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The Measure Of Faith, Part Two | 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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God bless you today as you join us for Jesus the Healer. We're so glad you joined us. Let somebody else know that we're on. We'd love to have them join us also. Usually I'm in California at our church and I'm ministering from that location. But we decided to bring you with us on another location. I'm right now in Colorado. We have a ranch out here. I have a home on this ranch. One of the structures out here is the little cabin, the one room cabin you see behind me that my son built. And so it's a really special place to us. So we wanted to bring you along with us and we're glad that you joined us. The last several episodes we've been ministering on the subject of faith. And just this previous episode we talked about and began teaching on the measure of faith. And so it's important that we understand that faith is to be the way we live. We're not just to have moments of faith, but we're to have a lifestyle of faith. The Word tells us that the just shall live by faith. And why is it that God authored that his children live by faith is because faith gives us the best life. And God wanted us to have the best life. And when we live the faith life, it is so pleasing to God because then he can intervene and he can move in our, in our lives in a way that he can't if we don't have faith. So the Word says, without faith, it's impossible to please Him. He is so pleased when we have faith because then he loves intervening and working with us and working for us. And so faith allows him and gives him permission to do that. I want you to turn with me, if you would, in your Bible to Romans chapter 12 and verse 3. This is. This has been one of our key scriptures when we talk about the subject of the measure of faith, it reads that God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. What he's referring to is that when you got born again, God had a beginning measure of faith that he gave you to start with, that every single one of his children begin with the same measure of faith that he gives them. But from then on, it's up to us to increase our faith, cause our faith to grow, cause our faith to flourish. So many people are praying for God to give them a strong faith or to give them more faith. Faith doesn't come by prayer. And it's not God who's responsible for whether or not more faith comes. It's us who's responsible for our own faith. He made himself responsible by giving us the beginning measure of faith. But we are the ones who are responsible to see to it that our faith grows, to see to it that our faith is strong, and to see to it that we're. We're turning our loose, our faith loose every day and exercising our faith. So it says again in Romans 12, verse 3, God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. So we see this, that faith is measurable. The word talks about strong faith. It talks about weak faith. It talks about increasing faith. It refers to dead faith. These are all measures of faith because faith is measurable. Then Hebrews chapter 11 in verse 1 says this. It says, now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So in this natural realm, you can't see your faith to measure it, but in the spirit realm, your faith is seen and it's measurable, it's tangible. And so here that says, now, faith is the substance. So notice this. Anything that is a substance is measurable. And as we said last, last time in the previous episode, that if you're in the kitchen and you're making a recipe, those substances that make up that recipe, whether it's flour, sugar, oil, eggs, whatever it is, they're all measurable. And you have to add the right measure of that substance for the recipe to turn out right. Well, it's the exact same thing in the faith life. When we're believing God, certain situations call for different measures of faith. And so we have to make sure that we continue every day to apply our faith until the measure that's called for is accumulated. When the full measure of faith that's called for comes into place, then that's when the manifestation of what we're believing for will happen. And so we are the ones that need to make sure we're feeding our faith so that we can continue that every time. That every time we feed our faith, we're able to really believe God for more the next time. We're able to believe God on a greater level next time. One of the things I said is that the Holy Spirit, he will counsel you. He will lead you. Thankfully, he is our divine counselor, our divine guide. And real success in life comes from learning to follow Him. The Holy Spirit will never lead you beyond your measure of faith. He will always lead you based on the measure of faith you possess. Today, now, next year, Your measure of faith should grow. Even next week or next month, your measure of faith should grow. So he might have led you one way last year, but this year he'll lead you a different way. And it's not because he's changing. It's because your measure of faith is growing. He will lead you based on your measure of faith. I know this after pastoring for 25 years, is that sometimes you can see two people in a congregation that are facing the same situation medically. One, they may have the exact same condition, and the spirit of God will tell one of them to go to the doctor, and he'll tell the other one not to go to the doctor. Well, which one is right? They're both right. The spirit is leading each person based on their measure of faith. That's why you need to be very, very careful before you start counseling and trying to tell people what they need to be doing in their life. Because you have to know their measure of faith to give them accurate counsel. The Holy Spirit always gives accurate counsel, but people don't, because sometimes people are telling others what they should do based on their own measure of faith, not based on that person's measure of faith. You know, as a pastor, I'm dealing with people who have all different measures of faith. And so some of them are at, at a, at a, a lower measure of faith. Some are at a greater measure of faith. And so