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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. I had something in my heart that I wanted to minister on tonight, and I want you to go with me to Mark, chapter 11. Mark, chapter 11. Our good old. Our good old home, home verse there. And I wanted to emphasize something around those verses. Mark 11, verse 22. And I'm going to read all the way through verse 25. Jesus was teaching his disciples how faith operates, how faith functions. And so it says in Mark 11:22. And Jesus answering them, talking about his disciples, he said unto them, have faith in God, for verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast in the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. So verse 23 is telling us how to receive what we need through our saying. Then verse 24, he said, therefore I say unto you what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and ye shall have them. So here he's talking about how to get our desires met. So verse 23 is basically, he's telling you, talk to things, use your words to receive what you want. And he was telling us in verse 23, things will obey you. Talk to them. And then in verse 24, he's telling us how to get our desires met, that we can pray, we release our faith and our desires can be met. But then verse 25, don't leave that out. He said, and when you stand praying. When you stand praying, what? When you stand praying about the desires of your life to be met when you stand praying, then he gives us instruction, forgive. Forgive if you have ought against any, that your Father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father, which is in heaven, forgive your trespasses. So, basically, Jesus gives one of the greatest faith sermons. And then he tells in verse 25, the primary thing where people trip up in their faith, and that is with unforgiveness. Now, unforgiveness is not the only thing that will keep faith from working. But we know this unforgiveness is the primary thing where most people miss it. And that's why Jesus singled out this. This unforgiveness as an enemy to your faith. It will keep your faith from working. Listen, the way we conduct business with heaven is. Is through our faith if our faith isn't working, then we are not going to be able to conduct business with heaven. And I know you're like me. I need things from heaven. I need what heaven has provided to flow unhindered in my life. And so he's telling us, make sure that when you're operating, when you're releasing your faith through same, when you're releasing your faith through praying, make sure that there's no unforgiveness there clogging up the pipeline of faith. Because he knows that that's where most of the time, people are missing it. Unforgiveness is a killer. Let me tell you something. Unforgiveness is no joke. Unforgiveness will bring. It'll open the door to all kinds of difficulty on your life. I'm reminded of, in one of my favorite stories that illustrates the flow of forgiveness is. Is with a woman by the name of Corrie Ten Boom. I don't know if you've ever heard of her, read anything about her, but there's a movie out on her life. Her and her family lived in the Netherlands, in Holland. And they. They were helping during World War II to hide Jews. And they were exposed. And so they were captured. And they themselves, the whole family was thrown into a. A concentration camp in Germany. Well, of course, these were forced labor camps. And so her and her sister were in a concentration camp together. Her brother was in a different concentration camp. Her father was in a different one. Her father ended up dying in that concentration camp. Her and her sister were in the same camp. And they put them to forced labor. And they were in their 50s. It was labor that physically they could not do. Her sister was physically weak. Her sister was not near as strong. And so her sister could not do the work easily or well. So there were several times that this particular guard there in the concentration camp had beat her sister and really on several occasions, beat her almost to death. He beat her so severely because she could not do the labor. Well, through a clerical error that happened, she was called to the office one day. And when she went in, they handed her her dismissal papers. Her sister had just died about two weeks, a week or two before this there in that concentration camp. And so when Corrie 10 Boom was called there into the main office, she did not know why, and she was handed her dismissal papers. They dismissed her. Come to find out a time after that that there was a clerical error there in the office, that they dismissed her. A week after she was dismissed from that concentration camp. They put in the gas chamber, everyone that had been of her age. So if God had not delivered her, she would not have lived another week. So they just dismissed her. They turned her out on the streets. She wandered the streets there in Germany for a while until someone took her in. And God put her in a worldwide ministry. He sent her all over. All over the world, all kinds of different settings. She preached in churches, she preached in prisons. She preached in all kinds of different settings. And what a message that she carried. One of the things that she talked about and ministered often was, no matter how deep your darkness is, God is deeper still. In other words, you never go too low for God to rescue you. And so she was sent all over the world preaching and just had a. A ministry that was. Just Had a great impact in so many people's lives. But she was preaching a meeting one night at a church. And after she had preached, she gave the altar call. There were many that responded