"Faith Pioneers – They Served Another" by Nancy Dufresne

     The faith pioneers of the past who walked under a “Double Portion” Anointing faithfully served another man of God. They were students of someone who knew God better than themselves, and they walked in what they were taught. They honored another. They didn’t abandon those they were to serve; they stayed where God told them to be.

     The faithfulness of these pioneers affected future generations; many are enjoying the fruits of their labor. Because of their obedience, they walked with God, received revelations of the Word, and produced much fruit, and through them God rewrote the stories of multitudes. That was accomplished through the “Double Portion” Anointing upon them, which they received by faithfully serving another.

     It is of great importance for us to know what God did for them and through them, for they serve as examples of what God will do for us as we progress in this era of the Last Days. Their honor and faithfulness to serve turned them into examples that we can follow.

     It takes honor to receive from God. It takes honor to recognize and to receive of what is honorable. It takes honor to recognize God in another man and faithfully serve him.

     Faith pioneers walked in great honor, or they never would have been able to move with God as they did, walking in the degree of anointing they walked in.

(The following is an excerpt from Nancy Dufresne’s newest book, The Price of the Double Portion Anointing.)

The “Double Portion” Anointing is available to those who are faithful to another man, as Elisha was to Elijah. (Someone can’t just get in a ministry line and have hands laid on them to receive this.)

     In saying this, we not only point to the degree of the anointing upon a man, but how a man comes to walk in that degree of anointing.

     Faith pioneers were ones who walked with God, had robust faith, and produced much fruit because they closely followed another man. Joshua served Moses, Samuel served Eli, Elisha served Elijah, and Timothy served Paul. Before they were known as men of great faith, they were known to have faithfully served.

     During previous seasons of their lives, their primary interest was not in having their own, but in serving another. They lost view of their own; their attention was on another. They loved the man, and they valued, prized, and honored what was in him. They used all their energies in helping another man succeed and fulfill his vision, and thereby received into their own lives the outcome of their faithfulness to another man. In the service of another, they became students; they received the instruction, training, and divine impartations needed to fulfill their own call. They grew to have great faith as they took the path of faithfully serving another.

     Jesus stated, “And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?” (Luke 16:12). 

     A man’s zeal and ambition to have his own will not equip or qualify him for his own. Only through wholehearted desire, honor, and service to see another man fulfill his call can position him to be trusted to have his own.

     The leadership principles embraced by many portray that success is found only in having one’s own. That is the mindset of the world, but it does not represent God and His way of promotion. Promotion from God comes through the avenue of honoring and serving another faithfully. 

     To serve under another while having one’s own in view is unfaithfulness. It is a mistake to go through the motions of serving, while one’s heart, motives, affections, and interests are set solely on themselves and getting their own. Yes, we can understand that the godly principle of serving another blesses our own life, but our motive is not to serve just so we can get our own. We don’t just love what we can gain from a man, but we must love the man, otherwise we are not safe to serve him. We must lose sight of our own or we can’t serve another wholeheartedly. As we lose sight of our own, only then can God safely promote us. 

     Many may go a lifetime serving another man, never having their own. If that is the will and plan of God for a man, what an honor! It takes a faithful man who loves and honors another to rightly succeed in that.

     Before faith pioneers of the past carried a great anointing, they were first wholehearted in serving another man. That’s a man God can promote.

     If we are to walk in the “Double Portion” Anointing, we can’t expect to walk any differently. Honor is such a languishing quality in today’s society, but it is mandatory if one is to walk with God and under a greater anointing.

     When we live a life of honor, when we honor men of God He connects us to and we honor what God has done in the past, we position ourselves for God to repeat that through us. 

     I want to see what they saw, but in an even greater way.

"Healing – Give God Something To Work With" by Nancy Dufresne

Last month I wrote about a healing testimony that blessed me, but I wanted to tell you another one this month because these testimonies encourage us and give us instruction.

     There was a woman who had a condition that left her bedfast. The doctors had given her no hope. She called for a minister to come and pray for her, and as he talked to her, he knew that he needed to locate what she could believe for so they could get results with their faith.

     Many people just want to receive their answer instantly, which is good, but our faith may not always be at that place. So, to get results, we have to know what we can believe for.

     This minister knew that he needed to find where this woman’s place of faith was. 

     As he talked to her, he told her, “We’ve got to give God something to work with.” They looked to the Lord to lead them as to what that may be. The minister was led to ask the woman who was bedfast, “Can you believe God that tomorrow you will be able to make your own bed?”

     “Yes,” the woman agreed. “I can believe for that.” So they agreed in prayer that she would be strengthened enough to make her own bed.

     When the minister visited her on the following day, she told him, “It took me 4 hours, but I did it! I made my own bed!” She and the minister praised God together that He had strengthened her enough to do that.

     “Alright,” the minister said, “can you believe God to go to the restroom by yourself tomorrow?” 

     “Yes, I can believe for that,” the woman assured him. When he visited her the next day, she gave him the good report. “I did it. It took me a while, but I got to the restroom on my own!” And they praised God together.

     Then she and the minister believed God every day that she would be able to do an additional chore around the house. One day, he arrived to find her up and walking around her house. She wasn’t walking fast, but she was up! A few weeks later, he arrived at her house to find her outside walking around the block!

