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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. Praise the Lord. I tell you, it's just the goodness of God, the goodness of the Father. There's nothing like it. Nothing like it. And once you experience it, you don't want to do without it. Hallelujah. Really experience it. Praise the Lord. I want to talk to you this morning about, are you comfortable or are you contented? Wow. Wow. Are you comfortable or are you contented? Big difference in the two. Big difference in the two. So we need to. When I began to the Lord meditate on this and the Lord began to give this to me, I thought, wow. And I began to look back and I could see times when I was comfortable, but I wasn't contented. Hallelujah. You know, a lot of times people think because, you know, they got born again, that all their worries and problems are over and, you know, they just float along. But that's not what the Word says. That is not what the word says. Scripture says in John 16:13, I love this. Jesus said these things, I have spoken unto you that in me you might have peace in the world. You shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Hallelujah. He says, be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. He said, there will be tribulation. Why? Because we live in a world that is full of sin. And where there's sin, there's tribulation. But we belong to a kingdom that is of peace. Therefore, we can reign in that area all the time. All the time. Just like last night. He said, jesus said, my peace, I bequeath to you. Remember us talking about that? She mentioned it this morning. It's our inheritance in a will. You see it. I bequeath to so and so. Yeah, that's right. For them to keep forever. Jesus said, I bequeath to you my peace. So don't let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. So what's he saying? He's saying, I give to you my peace to keep forever, but you have to maintain it by not letting your heart be troubled or being afraid. Hallelujah. That is part of our inheritance. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. And he said, here, there will be tribulations, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. So we will encounter challenges. There may be hard times. But you know what? We don't have to be sad. We don't have to. We don't have to be distressed. We don't have to be defeated. Why? Because we are not defeated. We are victorious through Jesus Christ because he won the victory for us. So that means I'm a victor and not a victim. Glory to God. Hallelujah. We need to remember that when the enemy comes. Nope, I'm a victor. I don't want any of your junk. I'm a victor. Hallelujah. Jesus overcame, therefore we are overcomers. Hallelujah. Jesus overcame, therefore we are overcomers. Hallelujah. Do you not understand? All that Jesus did for us is so that we could have what God had planned intended for us. Through Jesus we have all that inheritance. We have to recognize that. And he has overcome the world. Therefore I am an overcomer because I walk in my inheritance. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Amen. But you know, some people say, but how do you do that? Well, Jesus did not leave us helpless. Hallelujah. He left us the mighty, precious Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. He did not leave us alone. Not only that, when you're born again, the Word says that not only does Jesus come to abide in you, but so does God the Father and the Holy Spirit. So if you've got God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit on the inside of you, what more do you need? Absolutely nothing. When you listen to the Word, read the Word, allow the Holy Spirit to cause you to understand the Word, bring revelation to you, then you walk in it and you remain in God's plan as God intended. Hallelujah. So he was saying this to the disciples because he was returning to heaven. Hallelujah. And I'm just so grateful that he did because he's sitting at the right hand of the Father, ever interceding on my behalf. Praise the Lord. Don't forget that. Don't forget that. And then in John 14:16, he said, and I will pray the Father and he shall give you, I like this, another comforter. He shall give you that he may abide with you forever. And then you read it on down. In verse 17 it says, he is the Spirit of truth. Hallelujah. And you know, I've touched on this a little bit sometime, I don't know when. Anyway, because of modern day meaning of the word comfort, a lot of times we think that the Holy Spirit is here to empathize with us, hold our hand and speak soothing words as we go through difficult times. Ha ha. But that's not an accurate picture of the Holy Spirit because He does more than assure us. He provides assistance. He provides what? Strength. And he provides power. Hallelujah. And we remain victorious. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He brings truth to us and keeps us on our right path so that we don't get distracted because of the challenges, but we stay focused by the Holy Spirit on what is truth about the matter. So as a result, we allow the Holy Spirit to empower us so that he can be who he is in our lives. Hallelujah. You know, a lot of times we do have very uncomfortable days in our lives. And I've probably shared this before, but I'm going to share it again because it's pertinent right here. When I was younger, I was very, very, very shy, very introverted, you know, I was so shy, I couldn't even go up and introduce myself to anybody. Just scared me. And, you know, it pleased me to stay in the background. I was comfortable, and I didn't care if anybody knew who I was. It didn't make any difference to me. But when the Lord began to talk to me and speak to me about teaching the Word and learning to portray to his children who the Holy Spirit is, I said, lord, I can't do that. I mean, I can't even get up and give a testimony without shaking all over. Everybody knows that I'm scared out of my wits. You know what he said? You're looking at the wrong person. That was the end of the conversation. So we go on for a while. Of course, I love to fellowship with the Father. So I'm back fellowshipping with the Father, and he starts prompting me again, talking to me again. That went on for, oh, several months. And finally I said, lord, my desire all my life is to do your will. So I will. But I definitely know it's not in my ability, it's in yours. And he said, you know what your responsibility is? Response to my ability. Do you know what your responsibility is? Response to my ability. That hit me, you know. So after I came in line with what God wanted and was obedient, he said, okay, the first thing I want you to do is study on love. So I studied on love for two years. And the first thing he had me do was go to 1 Corinthians 13. You all know this, four through eight. It talks about who love is and who love isn't. And he said, everywhere that it says love, you say, I am or put your name. So I had to. For example, one of the verses says, love suffers long and is kind. So I had to say, pat suffers long and is kind. Pat does not envy. Pat does not parade herself, is not puffed up. I did that every day for two years. By then, I knew who God is. He is love. And I knew that that's who I am because he is in me and I'm to be like him. So as a result, here I am. Hallelujah. And I'm grateful that as I continued to walk the path that God had for me, I could mature. I could recognize the holy spirit. I could recognize and study the word and have revelation and understanding and maintain it in my life. And as a result, I was just what Jesus said, a victor always. But I had to learn that through the word of God and by the holy spirit. And as a result, you know, whether we think so in our mind or not, life became easier. Why did life become easier? Because I didn't have all this negative stuff hanging on me. Didn't have all this negative stuff hanging on me. You know, I didn't. I became comfortable within myself through Jesus of who I was. Hallelujah. And what was it? Beginning to understand and come into a place where I understood God is love. That's the first thing he wanted me to understand in this process of coming out of my shyness that he is love. He says, I am love first and foremost, and I operate in faith. That's why my word says, what does it say? Faith worketh by love. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. God is so good, and I'm so glad he's my father, God. Hallelujah. And so as a result, I became very confident within myself in Jesus. I'm a very pretty, quiet person. I'm a very peaceful person. I am a very loving person. I love to give. That's one of my love traits. And in that I always see the goodness of God, always. So in the pulpit, you might say, because of my confidence in him, I'm very bold. I say what God says and that's it. Period. That's it. I'm not ashamed to do whatever he asked me to do. Even though it may seem strange, I am not. I have to tell you this. Sorry, Regina. It's really more about Darren. When Regina and Darren were dating, they had been dating quite some time, And they were at our conference and they were doing the music for our conference, and Darren was there with her. And the spirit of God began to move. And I called him down there and I had no idea I was going to say what I said, but it shocked myself. I was going, oh, my inside was going, oh, my Lord, I can't believe I just said that. And I was going, ha. I mean, I was in shock, you know, that I even said it. But the Lord said to him, and I don't know the exact words, you may remember them exactly. What's taking so long? Yeah, he said, that's what the Lord said to him. That's what. What's taking so long? And I thought, oh, my goodness. And then the Lord went on and ministered to them and to him. We still had to light a fire a little bit, but he got there. And they're an awesome couple. I love them dearly. They're such a blessing to me. But what I'm trying to get you to see is God is gonna have you to say and do things that in the natural is not comfortable. But because you're flowing in the Spirit, you just do it and it happens. Hallelujah. Learn to be quick, to obey. Cause one hesitation is a step in disobedience. One hesitation is a step in disobedience. Hear me. