Staying Ahead | Joel & Amy Siegel | Fredonia, NY | Thursday AM | Miracle Crusade 2022

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Staying Ahead" | Joel & Amy Siegel | Fredonia, NY – Miracle Crusade 2022 (Thursday AM)

Date: August 23, 2022
Speakers: Joel & Amy Siegel
Host: Dufresne Ministries
Theme: Living Spiritually Ahead: Prayer, Preparation, & Confidence in God’s Guidance

---

Episode Overview

This episode, part of the Miracle Crusade 2022, features Joel and Amy Siegel as they delve into the spiritual principle of “staying ahead” through prayer, preparation, and partnership with God. With a focus on breaking free from fear of the future, they illustrate how believers can cultivate a lifestyle of readiness and confidence, citing scriptural examples, personal testimonies, and practical teachings. The episode’s tone is lively, humorous, and full of faith, offering encouragement for navigating unknowns and transitions by walking closely with God.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Call to Live Full, Not Empty ([00:09])

• Joel opens by challenging listeners not to show up to church (or life) spiritually empty but to remain perpetually full—"Come to church full, leave more full, then live full."
• Flesh (human nature) acts up when believers are spiritually empty, but can be kept 'under' by immersing oneself in the things of God (Galatians reference: "walk in the Spirit and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh").

Quote – Joel ([01:17]):

“The best way to keep the flesh under is to drown it. Just keep so much of the river of God in you, keep it underwater. If it can’t breathe, it can’t speak.”

---

2. Miracles: Be, Don’t Just See ([02:38])

• Miracles aren't just to be observed; God desires believers themselves to be miracles and walk in the supernatural as a normal lifestyle.
• Importance of recording testimonies as “landmarks” of God’s faithfulness; believers should maintain a journal or “book” of personal miracles ([04:45]).

---

3. Main Message: Staying Ahead Through Prayer ([06:40])

• Joel pivots from previous teachings on the Word “speeding ahead” to focus on the necessity for believers to personally "stay ahead" by praying out their futures rather than reacting to crises.
• Anchoring Scripture: Proverbs 31:25
  • Multiple translations are read, emphasizing “She laughs without fear of the future” and “her position is strong and secure” ([08:42]).
• Biblical context: Perilous times are promised for the “last days,” but the believer can have confidence and joy because God sees the end from the beginning.

Quote – Amy ([09:01]):

“She laughs without fear of the future… rejoices over the future, knowing that she and her family are in readiness for it.”

---

4. God Is Not Limited by Time ([11:22])

• God operates outside human time; He’s omnipresent—already in the future.
• Through fellowship and yielding to Him, believers can "get to the future before it gets to them."
• Biblical illustrations: Paul foresaw dangers ahead of his journey (Acts 27); modern believers can experience similar spiritual foresight.

Quote – Joel ([12:03]):

“If we’ll learn to walk with Him… we can get to our future before our future gets to us.”

---

5. Prayer: Laying Track for Your Life ([15:28])

• Amy uses the analogy of running on a clear track vs. through tangled woods. Prayer “cuts the branches away” and “makes the way clear and open.”
• “Praying out” the path prepares believers, so even unforeseen challenges become easy to pass through ([17:45]).

---

6. Staying Ahead: Practical Application ([18:10], [21:30])

• Referencing Proverbs 4:10–12: If you follow wisdom, “your path will be clear and open, and when you run, you’ll not stumble.”
• The importance of praying in tongues ([23:10]), citing 1 Corinthians 14 as releasing “divine mysteries and sacred secrets" that prepare you for future unknowns.
• Staying ahead means being proactive in prayer—not just emergency prayers.

Quote – Joel ([22:08]):

“Prayer for most people is an act of last resort... what a wonder if you would start with that?”

---

7. Living in Continual Communion ([25:44])

• Living “in Him we live and move and have our being.” Christianity is not compartmentalized—it’s full-life fellowship, not Sunday visitation.
• As you sow to the Spirit (Galatians 6), you will reap a flow of life; if you pursue God’s realm, His realm enters your daily experience.

Quote – Joel ([27:15]):

“God’s not a part of our life. God is our life…We live—come on now—in Him we live and move and have our being.”

---

8. Spiritual “Ultrasound”: Seeing & Praying Into the Future ([28:40])

• Amy likens praying in the Spirit to an ultrasound—seeing spiritual realities before they manifest.
• The mind can’t always grasp what the spirit discerns; don’t “grab a slice” and force the future but “pray it out and walk it out” ([30:28]).

---

9. Personal Testimonies of Guidance ([31:55], [37:33], [40:12])

a. Big Moves & Ministry Decisions

• Joel and Amy share how, through much prayer, they navigated a major geographic move (to Buffalo) and ministry shifts, emphasizing not rushing God’s timing.
• Guidance came unexpectedly—a sudden love for the Buffalo Bills football team served as confirmation (see [41:18]).

b. Don’t Crowdsource Guidance

• They refrained from discussing decisions even with close friends and sometimes each other until they were both sure they’d heard from God ([39:13]).
• Only after both independently received confirmation did they move forward.

c. Staying Ahead for Others

• Amy shares an instance of spiritually “picking up” on a minister friend's child facing a medical crisis, praying it through days before the emergency occurred ([44:26]).
• The ability to say, “I’ve already got this. This has already been taken care of. The future has been prayed out.”

Quote – Amy ([48:20]):

“How precious is that to be able to… say, ‘I’ve already got this.’”

---

10. Historic Testimony: John G. Lake ([49:19])

• Lake prayed so much before his mission work in Africa that he would arrive in towns knowing exactly what to expect—economy, language, even the look of the city—having “seen it in prayer.”

---

11. Modern Example: Health Insurance & Healing ([50:33])

• Subtle spiritual promptings: Amy repeatedly sensed the need to purchase health insurance.
• A routine physical (which wouldn’t have happened without the prompting) revealed a potentially deadly, otherwise invisible cancer in Joel.
• Their response combined faith, peace, medical wisdom, and patient obedience, resulting in complete healing and protection from tragedy ([53:53]).

Quote – Joel ([54:44]):

“Ain’t nothing that this doctor is going to tell me going to change what your word says.”

---

12. Lessons on Obedience, Flexibility, and Confidence ([61:44])

• Following God’s plan may contradict your preferences, but it guarantees success and peace.
• The principle is not exclusive to ministers; every believer is entitled to Spirit-led living and planning.

Quote – Amy ([61:44]):

“This is for all of us. It is the benefit of being a believer, being in covenant with your Father…it is a benefit of being filled with the Spirit of God. You can pray out your future."

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "She laughs without fear of the future.” (Multiple references: [08:42], [09:01])
• "You can get to your future before your future gets to you." ([12:03])
• "Pray it out and walk it out. Don’t force it—flow." ([30:39])
• “If you’ll go to God’s realm, His realm will come into your realm.” ([27:36])
• “I've already got this…the future has been prayed out.” ([47:40])
• "God's not a part of our life; God IS our life." ([27:15])
• "We want to be led, not just healed." ([55:56])
• "You can touch your future before you get there... and walk through life without fear." ([61:44])

---

Important Timestamps for Segments

• 00:09–04:45: Spiritual fullness vs. emptiness, testimonies, miracle living
• 06:40–09:29: Proverbs 31, "laughing without fear," introduction of staying ahead theme
• 11:22–15:28: God beyond time, scriptural and modern examples of foreknowledge
• 15:28–23:10: Prayer as clear path; running analogy; practical impact of “praying it out”
• 23:10–28:40: Importance of praying in tongues, sowing to the Spirit, and full-life communion
• 28:40–32:00: Spiritual 'ultrasound,' sensing and preparing for the future in prayer
• 32:00–39:07: Stories of ministry moves, personal guidance, consecration, waiting for God’s clarity
• 44:26–48:20: Praying ahead for others, not missing promptings, supernatural peace
• 50:33–60:52: The health insurance testimony, following Spirit-led promptings for practical protection
• 61:44–62:27: Application for all believers, assurance in God’s guidance, exhortation to live fearlessly

---

Conclusion & Final Exhortations

• Believers are called not to fear what lies ahead but to embrace a life of preparation, confidence, and fullness by staying connected with God through prayer and sensitivity to the Spirit.
• This lifestyle is available to everyone in covenant with God, not just “the fivefold ministry.”
• Listeners are encouraged to pray out their futures, to make room for miracles and timely guidance, and to experience “laughing without fear of the future.”

Final Call – Joel ([62:27]):

“You ought to know that you’re in the will of God… God will help keep you and I ahead. You can pray ahead of things!”

---

[Learn more or connect with Dufresne Ministries at dufresneministries.org.]

Transcript

[A]

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

[B]

Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Whoo. Glory, Anybody. Here at church, you just send your body, huh? Come on, don't make me read filled to you. How many know we don't just come to church to get full, but the higher level of living is to come full and then to leave more full and then to live full, and then just all the time. Never let yourself get down to empty. Because if you're spiritually empty, that means all we have is. Is a lot of your flesh. It's not mad at anybody. It's just true. It's true. It's true. You have. Your flesh is just like my flesh. It'll say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, get hurt at everything that's said. Come on. Be touchy about everything. And then snap at your spouse. Come on. So I hear. You know what I mean? I've heard that your flesh will do all that if you don't keep it under. And I'll tell you, people work so hard sometimes at trying to keep the flesh under. But did you know that Galatians say, walk in the spirit and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. The best way to keep the flesh under is to drown it. Just keep so much of the river of God in you. So come on, now, just keep it underwater. That's what it talks about, about keeping the flesh under. I keep my body under. Paul said, just keep it dunked down under the things of God, under the flow. And it can't get a breath. If it can't breathe, it can't speak. I should pay you for being able to say this stuff. Well, I should pay you. You've told me. I owe you, so I gave you cash the other day. You know, I'm a better student of Pastor Michael than I think a lot of people that live here. So I quote him. But anyhow, thank you for the utterance that's here. Praise the Lord. Cause I sure didn't plan to say any of that. What I meant to say was, good morning. We're so thrilled again to get to be here for miracles in the morning. Amen. And understand that miracles aren't just something that you see. It's something God wants you to be. Amen. There's a. There's a. There's a flow of the miraculous that you and I, all of us, are to learn and to walk in and cooperate with, and we can praise God live a supernatural life, just one supernatural thing after another supernatural thing and another supernatural thing. And it ought to be the case that you have more testimonies than could ever be told. Glory to God. So keep your own book of testimonies. You know, in our church, for years when we pastored here in Orchard Park, New York. Anybody know where Orchard park is? You know it because it's the home of the Buffalo Bills, but it used to be home of the church we pastor. But we would have something called good reports. And we'd have. They were little blue cards. And I'll tell you, my church got fanatical about blue cards. People would run before the service started. People would be tripping over everything, running to get one up to the pulpit. And I'd sometimes have the entire pulpit.

[A]

Now.

[B]

My pulpit pastor Kenneth Hagin gave me my pulpit because they were remodeling the classrooms at Rhema. And so as he said, we have all these old ones. Do you want one? I said, yes, because I know who taught from that. Not being spooky, not being weird, but just the legacy of who spoke. Not just Brother Hagin, but all different ones, you know, so it's like, oh, yeah, so I have. I still have that. And anyhow, it would be just be covered, all these cards, all these testimonies. Well, I would tell. And we still do that today, but I would tell people, if your testimony hasn't come to pass yet, just go ahead and write it out ahead of time. Write it out. We're not going to share it ahead of time, but write it ahead of time, put it on your fridge and read it every day. And when it comes to pass, trip over somebody, get that card up there, put it in the offering, however they did it, you know, and just. You ought to have so many landmarks of man. God did this. You know, God's blessed us in ministry, blessed us in life, certainly blessed us with places to live and things to drive and, you know, just all the natural things of life. But everything we have. And I mean, come on, everything we have, there's a God story attached to it. And I could tell, you know, if somebody says, well, I like that vehicle, I can say, let me tell you how this happened, because we didn't. We couldn't have done this. You know what I mean? Or somebody said, well, I like where you live. Oh, yeah. Let me tell you about the house we live in that wasn't for sale. And the owner said, no, you can't have it. No, no. And then finally said, for the Last time. No, stop asking me. Testimony. Just one after another. Amen. Well, listen, we want to continue ministering on some things today. Actually, we have been ministering this week on our part in the word of God speeding ahead and particularly bring in a supply to the ministry offices who proclaim that word. Amen. And I want to go a little bit different direction today if we can. My wife and I want to share some things, not so much about the word speeding ahead, but I want to talk about you staying ahead, you and I staying ahead and through prayer, staying ahead of things, staying in front of things. I believe Pastor Nancy just maybe in passing made mention of some of those things last night during her message. But it was on my heart to minister on those about staying ahead. Would you turn to the 31st chapter of the book of Proverbs this morning? You got your translations? Yeah. Hallelujah. How many love the word? You know, I thought it was really almost over element, you know, super simple. And it is. When brother Hagin would always in his meetings have us point to ourselves and say the Bible, why don't you say that the Bible is God speaking to me. Anybody ever remember that? And they say, point to your neighbor, so let's do it. And he'd say, neighbor, the Bible is God speaking to you. So don't be hard headed, don't be thick headed. Listen to God. Now I added that part. He didn't say it. But you know, that sounds so, so rudimentary, so. But you know what, that revelation right there, man, that will help you approach God's word differently than maybe you otherwise would. So we're going to hear from God this morning. I'm going to have my wife come because we're going to read this in a couple translations. And it's just one verse, you know, talking about the Proverbs 31, Woman, you know about her. But you know, if it's true for the woman, it ought to be true for the guy as well. Amen. Glory to God in the 20. What is it, the 25th verse in the King James. It just says this, says strength and honor are her clothing. Okay. And she shall rejoice in time to come. I want to read this in the New Living to start with where it says she is clothed with strength and dignity. And look at, listen to this everybody. She laughs without fear of the future. She laughs without fear of the future. And what's the other translation you like it in? Go ahead and read it.

[A]

Strength and dignity are her clothing and her position is strong and secure. Say that again, strength and dignity are her clothing and her position is strong and secure. She rejoices over the future, the latter day, or the time to come, knowing that she and her family are in readiness for it.

[B]

Precious, precious verses, aren't they? Talks about the time to come, the latter time, you understand that the Bible talks about in First Timothy 4, that in the last days perilous times shall come, times of great stress and difficulty. The amplified says, difficult to bear. And so the times we live in just. I'm talking in the world around us. The times we live in are just. You might think, well, these are rough times. You haven't seen nothing yet but the Proverbs 31 gal. She laughs without fear of the future. Now, most believers I know can't necessarily do that because most folk are like I was. Well, maybe not. I'll just. I'll just talk about like I was. That's. Maybe not everybody else, but like I was. I was, without realizing it, very afraid of the future. Anybody ever been there? I'm not asking for testimonies. I'm just. Just maybe, Maybe a general. Yeah, yeah. Oh, my gosh. What's ahead, what might happen, what could be. And that's just natural to think that way. And we're not supposed to think natural. We're not supposed to live in the natural. So we're not supposed to think that way. But I did for a long time. Do you know why people are afraid of their future? They haven't been there yet. I said they haven't been there yet. You might say, well, of course we haven't been there yet. You ought to. I said you ought to.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

The spirit of God who indwells you is not bound by time and really does not even operate strictly within the constraints of what we know as time. Time is our guidelines and boundaries and markings to help us function. Huh? And it can be a help. Come on. How many know that? If you didn't know winter was coming, it'd be rough. If it just would have show up, right? If you didn't know seasons. And you're like, is the sun ever going to go down? No, we have it on schedule pretty much, right? So we can function. We can operate. But God's not limited by time. And your future isn't really your future in his eyes. God is omni. God's Omni. Praise the Lord. He's everywhere. He's all. He's in all. He's in the future. He's in. He's. But really, he's just. He Is he that comes to God must believe that he is. He just is. Amen. And if we'll learn to walk with him, live with him and yield to him, we can get to our future before our future gets to us. Amen. Now, anything in the Bible about this? I mean, have people ever gotten to deal with things ahead of time? Well, sure. People know things ahead of time all the time in Scripture. Pastor Nancy was talking about the last night as she was ministering. She was talking about the, the. The mole that was, that was telling the king or was telling off on the king's plans. Yeah. In fact, said you were going to be used that way we can call you the molecule. No, I'm just, I'm just playing. I'm just playing. No, God can. God can show you what's ahead. He can help you with things that are to come. You jump in anytime interrupt. I give you permission. Praise the Lord. He can show stuff ahead of time. I want to know, Paul, when he went on that journey to Rome on the ship, he's like, listen, it's not right for us to go. This ship is not going to make it. He knew. He knew that it was going to be a perilous journey. He was not the decision maker. All he could do was tell him, but he knew ahead of time what was going on. And then when it starts to happen, the Lord ministers again to him. He said, the ship's going to. It's going to be a total loss, but nobody's going to lose their life. And so he was able to say, listen. Listen to God, whose I am and whom I serve stood before me this night. Listen, there'll be no loss of life. And he said, cheer up, everybody. Are you kidding me? You're being tossed about on a broken ship. Said, cheer up. Take cheer for I believe God. It'll be just as it was told me and without fear of what was going to happen. As we'll just put it in today's context, as his plane was spiraling down without fear, he said, we gonna be okay.

[A]

It's alright.

[B]

I walk with God. And he shows me what I need to know. And if he didn't show me, I didn't need to know. That's where. Friends, you can walk. Now, I'm not saying we've been perfect at it, but we've experienced some wonderful help along these lines, right?

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

Talk about it.

