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- [00:01]
Nancy Dufresne
Thank you to Kenneth Copeland Ministries for sowing the airtime for this broadcast.
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Kenneth Copeland
There's enough power in every sick room and in every hospital room to raise up that sick one that may be describing you. You may be in a sick room, you may be in a hospital room. And I want to remind you, power is present. That power is there to do a.
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Nancy Dufresne
Work, believe in what's not. Try to get something, but notice that.
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Kenneth Copeland
He'S already made it yours. It's present right where you're at. Say, I receive that power.
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Nancy Dufresne
I receive that power.
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Kenneth Copeland
I receive it right now.
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Nancy Dufresne
I receive it right now.
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Kenneth Copeland
From the top of my head.
- [00:44]
Nancy Dufresne
From the top of my head. The soles of my feet. The soles of my feet. We are so glad you're joining us today. Welcome. I tell you, it's a thrill to feed on the Word together. So thank you for being with us and we invite you. Get your Bible and get a notepad, get a pen or pencil and join along with us and use your faith. Join your faith to the Word that is, that is ministered here. Because as we do, I tell you what, it'll turn us into doers of the Word. Amen. We've been ministering along the subject of the mind, and we've been using for our golden text, Second Timothy, chapter one and verse six. And Paul was writing to Timothy, and he said, for God has not given us a spirit of fear. Aren't you grateful for that? I mean, that which used to harass and push us around in life. No more. No more.
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Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
God has not given us a spirit of fear, but he has given us something else. He's given us a spirit of power or authority, love, and a sound mind. And that's what we've been teaching on. Because that sound mind belongs to us. But we have to know how to. We have to know how to treat that sound mind. We have to know how to cooperate with that sound mind and how a sound mind thinks.
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Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
We're told in Romans 12, 2, be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. And so with that sound mind, we also need to feed it the Word. Your spirit needs to be fed the Word. The Word is food for your spirit. But I tell you what, it's also food for your mind. And the more the Word is engrafted into us, the more we're going to enjoy the flow of a sound mind in life.
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Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
We've been teaching and talking about a service that years ago happened here at Our church, my husband had been holding a miracle meeting and had ministered to the sick, taught on healing. And then at the end of the service, when he was done with his portion of the preaching, he turned to me and he said, God told me that you have something. So I got up. And by the Spirit of God, God spoke to us that night about three ways that believers can give place to the devil or open the door to the devil. Now listen to this. The Word tells us that Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law. We're redeemed from the curse. Amen. We're no longer under the dominion of the enemy. He no longer has authority over us. But Paul warns us in Ephesians chapter 4. In verse 27, he says, neither give plus. So although we're redeemed from the enemy, we're not under a curse of any kind. We don't go back under the curse. But there is such a thing as that. We could give place to the devil. And one of the primary ways we give him place is through wrong thinking. He tries to inject wrong thinking into our thought lives. And if we accept those wrong thoughts, then he will try to trouble us. And we have to do something to make sure that we don't give him a place.
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Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
Neither give place to the devil, because wrong thoughts give him a place. But God said to us that night, by the Spirit, he said, there's three primary ways. Now, these aren't the only ways, but these are three primary ways that a believer, a Christian, can give place to the devil or open the door to the devil. Number one, he said, through the loss of peace. That means just stepping outside of peace. Jesus left us peace. I mean, peace is a fruit of the Spirit. It belongs to us. But we can make steps to yield to something other than peace. And so he said that that's the primary way that people open the door to the enemy is because they step outside of peace, they lose their peace. Number two, he said the way of opening the door to the enemy to sickness, to defeat, is through veering from the plan of God. Listen, long life is connected to his plan. That's the place of safety. And I love how Brother Copeland says it. He says, the will of God is our wealthy place.
