← Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Developing Yourself To Assist | Debra Simons | Ladies & Men‘s Conference 2021 | Murrieta, CA
00:42:49
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. Well, let's get back here into the Word and see how we can just mix this up a little more. You know, a lot of times when you cook something, it's usually good the first day, but I don't know about you, but, you know, soup is good when it's first done, but when you leave it overnight, it's a little bit better because you mix the ingredients. And at this time, you know, Pastor Nancy, I believe it was in. I don't know where it was. We have been in a lot of meetings, and probably, you know, I'm listening on, you know, what is it? Podcasts and all of that. You know, I'm listening to Pastor Nancy, and she talked to us a little bit about, you know, not missing that, our time of visitation. And, you know, when she ministered that, you know, I began to minister that to our congregation about, you know, when it talked about the sons of Issachar. And they were men that knew how to discern the times and the seasons so they can instruct Israel in what they needed to do in that season. And it's important that we have instructions for every season. Now, you know, God gives us instructions for every season. It's important that we recognize them and then yield to them. And so, you know, in. In meditating on that, let's go ahead and go Back to Joshua 3. You know, we looked at this yesterday morning, and here the children of Israel are. Now Joshua's in the lead, and they're getting ready to cross over. But there's a couple of verses here that I want to look at. And we read this yesterday. It said, Joshua, Joshua three, and one Joshua rose early in the morning, and they removed from Sidim and came to Jordan and all the children of Israel and lodged there before they passed over. Now they're getting ready. This is transition time. And you need to remember this every time that we are in another place of transition, moving from one phase to another, moving from one season to another, God has instructions for us because these are the pivotal times where the enemy will come in and he will try to get us off course, and we have to recognize it. And, you know, I was talking really to the ministry of helps yesterday and wanting them to recognize that, you know, if you're going to help, you have to develop spiritually. You cannot make the mistake of being in someone's room that's anointed, that has taken the Time to develop so that God got them to this place and you are under the umbrella of their anointing. It's very easy to make the mistake that you are more developed than you are because you have an anointing to help them. But that anointing is part of their equipment. And sometimes people make the mistake in thinking because they sense that anointing to do what they're supposed to do, they think that that eliminates the fact that they've got to develop themselves spiritually. If you're going to serve and be good at serving, you must develop spiritually. And what is preached can't just be something that goes in one ear and out the other. Just because you're in a position of serving or because you're close to someone that's anointed, you make the mistake of being close to someone that's anointed, and then you don't develop. You stop being a help because the enemy's coming for you. And when you go through your tailspin, you realize at that point you're ineffective in your serving. Amen. People don't realize that, that if you're going to keep up with the pace of God, you have to keep up spiritually. So you continue developing. So you're not the person that they're having a drag. Because trust me, when you become ineffective and then you begin to hinder the flow of God, you will be removed. Amen. And, you know, Dr. Dufresne used to say this. As the anointing increases on the leader, it will challenge those around them. And if they don't make the right steps in staying up, they will become a yoke, and a yoke will be busted. And I like what he said one time. He said, you will begin to desire to leave, thinking it's your desire, but God is removing that burden you and destroying that yoke you. Sometimes people don't get that. Why do I feel unimpressed with where I'm at and what I'm doing now when at one time it was my all in all, why am I feeling, or like the word's empty here? Why do I feel like the anointing isn't as strong as it used to be? Perhaps you're the yoke and the burden that needs to be removed. Amen. Now, you know, this isn't talked about a lot. I talk about a lot of things that are not talked about a lot. But if you don't recognize this, you're going to be, you know, another casualty, thinking that someone else is wrong. When really you're the one that's being attacked and you're the one that's going to be taken out when you find the place where God has ordained you to be, where he has connected you. You know, we have spiritual connections. And I probably should apologize for yesterday because it was pointed out to me that I used some terminology that was probably not, what would you call it, season appropriate. When I said the woman was hooking up with the prophet, I wasn't talking about. This was her spiritual connection. Okay. Remember, I was born in 56, so anything I say, it probably doesn't use the same term you use. But anyway, it was. She recognized her spiritual connection and she was making sure that she was properly connected. I'm just kidding. When you find the place where God has ordained you to be connected, you have to protect that place. And one way to protect it is to develop. I can't tell you that the people that I was were raised up around me that were really kind of my teachers in the beginning. And then for one thing or another, they began to lose interest. And then natural things became more important than spiritual things, you know, and the first time that it happened, it kind of tried to throw me for a little tailspin. Like, what in the world is going on with this person? Why are they not seeing the value of what's here? You know, why are they thinking about doing something else than