"Faith Is Specific, Part 1" by Nancy Dufresne

Proverbs 4:5-8 instructs us, “Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.”

     This passage tells us what wisdom will do: preserve, keep, (AMPC – defend, protect), promote you, and bring you to honor.

     To walk in God’s wisdom is one way God protects and defends us. Sometimes people do things that aren’t wise, get into difficulty, then wonder why God didn’t warn them. Wisdom warns us!

     God’s wisdom is God’s mind and thoughts.

     When faced with a need or a test, find out God’s thinking and what He says pertaining to your situation. God’s wisdom will promote us. Having God’s wisdom will promote us into God’s best and into God’s plan for our life, but God’s wisdom will also promote us out of tests.

     If you are doing all you know to do and nothing is changing, you need God’s wisdom – ask Him.

     One minister tells of a time years ago when nearly everyone in the family was sick. They were standing in faith, but nothing was changing. This minister called their dad, who was a seasoned minister, and asked, “Why aren’t we receiving?”

     He said, “I don’t know. But wisdom is the principal thing. Get God’s wisdom. Ask Him why you aren’t receiving.” They did, and God gave them the specific answer of what to do, and when they did what He said, everything changed.

     James 1:2-6 instructs us, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering….”

     This passage starts off talking about tests and temptations we’re facing. Then it tells us what to do if we lack wisdom in the face of tests – ask God! Wisdom isn’t given automatically – we must ask – ask in faith!

God’s Wisdom in a Test

     Recently, there was a threat the enemy kept making. I didn’t know the specific answer to it, so I would answer it generally with the truths of the Word, and it would just stand off. But after a few weeks, that same opposition would return. I would again give a general answer and it would again back off, but it didn’t leave.

     The last time it came, God said to me, “Ask Me about that opposition.” I hadn’t talked to God about it because I didn’t want to touch that threat in my thought life – I didn’t want to turn it over in my mind. But when God told me to ask Him about it, I did. He told me why it was coming. God gave me the specific answer to give to that threat, and when I answered that threat specifically, that devil left and didn’t come back. The enemy’s strategy failed because the wisdom of God came.

     Colossians 1:9 reads, “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives” (NIV).

     When you resist an attack, but it keeps recurring, it’s because you aren’t yet giving the right specific answer. Specifics given by the Spirit of God are the wisdom of God for your need, and wisdom is the principal thing that gets results every time when we add our faith and obedience to it.

Wisdom Is Specific

     Mark 5:6-9 tells us about how Jesus dealt with the madman of Gadera: “But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.”

     Notice, Jesus had commanded the devil to come out once, and he didn’t, so Jesus asked him his name. When Jesus called the demons out by name, the specific name (the specific thing to say), the demons came out – He got results.

     (In one vision Kenneth E. Hagin had of Jesus, Jesus taught him about evil spirits, and stated that sometimes – not every time – you need to know the name of the demon to cast it out.)

     This shows us that when faced with opposition, we sometimes need to answer opposition with more specific answers and not just general answers, in order to get results.

     If you are having to deal with the same opposition repeatedly, you need God’s wisdom to know the specific answer to give.

     We are to live “Days of Heaven on Earth.” We aren’t to live troubled and harassed by ongoing opposition. Troubling is not to last; it is not to be a way of life for the believer. 

     Ephesians 6:13-14 tells us, “…having done all, to stand. Stand therefore....” We haven’t “done all to stand” if we lack God’s wisdom regarding our situation. We are to ask God for His wisdom regarding a lingering test. To “stand” doesn't mean to just cope. To “stand” involves being fully suited in the armor of God, and it involves standing on the Word with the specific answer of God’s wisdom in our mouth.

     Ask God for His wisdom, which is your specific answer to the test – then when you stand on that Word, you’ll get results!

"Properly Define Faith" by Nancy Dufresne

Romans 12:3 tells us, “…God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” So, every believer has a measure of the faith of God. Paul wrote, “Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is LACKING IN YOUR FAITH” (1 Thess. 3:10). The Common English Bible reads, “…to see all of you in person and to complete whatever you still need for your faith. The Complete Jewish Bible reads, “…that we will be able to see you face to face and supply whatever shortcomings there may be in your trust.”

     We are to have a faith that receives every time. If we aren’t receiving the answer, it’s not because we don’t have faith, but our faith may be lacking something.

     Matthew 8:1-3 reads, “When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”

     This man had faith enough to come to Jesus and to worship Him, but he lacked correct knowledge. This man believed Jesus could heal him, but he didn’t know if it was Jesus’ will for him to have healing. Jesus corrected this man’s thinking when He said, “I will.”

     When Jesus answered this man, He answered for every man. Man no longer needs to ask, “Will God heal me?” Jesus answered every man when He answered this man.

     Jesus corrected the man’s thinking. