T. D. Jakes Quotes

Being somebody who wants to be religious doesn't make me perfect and doesn't make me necessarily any better than anybody else. It maybe makes me better than I would have been if I didn't have that level.

I find that my upbringing in the Church and my relationship with God are huge benefits to me in helping me become the kind of person that I want to become.

God’s priority isn’t your destination but your development. God’s priority isn’t the dream but the dreamer.

You are here on earth for a divine purpose. It is not to be endlessly entertained or to be constantly in full pursuit of pleasure. You are here to be tried, to prove yourself so that you can receive the additional blessings God has for you. . . some blessings will be delivered in this life; others will come beyond the veil. The Lord is intent on your personal growth and development. That progress is accelerated when you willingly allow Him to lead you through every growth experience you encounter, whether initially it be to your individual liking or not.

Let everyone try and find that as a result of daily prayer he adds something new to his life, something with which nothing can be compared.

What the purpose of my life is about is I want to become the kind of person that God wants me to become, and through my study of the scriptures, I can articulate the kind of person that God would be happy if I become.

I'm on a missionary journey to become the best version of myself.

The more the diamond is cut the brighter it sparkles; and in what seems hard dealing, there God has no end in view but to perfect His people.

I believe God put that desire inside of all of us so that we can evaluate ourselves in the light of His Word in order to become all that He created us to be.

Religion promotes the divine discontent within oneself, so that one tries to make oneself a better person and draw oneself closer to God.

God sometimes does try to the uttermost those whom he wishes to bless.

It's certainly not wrong to want to be a better person. God gave us that desire.

God has his plans and his reasons. Sometimes we are supposed to go through things so that we learn lessons.

Eventually, I joined a church. I didn't go there to find a boyfriend; I truly wasn't looking for anyone other than the person I wanted to be.

Things have changed. Now it's not the outward appearance, it's the inward man that I'm trying to change. And that's the message I bring to the people.

Some form of self-discipline is necessary to transmute material desires into spiritual aspirations.

There is no man that lives who does not need to be drilled, disciplined, and developed into something higher and nobler and better than he is by nature. Life is one prolonged birth.

See that your chief study be about heart, that there God's image may be planted, and his interest advanced, and the interest of the world and flesh subdued, and the love of every sin cast out, and the love of holiness succeed; and that you content not yourselves with seeming to do good in outward acts, when you are bad yourselves, and strangers to the great internal duties. The first and great work of a Christian is about his heart.

I have discovered that you can go from nowhere to somewhere, from nothing to something, from a nobody to a somebody, from an empty person to a fulfilled one, if you have faith in God.

A nun I know once told me she kept begging God to take her character defects away from her. After years of this prayer, God finally got back to her: I'm not going to take anything away from you, you have to give it to Me.

Discipleship is the pursuit of holiness and happiness. It is the path to our best and happiest self.

I am one of those who believe that spiritual progress is a rule of human life, but the approach to perfection is slow and painful. If a woman elevates herself in one respect and is retarded in another, it is because the rough trail that leads to the mountain peak is not free of ambushes of thieves and lairs of wolves.

Sometimes God allows us to be tested because He's preparing us for promotion.

If I immerse myself in the scriptures...I find myself loving more intensely those whom I must love with all my heart and mind and strength, and loving them more. I find it easier to abide their counsel.