- [05:04]
Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
That means that it's abundant with all the resources and provision of God is in the flow of walking in the will of God for our lives and carrying out his plan for our lives. So to veer from the plan of God is to veer from long Life. To veer from the plan of God is to veer from prosperity. To veer from the plan of God is to veer from a sound mind. Because all of these things are connected to his plan. They're his plan for us. So this is the second way the Spirit gave us that night, that believers primarily will open the door to the enemy, give place to the devil, and that is through veering from the plan of God. Then the third way he said to us that night is through the lack of gratitude. When we cease to be grateful. We're not being watchful over what God has blessed us with, and the enemy will steal it from us. Listen, when we're grateful, we're mindful of what we're grateful about, right? If we say, father, thank you for my healing, then we're mindful that healing power belongs to us, that health belongs to us. If we say, father, thank you for the victory for my family, then we're mindful of that for our family. Amen. But when we cease to be grateful for it, then we're not being as mindful of it as we should be. Hallelujah. So we started in the previous episode going back and looking at the first way, because this is the one that I want to spend some time with. As I said, the first one was through loss of peace that we give place to the enemy. Second, through veering from the plan of God. Third, through the lack of gratitude. So we started talking about the first one through the loss of peace or stepping outside of peace, yielding to something other than peace, we'll open the door to the enemy. And God said to us that night, by his Spirit, he said, we open the door to losing our peace through worry, fear, or doubt. Well, I know this. That fear really worry and doubt, or an outflow of fear, that fear is the parent of all these. But they show up in different ways in our life. And so I wanted to kind of single them out and make them separate. Listen, not only is peace a fruit of the Spirit, it is something that Jesus left us. Listen, he was dominated by. He was governed by peace, right? I mean, he was harassed, he was attacked on every side, but he would just walk right through the midst of opposition, completely untroubled. The peace that governed him is the peace that he left us.
- [07:41]
Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
And we have to practice yielding to that and keeping things off of our peace. We tell word, you're not stealing my peace from me. Fear. You're not stealing my peace from me. Doubt. You're not stealing my peace from me.
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Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
I want us to turn to Romans chapter 15, Romans chapter 15. And we're going to read in verse 13, Romans chapter 15 and verse 13. And it reads, now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. Now I want you to see something in this verse. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy, peace and believing. Notice these words, joy, peace and believing. These three are companions. What's he talking about? When you're in faith, you're going to be in joy and peace, too. Now look at that. He fill you with all joy and peace in believing. When you're in your faith, when you're using your faith, when you're exercising your faith, that there's peace and joy, too.
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Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
These three, you can't. If you say, I'm in faith, you can't be sad. You gotta be in joy. If you're using your faith, you're not going to be out of peace. Now I'm talking. There can be attacks that come against the mind, but I'm talking about peace. In your spirit, you can absolutely be anchored in peace no matter what circumstances are going on around you. So joy, peace and faith are companions together. And we can know our degree or the strength of our faith by knowing whether or not we're in peace and joy. Listen, one of the things you don't want to do is go beyond your degree of faith, your level of faith.
