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Dufresne Ministries Podcast
The Strong Spirit Of A Man, Part 1 | Morgan Dufresne | Collinsville, Oklahoma | JTH Crusades 2025 | Tuesday AM
00:55:09
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- [00:01]
A
Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message.
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B
Well, if I'm 40. I think we've talked about it, David. We've talked about it. If I'm 40, are you?
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C
I've been there. I've been here a while. I've been here for a few decades.
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B
I know.
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C
I could never figure out how Brother Hagin would say, I'm in my 51st year of ministry. And then it was like, but I'm sure he was right and I'm wrong. I wasn't good at math.
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B
No. Sometimes it's better not to be good, and then you just can be ignorant. That's how I do. Oh, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know.
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C
Well, we're thrilled that we get to be with you on your 40th birthday.
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B
Well, praise the Lord. You can be seated this morning in celebration. We learned on Sunday night, we're celebrating long, all lifelong. Amen. Yes. 40 years old. You don't feel any older than, like, 18. You know, I have crossed over many of our staff. We have a lot of young staff, but many have already been to the other side, and they've been waiting for me. My husband crossed over in May, and here we are. So they couldn't wait till today to encourage me in this new decade that I have now joined them in. And so, thank you, Reverend. They are giving me, of course, old jokes, and I said, just call me Reverend Mother from now on. Once you get over, you're no longer sister. You become Mother. Right. Pastor Nancy's Mother Superior, and I am now Reverend Mother. Those endearing terms that give you some, maybe give you some clout. So turn with me, if you would, to Proverbs, chapter 8, Proverbs 18. This particular scripture has really lived with me for the past, I don't know, maybe week or two. And when my husband started yesterday on, yeah, it was good on just be a man. Right. And you say, well, that doesn't sound very spiritual. But, you know, God's working through men and women and equipping. He's. He is asking those that he has created and joined him in his family. He understands Jesus came as a man. He came as a man. And so what we're doing as men and women, as human beings, we are taking the word of God and the spirit of God, and we are equipping ourselves to run our race as God has ordained and designed us to do. And he understands that we, of course, have you Know, there's natural things in this world and there's natural ways of operating. And I love yesterday when he was talking about, just, just be a man, just get through some things and toughen up. And what, you know, when he was saying, you know, people want to talk it out, what happens is, is we have been so conditioned in this life. And he talked about how our grandparents and they just, they just barreled through. You say, well, that doesn't sound very spiritual or very. How about this? Very intelligent. Because intelligence now is seen as, as we've got to have, like he said, this safe space to talk things over and be intellectual and sound like we know something. And I don't really see anywhere in the scripture anywhere that that was the way those fathers of faith operated. I don't see where Abraham talked anything out. In fact, he just picked up his stuff, went in drug lot out, got all the stuff, and then didn't even have to negotiate with the king, said, you know what? I'm so tough and strong in the Lord that you keep your stuff. God's going to make me rich. That's what a real man does and gets the job done. And he didn't lord it over a lot. He didn't try to manipulate and use it as manipulation. And, you know, well, poor as me now, my nephew left me and my wife can't have a kid. And I need to go find the Old Testament therapist to talk this over with. No, they got the job done. David found himself before the face of God. Even in his greatest mistake, he was before the throne. Amen. And so I want to talk about that. And then Pastor Nancy even referenced this, this scripture last night. And I have just camped on this and just been meditating on it for myself. But Proverbs, chapter 18, Proverbs 18, verse 14. The Amplified reads, the strong spirit of a man sustains him in bodily pain or trouble. But a weak and broken spirit who can raise up or bear what