← Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Faith Is Specific | Nancy Dufresne | Monday PM | Campmeeting 2023 | Murrieta, CA
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. Hallelujah. Turn with me, if you would, in your Bibles to Proverbs, chapter four. Proverbs, chapter four. You don't want to miss any of this week. We haven't really put out a schedule of who's ministering this week, have we? All going to be good. If you came for somebody else tonight, you got me, so. But the good thing is, good thing is every service has the blessing of God on it. And that's what makes the difference. I said that's what makes the difference. Some right now are facing situations that need miracles. And you know what? That's wonderful because we got a miracle God. Some are facing opposition and facing specific needs in their life, but God has specific answers for us tonight. And as we, as we continue forward in this last day revival, there's going to be opposition. But that's only because we're doing something worth opposing. And so we're not impressed by opposition. But we do know this. Our faith is to become skillful in the face of opposition. And our victory is over all opposition. It's total. I said our victory is total. But it's not automatic. It calls for faith and the skill of faith. The Word tells us faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. We could say it this way. Faith comes. Isn't the word of God what God says so we can say this? Faith comes by hearing what God says. In fact, you can't have faith until you hear what God says. Because what his words are the source of faith. He is the source of faith. And his words carry that faith and transmits it into us. That's right. And we have the faith of God. So faith comes by hearing and hearing what God says in His Word and hearing what God says by His Spirit. And that's key, that there are things that the Word will specifically answer for you. Then there are things that the Word will generally answer for you. Amen. And when we need more specifics, we have the Holy Ghost. Amen. Who is our counselor? What's a counselor? When someone goes to someone for counsel, what are they going for? For answers? So a counselor is an answer giver. And so faith comes by hearing what God says to us through His Word and by His Spirit. The Word of God is the wisdom of God. So we could say it this way. Faith comes by hearing his wisdom. When the Spirit of God speaks to you, he receives of the wisdom of God and makes known to us the mind of God. And when we feed on the Word, we're feeding on his wisdom. So it doesn't do any good to argue against the Word, because then you're arguing against wisdom. Right. And wisdom doesn't argue against wisdom. Proverbs 4, 5. I'm going to just lay some groundwork. This is not exactly what I'm preaching on, but I'll get to it. But I want to preface it by saying a few things here. Proverbs 4, 5 says, get wisdom. Couldn't we say this? Get the Word in you. Get in a place where you can hear the Holy Ghost speak to you. That's getting wisdom. Get wisdom. Get understanding. Notice it doesn't say figure things out. You don't understanding. Wisdom is gotten. Understanding is gotten. It's not figured out. Get wisdom. Get understanding. Forget it not. It doesn't matter if you got it, if you don't use it, if you've forgotten it. In the face of adversity, neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not. What Wisdom. Why does God call wisdom her? Well, one of the things that we could say is that her signifies a female, that mothers something. There's a mothering that happens with wisdom. It gives birth to things in your life. Forsake her not Wisdom or mother. The victory of God, the help of God in your life. Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee. What wisdom. When you listen to the mother, wisdom, so to speak, there will be a result that wisdom will preserve you. Love her and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding. Exalt her wisdom, and she shall promote thee. She shall bring thee to honor when thou dost embrace her. When it says wisdom is the principal thing, the word principle, just in dictionary definition, is first or highest in rank, importance, value, chief and foremost. So wisdom is higher in rank than your education. Wisdom is higher in rank than anything you could have achieved on your own. It's the principal thing because everything that's successful flows out of it. Now notice this great list in Proverbs of what wisdom will do. It'll preserve, it will keep. The amplified classic says defend you. It says protect you. That's what Pastor Craig was talking about during the offering. Wisdom did that. It was the wisdom of God that moved on his wife in prayer. That was the wisdom of God of how to bring about protection. It wasn't just prayer. It was wisdom that moved on her in prayer to protect. So wisdom will Protect you. But notice this. It'll promote you. It will bring you to honor. So to walk in God's wisdom is one way God protects and defends. People are saying, I'm waiting for God to. God didn't tell me not to do that. I don't know why I ended up in difficulty. Because wisdom told you not to. And if wisdom tells you not to, you don't need the spirit of God to tell you not to. Have you ever heard have the spirit of God tell you don't drink arsenic? They don't have to tell you that. Why? Because wisdom tells you, don't do that. It's not hard to figure out. That's why a lot of