T. D. Jakes Quotations

May the passion to be all that God wants you to be sweep across your soul like a gentle breeze.

Much like the removal of moles and skin lesions is done to prevent them from growing into more serious skin abnormalities, removing minor discord before it becomes a calamity is an important use of our time. Most people don’t like to make waves and they swallow frustration and bury true feelings, not wanting to compromise temporary tranquility, never realizing that massive turmoil doesn’t start out massive—it grows beneath the skin like a cancer that could have been avoided with early detection.

When people walk away from you, let them go. Your destiny is never tied to anyone who leaves you, and it doesn't mean they are bad people. It just means that their part in your story is over.

Stop watering things that were never meant to grow in your life. Water what works, what's good, what's right. Stop playing around with those dead bones and stuff you can't fix, its over...leave it alone! You're coming into a season of greatness. If you water what's alive and divine, you will see harvest like you've never seen before. Stop wasting water on dead issues, dead relationships, dead people, a dead past. No matter how much you water concrete, you can't grow a garden.

I think the first step is to understand that forgiveness does not exonerate the perpetrator. Forgiveness liberates the victim. It's a gift you give yourself.

There are no college courses to build up self-esteem or high school or elementary school. If you don't get those values at a early age, nurtured in your home, you don't get them.

I think it is important that we rebuild an atmosphere of forgiveness and civility in every aspect of our lives.

It is your passion that empowers you to be able to do that thing you were created to do.

Resist your fear; fear will never lead to you a positive end. Go for your faith and what you believe.

So though there are many things I would have done differently, I submit to God's sovereignty and His purpose in my life and I thank Him that He brought me the way He brought me and gave me what He gave me when He thought I could handle it.

If you learn how to forgive others for not being strong, then people can learn how to forgive you for your own issues.

Forgiveness is about empowering yourself, rather than empowering your past.

I'm for people bettering themselves, no matter who they are and where they are, doing all they can to be all they can be.

Here is the amazing thing about Easter; the Resurrection Sunday for Christians is this, that Christ in the dying moments on the cross gives us the greatest illustration of forgiveness possible.

We think that forgiveness is weakness, but it's absolutely not; it takes a very strong person to forgive.

As a Christian, Christ died so that we will have eternal life in Him in Heaven. What it looks like doesn't matter, what it smells like doesn't matter, as long as Christ is there it will be Heaven to me.

I like to see myself as a bridge builder, that is me building bridges between people, between races, between cultures, between politics, trying to find common ground.

We cannot embrace God's forgiveness if we are so busy clinging to past wounds and nursing old grudges.

The first time I walked on a stage I knew that was what I was created to do. I knew that there was a calling and a sense of purpose in my life that gave me fulfillment and a sense of destiny.

I raised five children. They all have different personalities. All of them have different issues, different levels of success. That was a learning experience for me.

We develop our propensity to forgive or not to forgive by what we see illustrated at the early ages of our development.

I chose to present myself as one who comes from among the people, and I can be touched by their pain because I have my own.

I don't think that you can let the storms of life overwhelm you. When you do that, you are no better than the craziness that caused you to be under attack.

Children are not unforgiving. You can punish them and they will hug you in a few minutes.

But I think my mistakes became the chemistry for my miracles. I think that my tests became my testimonies.

I want to congratulate all the men out there who are working diligently to be good fathers whether they are stepfathers, or biological fathers or just spiritual fathers.

When you make a decision to forgive it's a decision that you have to make intellectually.

My father was a Methodist and my mother was a Baptist.

I think most people who get into their 50s reassess what made sense and what didn't make sense.

One of the things about my ministry is that I have never branded myself as being above the people or superior to people.

I'm not particularly political. I'm not particularly denominational. I'm not worried about any of that.

I think the amazing thing about gospel music is that not only does it lift up the death and resurrection of our Lord, which is consistent with the Gospel, but it is uniquely communicated depending upon the generation.

I think that my preaching style and many of my ideas and ideals about faith are based in both Pentecostal and Baptist background.

There is nothing I'm any more passionate than empowering the next generation.

When my father died, I had a real experience with Christ, a real conversion with Christ and I had it in a Oneness church.

I actually grew up playing the piano in the church and was deeply involved in music ministry.

I was raised in the Baptist church... but I didn't really have a real committed experience with Christ until my father died.

And another thing is that I think as a church whenever we become politically driven, we alienate at least 50 percent of the people that God called us to reach with our political orientations.

My first church had seven members in it, and I have to remember, the rent was $225 a month and I worked for Union Carbide and took the check I made from work to pay for the rent to keep the church open.

It's better to gather in righteousness than fellowship with darkness.

How you think about your opportunities determines how you will act on them.

A church that focuses on the external has lost its passion for souls.

I'm not walking by sight- I'm, walking by faith

The T.D. Jakes Relationship Bible: Life Lessons on Relationships from the Inspired Word of God.