is a weak and broken spirit Spirit. A weak and broken spirit is one of a person who's given more attention to their mind and their body than who they really are on the inside. Amen. And I want to talk about having a strong spirit. The strong spirit of a man. The strong spirit of a man. The strong spirit of a man. Amen. The strong spirit of a man. Amen. Just those words alone you can take and turn over and over and remind yourself, I am called to have a strong spirit. And this is written under the Old Covenant without the infilling or indwelling. Of the Holy Ghost. How much more strength. This is what I love. Solomon didn't even understand. How much more strength were we going to be able to walk in, obtain and be filled with? If under the old covenant, he said to them, the strong spirit of a man can sustain him. How about this? The strong spirit of a man can deliver him, can heal him, can provide and fill him. Amen. The strong spirit, spirit. Now under this covenant, we can have so much more than being sustained when you bring it through the new covenant. There's more than just being sustained now. There's total provision and we're going to get to some of those things. So first of all, because I'm used to teaching, we need to go over three things and real quickly. That we are a spirit and that we have and we possess a mind or a soul and we live in a body. Because if we do not understand who we really are, then we won't walk in those things that God has designed for us to really walk in. You are a spirit we receive from God, from our spirit. That's why we can not look at our bodies when it's sick and get an answer or get help or get clarity. I don't need to go to my mind and I don't need to look at my body to know who I am. This is the problem with the perversion today. They're looking at their body to tell them who they are and they think they can change it. No, you are a spirit created in his image. How about recreated, brand new? There's nothing old on the inside of you. There's nothing dark or dirty or dingy or polished. I'm not polished up. Amen. I'm brand new. So dad hagin so skillfully taught us that we are brand new creatures on the inside. Creations created like him so that we could fellowship with him. We are a spirit. Say I am a spirit. And how we communicate with God is through our spirit. If we are so used to natural, and this is what my husband is saying, so used to natural communication, we are going to miss the help and the communication from God through our spirit because we're looking for some kind of outward help. Outward affirmation. We hear that word a lot. You need to affirm your kids. Affirm them in what? To get to work. I'm gonna affirm that today you need to get up, make your bed, go to school, brush your teeth, do the. Do what I tell you to do. Because in life nobody is going to be interested in affirming you. And in Fact, in fact, you need to be able, you know, good discipline. I'm just going to give a little parenting advice. Good discipline to your children and good training. Not just this one, but good training, good fleshly training. I was in the airplane on the way here and I'm for, you know, good manners. You need to teach your kids. We just did that at the church. They just did a whole etiquette training with the younger age group on how to be, you know, in church, how to sit in church, how to set a table, how to be in a restaurant, how to, you know, communicate properly. We do these things with, with the Bible school. How to shake somebody's hand, look them in the eye, how to be honorable. Proper public etiquette, right? And these types of training, what it allows them to do is discipline and train their flesh so they can better, better. Here we were on the airplane, coming all the way here and these kids were just going bananas. You know, they'd scream out, you know, and they were excited, they would scream and they were too old to be doing this, right? So standing, we're landing and the kid behind us, he'd been kicking Steven's chair the whole time, standing up in his seat. His dad every once in a while will tell him to sit down. And his twin brother was two seats ahead of us. My gosh, they were a mess. And his dad said, we were landing, sit down. He goes, no, thank you. I said, oh, how many times was that kid affirmed with gentle words. But you can have gentle words and still have bad behavior. So what he was saying yesterday, dealing with yourself a little bit more harshly, Pastor Nancy would say to us, and she tells the Bible school students, learn to put your foot to your own neck. That doesn't sound very affirming, does it? Learn to hold the whip to your own self, to your own body. Why? Because I'm not a body. I'm not a body. And I refuse