090 | A Lifestyle Of Worship

Summary

Podcast Summary: Jesus the Healer w/ Nancy Dufresne
Episode: 090 | A Lifestyle Of Worship
Release Date: November 4, 2022
Host/Author: Dufresne Ministries

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Introduction to the Flow of Worship

In Episode 090, Nancy Dufresne delves deep into the essence of worship as a foundational lifestyle for believers. She emphasizes that worship isn't merely an activity but a continuous flow that aligns believers with God's intended abundance and victory.

Notable Quote:
"We're taking something that Brother Copeland made this statement, he said, when you pray, you lay hold of things, but when you praise, you win battles."
— Nancy Dufresne [01:29]

Worship as a Battle Strategy

Nancy underscores the profound difference between prayer and praise. While prayer is about claiming and asking, praise is portrayed as a strategy to win spiritual battles. She clarifies that these "battles" aren't about defeating external enemies but overcoming internal opposition that challenges the victory believers already possess.

Notable Quote:
"Worshiping and praising God is a vital key to walking in the victory that belongs to us."
— Nancy Dufresne [02:06]

Legacy of Faith: Lessons from Brother Norval Hayes

Drawing inspiration from Brother Norval Hayes, a respected figure in faith and healing ministries, Nancy highlights a pivotal message God conveyed to him:
"My children love me, but they live in poverty and sickness and defeat. They don't live in heaven's blessings because they don't worship me enough."
— Nancy Dufresne [02:19]

She interprets this not as a transactional relationship where worship earns blessings but as a continual, enduring act that opens the door for God's anointing and blessings to manifest in believers' lives.

Stepping into God's Flow Through Worship

Nancy explains that choosing worship over fear, worry, or doubt positions believers within God's flow, safeguarding them from negative influences and enabling the manifestation of God's promises.

Notable Quote:
"As we worship, we step into the place where great and mighty things can flow. Because when we step into worship, we step into God's flow."
— Nancy Dufresne [04:20]

Enlarging the Heart and Spirit

Using Psalms 119:32 and Ephesians 3:19, Nancy illustrates the necessity of an "enlarged" heart and spirit to fully receive and contain God's abundant blessings. She likens the spirit to an expandable container, capable of holding more as believers deepen their relationship with God.

Notable Quote:
"Smith Wigglesworth made the statement, 'I'm a thousand times larger on the inside than I am on the outside.' That comes from spending time with God."
— Nancy Dufresne [11:18]

Cultivating Spiritual Habits: Continual Praise

Nancy advocates for making continual praise a spiritual habit rather than a reactionary response based on feelings. Referencing Psalms 34:1, she stresses the importance of a deliberate choice to bless and praise God at all times, ensuring that faith remains active and receptive.

Notable Quote:
"I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth."
— Nancy Dufresne [16:20]

She explains that verbalizing praise activates God's promises, as faith is expressed through speech. This continual praise keeps believers aligned with God's will and open to receiving His guidance and blessings.

Overcoming Fear Through Worship

Addressing common spiritual challenges, Nancy advises that in moments of uncertainty or fear, focusing on praising God can shift attention from problems to His sovereignty. This practice not only dispels fear but also enhances the ability to hear God's solutions.

Notable Quote:
"When you're worshiping and praising, you’re in the flow of faith. Continually. And we all need our faith many times at a moment's notice."
— Nancy Dufresne [24:44]

Maintaining a Right Heart Amidst Blessings

Nancy warns against allowing pride to infiltrate one's heart as blessings accumulate. She emphasizes that genuine worship maintains humility and ensures that blessings are used to glorify God rather than inflate personal ego.

Notable Quote:
"Worship helps us keep our hearts right so that we handle the blessings of God with a right heart, with right motive, with right intent."
— Nancy Dufresne [15:01]

Conclusion: Embracing a Lifestyle of Worship

Nancy concludes by reinforcing that worship is not just an isolated act but a continuous lifestyle that aligns believers with God's plans and blessings. By making praise a habitual practice, believers remain connected to God's flow of faith, enabling them to experience His great and mighty works fully.