people run into difficulty and say, well, God didn't tell me not to do that. No, but wisdom would have protected you and it would have kept you if you'd have just done what wisdom would have done. So sometimes people do things that aren't wise and get into difficulty and wonder why God let that happen. Because they step past wisdom. Not only will it protect and defend and keep you, but it says that to walk in God's wisdom, it'll promote you. Promote you, promote you into God's best, into God's plan for your life. It'll get you elevated out of your own plan. It'll promote you into his. But not only this, and this is what I'm going to focus on tonight. Not only will wisdom promote us into God's best, wisdom will promote us out of places, difficulty, past opposition, past hindrances and things that come against us. And if we're going to get past some things, we're going to have to listen to wisdom. Wisdom is the mind of God and the thoughts of God toward our need. So basically, it's hearing what he has to say about what we're facing. Then we hear wisdom. Find out his thinking. Wisdom, the wisdom of God is a principal thing. You can't carry out the plan of God without the wisdom of God because the wisdom is the principal thing. That's what's going to help us fulfill the plan, make the plan known, help us walk it out regarding the plan of God, but also regarding every arena of life. You know, people have things that happen to them and they. And they go. I don't know why that happened. I remember years ago, there was a minister's wife that she was diagnosed with cancer. She went. She was a hard. She ran the business side, so to speak, of the ministry. And it was a traveling ministry, so she was very busy. But she Ran her body and ran her body. And Dr. Sumrall made this statement. He said, overwork never killed anyone, is lack of rest. So in other words, work doesn't hurt you, but lack of rest will. And so she worked and worked and worked and did not couple that with the wisdom of rest. And so she was diagnosed with cancer. I don't know all that happened in the steps with this, but she ended up being healed. I don't know if she had any kind of treatments. I don't know if it was supernatural. I don't know that side. But a couple of years later, we were in the midst of a camp meeting and they called this ministry, called Ed and said, would you pray for her? She's been diagnosed again and she's at death's door. And when Ed went to pray, God said to him, he said, she's not going to live. And he said, why is that? He said, because what broke her body down the first time, she didn't correct that. And now it's come back. And he said, she's going to die this time. Why? Because she didn't correct it. But see, God didn't tell her specifically what to do, but wisdom does. You see what I'm saying? So that's what I'm talking about. Every arena of life, financially, with your body, with your marriage, you can't just sit and wait for God to talk to you. What does wisdom say? Amen. You can't belittle your marriage covenant and then end up in a hard place in your marriage. And go, I don't know why God didn't warn me. Wisdom doesn't mistreat the place you live. You bless the place you live. You become a tornado in the place you live. And you're going to end up with what you don't want. And the Holy Ghost doesn't have tell you, because wisdom is, don't tear up where you live. Wisdom will protect you. Wisdom is the principal thing, even in dealing with challenges, opposition. If you're doing all you know to do and nothing is changing, you just lack. You lack something. It's called wisdom. You say, well, if I lack faith, yeah, but the way you get faith is hearing the word. And the word is the wisdom. It's the wisdom of God. It's his thoughts, it's his ways. And there was a certain woman, her. She was raised in a family of faith ministry, a strong ministry, faith ministry, healing ministry. And she grew up hearing this. And as she got older, she had her own family. At one time, all of her kids got sick and she got sick and she was believing God and nobody's getting better, everybody's getting sicker. And so she called her dad, who was a minister, and says, dad, I'm doing all I know to do and it's not working. What do I do? And I love what he said. Well, how do I know? How do I know? He said, you're asking me. You need to ask wisdom. Amen. Amen. Amen. Ask God. Talk to him. Ask him. See, we want to just throw more steps or principles at it. Thank God that faith and the word of God and the law of faith, there's principles involved. But principles aren't to dismiss seeking God. We can't just throw more principles at a need. When we're doing what we know to do, we're going to have to talk to God and find out what wisdom says. And so they went. Because, see, what we do, when we know a measure of the Word, when we're faced with the need, we just take that word and we just start throwing it at it. Nothing wrong with that. But if you're not getting results, don't just keep throwing stuff at your need, just keep throwing confessions at it. Because you can end up with useless confessions, even though they are the Word. Because if they're not in line with wisdom, they're not going to hit the target. James, chapter one, verse two. You know the verse, the passage, James 1:2. My brethren, count it. All joy when you fall into diverse temptations. So what is he going to be addressing right now? Temptations and the joy that you're supposed to express in the face of temptations. Verse 3. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Look at this. Perfect and entire and wanting nothing. This should be our life, perfect and entire. This is where we're headed. Perfect and entire and wanting nothing. And the next verse. If any man lacks wisdom, how you going to arrive at perfect, entire, wanting nothing? The wisdom of God. If you're not there, you lack wisdom. If you're not perfect and entire and wanting nothing. If any of you, if you lack wisdom, ask him, let him ask of God that giveth to all men. Look at this. Liberally overflowing. He'll give you an answer for what you're facing and then give you more and tell you how not to get in that mess again. There will be a liberal flow. And then he said, who giveth to all men? That giveth to all men. Liberally look at this and upbraideth not meaning he's not going to sit there and say, well you know, you got yourself in this mess and when you come to him for help, he's not going to be the I told you so God, he's not going to upbraid you, he's not going to rebuke you for not knowing because you know, I should have done better. Verse 6. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. A double minded man you say? What about this? Double minded is when people can be practiced with saying right words but not having the disciplined thought. And we can say one thing to a person and think another thing that we're talking to ourselves. It's not just about learning to say faith words, it's having faith thoughts. So we're not double minded. So now I laid all that just said that preliminary to where I'm heading now. Recently I had a threat. Cause if you're gonna do anything for God, you're always gonna have threats, opposition. And so God had dealt with me about a certain thing which I did regarding something financially. And there came threat. And it strikes like a fiery dart. You know what it is, you've been there. If you're sucking air, you've been there. And there was this threat of what was going to happen or what could happen because of what I did. So I answered that thing. You've heard me, you've read my book, you've heard the sermon. Step number one, I'm gonna have to get you to read that book again. Step number one, answer it. Step number two, tell the spirit that spoke it to leave number three, worship to hold your attention and your faith off of threat and onto what God says. So I answered it. And I said I obeyed God. Answered it. I said God told me to do it. I obeyed God. And I will never end up badly obeying God. That's how I answered it. But the threat was more specific than I was being. That's general. I obeyed God. I won't get, I'll never suffer obeying God. That's general. And I knew it was general, but I did not know the specific answer. So if you don't know the specific one, start with the general one. Say something. And when I would and I. And I'm learning and practicing all the time. Not to turn over those threats, wrong thoughts, anything that troubles the thought life. I've learned, don't touch it in your thought life. Don't lay in bed and let that thing cycle through your mind, turning it over and over. So I was guarding my mind and that thing stood off. But in a few days it would come back and I would again give it that general answer. And this went on for several weeks and it would just stand back. And I knew I didn't have the specific answer. I had the general answer. And so in fact, it was when we were in Paducah holding the meeting and I was in the hotel room and that thing came in again to the room and started with that threat again. And God said something to me. And you think, well, surely you would have known this. But you have to understand my approach on this. God said to me, ask me about that opposition. See, I'm so used to casting down opposition, which is right. But if you cast something down and it keeps coming, coming back, it's because it needs a more specific answer than you're giving. You better write that down. Oh my goodness. If you answer something and it keeps coming back, it's because it needs a more specific answer. It doesn't mean you gave the wrong answer, but it needs something more specific because you know this. The devil's threats are specific. And we cannot give specific threats general answers. The devil cannot have a greater knowing of his scheme than you. You have to have a specific answer to that specific threat. And like I said, I would answer it and it would stand back, but it would keep coming back around. It was tangible in the room. And God said to me, and I tell you, it was a fresh thought. He said, ask me about that opposition. Isn't that what James is saying? If he lacks wisdom, let him ask. Let me tell you why I didn't ask. Beginning wise is because to me one thing I'm doing, I'm guarding my mind. I am guarding my mind because there's push and pressure with wrong thoughts that come against you. You cannot afford to touch in to those thoughts by talking about it with everybody. You know that you'll start that thing will start making a rut in your thinking. Amen. Therefore, I wouldn't even touch it enough to talk to God about. Wasn't that I was trying to leave God out of it. I just thought, I don't even want that thing cycling through enough for me to form a question. That was my thought. And so it was about a seed I had sown, a large seed. I had sown. When I sowed that large seed, I released my faith and I would thank God for the harvest