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Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
You want to stay within your faith. And our faith should be growing. The Bible talks about great faith. The Bible talks about little faith. The Bible talks about weak faith. But you know what? The Bible even refers to dead faith. What's dead faith? It doesn't mean you don't have faith. It means it's got no movement. When somebody is dead, the body quits moving. So when somebody's faith is not moving, the Bible says you don't want to make sure. You want to make sure your faith isn't dead. And so we see this, that whenever you're operating within your degree or the strength of your faith, there'll be a peace and joy, and our peace should grow. You know, the Word says faith comes by hearing and hearing, by the word of God. And so our faith can grow in strength. And as our faith grows in strength and we're staying and operating within that strength of the faith that we have, I tell you, there'll be peace and joy. If you go to believe God for something and you go, I feel overwhelmed at the thought of that. That's just because that's maybe beyond what you can handle at that moment with your faith. You know, as you develop spiritually, as your spiritual life matures, your faith should grow in strength and be able to accomplish more and take on more, right? Well, it's the same thing. How do you know whether or not you're within that degree of faith or the strength of your faith that's yours? You know it by measuring your peace and joy. For example, I say that I would tell our congregation this. Let's say this. If you got a bill unexpectedly for $5,000, you didn't know was coming, and you go, oh, I got to believe God for $5,000. But you feel. You seem overwhelmed at the thought of believing for that. It's almost like that's a bit much for me. Well, let me ask you this. Can you believe for 500? Yeah, I can believe for 500. Okay, well, can you believe for 1,000? Yeah, I can believe for that. Where you're confident. You don't seem to be overwhelmed at the prospect of believing that. Okay, if you can believe for a thousand, then believe for 1,005 times. Take it in chunks, right? You're staying within the strength of your faith, what your faith can take on at that time. Well, how do I know what my faith can take on? Are you out beyond your peace? Are you out beyond your joy? Do you lose your joy and peace? You seem to be on that joy and peace, you know, by your measure of joy and peace that you have. And it's not, it's not unbelief to back up if you've overextended your faith. It's not doubt and unbelief to back up, to get within the degree of your own faith. Does that make sense to you? Yes, because that's where you're going to have success. The Holy Spirit is going to lead you based on your faith.
- [12:43]
Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
Of what you have peace and joy about believing for right now, the enemy would love for you to take on more than your faith can handle because you can't be assured of the right outcome when you're out beyond what your faith, the strength that your faith can do. You say, pastor, I don't know if I can understand what you're talking about there. Well, have you ever seen a weightlifter? When someone goes to lift weights, the first day they lift, they may only lift, you know, like 40 pound weights, but if they keep lifting, their faith is strengthened. I mean, their muscles are strengthened, and they can end up at the end of several months, they can maybe lift 150 pounds. They didn't start out that way, but they used the measure or the degree of muscles, the strength of muscles they had, and they kept going to the edge with that. And then their measure of faith, or their degree or level of faith, the strength of their faith kept growing, and then they could lift more. It's the same thing, excuse me, with their muscles. It's the same thing with faith, that the more experience you have, the more you're feeding your faith on the Word, the more you're a doer of the Word, the more you pray in the Spirit, there's strength that comes for your faith.
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Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
So don't go beyond your peace, your peace level, don't go beyond your joy level. Because when you're in faith and when you're in that, the strength of your faith, you're going to have peace and you're going to have joy. I remember something to help illustrate this. The Word tells us, you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. I love this story that Brother Hagin told when him and Mom Hagin, they had pastored for years and then they went to go to traveling. So because they no longer were in a parsonage, they weren't pastoring anymore, they were traveling and ministering. They had to. They had to rent their own home, they had to get their own furniture, they had to get all their furnishings, everything. So there was a lot put on their plate all at once that they previously weren't responsible for because the church previously took care of them. And so one day, Mom Hagin came to him. They'd rented a house, they had gotten some furniture. And Mom Hagin came to dad Hagin and said, honey, we need drapes for the windows. And he said, honey, he said, I got my faith stretched. He said, I'm believing for cars. I'm believing for the meetings. I'm believing for the payment on the house. He said, if you throw drapes on my faith that is so stretched, that faith line is going to pop and everything comes down. And he said, you're going to have belief for the drapes yourself. Now, what did he understand? He understood that his faith had a strength to it and not to. To overload what he could believe for. Now, see, that's being sober, that's being wise. Cause people can get the idea, well, I can believe for anything. Well, as long as your faith is strengthened to that measure. So anyway, so he said, and she did believe, and they got their drapes. Well, see, you have to understand this. And he knew. He said, don't get me beyond my joy and peace. Don't throw something else on there, because then I know I'm beyond my strength of faith to lift that. And so the Word tells us, you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. Now see, you have to understand this, that the Spirit of God will lead through peace. That's one leading of the spirit. That when you have peace about something, then you know that that's a direction to go. And I'm talking about peace in your spirit. If you don't have peace about something, don't do it. And don't trouble your mind about it. Because sometimes the enemy would like to accuse you in your faith and say, you should be further along. You need to believe for this. Don't take your counsel from someone who failed. The enemy failed. He failed God. He failed the plan of God. He failed. So you don't take your counsel from him because he won't lead you into success. That's right. And so whatever you have peace about, that's what you're to do, what the direction or how something is carried out. You always follow your peace. You should go out with joy and be led forth with peace. And if you don't have peace about doing something, I'm talking about peace in here, in your spirit, then don't do it. Because that's one way the spirit leads, is through this flow of peace.