I'm going to talk to them and counsel and advise them based on their measure of faith. Well, how am I going to know their measure of faith? I'm going to have to talk to them. I'm going to have to ask them, what do you have in your heart to believe for? What is it that seems good to you? I don't just tell them, well, you ought to be doing this, this and this. I tell that I don't speak to them about what they ought to be doing till I find out what they have in their heart. Sometimes I have seen people come to me and they say, well, Pastor, this is what I want to do about this situation I'm facing. But I know in my spirit that they don't have the measure of faith for what they're wanting to do. So what I've got to do is get them to locate what their spirit is telling them to do, not what their want to is telling them to do. Because sometimes you can want for more than you can really handle. You know, it's just like somebody can go out and pay for and buy a house that they don't have the income to fund, or they can buy a car they don't have the income to fund just because they really like that car. Well, we might really like to make a certain decision in life, but we have to make sure do we have is that within our measure of faith. And that's not to hold us back. That's so we can make sound decisions. When we have Bible faith operating, it makes you sound not unsound. And knowing your measure of faith is critical to making sound faith decisions. And so that's one of the things I do when someone is saying, well, I want to make this decision about this circumstance. But if I recognize, wait a minute, they don't have the measure of faith for that. What I've got to do is this is what I'll ask them, is I'll say, what do you have peace in your heart about? What is the Spirit saying to you? Not what is your want to saying to you. What is the Spirit saying to you? Because if I can get them following what's in their spirit, they will have success every single time. The Holy Spirit is going to lead you on every decision based on your measure of faith. Maybe you're going to start a business. Make sure that you are following the counsel of the Spirit. You see a home you want to buy, ask the Holy Spirit about it. He will advise you because he wants you to have success with that. He may say, yes, buy that home, or no, there's another home I have for you. If you'll follow him, know this. He'll lead you into success. Now, the devil would love for you to get out beyond your measure of faith. If you get out beyond your measure of faith, you're going to not experience success. You're going to have failure. And people will call it faith failures. There's no such thing as a faith failure. Faith doesn't fail. People fail. People fail to measure their faith. People got out beyond their measure of faith, and then they failed. And it wasn't their faith that failed. It was their measuring of faith that failed. They got out beyond their measure of faith. Let me explain it to you this way. If you go into a store and you see an item that you want, you have to have the right measure of money if you're going to purchase it. Isn't that right? I mean, if an item costs $10, you can't go up and say to the, to the clerk, you know, I got $2, you sell it to me for $2. No, if you want this item, you need $10. That's the measure of money you need. Well, with a $10, it's a smaller amount of money. So you may have that measure of money on you. If you have that measure of money and it's on you right at that moment, you can take out that measure of money, you can put it on the counter, pay for it, and walk out with that item that you need. Why? Because you had the measure of money that item called for. But if you walk into a store and you see something that costs $5,000 and you say, I want that, you might not have that measure of money day. But that doesn't mean you can't get it. What that means is you have to go home and you have to do something to acquire that measure of money. And you might earn a little bit or save a little bit here every single day, save a little bit, and you, and you put away a little bit more every single day toward that item that you want. After, after a time, it might be several weeks, it might be several months, once you have acquired and accumulated $5,000, then you go into that store with the proper measure of money and you're able to walk out of the store when that proper measure of money is presented. So that is the same way with faith. Some things in life, some needs in life call for one measure of faith. Some needs call for another measure of faith. If you have the measure of faith today, for one thing, you, you can receive an instant. You'll see an instant manifestation many times. But sometimes some things call for a greater measure of faith. Well, does that mean you can't have what it is that you need to receive? No, you can still have it. Just every day. Feed your faith every day, release your faith every day, build your faith every day, cause that faith to grow. And when that faith reaches full measure of what that need calls for, you can spend that faith. And all of a sudden, that's when the manifestation for what you're believing for will come into view. Let me explain it to you this way. Scripturally, just as different measures of money are called for, different measures of faith are called for based on what the need is. You have to understand that. Do you remember in Mark, chapter six, it talks about when Jesus went to his own hometown of Nazareth. He had just come from raising Jairus daughter from the dead. So we're talking about a great measure of faith has been flowing through him in his ministry. He had this situation to where Jairus daughter was pronounced dead. He went in, ministered to her. She's raised from the Dead. From that location, he goes to his hometown. He begins telling of some of the things that. That God had done through his ministry, through his life in other cities. It says that he told of the testimonies and the miracles and the signs and the wonders. When the people of his hometown heard that, they couldn't believe it. They said, this is Joseph's son. I mean his, his sisters live with us, his brothers live with us. What did they do? They