Ya'll don't hear what I'm preaching. I'm preaching so good I'm about to 'Amen' myself! Oh!...Oh God! I'm preaching good! Hallelujah!

The myth of the poor Jesus needs to be destroyed, because it's holding people back.

I think that Jesus is the product.

I'm having an amazing time teaching through the lives of people much like Jesus did.

When it comes to bringing an idea that God has given you to fruition, don't wait for it to happen again, you have to get out there and make it happen.

Sometimes we're so busy trying to get things and at the end of the day, all we need is love.

The real harvest of life is the outworking of the internal. If there's nothing in there, there's nothing to work out.

I think it's important that when you're bringing something to the table that you're sure has value, that you don't diminish yourself just so that you can have an opportunity.

We pay far too much attention to externals.

Any great teacher is a great student.

I was looking for excellence in any color or gender it comes in. Some of my top people are African American but not all of them.

The standard is the standard and whomever walks in the door at the time I need a person in that position who can do that job with excellence and who understands my vision, if they can fulfill it, they got the job whether they're young, old, black, white, male or female.

It's a culture shock to go from obscurity to notoriety in a flash. Its more to it than talent and money; its pressure, stress, enemies, critics; you have to develop relationships and a team. There are all of these things that go along with taking a leap and following your dreams.

I don't care how fancy you wrap trash, it's still trash.

I didn't know who I was and I didn't know if what was in me was any good. But my parents taught me to believe in myself and to work until something happens.

You have to knock on doors. You can't keep your dreams a secret. You have to put them out there on display and people can say whatever they want but keep on pointing your actions towards your dreams.

I wasn't looking out, I was looking in. I knew something was in me, I just wasn't sure how valuable it was.

The thing that binds us together is the commonality of our dreams, not our skin tone.

Don't try to change the package more than you try and change the product.

I don't care how cheap the box is that you put a diamond ring in, nothing about the box diminishes the value of the content.

My church is fifty percent millennials. There's a connectivity between millennials and I.

I believe God promotes you when you graduate from the level that you're on.

No one keeps the container, they always keep the product.

I think its good to worship as a family but its also important to worship as an individual.

I don't dislike anybody. I love everybody.

The brilliance of morning is in sharp contrast with the darkness of night" - Woman thou art loosed

It is the breaking of life that produces the blessing of life,

Thinking is the first step to a revolution in your life that is incredibly significant.

Comfort is the enemy of creativity.

Salvation is the root-the resurrection is the fruit.

I can never experience the next realm of glory until I crucify myself.

I grew up in hospitals. My father was sick. So I grew up in hospitals from the age of 10. Got to see a lot of suffering.

Your latter days are supposed to be greater than your former days.

My first church had seven members in it, and I have to remember, the rent was $225 a month and I worked for Union Carbide and took the check I made from work to pay for the rent to keep the church open.

Once you have confidence in your instincts, you must never allow other people's refusal to believe, or their data to refute, what you instinctively know is true.

When Jesus says, 'Take, eat. This is my body that was broken for you,' He says, I want my body in you. (Pause. . . shouts and claps) I want my blood in you. And every time you celebrate this rite, it is a reminder that you belong to me, and I belong to you. And he said, 'I will drink no more wine until I drink it new with you and the kingdom of God. Communion is the most romantic ordinance. Eh, Eh, Eh. (He laughs. Pause. . . the audience shouts and claps.) It is the most romantic ordinance between two lovers.

When there's no turning back, your instincts will lead you forward.

In the midst of the shopping and the wrapping and the arranging of presents under your tree this Christmas, may you not forget the gifts you cannot yet hold in your hands.

I can give you the tools to reach the dreams you have inside.

The challenge of the believer is to take the faith that you got in here and take it to the place out there.

Success is not success without a successor.

Faith becomes the foundation I'm built on.

If someone must be hurt, if it ever becomes necessary to bear pains, weather strong winds, or withstand trials or opposition, let it be adults and not children.

Worship plays a major role in the Christian daily life. Throughout Scripture we see worship from David dancing before the Lord to Jesus rejoicing in the Spirit.

Progress apart from purpose ends in arrogance.

If you have the capacity to be more than one thing , do everything that's inside of you.

It is God's objective to make your condition line up with your position.

The pursuit of your life is to come into [your] purpose. And the waste of your life is to miss that purpose.

You are no stronger than your belief system.

It's the gymnasium of life where you get the workout, the resistance, and you find out things about yourself that you didn't know.

How can we teach our children to respect Black women if Black women don't respect Black women?

Focus on your accomplishments , not your failures.

Once again, Kirk Franklin takes the church beyond the traditional, transitioning his life's experiences into life lessons. Clearly there is more to this man than great music. You will feel the beat of his heart and faith.

You can't just be a recipient of a blessing, you have to do something to make it happen.

We are the people that we have been waiting for and no one else is coming.

Basic Instincts It's the way mother birds build nests, and build them high enough to elude