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Peace For The Mind, Part One | 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.
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Turn with me if you would this morning to second Timothy, chapter one, two Timothy, chapter one. And I want to read such an important verse for us to understand. And we'll start in verse seven. Second Timothy, chapter one, verse seven. It reads, God has not given us the spirit of fear. How many of you know fear is not simply a feeling, it is a spirit. And that spirit will produce a feeling. But fear is a spirit. How many of you know that? Part of that spirit of fear is anxiety, panic attacks, all of that comes out of the spirit, spirit of fear. And any spirit that's not from God we have authority over. So the spirit of fear is under our authority in the sense of when that spirit of fear shows up, we're authorized to keep the door shut to it and to tell it not coming in here. Amen. So God has not given us a spirit of fear. That means God's not using fear to direct us. God's not using fear to guide us. He's not using fear to lead us. And if something is fearfully trying to bombard and drive you, you know God's not in that. Amen. Because the spirit of fear will try to pass itself off as the leading of the spirit that if you don't do this, God's going to be mad at you. If you don't do this, you're going to get out of the will of God and it will give you the ultimatums, so to speak. But God's not using fear to direct you and to cause you to follow something of his plan. God's not given us the spirit of fear, but a power and of love and of a sound mind. The Amplified says of sound, calm, well balanced. Look at this disciplined and self controlled mind. Meaning this. That mind is under your control. It's not under the devil's control. But let me tell you this, it's not under God's control either. It's under your control. So the Amplified says that God's given us a sound, calm, well balanced, disciplined and self controlled mind. This is the kind of mind God authored for us. This is the kind of life and mind God provided for us. Now notice this. This is also our defense against the spirit of fear. Sound, calm, well balanced, disciplined, self controlled mind. That is our defense against the spirit of fear. If we're not going to control and discipline our thought life, the spirit of fear will get in and he's telling us this is our defense against the spirit of fear. Now, this is God describing the renewed mind. Sound, calm, well balanced, disciplined, self controlled. That is the. That is what a renewed mind looks like. Amen. Notice we cannot have a renewed mind if we don't discipline our thought lives. We can't have a renewed mind if we don't take control of what we allow into our minds. Now, you know this. The Devil, he'll talk to us. He will threaten us. He will give suggestions. The greatest power, the only power the devil has left is the power of suggestion. He will suggest something, something to the mind, threaten us with something. And if you believe that threat, then he's got an open door to work it. So he threatens. But how many of you know that the sound mind, the renewed mind, is controlled? It's not just running without rain on that thing. You have to reign your mind in. Your mind will try to run off with you. Amen. That means you don't sit in a certain thing. And I was talking to somebody and they said, you know, when I ride in an airplane, I sit and I look out the window and I see all the rivets in the wing, and I think, what's going to happen if all those rivets come out? That's called undisciplined lack of control. People go, oh, my gosh, that's too much. Listen, people do the same thing. What if I can't pay my mortgage? What if I can't pay my interest? That's the same undisciplined lack of control mind. So don't sit there and say, oh, I would never think those uncontrolled thoughts. Any uncontrolled thought is equal. Haven't you ever had your kids play the what if game? Oh, my goodness, you got to shut down those what if games. Because some children, their mind is more energized in the what ifs, they play out this control. But I guarantee you, in pastoring all the years I pastored, there are so many adults that also are undisciplined in the what if game.
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Amen.
