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Faith Is An Act, 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. Faith without acting is dead. Faith that does not get followed up with an action is like people planning for a business and they never start it. They spend hours talking about a business, talking about, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. And they never do it. And so many people's faith life, they talk about faith because faith is important. We need faith. But faith is. The cycle of faith is not complete until it's followed up with actions. Actions gets results. It's not faith that gets results. It's faith acted upon that gets results. Amen. Hallelujah. There were 10 lepers who stood afar off and they cried out for Jesus to heal him. Remember, have mercy on us. And what did he do? He said, go show yourself to the priest. He didn't say, do you have a lot of faith? Do you feel like you got a lot of faith? Cause you got things, you know, missing off your body. Just want you to know, I hope you got a lot of faith for what you're asking. He didn't even talk to them about their faith. He did not even mention their faith. You know what he said? Go act. Go act. Go act. He did not bring up their faith. He brought up their actions. And he said, go show yourself to the priest. And as they went notice, not as they figured it out, because it didn't make sense when they started. They still had leprosy. But by the time you get to the priest, you better not have that because you're not allowed to be out in the public. And he says, you go show yourself to the priest. He did not give them something to believe. He gave them something to act. They had enough. They had faith enough. Just by him. Just by calling, saying, have mercy on us demonstrates they had some expectation right now. He said, okay, you've got expectation. Now I'm going to tell you, put an action with that expectation, you're expecting mercy. That's why you called out for it. They said, have mercy on us. So that was their faith, their expectation. But they still had their leprosy. So what's he saying? You're missing an act. Go act. And he told them how to act. Let the Spirit guide you in your actions. He will guide you in what acts for you to make that are in line with your measure of faith. And if I could say this, because sometimes we want to act when it feels safe, but the Holy Ghost will lead you to act where you feel like you're not on the cutting edge, but on the jagged edge. Right? The Holy Ghost will keep you on the front edge of your faith, not the back edge. The flesh likes the back edge so that it has no obligation. But the Holy Ghost will lead you how to act. And so you go, are you sure? Now, I know you're God, but that's a big thing that sometimes he leads you to do. And you know, and your mind will go on tilt. I guarantee you those lepers. Minds went on tilt. What do you mean? Go show ourselves to the priest? Are you kidding? We get among the society, we get stoned. He was just telling them what action to take. And thankfully, because they did not talk themselves out of the action, if you talk yourself out of acting, your faith is dead. Because faith that has no action is a dead faith. But quicken the dead, quicken the dead. All of us, I believe, probably at some time or another have let our faith go dormant. Right? Quicken that faith, quicken. How do you quicken it? Act, act, act. Do something. Do something. You don't have to do something to disrupt your life in the sense of putting it at jeopardy. But there's always some action you can take. Stir yourself up, get your faith moving. Amen. So he gave them an act. And as they acted on what he said, they were healed. Amen. They received. Why? It wasn't enough to believe that there was mercy for them. They had to have an action joined with what they expected. We all were given that measure of faith. Remember we talked about that. Every one of you have a measure of faith that came into you at the new birth. Act on it. Act on it as you do. And you say, well, what measure was it? I believe it's the measure of a seed. Because a seed grows, it's up to us to cause that faith to grow. And as faith grows, our actions should be growing, our doing should be growing. There should be more faith acts in our life. Amen. And as I said, the spirit of God, allow him, consult with him how he would direct you to act. I remember years ago, the doctors, this was. I was in my 20s at the time, and they had said I needed to be on a certain medication. And I had it in my head that if I took medicine, that meant that I doubted God. And if I doubted God, then I couldn't be healed. You see, you get it figured out a certain way, and then the devil uses your good intention to trip you up. And I was troubling myself over the Thought of taking medicine, I was troubling myself. I mean, I was all worried and worked up about it. When I was one day, the spirit of God said to me, take the medication. While you're on the medication, feed your faith. And he said, and I'll tell you when to come off of it. And I tell you what I did. For about three months, every day, every day I had my scriptures, I fed my faith. It's not enough to believe in. It's not enough to believe in healing. You have to feed on healing. It's not enough to believe it. That's where many people miss it. They say, well, I believe in faith. I mean, I believe in healing. Yeah, but you have to eat the healing word. His word is medicine to all our flesh. It's not enough to believe that. You have to feed on that word. That's the medicine for your flesh. So that's what he was telling me. Take the medication, but while you're taking it, feed your faith. Can I say this? I believe it would not displease God for us to be on medicine. What displeases God for us to be on medicine and never feed our faith? And after three months of every day feeding my faith, feeding my faith, quoting heating scriptures, meditating on them, speaking them over my body, at the end of three months, the Holy Ghost said, now you can come