"Is What You See Greater Than What God Says?" by Nancy Dufresne

I'm reminded of a testimony of healing I heard years ago that I often think about. A woman had gone to the doctor and was told that she had a growth in her breast, so they set up another appointment for further tests. At her next appointment, they did an ultrasound on her. With the ultrasound equipment, the doctor was able to display an image of the lump in her breast on a screen. As he did, he turned the screen toward the woman so she could see the lump.

He pointed to the screen as he explained to the woman what they were seeing. When she saw the lump pictured on the screen, she spoke quietly in her heart to the Lord. “Oh Lord, if only I hadn’t seen it. Seeing it makes it more real.”

The Lord spoke back to her, “Is what you see greater than what I say?”

How that question checked her! She caught herself, realizing her wrong thinking. “No, Lord,” she answered, “what I see is not greater than what You say.”

Then she reminded herself of what He had already said in His Word. Quietly to herself, she rehearsed His Word. “Your Word says that ‘Himself took my infirmities and bare my sicknesses.’ Your Word says that ‘by Jesus’ stripes I was healed.’ ” As she lay on that examination bed, she quietly refocused her attention on the Word instead of on the screen.

As she lay there, continuing to put her attention on God’s Word and worshipping Him for it, suddenly a wide, bright circle of light appeared on the screen. Everyone in the room saw it. Slowly that bright circle of light began to close in and grow smaller and smaller around that lump. As the circle of light grew smaller, it completely encased the lump, and when it did, the circle of light disappeared, and then the lump was also gone off the screen! The lump had dissolved, and she was completely healed!

That miracle happened for the woman because she redirected her attention away from what she was seeing and toward what God said. The Word was greater than what she saw, and when she focused on the Word that was greater, what she saw changed.

How often we are surrounded by circumstances that are so visible, hear things that are so audible, or feel things that are so tangible. Yet, we must always remember that what God says is greater than anything we may see, feel, or hear.

Don’t believe anything more than you believe the Word!

Just because circumstances may be so loud or so tangible, that doesn’t change the truth of God’s Word! His Word is greater!

As Christians, we live by words — God’s words! Those around us are living by what they feel, see, and hear, but not us! We live by words! Since God said it, that’s what we hold to, regardless of all we may feel, see, and hear. Living by what God says gives us the best life. It’s such a joy to know that we aren’t destined and doomed to live by circumstances that are constantly changing, but we get the privilege of living by what God says, which never changes.

One key to enjoying the kind of life that God authored for us involves our attention. When that woman had her attention on what she saw, she was troubled. But when she turned her attention from what she saw to what God said, she partook of the best flow — the flow of the Word, the flow of healing.

We must practice holding our attention on God’s Word when circumstances are so loud and boastful all around us. We don’t get good at anything without practicing – that goes for spiritual things as well as natural things.

Many think they have faith problems when they really have attention problems. Your faith is connected to your attention. Where your attention goes, your faith goes. Some frantically struggle to get more faith, when they really need to discipline their thought life to hold their attention on the right thing instead of on the wrong thing.

Let’s practice every day on the small things of daily life – holding our attention on God’s Word instead of on changing, shifting circumstances.

"Consider Not" by Nancy Dufresne

I was listening again to Dad Hagin tell of the vision he had when Jesus came into his hospital room. As a young minister, Dad Hagin had fallen and injured his arm, and it was at this time that he had the vision. Jesus walked into his room, pulled up a chair to sit by his bed, and talked to him for an hour and a half.

During that vision, Jesus said to Dad Hagin, “It’s My will that none of My children ever be sick, be operated on, or have accidents. But very few ever walk in My best, because: (1) most don’t know what belongs to them, (2) even if they do know what belongs to them, they don’t have enough faith to receive it, or (3) others are in disobedience.”

Follow Abraham's Example

Romans 4:17-21 tells of Abraham: “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” Let’s look at verse 19: “And being not weak in faith, he CONSIDERED NOT his own body now dead....” How does someone weaken their faith? They consider what they ought not to consider. When your attention goes to and stays on the wrong thing, it weakens your faith. To keep your faith strong, you have to keep your attention on the right thing. Where your attention goes, your faith goes. Abraham protected the strength of his faith by keeping it off the wrong thing. He considered not his own body. His body told him something, but he refused to focus or put his attention on that.

He didn’t consider what his own body told him, but he also didn’t even consider the body of another person — his wife. If you touch in your thought life why someone else failed to receive their answer or why another person died, it will weaken your faith. “Consider not” the situation of another.

Dad Hagin stated the following. “Consider not — blessed words — an unfailing refuge from the fery darts. Heavenly atmosphere where no germ or disease can survive for the fraction of a second. Consider not. Do not accord to the physical symptoms a passing thought. Refuse to take them into your calculations. If you consider your own body, paying attention to the symptoms, that’s why they persist. As long as you consider them, they will persist.”

Consider the Word, put your attention on the Word. Act like the Word is true. In any test or trial, if you consider the circumstances, allowing your attention to be focused on the test, the test will continue. Consider the Word and answer that situation with the Word. Don’t consider the test and turn it over in your mind, for that is worry. And as long as you are worrying, the devil has an entrance.