on that seed as days went by. But when that threat came, I did not want to touch anything having to do with that threat, including my seed. Because every time I thought about the seed, what came up was the threat. So therefore, I became less vocal toward my seed because I did not want to open the door to that threat by referring to what the threat was coming against. Does that make sense to you? So God said to me, ask me about that opposition. Because that thing came into the room when I was in Paducah. And I said, God, what about this? Because, see, I wouldn't touch it in my thought life enough to even bring it before him. And he said, that demon is trying to get you to take your faith off the seed. I go now, you understand the threat was not take your faith off the seed. It was playing out a whole scenario of what would go wrong in my life because I gave the seed I had. It was. So that's why I said to God, I don't know the specific answer to this thing because it's a whole what ifs. The only thing I know about what if is casting down imaginations, because imaginations are what ifs. If this happens, then that could happen. Or if that happens, casting down scenarios that the mind can get into and playing it out. So I said to God, what about this? And he said, that demon has come to try to get you to take your faith off the seed. See, he was creating all this commotion over here. I had no idea that the heart of it, the intent of it, was to get me to not release my faith on the seed. Continue to. Why? Because evidently the harvest is near. Evidently the harvest is near, but it's going to need the faith continued to receive that harvest. So he said, he's trying to get you to take your faith off that seed. And he had really succeeded in a measure up to that point. Because I wouldn't touch that thing in my thought life. Because if I touched it, that whole scenario started playing again. He didn't just give me the right answer. He told me why. Sometimes you have to know why you're being opposed. Why are you being opposed? And once I knew why, that's the end of it. I said, I released my faith and I received my harvest. And that thing's gone. Because I could always. I know, I sensed it. Stand back, but not gone. But when God. God's wisdom came in, what was the wisdom of God? He Exposed the intent of the enemy's attack. Why is he attacking? And when he exposed that, that was it. Praise God, the end of it. I wasn't lacking faith, I was lacking wisdom. Amen. Well, what I lacked, what God knew about it. So if we're not careful in our life of faith, we're closing the door to the enemy, but we're also closing the door to wisdom. If we're not careful, because we won't even go God's direction about that opposition. Just keeping our hands completely off that opposition, won't touch it in any way. I won't touch it from any direction. Right. Which is a skill. But it's also. We can't end that keeping our minds off of it. We still need to include God in. We need his wisdom. I love something that Pastor Amy said when we were in Paducah. She said in the morning meetings, they were talking about that when the spirit of God prompts you to pray, and you think I prayed about stuff like this before, she said, the danger is you think you already know in the spirit realm how to navigate into victory with this, because you have had this experience and sometimes it's not the same road. You have to depend everything he brings up, you have to depend on him to complete and lead you into the success brings up. It's the same thing with faith sometimes. And that's what I was doing. I was just doing my steps of faith, taking my steps of guarding my thought life, guarding my mind. But what I was doing, I was leaving out accessing the wisdom of God. So I'm saying this to you. If there is a repeated problem that keeps coming back around in your life, it's not always a faith issue. Wisdom is the principal thing. You get wisdom and faith is easy. You have God exposed to you why things are happening, why you're being attacked, and all of a sudden it's like it pulls the covers back on that thing and it no longer is cloaked in a way that it can't work the same anymore. It's exposed. Praise the Lord. What's this mean? Some opposition. You have to be more specific than other times. You have to be more specific. You can't just give it general. You can't just give general answers to opposition. You're going to have to have the wisdom of God. Opposition failed. When wisdom came in that situation, that was the undoing of that opposition. It had no more ground because wisdom exposed it. Amen. When an attack keeps recurring in your life, you have not yet given the right specific answer. You need to write that down because you're not going to remember this. In the face of adversity, when an attack keeps recurring, I don't care whether it comes around every day or every few weeks or every few months. If it rears its ugly head again, it's because it has not yet heard the right specific answer. Specifics given by the Spirit of God is the wisdom of God for your need. Specifics given by the Spirit of God is the wisdom of God for your need. And it's the principal thing that will get results every time. Go with me to Mark chapter five. Mark chapter five. In verse six, we'll start reading Mark five, verse six, talking about the madman of Gadara. I'll not read the whole passage, but it says, but when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him. Notice