"Turning Toward The Presence Of God" by Nancy Dufresne

“Surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and THROUGH THE LENGTH OF MY DAYS the house of the Lord [and HIS PRESENCE] SHALL BE MY DWELLING PLACE” (Ps. 23:6, AMPC).

     Every believer is “in the Presence of God” in the sense that the Greater One is within – He’s in us through His Spirit. But we are to learn to live mindful of Him Who is within. It makes all the difference in life when our attention is fixed on the One within. We rob ourselves of the highest flow when we don’t give proper attention to Him Who abides within.

     “In His Presence is fullness of joy” (Ps. 16:11). Living in the Presence of God is the greatest joy offered to God’s people.

     One day, as I was driving down the road in my car, God spoke to me, saying, “Living in My Presence doesn’t come by earning, but by turning. No one has ever turned toward Me and I have not met them there.” We don’t have to do enough studying, praying, and good works to earn His Presence. He has already made Himself ours! All we must do is turn our attention toward Him.

     That’s in keeping with what God said to me years ago, “Start every day in the Spirit, then keep your heart turned toward Me all day long.”

     It only takes a moment to turn! Turning is something everyone can do!

     King Hezekiah, while on his death bed, turned – and the turn added 15 years to his life.

     The prodigal son, who had left his father’s house for a lifestyle of sin, made a turn – and his life was put back on course.

     Everyone can turn – turn toward the Presence of God. Every believer can turn. The sinner can turn. The backslider can turn. The sick one can turn. The one with financial struggles can turn. The depressed one can turn. The young can turn. The old can turn. The healthy one can turn. The physically impaired one can turn. There’s no one who can’t turn toward the Presence of God.

     What’s in a turn? Everything! What’s in a turn? A life of joy and peace. What’s in a turn? The plan of God comes into view. What’s in a turn? Eternal life! What’s in a turn? The fellowship of God Himself.

     Turning toward God includes turning toward His Word and away from everything that opposes or contradicts it. We are to live by “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).

     Turning also includes turning toward our spirit and away from the mental and physical arenas. To turn toward our spirit is to turn toward the Greater One within – the Source of all power, all strength, and all ability. To turn toward the Greater One within, we turn toward all He is IN us – the Healer, Deliverer, Provider, and Victor, and the Source of all joy, peace, righteousness, and wisdom.

     “I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High. When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence” (Ps. 9:1-3). As we give ourselves the spiritual habit of continually praising Him, we hold ourselves in His Presence, and the anointing of His Presence destroys any yokes. Our enemies of sickness, pain, depression, lack, confusion, doubt, and every other enemy fall and perish from our lives as we live in His Presence.

     “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee…” (Ps. 91:1-3). His Presence is our place of refuge and our safety from all enemies that oppose.

“All throughout the day, we can turn our attention toward Him.”

— Nancy Dufresne

     All throughout the day, we can turn our attention toward Him. Daily tasks and responsibilities don’t have to rob us of the consciousness of Him.

     James 4:8 tells us, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” He always responds to our movement in His direction.

     For the rest of our life, we can live in the highest flow as we give ourselves the spiritual habit of living in His Presence by the simple action of a turn. Then we can say as David did, “…THROUGH THE LENGTH OF MY DAYS the house of the Lord [and HIS PRESENCE] SHALL BE MY DWELLING PLACE” (Ps. 23:6, AMPC).

"The Enjoyment of God’s Fellowship" by Nancy Dufresne

John 17:1-3 reads, “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. AND THIS IS LIFE ETERNAL, THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW THEE THE ONLY TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, whom thou hast sent.”

     Faith can be described in different ways, but one way to describe faith is: “Faith is a fellowship with God.” Those with a thriving, robust faith also have a rich fellowship with God.

     Psalm 43:4 states, “Then will I go unto the altar of God, UNTO GOD, MY EXCEEDING JOY….” God Himself is to be our greatest joy!

     Fellowship with God holds first and foremost the ENJOYMENT of God Himself!

     When Ed and I first met, the first outstanding feature of our fellowship was that we enjoyed each other. If we had not enjoyed the fellowship of each other, the relationship wouldn’t have gone any further. I enjoyed him before I loved him, but enjoyment came to include love.

