Bishop TD Jakes - Lions Lair

0:00That is how a soul sounds when you want to escape the parameters of your situation. Let me hear it again. That's in that man sitting next to you, that's in that woman right behind you, that's in your sister to the left, that's what's going on in this car stand by here, that's what's happening on the praise to you. You may not see my lips moving, but my soul is saying it. Greetings, what a joy it is to have this opportunity to just expose you to what all the nation is talking about. In fact, other nations are getting this material on instinct. I want to share with you something that is powerful, it is part of what I've been writing about and teaching about. This particular message is a part of the instinct family.

1:00It is called the lion's layer, where do lions go, when the battle is over, when the fighting over, where do they refurbish themselves, where do they strengthen themselves. The lion's layer is a method of direction that will help you, not only to accomplish your conquest, but then how to refurbish yourself for what's next. Take a look at this and prepare your heart to be blessed. The leap is where we start our battle, transitions are important. Nobody teaches you how to transition, how to be transitioned from being single to being married, from being a renter to being an owner, to go from being a taker to being a giver. There are no classes on how you leap from being an employee to an entrepreneur. We're trying to figure this out right now. It is clear about the gate's cage that every trainer knows that domestication isn't a

2:04natural phenomenon. Domestication is not a natural phenomenon for the lion, whose wild nature precludes him from ever being comfortable in the cage. And even though his instincts are for the wild, he has to overcome the abusive background that has been his home. His instincts are for the wild, but he has to overcome the abusive background that has been his home. Now, I know you don't think it's abusive because you're not a lion. Both from the spectator's perspective, you go to watch the lion for entertainment. But your entertainment is his incarceration. And yet if he has been raised in captivity, his background is so abusive, but it has

3:07become so natural that how do I get out of an abusive background when it has become my norm? You're living in a zoo and somebody benefits from your captivity. Even if the only benefit is for the sake of what they call normal, they like to keep you in a certain little box and will come watch you move around the box and don't do anything different and don't go anywhere else and stay right here in this cage and all of a sudden you start coming and hearing this old country preacher from West Virginia teaching about instincts and you dare to believe that you can get out. Touch your neighbor and say you can get out. Just because something is familiar doesn't mean that it's natural.

4:10I say just just because it's familiar doesn't mean that it's natural doesn't mean that it's right. His instincts is to leap to freedom, but intelligence requires that he gradually make the transition. I want to talk to people who are making transitions this morning. Anybody making transitions on your head up? Yeah. Tell you neighbor I'm in the middle of a transition. Experiences, contradict, instinct, experiences, contradict, instinct, experience, contradicts instinct, experiences, contradict, instinct. You come to church, you get some other stimulus that stirs your instinct to move somewhere that your experiences say that's not for you. Your instincts are calling you to move into a realm that your experiences do not validate.

5:12This is about whatever your cage is. Everybody in here has a cage. It may be a spiritual cage. It may be a moral cage. It may be an emotional cage, but everybody in here has a cage. David says we were born in captivity. He says that this way verbatim, we were born in sin, shaping in iniquity. We were born in the box. What do I do when all of my experiences validate my incarceration? And yet my instincts keep nagging me in this cage saying there's something out there for you. I go to the bars, and I grow out, I go back and look at it again, and I back up again. I go to church, Monday morning, Monday morning, I'm back in the cage again.

6:19Let me hear that roar again, let me hear that roar. This was roaring down inside of somebody sitting next to you right now. That is how a soul sounds when you want to estate the parameters of your situation. Let me hear it again. That's in that man sitting next to you. That's in that woman right behind you. That's in your sister to the left. That's what's going on in this choir stand by here. That's what's happening on the praise team. You may not see my lips moving, but my soul is saying. And I came to church this morning, not just to sing and dance and shout. I want somebody to show me how to get from point A to point B. Tell your neighbors there's a lion roaring at me.

7:28I never thought I was still having it at 56. I never thought it would make it past 40. I never thought that my hair could be white, and I could still be roaring down in my soul. But I declare unto you today there is yet any. Shut up. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, do you feel me? Do you feel me? Do you hear the words that are coming out of my mouth? Let the lion roar. I don't care how small you are, how tall you are, how soft you look, how feminine you may appear.

8:31But if you keep eating this word, all of a sudden you're going to get off. I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't stay, I can't stay in this bondage, this, this, this burden, this trauma. This trauma, this trauma, this abuse, this case. I know you like to come and look at me and bring your tears and throw peanuts to the wall. But this is my prison and I've got to get out, I've got to get out before the year is out. I said, I've got to get out before the year is out.