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Key Takeaways:

• Worship as a Battle Strategy: Praise serves as a powerful tool to secure and maintain spiritual victories.
• Enlarged Heart and Spirit: Cultivating a receptive and expansive spirit is essential for receiving God's abundant blessings.
• Spiritual Habits: Continuous praise ensures an ongoing flow of faith and alignment with God's will.
• Overcoming Fear: Focusing on worship shifts attention from challenges to God's sovereignty, facilitating divine solutions.
• Humility in Blessings: Maintaining a worshipful heart guards against pride and ensures blessings are used appropriately.

This episode encourages believers to integrate worship into every aspect of their lives, transforming it into a perpetual state that fosters spiritual growth, resilience, and alignment with God's divine flow.

Transcript

[Kenneth Copeland]

Thank you to Kenneth Copeland Ministries for sowing the airtime for this broadcast.

[Nancy Dufresne]

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 work, believe in what's not. Try to get something, but notice that he's already made it yours. It's present right where you're at. Say, I receive that power. I receive that power. I receive it right now. I receive it right now. From the top of my head. From the top of my head. The soles of my feet. The soles of my feet. We're so glad to have you with us today for Jesus the healer. Welcome. Get hold of your Bible. Get a notepad and pen or pencil and take notes. Write down things that God is saying to you. You can tell them old school. Get your pen and paper. Right? Get your device. Whatever suits you, get it. And don't lose anything that God may say to you. Because when he speaks something to us, he's stalking the shells of our life so that when we're faced with challenges, we already have the supplier ready and waiting for that opposition.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

We're talking about the flow of worship. And one of the things, I guess we could call it our golden statement, is we're taking something that Brother Copeland, which I so appreciate that he made this statement, he said, when you pray, you lay hold of things, but when you praise, you win battles.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

You've got to learn to stand your ground. We're not, when we talk about battles, we're not talking about defeating the enemy again, but we're talking about overcoming any opposition that would try to challenge our victory.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

And so worshiping and praising God is a vital key to walking in the victory that belongs to us. I've been reiterating and going back to something that God said to Brother Norval Hayes years ago. Brother Norville was a precious man of God with a strong healing, ministry, teaching on faith. And God said something to him years ago. And just because Brother Norville's gone to heaven, we don't want to let the words fall. We want to be good, steward of the stewards of the light and the revelation that came through that precious man of God. And this is what God said to him on one occasion. He said, my children basically love me, but they live in poverty and sickness and defeat. They don't live in heaven's Blessings because they don't worship me enough. Now, what we're talking about when we say enough, it's not enough to earn something. It's long enough. We're not worshiping him enough to earn something, but we're worshiping him long enough for the anointing to come into manifestation. And then that anointing will destroy the yoke. And so he said, they don't live in heaven's blessings because they don't worship me enough. Or we could say long enough. You're teaching faith and confession. You're praying for the sick, but you need to worship me more. Now, this is what God said to Brother Norval. And he said, and you need to teach my people to worship me more. I'm their God and they're my children. If you'll teach my children to worship me more, I will do great and mighty things for them. Now you need to go back to the previous episodes to see what we broke those statements down and spent a little bit more time with them. We're finishing up this fourth statement that God said to Brother Norville that if you'll teach my children to worship me more, I'll do great and mighty things for them. Not just for the pastor, but for them.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

And we see this that God is offering us great and mighty things. That's the flow he intends for us. That's what he authored for us. But as we worship, we step into the place where great and mighty things can flow. Because when we step into worship, we step into God's flow. If we step into fear, that's not God's flow. We step into worry, that's not God's flow. We step into doubt, that's not God's flow. We step into panic, that's not God's flow. But worship as we worship, it will safeguard us to keep us out of the wrong flows so that we stay in the flow that God can manifest through and meet our needs.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

So God longs to do for his children. I love this statement. If you'll teach my children to worship me more, I'll do. I'll do. They won't have to do do.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

We do our part of believing. We do our part of obedience, but he does the work of power.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

Now, when we worship God, that is an act of faith. So when we worship God, faith opens the door to God because it's a faith flow.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

Worship is the open door through which God can come through, because that is an act of faith.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

Now, God Performs great and mighty things for worshipers. Decide that you. Decide that you. But him wanting to do great and mighty things. We have to be receivers of great and mighty things. Now, we don't want to rob ourselves by thinking small because we're talking about what God calls great and mighty, not what we call great and mighty, what God calls great and mighty. We don't want to go on tilt up here and limit what he can do, what degree of great and mighty things we can experience. We don't want to limit that.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