to let my body and my mind rule and reign and run all over my life because my body can't sustain me. My strong spirit will sustain me. The spirit, strong spirit of a man will sustain him in physical difficulties, in times of trouble. Amen. So we are a spirit, we're not a mind. Stop catering to your mind. Stop looking for people to pet your mind and your thoughts and answer thoughts with natural resources. Faith is of the heart. So when we turn to the mental arena, the flow of faith is continually hindered. It's continually hindered. You know, I appreciate when, when my father in law went home and that Day we had to regroup on some things and, and take a step back and say, okay, the plan, you know, we knew the plan had not changed. We knew things. We already. There was so much in front of us as part of the vision of the ministry. And never once I watched, I never once did he go, oh, my gosh, what are we going to do? What are we, you know, how, how are we going to get, you know, where we're supposed to go? Like, you know, what's going to happen? My dad isn't here. Never once, never once, neither him nor Pastor Nancy did I see either one of them falter in a time of trouble. Because the strength of their spirit. In fact, that night I remember we stayed up just laughing and reminiscing of stories and telling jokes. Why? Because the joy of the Lord is our strength. And I'll never forget, we sat up that night and I remember waking up, up the next morning, and we had just been laughing and just going over all these funny things, you know, that we weren't going to have to do now that he wasn't here. These wild ideas, you know, that he had that he wanted to do. And we just laughed and all the fun times we had. But I never once heard him or Pastor Nancy even question. They never weakened. Never weakened. Never weakened. Amen. Never reasoned. Reason, question, I need counsel. You know, I. There was no. There was no emotion that was stronger than what was in their spirit. There was no emotion that was stronger than what was in their spirit. We didn't, in fact, we sat around and we shared joy. We didn't share our emotions. That didn't mean we didn't have them. And we didn't go aside and we didn't talk to God and we didn't have, you know, times of, of, you know, expressing to God we aren't robots, says we're not. We're not sustained because we're robots. We're sustained through strength in our spirit. Amen. In fellowship with God. And remember this. You hear from God, from your spirit. You hear from God. Say, I hear from God in my spirit. Like Pastor said last night, oftentimes we know all things are possible with God, but we think things aren't probable. Many times we think that we can do that with ourself, with hearing from God. We go, my pastor hears from God, but we question whether we can. We know that, that he wants to fellowship with us, but we really question, does he really love me? Does he really want to talk to me? Does he really want to spend time Will his. His glory really manifest in my home? Will his love really manifest on my behalf? Will his provision really manifest on my behalf? Because I know it will do it for sister so and so who's so strong and in a prayer and she, you know, has lived for God for, you know, 35 years. And we'll believe that he will do it for someone else because they seem strong. But what about us? What about myself? Amen. This is when you. When you have these questions coming to your mind. That's when you know you're going to have to put some strength within your own spirit and realize. He wants to fellowship with me. He wants to talk to me. Amen. We can look at a few examples, and I don't want to necessarily take time to turn there, but we can, we can even look. I don't even want to go to the New Testament just yet. We may do that Thursday. But just in the Old Testament, we can see examples of men and women who had strong spirits. David. How about David? David as a young boy. So here's age removed and age aside and job, job skill set aside. He was out tending to his father's sheep, and because of a strong spirit, he was able to overcome in the field and overcome on the battlefield. The cattle field and the battlefield. Why? He was, as Pastor Chip would say, he was a champion in both arenas. Was it because his age? No. Was it because of his birth order? No. Was it because, you know, he had some special training? No. He was strong on the cattle field and the battlefield because he was strong in his spirit. Where did that strength come from? It came from times of fellowship with God, times of being alone. If you never take time to be alone with God, your spirit life will suffer. Your. The strength of your spirit will begin to weaken. Why? Because we give