"Prepare For Your Purpose" by Nancy Dufresne

  In our Campmeeting 2021, different ministers taught wonderful messages in the morning services that helped us all so much. During the service taught by Pastor Chris Cody, he made the following statements. (I’m probably paraphrasing.)

What kind of end do you want? We should want one that is peaceful and glorifying. What we do every day is going to determine what kind of end we will have. Think about it and pay attention to what you do every day with the end in mind. 

We can’t live our life out of order and have the kind of results God has for us. Part of order is preparing for what’s ahead. Even if we are being faithful at the place we are today, we still have to save time today to prepare for what is ahead, or we won’t qualify for where we are headed. Lack of preparation will disqualify us. We shouldn’t just be trying to get to the “end of the day,” without preparing for where we are headed. You can’t let life happen – you have to make life happen. 

     One of these statements has stuck with me, so I want to spotlight it. “Part of order is preparing for what’s ahead.” 

     It is so easy for us to get to the place where we are just dealing with the things that arise that day instead of designing our day and our life with our God-given purpose in mind. Are we making certain that what we are giving ourselves to every day is going to help us arrive at God’s best? Are we prepared to go where God wants to take us?

     No matter where we are in the plan of God, He always wants to take us further, and before He can do that, we must BE PREPARED to go further! With that in mind, we have to order our day so that we make time to prepare.

     Dad Hagin would tell us, “Preparation time is never lost time.” Some things seem to press on our schedules so much, but we are to evaluate whether or not those things are preparing us to move forward.

     I love something one great faith pioneer of the past stated in his writings: “Before I take on a task, I ask myself, Is this going to help me in my race?” He was showing how mindful he was of the plan and purpose God had for his life, and he wasn’t willing to sell that off to distractions and unnecessary activities.

     We won’t just float into fulfilling the plan of God for our lives – we will only arrive there on purpose – as we make very purposeful steps. Paul warns us about this. “Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people), Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil. Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:15-17, AMPC).

     Time is short. We don’t have time to wander and waste. We must live accurately and with clarity of purpose – ordering our lives and our days so that we are preparing to advance into all that God’s plan holds for us.

     For 30 years, Jesus did what He wasn’t born for. He worked as a carpenter, but the entire time He was preparing for the final three years of His earthly life so He could fulfill all. Yes, there are preparation seasons in our life, but during that time, we want to make sure we are being faithful to prepare for where we are headed and not just stay where we are at. We do that by responding to God and being obedient to Him.

     Make life’s decisions with your purpose in mind – and not just your profession or job in mind. The life choices Jesus was making every day as a carpenter weren’t just with the carpentry business in mind – He was making choices that would prepare Him for what He was born for.

He came to be the Savior of mankind, and even though He was the Son of God, He still had to order His life and His days so that He would be prepared for His purpose. 

     We too must order our lives and our days with our purpose in mind – not with just our income, professions, or life’s responsibilities in mind. 

     God has a purpose for us all, and we have a part to play so that purpose can be fulfilled. Let us order our days so that we will be prepared to move with God and lay hold of all He has planned for us.

"Don’t Short-Circuit the Power" by Nancy Dufresne

On one occasion, Jesus said to Brother Kenneth E. Hagin, “When I was on the earth, I was the power of God. If people needed a miracle, they had to touch Me – that’s why the people thronged to touch Me. But now that the Holy Ghost is on the earth, He is the power of God. And He is present everywhere – that’s why power is present everywhere. There’s enough power in every sick room to raise up that sick one if they only knew it was present and would give it action.”

    We have to first know that the power of God is present. Thensecondly, give it action, which causes it to come into manifestation.

    What brings it into manifestation? Faith. By speaking words of faith, the power of God will meet those words, and answers for our needs will come into manifestation.

    If we can do something that brings power into manifestation, then we can do something that keeps it from coming into manifestation. We can OPEN the door to the power of God, or we can CLOSE the door to the power of God.