and were born again that night. And she went back to the exit door by the pastor and was greeting the people as they were leaving, or she was telling them goodbye as they were leaving the building that night. And a man came up to her and he put out his hand to shake her hand. And he said, with tears running down his face, he thanked her for her ministry. And he said, I got born again tonight. He said, jesus is my Savior. And when she looked at him, she thought, where have I seen him? And it dawned on her that he was the guard in the concentration camp that had beat her sister almost to death on several occasions. And she said when she recognized this man, she said such a hatred welled up in her toward this man because he was part of the contributing factor to her sister's premature death. And she said, on the inside of me, she said, here I was aware of this man, of the great harm that he had done to her and her family's life and to so many others. And she said to Jesus, right then, she said, jesus, there's such a hatred that I feel toward him. Now listen, she said, that I feel toward him. It was in her feelings. It was not in her heart. Why? Because the life of God is in there. The love of God is in your heart if you're born again. But in her feelings was a hatred and an unforgiveness toward him. But I love what she prayed. She said of my own, I cannot forgive him. But she said, but, Jesus, you're in me. And I'm willing for your forgiveness to flow through me to this man. And so she's having this conversation with Jesus on the inside of her while he's standing there. She never even mentioned to the man, you're the one that caused so much harm to me and my sister and to so many others. She never mentioned it. She said, but when she told Jesus, I'm willing to forgive him, that the love of Jesus that was already in her spirit rose up and flooded the those feelings of unforgiveness that she had out. Why? Because she was willing to let the force that was in her, that force of love, that force of forgiveness, to rise up and dominate what she felt. If you're going to live by your feelings, your feelings will take you outside the flow of faith. But if you'll let what's in the nature of God, the life of God that's in your spirit, if you'll draw on that instead, that it will hold you in a flow of faith toward God and you can receive the help that you need. And so she said that the love of God rose up when she said, I'm willing to forgive him. But she recognized it was not just human forgiveness, it was the love of Jesus that she had that that forgiveness flowed up. And she recognized that's the same forgiveness that she received from Jesus. Listen, when we refuse to forgive someone, we have to realize we don't want Jesus to decide that that's how we're treated. And so notice, for the believer, unforgiveness is not an option. She reached out her hand and she said to that brother, she said, I welcome you into the family. You are now my brother in Christ. And she said she forgave him and she walked out free. I want you to know that forgiveness, bringing forgiveness to that situation, you deciding to forgive someone, it doesn't just bless them, but it releases you and it keeps your faith in good working order. And I want you to realize this about forgiveness. Forgiveness is a choice. It is not a feeling. Don't go by your feelings because she had feelings of hatred, she had feelings of unforgiveness. But what did she do? She allowed the love of God that was on the inside of her dominate her and dominate the feelings. I don't make light. And certainly it was a difficult thing that happened to her and her sister. And I don't make light of what might have happened to different ones of you that may be watching, of how you've been treated, how someone has handled you. But I want you to know it's not with your own ability that you walk in love. It's not with your own ability that you walk in forgiveness. It's your love and his forgiveness on the inside of you. Don't allow feelings, memories and thoughts of how someone has done you wrong rob you from tapping into the flow of the life of God and the nature of God that's on the inside of you. Listen, unforgiveness opens the door to the devil to work against your life. I cannot overemphasize that too much. Because if we get into unforgiveness, there is an open door to the devil. Why? Because that's the flow of the enemy. And what we yield to is what's going to flow into our lives. And if we yield to yield to unforgiveness, that flow of unforgiveness opens up the door to the devil. And when we're in unforgiveness, sickness can attach itself, lack can attach itself, mental torment can attach itself. All kinds of heartbreak and difficulties have access to us if we open the door to the devil through unforgiveness. Now remember what we were reading in Mark 11, where Jesus said he taught us about faith. But the first thing he taught after faith was forgive, because unforgiveness will keep your faith from working. And listen, without faith, you can't receive anything that God has for your life. Unforgiveness. If people want many times to, maybe they're facing something of sickness, maybe they're facing something of financial difficulty. Make sure there's no unforgiveness. You say, well, how do I do that? Well, you make a choice. I forgive anyone and everyone who has wronged me in any way. You say, why can we do that? Listen, we've been forgiven. We wronged heaven, we wronged the Father. We were Jesus. He paid such a price for our sin, for our wrongdoing. So certainly we can offer to others what he made ours. And that was forgiveness. So we forgive by choice, not by feeling. If you want to receive healing, you have to make sure