[A]

Well, it's been said that prayer is the track that you run on. You think of a railroad track. A railroad car is not going to get very far without a track. And your prayer life is to be laying the track of your life. Now, God knows it, but you're bringing a supply of the spirit and you're cooperating with the spirit. And what you need to know ahead of time can be shown you as you are in these times of prayer. And I think often of a time when we lived in western New York, your parents had a place in the Pocono Mountains. Cabin. And we would go there at least for a week in the summer. And at that point in our lives, we were out running, exercising several times a week. And when we went to the Pocono Mountains, you know, when I was in Orchard park, we ran on sidewalks. Not so much in the mountains. There's nowhere to go. Except I thought, that's okay. They have woods. We'll just go running in the woods. Have you ever tried that? I don't suggest it. Why? Running in the woods is completely different. You've got. I mean, you've got branches coming at you, you've got roots sticking up. You've got rocks over here, you've got uneven paths over here. It is not pleasant to try and run. And what happens to you when you're out there is you have to slow down. It slows you up. It. It can trip you up. When the path isn't clear, and our prayer life is to be that path, it cuts. It cuts the branches away. It cleans things up. It makes the way clear and open for you so that when you hit it in real life, you can be like, ha, ha, ha ha, here we go. Let's run. We can just run. You don't have to. You don't have to be dodging things. You don't have to be looking at things. And even the opposition that comes up in life, it's easy to pass through because you've prayed it out. We use that phrase, prayed it out ahead of time. Praise the lord.

[B]

Amen. Well, you know, along those lines. And we're tag teaming. How many have ever watched wrestling? And you know what it means to tag out?

[A]

Never watched wrestling.

[B]

She never has. I have. But. Meaning as she's talking, I'm loading my gun, and when I'm talking, she's getting loaded. Proverbs 4. Verse Proverbs 4. Everybody doing well this morning? Yeah. You know, God will minister something to you today through some of someone that's ministering. And verse 10, I like it says, hear my son, receive my sayings. The years of your life shall be many. What do you have to do you have to hear and you receive. Amen. And I like verse 12. Well, verse 11 says, I've taught you in the way of wisdom, I have led you in right paths. She was just talking about running on a path. And verse 12 says, when you go, your steps shall not be straightened, and when you run, you shall not stumble. Let me read verse 12 to you in the amplified, if I could. It says, when you walk, your steps will not be hampered. Listen to this. Your path will be clear and open, and when you run, you'll not stumble. Another translation. Let me see. What is it? It's the new century version, says, nothing will hold you back. Well, we're talking about staying ahead. Staying ahead rather than always being blindsided. Always. And always having to catch up. I have a friend in ministry who. He's really a tremendous preacher, but years and years ago, you know, he was just starting to learn some of these things, and he would pray a little bit once in a while, but the Lord dealt with him. He said, you know, you're five years behind in your prayer life. Well, is that possible, to be five years behind? And these things don't just apply to ministers, you understand? Is it what. What's coming up ahead in your life next year? You don't know, but God knows. And there are things that need to be dealt with in prayer to make some of the events in life less of an event or make what could be a crisis not a crisis. And this verse talks about how your path can be clear and open, roadblocks can be removed, and you won't stumble and trip and fall and have things that delay you all the time. And there's a. Don't get me wrong, there's a variety of factors. Pastor was talking last night, so. I mean, it was so excellent about being properly connected. Well, hello. That's been a huge one for us when we could just say, that's been a big one for us. But then also, we know that things that we've touched in prayer ahead of time. Well, how do you deal with it if you don't know it? Well, that's the beauty of praying in other tongues. Do you remember what First Corinthians 14 says? Okay, I didn't mean the whole chapter, but go over there. Listen, I know some people present today are well established in these truths. Others may be hearing these things for the very first time. So we endeavor not to just rush real fast and pretend that, okay, well, everybody's just knowing this. Everybody's just walking in this. My experience has been that really very few people walk in in some of these things. And it's not always been the case that I've walked in the kind of prayer life to where we're staying in front of things instead of trying to play catch up and have emergency prayers. You know, prayer for most people is an act of last resort. You've heard the saying, well, there's nothing left to do now but pray. It's gotten so bad that it's time to start praying. Well, what a wonder if you would start with that. And maybe you wouldn't always be saying, there ain't nothing left to do now but pray. We don't have to experience all of the hardship we experience. We don't have to go through all of the difficulty that we go through. Yes, correct. Making me do so much of the work. But that's okay. Verse 2, chapter 14, First Corinthians says, He that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God, for no man understands him how be it in the Spirit, or really you could say by the Spirit, he speaks mysteries. The Amplified says, he utters secret truths and hidden things not obvious to the understanding. Precious, precious, precious. Other translations say he speaks divine mysteries and sacred secrets. You can go to your future before your future comes to you. Amen. You can touch things that are out ahead before they come and impact you. And one of the ways to do that is to spend good amounts of time praying in other tongues. Now, I know you're thinking what I'm. What I've thought before, I imagine. And that is. Well, you just got through three days talking to us about how we got to spend time praying for the ministry offices, and we got to spend time sowing to the Spirit so that the Word speeds ahead. And then now you're saying we got to spend time praying for our own stuff. And now you're saying we got to spend time praying for things we don't know. And you're probably wondering, where do I get all this time? Where do I get all this time? Well, it's so wonderful and it's so easy. If you'll just follow God all the time, you'll take care of everything. Now, what do you mean, follow God all the time? Live your whole life. As we've been hearing, some teaching on authority, dominion along with fellowship. If you'll live in fellowship with God. What is fellowship? Constant communion, meaning God's in your thoughts all the time. You don't go for hours and hours and hours and never think of the Lord. Now, that might Be that might be new thinking to some people. I understand that. I understand. I understand that. But I'm just telling you, we've developed the habit to where God's not a part of our life. God is our life. You see what we're saying? God's not something we do on. We don't have visitation hours on Sunday with God. We don't just have visitation with him on Sunday. We live. We live. Come on, now. In him we live and move. Have our being. Every breath I take. Come on. Every move I make, it's all. Am I on it? Come on, now. It's all with him. It's all supposed to be with him. Every breath you take. Every move. What's the next lyric? Every move I make. Yeah. Carnal people. That's like me. I know one line of every song. So you put it all together, it's probably come up with the whole thing. No, this is the God life. This is what Christianity is. Huh? It's not something we do. I'm going to all the prayer meetings at my church now. None of them are specifically for my life. As you're sowing to the Spirit. Galatians 6. Yes.

