T. D. JAKES

Resist your fear; fear will never lead to you a positive end. Go for your faith and what you believe.

I actually grew up playing the piano in the church and was deeply involved in music ministry.

If you learn how to forgive others for not being strong, then people can learn how to forgive you for your own issues.

We think that forgiveness is weakness, but it's absolutely not; it takes a very strong person to forgive.

We develop our propensity to forgive or not to forgive by what we see illustrated at the early ages of our development.

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 think it is important that we rebuild an atmosphere of forgiveness and civility in every aspect of our lives.

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 was raised in the Baptist church... but I didn't really have a real committed experience with Christ until my father died.

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.

But I think my mistakes became the chemistry for my miracles. I think that my tests became my testimonies.

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.

It is your passion that empowers you to be able to do that thing you were created to do.

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 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 don't dislike anybody. I love everybody.

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.

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.

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.

One of the things about my ministry is that I have never branded myself as being above the people or superior to people.

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.

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.

I think most people who get into their 50s reassess what made sense and what didn't make sense.

When my father died, I had a real experience with Christ, a real conversion with Christ and I had it in a Oneness church.