more place to the natural than we do the spiritual. Amen. The strong spirit of a man will sustain him. So we could say, looking at David, the strong life of fellowship, a strong times of fellowship will sustain me in times of trouble. Amen. So David, through fellowship with God, was strong on both battlefronts. It was a quick equipping him to become strong for the life of being a king and ruling and reigning. So we see with David that age had nothing to do with it. Experience had nothing to do with it. How about this? He could not even wear battle armor. Why? Because his strong spirit was going to sustain him. His strong spirit was going to win and fight for him. So when we oftentimes we focus on and we look at the fact that it was his words that went out, right? It was his words, Goliath. And what happened to Goliath was a result of the faith of David's words. But where do those words come from? Scripture says the words are spirit and they are life. Amen. They are spirit and they are life. What's the first word? They are spirit. They're not mental words. So if we keep turning over trying to find something, some kind of mental consolation and mental comfort, we're going to miss the spirit words. They are going to be strength to your life. If the spirit man is to be strong, then spirit words are going to bring strength. Find out how full am I of carnal words and how full am I of spirit words. Amen. We look at Abraham. Abraham, he grew strong in faith doing what? Giving glory to God. Abraham grew strong in faith giving glory to God. You know, Abraham and Sarah, they did not go to a marriage counselor, right? The greatest. They didn't have the latest and greatest account to follow on Instagram for marital advice. Right. In fact, God wanted to so be the strength of his life. He pulled him away from everyone that he knew, everyone he could listen, everyone he could turn to. Talk about a man who just had to pack up and barrel through, you know what I'm saying? You say, well, that didn't sound very spiritual. But your husband said, well there, like I said, there's a lot of examples of men and women who just had to pack up and barrel through with the strength of their spirit to obey what God said to do. And there was no one there, as we say, in our home, to pet them along the way. Amen. It's become a weakened society we've become. And I'm not being critical, I'm just saying because there's so much natural that's at our fingertips. It's weakened us as a society because our mind can be distracted and let to be busy every single moment of the day. We can have headphones in and we can have movies going and social media going and we can have any resource we want to have. Why? Because the stimulation of the natural man is at an all time high. That's right. That's it. But the strong spirit of a man will sustain him. What arena are you strengthening today? Did you know that your healing could simply be waiting? I'm talking about the manifestation. We know healing was provided, but the manifestation of your healing could simply be waiting on the strength of your spirit rising up, coming up a little bit. How many times brother Hagin, Dad Hagin, he used to say this, he would say that he would find when people would listen, would come down and get filled with the Holy Ghost, that their healing would instantly manifest. Why? Because they were strengthening through the Holy. Their spirit man all of a sudden came up in strength and their body rose up to meet where their spirit man was. Amen. So what are we strengthening? What are you strengthening on the daily basis? Is it the mind? Is it the emotions? What are you leaning on? Who are you leaning on? Who. Who around you has become a crutch for your emotional stability? That if they're, if. If they can't make you happier, if this search circumstance can't make you happy, then you're not happy. Right? It's a sign of spiritual weakness. So Abraham received a miracle with a strong spirit. It says he grew in faith, giving glory unto God. So we see his body performed. His body was able to have a miracle, and his wife's body was able to have and receive. Listen, they were able to receive a miracle because he grew strong in faith. Faith is always of the heart, not of the mind. So we can conclude that he was growing strong in spirit as he gave glory unto God. Amen. So here's two men, both of them, one worshiping unto God in the field, the other one on his way in obedience to God. It says he was giving glory unto God. So I see here a key already, number one, that they're doing what we were taught on Sunday night. Celebrating, giving praise, worshiping thanksgiving. And these men under an old covenant, without the infilling and the indwelling and the imparting