[A]

Huh?

[B]

Don't be deceived. God's not mocked. Whatsoever man sows, that shall he also reap. Whoever sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap a flow of life, the flow you'll have. If you'll go to God's realm, his realm will come into your realm. Amen. And you can live your life partaking of God. Partaking of the divine nature. Second Peter, chapter three says. I'm sorry, Chapter one, verse three. Partaking of the divine nature. Come on. With every breath, with every move, it can be a. It's a God life. And God will alert you, and God will help you. And there's times where you'll get things in prayer that are upcoming.

[A]

Right now, when you get things that are up, you can sense in your spirit. Okay, now we're touching the future, and I don't know how to say it any other way than you just sense where we're touching into what's ahead. And we don't let our mind. Well, I have to be careful not to let my mind try to grab ahold of things. Remember we were talking the other day, if you were here about the ultrasound, Right. When a woman is pregnant and you're looking into a realm that you can't yet physically see, but it exists, it's alive. It's real. Right? And in that realm, you, you, you need help to discern, because with that ultrasound, they can. They can look at. You know, obviously, when you see the outer form, that I. I can get the hand and the foot, I. I got that. I see where the head is. That's good. But they can. They can kind of go into different levels and layers. Now we're looking at, you know, the doctor starts measuring the heart, the. You know, and the. And the liver and the lungs and making sure everything's functioning right. Well, I need help with that because I don't. I don't discern that on my own, but I know that I'm looking into something. A different realm.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Right. And so we have the help of the spirit, but. But we don't let our mind just grab a slice of what we discern and then try to make our life look like that.

[B]

Yeah. Brother Hagin. Brother Hagin used to say, don't try to make it happen. Let it happen. Pray it out and walk it out.

[A]

Walk it out. Yes.

[B]

Yes. Yeah. Don't force it. Flow. Don't force. Flow.

[A]

But the advantage to having that prayed out is that when you get to those places, there is grace.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

From God. There is his. What is that? That just his ability, his power, his support that you'll need in whatever hour you're in. And you can just. It's in almost as if you've been there before.

[B]

Because you've been there before because you have.

[A]

In the spirit. It's like that woman looking at her baby before the baby's here and seeing into that realm and saying, wow, this is real. And you walk into that place and all that you need, even in hard places, all that you need, God's strength, God's, Everything is there for you. And you just walk into it.

[B]

Yeah. And that wipes out fear of the future.

[A]

Wipes it out.

[B]

You're not afraid of what's ahead. Because when you're walking in the kind of life that's in communion with God and you're spending time, even if you go, even if the prayer meeting's about something else, you understand, as you're sowing to the spirit, your stuff gets taken care of as well. And that's when, you know, we have a prayer meeting, usually weekly with some of our folk. And it's never usually for us and our personal stuff or them and their personal stuff. Sometimes the Lord will deal with us. You know, we're just going to pray out our own futures, but here together. But usually it's for the plan of God and the thing you Know, kind of the bigger picture stuff. But I tell people all the time, as you're sowing to the Spirit regarding these other things, God will honor that, and he'll give you glimpses about your own life. And sometimes it doesn't come while you're praying, but later afterwards, you'll say, oh, oh, look at this. Look what I stepped into. And all of a sudden I have this clarity. Wonder how that came about. You spent time sowing to it, sowing to the Spirit. Amen. And his help came back into your life. Yeah, many examples. And I know you could get many testimonies of how this works in our life. But, I mean, we have by the good grace of God and with a lot of his help. We have never made a wrong move. In all the moving we've done geographically, there was one time it looked like we did because maybe look to others like we did because we left a place we'd been for a long period of time, went somewhere, stayed there for nine months, then moved back to the place we left and then moved to another place. It was all the plan of God. And I would admit it readily if it wasn't right. I have no problem saying I missed it because it helps me to recognize if I did. And it would help you to not do the same thing. I'm just saying we've never made a wrong move in, you know, geographically, and all the moving we've done over the years, because God's been so gracious to us. But this is also one of the things, when we were serving Brother Hagin for years, you got to understand, traveling with the prophet of God, the enemy will bring plenty of opposition to those that serve somebody in that kind of thing to where. And a lot of that opposition comes through other people who are along with me, still getting their minds renewed and still crucifying their flesh, you know what I mean? And all that. But I'll tell you, all that aside, it was such a privilege, such a joy to be traveling everywhere Brother Hagin went. You can imagine. And I'm like, I will do this forever. And it didn't start that way. I almost didn't stay there. I almost was graduating from Bible school, and I had offers to do some other stuff, and it just looked awful attractive. And really, it looked like there was such a great need for it that I could feel that need for it. And I was really. God had to visit me and say, you might want to stay around here and get a few things. Thank God I listened. Thank God I listened. Amen. But then the time came, he starts dealing with us about. And dealt with me quite supernaturally about pastoring a church that was not on my radar. I did not see that coming, pastoring a church, you know, but he dealt with us. And I mean, as soon as I said yes and I said yes as soon as he dealt with me about it, because, you know, you're developing a relationship with him and when you spend time praying, you get conditioned to responding to him correctly. And so he actually said these words to me. He said, what about pastoring? That's what he said to me. Gave me the choice. What about pastoring? I said, if that's what you want, that's fine with me. I don't care. That was the conversation. That was my burning bush. That was my Macedonian call. And as soon as I said, I don't care, that's fine with me, if that's what you want, then the anointing to pastor came on me. And then when I stopped pastoring, that anointing has left me. Amen. Ask my wife. It hadn't been on me in a good decade or so. But anyhow, there was a lot to pray out. God deals with you to do something. Okay, where do you want me to do it? Where are we supposed to go? You want me to stay right here in Broker Narrow where I'm living and see if there's a parcel of land next door to Rhema where I was working, start a church there? Probably not. I said probably not. How do you know? How do you know all that's ahead when God deals with you to do this? Or maybe it's a business thing or whatever. How do you know when you have a time of transition or a pending time of transition? What's that? That's when you just sense change. Change. You spend extra time praying things out, sowing to the spirit, consecrating your. Oh, did you hear that? Consecrating yourself to God. What do you mean by consecrating yourself to God? I mean flushing all of your natural preference right out of you to where you just don't care as long as you know you're obeying him.

