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A Diet Of Giants, Part Two | Nancy Dufresne | Jesus the Healer Broadcast
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. We're so glad you joined us today for Jesus the Healer. Today we're going to pick up where we left off on a previous episode. And so we invite you. Get your Bibles, get your notebook, follow along with us and release your faith. And know this, that the Word is food for your spirit. So you're going to eat well and don't just sit inactive, but make a draw on the word that's being taught. Take it into your own heart. And when it finds its place in your heart, that's when it starts producing results. And so we're just glad that we had the opportunity to be with you today. We started last week, we were reading in the Book of Numbers, and just to kind of recap that for you, we were talking about how God told the people that he delivered out of Egypt. He says, I have a land for you. It's flowing with milk and honey. It's a land of abundance. And so he told them, I give you the land. So all they had to do was go and possess it. God had already made it theirs. We could put it this way, the title deed was in their name, but it was their job and their privilege to work with God and go take possession of that land. And so whenever, and we read this in Numbers, chapter 13, God told Moses, send out some spies. So Moses sent 12 spies to look at the land and come back and give report to the people. So the 12 spies went out, they all saw the same thing, and they came back to give a report to the people. And two of them had a faith report. Two of them had something good to say about the land that God had given them. But 10 had the report of doubt and unbelief. 10 had something negative to say. And I will say this, if you want your faith to work, you have to say what God says. You can't talk against the Word and have your faith to work. Always side in with what God says. And so in Numbers, chapter 13 and verse 30, Caleb stood up before the people and he said, let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. Now, why are they well able to overcome it? Because you understand, these people for decades and years had been slaves. They're not military people. They've never had to fight battles. But yet God is going to give them a land. And Caleb and Joshua says, we're well able. Well, they're not talking about their own skill. They're not talking about their own ability, they're talking about who's working with them and on their side. God is well able to bring to pass what he says is yours in your life. It's not you going to make it come to pass. He's going to make it come to pass. And so Caleb and Joshua said, we're well able, let's go up and possess it at once. But the 10 spies that came back with a report of doubt and unbelief said we're not able. And they started talking about the giants, they started talking about the opposition. Anytime God offers you something, the devil's going to oppose that. Just settle that, don't complain about it, don't worry about it, don't grumble against it. It's part of the process of victory. And the thing is is that God's not having anything to do with the opposition. All opposition comes from the enemy. God is not giving you something hard to overcome in your life. God has made known that through Jesus sacrifice what he made available to us, our divine inheritance, that is total victory, total peace, total health, total provision. He has complete care for us. And we just need to remember that everything good that can come to your life, all of it comes from God. But everything that comes in opposition, everything that's bad, comes from the devil. And it's so easy to know is God, is God working or the devil working? Well, is it good for you or bad for you? That's how you know. And so the 10 spies that had reports of doubt, they came back talking bad things. They came back talking about the giants. And when God told his people that he was going to give them the land, God didn't even mention the giants. Why? Because they're a non issue. Giants are no giant. When God's at work, they lose all scale in the measurement of God. They are no longer great when God shows up, they are no longer large when God shows up. And that's what we have to remember is that it does not matter how great the opposition, it matters what God said. Now how were God's people to go in and take possession of it? First of all they had to think right. They had to think right about what this land held for them. God told them it's a good land. God said, I've already given it to you. Now they have to think right so that they'll speak right. If you think wrong, you'll believe wrong and you'll speak wrong. But if you think right, you'll believe Right. And you'll speak right. So notice this. All victory begins with right thinking. You have to think right. And that's why God has given us His Word, to help us to think right. His words are his thoughts, and his thoughts are always right. We're to renew our minds with the word of God. That means take God's thoughts and make them ours. So this is what Joshua and Caleb had done. They adopted what God said and made it theirs. They believed they could go up and take possession of the land. They. They believed the land was good. But the ten spies of unbelief, they did not hold to what God said. They came back talking doubt. They came back talking unbelief. They came back talking about the giants. They said, we're grasshoppers in our sight. We're grasshoppers in the enemy's sight. So they came out, they came back talking about their inability to take possession. But they weren't going to take possession of the land by