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Let's see where I am. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to fulfill who he is in us. We must allow him to fulfill who he is in us. We have to fully understand and receive the contentment that comes from Him. There is a difference between being contented, being and being comfortable. So let me say this to you. Contentment causes us to be steadfast and to know that we know that. We know what the word of God says is truth. Then we operate in and maintain everything God has said in our lives. Excuse me. Which envelops or contains the fullness of love, joy, peace, gentleness, forbearance, so on, patience. And all of these things produce contentment within us. We will be quick to obey the will of God. We will know that we can do what he says not in the natural, but according to his abilities that he has given us and the great gifts and graces he has placed on the inside of us. Hallelujah. That's contentment. That's contentment. Being comfortable is allowing ourselves to get in a place where we don't want to be disturbed. We don't want to make any changes or do anything that is challenging, especially if we have to use our faith. We like to be in our little comfort zones. We are comfortable with everything around us. And it's just so wonderful. And we definitely don't want God. To ask us to do something hard or impossible. Why? Because it's going to require us using our faith. What do we say? We say, don't bother me. In essence, that's what we say. Don't bother me. I'm doing real good right here. I want to stay right here. I'm just real comfortable. But being in a comfort zone spiritually is very dangerous because we begin to depend upon our own abilities and do things our own way rather than trusting in God and doing things his way. That's being comfortable. Hallelujah. So we have to look at ourselves and see if there's any area in our lives that we're sitting on that comfort rock rather than walking in the contentment of what God is asking or is saying to us. The what it comes down to is you are spiritually lazy. That's what it comes down to. You are spiritually lazy. Now, we recognize when the body's lazy, but we don't recognize when we're allowing the real me, who I am, my spirit, to be lazy. But when you're not standing up and saying, I have made the decision to follow God and I'm not allowing anything the enemy places in my life across my path to distract me and keep me out of focus of anything in my life. I am going to follow him no matter what, because he has given me through his word and by the Holy Spirit, everything I need to do so. Everything I need to do so. And we get in these places of distraught and distress and destruction because we stay in that comfortable place spiritually, which is laziness. God does not intend it. Look at yourself. What is the mess in your life, so to speak? It's there because you created it with your mouth, with your will. I know this is strong, but it's truth, folks. And we need to wake up and walk in the truth, not this mamby pamby junk. God is love, but he is not someone that rolls over and plays dead. He is very much alive all the time, ever working, ever moving. And you know what? He always moves forward. Hallelujah. So many people think love is just brushing on the carpet, roll over, pointed dead. It didn't happen. It's not happening. That's not love. That's stupidity. Because you're not facing what the issue is. And you have to face what the issue is to be able to walk out of that victoriously and stay victorious. I should say. None of this. I can't. You know, can't or cannot is not in God's vocabulary. You've never in your word heard Jesus say, or the Father of God say, I cannot. The only thing God ever says is, I cannot lie. That's what he said. I cannot lie. That's it. But you know what? In our vocabulary is I can lie. And then we find ourselves going in this circle, chasing ourselves because we're trying to stay ahead of the lies, because we don't remember all the lies we told to keep ourselves looking good. What a vicious circle. Don't let yourself get in that position. God will definitely free you, but you have to want it. And I've seen people that want it to a point, but then their flesh takes over, and their flesh says, well, what if. Well, what if I get in that position again? Or, please, that's garbage. That's lies of the devil, and you don't need to entertain it. Have you made the decision to follow truth or listen to the junk? That's the key. That is the key. And if you're at that point, then get up spiritually off your lazy butt and do