← Jesus the Healer w/ Nancy Dufresne Audio Podcast
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Thank you to Kenneth Copeland Ministries for sowing the airtime for this broadcast.
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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. Welcome. We're so glad you're joining us today for Jesus the healer. And we invite you get something to take notes on because we're expecting for God to give answers to your life. And you know, we're certainly hearing the Word, but I want you to know Jesus said it's not just the hearer that's blessed, it's the doer. So as we study the Word together, we're finding out how to be better doers of the Word. And so we're just so thankful you're joining us. And just know that it is my greatest, one of my greatest joys and honors to be able to spend this time with you. So thank you for taking the time to be with us. We're in the midst of a series that we've been on for, for almost a year. And we are so thrilled that the Spirit of God has had us going this way because we've been teaching on in Christ, I can. And when we find out who we are in Christ and who he wants to be in us and who he will be in us if we'll allow him to be that, it gives us the best life. And we want to be able to say that it wasn't our plan we fulfilled, but he fulfilled his plan through us and God. God authored a plan for your life, and it's a great plan, but he didn't author it based on you. He authored it based on him and what he will be through you. So God didn't give you a plan for your life and then just say, hope you go fulfill it? No, he gave Himself so that he could fulfill the plan through us. So what we're doing is learning how to let him manifest flow through us. Well, what is our part in this? We have to respond to the greater one that's on the inside. Of us. How do we respond to Him? Well, our part is to obey Him. Our part is to have faith enough to obey. And when we obey him, then him and his power can manifest through us to fulfill that plan that he authored for us and then goodness. The wonderful thing about it is he authors a plan, gives us Himself so that he can fulfill it through us, and then turns around and rewards us for fulfilling the plan. It's such a deal, I tell you, it is such a deal. So we are so glad to be able to spend this time and discover together what it looks like to live in him and let him live through us and in us. We have been looking at John chapter 14:10, and this was Jesus during His earthly ministry. He declared something that is so important for us to recognize. He said, believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? I want you to know Jesus was declaring this publicly. We're seeing what he had established as truth in his own spirit. He he believed that the Father was in Him. He had to believe that he was in the Father. And I want you to know, as he declared it, we also need to learn to declare that about our lives. I'm in the Father and, and the Father's in Me. And that elevates everything of our life. It removes all the struggle in life when we realize I'm not just fulfilling the plan of God through my own efforts, through trying to do better. Listen, how many times have we said, God, I'm going to do better next time? Well, I would say this. I'm going to yield better next time to the One who's in Me. So it's not about us doing better. It's about us yielding better, responding better to the better One who's in us. And then he can manifest through us. And so Jesus said this statement. He said, I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. And the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself. So Jesus let us know, because he so recognized that he was not alone in this fulfilling of the plan of God, but He had at his disposal the Father in Him. So he went to the Father to get his words. He didn't go to Himself to find the words to speak. He didn't go to Himself to bring to pass the plan of God. He went to the Greater One in Him. So he said the words that I speak unto you. I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in Me. He doeth the works. So Jesus was letting us know the way he was able to fulfill the plan of God for his life is he let God that was in him work through him. Well, that's what we're learning. And the way. Listen. Jesus was so skillful at responding to the Father and letting the Father manifest through Him. So God does the works. But what is our work? Our work is that of obeying by faith because faith is obedience to God. If we say we have faith, then we also have to have works of obedience that we're obeying what he commands of our life. And so we see this, that as we, as we obey him, his power can manifest through us and perform through us. So our part is to have faith enough to obey Him. I want us to go, go somewhere. Let's look at. Let's look at Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 10. And this is the Amplified Classic. We were looking at this in the last episode, but I want us to look at it again and we'll go further today. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10. The Amplified Classic translation. Paul writing. And he said this. For we are God's own handiwork, his workmanship recreated in Christ Jesus born anew, that we may do those good works. What good works are we to do? We're to obey what the Father tells us to do. I want you to know that when we're doers of the Word, it gives us the best life. God is able to manifest more through the doer. You know, when Paul was arrested on the way to Damascus, I mean, Jesus, Jesus spoke to Paul. And when he recognized that he was having a divine encounter, this is what Paul said. And really his name was Saul. Then he said, what would you have me to do? Notice this. Paul's first response to Jesus visiting him was, what do you want me to do? When you're. When you have faith in God, it turns you into a doer. And so God commands things of our life that we're to do. And this is what Ephesians 2, verse 10 says, that we were born again, that we may do those good works which God predestined or planned beforehand for us. So there are works that we that are assigned to our life. There's a plan that we're to fulfill. And we're not doing it with our own ability, but we're doing it by responding and yielding to the One who is within us. And as we said, how do we respond to God? Well, first of all, we acknowledge him. Learn throughout the day to acknowledge the greater ones in me. Christ is in me. He's the treasure box of Heaven and everything that he is is available in Me. And so I'm going to draw on that today. I'm going to put the greater One to work for me. So we have to remember, we have to acknowledge, and if I would say this, confess that he's in us. Because really, the confession is the life of faith. It gives life to our faith when we confess who he is in us and who he is working through us. That's what Jesus did when he said, I'm in my Father and my Father is in me. The words that I speak are My Father's words. He was making confessions, and these confessions were life to his faith. And so if you want to have a bold, robust faith, constantly confess who Christ is in you. Confess all the time. Confess throughout the day. I'm in him, he's in Me, and he's working through me. I'm drawing on his strength. I'm drawing on his ability. I'm drawing on his life. And when you do that, you're giving way for him to manifest and perform through you. What you're mindful of and what you're speaking about is what's going to manifest. So much of the time, people's lives are so consumed with the circumstances that are against them because they're focused on what's against them instead of who they're facing. They talk about what they're facing instead of who they're facing. And I want you to know that if we're going to talk about all the circumstances, we can become overwhelmed by those. But if we'll talk about the greater One who's in us, that he's more than enough for any circumstance that we face. And the circumstances grow small in the sight of one who is looking at the right place. So really being in Christ and having skill of allowing him to manifest goes back to us responding and yielding to Him. I want us to look at isaiah in chapter one, in verse 19. It's a familiar passage to many of us, but it's written in Isaiah, chapter 1, verse 19. This is the King James translation. It says, if you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. Look at that. If you be willing and obedient, what's going to happen? You're going to partake of the good flow of God in your life. So what is it? It's our job to be willing. It's our job to be obedient. How many of you know those are actions of faith? Faith is always willing to move with God. Faith is always Willing to obey God. And I love something that Pastor John Osteen said one time. He was a pastor in the. In the Texas region and had a marvelous church for decades there. He. Before he ever pastored, he missionary for years. He loved doing missions work. And he. He told of how he would have. In his closet, he kept a suitcase that was fully packed, ready to go on an international trip. He said, I wanted to show God I'm ready to go. Any moment that he calls me, I'm packed and I'm ready to go. It wasn't because he was dissatisfied at where he was at. He was showing God I'm willing to go any direction you direct me. How many of you know that faith doesn't become rutted. Faith is always ready to move in a moment. And that's one of the keys to being used by the greater One who's on the inside of us is we don't decide what we will or won't do, but we say we're ever available to the greater one that's in us. Jesus was so willing and obedient to go anywhere where the Father said, I've learned this. Can I. Can I say this? My calendar doesn't get booked out too far in advance because I have so many things that show up at the last minute. And God will say, I want you to go here next week or in two weeks, I want you to go there. But what if I booked myself out a year or two in advance? I'm not available. Even though I may be willing, I've not made myself available. So I make sure that I'm not only willing to be used by God, I'm available to be used. I don't book myself up and then bypass and not even available for what he'll ever direct me to. I know different people have different ways of operating, but for me, I can't book myself out too far in advance because I want