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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message.

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Hello. We're so glad you joined us today for the Jesus the Healer broadcast. I'm in a different location than you, than you're used to seeing me in. I've brought you to my ranch in Colorado. We have a home here on the ranch, but right behind me is a second structure. It's a little one room cabin that you see that my son built for me. Like when we have company and we have guests, I still have this place that I can go to. And so we're just so glad that we were able to bring you here and we trust that you'll enjoy today's broadcast. Let somebody know that it's on. If you would grab your Bible, I'd love for you to follow along with me this morning. And we're going to start in Romans chapter 12, so if you would turn with me there. And today we're going to talk about some things that are really some of the most important foundational truths in the Word. No, they might not seem like they have fireworks and spectacular things going off, but the foundation of a home never looks the most spectacular part of the home. But it's the most important part of the home. And so we want to touch on some things that are so important because our victory is connected to these truths, our joy, our peace, and. And as we become skillful in these truths, life becomes easier and life becomes sweeter. And so we want you to study along with us. There's really two things that are the lifelong profession of any believer. And that is, number one, develop your spirit. And number two, renew your mind. Those two things are paramount in the life of the believer because we are a spirit, we live in a body, we have a soul. The soul is made up of the the will, the mind, the emotions. And the spirit of man is the part of us that has the life of God in it. And it is to dominate the soul and the body. So that's why we must develop our spirits so that we're sensitive to our spirits. We become skillful with yielding to our spirits and following our spirits. When God speaks to us and leads us, he's gonna lead us through our spirit. He's not gonna lead us through our emotions, he's not gonna lead us through our minds, he's not gonna lead us through our feelings. He's gonna lead us through our spirits. And as we develop our spirits and become sensitive to our spirits, we'll better discern how God is leading us and what he's saying to us. But then also coupled with that, we must renew our mind. The spiritual giant is somebody whose heart, their spirit and their mind are in agreement. An unrenewed mind will fight against what God puts in your spirit or what your spirit is directing you to do. But a renewed mind agrees with your spirit. So that's our big. One of our biggest professions of our lives is to bring our minds into a place of renewal so that our minds are not fighting against what God puts in our heart. It's in your spirit is your faith. Your faith doesn't reside in your mind, it doesn't reside in your soul. It resides in your spirit. So when our mind is renewed, it will agree with the faith that's in our spirit. If our minds are unrenewed, then our minds will fight against and argue with what faith in our spirit is directing us to do so. You can see the two most important things of life that we have to work on the rest of our lives is to develop our spirits and keep renewing our minds. We never arrive at a point where our minds are completely renewed. We have to constantly be keeping our minds renewed. And as we do, life becomes easier, life becomes sweeter. For the unrenewed mind, life is difficult whether you're a Christian or whether you're unsaved. If your mind is unrenewed, you're going to have difficulties that could have been bypassed. And so we're going to talk about that today. But also we're going to bring in the other, the other part of man, and that is the body of man. And so man, he is a spirit, he lives in a body, but he possesses and has a soul, which is the mind, will and the emotions. And In Romans, chapter 12, verse 1, let's read together. It says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Or another translation said, which is your spiritual worship. So notice this. He's saying that we have to do something with our bodies. We're to present our bodies to God. What does it mean to present our bodies to God? To present your body to God is to present your body to do things that are in line with God's word, and to present your bodies to do things that are pleasing to God. That we don't mishandle the body, we don't conduct, allow the body to do things that would displease The Lord. And when we handle our bodies in a way that's pleasing to the Lord, that's in line with the Word of God. The Word says, this is one way, one form of worship. So the worship that we can, that we have toward God is not just when we lift our hands and tell him how much we love him and appreciate Him. Certainly that's a flow of worship, but also a flow of worship and is what we allow our bodies to participate in, how we conduct our bodies, what we allow our bodies to do or not do. And so this is what Romans 12 is referring to. So verse one says that we are to present our bodies. Verse two says this. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of, of your mind. Notice this, that you're either going to live a life that's conformed or transformed. Conformed means your life looks like everybody else's in the world. But transformed means your life becomes something different than what is in the flow of the world around you. The word is what transforms the life. And when our minds are renewed, we can have a transformed life. And this is God's plan. So Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2 tells us we have to do something with our bodies and we have to do something with our minds. Now, when we got born again, God did something with our spirits. We are a threefold being, spirit, soul and body. At the new birth, God did something with our spirit. He gave us a brand new spirit. He did not heal our spirit at the new birth because the old man, the old spirit, was a dead spirit. It did not have the life and God, the life and nature of God in it. It had the nature of death in it. And so when we got born again, God took out that old dead spirit and gave us a brand new spirit. The Word tells us that once we're born again, we are a new creature in Christ. Old things have passed away, all things have become new. And so he did not heal our spirit. He gave us a brand new one. And the spirit he gave us has his life in, has his nature in it. And that's what's with the unsaved man. He can't help but sin because he has a sin nature in him. But when we got born again, that sin nature was replaced with a brand new spirit. And now we have the nature of God. Now we can, we can operate in God's flow, we can function in God's flow. We can because we're part of his family. We're created in his image. That is the part of us that is created in the image of God. Our spirit is what is created in the image of God. And so now we have his life, his nature in us. So at the new birth, he did something with our spirit. But now there's the two other facets of man that's left. The mind and the body. And notice In Romans 12, verses 1 and 2, God tells us we're the ones that have to do something with the mind and. And the body. But listen, we can, and we can do it successfully, because now we are to dominate the mind and the body from our spirit. And he's the one that did something with our spirit. We have. We are to bring our body and our minds under the dominion of our spirit. So God really did the big part. He's the one that gave us the new spirit. And with that new spirit, now we are to keep our body in check, and we are to renew our minds. And now we all not only have a new spirit to do that with, we had the word of God to do that with. And so although God is the one who did something with our spirit, we still have a work to do. And this is why I say our lifelong profession. We have to renew our minds because our success is tied to it. When this word in Romans 12 says, present your bodies to God again, that means yield your bodies to do what's right. You know, before we were born again, we let our bodies do anything our bodies wanted to. Primarily, if our body wanted to go this direction, we went that direction. If our. If our bodies wanted to participate in this, then we allowed it to because we had a dead spirit that didn't have any power in it to. To dominate that body. Now we have the life of God, the nature of God, and we can keep that body in check under the dominion of that new spirit. So when the body wants to do wrong, now you're empowered from within to say, no, no, my spirit that has the life of God in it will not allow my body to do that. So basically, presenting your bodies to God is presenting your bodies to do what's right. We no longer present our bodies to do what's wrong. We present our bodies to do what's right, to yield it to what the word says and to what is pleasing to God, to renew our mind. What does this phrase mean? It means to take on God's way of thinking. It means to think like God thinks. And you think, well, is that possible now that you have a new spirit in you? It is possible now that you have The Word of God. It is possible. God said in the book of Isaiah, he said, my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. My ways are higher than your ways. He's not telling us that we can never achieve his thoughts and his ways. He's saying, come up. Before we were born again, our thoughts and ways were lower than His. But now that we have new spirits and now that we have the Word of God, we can come up into the thoughts of God. We can come up into the ways of God. Why is that? Because his life is in us. The Holy Ghost is in us to enable us and empower us to do this. Plus, we have the Word of God. That is, it's fed on and acted on. Our minds will be renewed. So whenever we see something in the Word, we hear a sermon preached, we listen to our pastor and we sit, we see something in the Word that's different than the way that we've always thought. Then we lay down the way we've always thought and we pick up the way the Word says that's called renewing your mind. Every single one of us were raised in a home that had a different system. Some people's parents allowed one way of lifestyles. Another person's parents allowed a different way of lifestyle. So God has this great big family. The body of Christ is His family. And so he has his own system. And his system is the Word of God. So when we see something in the Word of God that's different than the system we were raised in by our natural parents, we say, okay. Then I lay aside the way I was always thought. I was always raised in the way I thought something was. And I bring it in line and into agreement with what God's system is, which is His Word. And by doing that, every one of his family members, every believer, every Christian has the same system laid out in front, says, this is the way heaven operates. This is the way God thinks. And renewed mindset. If this is the way God thinks, this is the way I'm going to think. And that's called renewing the mind. Now, the renewing of the mind is not just being able to quote the Word, it's living the Word, it's doing the Word. Just because we can quote the Word, our mind isn't renewed until we have put what the Word said into our lifestyle. So renewing the mind means thinking like God, but it also means doing what the Word says. There are some people who know what the Word says, but they never bring their doing in line. The Word tells us and warns us, don't be a hearer only, but be a doer of the