staying in the position that they've been called to do, that they had been trained to do, that they had gone away to school for? You know, just because you go away to Bible school and you come back home doesn't automatically mean that you are staying developed. Now, I appreciate that we have a group that has so far that's come every year, you know, and I'm thankful for that. But it would be a mistake for them to think that after they've had two or three years of concentration, excellent teaching, that they could go home and relax, Trying to live off of the food that they already ate and not realizing that they have to eat fresh and anew right where they're at. Because at that point you become ineffective. You're just not effective anymore. You got. You got to value what you have, and then you have to add to it. You can't just say, well, hey, I'm set. No, you're. No, because you'll lose what you have if you're not active with it. But when you find the place where you are supposed to be properly connected, you realize that you have to guard that place and to guard it you have to develop. You have to stay in the Word so that you can stay in step with the leader. Because when you don't stay in the Word, you begin to have another mindset. And when you have another mindset about something, you become. It's division. You become divided in your loyalties. You know when people balk at the way you ask them to do something, you know that they're empty. You know that they've not been developed. You can tell right away. And what people don't understand, and I've seen it over the years, they're on their way out, and one day they're just gonna blow a gasket and say, I don't need this anymore. And you're gonna think it's your idea, but you have become a yoke. And the yoke will be destroyed by the anointing. When the anointing increases, it's not the time to become casual and to just, you know, draw back and not realize that this is serious business. The work of God is the greatest thing that we can be doing on the face of the Earth. It is the greatest thing that we could be doing on the face of the earth. Why would we trade it for anything else? Amen. So they're getting ready to cross over. Verse 2. And it came to pass after three days that the officers went through the host and they commanded the people, saying, when you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the priests and the Levi's bearing it, then you shall remove from your place and go after it. When you see the anointing increasing, you better go after it. You better go with the flow that is set before you. You have to be active about it. I remember, I believe it was 2010. We were in a women's conference in Indiana. Dr. Dufresne and some of the other men were sitting in the back and I was preaching a message about the woman, the great woman. And Dr. Dufresne, the spirit of God gave him the word of the Lord for us. And after the service, he called us onto the back room and he began to declare to us, the famine is over. The famine is over. God was offering us this flow. The famine is over. And we realize that when we got home, we had to begin to say what the word that had been released was. We began to say, the famine is over. And then we sat down and we thought, you know what? We've got to think like, the famine is over. Because, you know, in 2006 and 2007, there was a housing market crash, and all kinds of things happened. People lost their homes, people lost their jobs. There was all kinds of things going on in that period. And when the prophet declared, the famine is over, that's what God was offering us. But it wasn't going to happen automatically. And so what we came home and did, we said, listen. The prophet said, the famine is over. We better start talking like that. We better start thinking like that. We better start making decisions like that. The famine is over. When you would have done something one way, you stop and say, now wait a minute. If the famine is over, how am I supposed to act? Faith is an act. And I realized that it took people a lot longer to come through that because they did not take that word and apply it, because Dr. Dufresne began to preach that all over the place. The famine is over. Come on, the famine is over. Let's wake up. Let's shake ourselves and declare, the famine is over. Why? Because that was what was going to cause the manifestation of the release of increase when we took hold of that. So we had instructions so that we could actually cross over into another place. And I realized that a lot of people did not do that. And so they struggled for longer than they needed to struggle. So when God is offering us something, we have to do something with it. And so it says, listen. He said, when you see the anointing moving in a direction, go after it. Which means, you know, take notice and do something different. Every new phase and every new season comes with instructions, because God is just. And we have to be the ones that discern the instructions for the new. For the new season. Amen. He said, yet there shall be a space between you and it. And 2, 2000 cubits by measure come not near unto it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before. And Joshua said unto the people, sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Sanctify yourselves, dedicate, consecrate yourself. When God is offering us something new, we have to dedicate ourselves to that. We have to be determined. I'm going to get there. How many of you could see that Pastor Bill Winson is somewhere else in his revelation? Just every word that. And you go, and you know what that, what God said saying, with that, that's offered to you, that's offered to you. What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? God's offering us something right now. What are we going to do about it? And that's the thing we have to do. We have to dedicate ourselves. But. But when you are assisting, you have to make sure that you understand that to stay with the flow, I must develop my spiritual life. I must develop my faith life. I must develop my hearing and my sensitivity to the spirit. I must develop these things. If I'm going to continue to