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A renewed mind doesn't play the what if game. The greatest needs of every believer is twofold. Number one, renew the mind. Number two, develop the spirit. Develop your spirit. Develop your spirit. Why? Is it because if we will renew our mind and develop our spirit, we have the greatest defense against the devil. He can't get in. Amen. The devil and his attacks are very real. But many times people are trying to deal with the devil when the real problem is an unrenewed undisciplined mind. Romans 12, verse 1. Go with me, if you would. Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. It reads, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you. That you. That you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, or as the Amplified says, which is your spiritual worship. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. As we said in a previous service, God did something with our spirits at the new birth. He gave us a new spirit. But we are the ones who have to do something with our minds and do something with our bodies. And if we don't do something with our minds and our bodies, nothing will be done about our minds and bodies. We are the custodians of our minds and our bodies, not God. We are. He gave us the means whereby we could do the right thing with our body and our mind. He gave us the Word. He gave us the Holy Ghost. We have the name of Jesus. We have the blood of Jesus. We have the authority. Amen. So what are we to do with our bodies? We're to present our bodies to God. That means present it to right doing. Present it to righteousness. Don't present it to sin. Before we were born again, we presented our bodies to sin. That means we would yield to it. But now we yield to righteousness. Now we yield to the things that please God. We yield to things that are in line with the Word. That's what we do with our bodies. When our body wants to do what it used to do, we go, oh, no, you don't anymore. Oh, no, you don't anymore. Why? Because you. You have the grace, which is God's divine ability to help you walk out what he provided for you. So we have the grace and we are empowered to say, no, you don't. Flesh, you're not taken off with my life. Why? Because Romans 6 tells us that sin shall no longer have dominion over us. It has no dominion over us anymore. Amen. The body may want to do wrong, but we are authorized. Say, no, you don't. No, you don't. Your pastor can't tell your body, no, you don't. For you, you have to tell your own body, no, you don't. Your parents can limit to him for a period of time. Tell your body, no, you don't. But there's going to come a time you're going to have to learn to say to your own body, no, you don't. Because if you don't your body will run off with your life. And if it does, it can ruin your life. Your body can ruin your life even if you're born again. That's why we have to present our bodies to God. We have to present or yield our bodies to doing right, to doing righteousness, to doing what pleases God, to doing what's lined out in the Word, not presenting it to sin or wrongdoing. So we are to present our bodies to God, but we are to renew our minds with the Word. Then our lives will be transformed. Our lives are not transformed at the new birth. They are transformed through the renewing of the mind. If we fail to renew our minds with the Word, our lives will look like they did before we were born again. Our daily lives won't look any different. We'll still struggle, we'll still suffer. We'll still be fearful, have depression, deal with all kinds of problems, go from crisis to crisis. We without an unrenewed mind, that's your future. But God stopped that process and empowered us to stop that process at the new birth. He's saying, you don't have to live that way anymore. Your life can be transformed from what it used to look like now. Because you're a child of God. You've got the life of God in you. Let the life of God dominate you instead of letting your body and your mind dominate you. Amen. Hallelujah. To renew our minds means this. To take on God's way of thinking and doing. That's what it means. The Word is the thoughts of God. Look at this. God took his thoughts and through men, wrote them down. You want to have a talk with God? It's called read the Word. That's him talking. That. That's his thoughts. That's how God reveals His way of thinking to us, is through His Word. So since God offers us his thoughts, it would benefit us to take them. Amen. If we see in the Word that God's way of thinking is different than our own in some aspects, that means we. We say, okay, that's different. I lay down the way I thought about that, and I pick up the way God thinks about that. That's called the renewing of the mind. When you are feeding on the Word at home, you are being offered to you the opportunity to have your mind renewed. When you come to church services, you are being given the opportunity to renew the mind. Being in a church service will not renew your mind. It gives you the opportunity to hear the Word. And as you implement the Word, then the Mind is renewed. Just knowing what the Word says. Being able to quote the Word does not equal your mind being renewed. It's when that word finds its place in your daily life and actions and your mouth and your thoughts. That's when the mind is renewed. Amen. To renew the minds means to fill our thoughts with what God says. You understand? Fill our thoughts. Fill our thoughts with what God says. Hallelujah. God wants us to take on his thoughts because his thoughts are a barrier against the enemy getting in. When we think like God thinks, the devil has no point of entrance. He cannot ever