this. No amount of demons inside a man could keep a man from worshiping. When a man desires to be set free, a demon can't keep him from worshiping. Or 2000 demons, however many this man was dealing with, because they went into 2000 swine, he ran and worshiped him. And he cried. Look at this. He cried with a loud voice, saying, what have I to do with thee, Jesus? Thou son of the Most High God, I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. Verse 8. For Jesus had said unto him, come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. Notice Jesus said, come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he didn't come out. He didn't come out. He started talking and said, what have I to do with thee? Because Jesus had said it. And then that demon started talking through him. What was it? Jesus gave a general direction. Come out. But it wasn't enough. He needed a specific. He needed the wisdom of God. Because casting a demon is. It's the general word of God. Come out. He did exactly the general, but it didn't work. When the general doesn't work now, you need specifics. And the specifics was. And he asked him, what is your name? And he answered saying, my name is legion, for we are many. Once he got the specifics and knew how to deal with that thing specifically with the wisdom of God, then that thing had to come out. Because wisdom showed up, not just Jesus, authority and anointing. It needed wisdom. Authority showed up, anointing showed up, but it needed the wisdom of God. Even Jesus needed to be more specific, but he had to get it from God. Now, if you'll remember this, when Jesus told Dad Hagin in that vision where he said I'm going to teach you about demons and evil spirits and how they get ahold of people, even Christians, if they let him. Remember that. We don't have time to go into all that now, but Jesus went back to this passage and he said, with some situations, it's not just enough to tell something to come out. You have to know their name or their number. And in this situation, his name was legion. It revealed the number. This is what Oral Roberts, Richard Roberts was talking about, has talked about this. But Oral Robertson, reading his books, he had that operating, that anytime he laid his hands on someone demon possessed or demon oppressed, he would know the name and the number of it. And that's how he got them out. He had to be. What is that specific? Specific skill becomes specific. Lack of skill stays general. Just skimming off the surface of what's generally taught. But it takes walking this out to get specifics, to learn specifics. Amen. And if you don't know the specifics, always apply. The general don't do nothing waiting for specifics. Jesus came out and used the general come out. And when it didn't work, then the spirit of God gave him the wisdom of God, which was, what's this discerning of spirits, word of knowledge, all this happening. And then he got results. Amen. For time's sake, I got 13 pages, which I'm not going to give you tonight. Go with me to Acts chapter 16. I don't know how to do short sermon things. I was telling in the Jesus Zahir. I was been filming this last week. We film Monday through Thursday. We film five episodes a day. So we do 20 episodes in four days. I walked in there with 71 pages of notes and I'm telling the viewing audience, we got 71 pages to get through. Y' all gonna have to hang on here. That's no big deal. I've done 110 pages in there before, brother. But what I'm saying is I don't know how to write them short anymore. I only know how to write long and just keep. Just keep going. Acts, chapter 16. Acts chapter 16, verse 16. And it came to pass as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation. There is nothing wrong in what was said. The only thing wrong is who was saying it. So things can sound right, but if they sound right, that doesn't mean they are right. Just because right words are there. They said the right word. But who wants the devil testifying for you? This is part of learning to follow the Holy Ghost. Because, listen, Satan knows how the Holy Ghost sounds. And he will try to replicate him as closely as possible. And you think close as possible. Right here. That's brother. That's right on the mark. But the source is wrong. How do you. When something seems right, maybe you hear something said to you and the words are right. How do you know whether it's God or not? By how? The inward witness, the inward witness, don't you believe what you hear more than that Inward witness, don't you ever believe a voice or something spectacular more than you believe that inward witness. So this woman is saying, this girl is saying the right thing. Verse 18. And this did she Many days. But Paul being grieved, what is that? The inward witness, his spirit's grieved. He's hearing the right words. Nothing wrong sounds right. I mean, it sounds like she's furthering their message. She's following along with them, going, these are servants of the most High God that show unto us the ways of salvation. And it's like, my gosh, she's a trumpeter. She's just helping us broadcast. But Paul was grieved. See, you go by your spirit. You go by your spirit. You don't go by how right words sound. You go by your spirit. Verse 18. And this did she. Many days. But Paul being grieved, you say, why did he put up with many days? Why did he. Because he didn't have the specific answer. You can't get rid of certain things with general answers. You're going