Dharius Daniels - Suit Up

I want to talk about this subject, «Suit Up, Suit Up, Family.» I want to use this introduction as an opportunity to inform some and announce to others that we are all in a war, facing an invisible adversary who is aggressively attempting to inhibit us from experiencing life as God intended. I’ll say it again: all of us, from the front to the back, all of us—Lottie Dottie and everybody—all of us are in a war, facing an invisible adversary who is aggressively, whether you are aggressive or not, attempting to inhibit us from experiencing life as God intended. This alone is unfortunate, but what exacerbates the reality of this war is that most believers don’t even know they are in it. Did you hear what I just said? However, our ignorance of it does not exempt us from the repercussions of it. Therefore, many of us are experiencing opposition that we are inaccurately understanding. We are either ignoring it or mislabeling it. Consequently, every year, many of us receive revelations about what we need to do differently. We make declarations about what we’re going to do differently and resolutions about what will happen differently, but we fail to see results. The failure to see the desired result cannot always be attributed to the absence of willpower. Did you hear what I just said? Or, watch this—sometimes the issue is not the absence of willpower but the presence of an evil invisible force that is actually opposing your efforts. Did you hear what I just said? I said, sometimes it’s not that you’re not strong enough; sometimes it’s not that you’re not smart enough; sometimes it’s not that you don’t want it enough. And away with these individuals who are infecting you mentally with information that suggests if you’re not reaching your goals, it’s because you are emotionally unstable or spiritually weak. Sometimes, you are not reaching your goal because you are dealing with the reality of some spiritual opposition—an evil invisible force that the Bible calls the devil. Jesus said he came to steal, kill, and destroy. This isn’t always about you just not wanting it badly enough. I want somebody in the room and somebody in the chat to be honest and say, «I want it!» If I didn’t want it, it wouldn’t bother me that I don’t have it. If I didn’t want it, I wouldn’t be upset when it didn’t come to pass. If I didn’t want it, I wouldn’t be frustrated and agitated when I’m not walking in my potential. Yeah, do you think I want to want something and not have it? If I could not want it anymore, I would not want it because wanting it is making me frustrated. Don’t tell me I don’t want it—I want it! Don’t tell me I’m not trying hard enough. Some of us are trying: trying to be better, trying to be stronger, trying to parent the children, trying to love the spouse, trying to launch the business, trying to break the habit, trying to break the addiction. We want it, but we cannot make these blanket, sweeping statements. From a cultural perspective, it’s all you; then, from a hyper-religious perspective, it’s all the devil. Just saying «all of it» is the devil doesn’t mean some of it isn’t from the devil. I need somebody to talk back to me today! I said, just because all of it isn’t the devil doesn’t mean some of it is not the devil. The devil wants you operating in extremes, where it’s always him all the time or it’s him none of the time. This is why you need something that the Bible calls discernment. That’s the one thing your pastor can’t give you! Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah—that’s one of many things your pastor can’t give; that’s one thing you need to have. No matter how much I preach, I can’t give it to you. No matter how much I scream, I can’t give it to you. You can only get that one directly from the source: it comes from the Holy Spirit. Yeah, that is something that keeps you from being codependent on the pastor! I still call myself dependent on the pastor so that you can receive directly from the Holy Spirit everything that is from the devil. But some things—ah! Jesus used his tongue as a paintbrush to paint this truth in John 10:10. He said, «The thief comes only"—did you hear what I just said? Somebody put «only» in the chat! Somebody say «only» in the room! Holy! He comes only—that’s the only reason he comes! Wherever he is, the only thing he’s trying to do—his presence is never benign. He’s never just there to be there. He’s not just hanging out in the Garden; wherever the devil is, Jesus said, «This is the only thing he’s trying to do.» He comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy. I think we have been operating in one of two religious or cultural extremes: being so enemy-obsessive that everything is the devil, or going to the other extreme and almost denying his existence. To do so is unintelligent, illogical, and unbiblical. One of the first things you encounter when you open up the Bible is him—the snake. And one of the last things you see before you close the Bible in Revelation is the dragon. In Genesis, he’s the snake; in Revelation, he’s the dragon. Jesus clearly claims there’s a battle.