     Because we enjoyed each other, other things grew out of that enjoyment – companionship, marriage, working together, ministering together, having children, sons serving with us, grandchildren, then grandchildren serving with us, and the list goes on. It all began because we first enjoyed the fellowship of each other. See what fruit enjoyment produced!

     When we take time to simply ENJOY the fellowship of God, just think what fruit will come out of that place of enjoyment!

     Ed and I protected that enjoyment of our fellowship – we chose to keep enjoying each other. Ed would often say to me, “When the kids are grown, it will just be the two of us.” We would end up where we first began – just the enjoyment of each other. We still wanted each other.

     Married couples, protect the enjoyment of each other. For whether you realize it or not, that’s where your fellowship began, and that’s a sustaining flow of that marriage. When a marriage breaks down, the enjoyment of one another is the first thing that goes.

     Likewise, to protect your faith, protect your enjoyment of God – HE is to ever be your great joy!

     God’s heart is a father’s heart. God wanted a family – He wanted the fellowship of a family. It’s because Jesus made us righteous and made us one with the Father that we can have fellowship with Him.

     I got saved because I wanted Him. I didn’t get saved because I wanted “a ministry” – I wanted HIM. I love fulfilling the call of ministry on my life, but fueling all that I do in that call is this one thing – I still want Him!

     As Paul said in Philippians 3:10, “That I may know Him….” With all the revelations, miracles, healings, and fruit of the ministry, at the end of it all, Paul wanted to know Him more. Like Paul, our lives are to demonstrate revelation, the power of God, and manifestations of God’s power, but without knowing Him, those things don’t satisfy. Power doesn’t satisfy, dominion doesn’t satisfy – HE is the One who satisfies. What He gives meets our needs – but only HE satisfies our insides – our heart.

     Romans 12:3 reads,  “…God hath dealt to every man (every believer) the measure of faith.” Mark 11:22 records that Jesus said, “Have faith in God.” The Greek actually reads, “Have the faith OF God.” The faith God has dealt to His children is a measure of His own faith. Since it came from Him, it has to be nourished by fellowship with Him. Faith is no struggle to the one who knows Him! Faith is knowing God. Great acts of faith flow from someone who knows God. Bearing much fruit for God comes from knowing Him. 

     We can’t know God through our emotions. We can only know Him through His Word.

     We see how vital Jesus’ communion with His Father was to the results He got and the effectiveness of His ministry. He stated that He only said what He heard His Father say, and He only did what He saw His Father do. This speaks of fellowship. In His place of prayer and communion with His Father, He “heard and saw” what God wanted Him to do, then He would go among the people and manifest the Father’s will. Others received their healing and miracle because of what flowed out of Jesus’ communion with His Father.

     He was able to produce fruit because of what He saw and heard in His times of fellowship with God. In that place of fellowship, we too become more sensitive to how God leads us, then we are able to bear more fruit.

     Someone who worked closely with Kathryn Kuhlman stated, “Her fellowship with God made it easy for others to receive their miracle.”

     Mark 12:30 & 31 instructs us, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”

     Our spiritual life is to carry a divine order. Loving God is FIRST – fellowship with Him is to be FIRST! If we keep our fellowship with God FIRST, there are things our fellowship will produce – things will grow out of that fellowship. To neglect fellowship is to hinder the fruit and works that fellowship is to produce. Don’t be distracted or cheated from the fellowship of the First Love, for that will hinder us from receiving and limit the fruit that is to be born out of that fellowship.

     But as verse 31 states, connected to our love for God is our love for others. How I love people is how I love God. How I treat them is how I’m treating Him. My fellowship with God isn’t separate from my fellowship with people. Loving people sweetens my fellowship with God. The more my love for others grows, the more my love for God grows, and the sweeter my fellowship with God grows.

     Faith is a fellowship with God, and it will not only affect our life, but the lives of those we come in contact with.

"Right Thinking" by Nancy Dufresne

When Brother Hagin was younger in ministry, he had an accident and injured his arm. It was while staying in the hospital that Jesus appeared to him in a vision and said:

     “My best is that My people never even be sick or have an accident. But very few people ever walk in My best.