be an assistant, that really is a help. Because there's nothing worse than the leader trying to go somewhere and feeling like you've got to pick everybody up and drag them with you. Like, come on, let's keep going. When God's saying it's time to run, you better be ready to run. See, there's nothing worse than that. And that's a place that is so dangerous, if you don't recognize it, that's a place where you can become a yoke. We're in the most wonderful time right now. We really are. Doesn't matter what it looks like anywhere else. When you check in your spirit, you know that it's just. It's popping, things are moving. And so we need to understand that it's our responsibility to stay up with what God's doing if we're gonna have it. And that's why, like I say, so many years I've seen the ministry of helps that's supposed to be a great support and get a reward for what they're doing. Too many times I've seen that they are resting on the anointing that belongs to someone else. You're not going to stay in step very long if you don't open up your Bible and you don't begin to get Revelation for yourself. And you know what? You don't have to wonder where to look in the Word. It's being ministered every time you come to church. See, you have to dedicate yourself to the truth that's being ministered so that you can have it in your life. Amen. And this is the place where I've. Where I see that so many have missteps there. Because when someone is anointed, God gives them everything that they need to fulfill the plan. And what God will do is he'll give them people. He'll give them people with skill. He'll give them people with all kinds of things to do what needs to be done. But those people don't automatically get a pass. He brings them in, and you have an ability that can be used. He brings you in, you know, and that's the first step. And what a high honor for God to say, listen I'm gonna bring you here to assist. But here's where the trouble lies, is that because you sense that anointing, you think it's yours. And you don't realize that it belongs to someone else. And sometimes you're deceived enough to think that you don't have to do anything to stir that anointing up and for it to increase on you. A little bit different today. But what did I say yesterday? Listen, I want those that are in supportive ministry to go back home and go, listen, I'm going to be a greater assist to my pastor. I'm going to be a greater assist to where I am called than ever before. But here's one thing you better understand. You are going to have to develop spiritually if you're going to continue to be the assist that is needed. You gotta grow up. And let me say this. The fact that you start hearing from God doesn't make you in charge. Do you know that Miriam and Aaron began to hear from God? And if you know the scripture, you find out that they became critical of Moses leadership. And they said, we hear from God too. And they wanted to challenge a decision that he made. And if you look in the scripture, the scripture never, never does say whether that decision was right or wrong. Not from God's point of view, but they thought they could challenge the leader's decision. Just because they had been used by God. Just because you're used by God, just because you begin to hear some things doesn't mean that God's got, is going to change his order for you. He's got an order. And so what they did, they criticized. And I love this. You know, Moses didn't have to defend himself. God called the meeting because it was important that the people looked to Moses as the leader. Because Moses was the one that God had chosen to lead. And it was so important that God was not going to let that division stay there and, and that example be there for the people to be divided. Because it had been prophesied that God had promised them a land flowing with milk and honey. And these people were getting in the way of it. So God had to deal with it right away. Now let me just tell you something. There are spiritual laws and they will deal with issues like this. So when you begin to violate, what you don't realize is, is that it may not happen automatically in a day, but when you begin to devalue the place where God has put you, devalue the one that God has put you under, then very subtly, the enemy Comes in and he starts influencing your thinking to where you drift from what you truly once believed. And then they thought that they knew more than him. And God said, no, listen. And God set things in order. And, you know, it was Moses that had to pray for them. And see, here's some of the things that we need to realize that in every new season that we're going into, we have to examine ourselves and say, am I still as dedicated to what God is doing as I used to be? And if not, stir yourself up. Stir yourself up. You know, sometimes, you know, you just got to sit down and just say, you know what? God forgive me, because I haven't been as faithful as I should have been. You know, I haven't been as diligent as I should have been. And you know what? God is a merciful God, and he will forgive you, and you will miss what the enemy had for you. But too many times, people do not want to admit that they're wrong. We had somebody leave our church, or actually they got employed with another ministry, and they were really very critical with the pastor, and the pastor was trying to be merciful to them. They were in a position that was a scene position in our church. And another pastor asked if, you know, he wouldn't mind letting this person go with them and be an assistant over there. And the pastor, really wanting to rescue them, thought maybe it would be good for them to go over there and assist over there. Of course, they hadn't been assisting correctly here, but his heart was, if you can help them, help them. But, you know, they took the same attitude in the next place. And that pastor wasn't really their pastor. He was their employer. So the minute they began to do over there what they did with us, immediately the pastor fired them. As a couple, you're not. You're not doing that mess here. Fired him. And it always surprised me that they didn't realize how wrong they