power of the Holy Ghost. Amen. My goodness. If they could strengthen their unsaved and unrenewed spirit, how much stronger, how much stronger should our lives look? That's what Dakes was saying last night when she was reading from Dakes. It is. He was. He was stating that the children of Israel came out stronger than what the body of Christ looks like today. Let's say it together. The strong spirit of a man will sustain him. It'll heal him too. It'll heal him. Amen. Mary, I love this. Go. Go to Luke. I absolutely love Mary's response. This stirs me up, like, run around the room stirs me up every time I read. When Mary goes and visits Elizabeth, I absolutely love this because she is a young girl with a large assignment. And instead of crumbling and getting counsel from the local rabbi, you know what I mean, and going, oh my gosh, what are they going to think about me? I need to start doing you Know, damage control on my reputation. And what are they going to write about me? And, oh, my gosh, she never turned. She never turned to the natural. Because, see, we're on the other side going, isn't Mary wonderful? You know, the church world, many in the religious world have, you know, it's Mary, remember what I said? We are human beings. We are spirit beings living in a natural world with a natural body, with a natural mind. But this young girl was so strong in spirit. And she goes to Elizabeth's house and at the news of everything potentially falling apart in her world and her maybe being ostracized and nobody understanding what the assignment is that God gave her, she goes to Elizabeth, she hears, for nothing is ever. Luke 2 or Luke 1, verse 37. For with God, nothing is ever impossible. No word from God shall be without power or impossible fulfillment. Then Mary said, behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord. Let it be done unto me according to what you have said. And the angel left her. And at that time, Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country to a town of Judah. And she went to the house of Zachariah. And entering it, saluted Elizabeth. And it occurred that when Elizabeth heard Mary's greetings. Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit. Spirit, notice this. Mary. We oftentimes, you know, we can think just that, you know, the baby John was responding to, you know, Jesus inside of Mary. No, John was responding to the strength of Mary's spirit. It said when the baby heard Mary's voice, when the baby heard Mary words, when the baby heard Mary's thrill and celebration and excitement, when the baby. When John heard Mary's response of faith that all things are possible and nothing is going to be without fulfillment. It says here that when the baby heard Mary's greeting, did you know others are waiting on the strength of your spirit? That you can be so strong and so full that when you walk in the room, when you just greet somebody, this wasn't just because she was Mary. It's because she was so strong in spirit, she had to go find not somebody to comfort her, but another woman who was just as strong. Strong strength finds strength. It doesn't go, look, weakness looks for weakness. Strength looks for. I need to be around those who are strong in faith, giving glory to God. Amen. So it says she. And she cried out with a loud cry and then exclaim, blessed favorite of God, above all other women are you. And blessed favorite of God is the Fruit of your womb. And how have I deserved that this honor should be granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me. For behold, the instant the sound of your salutation reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy and blessed. Happy to be envied is she who believed that there would be fulfillment of the things that were spoken to her from the Lord. Fulfillment. What things in your life need some fulfillment? Amen. And Mary said, my soul. Here's the key to her strength. My soul magnifies the Lord. Here's a third example of strength through praise, Magnifying, glorifying, honoring. With her words, my soul magnifies. That means she got her spirit and her mind in 1 2/3 majority. That's a whole nother sermon. We don't have time to go there today. On renewing the mind. So that your spirit and your mind are in full agreement and your flesh can never talk you out of anything. God has promised you ever again. It is possible for your flesh to never talk you into sickness again. It is possible that your flesh never talk you into lack. Never lead you into a wrong relationship, never lead you down the wrong path ever again. Because when the strength of your spirit and a renewed mind agreed, all things are possible to him that believe.
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A
Amen.