[A]

Right? Amen. Amen.

[B]

You can jump in. You want to jump in.

[A]

Well, it.

[B]

Talking about our.

[A]

It takes time. It takes time. We spent hours in times of prayer, not just. Not just together. Not. Okay, we're going to meet at 7pm tonight and pray, but just our own spending time praying so that we were both hearing accurately.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it took a. I want to.

[B]

Say it was a Couple years. It was a couple year transition from the time the Lord dealt with us about pastoring till the time we actually moved and we weren't behind.

[A]

No.

[B]

But how many know you can move too fast? And how does the flesh like to do? Oh, if I hear it, let's do it.

[A]

Let's do it.

[B]

Not before it's prayed out.

[A]

Not before it's prayed out.

[B]

You don't want to. You don't want to have your future get to you before you got to it. You want to stay ahead. Everybody say, stay ahead. Stay ahead, Stay ahead. You can stay ahead in prayer now. It took us a couple years and just navigating God's timing. We didn't know where we were going. We didn't know just exactly much of the details. Didn't know any of that. But finally, you want to tell about what you were doing on tv because what you saw on tv because it would fit in well here in this place.

[A]

Well, of course, this is when we were. You were working with Brother Hagin. We lived in Tulsa, and we knew we were supposed to step out. So we've been praying. Where. Where are we supposed to go?

[B]

What?

[A]

You know, how. What does this look like? Another little tip. Dipping sauce from last night.

[B]

Dipping sauce. I love that buffalo sauce.

[A]

Come on. We did not talk to other people about what God had put in our hearts.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

We actually didn't talk very much with one another.

[B]

Not very much.

[A]

Not very much. We, you know, he told me, since we're supposed to be, you know, I'm to pastor, we're going to be pioneering church. That's what that's about, what we said.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Why? Because we need the specifics from him, not from other voices.

[B]

And at that time, I didn't trust my ability to hear from God all that much. Meaning. I just didn't have a lot of experience behind me. And you only have the experience that you have. And I just wanted to make sure that I was settled on what God was telling me. She got settled on what God was telling her, and then we'll see how they match.

[A]

So he's in his flow, I'm in my flow, and I'm walking across our. We had a house at this in Tulsa, there in Broken Arrow. And I'm walking. I think I had a laundry basket in my hand. And it must have been a Sunday afternoon. And football was on the tv. And I'm walking through with the laundry basket, and guess who was on the tv? Football. It was Buffalo Bills. Come on, now. I was from Buffalo So I'm walking through and honest to goodness, all of a sudden, it's like something dropped on me. He said, the office of the pastor. You know what dropped on me? A love. I mean, a love for the Buffalo Bills.

[B]

Now, don't you listen, Listen. Y' all ain't all that, so don't get too excited.

[A]

They would actually been to the super bowl in recent years at that point.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But that's beside the point.

[B]

Bills boy, I love losing Super Bowl. Okay, sorry.

[A]

It's in the past. It's in the past. It's in the past. It's all in the past. I am serious. All of a sudden. Sudden, this love for that football team. And I knew what that meant because I grew up there. I grew up 15 minutes from that stadium, and I stopped dead in my tracks. I think I still held onto my laundry basket, but I felt like dropping it. And I looked at my husband and I said, are we moving to Buffalo? And he said, I believe so.

[B]

Yeah. See, we had prayed that out. We prayed it out, but we were praying out mysteries. They were mysteries not to God, you understand? Mysteries to us. And God dealt with us in different ways. Different ways. I didn't know. That's different.

[A]

That's different.

[B]

But that. That dropped. It wasn't just a love for the team. It was. It was a love for the area, for the region. And he. Well, if you're pastoring somewhere, you better have that.

[A]

We. We live next to Bill. The Buffalo Bill players. I mean.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

We were involved in.

[B]

Yeah. Had him come to our church and stuff like that. But anyhow, yeah, that's. That's. I mean, pray out your future and you'll intersect right things.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And you'll be led in right ways. What else do you want to share? Because this may as well be story time. Are these. Okay. Are these stories helpful? God will lead you differently. He'll probably put a love for the Denver Broncos in you or something like that. I'm just playing.

[A]

Just saying this works for our own lives. This works for our children's lives.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

You can pray out their future because you have a part to play and things to do. It also pastors this. You can help pray out your congregation members. You can help them in their future, and then it also helps with others that are connected to you. I don't know. For me, I have different assignments that the Lord gives me. And through the years, I've noticed a pattern with me, with praying for ministers, kids, different ones. And some, you know, I just Have a connection of friendship with another minister and one of their children will just come up. And I just mean I think of them, you know, something. And it's not mental, it's just something on the inside keeps coming up about them. Well, I've learned through the years that's an assignment. And I can help touch their lives presently or their lives in the future. And I'm reminded of this one time.

[B]

Excellent.