were. And they didn't come back and repent to the pastor that they had violated with their attitude and with their, you know, opinions and with their disloyalty. They didn't come back and repent and be restored to where God had placed them. They came back to our city, but they went to another church. You know how the enemy would love to bring confusion to a congregation when someone who's had a, you know, very visible position in your church, you know, they left with a blessing. As far as the people know, they left with a blessing, and then they come back and they go across town. That doesn't work out very well. I don't know if either one of these people are even going to church anymore. Just because you wouldn't evaluate that what you were doing was wrong and you repented. You know, there could be some in you in here that, you know, you don't have a right attitude. You know, you can repent before God. Listen, I'm not into big, you know, hey, I've wronged you. Let me repent to you. I'm not into that, you know what I mean? Display of, you know, I mean, it's one thing when God instructs you to do that, but, you know, a lot of things can be taken care of just between you and God, because why are you gonna dump your attitude on someone else? Like, you know, I had one person tell me this. Of course, it was in my younger days, lot different attitude, you know. You know, I just wanted to repent. I've just struggled with you for so long, you know, and I thought to myself, you know, I said, you know, all that time you were struggling, it didn't bother me a bit. That was not a pastoral. I was not. I was. I was associate pastor. That's not a pastoral. I'd probably say something different now. I'd be. I'm older, try to be a little nicer, you know, But I go, you know, all that time you wasted, it didn't bother me a bit. I didn't even know you didn't like me or you didn't, you know, I just thought I'd let him know how foolish that was. But I thought, if you're foolish enough to tell me after you've already, like, made me right with God, well, then you opened yourself up. Here we go. Because if you didn't like my mannerism or whatever, but really you just didn't like the choice of the pastor. I mean, bottom line, because I didn't put myself in this position. He did. And he did it being instructed by God. So it's not me, it's not him. You didn't like God's choice, but that was your problem, not mine. So it's important. It's important to run our race and to finish our course that we understand that when we are connected somewhere, we must develop. We must not eliminate what we have been taught that is so vital for our life. We must pray in the spirit to do what we're called to do. We must have a strong prayer life, and we must pray in the Holy Ghost. We have to be people of the word. And it's not Just when I say, when people say, you know, well, I read and I pray all the time and I'm thinking to myself, but you're not getting the results. You've got to do it different. You know, I can. Have you ever done, you know, like your mind is so busy and your eyes are running over words and you go down to the page and you go, what did I read? I don't even know. And then you start over. You were not engaged, so you can't even call that reading. That's not how we're going to handle the Word. And the Word's going to get on the inside of us. You've got to be sincere in your approach in meditating in the Word and getting that Word on the inside of you and then praying in the Holy Ghost, and it is the Word first and praying in the Spirit second. Remember, you keep the Word your first priority because if not, you'll get flaky. But we give ourselves to the Word, we pray in the Holy Ghost, and then we talk to God about how we are to be the best at doing what we are called to do. How do I assist correctly? See, sometimes people just take these little things for granted. And if you don't realize that when God puts you somewhere, it's your responsibility to excel there, it's not anybody else's responsibility. It's your responsibility to excel. And you won't excel correctly without excelling in the Word. You know, it takes something to stay next to somebody for a long time. It takes something of development to stay in your place of serving and really be an assistant for a long time. That's why when I come back every year and I see the same people in their posts, I say, good to see you here. I am so glad to see you here. Why? Because you're still here. Because every year when I come back, you didn't get offended and leave. You didn't, you know, you're still here. Now listen, nobody's perfect. I'm not talking about, you know, all of their personal life or all of their financial life. I'm just saying I'm glad you still have enough sense to know that this is the place where you're supposed to be. Every year when I come back and I see the same people, because people are watching us. They want to know, are we still doing the same thing that we said brought success in our life? People that attain things, you know, they're doing the same same thing that brought the. The. The manifestation and that's what we follow. And it's important that we develop and we continue to develop, especially when we're moving into something else. When Dr. DeFrain, when we God spoke to us and we began to sit under Dr. DeFrain and Pastor Nancy, we had a choice to make. And what we had found out was that there's just some things that had slipped in and had taken us off of, you know, the center of the Word. We had some other things that had tried to water down the word. And when we got back to someplace where it was the pure word coming at us, we had a decision to make. Were we going to now appropriate it and put it into action, or were we gonna stay with the mentality that really didn't help us increase? We had to put away other thoughts, and we had to start taking in now what God was offering us. And not just taking it in. We had to apply it. So every time Dr. Dufresne would come and he would mention something just in preaching, and we would go, oh, yeah, we're doing that wrong. Okay, make mental note, you know, don't do this. Why? Because we listened to what he