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B
It says here, and Mary said, my soul magnifies and extols the Lord. And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked upon my low station and humiliation of his handmaid. For behold, from now on all generations of the ages will call me blessed and declare me happy and to be envied. For he who is Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name. Amen. I just love that response. In the biggest transition of her life, she magnified God. She glorified God in the face of of all impossibilities. It says over in Romans that Abraham grew strong in faith, giving glory unto God. So let's make a short list. Number one. Number one, growing strong in faith is going to require giving glory and praise unto God on a regular basis. And number two, not short, not not long behind this, this because you can give glory, but without obedience. Without obedience you'll weaken in faith. All of these examples I'm giving those that were great men and women of faith, all of them were obedient to God first, obedience is a key. We cannot want to do and will to do our own thing and try to give glory to God and have him to work outside of what he has ordained for us to do. The world will teach that there's strength in independence. There's strength and doing what you want to do and what you. You know, your truth and what you think is right. No, there's true strength comes from obedience and submission. True strength. I'm sure Pastor Chip would tell you that the. The strongest players he probably saw were those that were the quickest to do what the coach said to do. Their minds were so strong, you know, it's a weak mind that has to fight for its way. That's a weak mind. Let's call. Call it what it is. A weak mind says, I want what I want and I want it now. Right. A strong mind is what Mary did. I'm a young girl. I'm low in station. Are you sure? You know, I had plans. You know, Mary's probably thinking I had plans, right? I had already thought this thing through. But Mary so obediently and humbly and reverently set aside her plans to put her own name, her own reputation on the line to submit to what God has asking her to do. Amen. So, number one. Giving glory, giving praise, giving thanksgiving. We could say celebrating on a regular basis. Number two. Obedience. Obedience to God. That we're not trying to praise our way through disobedience. You can't run around the room in disobedience and think things are going to work for you. Right? Amen. We lose strength in our spirit when we respond and obey to our spirit one day and then obey and respond to our flesh another day. We lose proficiency and we will lose strength. We will lose strength. Okay, and then number three. Number three. Praying in the spirit. Praying in the spirit. This is now the New Testament. A new Testament strength resource avenue fellowship help that we get to draw on that they didn't have. So if Abraham has a child in his old age, David kills the giant. Right? The three Hebrew boys, through their life of prayer and obedience to God, were so strong in faith, so strong in their spirit to take on the fiery furnace. If Daniel could overcome that which took out everyone else that got thrown in because his spirit was strong through prayer, how much stronger will we be through praying in the Holy Ghost? Building ourselves up on our most holy faith, then we're not called to just take on lions and tigers and bears and fiery furnaces. No, we're called to pray in the Holy Ghost. Laying hold of things in the spirit. Amen. Pulling down of strongholds. We're dealing with things not of the natural. We are so equipped now. We are the spirit beings that can reach into the spirit realm and change things in the spirit realm. The New Testament strength reaches beyond this natural realm and reaches into now the spirit realm. There was almost. There was only so much they could touch in the spirit realm. In the Old Testament, God had to do a lot for them. He had it. They were very dependent on God's really, his sovereignty and their yieldedness and the rules they had to follow and the things so God could undertake for them. They were really at his mercy of him being able to work and do for them. And he did, he did perform for them. He never, never has the righteous been forsaken or his seed begging for bread. He never let them, you know, was going to allow them or wanted them to suffer consequences. But now the keys have been put back into our hands. Okay, so now we've got a new strength, a new life that God is asking us to take and pick up this strength of the Spirit that when we pray in the Holy Ghost, we can reach now into the spirit realm that they could only hope that God would touch for them. I don't have to hope anymore to touch into that other realm and deal with things. I can do it myself with the help of the Holy Ghost, him working through me. Amen. His strength becomes my strength. So the strong spirit of a man is not just a man in his own strength. It's now the strength of the Holy Ghost. The greater one, say the greater one. So we can't live, like we heard last night, in a worse condition, a more feeble condition, a more destitute condition than they did, when we now have a greater strength. Amen. So we've got these three. And of course, number four is the word of God. All of these things. There's no. I don't want to say. There's one thing that's greater than another. It's. It's. You've got to