off the medication. And I came off. And there was absolutely no ill effect. Everything was gone. Why? Because the Holy Spirit will guide you. It's not risky. That's what I'm trying to say. There is not a risk to acting in faith. Amen. The Holy Spirit will guide you in how to act. So it's important to always look. Now you say, well, the Holy Ghost hasn't told me how to act. Then what seems good to your heart? What seems good with your spirit? What do you have peace about? If you don't have peace about it, don't do it. I'm talking about in your spirit. Now your head can give you fits. Even though if you got peace in your spirit, your spirit, follow the peace in your spirit. And whatever you have peace about in your spirit, do that. Amen. Now, as I said, Jesus told the ten lepers how to act. There were so many other times he told them how to act. He told one man who had a withered hand, stretch forth your hand. And as he stretched it forth, it said, he was whole, he was healed. It didn't say he was healed and stretched it forth. He said he stretched it forth. And then it Was healed. Notice what your miracle is waiting for Your movement. Your miracle is waiting for your act. And that's why many people don't receive the miracle they need, because they're waiting for the miracle to show up. Without acting, power meets movement. Movements of faith. And like I said, when you're believing for healing, that doesn't mean you have to throw out your medicine. It doesn't mean you have to not go to the doctor. What it means is, what about this? Believe for less pain today than you had yesterday. Believe for greater movement in that arm today. Work it. Say, greater movement today. Greater movement today. My arm goes higher today than it did yesterday. My leg goes higher. My knee, I can raise it higher today than yesterday. See, these are acts, little acts we can take every day. A lifestyle of acting. A lifestyle of acting. What can you do to act? Another thing. Do you have a list of things you're believing God for? Do you? Possibly. You have things written down, maybe things you're saying, things you're confessing. If I could say this right out to that. What acts are you taking right next to that? What actions can you take that will demonstrate your faith for that, that will get your faith moving. Not to prove you have faith, but to get your faith moving. Amen. Because if you're not acting, it doesn't matter that you believe. You understand that if you're not acting, it doesn't matter that you believe because your believing alone can't do it. Your believing has to have an action that it. That it's demonstrated through praise the Lord. The problem is too much of the time, people think about it instead of act it. They try to figure it out. Instead of just act, just do it. I was telling the students because most flesh has a problem with procrastination, right? You know, how come we procrastinate? We think before we do it. And our thinking shuts our doing down. Isn't that right? The way to get rid of procrastination is quit thinking. Just get up and do it. You know, you got to do this today. Just get up and do it. Quit thinking. Well, I'll do it tomorrow. That's why it never gets done. Because you thought about it. You thought about it. I was trying to tell our Bible school students, don't leave your house with your bed unmade. Do I want to make it today or do I want to make it when I get back? Get up and make your bed. Quit thinking about it. Quit thinking about it. Just get out of bed and put your feet to the floor. And turn around, make your bed, and don't think. It's the thinking time that you step back from acting. Dean Graves was telling a testimony when he was a Bible student at Rhema at Dad Hagin's school. He was telling of an instructor who had pastored before. He was an instructor there at Rhema, and he was teaching the students the importance of obeying God. And he told at the time that he had a family in his church and the man had had some kind of an accident and he ended up dying. He's on his way to the hospital, he's already been pronounced. He goes in there, they pull the sheet up over him there in the hospital. But while he's. When he walks in, the word of the Lord comes to him and says, speak to him. He wanted him to be raised from the dead. God was directing him, raise this man from the dead. But he started thinking, just like you, just like everybody else, that human side, that natural side kicks in. And he started thinking. And because he started thinking, he talked himself out of acting. And so then he did not do it. And a little bit later, the pastor's wife comes and she comes to the hospital and she said. She went in and found where he was at in this hospital room and walked in and said to him, while I was on my way over, God told me to tell you, speak to him, raise him from the dead. And he said, I talked to her just like I talked to myself. And he said, I finally got her talk down to where now she's telling me, okay, maybe we shouldn't. Why? Because he thought about it. What you think about, you can't have. It's what you act on, you have. What you think about, you can't have. Because you're thinking will talk you out of acting. It's what you just act. So he had talked himself out of ministering, raising the dead. And you say, well, can he raise, raise. Could he have raised him from the dead? Remember what Jesus said. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper, cast out the devils. He told them, raise the dead. So since he told them they could raise the dead, you can raise the dead, but you need the leading of the spirit. The spirit did lead him, but he talked himself out of it. Why? Because he wasn't in the habit of acting. He was in the habit of thinking. If you're going to follow God's and going to obey God, you can't have the habit of thinking. You're going to have to have the habit of acting on what he says, act on what he says. Act on what he says because you'll always come up with a reason not to. The natural mind. The devil will give you a great argument of why you shouldn't start that business. Why you should not have this, why you should not have that. Today. Say, I'm done thinking when it's time to act. Well, I'm done thinking when it's time to act. I'm not talking about mindless actions. I'm not just talking about someone unsound in their mind. You understand? I'm talking about thinking is no substitute for acting. When it's time to act quickly, quit thinking. And when you know in your heart what action to take, don't sit and calculate it and discuss it with people. Just do what's in your heart. Amen. That's what pleases God. A faith that is acting. A faith that is acting. So this instructor, he did not minister and raise that man from the dead. And so they did his funeral. But the next Sunday, there's the man's wife and his young children sitting on the front row. And he said, so every time I go to preach, I'm reminded I disobeyed God. Why? Because he thought about it instead of acting. What God tells you to do many times makes no sense. You better quit trying to figure it out. Amen. So he said. So Dean Graves said. He stood there in front of the students with tears running down his face. You see, the reminder of his own disobedience was ever with him. No, you don't have to be harassed by it and tormented by it because we've all disobeyed. But there are you wish. I don't want to go through life wishing. I wish I'd acted more. Wishing I would have done. Because faith is an act. It's not just a dream on a paper that you write down as goals. It's not enough to have a notebook full of goals. Faith goals. You have to have faith acts with those goals. Faith acts. Faith acts. Feed and act. Feed and act. Always see, the cycle of faith is a taking in and a putting out of an action. And that instructor at Rhema stood before his students with tears running down his face, said, always obey God. Because there's a price to pay to not obey God. Amen. Could I say this? Always act. Always act. Always act. It's not enough to tout around faith. It's not enough to have the beginning measure of faith in you. It's not enough to have a growing measure of faith in you. If there's no action, faith is an act. Amen. Hallelujah. When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, he said, lord, if it's you, bid me come. Jesus said, come. So he acted, right? He acted on what Jesus said. It didn't make sense. It makes no sense. How am I going to get out this boat and walk? But he did. He acted without trying to figure it out. The problem is he got out halfway and then started trying to figure it out. Once you act, brother, don't start turning on your mind. Then don't start, you know, turning that ignition on up there. Just keep acting. Just keep acting. It was not the water. It says when he started to see, he cried out, lord, help me. And he did. And he reached out, he said he just started to sink. But it wasn't the water. It wasn't the water that he was going under. It was his own thinking. His own thinking was taking him down. Why? Because he started thinking, quit acting. If he would have just kept walking, Jesus said, come. So as long as he was acting, as long as he was coming, he was on top of the. When he stopped acting and started thinking, he went beneath you. See, many times you don't know God told you to buy the house. Just buy it. You don't even know how you're paying for it. You just keep paying. It just keeps coming. It just keeps coming. The money keeps coming. You just keep acting. Just keep acting. If you try to figure it out, you lose your joy over the house that God gave you. Or if he tells you to stop business, you go, oh, I can't do that. Yeah, you can. If you'll quit thinking you can do it. If you quit thinking you can do it. If he tells you to do it, just keep acting on what he put on the inside of you. It's when Peter stopped and looked at things surrounding looked at circumstances that his actions stopped. And when his actions stopped, he started failing. Failing Christians are not acting. You understand that if they're failing financially, if their marriage is failing, if their children are failing, some action is being left out. Amen. Jesus asked. Now, Jesus said to Peter, once he got back in the boat, Peter's all, he's wet. Now. He didn't have to get that wet, but he's now wet and he gets in the boat. And Jesus said, why did you doubt, O ye little faith? Notice he didn't lose all of his faith getting on the water. He had little faith when he started. He walked on water with little faith. Why? Because he acted little faith. Can get you on miracles. Little faith can participate with a miracle. That's what Jesus was saying. You were walking on little. You were walking on water with little faith. Why did you doubt? You know what he called doubt? Quit acting. Why did you quit acting? People who doubt don't act. They don't act on the word. They don't act on the faith in them. And Jesus calls it doubting. Well, praise the Lord. God doesn't rebuke us for our measure of faith. Don't sit and beat yourself up over your measure of faith. Act on the measure you got. Act on the measure. Spend every bit of it and get more of it. Amen. So many people just. It's right to know your measure of faith, but don't stop acting because you're measuring. Just keep acting. Amen. There was the woman. She had a child that was born crippled, had never walked. When the child was four years old, she began going to a church where she started hearing about and hearing about that Jesus was a healer. She hadn't heard that before. So she. When she first started hearing that, she took that child out of that wheelchair every day, pulled him around on his tummy for playtime for an hour and just started speaking the word over him. She did that every day for a year. At the end of a year, one day she goes to pick him up out of the wheelchair and he jumps out. Why did it take so long? Well, see, faith was new to her. Faith was new to her, but she didn't have the full measure to receive. But she still kept acting. She still kept acting. She put that baby on the floor