[A]

This one time where this minister couple, missionary couple, and we were actually for a short period of time, living in the same town. And she had several boys. Two of them on the same day got sick. One of them was rushed to the hospital, almost died. And it turned out to be a major life changing type of disease that needed a radical change in his diet and everything. And it was so consuming when this happened. It was so overwhelming. It had taken them by, by surprise. And her other son started to feel ill and said, you know, I was texting or whatever, mom, I don't feel good. And she's like, you know, it's just the flu, don't worry about it. And turns out he had appendicitis and he too had to be rushed to the hospital. So now both, you know, parents are in different rooms of the hospital, bouncing back and forth. We go to see them. Well, the one with appendicitis, he recovers, you know, it was fairly simple, had it removed and got sent home. Well, she's still dealing with the younger one who has, you know, they're not out of the hospital, they're going through all this stuff. And of course you can imagine as a mom, your heart is with that child and you don't have a lot of time to think about other things going on. Well, I'm in my home, just minding my own business. And her older son, the one that had the appendicitis, who's already released from the hospital, already home and already better. He keeps coming up to me and I find myself in the middle of the night just, mmm, what is this? What is this? And it took some time, maybe, I don't know how long, a few hours maybe. But then all of a sudden start laughing, realizing whatever the devil had planned for him, we've taken care of it. And I actually texted my friend, I said, how's the older one doing? Oh, he's great. And you know, here's the thing, if you start checking in the natural, the enemy will talk you out and say, you just wasted hours, you know, he's fine, you shouldn't, you know, you're Just. You're making that up. Listen, if you're following the promptings of the spirit, you're following a greater source than your minds. And a few days later, I get a text. You know, the older one, he's. He's sick. We're having to rush him back to the hospital. Something. You know, something didn't work. Right. Some kind of infection is raging. And I would. You guys, when this happens, it's so priceless. When you can look at someone that you're connected to and say, I've already got this.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This has already been taken care of. I took care of that days ago. The future has been prayed out.

[B]

Yeah. And sometimes you even laugh when you.

[A]

Hear, oh, ha, we got it.

[B]

That's called laughing without fear of the future. No, you don't do these things just out of your head. You don't just say, oh, I got it. It'll be all right. Unless it's for real. Unless it's for real. But like you said, oh, how precious is that to be able to.

[A]

Priceless.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Priceless connections.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, man. Living out of your heart in communion with the Holy Spirit to where your prayer life is just an ongoing thing. Yes, there's times of prayer, but I mean an ongoing fellowship to where your stuff does not take you off guard like it does for other people.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Doesn't mean you always know all the details of everything's coming up that you don't. Because faith is required. And I'm not saying there's not going to ever be something that happens that you didn't see ahead of time. But I'm telling you, you can live with confidence all the time knowing that. Father, if I missed it, I know you've got other people around me, my pastor and different ones. And we know that we've got this regardless. Even if I didn't. Right, Mrs. Right.

[A]

Right. Right.

[B]

Tell another one. These are fun.

[A]

Well, I do want to share about a minister named John Lake, who, when I read this, I was like, oh, I have. I have some work to do to get this king. But of course, he was a missionary to Africa, Southern Africa mainly. And he spent so much time praying before he got there. And he saw so much of his future that he said when he would step into towns in Africa, he knew what the town looked like before he got there. He knew what the economy was like. He knew what. What languages the people spoke. Not that he knew them. You know what I'm saying? He knew what. He had knowledge of what they spoke, and he Would tell the guide that was with him, they speak this, this is their, their currency. This is what. Because he had prayed so much ahead of time, he saw every place he went to before he got there. I haven't gotten to that point yet, but wow, that is amazing to me. That is amazing to me. You can be so keen.

[B]

Yeah. Tell about when God dealt with you about our insurance a couple years ago. Oh, wow.

[A]

So there are times where, when you're praying, the strangest things will come up. And when I was just fellowshipping with the Lord at one time, it just came up. And when we say these things, many times we're just talking about how we just get a prompting and kind of a knowing. You just seem to know what the Lord is saying. We're not hearing voices, we're not looking to hear voices. We're not praying for hours or skipping meals until we hear a voice. Please don't do that.

[B]

So subtle. You could miss it.

[A]

So subtle. The prompting of the spirit. And my prompting was get health insurance. Now your mind can take that and go with it. And so I was like, okay, well we'll do that at some point. And about a week later, again, get health insurance.

[B]

Now there have been times we've had it and then times when we'd made a move and in between places to live or maybe just the money wasn't there for it or whatever. And we didn't, we didn't have it. And you know, they like you to, but we just didn't.

[A]

Right.

[B]

But so we were in one of those times that God was saying to make sure you renew it or.

[A]

Right, right. And so I started looking into that and said, oh, you know, there's different options. And I was prompted to get the really good one. You know, there's different levels. Right. You know, we all know about all that stuff. We're faith people. Right. We believe God's our healer. Uh huh. And if we're not careful, we can let fear or something else try to talk us out of. We have to follow the Spirit. If he deals with you to get insurance.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You get insurance. Pastor Michael has a story on that.

[B]

Oh yeah. Which is why God didn't deal with me about that. Because I'll tell you how I would have reacted. I would have said, oh, I'm fine. And it really would have been out of fear. Just laying my sins before you.

[A]

So anyway, we got health insurance and then he prompted me to get, you know, physicals. Of course at this point point we were in our just praise the Lord. We're at the time where we were over 30. We were supposed to get physicals of every few years or whatever. So we signed up for all of that. And that's when the doctor found.

[B]

Yeah, they called. They called me afterwards and said, your. Your PSA score is high, and usually a high score is good. Video games, we don't know what all that. You want high score? They said, no, you're still scores high. And they said, we're gonna. We're gonna want you to see a urologist. Fine. I didn't know what it was. I didn't. You know, they said something with your prostate. And I didn't know what that was. But. So anyhow, yeah, we. They set me up with this urologist fella, and we had a conference with him, and he said, well, they have. They have you here because your score is high. I said, well, what does that mean? He said, well, that's how they screen for prostate cancer. I said, oh, and, you know, I'll tell you what, God, when God's leading you, he'll not just lead you to the right thing, he'll lead you to the right people. And I don't know if this doctor saved or not saved. He sure knew what I did, what I do, because, you know, they ask. And I told him, but he said, I'll tell you. He said, it's probably. It's probably not cancer. He said, but I'll tell you one thing. If it is, you are in the right place. He said, because I'm the head of three different robotic surgery programs. I'm like, well, we ain't no need to be talking about that, because I ain't having none of that. But anyhow, just turns out. Well, he called me after they did the biopsy and all that, and he said, well, I don't have the greatest news. He said, it's cancer. We need to come talk. So we did. Now you say, how did you feel about that? Well, by that time, I knew what the test meant.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Right. And I got with God and I said, ain't nothing that this doctor is going to tell me going to change what your word says. He can tell me I don't have this thing, and your word's still going to read by his wounds. We were healed. And he can tell me, you do have this disease, and the word's still going to read by his stripes, I was healed. And nothing that's going to happen can change the fact that I'm sealed by the spirit. And the worst thing that could happen to me would be the best day of my life, which is if I die. So ain't nothing to be afraid about, especially knowing that God's leading you.