know, for this moment, for this hour, for this day, what is it? Sometimes I need greater renewing of my mind. The Word needs to get further down in my spirit. Sometimes there's so much Word in your spirit and we're walking around full of the Word, but there's no strength added to it. So I need to pray in the Holy Ghost. I need to strengthen that which is on the inside of me. Sometimes I just need to simply throw my hand, hands up. There's enough on the inside. And I've now got to get it out. Praising and worshiping God, giving thanks to God. Amen. So these four things, Obedience, praise, thanksgiving, praying in the Holy Ghost and Feeding on the word of God are what strengthen our spirit. The strong spirit, spirit of a man will sustain him. But now this is the best part. In the New Testament, we aren't just sustained. Things are going to be able to be changed from glory to glory. Go with me if you would, too. I want you to see something if. Go to Ephesians chapter three and we'll close with this. Ephesians, chapter three. So when you hear. When you hear Pastor Nancy talking about celebrating and the things she shared last night, that we are not to be in a worse. In a more weakened condition than those in the Old Testament. And you hear my husband say, you need to just man up. We need to toughen up. What is he saying? We need to stop turning to the natural carnal, crying, weeping, defeated. Your body will always feel defeated. It's never going to tell you you're getting stronger and growing in strength. But if we don't learn to put it down, every day that you give into your body is a day that your spirit man grows weaker. You have weakened the spirit man. You say, is that scriptural? Well, it says that we can. Our faith can, can be growing, it can be great, it can be little, it can be dead. Right. So that tells me my spiritual condition. There's a wide range of spiritual conditions, and we've got to be sober about where we are in our. In our skill set. In our skill set, right, Pastor, Are we JV or we. Varsity. Right. First string, second string. Right. Major league, minor league, you know, B league. I mean, right. That's true. That's not. Oh, that sounds just. We're all winners with God. This is what he was talking about. This is what he's talking about yesterday. If that's where your mind went, well, there's, you know, no blame here. God loves. If that's where your mind went, well, you're putting me down. No, I'm not. I'm telling you. I'm telling you, all of these that we have read had to face hardship. We're seeing the highlights. Not all the hardship that they endured. If Jesus was a weak man, he would have left crying when his family said, come outside. Why aren't you out here with us? Yeah, he would have run off when he. Instead of walking through the crowd, he would have run off from the crowd. Because if you're saying, well, I'm a winner, you'd have been. You would not have been able to face that crowd of opposition the way he. He was a man of men. He walked through that crowd because he knew who he was and what he was called to do. And not only that, listen. Not only that. He knew he was in the full obedience with God. You can have confidence in what you face when you know you're obeying God. It's funny. Those you find in disobedience will always make excuses and pet themselves for why they are where they are. We can all be guilty of that. All of us. All of us. I'm talking about, myself included. We can all make excuses. But look here. I like this. In Ephesians, chapter three, and this is a prayer. I pray for our partners. We like to pray this for our partners. This particular scripture. Ephesians 3, Ephesians 3, 15. Of whom the whole. Well, verse 14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory. Look at this. To be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man. To be strengthened. To be strengthened by his spirit. To be strengthened with might by his. Not just strengthened, but strengthened with might. That's a double dose. That's a double dose. Why? Because God always goes above. He is more. More and more strengthened with might by His Spirit. This is again, this is something I love to pray over our partners. That they're strengthened with might by His Spirit. Why? Because the strength of your spirit determines the length on the success of your days. Not where you came from, not how you feel, not how good you look. The strength of your spirit determines the length and success of your days. He would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit. Did you know that? You can also pray that and claim that over yourself. So, Number five, what are you declaring over yourself? You can declare, I'm going strong in faith today as I give glory to God, I am strengthened. Not only strengthened in my spirit, but I'm strengthened with his might in my inner man by his spirit. Amen. And then see the fruit of it. I want to. I think I want to close right here with this so that we understand and wrap up where we came from talking about that we are a spirit. And what happens when our spirit, our soul and our body, God's intent that we be led by our spirit. And what can come from that? And it says here, John G. Lake said, Christ is the savior of the Listen, the whole man, spirit of the soul, of the body. When Jesus at the Jordan committed himself unto all righteousness, His Father, he committed his body just as he committed his mind and just as he committed his spirit. Christians have