     Now, there’s a number of reasons why My people get sick, have accidents, have to go to the hospital, have to be operated on, and have to go to doctors. The number one reason is because most of them don’t know what belongs to them. The number two reason is if they do know these truths, so many of them are weak in faith. The number three reason is because they are in disobedience.”

     (Jesus then told Dad Hagin that the reason he had this accident was because he was in disobedience, so he had gotten on the devil’s territory, and the devil attacked him.)

     It’s sobering that Jesus said, “…very few ever walk in My best.” I want to walk in His best, and I know you do too!

     I want to focus on what Jesus listed as cause number two. “Even if people do know what belongs to them, so many of them are weak in faith.”

Renewing the Mind

     If we are to have strong faith, we have to think right. If we think right, then we will believe right and speak right – then we will receive right. If we think wrong, we will believe wrong and speak wrong – then we will have wrong things happening.

     God can only work through right thinking, but the devil can only work through wrong thinking. That’s why he seeks to interject wrong thoughts into our thought life. Wrong thinking opens the door to the devil and closes it to God. But right thinking opens the door to God and closes it to the devil.

     What is right thinking? God’s thoughts – thinking in line with the Word of God. Wrong thinking is thoughts that aren’t in line with the Word of God.

     Romans 12:2 instructs us, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye TRANSFORMED by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND….”

     What’s the remedy for wrong thinking? Renewing the mind with the Word of God – taking on God’s way of thinking.

     Our greatest defense against the devil is a renewed mind. Any Christian who is in bondage is not in bondage to the devil – they are in bondage to an unrenewed mind.

     Christians who fail to renew their mind with the Word of God will live harassed, troubled, and mentally beat up. But we don’t have to live that way. We are not supposed to live in mental torment and harassment while on this earth. Our lives can be transformed as we renew our minds.

     Learn that every thought that comes TO you doesn’t come FROM you. The devil will speak thoughts to the mind, and we must recognize them when he does.

     Fear and doubt have an offspring called worry. Recognize that worry is a flow of fear and take a stand against it. We must learn to recognize wrong thoughts – like thoughts of fear, worry, and doubt – and resist them by refusing to entertain them – refusing to turn them over and over in our thought lives.

     We can’t fight thoughts with thoughts – we fight them with words. We must cast them down by answering them with the Word of God, then spending time worshipping God to help hold our attention on God and off any wrong thoughts!

     We can’t make the devil leave us alone, but we can learn how to be completely untroubled by him – by not listening to him and not giving his thoughts our attention.

     In a recent interview, I was asked, “What was your darkest hour?” No event has been my darkest hour. The hardest time of my life was when my mind wasn’t renewed – when I hadn’t yet developed skill at disciplining my thought life. Permitting wrong thoughts of worry and fear made life hard.

     A renewed mind still gets opposed, but it just refuses to open the door to opposition and let it in. It refuses to give it attention and a place in the thought life.

     Any troubling of the mind we experience is an invitation to further renew the mind and to gain greater skill at disciplining our thought lives and holding our attention on God and His Word.

     Just knowing scriptures and being able to quote them does not mean the mind is renewed. The mind is not renewed until you are DOING that Word in your everyday life – casting down every wrong, troubling, worrisome, fearful, doubtful thought by answering it with God’s Word, then holding our attention on Him and His Word through worshipping Him.

     Many have learned “faith lingo” and won’t confess wrong things to others – but what do you SAY TO YOURSELF? Saying it to yourself is still saying it! Pay attention to what you are saying to yourself and thinking about. Discipline your thought life. If a thought doesn’t lead you to peace, resist it, then turn your attention away from it.

     The devil imitates how God works. When God speaks to you, there’s an influence you sense called the anointing – that anointing helps you to receive what God is saying. When the devil speaks, he also sends an influence – you can feel what he suggests – feelings of fear and thoughts that try to race. They can seem real and true, but don’t believe what you feel.

     Your thinking affects your faith. You can’t develop strong faith without renewing your mind. A renewed mind AGREES with the faith in your heart instead of arguing with it.

     Right thinking closes the door to the devil and opens the door to God. So, keep renewing your mind, keep growing your faith, and live days of Heaven on this earth.

     “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace (uninterrupted peace), whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3).