Podcast Summary: "Faith Is A Discipline, Part 3"

Podcast: Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Speaker: Pastor Nancy Dufresne
Event: JTH Crusades 2024, Mississauga, Canada
Date: August 30, 2024

Episode Overview

In this powerful episode, Pastor Nancy Dufresne continues her foundational teaching series on the topic "Faith Is A Discipline." She explains how faith operates as the essential "currency of heaven" and unpacks the intentional disciplines needed to grow and strengthen faith. Nancy shares practical applications and anecdotes drawn from Scripture, ministry experience, and daily life, emphasizing how consistent, skillful faith enables believers to receive all that God has already provided.

Main Themes & Purpose

• Faith as Heaven's currency: It is not about convincing God to give, but about skillfully receiving what has already been provided.
• The necessity and purpose of developing faith through daily disciplines.
• Foundations and practical applications of faith disciplines: feeding on the Word, walking in love, the necessity of confession, forgiving, holding fast, meditating on the Word, and maintaining a renewed mind.
• The role of discipline in experiencing God’s promises, protection, prosperity, health, and success.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Faith: The Currency of Heaven

• “Faith is the currency of heaven. If we're going to receive from God, it takes faith.” (00:58)
• All that belongs to us is already given; it's about our ability to receive, not about getting God to give more.
• Pastors are encouraged to teach faith as a steady spiritual diet for their congregations.
• Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

2. Faith Is a Discipline—Not Accidental, But Intentional

• “We won’t arrive at a strong, robust faith accidentally. We arrive there on purpose.” (03:05)
• Just as professionals follow a prescribed course of study, faith must be nurtured through consistent, guided practice.

3. Foundational Disciplines of Faith

a. Law of Faith

• Mark 11:24 — Faith operates by believing in the heart and saying with the mouth.
• Faith must be present in both heart and mouth, as well as reflected in thoughts.

b. Walking in Love

• Faith only works in an atmosphere of love.
• "Once I get into strife, the flow of blessing is cut off... God cannot bless that." (09:18)
• Strife at home or church hinders prosperity, health, and peace.
• The discipline of love includes not permitting gossip, complaint, or criticism in the home or church.

c. A Forgiving Heart

• “If you want your faith to flourish, you gotta be quick to repent and quick to forgive.” (22:04)
• Forgiveness and repentance must be practiced as daily habits.

d. Feeding On the Word

• “How we treat the Word determines how sweet our life is.” (24:32)
• Faith is built by a daily diet of the Word, not just by admiring or memorizing it.

e. Discipline of Confession

• Confession connects your faith to Jesus’ high priestly ministry (Hebrews 3:1).
• “He is not the high priest of our need... He is the high priest of our confession.” (1:22:10)
• Level of confession signals interest and persistence to heaven.

f. Discipline of Meditation

• Joshua 1:8—Success and wisdom are proportionate to meditation in the Word.
• Meditation is not memorization—true meditation drives the Word into the spirit.

g. Discipline of Submission

• Submitting your body to God (Romans 12:1) and renewing your mind (Romans 12:2).
• “You can’t cast out an unrenewed mind.” (1:34:48)
• A renewed mind is key to practical transformation and resisting oppression or bondage.

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “To not have skill with our faith is like a starving man standing outside the window of a bakery. He sees it but can't access it.” (04:00)
• “When people think they won their fight, what did you really win?” (11:56)
• “False peace is not peace. Just tap dancing to someone who's trying to control and manipulate a situation is not peace.” (19:20)
• “Our talk level shows heaven our interest level.” (1:25:32)
• “Faith comes by hearing. Faith does not operate just because you heard it. ...Faith is silent until your words say something.” (1:09:30)
• “A person with an undisciplined thought life is easy for the devil to overthrow.” (1:43:58)
• “Symptoms are nothing but the temptation to be sick.” (1:49:24)
• “It's not God slow. It's not God withholding, but it's the opposition, the enemies to your faith.” (1:28:18)
• “You can't cast out an unrenewed mind.” (1:34:48)

Notable Illustrations & Stories

• Christmas Requests Illustration:
  The difference in consistency and interest between her two sons when they wanted Christmas gifts illustrated the significance of persistent confession to receiving from God. (1:23:44-1:28:00)

• Healing Revival Testimony:
  A woman healed of blindness during a healing revival lost her sight again, but continually confessed, "Thank God, I'm healed," until sight was restored, demonstrating the need to hold fast even when symptoms persist or return. (1:51:30)

• Renewed Mind vs. Temporary Deliverance:
  A story about someone with mental difficulties illustrates that spiritual deliverance is temporary unless a person renews their mind (1:34:23-1:36:00).

Timestamps to Important Segments

• [00:58] — Faith as the currency of heaven
• [03:05] — Intentionality and discipline in faith
• [10:10] — Walking in love and strife's effects
• [19:20] — False peace vs true biblical peace
• [22:04] — Forgiveness and repentance
• [24:32] — The importance of feeding on the Word
• [45:00] — Meditation and the law of success
• [1:09:30] — Faith comes by hearing vs operating in faith
• [1:22:10] — Discipline of confession and persistence
• [1:34:48] — The vital importance of a renewed mind
• [1:49:24] — Holding fast against symptoms and temptation
• [1:51:30] — Testimony: healing, symptoms, persistence
• [1:56:00+] — Prayer and laying on of hands for healing

Tone & Language

Pastor Nancy speaks with warmth, authority, and practical wisdom. Her teaching is encouraging, sometimes humorous, and consistently challenging listeners to take responsibility for their faith. She regularly uses anecdotes and direct exhortation (“Praise the Lord!” “Amen!”) to maintain a faith-filled, expectant atmosphere.

Closing Exhortations

• Hearing alone is not enough—“Every sermon that’s based on the Word gives you homework.” (1:59:48)
• Living by God’s discipline is not “hard”—what’s truly hard is living by the devil’s whims.
• Audience is encouraged to DO the word, keep the switch of faith ON, and maintain consistent confession and praise, especially after hands are laid on them.

Final Takeaway

Faith is not an accidental attribute but a lifestyle constructed by repeated, practical disciplines. Mastering these disciplines—feeding on the Word, confession, love, forgiveness, meditation, and submission—opens the door to all of Heaven’s currency and power in a believer’s life.

For more on this teaching or to access materials and testimonies, visit dufresneministries.org.