is doing the work, but he does not have that sensitivity. And I am going to back this up for a minute, because I have to do a little bit of teaching for you to get the benefit. When the Bible calls somebody sensual, it does not necessarily mean sexual, okay. When the Bible says you are sensual, it starts to talk about walking in your senses.
You know, sight, hearing, smell, touch—all of those are your senses. You have five senses that you learned in elementary school, or you learned in preschool. You learned you had five senses, natural senses, through which you have contact with the world. They help you to navigate. They are survival techniques and instincts that are inherent in the human species, so that your senses will tell you.
You can smell certain things. You can see certain things. You can hear certain things. They are your alarm systems to let you know what is going on around your periphery.
Spiritual Senses for Born-Again Believers
What you might not know is that you also have spiritual senses as a born-again, blood-washed child of God. You have spiritual senses, and you cannot serve God without developing spiritual senses. I am going to go into this. I am going to show you several people who did it and it gave them trouble.
In 1 Samuel it talks about how Samuel, being a boy, served under Eli, but did not know God. The Bible said he served in the temple every day, having not known the Lord. You would be surprised at the people who work in the church and do not know God. You would be surprised at the people who go to church and do not know God.
Who have ichthus on their car, crosses on their neck, Bibles in their hands. They say godly stuff, they have godly colloquialisms, but they really do not know God. They do not know God, because you do not know Him, because you have never been in a test with Him, and you just like to be around His people. Being around His people is not like being around Him. Samuel knew Eli, but he did not know God.
Peter knew Jesus, but he really had not learned God. When the storm—see, the storm tells you what you know, how developed your senses are, where you stand with God. You cannot find out until you get in a storm. It looked like Peter knew God, but when the storm arose, he ran down there and said the same thing: wake up, Master, what are we going to do?
You remember how Jesus woke up out of sleep and went to the bow of the ship and said, “Peace, be still”? But He also rebuked Peter and said, “Oh, ye of little faith.” And I wonder what did Peter do wrong, because all he did was ask You to help him. Jesus rebuked him for having little faith, because he woke up God over something he should have been able to handle.
You woke me up for this? Father, open his eyes. Jesus, you woke me up for this? Oh, Peter, ye of little faith. Peace, be still. Your trouble is your training, and you are trying to get God to get you out of something that God sent to teach you something. Oh my God, it is going to get good in a minute.
Developing Spiritual Senses Like Muscles
What God is trying to teach you is that you have underdeveloped senses. I want to go into this a little deeper. Now, let me see. How can I illustrate this? I need somebody. Come here, bro; come here, bro. Yeah, come on, you—you are perfect, you are perfect, you are perfect, because you are small. I need somebody small to stand beside me.
See, you see how much smaller he is than me? He is smaller than me. He is smaller than me, but I have no more muscle than him. Everywhere I have a muscle, he has a muscle. Everywhere I have a bone, he has a bone. Everywhere I have a tissue, he has a tissue. The only difference is how much one is developed over the other.
If he decided—he does not want to, because he wants to look good in his skinny jeans—but if he decided to bulk up, he could bulk up and out-bulk me if he wanted to, because God has dealt to each of us the same measure of possibility; it is just how we choose to exhibit it. Come on, let us flex for a minute. Let us give it to them.
You see there? You have it, I have it, you have it, I have it—it is right there. All he has to do, if he wants it, is get in the gym and develop it. Watch this: the same way you develop a muscle, you develop your inner senses. And the only way you can develop your inner senses is by reason of use.
If you do not use it, you do not develop it. If you always cater to your fleshly senses, you do not develop spiritual sensitivity and you do not grow in that area, so you are reacting to how you feel, what you see, what you heard, what they said, what they did. That is the problem with the servant. He is reacting to what he sees, what he heard, what they said, and whenever you get in a spiritual fight, and all you have is natural senses, you freak out and say, thank you, Master, what are we going to do?
And the reason you do not know what to do is that you sat around spiritual people, you clapped with spiritual people, you sang with spiritual people, but you never used it as an opportunity to develop spiritual senses. I have to drive this home, because if you miss this, there was no need of me teaching it.
Inner Ear and Inner Eye
There are crazy Scriptures that do not make any sense if what I said is not true. Like this one: “He that hath an ear, let him hear.” What does that mean? Who does not have an ear? “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.” What does that mean? Who in here does not have an ear? Everybody has an ear.
But the Bible is not talking about an outer ear; it is talking about an inner ear. In the Old Testament, it calls our fleshly ear an uncircumcised ear. You have an outer ear so that you can hear outer noise. You have an inner ear so that you can hear spiritual direction. You have an outer eye so that you can see natural things, and then you have a spiritual eye where you can see vision.
I want to back this up, because if you get this, this is going to change the reason you worship. It is going to change how often you pray in the Spirit. It is going to affect everything in your life. Because when you do not pray in the Spirit, you are not building up yourself in your most holy faith.
Exercising Senses Through Use
So, we are going to Hebrews—take me to Hebrews, yeah. We are going to Hebrews 5:11 through 14. Take a quick look at Hebrews 5:11 through 14. “Of whom we have many things to say.” The writer says I have got so much to say that is hard to be uttered, because you are dull of hearing.
Now, does he mean that they need a hearing aid? No, they are dull of hearing—flesh over your ear. “For when for the time, you ought to be teachers.” For as long as you have been around, you should be a teacher. You have been a Christian longer than a doctor studied medicine, and you still do not know the Word.
For as long as you have been around, you ought to be teachers. You have been a minister 10, 12, 15 years—you still do not understand the tabernacle. For as long as you have been around, you should have been a teacher. A title does not make you a teacher, baby.
“For when for the time, you ought to be teachers. You have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat.” You are still drinking milk. “For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised.”