and she pulled him. She didn't wait until she had full faith before she started acting. She just kept. She just started acting. Just start acting and then keep acting and keep acting and keep acting until your faith gets full and then the manifestation comes. Don't be so concerned about the manifestation. Be concerned that you're acting. She didn't wait because this was a new message. Healing and hearing about the message of faith was new to her. So she was laying that foundation on the inside of her. She didn't have it laid, but she still went ahead and acted. How can you be acting what it is you're confessing? How can you just stop? How can you move from confessing to acting? I understand confession is one form of acting, but I tell you what, the more your faith grows, the bolder your actions should look. You should be more than a confession walking around. I'm not belittling confession because that's part of it. But your confession is to direct you in how to act. Amen. What about the. So this woman, she acted every day? No, It's a lifestyle of acting. It's not just a moment. People will act once and say it didn't work. That's because you don't have enough faith to keep acting. Faith keeps acting. And it keeps acting and it keeps acting and it keeps acting. And that woman pulled that baby out of that wheelchair every day. It's a lifestyle of acting. A lifestyle. You think about the woman with the issue of blood. She does not. She did not just make one action. You know, think about it. This woman has been hemorrhaging for 12 years, not only losing blood, but suffering. Physical things that were tried on her, experimental things tried on her. It's cost her her money. You know how weak she had to be. Can I tell you one act of faith? She got out of bed. That's an act. Another thing, she got drunk. Rest. That's an act. See, that's what I'm talking about. We think that has to be some momentous, heroic action. Just act some way. Every day, every day, act. Do something that violates what says, you can't have it. And then she got dressed. Then you know what she did? She left her house. That was an act of faith. Because by someone who's hemorrhaging, they're not supposed to be out in public. By Jewish law, you could be stoned for it. So that was a big act. What looks like to us just a normal act of walking out of the house was a life and death act. For her, it was life and death. And she kept acting. Then you know what she did? She went and found where Jesus was. She didn't just sit at home and wait for somebody to show up to minister to her. She wanted it enough to inconvenience herself. If you'll only do convenient acts, you'll never have great faith. If you only want to do what's convenient, you'll never have great faith. If you'll only give. As long as it doesn't put any financial pressure on you, you'll never have great faith because you have to follow the Holy Ghost into what's inconvenient. If you want to have great faith, she had to inconvenience herself. She didn't just sit at home and act like a victim. You're going to live the life through it with a victim mentality. It'll injure your faith. Amen. You're not a victim. Jesus has made us master we stand up and we be master. We lay down the victim mentality. Oh, they don't treat me right. They don't talk to me right. Jesus treated you right and he talked to you right. Get up. Amen. Quit looking for people to treat you right. Jesus has already treated you right because people may never treat you right again. What you gonna do? You're gonna be a victim all through your life. Don't need to be when you can act like the master he's made you to be. She didn't lay there, act like a victim. Why doesn't my neighbor care enough to tell Jesus I'm here? Why don't my family members. She didn't do any of that. She got herself up and she went and found him. She quit looking for somebody to prop her. She got up and she. She went and found him. And then she pressed. She got down on her hands and knees in the dirt. No telling how many times she got stepped on, kicked. People saying, get out of my way. They're all fighting for their own, you know. And she just kept acting and she kept acting and then she touched. But the whole time she's acting, she's saying something. She's schooling herself into faith like dad Hagin said. Schooling herself. She said, if I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. And it says, she continually kept saying that. That's a continual action she kept making. And then she got to Jesus and she touched the hem of his garment and she received. She took that power in. She sucked it out of him so that he stopped in a multitude and said, who sucked that power out of me? And then she took another act of faith in front of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue who had the power to sentence her to a stoning. She stood up and says, it's me. I received. She testified that was an act of faith for her. It was a life and death action she took. You see, it was a life of acting. A life, not just one act. If you're just going to act once, you have to go home without what you need. Faith will turn you into a lifetime person of action. If you were around my husband, you knew this, this man. He was a living. His faith was always acting. We were running to keep up with his faith. People need to be running to keep up with your actions of faith. Hallelujah. So when you're believing for a miracle, ask yourself, how can I act? Sometimes it might just be dancing, just dance in faith. Sometimes it might just be laughing in faith instead of crying because you've been crying for so long, sometimes it's deciding, I'm done crying. I'm gonna start laughing at destruction and famine. I will laugh. You see, sometimes it's just getting up and praising God. That's an act. Act. Great faith will lead you to great actions. Amen. The just shall live by faith. The just shall live by acting. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We trust you've enjoyed this message. 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