what you know the word of God says do and move forward. Move forward. Move forward. Move forward with God. I want to tell you something. I saw it for years, many, many years ago, these men of God that had awesome ministries, awesome ministries, miracles, anointing, all kinds of wonderful things of God happening in their life, but because they would not control their flesh and because they would not do as God asked them to do, they died early. They lost their anointing. We don't want that. We want to fulfill our call and our destiny and what God is leading us to, going down that path which is always victorious and always truth and always right. Hallelujah. For he is almighty God, and he has given us everything we need to walk freely, wholly and totally as he is here on this earth. That's what the spirit of God said. So make the decision. Make the decision. You have to make the decision to whether you're going to be contented in this life or just comfortable. You have to make the decision that I am not gonna be lazy spiritually, but I'm gonna do what God says do. I'm gonna say what God says say, and I'm gonna go where God says go. I had a person say to me the other day, you mean you're 83 years old and you still travel and minister? I said, well, yes, I do. What's 83 got to do with it? Amen. It's just a number. Just a number, Huh? I'm going to. God says, you're done. I'm not concerned about age. I'm concerned about fulfilling the will of God in my life. That's part of my contentment. Hallelujah. That's part the of. Of my contentment. Do you understand? What I am saying to you, Are you getting it? Is it dawning? Hallelujah. There's not a lot in this. It's just. Well, there is. There's a lot in it. I just don't have a lot in my notes. But, you know, there's one thing I wanted to bring out. Let me see if I can find it. Because I think it will help some. Some. Some people. If I can find it. Because I want to make sure I'm. I'm presenting it properly. Oh, here it is. Okay. When John. In John 16:13. Let's read that in amplified. Not 1613. 1633. I'm sorry. It says, I have told you these things so that in me you may have perfect peace and confidence. In the world. You have tribulation, trials, distress and frustration. But be of good cheer. Take courage, be confident, be certain and undaunted. For I have overcome the world. I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And, you know, that makes us want to follow forth with what God says. But, you know, I was thinking about this, so I wrote it down. It wasn't comfortable or pleasant for me when my husband decided to move to heaven. It was not. Since the day we had been married, we had always communicated. We had always been a team. We had always, together, made decisions over our lives, our family, our businesses and our ministry. Now half of the team was gone, was no longer here on the earth. That's not comfortable. But I had to remain contented. I could have sat down, said, well, Lord, half the team's gone. I'm just gonna sit here and be comfortable and just relax and do what I want to do and I want to do. But no, God said to me, the vision has not changed. What did that mean? That means I have to keep following through with the vision that God gave us together. That vision has not changed. And it was not comfortable working out some of those things when. And forgive me if I've told you this, but before, but it's imperative. When Buddy went to heaven, we were in the middle. We had seven companies at the time, and we had sold one. And then we were in the middle of selling five more. All we were keeping was Harrison House. And we were in the middle of selling those five companies when he went to heaven. Well, I was totally at peace because the Lord had ministered to me about peace before that. And I had already practiced peace in my life in different areas. But at the same time, and those of you that have had A spouse, go to heaven. You understand this in the beginnings of that, it's like you're kind of. I don't know how to describe it, except it's like you're kind of in a fog. You just kind of. I mean, I just did things because I knew that's what needed to be done. And I just did it. You know, I didn't sit down. I kept moving and doing. But it was difficult to. Now I'm talking about the natural. It was difficult to maintain my hearing and understanding of what they were saying because these emotions were pulling on me. Does that make sense? Yes. So I had to make myself pray in the spirit, pray in tongues, read the word of God that was pertinent to me to keep myself in a position to see what was going on and understand what was going on. And what was going on was the bank that we had been dealing with. The father had retired, and he had turned the bank over to his two sons. And they were agnostic, and they had made the statement, it's the last thing we do. We're gonna make that Harrison House bunch go down. When I heard that, I thought, huh, that's what you