     No, her healing wasn’t instant, but it was still divine healing. The doctors had helped her as much as they could, but they could give her no hope of ever getting out of her bed. But with God, there is no such thing as “impossible” for the one who believes.

     This woman didn’t just lay down her faith because she couldn’t believe for instant healing, but she hooked on where she could and gave God something to work with.

     Don’t lay down your faith just because you may not be able to believe for instant healing. What can you believe for? Give God something to work with!

     Look to the Spirit of God to lead you as to what to hook your faith to. He’s our Counselor. He will counsel you as to what your faith can hook on to.

     I love a statement that Dad Hagin made. “I can’t promise anyone instant healing, but I can promise everyone healing!”

     Thank God for instant healings, but we don’t have to dismiss ourselves from healing just because it doesn’t show up instantly. Give God something to work with! What can you believe for today? Find where you can hook on with your faith and get results, then just keep hooking on every day, and it will all come to pass!

"The Jackpot of Life, Part 2" by Nancy Dufresne

    In last month’s teaching, I wrote of what Jesus stated in Matthew 6:31-33. He told us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things that others are dying to get will be ADDED to you. This is the “jackpot” of life. It’s a key scripture that tells us that when we seek God first, then all these things this scripture contains will be added to us.

     Seeking first His Kingdom and His way of operating will put us in command of all other things that others are dying to get. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and its diverse interests, and all these things shall be added to you.

     Put your love for God and His Kingdom first, without anything else competing for that first and highest place. You can’t put your business, your own plans, and your natural interests alongside God and His Kingdom and then say He’s first. 

     You cannot give God a “shared” first position. Anything else that is put in that position of “first” will fail you. Nothing else in this world or life is worthy of or able to successfully occupy the position of being first. That is a position that only God and His Kingdom can successfully occupy and fulfill.

     Matthew 6:33 doesn’t say, “Seek ye ONLY.” It says, “Seek ye FIRST....” Yes, we can have other interests, but they can’t be first; we aren’t to put anything above Him.

     Revelation 2:4 & 5 warns us, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy FIRST LOVE. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”
     If we leave our first love, nothing else we may do matters.

Love God With All...

     Let’s see what loving God first looks like. Mark 12:28-30 (Amplified) reads, “Then one of the scribes...asked Him (Jesus), Which commandment is first and most important of all [in its nature]? Jesus answered, The first and principal one of all commands is: Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord; And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the FIRST and principal commandment.”
     To love God with all our being — this is the FIRST commandment (vs. 30). Jesus said, “HEAR, O Israel....” God’s people — HEAR THIS. This is where many of God’s people miss it. Family isn’t first, your plans aren’t first, your business isn’t first, your income isn’t first, what men call important isn’t first — loving God with all our being is FIRST.

     Jesus tells us HOW we are to love God. Verse 30 — “And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart....” Notice the word “with” — “And you shall love the Lord your God WITH....” We can only love God WITH something — we can’t love Him WITHOUT something. To love Him properly, we can’t demonstrate our love to Him without something.

     God wants something more from us than natural things — He wants things of greater value — that which you can’t put a price on — He wants that which flows out of man’s being — man’s heart, his soul, his mind, and his strength — that which is above price. He wants ALL of you — the WHOLE of you.

     Love has to be in two places: the heart and the actions. We aren’t just to have actions without the heart involved, and we aren’t to have the heart without any actions to prove it.

     Jesus said that there are 4 things that must be involved in our love for God — all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength.

     First, with all our heart. This is where the life stems from — our hearts. If our hearts aren’t involved, why would His heart be involved? Our hearts have to be involved for it to matter. Our hearts are to be an unshared seat. God is first and foremost in our hearts, and we are not assuming to seat something else alongside Him. He alone occupies the foremost seat in our hearts.

     Second, with all our souls (AMP — our life). Our daily lives are a picture of what’s in our souls — they demonstrate the way we think, what we set our will on, and what we set our affections on. Our way of thinking, our will, and affections flow out into our daily lives. To love God with all our souls, we come into harmony with God’s will for our daily lives. We are to think right toward God and His Kingdom interests. We are not to be self-willed. We are to hold our affections on God and His Kingdom. We have no room in our thinking and in our lives for anything contrary to God and His Word.

     We do not permit in our thinking and in our lives what others may permit. Worry, fear, doubt, strife, unforgiveness, offense, ill will toward others — none of these things are to be permitted, and there is no room for them in us if we are loving God with all our souls.

     Third, with all our minds. It’s the renewed mind that thinks right toward God and His kingdom. The renewed mind takes its rightful place in Him. The renewed mind comes into the understanding and revelation of the Word and takes the thoughts of God as its own. 

     Fourth, with all our strength. We are to exert and spend our strength in loving, obeying, and serving Him. This involves works that demonstrate love. We are saved by grace, not by works, but once we’re saved, works matter! That’s called fruit, and Jesus said we would know someone by their fruit. 

     We are to use all our strength in obedience to carry out His will for our lives. Obedience is the action of a heart submitted to and loving God. We demonstrate our love for God with our strength. 

     Paul said that he labored more abundantly than all others; that was the fruit of his love for God. We are to love Him with all our strength.

     Seeking first the Kingdom of God and His way of doing things will deliver to you and your family the best life — it will add to you what you could never achieve for yourself.