Podcast Summary: Jesus the Healer w/ Nancy Dufresne – Episode 102 | “Worship In Spirit”

Date: November 22, 2022
Host: Nancy Dufresne (Dufresne Ministries)
Theme: Exploring how worshipping God “in spirit and in truth” unlocks faith, brings God’s presence, and empowers believers to overcome obstacles.

Episode Overview

In this episode, Nancy Dufresne teaches on the vital role of worship and praise in the life of faith, emphasizing Jesus’ instructions to worship “in spirit and in truth.” Drawing from scripture and personal experience, she explains that true worship must be wholehearted and spirit-led, not merely habitual or emotional. Through scriptural exposition and practical illustrations, she leads listeners to understand how worship activates the anointing, aligns believers with God’s flow, and opens the door to miracles, healing, and victory over adversity.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Power and Presence in Worship

• Worship and Praise as Acts of Faith
  • Worship is more than singing; it is a faith response that brings God’s power into manifestation. (00:10)
  • “Praise and worship is part of the faith response.” (00:56)
  • When believers praise, they win battles and access the supernatural.

2. Quotations from Influential Teachers

• Kenneth Copeland’s Wisdom

  • “When you pray, you lay hold of things, but when you praise, you win battles.” (00:46)
  • Praise connects your tongue to your spirit, where faith resides.

• God’s Instruction to Norval Hayes

  • God told Hayes: “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... If you’ll teach my children to worship me more, I will do great and mighty things for them.” (02:30)

3. True Worship: Spirit and Truth

• Scriptural Foundation: John 4:23-24
  • Jesus introduces a new order of worship in which believers must worship in spirit and truth, not solely by natural means. (04:10)
  • “God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)
• Contrast Between Old and New Covenants
  • Under the Old Covenant, worship was natural; under the New, it is spiritual because believers now have the life and nature of God. (05:22)
  • “They were God’s people, but they were still not born again... We worship in spirit and in truth.” (06:04)

4. Worship Goes Beyond Emotions

• Avoid Superficial Worship

  • True worship is not about feelings or rituals, but about engaging the heart and spirit. (08:50)
  • Many confuse emotional stirring with spiritual engagement.

• Jesus on ‘True Worshipers’

  • There are worshippers whose actions and words are right, but whose hearts are disengaged. (14:18)
  • “Their mouth is doing the right thing, but their hearts aren’t connected to it. So this lets us know that it’s important that our hearts are engaged. And that’s what the Father is looking for, someone who really means it.” (15:10)

5. Practical Illustration: Engaged Worship

• Personal Story and Analogy

  • Nancy uses the analogy of a marriage proposal: “How important is that ring or that proposal to you if your attention is off on something else?” (11:03)
  • Worship means turning all attention to God, not just reciting words while distracted.

• Corporate Worship vs. Personal Practice

  • Church services are “practice places” for worship, teaching believers how to engage at home when alone. (17:26)
  • “When you go to a church service, that’s your place of practice... so that when you’re at home and there’s no one around you... you still know what to do.” (18:22)

6. The Power of Wholehearted Worship

• Scriptural Example: Psalm 111:1

  • “I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright.” (17:29)
  • Worship is a matter of will and wholeheartedness, not dictated by moods or circumstances. (19:07)
  • “I choose to praise the Lord with my whole heart. All in. All in. And can I tell you this? When you’re all in, you get filled up with what you’re all in with.” (20:05)

• Fullness Draws Others

  • Just as people are drawn to passionate performers, spiritual fullness draws others to God through believers. (20:35)
  • “When we’re wholehearted toward God, we’ll get full of the one we’re wholehearted toward and the right things will be drawn to us.” (21:29)

7. Worship as a Focus Shifter

• Attention on God, Not Problems
  • Worship shifts focus from obstacles (mountains) to the “mountain mover,” God. (22:02)
  • “We’re to speak to the mountain, not be focused on the mountain... Our attention is to be on God, who is the mountain mover.” (22:22)
  • Regular worship prevents being drawn into anxiety and the mental arena where faith does not operate.

8. Avoiding the Mental Arena: Entering the Spirit Arena

• Testimonies of Overcoming Mental Battles

  • Nancy shares experiences of mental bombardment and how shifting to praise broke a year-and-a-half-long test. (25:06)
  • “The mental arena is Satan’s arena. When we get out of the mental arena, we got out of his arena... If the devil can hold you in the mental arena, he’ll whip you.” (24:53)

• The “Praise Cure”

  • God once told Nancy, “the praise cure.” Focusing on praise—beyond prayer and scripture reading—quickly turns the situation. (26:01)
  • “Every bit of that test that had lasted for a year and a half was gone. Why? The Praise cure.” (26:27)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“When you pray, you lay hold of things, but when you praise, you win battles.”
— Nancy Dufresne, quoting Kenneth Copeland (00:46)

“God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
— Jesus (John 4:24) as cited by Nancy Dufresne (05:02)

“The Father is seeking those who worship him in spirit with our hearts involved.”
— Nancy Dufresne (13:55)

“I will praise the Lord with my whole heart.”
— Psalm 111:1, quoted by Nancy Dufresne (17:29)

“When you’re all in, you get filled up with what you’re all in with.”
— Nancy Dufresne (20:05)

“We’re to speak to the mountain, not be focused on the mountain... Our attention is to be on God, who is the mountain mover.”
— Nancy Dufresne (22:22)

“The mental arena is Satan’s arena... If the devil can hold you in the mental arena, he’ll whip you.”
— Nancy Dufresne (24:53)

“The praise cure.”
— Nancy Dufresne (26:01)

Important Timestamps

• 00:10 — Introduction to the power present in worship and the subject for the day
• 00:46 — Quoting Kenneth Copeland on prayer vs. praise
• 02:30 — God’s message to Norval Hayes about the importance of worship
• 05:02 — John 4:23–24 and the new covenant model of worship
• 11:03 — Analogy on engaged attention in worship
• 14:18 — Jesus on true worshipers (Matt. 15:7–9)
• 17:29 — Psalm 111:1 and whole-hearted worship
• 20:05 — On being “all in” and the power of fullness
• 22:02 — Shifting attention through worship
• 24:53 — Dangers of the “mental arena” and how worship brings freedom
• 26:01 — The “praise cure” testimony

Conclusion

Nancy Dufresne passionately teaches that worship is more than ritual or emotion—it is a spirited, wholehearted act of faith. Worship aligns believers with God’s supernatural flow, empowers them to overcome adversity, and draws God’s presence and blessing. The key is to engage the heart, focus the attention on God, and use worship as the gateway to victory. True worship is the “praise cure” that breaks every yoke.

(Listeners are encouraged to practice worship both corporately and privately, giving God their full attention and engaging their spirit in every act of praise.)