think? That's exactly. And I said it out loud. That's just what they think. God ordained his company. We obey God and it shall be. So. It was beginning to get rough in there. They were really, really going after us. And I remembered, this is kind of long, so bear with me. But I remembered by the spirit of God. I remembered when we first moved to Tulsa and my dad was traveling all the time, that Buddy had to go to the bank to work out the business for the building we were buying. Well, we were young. I mean, we were in our twenties. He'd never done anything like that before. So the night we had been praying during the week and the night before, he said, you know, I'm a little nervous. I said, there's no need to be nervous. I said, you know the Holy Spirit. You've been listening to the Holy Spirit, and he's your guide, and you'll walk in his wisdom. So the next morning, before he left, we took hands and we spoke forth that which we believed according to the word of God. He went to the meeting. Excuse me. And he was just going back and forth, back and forth. He said. And then all of a sudden, he heard in his spirit, this plan. And he said, well, what about this? And he spoke out what the spirit of God said. And the bankers looked at him and they said, of course that will work, young man. You are just so wise beyond your. The Holy Spirit brought that to my remembrance. And I thought, okay, Lord, I don't have the wherewithal to understand how to handle this, but I know there's people in my life that do. So what do I need to do? Well, there was a gentleman that Buddy had met many years before on an airplane. He was a businessman. And they struck up a conversation because Buddy had his little book, getting in position to receive. And he was looking at it because we were gonna change the COVID and add some things to it and all this. So he was just looking at it, going over it, meditating. And the gentleman asked him if that was his book, and he said, yes. Cause he saw Buddy Harrison at the bottom. He says, yes, I'm Buddy Harrison. So they struck up a conversation as a result of that. He was a wonderful Christian Methodist man. But as a result of that, he started reading the literature. He got spirit filled, and he and Buddy became very good friends. This gentleman traveled all over the world handling billions of dollars. And so when I was praying, I said, lord, I know there's people that you put in my life that knows how to handle this. All of a sudden, his name come up in my spirit. Rob. So I called our general manager, and I said, you get Rob on the phone. You tell him what's going on, and tell him I need him. So he did. Rob said, I'll get my lawyer. I get my accountant, and I'll be there tomorrow for that meeting. He came in loaded. He had his lawyer, and he had his account, his accountant. And they said, let me see. The lawyer said, let me see the contract. The accountant said, let me see the papers, the finance financials. And they started pointing all this stuff out, pointing all this stuff out. And the lawyer and the count were going, yes, but this. And. And finally the lawyer and the bank's lawyer and accountant were just sitting there saying, I don't know. I don't know why. I don't know why. I don't know. That was it. Deal went through. We got. They were trying to cheat us out of money is what they were trying to do. That had already been established for the sale of those companies. We got our money, and we got out of there. You don't want to be any place where they're trying to put you down. No place. And the Lord had revealed that to us. We didn't even know that. And this other banker, that's a friend of ours, he came to me, and we were good friends. He came to me and he Said, if it ever gets out that I said this, I'm gonna say you lied. I didn't say it, but I want to tell you, because I was in the meeting, those two young men said they were gonna bring Harrison House down if it was the last thing they did. He's the one that told me that. So I said, God, I just looked at this gentleman. I said, well, they can't. And he started laughing. He said, I knew that's what you'd say. But anyway, what I'm getting at is you have to learn those spaces, those places that interconnect, that keep you in contentment and out of being comfortable, you know, in being comfortable. I could have sat back and said, well, there's no need fighting with them. We'll just take what they say. No. The deal had already been made. The contract had already been written. All we were supposed to do was go in there and sign the contract when all this stuff started. You stand your ground. You stand your ground in any situation. And I don't own Harrison House anymore, but I'm still a part of it because they want me to be, because they want to keep the vision of Arison House. They're very good to me. They're very kind to me. They help me in all ways. But at the same time, I just. I'm not. I don't have a business mind. That was my husband. Now, I