We think that forgiveness is weakness, but it's absolutely not; it takes a very strong person to forgive.
T. D. Jakes
Resist your fear; fear will never lead to you a positive end. Go for your faith and what you believe.
I think the first step is to understand that forgiveness does not exonerate the perpetrator. Forgiveness liberates the victim. It's a gift you give yourself.
We cannot embrace God's forgiveness if we are so busy clinging to past wounds and nursing old grudges.
I like to see myself as a bridge builder, that is me building bridges between people, between races, between cultures, between politics, trying to find common ground.
I want to congratulate all the men out there who are working diligently to be good fathers whether they are stepfathers, or biological fathers or just spiritual fathers.
Forgiveness is about empowering yourself, rather than empowering your past.
I think it is important that we rebuild an atmosphere of forgiveness and civility in every aspect of our lives.
It is your passion that empowers you to be able to do that thing you were created to do.
I don't think that you can let the storms of life overwhelm you. When you do that, you are no better than the craziness that caused you to be under attack.
If you learn how to forgive others for not being strong, then people can learn how to forgive you for your own issues.
But I think my mistakes became the chemistry for my miracles. I think that my tests became my testimonies.
My first church had seven members in it, and I have to remember, the rent was $225 a month and I worked for Union Carbide and took the check I made from work to pay for the rent to keep the church open.
My father was a Methodist and my mother was a Baptist.
I raised five children. They all have different personalities. All of them have different issues, different levels of success. That was a learning experience for me.
I'm for people bettering themselves, no matter who they are and where they are, doing all they can to be all they can be.
So though there are many things I would have done differently, I submit to God's sovereignty and His purpose in my life and I thank Him that He brought me the way He brought me and gave me what He gave me when He thought I could handle it.
I think that my preaching style and many of my ideas and ideals about faith are based in both Pentecostal and Baptist background.
There are no college courses to build up self-esteem or high school or elementary school. If you don't get those values at a early age, nurtured in your home, you don't get them.
As a Christian, Christ died so that we will have eternal life in Him in Heaven. What it looks like doesn't matter, what it smells like doesn't matter, as long as Christ is there it will be Heaven to me.
I think the amazing thing about gospel music is that not only does it lift up the death and resurrection of our Lord, which is consistent with the Gospel, but it is uniquely communicated depending upon the generation.
I actually grew up playing the piano in the church and was deeply involved in music ministry.
When you make a decision to forgive it's a decision that you have to make intellectually.
When my father died, I had a real experience with Christ, a real conversion with Christ and I had it in a Oneness church.
I'm not particularly political. I'm not particularly denominational. I'm not worried about any of that.
One of the things about my ministry is that I have never branded myself as being above the people or superior to people.
We develop our propensity to forgive or not to forgive by what we see illustrated at the early ages of our development.
I was raised in the Baptist church... but I didn't really have a real committed experience with Christ until my father died.
I don't dislike anybody. I love everybody.
Here is the amazing thing about Easter; the Resurrection Sunday for Christians is this, that Christ in the dying moments on the cross gives us the greatest illustration of forgiveness possible.
I think most people who get into their 50s reassess what made sense and what didn't make sense.
Children are not unforgiving. You can punish them and they will hug you in a few minutes.
And another thing is that I think as a church whenever we become politically driven, we alienate at least 50 percent of the people that God called us to reach with our political orientations.
There is nothing I'm any more passionate than empowering the next generation.
The first time I walked on a stage I knew that was what I was created to do. I knew that there was a calling and a sense of purpose in my life that gave me fulfillment and a sense of destiny.
I chose to present myself as one who comes from among the people, and I can be touched by their pain because I have my own.
