"A Christmas Example Of Faith" by Nancy Dufresne

The events and story of Jesus’ birth are the reason for this Christmas season. But when I look at the account of these events recorded in the book of Luke, I see something very important that took place, even before Jesus was born.

     Luke 1:26-38 says, “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.”

     The angel, Gabriel, appeared to Mary and told her that she was highly favored of God, and that she would have a Son whose name would be called Jesus.

     Gabriel’s assignment wasn’t just to make this glorious announcement to Mary, but he also came to get Mary’s response to this announcement. He came to get her agreement to God’s plan. Mary gave her response to this announcement, “…be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.” (Luke 1:38). He didn’t depart from her until he had her agreement.

     Her agreement was given by speaking words. Her faith was released through the words she spoke.

     God’s plan for our life needs our agreement. His plan for us doesn’t just come to pass automatically – we must agree to it – we must add our faith to it. Our faith is our agreement. Our agreement is given by the words we speak; our faith is released through the words we speak.

     If God didn’t need Mary’s agreement to bring His Son into the earth, why would He have sent Gabriel to announce God’s plan to her? If He didn’t need her agreement, He would have just brought it to pass automatically – but He didn’t!

     Getting Jesus into the earth needed Mary’s agreement. For redemption’s plan to come to pass through her, God needed her agreement.

     God’s plan for our life needs our agreement. God has a plan for each and every one of us, but it won’t just come pass automatically. God’s plan for us calls for our agreement – our faith!

     During this Christmas season, let’s follow Mary’s example of faith. She had faith to agree with God’s plan. Let’s continue to speak our agreement with God’s plan for our life by faith.

     Mary and Joseph both walked out that season of Jesus’ conception and birth by faith. Man’s faith played a part in Jesus’ entrance into the earth so that the plan of redemption could come to pass.

     If the greatest event in the earth called for man’s faith, every God-event in your life calls for your faith – your agreement.

     May this Christmas season be a season when your faith in God’s plan continues to flourish and be released through the words you speak – agreeing with God’s plan for your life and for your family.

     Mary gave us an example of faith to follow, “…be it unto me according to thy word.”

"Faith Requires Revelation" by Nancy Dufresne

Brother Hagin would often say, “You can’t believe beyond actual knowledge.” In telling his testimony of being raised up off his deathbed at 17 years of age, he didn’t even know he could be healed until he saw healing in the Word. Even though he saw that he could be healed, he didn’t know how to release his faith to receive healing until the Holy Spirit revealed it to him when reading Mark 11:24. Once he saw what the Word said and acted on it, then his faith worked and he was raised up. The Spirit gave him revelation of the Word, and when he gained that revelation, his faith to receive healing worked. Faith requires revelation to work.

     There are two kinds of knowledge. There is “sense knowledge,” which is natural human knowledge that comes through your senses. Then there is “revelation knowledge.” This knowledge isn’t studied out, but it’s revealed by the Holy Spirit to your own spirit. Someone can teach you revelation of the Word that they have, but they can’t make it land in your spirit – dawn on your spirit – only the Holy Spirit can give revelation of the Word to you!

     First Corinthians 2:9 & 10 reads, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath REVEALED (given revelation of) them unto us by his Spirit….”

     Paul teaches us that we can pray for believers (and ourselves) to receive revelation of God’s Word. Ephesians 1:16 & 17 reads, “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.”

     Jesus had revelation of Psalm 16:10 & 11: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

     This is what Jesus had revelation of and knew while He was in hell. He wasn’t struggling to receive this – He was trusting His Father to do it. In that place of torment, He was resting Himself on what He knew. When I say “resting,” I don’t mean that devils were leaving Him alone. I mean that He wasn’t trying to bring it to pass – He knew God would. Jesus had such knowledge and revelation of His Father, that when He was in hell, He said, “God will not leave my soul in hell.”

     When you have revelation of the Word, revelation of what God says about your situation, you can “rest” – you can rest when you know!

     Two years before my husband went home to be with the Lord, the Spirit of God said to me, “All I want you doing is practicing peace.” He meant that I was to make that an emphasis of my daily life. I did that by paying attention to my thought life, and any thought that didn’t lead me to peace and joy, I answered it with the Word and cast that thought down; I didn’t let troubling thoughts loose in my thought life.

     Because of practicing peace daily, I moved into a revelation of the force of peace, so when that tragedy came, we were able to rest on the Word and not enter into the struggle of grief and sorrow. Revelation of the Word made all the difference for me, my family, and our congregation.