to show God I'm ready to move on a dime at any movement, any direction you want, want me to take. And that's what I so appreciated about the faith of John Osteen. He kept that suitcase packed and ready to go. He said, I want to show God I'm ready at a moment's notice to go wherever he wants me to go. Jesus, he declared to his disciples one day, he said, let's go to the other side. And so they all got in a boat that day. He didn't tell them a week in advance. He didn't tell them two weeks in advance. He just came that day and said, let's go to the other side. And when they all got in the boat, they got to the other side, they passed through a storm. And there was a miracle that was worked even to get them to the other side. But what was waiting on the other side there was what we would call the Madman of Gadara. And Jesus went over there, ministered to him, and set that man free. And that man went everywhere and became an evangelist in proclaiming what God had done for him. And then Jesus came back to the previous place he was at. He went to the other side just for one man. And I want you to know Jesus was willing and obedient at a moment's notice to go anywhere God told him to go. That's one reason he got miracles. He was available and willing. Well, this is what Isaiah said. If you be willing and obedient, you're going to eat the good of the land. You know, how good we live is connected to how willing we are. How good we live is connected to how obedient we are. Because faith is obedience. I want you to know, if people say, well, I have faith, well, you have to show that by your obedience. That's what James says. Faith without works is dead. It's not just works trying to earn something, but it's works of obedience. It's works of believing God. And so I would say this. If we're not living as good as we know we should be living, let's check our willingness. Let's check our obedience. I would say this, that if we're complaining about someplace God has us, maybe he's given us a job. And people find themselves after time complaining about their job, complaining about their boss. What is that showing? They may be showing up in obedience for work every day, but are they showing up willing? Because how many of you know when you're willing to obey God, there's no complaint in your mouth about where he puts you. This is something you know that you have to learn if you're going to live a life of faith. That to someone who's in faith, there's no room for complaint in their mouth. Faith is not a complainer. Whenever God delivered his people out of Egypt, they came out. And the way they came out, there was not one feeble one among them. Not only that, they came out with the wealth of Egypt. They had the silver and the gold of Egypt. And then God sent them to a place where their money would do them no good. They traveled through a wilderness. He sent them to a place where they could not rely on money for their success. He sent them to a place where they had to learn faith in God. And so the needs that arose there in that wilderness, that the money did them no good. They had to believe God for their provision. They had to believe God for their food, for their water. So they came out fully healed. They came out fully provided for. And they came out with the presence of God accompanying them. But know this. They. Although they came out free, they came out with one thing unchanged. And that was the way they thought that they were still. All the way. All the way along the journey, they were complaining. Do you know, you think about it. The first. The first challenge they faced, once they were delivered from Egypt, they came up to the Red Sea. The Bible tells us that God led them by the way of the Red Sea. So when they came up to the Red Sea, there was the sea in front of them. There were mountain ranges on the left, mountain ranges on the right. And then there was a mad enemy army coming after them with dead firstborn coming to again attack them. And so they found themselves at the Red Sea. But that's where God led them. Why? Because God already had their provision ready for their arrival. And so when they got to the Red Sea, they put up. They. When they put their toes to the Red Sea. And then God told Moses, stretch forth your rod. And when he did, that sea parted. And they found the path that God had already prepared for them to walk. They went across that Red Sea, not even getting mud on their feet. They walked across on dry land. And when their enemy tried to take the same path, that path was the enemy's destruction. But that path was the way of deliverance for God's people. And when they got on the other side and then they saw their enemies swallowed up in that. In that sea, they started dancing. And Miriam led them in worship and praise and dance to God. But for the next 40 years, you know this. They never danced again because they never rejoiced again. From then on, they became a nation of complainers. And what was that? They weren't willing. And because they weren't willing, they never arrived at what God had for them. I want you to know that God, the greater one, is in you, that you are in Christ, Christ is in you. The Father is. You are one with the Father, and the