get in, no matter how much he attacks. We can't stop the devil from attacking, but we can stop him from getting in. And the way we stop him is we think like God. Amen. You say, what do you mean you think like God? Well, whenever anything shows up that opposes or is different than the Word, what we are to do is ask ourselves this. What's the Word tell me to do about this? What does the Word say about this? What does the Word tell me to do? We have to give ourself this new habit of asking ourselves, what does the Word say? And then fill our thoughts with that and act in line with that. That's the process of renewing the mind. When someone's mind is not renewed, the devil has open access. They are his victim. But it doesn't have to be that way because we're authorized to not be the victim anymore. But the unrenewed mind turns us into what we used to be. The renewed mind brings us into what God offers us. Amen. An unrenewed mind is accepts the devil's thoughts, but a renewed mind accepts God's thoughts. Now you can know how far is my mind renewed throughout the day? Whose thoughts did you cling to? Whose thoughts got your attention? What did you allow to run around and turn over in your head to think thoughts against your spouse? Where do you think that came from? God's not giving you thoughts against your spouse. Amen. To speak against your boss, who do you think that thought came from? So many people think that they're running their own life. When your life is a reflection of the one you're yielding to, your thought life is a reflection of the one you're yielding to. Amen. Now we know this. We never get done with this divine process of renewing our minds. That means for the rest of our lives we are to pay attention and be skillful and develop this divine process of renewing our minds. Because we're never done and because the renewing of the mind is a process. Many are negligent about the process. If it could get done in a moment, that and this step is an unrenewed mind. Take one step and we're renewed, then all of us would be there. But the renewed mind is a step, a step, a step every day, all throughout the day, for the rest of your life. Any step once you have made many steps toward renewing your mind, one step back is a step toward an unrenewed mind. Amen. The renewing of the mind is a process and many are negligent about the process and that that's why they have crisis in their life. The unrenewed mind will go from problem to problem, from drama to crisis, to upheaval, to loss to defeat. It just goes one after another. And people will blame the devil, but the fault lies with us being negligent in the process of renewing of the mind. The mind is Satan's chief battleground. When he wants to attack your life, he shows up at the mind. Even if he wants to attack your body, he's got to get you thinking wrong to accept symptoms. Even if he wants attack your finances, he's got to get you thinking wrong to accept that every attack from the enemy all always comes with an attack on the mind. Because if you think right, you won't let the attack in. So he's got to get you thinking wrong so that you accept any attack, no matter what arena it comes in. The mind is Satan's chief battleground. And if we're going to rule and reign over the devil and over circumstances that arise in life, not being the devil's victim. How about that? We're going to have. We. We have to renew our minds. And your pastor cannot renew it for you. All your pastor can do is give you the tools that you can renew it with. An unrenewed mind listens to what the devil says and believes it.
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Amen.
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How? If people are going to listen to the devil, how do we listen to him? We say, well, I know it's the Devil, I don't want that thought. Yeah, but if we turn that thought over and over and over, that's called listening. You can't keep from hearing the devil, but you can keep from turning his thoughts over and over and over. Dad Hagin used to quote this to us. You can't keep the birds from flying around your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair. That means you can keep them from landing. Thoughts are going to come and swirl around your head. What are they trying to do? They'll circle around and cycle through. You might get up in the morning and the thoughts just circle through. And throughout the day, the mind is just surrounded and these thoughts bombarding. Just because they're circling doesn't mean you have to give them landing pad. How do you keep those thoughts from landing? Answer them. Answer them. Say, no, you don't. If the devil says, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to cause harm to your finances. No, you're not going to cause harm to my finances. My God shall supply. You have to answer the thoughts. And let me tell you to act like the devil isn't talking. Is the spirit of fear. Many people think that if I ignore him, if I repeat it, that's me taking it. No, you have to answer him. How many people have not gone to the doctor because they were afraid of the report they might hear? You know, when we were in Tulsa in the 80s, there was some kind of report that came out and said in the medical field that there were more preventable deaths in Tulsa than any other city in the nation. Why? Because so many people were hearing faith and had a misunderstanding. They weren't developed yet and they were going to the doctor too late. And things that would have been preventable, they waited till it was too late. Can I tell you what? That's not faith. That's fear. So many were afraid to go.
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Amen.