can handle business, don't get me wrong. I have to all the time. But I don't have the business mind that he had. And I was smart enough to recognize that. So when the opportunity came, you know, it was sold. I was sold. But I was so grateful in that selling that they kept the vision. The manager who. The general manager who's over Harrison House and the group that owns it. The first thing he did was he come to me and I took my daughter Cookie with me, and we talked about the vision. We talked about. He said, I want to stay in line with the vision. And he said, I want to make sure we have the right authors. And we just went down the line of talking about the vision, what God had said, how it was worked and things that had happened. And that's what they did. Now, this is so. God is so good. He's so. Oh, he's so good. The person that's over it has been. Had. Been with. I don't know how many years he's been with Harrison House, but he was young, young man with Harrison House when Buddy was still alive and working. And he was working now. He is the one that runs the company. God is, you know, God is so good and he knows stuff in and out. He knows history. He calls me and he talks to me about things. He said, do you remember this? What about this? And we just go through it, you know, God is so good, folks, but you have to stay in that place of contentment, to being again, to. To see the goodness, the faithfulness, the kindness, the mercy, the love of God, and not in that comfortable state. That's because when you get in a comfortable state, the first thing you know is depression tries to set in. Why? Because you're trying to do everything within yourself and you can't. So the mind becomes depressed. And, you know, the Lord said this to me when I was meditating again over these notes. He said, the reasons there's so much mental illness in the world and is because people have not gotten up and helped themselves. But they sat in this place that they felt was comfortable and it affected their minds. Why did it affect their minds? Because it was not being renewed to the word of God. It was continually being renewed to worldly thoughts, to ungodly thoughts, to stressful thoughts. All those thoughts that go through the mind. If you keep allowing that, it brings into your life a depression. And then there comes the feeling of, I don't know what to do. I can't help myself. So we have to understand, fully understand the importance of studying the Word of God, meditating the Word of God, so that we are renewing our mind to the Word of God and praying in the Holy Ghost. Because praying in the Holy Ghost brings us the wisdom that we need to fulfill every day of our life. Every morning when I wake up and when I'm just praising the Lord, I usually wake up praising the Lord. Then I pray in tongues a little while. And I always say, thank you, Lord, for the Holy Spirit. Thank you. I know his voice. Another I will not follow. So this day I have what you desire for me to have and do. That sets my day. And then as I have certain things, I like to read and I have a little devotional. I like to read, and I'll read those things and pray in the Spirit. And the Lord begins to direct me. You see, you cannot be lazy spiritually if you're going to live everyday life with the Holy Spirit in contentment. So we must make the decision that I'm going to walk with God in contentment and not being comfortable. I can. Maybe you can relate to this. I downsized a couple of years ago. I had this big old house, and I didn't need it anymore. I had built it for our family because we all gather. I would gather at my house and, you know, and we, lots of us, quite a few of us, like to cook. So I made the kitchen the center of my home. And I made it where we could get around in it, you know, I had two dishwashers, I had a big stove, I had two ovens, just all this stuff so that we could cook in the kitchen and not run over one another. And then I had all these guest suites and my master suite and swimming pool. All this stuff was on an acre of land. Well, my family grew. We got to this point where we really didn't. And then, besides that, I'd had people living with me for over 10 years. And I was just kind of thinking, you know, it'd be nice not to have to have anybody living with you, just really be nice. So I decided to downsize. Well, it was a big house. It was a 6,500 square foot house. And I'm thinking I'm just not the place where I even enjoy trying to keep this up. It's a lot of maintenance. So I just began to pray and began to go through things, and I went through things and I went through things and I went through things again, getting myself in that place. And Leanne and Regina and my granddaughter Whitney, we all went through this with me. Thank God for them. But at the same time, I had to stay in a place of contentment in doing that because I had collected a Depression glass for years. I loved it. I had, I don't know how many different, not to