their ability. It was going to be by God's ability. So anything God has made yours, you're going to take possession of it by God's ability, not by yours. But God needs you to think like him, speak like him, so he can work. Amen. And so in numbers, chapter 14, and we're going to start reading in verse seven, these 10 spies had just put fear into that congregation. They had talked them out of moving forward. And they had talked about the giants. They talked about the impossibilities. And so in Numbers, chapter 14 and verse 7, Joshua and Caleb spoke out. And they said unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, the land which we pass through to search it, it's an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into the land. It's not by their ability, it's by God's ability. Never, never factor God out. Always factor him in into your situation. He said, if the Lord delights in us, well, how's the Lord going to delight in them if they're believing him? If they're doing what he says to do, he's delighted at that. If they're. If they're holding to what he says, God's delighted with that. So he said, if the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into the land and he will give it to us. A land which flows with milk and honey. What's that mean? Abundance. Abundance, verse 9. Then he says, only rebel not against the Lord. How do we rebel against the Lord? We speak against what he says. We say Something different than what he's saying. So we're to agree with the Lord. Amen. And then Caleb and Joshua said, neither fear ye the people of the land. And now we see right thinking with Joshua and Caleb expressed about opposition. Yes, there's giants in the land. Yes, there's enemies in the land. But they said, don't fear the people of the land. Then here comes their right thinking says, for they are bread for us. This is, this is you needing to take this thought and realizing that all opposition is your bread. It's not your undoing, it's not your failure, it's not your place of losing. It is your place of nourishment. It is your place of eating good. He said, these enemies, these giants in the land, they are bred for us. They will nourish our, our spiritual life. Amen. They are bread for us. Now, all experts agree that just your physical body needs a well balanced diet, Right? One food group cannot take the place of what another food group supplies. If you remove one whole food group, then you're going to have difficulty getting the nutrients and the nutrition from, from some other place because that only comes through that food group. Amen. So you can't substitute one for the other. Amen. Well, there's a spiritual development. There's a spiritual nourishment and strength that only comes from eating giants. Not from just receiving the answer to your prayer, but from eating giants. Amen. We take our place and we in the Word and we receive things from God. But if we don't ever face opposition, our faith is going to be lacking in something. Any bodybuilder never reaches his peak by just doing exercises in the air. He puts weight to that, to oppose that muscle. And in that opposition, he, he gets stronger. Know this opposition is for your strength, not for your downfall. Opposition. All opposition is from the enemy. God's not sending opposition so you can get stronger, but God's telling you how to use opposition to get stronger. Eat it. He said that those giants are bread for us. I don't know about you, but when it comes to bread, that's a pretty good thing of enjoyment. If I let myself go, I could eat a whole bunch of it, right? And especially my mother was such a great cook and she would make homemade rolls and biscuits and things like that. And when they were hot, that's the best time to eat them. Put that butter on it, put that topping on it, you know? Well, I want you to know when opposition is hot, that's the best time to eat it. Don't wait till it's cold and you've been living with it for two weeks hoping it'll go away. It won't go away. Just eat it. And the quicker you eat it, the better off you are because you don't have to deal with it lingering around your mind, playing against your finances, playing against your family, playing against your body. Just overcome that thing. Amen. Natural bread, you know, it's best probably for you to ration it. Don't eat a whole loaf in one day. You know, it's best to have just a little bit. But the bread of giants. No ration. No ration. Because every opposition, you just eat it up. Eat it up, eat it up and you get stronger. That means you have to think right about opposition. Not complain, not murmur, not grumble, not gripe about it, because that's wrong thinking. To worry about opposition is to forget that they are our bread. To worry about opposition is to forget who's working on your side. To worry about opposition is to forget the greater one in you. You have to forget God to worry. You have to forget God to become fearful. So use opposition. Think right about opposition that it is a place where your spiritual strength will get nourished because you went against opposition and you conquered it. Amen. How do you conquer it? With the word. With the word. You speak the word to that giant. You speak the word to that opposition. You speak the word to that circumstance. You speak the word to lack. You speak the word to pain. And you cannot eat anything with your mouth closed. You have to open your mouth and say something. Amen. If giants are to be bred for us, we have to see them as bread and not as trouble. Amen. Hallelujah. There. There are. When God adds more responsibility to us, he adds to us. It's going to. It's so that he can put a demand on our faith. As he