9:35Yeah, anyway, I can buy any means necessary, whatever it takes. If I got to go back to class, if I got to go back to school, if I got to live by myself, if I got to be misunderstood, if you have to hate me, hate me, I'm coming out. Still to come on the potter's touch. Let me tell you the power of a new opportunity. A new opportunity means that I get a chance to recreate myself because you are not judging me on what I did in the cage. You didn't know me in the cage. A new opportunity is a fresh chance and a fresh start to get it right this time. Don't blow the new opportunity with old habits because that's how the curse follows you.

10:41When you are called from the familiar into the unknown, you're going to have to be a man of faith and a woman of faith or you're never being able to pull it off. Frustration comes when you are built to do 40, but you are stuck in a five-mile an hour zone. Rise to your God-giving greatness with your instinct unleashed. With your gift of any size, you'll receive the message The Lion's Lair on CD. And with your gift of $70 or more, you'll receive the entire five-part series Instinct Unleashed on DVD, as well as your very own Instinct Magnetic Bookmark set. Just because you were born in the circumstance, doesn't mean you have to stay in the circumstance. With your gift of $145 or more, you'll receive the Instinct Unleashed gift set that includes the DVD series, Instinct Magnetic Bookmark, the Instinct Book, as well as the Instinct Workbook, offering a back and forth experience between you and Bishop on every page. At least the power of your Instinct today.

11:41Your captivity is a learned behavior. Your captivity is a learned behavior. If you learn how to make do in the cage, you can learn how to hunt in the wild. Good God, mercy. I am putting too much energy in supporting a system that I'm not going to stay in. Did I say something this morning? Do you hear the words that are coming out of my mouth this morning? I have put too much energy into learning to survive in the system. I'm not standing this stuff.

12:43Why am I acting like I'm going to live over here when I'm called over there? To learn something, I'm going to learn how to hunt in the wild rather than to eat in captivity. If I didn't say anything else this morning, if I turned around and walked right out of that door, I have given you enough right now for jailbreak. The thing about learning is that we are constantly learning. You know, can I just talk to you for a minute? I was thinking the things I'm teaching you are things that I learn on one level. But do you not know I'm having to use them again on the next level?

13:43Do you not know the Lord spoke to me the other day and He said, stretch your neck up. I said, what do you think you're down there? Get your neck up out of there. What you worrying about down there with that turtle situation? Get your... See, on one level, what is your ceiling when you get to the next level, it becomes your floor? Did you get that? Yeah, did you get that? Everybody didn't get that, but that was good. I know you got that. What was your ceiling becomes your floor and now you're learning it all over again on the next level? Yeah, you have to learn how to work and operate in the new environment. Now I've got to learn the language of being in a new place.

14:48Have you learned the lingo? Even the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit begins in the inaugural reign, He signifies that in spite of the fact they were in Jerusalem, He uses a new language to signify that this will not be that. This will not be that. Where's Team Gifted? Make some noise, Team Gifted. Team Gifted, your gift is going to take you into a new place. And when you get into a new place, don't mistake it for the old place. Leave your old language where you came from. This will not be that. Make some noise if you get it. Okay, so we got a new land and we got a new language. And number C, you got a new opportunity. There is nothing as powerful in transition than being able to recreate yourself.

15:54Let me tell you the power of a new opportunity. A new opportunity means that I get a chance to recreate myself because you are not judging me on what I did in the cage. You didn't know me in the cage. A new opportunity is a fresh chance and a fresh start to get it right this time. Don't blow the new opportunity with old habits. Because that's how the curse follows you. They wouldn't know it if you didn't bring it. If you didn't bring it into the new environment, they would never know that it was there in the first place. I don't know who I'm talking to. The devil isn't doing that to you. Demons are not attacking you. You are cursing yourself. Either because you brought your own language or you learned the old habitat into a new opportunity. If you would just sit there and shut up and thank God for a second chance,

16:56you could break that yolk and that stronghold over your life for the rest of your life. Shout yes if you get it. I'm almost done. Number four, I want to tell you about the losing. Now the losing will not excite you. But I must tell you about it anyway. Nothing ventured. Nothing gained. There will be losses. Shed off that which cannot transform. Shed off everything that won't transform. Either you change or I'm dropping you. Shed off those things that will not change, cut them off. The chicken cannot be hatched without shattering the outer encasement of the egg that held him.