So we must, if I could say this, make sure that we are enlarged enough to receive a great and mighty flow. His Word enlarges us. Obeying His Word, spending time in the presence of God, you can't get in the presence of God, who is so great, you know, the Word calls him great. You can't get around greatness, stay around greatness, fellowship with greatness, be a student of greatness and remain and be anything less than great and just stay in a flow that's less than great.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

Being with him, spending time with him, will hold us in a great flow. And the more we receive of that great flow, the greater the flow can become.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

We were looking at. I want you to see In Psalms chapter 119, we looked at this last time, but I want us to look at it again because it's so good and I want to spend a little bit more time with it. Psalms 119. In verse 32, the Psalmist writes, I will run the way of thy commandments. Now notice this. What a hunger, what a desire that you're running towards. What God says, I will run the way of thy commandments, meaning the direction his commandments tell me to go in. I run that way. I'm not running a different way. I'm running in line with the commandments. I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. The more enlarged, or if we could say this, the more strengthened your spirit is, the more you can contain of what he offers. Wow, that's good. An increased flow. Now, in Ephesians 3:19, I want to read the Doddridge translation. Now, Paul was writing, and he was referring to the love of God. But I want you to see a truth here about an enlarged heart, an enlarged spirit, an enlarged capacity to receive. Before we do that. And I used this illustration last time when my grandbabies come into our hospitality room here at the church, I have a candy dish, and I'll tell them, honey, get some Put it in your pockets. And their little old hand could only hold, like, two or three pieces. And I'm going, no, no, no. That's not gonna last you for the day. So I'd get my hand, and because of the enlargement of my hand compared to theirs, the quantity was more. The capacity of my hand was greater than their hand. So I could lay. Hold them more. Same thing with your spirit. Same thing with your spirit. To enlarge it, to hold. Contain more. Now, In Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 19, Paul, as I said, was talking about the love of God. But we see a truth, though, about the spirit of man. And this is the Doddridge translation. And I want to read it. And I'll kind of read it. So because there's so much in it, Paul says, I wish you more enlarged apprehension of it. And he was talking about your apprehension of the love of God. That so you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Your expanded hearts. Look at that. Expanded, not restricted, not constricted, not limited. But your expanded hearts being dilated more and more. May be rendered capable of admitting larger degrees than ever of divine love and more ample indwellings of divine consolation. Till at length you arrive at that happy state in which you shall attain to a full perfection in the knowledge and the enjoyment of God. That's so good. Are you kidding me? It's like, get on this table and dance. But it shows us that our spirits can be schooled to hold more. As knowledge grows, capacity grows. Smith Wigglesworth, an English preacher, made the statement. I'm a thousand times larger on the inside than I am on the outside.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

That comes from spending time with God, feeding, meditating on the Word, being doers of the Word. You understand that? Doers. Doers of the Word. Not just hearers, but doers of the Word. Spending time worshiping Him. All of these things flow together to complement the flow of God in our lives. Worshiping God not only positions us to receive great and mighty things, but it also keeps us safe with what we receive. So that what we receive doesn't turn into something we serve. We don't start putting our faith on the things we receive, but our faith is held in God.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

Worshiping God keeps you mindful of him instead of longing toward things. Listen. God longs for you to have every desire met. I like things. Anybody else in this room like things. Anybody else out there? You like things? Listen. God gives us all things richly to enjoy. Not to serve, but to enjoy. There is no if you Enjoy the things. God wants them for you as long as you enjoy them. But if we start serving them, then we're not safe with them. God won't take them from us. But the thing that don't ever turn enjoyment into something you serve. So worshiping God will allow will enable us to receive great and mighty things from Him. But worshiping God will also hold our focus and attention on him and off of just with having a goal of acquiring things. I don't make money amounts my goal for my life. I make the fulfillment of his plan the goal for my life. And whatever amounts are needed to fulfill that plan, I'm going after it.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

It's about him and his plan. It's about him and his plan. And in his plan for your life, he wants you to enjoy things.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

He wants us to have things he wants. Listen, we should be an example of the Father we belong to.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

God doesn't need examples of poverty in the earth. He needs examples of people with dilated expanded hearts that worship him and are able to receive of the grandness of his abundance.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