not been taught to commit their bodies to God and therefore they feel justified in committing them to someone else or something else rather than God. I'm telling this is where weakness. We're talking about where weakness gets in. We've been taught it's okay to commit your body to something else. And now because of the Internet and everything that's at our grasp, we've been okay with committing our minds to something else as well. Therefore, it is clear that in a whole salvation it is just as offensive to God to commit the body to the control of man as it would be to commit the spirit of to man of salvation for salvation. Salvation for the Spirit can only come through Jesus, through the blood of Christ, through receiving his spirit. Salvation from natural thoughts and ways and the operation of the natural mind can only come through the natural mind being transformed to the mind of Christ. Salvation for the body is found in the same manner. By committing the body now and forever to God, you can receive healing as you obey and commit your whole life, spirit, soul and body unto God. No one would seek, think of sending to any other power than God for the remedy of the Spirit. There is no spirit that one could go to unless it is the spirit of the world or the spirit of the devil. And one goes to either of these for the healing of the spirit of their mind. He's saying we either go to the healing of God, the healing of the spirit man, or the healing of the natural man. Which one are you going to pick? Where does the strength of your life come from? The real Christian is a separated man. He is separated forever unto God in all the departments of his life. And so his body and his soul and his spirit are forever committed to God. Therefore, from the day that he commits himself to God, his body is as absolute in the hands of God as his spirit or his mind. He can go to no other power. Listen. He can go to no other power for help or healing except God. Amen. And it goes on to talk about when Asa. He talks about when Asa, he was strong and looked to God for his answer and his help right when fighting his battles. And there came a time when Asa turned to his money, turned to his doctors, and Asen no longer had the strength that he once did in overcoming. Where is our strength coming from today? How strong can we make assessments about ourselves, myself included? How really, truly, how much am I flowing in these things?
- [51:09]
A
So.
- [51:10]
B
So we could even add to this list of those things that we find that we are strengthening our spirit in, in that. Renewing our mind, but disciplining even our body. Paul said, buffeting our body, being a man and saying no. When I say a man, I mean a woman. I'm talking about no, you're not doing that. You're not going there. You're not fellowshipping with that anymore. Amen. Amen. Amen. Submitting as, as John G. League was saying, that as we submitted our spirits, we submit our body and our mind. It's amazing too, how quickly healing can flow. Why healing? It says in Philippians 4:19 that he has provided all our needs according to the. Listen. The riches. The riches in where? Glory. The riches and glory. So when I'm strong in spirit, giving what? Giving glory unto God, that's so simple that all my needs are actually going to flow out of the glory that's coming out of my spirit. All my needs, physical, financial, that I give glory to God and suddenly things are taking place, care of. I don't have to call each and every need out before God. If I'll just get into his glory from the strength of my spirit, then all the needs that I'm strengthened by with his might, in my inner man, by his spirit, with his glory, then in that same glory, every needs taken care of. I tell you what, finances got so, so much easier for my husband. So much easier. Needs didn't become. They weren't needs anymore. When we learned every day, instead of just looking at needs and calling out needs, we started getting in the glory. Just start getting in the glory. Just start getting in the glory. Praise the Lord. We know we're obeying you. Glory to God. Glory to God. Growing strong in faith, giving glory to God. And as we got into the glory, our faith went out and reached without us having to work at, you know, obtaining healing, obtaining provision. Our faith went out in the glory and brought in everything that we needed. It did the work. Amen. Amen. So today we're, we're, we're deciding, we're. We're going out of here. Our spirits were strengthened, but we're not just going to leave it in this place, are we? Amen. We're going to do the work. We're going to face the opposition. We're going to stop looking to our flesh. We're going to walk through the crowd. We're going to walk through everything that the enemy and we're going to be on the offense. Because greater is he that's in me, stronger is he that's in me. Amen. Than he that's in the world, no longer looking for comfort of the mind, comfort of the body, comfort and consolation in difficult seasons. And how are we going to make it through? And I just need to go talk to this person and talk to my pastor again. Listen, there's nothing wrong with talking to your pastor, but you cannot live by his strength. You cannot live by his strength. It didn't say, the strong spirit of your pastor will sustain you. It said, the strong spirit of a man. Of a man. Of this man. Say of this man. Amen.
- [54:50]
A
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