[A]

Right. So we. That that particular type of cancer, you would never know about it.

[B]

Some might, some could.

[A]

I mean, unless it was incredibly advanced.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And really almost too late in the natural to take care of things. But because of the small prompting of the spirit.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Get health insurance.

[B]

Yeah. And so. So what we had to do, we had to have a pretty major surgery. I say we. I did. And we might say, well, who wants that? Well, we want to be led. We want to be led. And you might say, don't you believe in healing? I do. And I also believe in living and leading, being led by the Spirit. Amen. And God, God did not just say, confess a few more healing. There's nothing wrong with that. Amen. You need to stay fed. Don't get me wrong, but he didn't just say take more of the word. He said, get health insurance, get physicals. He sent us on that route. And then after. Then what do you find after you get the diagnosis? Well, then you go back to him and you say, this is what they're saying and this is what they're recommending we do now. What do you say about it? And he could have said, don't do anything about it. I'll take care of it. He didn't say that. He didn't say that. He dealt with me just through his peace. Oh, did you hear that? I know we may be talking more about being led than we are prayer this morning, but don't the two go very much together just through his peace? That's where. That's where my inner peace was. Now, in as far as my natural preference, do you think it was to get. Have five incisions? Do you think that was my natural preference? No, you might say, why five? They found the hole on the fifth time. No, I'm just kidding. It took. Listen, I've cleared more rooms than this one. Just joking. Believe me on that. That's not my preference. But you know what I had to say. I don't care what my preference is. I want your plan, not my preference. And how many know? Could God just drop the power of God on you and heal you? Maybe, maybe not. That depends on that. Depends on a variety of factors.

[A]

Yeah, you might say.

[B]

Did you just say maybe, maybe not? Yes, I did. Yes, I did. It depends on the person receiving. Depends on a lot of factors. He knows the path, the sure path.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And he helped us. Thank you for coming back. He helped us. He helped us and he dealt with it. Now, one thing that's interesting, I have an actual healing endowment in that area. And I said, you know, this is the night after I'm hearing all this, and we're just fellowshipping with God. And first thing I said is, lord, did I open the door to this? Because I remember Dr. Dufresne's testimony of something similar. And he said, yeah. And. And the Lord said, in this case, no, it wasn't an open door. It was. It was a genetic, hereditary thing. Sorry to have to say that to you. Amen. But I would have closed the door if I knew an open. I would have repented if there was something to repent. But I asked him, I said, now I've got. I said, they're wanting to do this surgery, but I've got this. I've got this. And I don't even have to call somebody else. I've got this healing anointing that when I'm in the spirit, it flows out of me really strong in that area. And he said, put your hand on yourself. And I did. And I'll tell you, it felt like a shaft of something physical, like a shaft of light inserted itself inside me. Well, I didn't know. I didn't know. Okay, does that mean this thing's going to dissolve? I just needed to find out that this was here to minister to it, and this is going to just dissolve itself. And so we had them test before they did the surgery. But I can tell you now, after the fact, what that was and what that did, because when they had the surgery and they did it, and I'm telling you it was supernatural. And, I mean, the doctor said. Told her afterwards, said things that I went to very carefully work on such and such to try to preserve these particular parts. And he said, they just peeled away and made room for me. Just amazing things happen. But when they did the lab work afterwards on the part that they took out, they said, he said, this was on the move. This was aggressive. And if you had waited a year or two, you would not have a happy story to tell. But how many like happy stories?

[A]

I like happy stories.

[B]

How many are glad that I can tell a happy story now? What did. What did that anointing do? It kept that from. Because they did not know that it had protruded through the. The. The actual organ or part or whatever and was about to spread. I believe that thing kept it. Every six months, they go, take my blood and they say there's no trace of anything. Amen. And we laugh with fear of the future and God can take you through. Now, that's not a pleasant situation, but I'm telling you, we had as much peace and as much joy going through it as we did going through any other thing. You know, you think we were on vacation. Anything else you want to share? I know we've taken a lot of time, but.

[A]

Praise the Lord. It's so important to realize this is not just for the five fold ministry. This is for all of us. It is the benefit of being a believer, being in covenant with your father. It's a benefit of being filled with the Spirit of God. You can pray out your future. You can touch your future before you get there. You can be prompted and alerted and led by the Spirit of God. Hallelujah. And you can walk through life without fear and without trepidation and without cowering and wondering what might happen because you can touch it ahead of time.

[B]

Yeah, you're not going to know everything ahead of time, but you could have a knowing ahead of time that we're good. Everybody say we good. We good. You can know we're good. You can know we're on course. You can know we're on track. You ought to know that you're in the will of God. You ought to know that you're in the plan of God. You ought not to be tormented by wonder if. Wonder if. Wonder if. If you're at that place, get to the people that God's connected you with and feed. Come on now. Because that's not God's highest and best for you. Amen. God will help keep you and I ahead. Amen. You can pray ahead of things because as the word speeds ahead, that's no time for you and I to get behind. Got some goodies today. Did you good. I hope you did. I hope you did. Praise the Lord.

[A]

Glory to God we trust You've enjoyed this message. Visit us at defresheministries.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.