Quotes from T.D. Jakes

Instincts under pressure crush the carbon of conformity and create diamonds. Each new season of life offers to train us for the next season if we pay attention and adapt.

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

When you stop relying on others or blaming others or waiting on others to go kill something and bring it back for you to eat, you realize you have to go hunt and kill for yourself. You don't complain about what you lack or let setbacks get in the way of finding a way to make your dreams happen. You just go do it.

Unfortunately, many of us often spend our lives doing what we were trained to do. Some do what they were asked to do. And most of us do what others need us to do. And all the while, we wonder why the feeling of fulfillment eludes us.

someone you considered a friend will kick you to the curb because you stop hanging out so much with the fellas to be with your girlfriend. Prioritize your relationships and you will discover who your real friends are.

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

To fulfill your purpose, you must first know and celebrate your identity!

both success and struggle are different kinds of trauma.

Our greatest power doesn't always emerge from our experiences, not even from our most intense ones. There's incredible hidden treasure locked up in your instincts that may not always show on your résumé. If you can spend some time with yourself, you may be on the verge of the most powerful part of your life, discovering what's inside that your instincts want to express outside. Think about what you gravitate toward when given time to relax and recharge.

The unborn baby lies in a cage we call a womb. He has eyes but cannot use them, and a mouth that he has never eaten with. He has been innately equipped for a world he has not been exposed to. His innate instincts like sucking, seeing, walking, and sitting have never been utilized because no opportunity exists in his present safe and warm cocoon of development. He must be born and enter the world to discover the instincts imbued by his Creator.

Serving the Lord is not always easy or popular. Folks may laugh at you on your job, mocking and making fun of your faith. But once you decide that there's no turning back, something in your heart rises up and says "no" to the devil and "yes" to the Lord.

Think about it this way: if you are too predictable in any area of your life, you may be paving the way to your own extinction!

You cannot partake of the power of Christ's resurrection unless you are first willing to lay down your own will and desires, and die to all your pride and independence.

No matter how hard you might try, you can't escape the spiritual bond between you and your Maker. You can't drink it away. You can't smoke it away. You can't sex it away.

God lets you go through challenges to give you credibility in a certain area and the ability to help someone else out of a situation that you once were in.

The people ahead of you, living in the liberty of instinct-guided uniqueness, will welcome you, encourage you, and mentor you. They will inspire you to be a pioneer and not a poser. Only those incarcerated by their unwillingness to listen to their instincts and to take the risks required for success will seek to deter you.

The moment you start to embrace how you have been formed and fashioned is the moment you step into the very purpose for which you were created.

My greatest fear is not living before I die, to play everything so safe that even though I had no risk I also enjoyed no reward.

We are to work to improve ourselves while at the same time remaining totally dependent on God.

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

Friends, loved ones, and even enemies influence us, but that doesn't mean their comments are relevant to your destiny.

Fear teaches you to be cautious, careful, and conscientious. It also forces you to be creative, compassionate, and calculating.

We need instead to find people who are in sync with our beat and form a more perfect union with those who hear the same rhythm! It is time for us to find the thing we were created to do, the people we were meant to affect, and the power that comes from alignment with purpose.

soul survivor," someone who's willing to open up and examine the pain in order to lance the wound and perforate the power of the past.