Father is one with you. And that needs to change and show up the way we talk, that we're not complainers. We're not grumbling and finding fault with things that are out of order, that try to come against our life. Because no matter what faces us, we have our answer and we have our help and our deliverance in us. And so because they were complainers, they never arrived. I want you to know complaining will keep you from ever arriving at what God has for you. And this is really in line with what Isaiah chapter 1 in verse 19 says. If we be willing and obedient, we shall eat the good of the land. Can we not say this? We'll arrive at God's best, but know the two, the two characteristics that have to be, that have to be present if we're going to live the good life. We have to be willing and we have to be obedient. Now let me say this. How many of you know a troubled mind, a mind that's harassed, maybe a mind that's under depression, a mind that's really unpeaceful? How many of you know that's not living the good life? Well, how many of you would say someone who's embedded in marriage problems, they're not living the good life. Or someone who has ongoing persisting symptoms and pain in their body, they're not living the good life. Or someone struggling financially, that's not living the good life. If something of any arena of our life is not in the good flow that God authored for us, we're going to have to go back and say, have I been willing and have I. Have I been obedient? You know, sometimes you can be willing and obedient in one arena of life and not be willing and obedient in another arena of life. But if we're going to have, if we're going to be responsive to the greater one that's on the inside of us, if we're going to be channels that he can flow through, we have to be responding in obedience to him. Now, when it says that we are to be willing and obedient, notice this willingness is dealing with our insides. Obedience is dealing with our outward actions. So it's not just an to do something outwardly right, Our insides have to be in agreement. Our motives have to be right. We have to be joyful to obey. You know, when I was raising my son, my husband and I were raising our two sons, there were times I would tell, you know, our kids, go back and clean your room. And sometimes I would notice they cleaned it, but the attitude wasn't clean. You know, they're stomping off, oh, no, no. I just, I'm just now taking, I'm taking authority over your fe. Taken authority over the way you walk. And I dealt with attitudes. Even if they cleaned it, if they cleaned it with a bad attitude, we still have an issue. They weren't going to live the good life. They were going to live with the penalty. And so I want you to know it's not enough just to. Just to carry out the action. It's how we carry out the action. You know, when my husband went home to be with the Lord in 2013, about three weeks later, there was someone that my husband and I were acquainted with, and they had been ill for quite a long period of time. And about three weeks after my husband died, this acquaintance of ours, they ended up having an experience of dying and they died. And I say had an experience of dying is they actually died and then came back for a short time. But they were on their deathbed and one night as they died, and they. They said when they came back and they relayed to us that experience, they said, Nancy said, I was walking and I was outside the city gates, and I was endeavoring to go into the city gates, but there was a. It's like a force field keeping me out to where I'd try to go in. And I could not enter in. And so I would try to enter in and said, you, husband was right inside the gate. And he said, it's not time for you to come. And that's why I couldn't enter in through those city gates. And said, but your husband said this. Tell Nancy to run her race with joy. Now listen. Of all the things that heaven could have wanted me to know at that time, of all the things that heaven could have said to me at that time, what heaven wanted me to know was run my race, but not just run my race, but how I run my race to run it with joy. Do you know? God wants to be obeyed, but not with a grudge. He wants to be obeyed out of a place and a flow of joy that we delight to do what he says. And this is what Isaiah is telling us, if you be willing. He's talking about not just obedience, but how we obey. What's our motive, what's our intent? What's our thought processes about this? Do we see obedience as a hardship? Do we see God as a hard taskmaster? Well, I want you to know he is no hard taskmaster. You know what's a hard taskmaster? Disobedience. That's a hard taskmaster. But if we be willing and obedient, we'll eat the good of the land. So if something of my life is not in the good flow. I'm going to go back and I'm going to check myself. Have I been willing and have I been obedient, or have I just been obedient without being willing? Or am I willing but I've not followed through? You know, it's not enough to. To want to do right. It's not enough to want to obey God. We have to actually walk it out. How many people say, well, I want the plan of God for my life, but they never step over and violate their