to have to know something. He knew this wasn't right. That's why he's grieved. He knows generally this isn't right. But I don't know what. I don't know what to do or how to address this. And this she did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. Now, you've got to know, there were people in Paul's team that thought, why is he rebuking her? Cass, she's helping. She's loud. There were no doubt people of his team that thought. Paul missed that until they saw her come out. Then they saw the whole thing change. What was he waiting for? The specifics. He had such skill. He knew he couldn't deal with that until he had some specifics and he discerned. He had to have the discerning of spirits to have that happen. God is specific. Aren't you glad that you're not just a blob sitting on the chair? You have specific digits, members of your body. Specifically in creation, God did not say everything be. Notice how general that is. Everything be. Nope. He started one layer at a time. Light be, and then the firmament, the sky. And then he just kept going. Every single day was a specific. He got up and declared specifically. He didn't just say everything. Come on, come on. When you say somebody says what? Do you believe in God? Well, I just believe God's going to do it. I just. You do general believing, that's a sign. You don't believe anything generally. Because faith is specific. Can I tell you what? You couldn't get to church tonight without being specific. You can't just go down any old road and arrive here. You can't just get in your car and say, I'm going to generally go to church tonight. You got to take specific routes, make specific turns, and you better do something specific at a stoplight. Everything directs you in the specifics. And you know why you were. You were allowed in the building tonight because you specifically got dressed. You can't just go in your closet and say, I'm just gonna generally get dressed. No, you go over and out of whatever is in your closet. You on purpose take one thing after another after another. You're specific. You cannot even purchase anything at a store till you're specific. In fact, you be general in their store and they'll throw you out after a time because you're a thief. Now you're walking up and down the aisles. You're pushing a cart for seven hours. You got nothing in your cart. You just keep walking around being generally. I'm just generally shopping. Just generally shopping. They'll start calling security on that wack. We got a cray cray over here on aisle six. They've been there for seven hours. Just walking up generally doing nothing. You're a threat, Right? Go ahead and just generally sell your house. See what kind of price you get with general pricing. Go ahead and try to buy a house. Generally, you can't conduct life without the specifics. Yet when it comes to believing God and faith, we go general. Well, if God wants it, he'll just give it you to. No, no, no, no. It's specifics. The more specific you are, the easier, the quicker you're going to Receive. The reason people don't receive is they're general. You want to know why? Because God is specific in meeting your needs. It matters to him, every little detail of your life. And he is so specific. Years ago, I read something of Paul Yongi Cho's testimony. And when he started his church in Seoul, Korea, of course, traffic is horrific over there to get around, difficult. And of course, he was just starting the work. He didn't have money. But he got hold of Brother Hagin's teaching on faith and the different ones that taught faith, and he started learning faith. And he said to God, he said, God, I need a bicycle. Which was really more effective for him than a car, because in a car you sit in traffic all day. But in a bicycle, he can maneuver and get around the city easily. So he said, God, I need a bicycle. So he said, I just believe I receive a bicycle. And Jesus Christ, three months later, he's still having to walk to visit everybody in the church, having to walk to get to church. And he goes back to God in prayer. And he said, God, he says, I've been learning about faith, and I'm using my faith. And I asked you three months ago for a bicycle. And he said, I want to know why it hasn't come. And God said, you never told me what kind you wanted. Why, General. General, I want a bike. And he said, I want a red Schwinn. In, like two days. It was there. The more specific he got, the quicker it came. And sometimes we think if we're too specific, we make it hard for God. Because we're measuring him according to us. Yes, he is. Kids, let me tell you, if there's any kids in here, if you want something for Christmas, be specific so that you like what you get. God started dealing. The first house that we moved into in California, God talked to my husband about. But as I grew spiritually from then on, God talked to me about the houses. And whenever I've had three houses that he's talked to me about. I mean, when I moved into the house that I'm in now, I knew the color of the walls. I knew there was brick in the kitchen. I could describe it so that when I walked in, I go, this is it. Why? Because he told me the specifics, I didn't have to wonder and go. And I don't. I don't. I don't. So many people are living generally, so generally that they don't. They don't know what job to take. They don't even know who to marry. They don't know where to live. They don't. You're right. Come on. So true. Because they just want. They