As our success, as our increase our success and our influence grows, spending time in God's presence, worshiping him is vital to keeping out pride. That's so good. Understand that you can't be a worshiper of God and pride get a hold of you. Yeah, that's good. Because worship. I'm talking about when your heart is engaged in this worship. I'm not talking about a form of worship, but the heart is removed. I'm talking about when the heart is in worship. It recognizes there is nothing that matches the view of Him. I am nothing. There's nothing in me to be fixed on.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

He is the focus. Worship helps us keep our hearts right so that we handle the blessings of God with a right heart, with right motive, with right intent and to do the right thing with the blessings we receive. It's not safe for us to want something just so we can feel better about ourselves. Our identity is not in what we possess or don't possess. We have to find out who we are in him, who he made us to be. That's the foundation.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

And it's not about trying to get great and mighty things in our life so that we can feel that we're of worth. We are of worth because of the price that was paid for us. The precious blood of Jesus. My worth is in Him. My value is in Him. And I'm not trying to do something out here to make me Feel like I'm worth it. I'm worth it because of who I belong to. And it's not my doing, it's Him. And therefore, there's no reason to focus on the person, but to worship the one who brought us into his image.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

Now go with me, if you would, to Psalms chapter 34 and verse 1. Psalms 34. 1. The Psalmist writes this so important for your life. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. I want to take just those words a few at a time. I will. It's a choice of my will. I will bless the Lord. It doesn't say, I feel like blessing the Lord today. If all we do is worship God based on feeling, we're going to rob ourself of the highest flow. I will bless the Lord. That's a choice of my will. I set my will that I am a worshiper. I will bless him. Now look at this. I will bless the Lord. Look at this phrase. At all times. At times when things are in place and at times when things are out of place, there's no time I'll ever face that doesn't call for me blessing the Lord every time. All the times. All the times of my life, I'm to bless him. All the times of your life, you're to bless him. Because there's many times in our lives, but at all times we're assigned to blessing him. And then his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Look, in this verse, we have an assignment. Yes. When you face a difficult situation, you say, I don't know what to do. Yes, you do. At all times. At all times. I will bless the Lord at all times. I do know what to do at all times. When difficult situations say, I just don't understand. No, no, no, no, no. That's not. That's not the answer. At all times, I will bless him. I will bless him. Because it's while we are blessing him that any specific instructions we need about that time will be heard. Praising him, worshiping him, blessing him, focusing on him puts our attention on him and off of our problem. We don't hear our answer for our problem. While our attention is on our problem, we can receive and hear the answer for our problem. When our attention is on the one who has the answer. So while we're blessing him at all times, then we'll have our answer at all times. We'll hear our answer at all times. Have you ever noticed that when you're fearful, you don't hear your Answer. When you're worried, you're not hearing. Not hearing from God. When you're doubting, you're not hearing the answer. Yeah, Blessing is the flow. Blessing the Lord is the flow to where you hear. So worshiping will help you be a hearer.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

And then it says, his praise shall continually. Look at that word, continually. It doesn't necessarily mean 24 hours a day in the sense of you're going to be sleeping, sometime, you're going to be eating. Sometimes your mouth will have something else going on at some time. Right. When it says his praise shall continually, he means lifestyle. And all throughout the day, all throughout the day, his praise shall continually be. Where? In my mouth. Oh, it can't just be in my thoughts. It's not enough that it's in my thoughts. It's good to have thoughts of him. It's good to have right thoughts. But it needs to be in your mouth. Why? Because God hastens to his word to perform it. And when you're, when you're praising him, you're on his word and then you're giving him something to perform. It's got to be in our mouths. Faith can't be released except through your mouth. Yeah, that's right. That's good.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