    If a package is delivered to your home, the only way you can receive it is if you open the door. Even though it’s yours, it can’t reach you through a closed door. It can sit on the doorstep for a long time, but until you open the door, you can’t get the package, even though it’s yours. Things can’t reach you through closed doors. Neither can God’s power!

    Speaking words of faith opens the door to the power of God to flow, but words of doubt and fear close the door to His power.

    Power can be short-circuited. Worry is one thing that will short-circuit the power of God – it closes the door to it.

    Fear is the opposite of faith. Fear manifests as worry, panic, anxiety attacks, etc.

    Jesus stated in Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”

    If God doesn’t want us worrying about the “least things” of daily life, then you know He doesn’t want us to worry about the bigger things in life.

    If we do something He tells us not to do, that’s sin. He’s telling us not to worry – so worry is a sin. Sin carries a penalty with it. It’s not a penalty from God, but a penalty from sin.

    How do you know if you’re worrying? If you’re thinking about it!

    You’ve probably heard Dad Hagin’s testimony of healing – how he was raised up from his deathbed by the power of God after being bedfast for 16 months. He first became bedfast at 15 years old, and the first day he became bedfast was the day he was born again. Once he was born again, God dealt with him first about the sin of worry before He started dealing with him about receiving divine healing.

    On that bed, Brother Hagin started reading the New Testament. He eventually got to Matthew 6:25 where Jesus stated, “Take no thought for your life.” He realized that to obey the Bible, he would have to stop worrying about his body. Hethought he couldn’t stop worrying. He tried to keep reading past that verse, but the Bible became dark to him, and he got nothing out of it. The Bible became dark to him because he didn’t agree to obey Matthew 6:25 and stop worrying. After a time, he finally repented of the sin of worry and committed to not worry anymore.

    During that time, he was having anywhere from 3-5 heart attacks a day. During a heart attack, he would hold onto the headboard posts, trying to stay alive. He had done that so much that he said he wore the varnish off the posts. But since he committed to God to not worry again, he realized he couldn’t hold onto the bedposts anymore trying to stay alive – that was worrying about dying. So, the next time he had a heart attack, instead of holding onto the bedposts like before, he let go of the posts. From that day on, he never had another heart attack. 

    God dealt with him about not worrying even before he knew that divine healing was available. He thought he had to die, according to medical science, yet he refused to worry about it.

    Why did God deal with Brother Hagin about the sin of worry before He lead him into divine healing truths? As long as Hagin was going to worry, the door was closed to the power of God to heal him. If God had healed him while he still lived worried, worry would have robbed him of his healing.

    In the story of the woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5:34, we read, “And He said to her, Daughter, your faith (your trust and confidence in Me, springing from faith in God) has restored you to health. Go in (into) PEACE and be continually healed and freed from your [distressing bodily] disease”(AMPC).

    Jesus was telling her how to maintain her healing and not lose it – stay in peace. Worry, fear, and doubt will rob you of peace.

    Jesus stated in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you....” Then He tells us how to stay in peace. “...Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

    Philippians 4:6-8 reads, “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything...” (AMPC).

    What are we do with our worries and cares? Firat Peter 5:7 tells us: “Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully”(AMPC).

    We are not to ignore problems that need to be dealt with, but we are to put them in His hands, trusting Him to take care of them. We are to then thank Him every day that He’s taking care of them – therefore, we refuse to worry or think about them. 

    Worry is a sign that we are holding onto the care, the problem. God can’t work until we let go of it, casting the care on Him and expecting Him to work it out.

    When we obey the Word and refuse to worry, then our faith can work and God’s power can flow unhindered to meet our need. 

    Let’s make sure that we aren’t closing the door to the power of God, but are leaving it open by refusing to worry and releasing our faith in the power of God.

"It’s Already Yours" by Nancy Dufresne

First Peter 2:24 tells us, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” This verse lets us know when healing was purchased and paid for and made ours – when the stripes were laid on Him. That happened long before we were born; healing was purchased for us long before we were born. 

     Although healing was purchased for mankind long ago, we moved into all He purchased for us at the new birth – including healing.