You don’t have to make the test stop. You just speak the Word, rest on the Word, and let the Word do the work. Jeremiah 1:12 reads, “...for I will hasten my word to perform it.” You aren’t the one who performs His Word — He does. It’s your job to answer the test with the Word, then rest on His Word, and it’s His job to perform it. Faith is the diligent effort to rest in God. Rest knowing that He is doing the work.

"Worship, A Flow of This Era" by Nancy Dufresne

Jesus stated, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23 & 24).

God is seeking true worshippers. Has He found that in us?

This scripture tells us what comprises true worshippers – those whose worship is directed to the Father and done in spirit and in truth. Worship that is “in spirit” is worship that involves and comes from our spirits, not from our minds or emotions. We are also to worship “in truth.” The Word is truth. Put the Word in your mouth when you worship Him. Rehearse what the Word says when worshipping. Also, when worshipping, rehearse what God’s Word has worked for you in times. Worship Him, reminding Him of all the things He’s done for you.

In praying with some minister friends of mine, the Spirit said, “A song will be given, and the glory will come, then the supply will come.” The glory contains all we need. The supply is in the glory. You get in the glory, and the supply is there. Worship brings the glory.

Dad Hagin said, “Before I start asking things of God, I take time to get in the Spirit.” Rachel Teafatiller, who was a woman of prayer, stated, “People pray, ‘Gimme, gimme, gimme.’ But take time to get in the Spirit, and it will already be ‘Gimme!’ ”

Hebrews 4:16 reads, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and fInd grace to help in time of need.” The Amplifed translation of that verse reads, “Let us then fearlessly and confdently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].”

“God is seeking true worshippers. Has He found that in us?”

— Nancy Dufresne

The place of obtaining is at the Throne, in His presence. We belong to the Throne. We are children of the Throne. We belong to royalty.

Heaven is a place of worship. It is an atmosphere of worship. To have a heavenly atmosphere around your life, do what Heaven does – worship. When we worship, we replicate on Earth the very same atmosphere of Heaven. Our worship draws Heaven. The angels on the earth long to hear worship, for that’s the flow of Heaven they participate in, and they long to flow in it on earth with us.

Acts 13:2 tells us, “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said....” The atmosphere of worship is the atmosphere that the Holy Ghost speaks in. If you need to hear direction from the Spirit of God, minister to the Lord, worship Him. It will help you to hear Him.

Ephesians 5:17-19 instructs us, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”

Dad Hagin gave us proper definitions of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. A psalm is a spiritual poem or ode that can be sung or spoken. A hymn is a song of praise directed toward God. A spiritual song’s content is revealed by the Spirit. As we take time to worship God and get in the Spirit, all of these come by the Spirit.

Years ago, God told me, “There’s a measure of My will you won’t get into unless you take time to speak in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” As you enter into psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, His will becomes more clear to you. Notice in the scripture that to not be unwise about the will of God for the revealing of your future is connected to psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

When I sing psalms in my private time, many times, something of the future is revealed to me. If I wouldn’t have done that, I would not have had those future things revealed to me. That’s what God meant when He told me that there was a measure of His will that I wouldn’t get into without speaking in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

In April 2006, God said to me, “The light that Brother Hagin brought about psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs is in danger of being lost. Emphasize that.”

Brother Hagin said, “We’re going to move into a place of spirituality we haven’t been before, but the way you’re going to get there is to learn to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs – this is communing with God in your spirit.” He also stated, “Tongues gets you partway through the door, but psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs get you all the way through the door.”

Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs will cause “the spirit of seeing and knowing” to operate, and then the power gifts (gift of faith, working of miracles, gifts of healings) will begin to operate. Jesus said, “I only do what I see My Father do.” He would see things in the Spirit, then go out and perform what He saw.

Paul said, “…I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also” (I Corinthians 14:15). Paul was a worshipper, and prison doors were opened.

As we worship God, increase will come to our lives and ministries, but once increase comes, we must not forget what got us there; we must not quit worshipping God and become occupied with the increase instead of being occupied with God.

Luke 4 tells of Jesus in the wilderness of temptation. One of the temptations He faced was when the devil told Him that he would give Him the power and the glory of the world if He would fall down and worship him. The devil wanted Jesus’ worship. (He wanted that before he was cast out of Heaven.) The devil knows that the one who is worshipped is the one invited to manifest themselves. Worship becomes manifestation.

One main reason God is seeking those who worship Him in spirit and in truth is because those are the ones who recognize Him and His ability. As they express their faith through their worship, He can then manifest His glory through them to bless humanity. He can’t flow through people the way He wants to if they don’t worship Him, because they don’t recognize what His presence and power will do.

Worship is the highest form of prayer, and worship is a flow of this revival. God is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth, for He knows they will be vessels that He can flow through to bless humanity. Let’s choose to not only have moments of worship, but to live a lifestyle of worshipping God.