puts a demand on our faith, our faith grows and our faith is exercised right that we're to grow our faith. How do we feed our faith? Well, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And so when God puts a demand on our faith, then that's a cue. We're going to have to take in more words so that our faith grows enough so that we can lay hold of where God is directing us to go. Amen. So he will put a demand on our faith, and that's right for him to do. That's not a negative. That's not opposition. But many times people don't want a demand put on them. They want as little responsibility as possible. They want to do as little as possible. They just want to float through life, just get along, just no opposition, no pressure. But the thing is, you'll never become all you could in God by having no opposition, by having no demand put on you. You know, when we were growing up, there were four children in our family. And my mother, when she took us out in public, before we ever went into a store or anything, she let us know, this is what I expect of you. She put a demand, an expectation on us. And because of that, we grew up knowing how to conduct ourselves, how to handle ourselves in different situations. But if a child never grows up with any expectation or demand put on them, they don't even know how to function in day to day life. God wants you to be skillful with your faith. He doesn't want you to not even know how to function in the face of the adversary. He wants you to be skillful. And so he will put a demand on your faith because as you come up to meet that demand, then you become more skillful, you become more developed in your spiritual walk and in your faith. Amen. Hallelujah. So we don't want to do as little as possible just so we can avoid opposition. Our job is not to dodge opposition. Our job is to eat it. Eat it. Amen. There is a precious pastor that has one of the largest churches in the world. So you can imagine the amount of opposition that is faced when you have one of the largest churches in the world. And one of his Bible school students said to him, said, I'm certain that you have faced quite a lot of opposition in your years of ministry. And this precious pastor said, I guess I have, I just haven't taken time to notice. What's that mean? His attention was not on what opposed him, but on who's in him. And when you're fully aware of the one, the greater one on the inside of you and what's working for you, you just eat up the opposition and just keep going. Your attention is not on the opposition. Your attention is on the one who's in you, working for you. Amen. In the early 1900s, there was a particular large country that had been taking over some surrounding territories, some surrounding countries, and there was one small country that was on its border that they had not yet conquered. And so this smaller country knew they're going to come after us at some point, wanting to take over our land. So they prepared themselves, they readied themselves, they got the people ready. Mentally, they let them know there's going to be an opposition, there's going to be a battle. But if we'll prepare ourselves, we can, we can hold our ground. And so of course the day arrived when this larger country got tired of tolerating this smaller country. And so they went after them and they sent troops across their their borders. They sent in all kinds of artillery, launched all kinds of attacks against them. And the small country, the smaller country said this. They said, we're not disturbed, our generals are competent, our borders are fortified and our people are ready to fight for their homeland. What's that mean? They dressed their thinking, they had prepared themselves with right thoughts. Yes, they're smaller, much smaller than this large country. But it doesn't matter when you think right. What's big can't whip you. So bombs began to fall, the enemy troops began to come over their borders. And one of the military soldiers went up to one of the generals in this small country and asked this question. He said, general, there are so many of them, our country is so small, where are we going to bury all of them? That's called victory mentality. Even before it's won, he's already planning their end. No, when every opposition comes up, Jesus already defeated, he already won your victory. It's your privilege to walk it out. It's your privilege to say this opposition, I already see the end. I already know what the end looks like. And it looks like the enemy's defeat and my victory. That's what it looks like. Not based on our ability, but based on the greater one on the inside of us. And this demonstrates right thinking. And when we're opposed, we have to think right because it's there. We win it or lose it. If we think right, we talk right and we believe right. If we think wrong, we'll speak wrong, we'll believe wrong. But thank God for the word that helps us to think right. Now. Notice this. It doesn't matter. Just as God's people look to be outnumbered, this small country was outnumbered by this big country. But because they thought right, they were outnumbered, but they weren't out powered. And it doesn't matter what numbers and what size the opposition may look like that's coming against you. It may be an impossible situation. Doesn't matter. You're not outpowered. You are not outpowered. Greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. Amen. Hallelujah. Sometimes people that are facing difficult situations will come up to other Christians and say, would you pray for me to help me get through this? Well, praying is right, but praying will never take the place of you eating the giant. You can't pray the giant away. You got to eat the giant. And when you realize the victory that tastes so sweet at the end of eating the giant, the end of eating the opposition, then you don't step back from eating the giant. You look for. You look for places to demonstrate the word. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The Word is the thoughts of God. Since he offers us his thoughts, let's take them. It's going to help us to think right. Amen. In the word giants, opposition and overwhelming odds are places of advancement and promotion. Now listen to me on that. Let me say it again in the Word. The Word shows us that giants showing up, opposition that shows up, and overwhelming odds are, are really places of advancement and promotion. Amen. When we think right, we recognize that giants are trying to hold, are trying to block the view from the reward that's on the other side of them. Amen. In First Corinthians, chapter 16, in verse 9, Paul made this statement. He said, a great, a great door and an effectual door is opened unto me. And there are many adversaries. Well, where are the adversaries? They're at the door. So he's saying there's a great door. What's that mean? When I get through that door, the room that I'm going to move into, it's going to have a great effect. It's going to be a blessing to many people. The more I'm, the more God is able to promote me, the greater blessing I can be to someone. So the devil's going to want to block your progress. So he stations adversaries at the door. That's what Paul is saying here. So notice this, adversaries are trying to block something better. Adversaries are trying to block something more. So it's your job to not let them block where God is bringing you into. Every time God wants to bring you into more, the enemy's going to oppose that to try to keep you out of getting into more. Anytime God has more revelation, more anointing, anything more blessings of God manifesting in your life, there's going to be opposition to try to block your entrance or to try to block your progress from going into more. But just know every opposition is hiding increase. It's blocking and trying to cloak the increase so that you'll focus on the giant and back up. Don't focus on the giant and back up. Say, when I see a giant, I know there's More on the other side of you. And I'm going after. The more I'm going after it. So we know this, that really giants and opposition are signposts. They're announcing to you something greater than you're experiencing right now is on the other side of me. And so that's the enemy's strategy, is he is always at the door trying to back people away. You know, when someone gets born again, the devil will send all kinds of opposition against their life at the moment they get born again. What's he trying to do? Trying to get him to back down from that stand. But you just keep going. You just keep, keep, keep with what you have received from God. Just keep speaking what God has brought you into, and don't back down from it. Amen. Hallelujah. And so, just as bread is a staple at every dinner table, it's expected, right? We expect to see bread at every dinner table. Expect to see opposition not because you're impressed by it, not because you're awed by it, but because you know the enemy's strategies. Amen. Don't get astounded or don't get overwhelmed by saying, oh, my goodness, the opposition is so great. No, just expect it. It's going to be there. Anything you're doing that's good is worth opposing, and the devil will make sure that he opposes you. Therefore, we should not become baffled when opposition shows up. We should not want to back down and say, I just don't want to do it anymore. If you ever the temptation to quit shows us we need to straighten up our thinking. Let's fortify our thinking. Let's go to the Word and let's get our thinking fortified. Let's go to the Word and remind ourselves of who's on the inside of us. Amen. So I want to take a moment right now and I want to pray for those of you who you may be facing opposition. I have good news for you. God has victory for you, already won for you. It's your privilege to take possession of that victory. And the devil will send all kinds of opposition to try to block that victory from your view. But that doesn't mean just because you can't see victory doesn't mean it's not yours. There's opposition that will try to block it, but you just keep going and you keep following what God has put in your heart. And so I agree with you today and I say that. That every opposition of the enemy falls. Father, we take authority in the name of Jesus. The Word tells us, Father, that whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. That means heaven will back us up. So we say, Satan, you take your hands off these people's lives. You take your hand off their minds, you take your hand off their bodies, you take your hand off of their finances, you take your hand off their family, you take your hand off their marriage and off their business. In Jesus name. And we believe the word that greater is he that's in us. And we say the greater One is working right now. Healing is greater, prosperity is greater, victory is greater, peace is greater. And we hold fast to those things because the greater One puts us over. And we thank you for it, Father. Hallelujah. So so we believe with you for victory in the face of every opposition. In Jesus name. Hallelujah. We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us at defrainministries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings, share your testimony, become a partner or visit our online store. This program has been made possible by the friends and partners of Dufresne Ministries.