that unforgiveness is not keeping the door open to sickness. Because sometimes people are sick for one reason. Reason they're in unforgiveness. Dad Hagin talks about this one testimony of a woman that years ago she came to one of his crusades on the road. And dad Hagin would encourage the congregation. He would say, come to as many services as you can before you get up in the healing line. Because he knew that if he could get more word in people that he would get greater results. They would be able to receive better from God. And so he would say, if you're going to be able to attend more than one service, he said, do that before you get up in the healing line. And there was a woman who went there to the meeting specifically because she wanted him to lay hands on her for healing. She had this lingering condition in her body. And in one of the services dad Hagin taught on forgiveness. And while she was sitting in that service, God began. Well, really she knew, but God began reminding her of what she was holding against a family member. When her parents had died, her and her brother got into disagreement with each other. And for 25 years, they had not spoken because they got offended with each other. And so when she was sitting in that service, she said, you know what? I need to make this right. So she went and she called her brother. She went to a nearby phone booth back then they had phone booths, and she went to a nearby phone booth and she called him up and she said, I wanted to call and I wanted to repent to you for holding on forgiveness against you because of what happened with our parents inheritance and stuff. And she said, I just want you to know I was wrong and I ask you to forgive me. And he said, well, I was getting ready to call you. And he said, I'm just as wrong as you were. So they both took their, you know, repented to each other. She went back because this was after the morning service. He had taught on forgiveness in the morning service. She had made that phone call right after the morning service, and she decided to go back and take a quick nap before the evening service. So she went back to her hotel room. When she woke up from her nap, every single symptom was gone. Now, notice this condition had been in her body for years. But when she got unforgiveness out, then she closed the door to the devil. And when she closed the door to the devil, she closed the door to sickness. And that without even praying, without even getting up in the healing line, she did not even have to get up in the healing line because just getting into the flow of forgiveness got her into the flow of healing. It opened the door for healing to be received. And it closed the door. It closed the door to the devil when she just dealt with that unforgiveness. So I just want you to recognize that it's so easy to slip into holding a grudge, having ill will towards someone getting an offense. But listen, I just know how dangerous it is. And like I said, unforgiveness is a killer, not toward the person you have unforgiveness toward, but in your own life. Why? Because it opens the door to the devil. And listen, when he has an open door, he goes through it. And so you can close that door just by saying, you know something. I choose to forgive. Well, I want to say this, that there are people who will say, but I love the Lord. Well, you can love the Lord and still have unforgiveness. So don't just think because you love the Lord that you're not an unforgiveness. You have to pay attention to what you let into your heart, what you let into your thought life. And don't let any bit of unforgiveness linger in. Because like I said, unforgiveness is a killer. It will open the door on you. It will open the door on your family. It will open the door to sickness. It'll open the door to lack, to mental torment, to all kinds of difficulty. When you forgive someone, that means the next time you see them, you won't be breathing hard. You know what I mean by breathing hard? I mean you just start. Ooh. You start remembering. Listen, now, let me. Let me just say this. As I said, forgiveness is a choice. It's not a feeling. So you make a choice to forgive someone whether you feel like it or not. You just say, I choose to forgive them. And when you make that choice, your feelings, over time will come in line. But don't be led by your feelings. I'm just warning you, don't be led by your feelings. Just say, I choose to forgive them, Father. I release them. Now, let me tell you, when you forgive someone, we forgive the way God forgives. Meaning this is that when God forgives us, he forgets it. He doesn't bring it up at a later point to use against us. So that means we don't bring up things at a later point that we've forgiven to use against someone. Make sure you don't get into that trap. Because when you've chosen to forgive someone, just know this. The devil will remind you, or even your own. Your own emotions or feelings can remind you of what someone did to you. When that happens, you must answer those feelings because you don't want to again open the door to unforgiveness. So when. When the enemy tries to bring thoughts reminding you of what someone wants, what someone has done, you say, no, devil, I've forgiven them. And he'll say, no, look, you still have bad feelings. Do you answer those things? You say, no, I've chosen to forgive them. And I do forgive them. And I don't care what feelings may say. I have chosen to forgive them and therefore they are forgiven by me. I release them. Then what does the word say? Pray for those who do who do something against you. Pray for those who harm your life. Pray for those who do you ill. And listen, don't wait for them to repent to you