say it, but place settings. And I would set my table, you know, with a different place setting of all this Depression glass. I loved all that, you know, and I had the little cream and sugars, you know, on the tray, and not the great big ones, just the medium sized ones. I had all those. I don't know how many of those I had. And just stuff like that, that I'm thinking, lord, I love this stuff. But I don't love it more than you. I don't love it more than you. So what do I need to do? And he gave me a plan. I had three different people that I knew that were caterers and they did catering in homes and these different things. So I had. And I had all these beautiful glass bowls and platters and pictures and stuff. Stuff, when it comes right down to it, stuff. And I set it all out where they could sit. My dining room. My dining room. We could seat 12 people. So on my table, I just set everything out and on the buffet on the side. And when they walked in, they just said, oh, my goodness, look at all this beautiful stuff. I said, take whatever you want. I'm blessing it. It's a seed for me. I'm blessing you with it. So they went through and they got what they felt they could use, what they liked. Why did I do that? Because first of all, I asked God for a plan. He gave me a plan, and it kept me in contentment and not sitting back and trying to be comfortable and figure it out on my own. So I didn't know what to do with all that stuff. Anyway, to make a long story short, when you live a life every day with the Holy Spirit, he will always give you a plan for everything you need in your life. So when I saw my house, I hadn't even looked at houses. I thought, I don't know. I know I don't want too tiny of a house, but I don't want a great big house either. You know, my granddaughter and her husband, they had bought a new home, and it had a swimming pool. So I didn't know any of me having a swimming pool because the kids went over there to swim with the kids, you know. So I thought, well, I'll just. I'll just look. And I sat down. I sat down in my bedroom and I said, lord, it's so tiring to look at houses in and out of the car. In and out of houses. Oh, I said, you helped me find the right house quickly. Again, that maintains my contentment in him. So my son, he has his real estate license so he could look on the. Whatever they call that, the realtors thing. And so he looked on there and he picked out three houses. He said, this one is really nice. I thought I would get something like a 2,500 or 3,000 square foot house. That was plenty. So he said, this first house, mom, looks really nice. It's been completely remodeled on the inside and redone. So we saw the pictures. It was beautiful. And then the second one, I don't remember now, the third one. Anyway, I liked all three of them. So we went to the first one. We were just looking. My real estate lady was out. She was on vacation. She said, I'll be home Monday evening. You look for a house, I'll make an appointment. We'll go Tuesday and look at her. I said, okay. So Damon was showing me these places and where they were located. So this first one we went to, I was excited about it because it was so beautiful on the inside. We drove into that little neighborhood. Oh, my word. There wasn't a green blade of grass anywhere. Every yard was dirt. There was pickups everywhere. And I'm not against pickups, but not when they look like that. And Caddy cornered across the street from this house I was looking at was this old horse trailer that was all rusted out, just sitting. And I looked at Damon and I thought. I started to say, I don't know about this. And he says, mom, I don't think this is your kind of neighborhood. I said, no, I don't think so. So we left. So we went to go to the second one, and it was already in sale pending by the time we had, you know, just done that much. So we went to this third one. I loved driving into the. The neighborhood. It was lovely. And it was a little divided drive that came in, and there was trees all along and then there was lampposts. It was just really a pretty. A pretty entrance into the neighborhood. And it's a small neighborhood, and I live at the beginning of the cul de sac, so it's very quiet. It's very peaceful. But when I went in there, just driving past it, I really, really liked it. The lawn was immaculate. It was landscaped beautifully. And it just really hit me. I said, I want to look at that one. So I let my realtor know. And Tuesday afternoon we went and looked at it. When I think about it now, I just have to laugh because it was so beautiful. I walked in that house and it was like walking into my home. I thought, I love this house. And I was just at the front door. I love this house. It was so peaceful. It had been well taken care of. And so I walked through. It was perfect. The only problem was it wasn't quite as big as I wanted. So I had to look at myself and see if I could be okay with that. Because I had wanted at least a 2,500 