God says the only way to build up your spiritual senses is to use them and by exercise. Exercise in the Greek is gymnazo, where we get gymnasium. And so, God puts you in trouble to work you out.
Open His Eyes: More With Us Than Against Us
He said, “Father, open his eyes.” First of all, that tells me he did have eyes. He just was not using them. When the enemy comes against you, you have to use everything. You have got to use everything. I mean, when you are surrounded and he is coming in for the kill, you have to use everything.
You say, “Well, the army had not shot at him or nothing yet, Bishop.” Yeah, he has. The moment he takes your peace, he shot at you. The moment he takes your joy, he shot at you. The moment you are laying in your bed terrified, he shot at you. So, the prophet came out there, and he said, “Father, open his eyes that he might see that there are more.”
I got out of my bed this morning to tell you there are more. If I do not say nothing else to you, there are more that are with you than there are that are against you. You are... oh God, I feel—I do not mean to stir it up. I am trying not to stir it up.
Now, watch this. What blew my mind—because people preach that part all the time, but they do not preach anything else out of the text. When I was looking at the text, what intrigued me is that after he said, “Father, open his eyes,” then Elijah stood out there and said the same God that opened his eyes closed their eyes.
I know that the enemy has come down to your life to destroy you, and he has got a plan for your life, but God is going to shut his eyes. He is not even going to be able to see. Oh my God, I feel a prophetic anointing on me. I do not even know who this is for, but God is going to shut his eyes. I have seen Him do it.
Touch somebody and tell them, “I have seen Him do it.” I have seen my enemies coming in for the kill, but they could not focus, because the kids got sick, the dog died, the car broke down. When God is fighting for you, He will fight in ways you do not even know how to fight.
Blinding Enemies and Showing Mercy
He said I am going to open the eyes of my children, and I am going to shut the eyes of their enemies. Whoo, is that not good? That is my favorite part right there. The same God that opened the servant’s eyes shut down the eyes of the entire Syrian army.
And then, the very one they were coming to kill—because they had never met him. Most people who hate me do not know me. The people who are all on Twitter, and all on Facebook, writing blogs—I have had people write books about me and never met me. So, they were hating on somebody they did not even know.
So, he came out there and told them, “You are not in the place you need to be, and I am not the one you are looking for, but I will take you to him,” and he led them from Dothan blind, and the one they were looking for was hidden in plain sight. I hear the Lord saying they are never going to see you coming.
Whoever this is for, you are going to slip into that position without them ever even seeing you coming. God said He has blinded their eyes to your potential. They are going to give you an opportunity, because they never realized that once you get that opportunity, your career is going to explode into another dimension. God said He has blinded their eyes.
And Elijah leads them from Dothan to Samaria. When he gets them in Samaria, watch this—it is important. When he gets them in Samaria, he says, “Now Lord, open their eyes.” And when they opened their eyes, they were in Samaria, and they were surrounded by the King of Israel.
Well, there is something I did not notice, and maybe you did not notice it either. You remember the angels that had them surrounded? I never noticed the angels were never needed. God dispatched legions of angels for your confidence.
You know how in chemistry class, they give you a test, and the test could be dangerous, but it was in a controlled environment? God has put them in a controlled environment, and the angels did not have to fight. They were there for control.
Let me tell you where the angels are right now. The Bible says, “The angels of the Lord encamp about them that fear Him.” The word “fear” there means to reverence. To reverence is to acknowledge, or be aware of. When you work out in your spiritual senses, you draw heaven to surround your situation.
That is why when trouble comes, the first thing the enemy tries to get you to do is to operate in your flesh, because if you operate in your flesh, you lose your defense. And I admit it, I admit it—it is my temptation, too. It is my temptation, too. When he hits me, the first thing I want to do is resort back to... I get that look on my face, and these jaws start shaking, and my eyes start bucking, but God says if you are going to fight it, if you are going to handle it, if you are going to curse them out, if you are going to get even, if you are going to get revenge, I do not have to.
The Real Test: Mercy When You Have Power
I told you this is a gymnasium. Not one lick was passed. Not one blow was passed. This is an exercise to teach you to walk in the Spirit and not to walk in the flesh. Okay, let me show you something. He brings them down to the King of Israel, and the King of Israel is his enemy.
He is now surrounded by his enemy, and the King of Israel says to Elijah, “Shall I kill them?” and Elijah says something that has been with me. I have been looking at this text for about three weeks; it has been with me ever since. Because it is so much wisdom in it, it is still marinating in me. It is going to be in me after I preach this message.
Elijah looks at him and says, “No, why should you kill what you have conquered?” Let me tell you what Elijah told the King of Israel. He said, “Put your sword away and feed them.” Watch this—you have to go and read this text over again, because it is going to mean more to you now.
So, they prepared an elaborate banquet for their enemies, and they fed their enemies—the ones they wanted to kill, they fed them. And the Bible said, “And there was no more war between the King of Syria and the King of Israel.”
Listen at this. Everybody, stand to your feet. You have to decide: Do you want to look good, or do you want to win? I have known this for some time. I have known this for some time. The real test in any situation is not on the powerless. It is on the powerful. Your character is proven by what you will do when you have the upper hand.
If you want the nature of Christ to be proven in your life, have the upper hand and not use it. Have the sword and put it away. They opened their eyes and they are surrounded by the enemy. They just know they are going to die, and here comes mercy, and mercy spreads out a table and feeds them.
Yeah, I know it is hard to do, but if you become big enough to do good to them that despitefully use you, when God has shown you that I am with you to the point that you can glory in tribulation, that you can face bad news with courage, that you can say, “Though He slay me, yet shall I trust Him.” When you are aware of God to the point that what is threatening you right now does not intimidate you, your help could be right in front of you and you will not see it.