     Ephesians 1:3 reads, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Healing and health has been made ours – it’s one of the blessings we have already been blessed with.

     When we were born again, we were made new creatures in Christ – that’s what He made us to be at the new birth. And as children of God, He has given us a divine inheritance which contains righteousness, health, prosperity, victory, peace, etc. All these are what we were BORN INTO at the new birth. We don’t have to “try to become” these – it’s what we were born into.

     When I was born into the earth, I was born a female – I didn’t have to TRY to become that. Likewise, at my new birth, I was born into victory, health, prosperity, and every flow of Heaven. I don’t have to TRY to become those things – I was born into them.

“You may feel symptoms in your body – that’s a fact – but that’s not truth. Facts change, but truths are unchanging.”

     We are the healed because of what Jesus did for us! The Word tells us that, so that’s what we are to believe – regardless of what we may or may not feel! If we believe anything different, we’re off the Word.

     You may feel symptoms in your body – that’s a fact – but that’s not truth. Facts change, but truths are unchanging. Truth trumps facts. The truth believed will change the facts. Believing and speaking that you are the healed, regardless of what you feel, will change what you are feeling in your body. 

     The deception of the enemy is to try to deceive you into thinking that you have to TRY TO GET healing. You are not the sick trying to GET healed – you are the HEALED, and sickness tries to steal your healing from you. It’s so easy and natural to slip back into natural thinking – walking by what you feel and see. Symptoms don’t change what has been made ours. The devil wants to make you think that you have to GET something – he doesn’t want you to know that it’s ALREADY yours. 

     Someone may say, “Well, if I’m healed, why don’t I FEEL healed?” Because they’re carnal. “Carnal” means body-ruled. They are being led by the five physical senses (what they can feel and see) of their bodies instead of believing what the Word said – that your healing was paid for when the stripes were laid on Jesus. If I doubt that I’m healed because of what I’m feeling, then I’m carnal. If we believe anything else more than we believe what God says, we are carnal – we are being dominated by the five physical senses of the body.

     Romans 8:6 & 7 tells us, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

     Romans 8:4 (AMPC) reads, “So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh (dominated by the five physical senses), but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh (the five physical senses), but controlled by the Holy Spirit].”     What God has for us is fulfilled as we walk dominated by our spirit and not dominated and governed by the 5 physical senses of the flesh.

     Verse 8 (AMPC) tells us, “So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.”

     “Living the life of the flesh” is being carnal – body-ruled – believing the body more than believing God’s Word. Body-ruled people are not in faith, so they can’t receive from God – and God isn’t pleased when we don’t receive because He wants us to receive what we need from Him. 

     Faith is in our spirit – not in our mind or the feelings of the flesh. You don’t have faith because you FEEL like you have faith. Feelings have nothing to do with it. 

     Verse 12 (AMPC) reads, “So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh.”

     Carnal people are ruled by their flesh – they only believe what their flesh tells them – but as faith people, we believe what God’s Word tells us – regardless of what we feel. If we live just based on what we feel of the flesh, that will rob us of all that God provided for us.

     It needs to dawn on our spirit what Jesus has already made ours. When our minds are renewed to what God has already made ours in Christ, we quit opening the door to the devil through wrong thinking. 

     Paul prayed that the believers would grasp with their spirits what belongs to them in Christ: “Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding (spirit) being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe…” (Ephesians 1:16-19). Paul prayed that they would know who they are, what they have, and what they can do because they are in Christ.

     Then someone may say, “Well, if healing already belongs to me, then why don’t I have it in my body?” What belongs to you has to be received – it doesn’t fall on you automatically – faith has to lay hold of what has been made yours.

     We are not healed because we feel healed – we are the healed for one reason – because Jesus purchased it for us and made it ours! Faith in God and His Word says, “I’m healed because His Word says so – regardless of whether I feel like it or not.” When pain or symptoms come, we are to say, “I’m healed because Jesus purchased it for me – regardless of what I feel! I already have my healing, and I refuse to allow it to be stolen from me!”