Open To Better
TD Jakes
  • Are you open to better? In order to be open to better, you have to be open to change
  • Be careful about criticizing people because you don’t know what you’re going to have to go through in your own life
  • You don’t want anything in your past to kill your future
  • Don’t accept where you are right now as your final destination
  • If you don’t have the right method you can compromise your entire mission
  • You have to be twice as effective as you were before
  • I don’t have time to waste on anything that’s not effective. I don’t want to be busy just to be busy. I want to be better not busy.
  • Sometimes the person standing on the side can see something the person standing in the middle can’t see
  • You’re so busy trying to get to a better place but you’re using an old method – They want a better marriage, but won’t change their method. They want better kids, but won’t change their parenting skills. They want better finances, but keep doing the same things with their money
  • It’s not good enough to be open to better and not open to correction
  • You’re going after something that may be good, but you’re going about it the wrong way
  • If the enemy can’t get you to go too slow, he’ll get you to go too fast – You can only make so many commitments, you can only take on so many friends… at a certain point, you can’t add anymore weight
  • You repent of the mistake, but don’t repent of the method. “I’m sorry I messed up but I’m going to keep doing the things that led to the mistake in the first place.”
  • Passion without process will destroy you
  • Don’t burn bridges – You may need that bridge
  • You can’t be fruitful if you don’t understand the value of relationships
  • Relationships are your greatest resource
  • People who can’t get along with people are shutting down their resources
  • Social media makes us more isolated
  • Anything you can’t rely on is draining you
  • We confuse isolation with independence – Independence is never the will of God
  • A lot of you are gifted but you’re not connected – You look good on the coffee table, but you can’t rebuke your darkness because you’re too independent (light needs to be plugged in/connected to work)
  • No matter how gifted you are, you cannot get there by yourself
  • You have gone as far as you can go by yourself
  • You are not weighted for the independence you have put on yourself so you have mood swings and you’re unhappy – You think it’s the devil but it’s not. Your methods are attacking you
  • Most of us aren’t doing enough where the devil needs to stop us
  • There are no warning signs to tell you that you’re overloaded – You’re burnt out, you’re sick of people, you get out of one problem then into another
  • You need someone looking over your shoulder because you can numb out your limitations
  • The more gifted you are, the more exhausted you have to be because everybody is after your gift
  • It could be possible that your giftedness is killing you
  • Everybody wouldn’t be calling on you if you weren’t effective
  • If you want to know what you’re gifted at, look at what people ask you for
  • The more gifted you are, the more pressure is going to amount in your life
  • Giftedness without strategy is going to lead to injury
  • You’re a limited resource and people are loving your gift to death. Calling you for this because they need wisdom, this because they need help with something, etc.
  • It’s arrogant for you to override limitations (Ex: When guys try to impress your girl by grabbing too much stuff)
  • Sometimes our need to be validated makes us take more weight than what we are able to handle
  • You are not in a race with the person next to you – Stop comparing yourself. You’re not in a race with the other preacher, you’re not in a race with the other company, you’re not in a race with the other woman
  • You don’t have to be everything to everybody another day
  • We’re asking “God deliver me from a world of sin, God deliver me from alcohol” – God just delivered you from people
  • The need to impress people, the need to live out their expectation, the need to outdo anybody – To measure your value based on someone else’s performance? No wonder you don’t feel good about you
  • You’re going to sew, but what you get back you’re going to get in relationships because God is sending men your way – Help is on the way
  • Most people don’t want help. When God sends help, you push it away. When God sends someone your way, you think “oh she thinks she’s something.” She IS something that’s why God sent her to help you
  • Truly gifted people aren’t intimidated by other gifted people
  • If you got rid of your insecurities, God would pour in a blessing that you are not open/ready to receive
  • Whatever God is about to do in your life, it’s too big for you to do by yourself – If you have a vision you can fulfill by yourself it’s too small
  • In order to be fruitful you have to be able to admit your deficiencies – You won’t know who to put around you if you think you’re all that
  • We have been asking for answers and rejecting the people He’s been sending the answers through
  • You’re gifted, but you’re not the only one
  • If you keep going the way you’re going, this is going to kill you… And you have too much on you
  • If you do what you’re supposed to do, God is going to do all the drawing
  • You created the wilderness you’re in right now
  • Sometimes God blesses you through people you don’t like
  • Stop running a buddy system – Call onto people who are effective. We keep appointing people that we like when they’re not competent enough to do what you assigned them to do
  • Surround yourself with people who can carry something…. when you’re not looking
  • Some people are only faithful when you’re looking but as soon as you’re not there, they’re not there
  • I need people who can stand there so I don’t have to, because if I have to I might as well have done it myself
  • You’ve been surrounding yourself with people who NEED you, not people who FEED you!

If these notes inspired you, forward them to someone who may need to be inspired too.

God Bless,
Jen DeLeon