was preaching. And then the next time, we would have had that corrected. And now the next time he comes, we're listening and Dr. Fran's ministering the Word, but we're, like, going, you know, okay, we shouldn't be doing this. We shouldn't be doing that. We better get rid of this. We better get rid of that. Why? Because we realized this is where God connected us, and this is where we begin to see increase and we begin to see momentum more towards the things of God. So now we got to make all these adjustments. And it wasn't about. Well, I think the way I'm thinking is, right, well, it's not producing. I mean, how do people not get it? If it's not producing, it's not producing. And it wasn't producing for us. And I think it was about two years. And Dr. Dufresne said to us, he goes, you know, you're good students. And, you know, it's not like Dr. Dufresne sat down across the desk and gave us a note of 15 things that we needed to change. Thank God he was merciful. He just came and preached the Word and preached right order. And I mean, he just. Even him and Pastor Nancy, the way that they would interact with us. He was teaching us how to interact as a husband and wife. You know, Dr. Frayne, in case you all don't remember, he was really big on couples not criticizing each other. He was big on that, because I made the mistake of saying something. My husband would say something. My husband was two years older than Dr. Dufresne, and him and Dr. Frayne, we spar back and forth. And right at the very beginning, you know, I'm not sure. I don't really know Dr. Frayne that much, you know, but I know he's a prophet of God, and you don't mess with a prophet. You know what I'm talking about? That's the one thing I do know. I had reverence for the prophet. So he said something, and my husband said kind of something smart back, which I thought was disrespectful. And I'm, you know, a little embarrassed by it, and I'm trying to smooth it over. And I said, oh, doctor, I said, see what we have to deal with? Like, I want to go. Like, it's not me. He looked at me and he said, well, there was something you liked about him, or you wouldn't have been with him. I love my husband. You know, doctor didn't like any division between husband and wife. And really, he taught us by example. It's a bad habit to criticize each other, because with your words, you let the enemy in. I mean, that's the way he trained us up. And you know what? That was so good for my husband and I because we began to take on a different approach with each other. And I'll tell you what, when we knew Dr. Was coming, My husband would say, honey, he goes, I apologize if I have offended you in any way. I go, honey, listen, if I have offended you in any way, I apologize. Because we thought we don't want to be the example in a service, because, you know, Dr. Efrain, he would say something, and then he'd stand right in front of you as he said it. And everybody looked and go, we know he's talking to them. Now. You think, well, that doesn't make a difference. Yes, it does, because it helped us. It helped us stay in unity. That was just something about him that he taught us, and we learned through those things, and we made the adjustments, and it was precious to us to hear him say one day, just kind of in a casual setting, he looked at us and he said, y' all are good students. And that was a high compliment, you know, thank you, doctor. Because obviously, he had noticed the changes that we were making because of the word that was being preached. When the word is preached, changes should be made. And if you do this, you're going to stay developing and in the flow that God intends us to be in and especially when we are next to people that God is thrushing to the forefront. And come on, you know, elephant in the room. We know God is thrusting Pastor Nancy into the forefront. She is a voice in the body of Christ. I said it. We know that every one of us that are connected to her have to understand this so that we can stay in step and assist her and flow with her so that God can do what he wants to do in this era. Listen, I'm talking to you, but I'm talking to me. A couple years ago, I was saying this at the anniversary of the Pastor Nancy's birthday and the anniversary, and Pastor Jay Eberly was teasing with me because, you know, he was saying, you know, wow, you know, I wish you would, you know, come back on the. What is it, the foreign field, you know, trips with us, you know, And I said, well, you know, Pastor Eberly, in 2018, God said to me, you know, and he said, oh, it took you three years to listen, you know, And I said, now wait a minute. I already started making changes. He was teasing with me, and I understood what he was saying. But what am I saying? When God starts to put a desire in you to do something different, to be an assistant, to assist, you gotta yield to it, and you gotta open up your ear. How can I be a better blessing to where God has called me to be? I need to excel that. And I will not excel if I don't develop spiritually. I will not be able to assist properly without developing spiritually. That's what will keep me in step. That's what will help me be the best assistant, to be the most available, to be the most effective. Because everything that God has called us to do is important to him, or he wouldn't have assigned us to do it. No matter what we're doing, it's important, and we need to see it as that and value that we are one piece, a part of the whole. He said, the body cannot say to the little finger, I don't need you. Every one of us are necessary to accomplish the will of God together. And we need to understand that if we are going to keep pace with God, we have got to be people that develop. Amen. Amen. That's what I have for you this morning. I just kind of wanted to wrap things up and make sure you understood what the spirit of God was saying. Cause there's some wonderful things going on right now in the realm of the Spirit. And I don't want anybody to miss it. Amen. Because it's a door of opportunity for us to see the manifestation of what we have been believing for. Amen. Amen. 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.