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Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
I remember. I remember. Now, see, we're talking about protecting a sound mind. Because the enemy would love to make you feel guilty. Like you should be able to believe for this. Let me say this. If somebody were diagnosed with a physical condition and they go, you know what? I'm just going to believe God. I would say, look to what peace is telling you to do. Because the Holy Spirit is going to lead you through that peace. And you may want to just believe God and not have any medical intervention. Well, whatever you have peace about, do that. But if you don't have peace about it, you see, now you know, don't go that way. Or do go that way based on the peace.
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Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
You have to be aware. Don't just decide what you want and then call that God's love. You have to know, what is peace leading you to do? You know, I've told different ones in our congregation through my 25 years of pastoring. Someone would come up and they would have, you know, that they needed a medical procedure, they needed to have a surgery, and they'd say, pastor, I'm not going to have it. And I'd say, okay, tell me why you're not going to do it. I don't want to have it. Okay, I understand that probably not too many people want surgery. I mean, that's not your first thing I want that I sign up for that, you know. But the thing is, just because you don't want it doesn't mean that that's the leading of God. I say, what is your spirit telling you? Not what your want to is telling you what is what in here. Do you have peace about not doing it or peace about doing it? Because peace is your safeguard. I remember. And you have to distinguish peace with the mind distinguish differently than peace in your spirit. And I'll give you this example. My husband and I had believed God for eight years for a home. God told us he was going to give us another home. So we just had our faith on it. We didn't know which home, but we agreed with that. So we found the home. And over time we got into that home and we really expected that God would have us there for the rest of our life. We were content with that if that was the way it happened. But we were only in that home for about four years. And God began dealing with me about selling the home. Now, whenever we found the home, previous homes, God dealt with my husband, but on this home, God dealt with me about it. And my husband said that bears witness with me that that's our home. He said, but honey, he says, I've got my faith on this building and that building and on this project and that project I've got my faith on so many things. And yet be careful you don't spread your faith too thin, then it doesn't fulfill anything in the sense of you're trying to put it on too many things. And that's why, you know, in a marriage, why you can share faith projects you share. And he said, honey, he said, if that's the house that God's dealing with you about, he says, I agree, that seems right to me. But your faith is going to have to take the lead. So see that soundness about faith, you understand that your faith can only lift so much at a time. And you have to be aware of what you can lift based on the strength of your faith. And so I said, that's fine, I'll take the lead. And we got in that home. And so four years into living in that home, God began dealing with me about selling it. And that baffled me because I thought we would be there long term. And so I went to my husband and I said, honey, I said, I don't know why, but it seems to me it just keeps coming to me about six, selling the home, but I'm not sure why. And he said, I don't know why either, but that seems to bear witness to me. And so I remember for days in considering this, because it surprised me so much that God would have us to sell the home. And I said to God one day, I said, God, I said, my mind is giving me fits. You know what I mean by that? My mind is uneasy, unsettled. There's all these questions in my mind about should we sell the home or not. And I said, but in my spirit, I have peace about doing it. So I said to God, so I tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to take time to pray in the spirit. I'm going to take time to pray in other tongues until I get clarity. See, I was saying, until this my mind gets clarity. Until I get clarity, I'm going to take time to pray in the spirit. Now, it sounds real spiritual, but that's not right. And let me explain it to you. So I was spending a little bit of time one day, I was praying in the spirit, and I hadn't been praying very long, and God spoke to me. And he said, if you'll remember what you said to me the other day, he said, you said your mind was. It was uneasy, it was troubled about the sale of this home. He said, but you had peace in your home, in your spirit about selling it? And I said, yes. And he said, then you said you were going to pray until you got clarity. I said, yes. He said, the peace is the clarity. Notice that the peace is the clarity. Why