didn't treat him as though he was anointed. They treated him as though he was as common as, as everybody else. Well, listen, when the anointing is on a man, a man is no longer common. The anointing changes that man. And there's something that can be received through that man that has an anointing on them. And so they dishonored Jesus in his hometown. They disbelieved, they doubted. They operated in unbelief. And it says there, they were offended at him. And because they were offended at him. Why were they offended? Because they had no faith in what he was saying. They refused to believe. And so it says, because of their unbelief, Jesus could there do no mighty work except he laid his hand on a few sickly folk with minor ailments and they were healed. So notice this. It says there he could do no mighty works. So evidently there are mighty works. And then there were minor conditions that people had. It was only the minor conditions that Jesus could minister to and get results because their, Their faith was so little, their. Their dishonor was so great, their offense was so great that they had no faith. And so he could only help them in a small measure. But if they were going to do a, if Jesus was going to do a mighty work, it was going to call for a greater measure of faith. And they didn't have it. And it's not that Jesus didn't want to do it. They couldn't receive it. It takes faith to receive things. It takes mighty faith to receive mighty works. And they didn't have faith. And so because of that, it said, Jesus could there do no mighty work. It didn't say he wouldn't. It said he couldn't. Lack of faith keeps Jesus from being able to do what he wants to do. Jesus wanted to heal those people. Listen, Jesus loves every, every person. Jesus loved all the people in all the cities. But you know, the people in his own hometown had to have a special place in his heart simply because he grew up with them. He. They were dear to him. If there's anybody he wanted healed. It was his own hometown people that he wanted healed. But because of the way they responded in doubt and unbelief in he couldn't heal them. Didn't say he wouldn't, said he couldn't. Notice this. Not only did it say that Jesus could there do no mighty work. Jesus was the word made flesh. So we could say this the word could there do no mighty work? Then we could say this. We know he was anointed with the Holy Ghost. So we could say this. There the Holy Ghost could do no mighty work. Then we could also know this. He was express image of his Father. He was God in the flesh. So we could say this God could there do no mighty work. Why their measure of faith limited them, limited God from being able to work for them and limited them from being able to receive what God had for them. Greater, greater needs call for greater measures of faith. And this is what we see in his own hometown. So if what your need calls for is a greater measure of faith than you have, don't be discouraged. Just keep feeding your faith. Just keep exercising your faith. Feed it on the word confess and what will happen? Your faith will grow and grow and grow until your heart becomes full of the measure of faith that's needed for that situation. And that's when the manifestation will come into place. Right here. You see this coffee cup that I have here? You see nothing falling out of it because it's not full. It's only about halfway full. But if you wanted to see it come into manifestation, it would have to get full. How would it get full? You just keep pouring it in. The more you poured in that liquid, then it would begin to overflow. It's the same thing with faith. For your vessel to get full of faith, just keep pouring the faith in. When it overflows, that's when the manifestation will show up. People want to. People will put in a little bit of faith and say, how come my answer hasn't manifested? It's not full yet. Get, get your full of faith. And when your heart gets full of faith, that's when the manifestation will come. Can I say this? Not only that your spirit can be enlarged, and so as your spirit enlarges, you can take in even more faith. So just because you say, pastor Nancy, I don't have full faith yet, just keep feeding your faith. Don't be concerned about your measure of faith. Be occupied with feeding your faith. Don't be occupied and concerned about what I don't have. Just keep releasing your faith. Keep confessing and as you do, your measure of faith will grow and it won't be long if you'll be faithful and diligent with it, that your measure of faith will increase and you'll receive what you need. If you ever listen to a carpenter, someone who builds and makes things, one of the sayings that, that carpenters have is this. Measure twice, cut once. Why do they say that? Because if you only measure once, you might mis. Measure and then you'll cut it wrong. And then you have to go cut another piece of wood. And now you've got. You've wasted some of your materials. So a good carpenter doesn't just measure once, they measure twice because they want to cut accurately. They don't want to waste their materials. Well, I want you to know faith is not a bottomless pit. Once you spend faith, the faith you spent is no longer in your heart. You got to put some more back in. You've got to increase the measure again. After you have. After you have released your faith, the faith that was in there is gone. You know, it's. If here I don't have. I don't have it with me. But if I had a wallet and I opened it up and there's money in there. If I pull some of that money out, that money's no longer in there. My wallet is not a bottomless pit. I have to replenish it. It's the same thing with faith. Faith is not a bottomless, bottomless pit. Once you spend your faith, you have to put more faith in. Amen. And so we have to know what measure of faith do we have? And this is the, the. The carpenter success. Measure twice, then you cut once, and then you will have accuracy. If you mismeasure, it can cost you something. Likewise with your faith life. If you mismeasure how much faith you have, it can cost you something. I want you to turn with me. We were there in Romans 12 and verse 3. I want you to read with me again, if you would, Romans chapter 12 and verse 3. It says this. Not to think soberly of himself. Excuse me. Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly. According as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. So what is this verse talking about? It's talking about the measure of faith. And he says, don't think more highly than you ought to think. Don't think you got more faith than you do. Think soberly about the measure of faith. God started you with a measure of faith, but you have to Know what measure of faith you're currently at? Has that faith grown? And he says we need to not think, think more highly than we ought. Don't think you've got more, more faith than you do, because if you do, you'll get out beyond your measure of faith. And that's where failure lives. If you stay within your measure of faith, be sober about it. Don't try to impress people with your faith and try to look like you have more faith than you do. You need to be sober about your measure of faith because it's dangerous to get out beyond your measure of faith. It can cost you much financially and it can cost you much physically. I've seen people that wanted to believe God for their healing. Thank God for healing. Divine health belongs to us. But people didn't understand their measure of faith, and so they declined to go to the doctor, they declined to take medicine, they declined to have surgery, and they ended up dying prematurely because they mismeasured their faith and it cost them their life. That's not what God wants for you. If you'll follow the Holy Ghost, he'll help you and he'll counsel you based on your measure of faith. Now think about this. How can we know our measure of faith? I want you to turn with me to Romans chapter 15 and verse 13. This. This is a very important passage for you to understand so that you know what your measure of faith is, so that you can measure accurately. Romans chapter 15 and verse 13 says, now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Let me read that first part again. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. I want to pull out three words out of that verse. Joy, peace, believing. These three words are connected. When you're within. When you're believing God, you'll have joy and you'll have peace. If you're out beyond your measure of faith, you will lose your joy and you'll lose your peace. You can tell on the inside, do I have peace if I'm overwhelmed? I'm talking about on the inside. If I feel overwhelmed, if my spirit, my heart, seems overwhelmed and I lose my joy. I mean, I lay in bed and I start getting troubled. That's because I'm out beyond peace. So you can know your faith level by measuring your peace and your joy level. You understand that that's how you know what your measure of faith is. You know, years ago, I remember my husband and I When we moved to California, there was a certain residential section that was beautiful. And I said to myself, wow, I don't know that we would ever have the money to live here, because I knew it was. It was a very expensive area. Well, do you know that we have had a home there and we've lived there? Why? Because that was 20 years ago when I said it. But 20 years later, we ended up living there. Why? My faith grew. When my faith was smaller, I. I was overwhelmed at the thought, there's no way I could ever live there. But as my faith grew, I was no longer overwhelmed. Now I'd say, let's go get a house there. Why? I had peace and joy about it. I knew my peace and joy level based on or my faith level based on what I had peace and joy about. If you feel overwhelmed, it's because you're out beyond your measure of faith. If you're. If you're considering making a decision, if you're considering making a step and you have peace and joy about it, then that means you're within your measure of faith. Faith. So go ahead and do follow the peace that's on the inside of you. Notice this. Isaiah, chapter 55 in verse 12 says, you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. And then Colossians chapter 3 and verse 15, it says, Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. One translation says, let the peace of God act as the umpire making the call. So what's that mean? If you lose peace when you consider making a certain decision or going a certain direction and you lose peace on the inside of you, then that peace is telling you, don't go that way. That lack of peace is saying, don't go that way. If you have peace about doing something, if there's peace in your heart about doing something, then do it. If you don't have peace about doing it, don't do it. Because we are safe in following peace. Now, sometimes I've experienced this. I had peace in my heart, but my mind was being troubled. I had to ignore my mind. I go by the peace that's in my heart. I remember. So this is what is so important for you. Always measure your peace and joy level. And can I say this? Never pressure someone to go beyond their peace and joy level. Spouses need to be careful about this. You know, one. One spouse may want, I want a bigger home. I want a better car. I want something. And listen, God wants more for you. He wants you to have more, but at the measure of your faith, not out beyond your faith. And sometimes somebody will want more than they have really faith for. And I have seen marriages put under great strain and great difficulty because one spouse was demanding to have something more. But it was overwhelming the faith of that couple. And so if you overwhelm the faith of that couple, what happens? Many times some of them have lost the homes, they've lost their marriages even. Stay within your measure of faith. Follow your peace and your joy level and keep feeding your faith every day. Keep increasing it, because when you live and when you live by faith, it gives you the best life because the just shall live by faith. But keep feeding your faith every day. Make sure it's growing and growing strong and robust. And follow the Holy Spirit because He will always lead you in line with your measure of faith. Faith is a thrilling subject and we're so glad you joined us today for Jesus the Healer. God bless you, we love you, and we'll see you next time on Jesus the Healer.
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