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Because of what they might hear. Well, praise the Lord. Well, I'm in faith. Well, if you're in faith, you can receive your healing. If you're not receiving, get to the doctor. Amen. God would rather have you alive than dead in faith. Well, praise the Lord. But people will listen. People will listen to what the devil says, and they'll believe it. And they'll think, well, if I ignore it, it'll go away. No, you don't ignore it. You answer it. You talk to it. Amen. When people open the door of their mind to the devil, they will be depressed. They will be harassed, they will be tormented, they will be fearful, they will be anxious, they will be oppressed. We can't keep him from attacking, but we can keep him from finding a place to land. The renewed mind has no room for the devil's landing pad. First Corinthians, chapter 10. Excuse me. Second Corinthians, chapter 10 and verse 5. Second Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 5. It says, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, or the knowledge God gives and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Notice this. Bringing into captivity every thought. Every thought, Every thought. You can cast down 99 of the hundred thoughts, and it only takes the one you didn't cast down to get in and ruin every thought. Well, that's just too much, Pastor Nancy. Well, God's the one that said it, not me. And if he said it, it's not too much to carry it out. Why, we have divine help in carrying it out. We have the Holy Ghost in us to help enlighten us and remind us and help us pay attention to what needs to be cast down. Notice the first words here in this verse, casting down imaginations. Notice this. Casting down is a very aggressive action. It's not a passive approach toward thoughts that are wrong. You better be aggressive against wrong thoughts because wrong thoughts will ruin your future, ruin your life, ruin your home, ruin your mind, ruin your body, ruin your family. And you better not deal with. With it passively. Cast it down. Amen. You've heard me talk about my dad. An idea of what casting down looks like. My sister, my mom and I. And I don't remember if anyone else was with us. And my dad, this probably about 25 years ago. So we were grown. We weren't kids, but we were grown. And on Daddy's land was some water. And so we decided to go fishing. And there was just a small rowboat on the side of the water, and it was turned upside down. And so Daddy flipped it over and we all got in it. We got out to the middle of the lake, and we're just out there fishing. And while we did, out the corner of our eye, we saw something. Did we just see what we think we saw? We saw a big old rat in the boat. You don't want to be in the middle of a lake when there's a rat in the boat. So we all, you know, all the girls, we put our feet up, you know, because there's benches, you know, in there. And he had gotten up at the point of the. Of the boat. You know, there was a seat over that point, and so Daddy was sitting on that, but he had run up under that point, so. So he couldn't get out. He was kind of, you know, pinned in at the point of the boat. You can tell. I know. No boating terms. Right at the point of the boat. And so Daddy rowed us back over. We got over to the land, and then we all got out real slow. You know, we're jumping out, and Daddy Pulls out his big old pocket knife. And at the point, like I said, there's a seat over it. So. So there's no way for that rat to get out. And daddy's just got his knife out and he goes, going like this up under there until he feels something. And he poked something and felt something and pulled that knife out and he had that rat stuck through the leg. Say yes, Amen. That's what you do with a rat. I don't want to hear any sorrow. Rats are. Rats. Know the difference between a rat and a human. So Daddy's got that rat, that knife through the back of his thigh, that leg, you know, back there, and pulls him out. And then he's still alive. He doesn't. He doesn't hurt. He don't feel nothing, you know, so daddy grabs him by his tail. Tail. And daddy doesn't just let him down. Daddy winds that thing up by the tail. He starts winding up and there's a big rock in that. He goes, bam. That's called casting down. Because if you don't do something at casting that thing down, that will jump back up. You better cast that thing down so it doesn't come back up. So when it says casting down imagination, it's not saying cast down imagination, it's casting down. You better be aggressive. You better be purposeful. This thing's not rising again. Amen. Casting down imaginations and every high thing. How do you cast it down? You answer it and say, no, you don't. You're not deceiving me. No, you don't. I'll not believe that about my spouse. I'll not believe that about my pastor. I'll not believe that about my brother. I'll not say that about my employer. And if you don't on purpose, can I cast it down? It will live again. To come back and visit you. You have to cast it down so that it never has an opportunity to rise against you again. Amen. This is the work of the believer. This is the work of the renewed mind. We're not playing and we're not being soft spoken when it comes to dealing with the devil. We're putting our foot down and using our authority. And say, you might have attacked one, but you'll wish you never had. Hallelujah.
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