square foot house. This was 2,000. So we came back into the living room and we sat down. And my realtor says, well, what do you think? And I said, I really like this house. I said, it's so peaceful here. It's quiet. I said, I feel like I'm at home. I said, you know, I think this is my. I really believe. I didn't say think. I said, I really believe this is my house. She said, well, if you do, you need to put in an offer because one person's already looked at it. There's two more looking at it today, and the owner is going to look at all these contracts, and then we'll let you know. And I said, well, okay. What should I do? So she told me. So that's what I did. Thursday, they called me and then accepted my offer. She said, she's born again, spirit filled. But anyway, she said, you know, I love these things when, you know God is in it. Because she said, I know for a fact these people had a higher offer than what you offered, but they took your offer. Why? Because it was my house. Amen. That's why. Cause it was my house. So from that, I hope you can see how important it is. Stay in peace. Stay in contentment so that you are following God and hearing his spirit and see how he's working in your life all the time. All the time. Blesses me so just to be aware how much he loves me. I'm his favorite child. We all feel that way, don't we? Praise the lord. But this is what we need. This is how we need to be living, folks. And am I perfect at it? Most certainly not. Most certainly not. But I work at it every day, and I'm a little further along, a little more mature every day. Plus, I do what I know to do, and I stay in focus with God and his plan and not let distractions move me out of the plan of God. I love my house. It's peaceful. It's quiet. It fits me perfect, doesn't it, whitney? And it's just. Just wonderful. And nobody's living with me. Hallelujah. Don't get me wrong. I loved dearly the people that live with me. Loved them dearly. But it was my time, my season to be by myself. And I had a couple of ladies say, well, aren't you afraid to stay by yourself? I said, I'm not by myself, first of all. And, lord, no, it doesn't bother me at all. I'm glad to be by myself. I. I can do whatever I want, when I want. If I want to holler, I can holler. If I want to shout, I can shout whatever. If I want to laugh, I can laugh, you know? Ha ha ha ha. Sometimes I just walk through my house going, ha ha ha ha. Got your number, devil. Ha ha. There's nothing left to do but laugh. Hallelujah. We need to live this kind of life every day. Do I have responsibilities? Yes, I have responsibilities. Do I have things I have to do? Yes, I have things I have to do. I travel all the time. Last couple years, I've had to pace Myself a little bit, but that's okay. I'm still traveling. That's what I'm supposed to be doing. So I'm doing it. Hallelujah. Glory to God. I love serving God. I love the joy of the Holy Spirit, and I love my Jesus. He's my everything. I have what I have. I am who I am because of Him. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Oh, isn't he good? He's so, so good. He's good all the time. All the time. All the time. The time, all the time. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Well, I hope the Spirit of the Lord spoke to you today and you received what he had for you today. Because it's important that when we come into a place where. Where the Word is being taught, that we come in expecting. Not that person, expecting God to manifest himself, which I believe he has. I know he has. I'm aware of things he was doing around in this place as I was speaking. It's so important that we understand that God working in our lives is all the time. We have to acknowledge it, understand it, and allow God to be God in our lives. Oh, hallelujah. I just love that presence of the Lord, the fullness of the Spirit of God that's so prevalent in the room. I don't have to lay my hands on you. You reach up and take. The Spirit of the Lord is flowing. You reach up and take and receive that which you desire. It's not about man, it's about God. And he is ever present to bless you, ever present for you, to recognize that he is with you, for you, providing always. His provision is always. Hallelujah. Praise you, Jesus. Just as he has given us our peace to keep forever, he has given us the Holy Spirit to keep forever. He has given us his word to keep forever. Forever. Hallelujah. I'm just waiting on the Lord a little bit. He didn't share anything with me this morning, but I just want to make sure there's not anything else that I'm to do. There may be something else that somebody else is supposed to do, but, you know, you operate in what he desires of you and what he wants to come from you. And I believe the fullness of that which he wanted to come from me has come. So, Pastor, I'm done. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. We trust you've enjoyed this message. 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