18:02There is no nice way for the chicken to get out of the egg without cracking the egg shell. Somebody say it's got to go. The seed must lose this outer encasement to become a tree. Blind barter man had to shed his coat. The woman at the well had to drop her pots. We all must lose something to move ahead. The snake sheds its skin. The dog sheds its old coat. The worm sheds its cocoon to access its new wings. Those who cannot handle loss are restricted from leading the way to new turf. If you don't want it bad enough to lose something, shut your mouth. If you're not willing to shake something off to come into a new place, then you don't want it bad enough. There will be losses. There will be collateral damage. Shocking up to a business expense. There will be losses. You cannot be innovative and be traditional at the same time. You have to forget those things which are behind.

19:03Leave your coat, drop your water pot. Come out your cocoon, crack your shell. It's going to be worth it when you realize that the thing in front of you is greater than the thing that's behind you. I press towards the mark of the prize of the high calling of God. In Christ Jesus, I'm almost finished. Am I helping somebody? Oh my God. Oh my God. I want you to write down some habits, proclivities, and ways that you must drop for the place you're going. Some habits, proclivities, and ways you have to drop. What cocoon do you have to come out of? What shell do you have to crack? What water pots do you have to drop to take Jesus upon this offer? Blind bar to mass, what is your coat?

20:04Don't tell me that you're going to come into a new opportunity without losing something. It simply doesn't happen. I want you to challenge yourself this year, this season, what you are willing to drop to get to the next level. If everybody had to drop something, if blind bar to mass had to drop his coat, the woman at the well had to drop her water pot, the silkworm had to drop his cocoon. If the outer encasement of the seed had to be shattered, if the chicken had to crack the shell, what are you willing to crack to find your wings? And finally, the whole premise of my session today is the layer. The layer is the place.

21:10We're the lion who was once a lion, once wounded, once crippled like Jacob. Once afraid, once intimidated, the layer is the place where the lion has learned how to live in the wild. And it is where the lion's nest enlarge and love and make love and procreate and raise their children. The lion's layer is the place where wounded lions can now rest in the wild and raise their children and families. The lion's layer is a new normal.

22:11It is not just about getting in the wild, you did that. It is about being at home in the wild. It is about resting in your future rather than wrestling with your fears. Help me, Lord. The Lord said, you're in a new place. You have a new opportunity. You have a new land and you have a new language. But if you don't rest in it, you'll lose it. Have you ever been there but didn't feel there?

23:12Have you ever been in a new place but you were so afraid of losing it that you couldn't enjoy it? This is the place where you don't feel at home in your new world. And you're so afraid of losing it that you can't rest in living it. The lion's layer says, not only am I out and not only am I free. I have come to rest in who I am and not in who I was. This is mine. This is it. This is where I live.

24:13I'm there. The Lord said that when I ministered this particular segment, he said, I want you to go to all of my children who are living in my promises but not resting in my promises. He said, I see them in the blessing but I sense how tense you are. You are in your wild. You have your layer but you're pacing in it like I'm going to take it from you. And he said, tell my children to rest in me. Tell my children to be at ease in Zion.

25:16Tell my children that I do not like their fear. I have brought you to a new place that I smell your old fear. Tell my children that the enemies that you see today. You shall see them no more. Oh, friends, I've got to go. What a joy it's been though to have this opportunity just to share this subject. I feel like the sower sowing seeds and I know some people won't get it and other people will familiarize it but there are some of us who have been waiting for these tips and tools to unlock the second half of our lives and to those of you who fit their category, I'm so happy for what God is about to do in your life as you unravel what he has bested in me was really meant and sent to you.

26:24Wait for the announcer and be blessed. When you are called from the familiar into the unknown, you're going to have to be a man of faith and a woman of faith or you'll never be able to pull it off. Frustration comes. When you are built to do 40, but you are stuck in a five mile an hour zone. Rise to your God-given greatness with your instinct unleashed. With your gift of any size, you'll receive the message, the lion's lair on CD. And with your gift of $70 or more, you'll receive the entire five part series, Instinct Unleashed on DVD as well as your very own Instinct Magnetic Bookmark set. Just because you were born in the circumstance, doesn't mean you have to stay in the circumstance. With your gift of $145 or more, you'll receive the Instinct Unleashed gift set that includes the DVD series, the Instinct Magnetic Bookmark, the Instinct Book, as well as the Instinct Workbook. Offering a back and forth experience between you and Bishop on every page, unleash the power of your Instinct today.

27:27I want you to lay down in green pastures. I've got your in green pastures, but your pace is like you're still in your cage. You've been in your cage so long that you won't rest in the green pastures. I'm going to make you lie down in green pastures. I'm going to lead you, but that's still waters. I'm going to restore your soul. This is the Father's touch in.