you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. What am I talking about? A sound mind pays attention to the peace inwardly. What's that? Peace. Direct. What do you have peace about doing or what do you not have peace about doing? Not only is this. This is part of learning to follow the spirit, but this is part of a sound mind. See, what I was really saying was I'm waiting for peace in my mind before I trust the peace in my spirit. Now, see, that's wrong, because you can. The peace or the faith in your heart will work even if your mind is unsettled about something. I never quite got that settled at that time of why God would have us to sell the home. But I still had peace about it. And so we ended up selling it, and we ended up moving into a different home. And it's a blessing and been a blessing. But six months after we sold that home, then my husband went home to be with the Lord. Suddenly and unexpectedly, then I go, oh, now my mind understood what my spirit was directing me in. You understand that? And God said to me, he said, I knew that event was coming. And he says, I did not want you to be responsible for a property in a home that large. So that's why I told you to move. Now, see, he couldn't tell me that before, but this is where faith and peace are safe. God, even if your mind does not understand every detail, it doesn't have to understand stand before it rests, confident in the leading that peace gives. Does that make sense to you? And I was so grateful for the leading of peace. And see, so much of the time the devil will try to create all this commotion because I almost missed that leading of peace because of all the commotion up here in the mind. It's not about the peace of the mind. It's a peace in your spirit. And then you just put. Put your mind in neutral. Not led by your mind, led by your spirit. Led by the peace that's in your spirit. Amen again. And just quoting Isaiah 55, verse 12. For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. Colossians, chapter three. And I want you to see this. Colossians, chapter three, and verse 15, it reads this. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Now, I want to read the amplified classic of that verse. The amplified says, and let the peace from Christ rule. Act as umpire continually in your hearts, deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds. So he said, peace is the umpire. Well, what does an umpire do in a game? It makes the final call.
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Audience
Amen. Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
You look to the umpire to say, what's the decision? And he says, peace is that Umpire, guard your peace. I tell you what, Guard the peace that's in your spirit. And do not let things unsettle your mind so that you lose your peace of mind either.
- [26:24]
Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
Even what you can't figure out, your mind can come into agreement with the peace that's in your spirit. And your mind doesn't have to be harassed and troubled just because you don't at this time understand all the details.
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Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
Well, I tell you what, it's such an honor for us to be on the Victory Channel. I tell you what an honor. And I want to reiterate, I know that you've heard it and it's been told to you before, but I want you to know we're on here because Kenneth Copeland Ministries sowed the seed. We do not pay for this airtime. We pay for our production costs, but for the airtime. Kenneth Copeland Ministries sows this seed. And so we ask you, if you're not pray about becoming a partner with Kenneth Copeland Ministries. They are such a great blessing that helps so many people. You can go to kcm.org and sign up to be a partner there. We encourage you to pray about that and become a partner.
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Audience
Amen.
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Nancy Dufresne
Until next time. Remember this Jesus is the healer. God bless you.
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To watch or listen to today's message and other messages by Nancy Dufresne, visit dufresneministries.org Please join us for our Dufresne Ministries Miracle Crusade in Georgetown, Texas at Church on the Rock, September 4th through the 8th. Come expecting your miracle. For more information, visit our website at defrain Ministries.
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This life changing book by Nancy Dufresne, A sound, disciplined Mind will instruct you on how to do that. God's Word will reach into your everyday life, transforming it. It will lift you from the commonplace into the supernatural. Order this book now@DefrainMinistries.org we trust you've enjoyed this message.
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Visit us@DefrainMinistries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings, share your testimony, submit a prayer request or visit our online store. Thank you to the friends and partners of Dufresne Ministries for making this production possible.