flesh to obey God. I've learned this. Every time I have, I'm obeying something God commands of me. I have to step past my flesh and I have to step past my mind. Because the reasonings of man will always tell you why you shouldn't do it, why this is hard, and the flesh will always have something else it prefers. But if we will begin to be grateful that God is even commanding something of our life and do it joyfully, then we can come into an obedience that will bring our life into the good flow. You know, if you'll pay attention to the arenas the devil attacks you in many times, you'll recognize what God's called you to do. I. Years ago, my husband and I hadn't been married too long. Of course, we were in the ministry, and we took our first international trip together. He had been traveling overseas for a period of time before we were married, but the first trip that I took with him after we were married, I tell you what, it seemed as though all hell cut loose on me on that trip. And because of that, I could not wait to return back home. In fact, I'd only been there a couple of days. And I said to my husband, let me go back home. I said, I will travel back home by myself. You stay here. I will go back my. By myself. I would. I would do anything to get out of that situation. And my husband said, oh, no, you're not. You're not. You're not leaving. You're saying, we're going to finish. But I tell you, those were some of the hardest days of my life. There was such opposition that I had never seen before. Day after day after day with that entire trip. Now, if I had known, but I was a spiritual baby back then, I didn't understand, but I since now, looking back on that, I recognize no wonder the devil attacked me so much on that trip, that international trip, because international travel and international ministry is such a large part of what God's called us. To know this, pay attention to how the devil Attacks and in ways and in what settings he attacks in. Because many times you'll find he's trying to back you out of fulfilling the plan of God. So after that, anytime I would travel with my husband overseas, I would be in the closet and packing because it's a. It's a lot of organization to get ready for an overseas trip. And I would sense a sense of depression or dread, which dread is nothing but the nuance of fear. Absolutely. And so I would have a sense of dread. Oh, I'm dreading the trip. I'm dreading the trip. Well, I learned to rest that at the moment I sensed it. What is it? Because it would affect my willingness. How many times I went in obedience. But there was a sense of dread. But as I grew in Christ and I recognized my authority, I recognized that I'm going to deal with that sense of dread because I will not do this unwillingly. Because if I obey God, but I'm doing it with an unwilling heart, wishing I didn't have to do it, I'm still not going to benefit from it. And so I learned this, that when I'd start packing and I'd sense that sense of dread come on me, I would stop right there and I'd say, God, thank you so much. I get to go. I'm so grateful that you've even given me something to declare to people that even people want at any time hear what I would have to say. I'm so grateful that you've included me in the plan. And I replace that sense of dread with rejoicing, with gratitude. And I've learned this every single time it breaks off that sense of fear or dread that the devil's trying to bring to try to push me back from obeying. So it's not just obeying. It's about being willing to obey. Because if we are willing and obedient, we eat the good of the land. I want you to know the devil doesn't want you to eat the good. He wants you to be troubled in your life of obedience. But we're learning what the Word says and who we are in Christ. And we're not. We're not allowing ourselves to be troubled by a lower flow, but we're staying in the high flow of willingness and obedience. Amen. Well, we're going to continue along this line next time, and you don't want to miss next time. And until then, 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 in the book
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Victory Over Grief and Sorrow, Nancy Dufresne shares from firsthand experience how even death is no match for the mighty force of peace that is available to every believer. Order this book now@DefrainMinistries.org.
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We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us@DefrainMinistries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings, share your testimonies, submit a prayer request, or visit our online store. Thank you to the friends and partners of Dufresne Ministries for making this production possible.
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This is Nancy Dufresne, and I want to extend an invitation to you to become a partner with Dufresne Ministries today. God bless you.
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Partnership helps with crusades held nationwide and abroad, printing and publishing of books and other materials, operational costs, and TV and other media broadcasts. For more information and to sign up to become a partner, go to defrainministries.org.