T.D. Jakes: The Church’s New Normal

God is giving His people an extraordinary opportunity to multiply as never before

Resounding in my ears as I write this column is a voice unmistakable. A tone indescribable. An equation of logic piercing the incredible. An intellect exploring the unreachable. An impartation of the revolutional and revelational.

It is for “he who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15), and I believe it is what the Holy Spirit is saying to you, His church. I hear in my spirit the frictional creaking and oppositional groaning of a door long shut now opening, and it cries out a profound message: 

You are bigger than the world you live in, and God is swinging wide an opportunity that will move you into a large place!

But this place will require you to realize a new normal because it won’t necessarily appear large to your old way of thinking. I have seen it to be a place that’s far bigger than you are and poses a life that is bigger still.

In fact, it’s so far beyond your normal range of thought that it’s the “extra” beyond your “ordinary”—and it is extraordinary! Like the oil from the widow’s cruse that should have stopped yet never failed, it’s a place where the miraculous realm of the Holy Spirit buoys you beyond your possible into the unthinkable. God is multiplying your life just as He took up the few fish and loaves to bless, break and feed the multitude.

Your part in this expansive move of God is to grow into it! Just as Isaac became too big for the world he lived in (Gen. 26), he went to dig out an even larger “something” from the dirt-smothered “nothing” of a collapsed past—and it wasn’t easy. He would dig a well, then fight for it. Then he’d dig another well and fight for it. In fact, as he reopened all those covered wells that once belonged to his father, it’s like a curtain went up on his own reality show!

Even with the shimmering success stories of mentors and motivators and, yes, even preachers, do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by defeat? Well, you’re in good company because much like you, Isaac had to fight through the everyday grind of constant opposition.

Yet the Word says he did not give up but dug down into what appeared to be a dry and forsaken land and struck a rich vein of water in the wealthy place of God’s providence. And even when his enemies tried to steal that first gush of promise, Isaac did not give up but stretched out his strength to dig once more: “And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake. … And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac’s servants came, and told him … We have found water” (Gen. 26:24, 32, KJV).

So it is for you and me. What at one time seemed an unprofitable or delusional venture may now be the very wealthy place God is giving us to dig into once more!

Yes, it will require a bigger expression of you. And yes, its fullness can only be realized through the spiritual range of what lies within you, for it is “not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 4:6). But if you dig down into the enlarged revelation He is now opening up in you, God’s multiplied blessing will flow without fail.

Now is the time to fully occupy this exponential opportunity. Dig down through supposed old failures, and step up into a new success. Dust off those forgotten gifts and buried dreams. Shovel off the weight of what has been, and refuse to carry any heaviness except His glory. Declutter your life by clearing out everything that doesn’t look like God to discover the treasure of His purpose in you. And by all means necessary, be aware of His voice in your inner ear from day to day: “For I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed.”

T.D. Jakes is a charismatic leader, visionary, provocative thinker and entrepreneur who serves as senior pastor of the Potter’s House, a global humanitarian organization and 30,000-member church located in Dallas.