Word. It's when we're doing the Word that our minds are renewed with the Word. When we do the Word, then our lives are going to be transformed. So we can have our pastors or other believers to pray for us. If we need healing, if we need some kind of need in our life to be addressed, we can go to our pastor or we can go to a fellow believer and say, would you pray for me? And it's a blessing to have our pastor pray for us to get in a ministry line and maybe even have hands laid on you to bless you, praying for your healing or whatever. The laying on of hands will bless your life, but it will not transform your life. Getting in a ministry line will not transform your life. Having someone to pray for you will bless your life, but it will not transform your life. There's one way to transform your life, and that is to feed on the Word until the Word directs your actions and your behavior. And then when it does, you will have your mind renewed and your life will look totally different. As I said earlier in the broadcast, someone who has a renewed mind, life gets easier for them. Why is that? Because they bring their thinking, they bring their actions in line with what the Word says. And when the devil tries to oppose you, any opposition is not going to work because he cannot defeat the Word. He cannot overcome the Word. No opposition can defeat the Word. And when you hold your lifestyle and your thinking and you're speaking in line with the Word that. That no opposition can defeat you because the Word always wins. The Word makes us a victor. And so we have to take on the thoughts of the Word. And I will tell you this, it's a full time job to pay attention to what's going on in your mind. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and he said, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. So transforming the mind happens as we renew the mind and we end up living a transformed life. If we don't renew our minds with the Word of God, our lives will look exactly like they did before we were even born again. You know, you may have a neighbor that's unsaved. You may see all kinds of problems in the life of that neighbor. But do you know what? Unless we transform our lives through the renewing of our minds, our lives will look just like the unsaved neighbor. You too. I've seen people seen Christians, and no doubt you might have seen Christians too, who say they've been born again for years. But if you looked at their life, you would never see the kind of Christian life being lived. You would see their marriage full of strife, full of conflict. They have ongoing financial problems. They have ongoing strife in their life. It just seems like victory is not the life they live. Well, are they born again? Yes, they can be born again. But if they don't renew their minds, their lives will look like they did before they were even born again. So we don't want to cheat ourselves from the best life. And renewing our minds with the Word of God will give us the best life. I didn't get born again so that my life could remain the same. I got born again so that every aspect of my life could change. No doubt you did too. But that doesn't happen just because. Because we love the Lord. We have to feed on the Word. We have to be a doer of the Word. We have to speak the Word. We have to act in line with the Word. And as I said, it is a full time job to pay attention to your thought life. When a thought comes to your mind, if it troubles you, know that God didn't give you that thought, that that thought did not originate with God. And if a thought is troubling your life, you have to measure that thought in the light of the Word and say, what does the Word say about this? When a problem shows up, the first thing you're to do is ask yourself, what does the Word say about this? That's what a renewed mind does. It consults with the Word before it consults with your flesh, before it consults with your emotions. A renewed mind consults with what does the Word say? And then they conduct their life and their decisions and their actions based on what the Word says. So I encourage you, take time to feed on the Word daily, because that's going to help you respond in line with the Word. And when you do, your mind is going to be renewed and your life will be transformed. You won't even recognize yourself. You may have come out of us, out of a home that's full of strife and conflict, full of arguing and combativeness. But when you start renewing your mind with the Word, it'll transform your home to where it will run all the strife out. Why? Because you refuse to participate in strife. A renewed mind refuses to participate in strife because it knows it's not in line with the Word. Another big thing that affects so many people one way the devil attacks is he brings fear to the mind. I mean, he attacks with fear. But when thoughts of fear come, a renewed mind says, wait a minute. Did that thought come from the Word or not? And if they recognize that did not come from the Word, that thinking is not in line with the Word, you'll reject fear. You'll resist fear. You'll take a stand against fear instead of yielding to it. So many Christians have lived a life that's entrenched in fear, and they've lived that way so long that fear has become a normal flow to them. To them, it's normal. But to the Word and to the renewed mind, fear is not normal. Fear is the author of fear. Is Satan. Anything that makes you fearful, anxious, upset, nervous, anxiety, panic, attacks, all of these things are the flow of fear. But the renewed mind will. As you're renewing your mind, you'll begin to recognize, wait a minute, that's not the flow of peace, that's not the flow of joy. And you'll say, I resist that thought. Notice this. God is not dealing with you on the basis of fear. God has not given us the spirit of fear. When something fearful attacks your life, know that God