just. I just want God to have his way. How? In what way? I'm just telling you, you will get God's attention when you start getting specific. Amen. Praise God. And I remember, well, when you're faced with something, don't just look to the reasonings of your mind, look to the specifics of God's wisdom. Years ago with. Tent Crusades, back in 1987, I was in Tulsa, I had just started preaching and I was at home one night, Ed was gone on the road, and the word of the Lord came to me and said, tonight the call has come for you to take a tent and go. And within a short amount of time, I had all the money for a tent, sound system, an 18 wheel rig, the trailer, the whole thing. The whole thing. And I said to God, I said, God, I don't want a separate ministry from my husband. And he said, this isn't a separate one. This is an extension of what he's doing. Because you don't ever want to get ambitious about, I got to have my own. That's dangerous. The devil will dupe you into thinking that you've got to have your own. You've got to start from your own. I don't want to start my own anything. I want to piggyback off somebody else the hard work they did. That's crazy. That wants to start on the ground floor. And so God said to me, he said, tonight a call has come for you to take a tent and go. And I had never been in a tent meeting. I didn't know how they worked. And he told me, he said, you get food, clothes and toys. He says, you raise it, you take it, you set up two tents, one with the food, clothes and toys, you go in. The other, you have two tents that you preach in that tent. When they come to hear you preach, you give them a coupon to get the food, clothes and toys. And so I did it this way. You come in the tent, we give you food, clothes, we give you the coupon for food, clothes and toys. You don't say and listen to me preach. We take the coupons back. You don't get anything of my stuff. You gotta listen to me preach whether you like it or not. And we had hundreds line. I didn't know what to expect, but we had hundreds that were lining up early on. Now when I started pastoring, that lifted, that lifted. But anyway, in one of them we had the smallest crowd we ever had was one. It was 200 people there. And I gave the altar call and 50 people answered the altar call. And I went back to the hotel and I said, God, that don't work. That don't work. I said, those people are unsaved. I'm not okay with a harvest of 50. Listen to what he said. He said, you never told me how many you wanted. I said, how do I know, right? I don't even know how many is going to be there. Because when you do it in a different city, you're starting all over. You're not starting, like with a congregation every time. You're starting all over. I said, I don't even know how many is going to be there. How do I know? He said, the Holy Ghost knows. And I said, okay, how many do I believe for tomorrow night? He said, 200. I said, fine, I call in 200 salvations. So I walked into the tent, the next night, there's 250. Now you understand, let's talk ratios here. The first night there's 250, 25%. Next night there's 250. And I'm believing for 200. Over 200 got saved. Why? Because the specifics given by the Holy Ghost made my faith more accurate and I bore more fruit. Praise the Lord. Things that God's called you to, you don't know. But he knows. I said, he knows. I said, he knows. We kind of get into this thing of, well, I'm just standing. I'm just standing. And we do stand. But you can't just stand by grit. You're going to have to stand on specifics. I know what God said to me, and therefore I stand. We just start standing generally and then get worn out in the stand. Why? Because generally standing you get specifics. You won't have to stand as long because you're standing on. You're standing on certain territory. You know exactly what you're believing for. You know exactly why this has come. You know exactly the exit door out. And you're doing exactly what you ought to do instead of us just saying we're standing for years and never arriving. Well, stand with me to your feet on that one. Since we're standing, let's stand. Hallelujah. So what is really the important thing I want you to know tonight? Well, first of all, I want you to know importantly what God said to you tonight. But generally speaking, what I want you to know when there comes recurring opposition and you can't seem to get past it. Don't just sit and just hold on and grip on and just hold on and just endure. Your life is not to be you being knocked around. From one crisis to another, one problem to another. I tell you what, life and joy and peace is what I am called to. I refuse to live any day that's not heaven on earth. I've decided I'm not going to live trouble. I'm not going to live harassed. And if I am, I need a more specific answer. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Are you helped tonight? Can you see some things in your life that have been cycling around and recycling and we just assume we know the answer. Well, maybe you do, but maybe you need to know more of the answer. Because, see, we love God. We're faith people. We just start throwing our faith and start standing. But sometimes we just need to stand on more. We just need to stand more accurately. Jesus, we thank you tonight. We thank you, we thank you. We glorify you. We praise you. We trust you have enjoyed this message. Visit us@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 defrain Ministries.