You can. Faith is in your spirit. And we should have faith thoughts now that faith thoughts don't come from the mind, they come from the spirit. Because as we renew our mind, we should think in line with faith thoughts. But you cannot spend your faith by thinking faith thoughts. Likewise, you can't spend your praise by thinking praise words. That's right. That's right. They have to be in our mouth. I said they have to be in our mouth. Hallelujah. To praise Him. There is never a day or a time that his praise is not to be in our mouth. And this is why many times, if people would just make this correction, they'll get back in the flow to where now they hear God. They hear answers for their life. Listen, I've been there. One of the temptations or the tests that can come when you're faced with a challenge test is the enemy will say, you don't know what to do. You don't know what to do. You don't know what to do. And that will bombard the mind and fear. Try fear speaks to you. You don't know what to do. You don't know what to do. And then if you're not careful and guarded in your thought life, you become fearful over what you don't know. Wow. That's good. I've been there when that was one of the strategies and the devices of the enemy to try to make me fearful of what I did not know that I needed to. And I just had to take the stand. Father, you will bring me into what I need to know, but not while I'm focused on what I don't know. So I just worship you for bringing me into the knowledge. And sometimes I'll hear a sermon, sometimes he'll direct me to a book. It's not just me doing nothing. It's me paying attention to how he's leading me to bring me into that knowledge. Sometimes just studying the Word for myself, hearing. Hearing from the Spirit of God.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

And so when you need to know, do not become fearful over what you don't know. Just do what you do know and keep praising the one who knows. And as you praise the one you know who does know, he'll bring you into what you need to know.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

It settles everything. And when you don't know, you say, I will know. I'll know. I'll know. I'll know.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

We must, when it says, his praise shall continually be in my mouth. You know what this is talking about? A spiritual habit. A spiritual habit. You know, we have habits in the natural, and habits in the natural are good. Not all habits are bad, right? But there are good natural habits to have. It's good to get up and get dressed. It's good to get up and brush your hair. Good to get up and brush your teeth. It's good to get up and clean your room, make your bed. All these things, these things that we do in a habit, just in a routine. These things are good. Why? Because it helps keep things in place. And we don't wait for. For a leading to brush our hair. That's right. We don't wait for a leading. We don't wait for an unction. We don't wait for a feeling. We don't wait for the anointing to clean our room. Well, some may, but that's a bad habit. You don't have to wait for something. When you put a habit in place, the habit will bring you into that flow of excellence. Because there's a habit there that you just do it. Well, there are also spiritual habits we need to have. And one of those is praising his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Why? Because when we have that spiritual habit, then we don't have to wait to feel something. We don't have to wait to be instructed to do something. The habit is leading us to it.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Now think of this, because I said this is that worshiping is an act of faith. Isn't that right? Praising God is an act of faith. Why? Because you're worshiping and praising someone. You don't see you're dealing with the unseen, and that takes faith. So when you're worshiping and praising, you're in the flow of faith. If you will put into your habit, his praise shall continually be in my mouth. You're continually in the flow of faith. That's an act of faith. Continually. And we all need our faith many times at a moment's notice. And we've got it already moving that day. We've already connected our tongues to our hearts where our faith resides as we worship, as we praise. So as you're going down the road in your car, worship your father. I worship. Keep your hands on the steering wheel. I worship your father. But you understand, make it a habit. Put it in place. And as you do, you're keeping your tongue hooked up to your spirit. And that's where your faith flows from, is your spirit. And you've got your tongue hooked up to your faith.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

What a help to know these things. The reason we're able to be with you today, the reason the Jesus the Healer broadcast is able to come to your home or wherever you're watching this, is because Kenneth Copeland Ministries has sown a precious, mighty seed to this ministry. They have invited us to be on this channel and we are completely honored. It's one of the highlights of our life to get to share the word with you. They do not choose, charge us a penny for the airtime. They sow it completely. And so I would encourage you if this ministry, these messages are a blessing to your life. If you're not already, pray about becoming a partner with Kenneth Copeland Ministries. Because the things that we're taught here will make the difference of life and death.

[Audience]

Amen.

[Nancy Dufresne]

It's a rescue for people. It is a help answers. It's life for us to hear the word Amen. So go to kcm.org and sign up to become a partner. We've been teaching out of our book worship. We invite you to get hold of your copy. You can go to our [e-mail] and get your copy. And until next time, remember this Jesus is the healer. God bless you.

[Kenneth Copeland]

To watch or listen to today's message and other messages by Nancy dufresne, visit dufresneministries.org.

[Nancy Dufresne]

Nancy Dufresne's book Daily Healing Bread from God's Table contains daily portions of healing bread for you to feast on and meditate on in your thought life throughout the day. Order this book [e-mail] we trust you've enjoyed this message.

[Kenneth Copeland]

Visit us at 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.

[Nancy Dufresne]

Sam.