is not speaking to you through that fear. Now, God may. He may lead you at that time to how to resist that fear and take your stand against it. But God is not using fear to speak to you. And so fear is to be rejected, fear is to be resisted. And that's what a renewed mind recognizes, that when thoughts of fear come, when threats of fear come, the renewed mind recognizes that and refuses to yield to it. A mind that is being troubled by fear produces this, a worried life. So worry is just simply a flow of fear. So we have to reject thoughts of worry. A renewed mind is a mind that refuses to worry. Jesus said, take no thought. And then he said, don't take the thought wondering, where's my food going to come from? My drink going to come from, the clothing for my body. He's telling us, don't even think about the daily necessities of life. Don't even worry about them. Well, Kenneth E. Hagin was our spiritual father and dad. Hagin used to make a statement in his preaching, and he would say this. He'd ask us this, how do you know if you're worrying? And then he'd answer it for us. He'd say, if you're thinking about it now, notice that if you're thinking about something that is not in line with the Word, that's in the flow of worry. And if you yield to that flow of worry, fear will enter in and dominate and dictate to you the directions you take in life. And so a mind that is renewed is a mind that is refusing to worry. Now, notice this. Circumstances are still going to arise, but you refuse to worry about them. Well, if you're not going to worry about them, what are you going to do? Well, the Word says, casting all your care on him, for he cares for you. So when a temptation of worry comes, you're going to say, worry, I resist you. I refuse to worry. Yes, I have a circumstance in my life that I'm going to need to address and deal with. So I take that and I lay that before God. Father, I cast all my care on you. I refuse to worry. I know this. You're directing me and you're leading me about what to do about this situation. And since you are, I don't need to worry about it. I refuse to worry. Worry is the opposite of faith. Because worry is a flow of fear, and fear is the opposite of faith. So if you will stay in the flow of faith, being in the flow of faith doesn't mean you know all the answers. But being in the flow of faith means that you know how to stay in the flow where God can tell you the answers for every situation that arises. Have you ever noticed that when you start worrying, it's so difficult to hear from God? It's like God goes silent. Well, it's not really that God goes silent. He doesn't quit speaking. It's just that we removed ourselves from the position that we no longer hear. And so we take ourselves out of a hearing position when we worry. So the renewed mind refuses to worry because we trust. Even though I may not know the answer to this situation right now, as I stay focused on God, as I cast all my care on him, and he will bring me in to what I need to know. He'll cause me to know what I need to know. And when you rest on that, when you have faith that God will lead you, you refuse to worry. Now just know this. A worried mind is a sign of an unrenewed mind. The more someone worries, the further away they are from a renewed mind. Now notice this. Sometimes you can really never worry about one arena of your life. Maybe you're the type, you never worry about finances, but then you worry about health or you worry about children. Well, you can really have renewed mind toward one arena but not be renewed toward another arena where you worry. If you'll pay attention, where do you tend to worry what do you what things you tend to worry about? Those are indicators of where you need to renew your mind. If you tend to worry about the body or worry about your health now you know you need to just renew your mind more in that arena. That means you need to feed on healing in the word. You need to find healing scriptures and faith scriptures and build yourself up and renew your mind regarding that. Or maybe you're one that you tend to worry about finances. Take that worry as an indicator of where you need to renew your mind. Yes, we refuse to worry, but that's indicating to you. It's pointing out to you where you need to further renew your mind. So whenever you tend to worry about something, know that there's some homework there to do. But you know what? Join the club. The rest of us are constantly dealing with our minds, renewing our minds. And the more we renew our minds, the more peaceful life becomes, the more joyful life becomes. It is such an important thing to renew our minds now. The renewing of the mind has to happen for every believer. If you're a minister, you still need to renew your mind just like every other believer. Having a call to the five fold ministry does not indicate that you are automatically mature. We all have to mature spiritually. And part of that maturity process is renewing our minds with the Word of God. And can I say this? The major part of the maturity process is renewing our minds with the Word of God and keeping our bodies under. So just because we've been saved a long time or just because we may be called to the five fold ministry and even serving in our local church does not mean that our minds are renewed. It doesn't mean that we're keeping our bodies under the dominion of our spirits. So every single minister, every single believer, this is our lifelong profession, develop our spirits so that we're keen to the Holy Spirit, keen to the things of God, keep our minds being renewed with the Word of God, and keep our bodies under the dominion of our spirit so that it doesn't run away with us and go the wrong direction. I believe today's blessed you. We've got some more ministering along this line, so you'll want to join us for more episodes of Jesus Christ the Healer. God bless you.