     If you are struggling in the face of opposition or concerning a need, ask God for and expect the Spirit of God to give you any revelation you may need. Faith is easy when you know – when you have revelation of God’s Word.

     Psalm 36:9 tells us “…in thy light shall we see light.” Hearing and feeding on the Word opens the way for more light (revelation) of the Word to come.

     When you need answers and help, focus on what you DO know, on the light you DO have. As you do, more light that you need will come. This is a key to more light.

     Thank God for giving you the needed light and revelation. Thanking God for what you don’t yet feel or see is one of the greatest acts of faith there is.

     Don’t talk about and be occupied with what you don’t know, don’t have, or can’t do. Instead, feed on the Word, and take the opportunity to be where the Word is being taught.

     Being around natural things and carnal things, where there is no light, robs us of a setting of light.

     When you need to know something, get around light, and more light that you need will come. Just sitting in the atmosphere of the Word, answers come. When sitting in an atmosphere of light – the teaching of the Word – you see the light you need.

     When we have revelation of the Word and walk in the light of that Word, faith is no struggle – our faith works.

"Doing The Right Thing Every Day" by Nancy Dufresne

I’m reminded of a statement that Dr. Lester Sumrall made: “I don’t do anything great – I just do something all the time!” He didn’t measure the success of his life by the periodic dramatic moments of his life, but rather, by just doing the right thing every day. Practicing the Word and making right choices every day were what added up to living a life of greatness. Every day, he was a doer of the Word! He walked by faith in God’s Word.

     Luke 11:28 records that Jesus stated, “…BLESSED are they that HEAR the word of God, and KEEP IT.” It’s the one who does what he hears of God’s Word that will experience the blessing of God on his life.

     William Booth, the founder of The Salvation Army stated, “I’m not waiting for a move of God – I AM a move of God!” It was the way he lived his “everyday life” that enabled him to say this. Every day, he made choices toward his spiritual life. He was a doer of the Word every day. He lived in fellowship with God every day.

     Smith Wigglesworth stated, “I live full of the Spirit. That’s why I have revival everywhere I go!” When we live full of the Word and the Spirit, it elevates the flow of our daily life, and out of that fullness we will be a great blessing to others. This was not just a periodic flow of Wigglesworth’s life, but a daily flow he chose.

     These men were skillful at doing the Word in their daily lives. Greatness in the life of the believer is not built in the periodic dramatic moments, but in how we live our lives every day.

     The faith life is about choosing to let the Word govern us. When faced with the circumstances of life, we ask ourselves, What does the Word say about this? We put the Word first – we act on the Word.

     Joseph lived a remarkable life. During his teen years, he was a shepherd for his father, then his brothers sold him as a slave, and then he was falsely accused of a crime and thrown into prison for 12 years. His years of youth and young manhood were lived in difficult, dark surroundings. The enemy, no doubt, sought to destroy him during this season, but because he conducted his daily life in a way that was pleasing to God, God was able to use those difficult times as an accelerated training course to prepare him to run a nation by the time he was 30 years old. He wasn’t trained in the palace. He was trained for greatness by doing the right thing in the everyday moments of his life as a shepherd boy, as a slave, and then as a prisoner. He had to guard his mind, doing the right thing with his thought life. He had to guard his heart to keep out unforgiveness, bitterness, and offense toward those who had mistreated and mishandled him. He learned to do the right thing every day.

“Doing the right thing – being a doer of the Word – this is what helps develop us spiritually and makes us of great use to God.”

— Nancy Dufresne

     Doing the right thing – being a doer of the Word – this is what helps develop us spiritually and makes us of great use to God.

     In contrast, we see Sampson. He was a man who had an anointing upon him. God had promoted him to be a judge over His people. Sampson had dramatic spiritual happenings, but he was dominated by his flesh. What he permitted in his daily life became his weakness.

     It matters what we permit in our everyday life. The flesh and natural things lose sway over us as we let the Word dominate us. Being a consistent doer of the Word brings blessing, for with consistency lies victory. Life becomes sweeter as our skill in doing the Word grows.

     In an interview, I was asked, “What was your darkest day?” My most difficult time wasn’t a day – it was a season years ago, when I was spiritually young and my mind wasn’t renewed with the Word of God. Everything was hard then. Ignorance of the Word and not being a doer of the Word makes life hard, for the enemy seeks to take advantage of ignorance.

     We don’t have to live in a place of ongoing difficulty. As we keep hearing and practicing the Word every day, it makes life sweet! “…BLESSED are they that HEAR the word of God, and KEEP IT” (Luke 11:28).