before you choose to forgive them. But what if they never do repent to you? You're not held captive by them, waiting for their repentance. You can offer them forgiveness whether or not they ever come and repent to you. And then you're free from the situation. Refuse to talk about it again. Refuse to entertain it again. Refuse to talk about it to someone else. Refuse to over the dinner table or in a conversation, relive it, retell it, remind somebody of what they did. You've got to let that go out of your thought, life out of your conversation. You've just got to let it go. Because that's the way you'll walk. Free from things that will try to trip you up. Listen, Jesus has forgiven us. The Father has forgiven us. We owe that same forgiveness, not with our ability, but with the love of God that's on the inside of us, that there is forgiveness in the flow of that love. And so we choose to forgive. So I would say this. I heard dad Hagin make this statement too. And that's the. I've taken it on myself. And he said, whenever sickness tries to attach itself to me, he said, I first check my love walk. He said, that's the first thing I do. Listen, if we have opened the door to the enemy, we have to. The remedy will be different based on what we have opened the door to. Meaning this. If we open the door through offense, we've got to get rid of that offense. If we open the door through unforgiveness, we've got to get rid of that unforgiveness. If we open the door through disobedience, we have to come into obedience. So based on the cause is going to dictate the remedy. So just know this. Whatever has been a cause or an open, open door, address it. And dad Hagin said, the first place I always check when symptoms, when sickness tries to attach itself to me, he said, I always check my love walk. And one of the first places within that love walk to check is make sure you're not in unforgiveness towards someone. Why? Because, listen, when God wants to bless your life, he sends someone. When the enemy wants to injure your life. He sends someone, and so the devil will work through people. Now, people aren't the problem. It's the devil that you know. People will yield and the devil will try to harm your life through people. So you've got to forgive them. Resist the devil, but forgive the people. And so I don't know about you. I want to live healed. I want to live prosperous. I don't want my faith hindered. I don't want my faith unable to work. And so I just decided. I decided long ago. I refuse to be offended with anyone. I refuse to get in an offense with anyone. I refuse to get in unforgiveness toward anyone. Decide that before the opportunity to. To have unforgiveness comes. Decide to not be an offense before the opportunity to be offended comes. Because I tell you what, in the heat of the moment, when somebody does something or says something harmful, hurtful toward you, if you haven't already decided your response, you're likely going to choose the wrong one in the heat of that moment. So I. I just refuse to have any ill will toward anyone. I refuse to have unforgiveness. I. I refuse to get an offense. Are those things offered? Yes, but I refuse to take them. Why? Because I decided long ago that I would not open the door to those things. So don't just wait until an event happens before you make your choice. Make your choice today. I will never be an unforgiveness again toward anyone. The moment someone does something to me, I forgive them. Right then, on the inside me, I just forgive them. I release them. I refuse to take in offense. I refuse to take. Take in ill will. If you'll do that, it helps give you a head start on anything that the devil may throw your way. You've already made your choice in your decision. Remember what I said. Forgiveness is a choice. It's not a feeling. So don't just go by what you feel. Go by what you choose, and your feelings will come in line with what you choose. Amen. Well, listen, we're all humans and we've got to deal with these things. We have to be skillful and in the flow of forgiveness. Why? Because we need our faith to work and we need our bodies to work right. We need prosperity to flow. We need the blessing of God. And Jesus was letting us know in Mark 11:25 that one of the greatest strategies the enemy uses against the flow of faith and the life of faith is unforgiveness. So, thank God, we also have the divine help in the flow of living to where we have no unforgiveness on the inside of us. We don't allow it in our thought life. We don't allow it in our family. We don't allow it in our conversation. And so to receive healing, run any unforgiveness out. Run it out of your thought life. And listen, that means you got to leave it out of your conversation. You can't have conversations about points of unforgiveness of the pastor. How someone hurt you, let them go. Why? Because we've been forgiven. We can easily and freely forgive because the love of God is on the inside of us and that love is what we forgive with. So God bless you. I. I didn't mean to keep you this long tonight, but I tell you, it's a help to us to be reminded. And I don't care who you are, I don't care how long you've been saved. We have to be reminded of these things because it's easy to slip into. Back into carnality. It's easy to slip back into the flesh and. And God doesn't want us to be in a place where our faith is compromised and our faith is not functioning as it ought. And so I bless you and I invite you to join us again for our midweek service. It starts in about 30 minutes, so until we see you next time, we love you. God bless you. We'll see you next time. We trust you've 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 Dufresne Ministries.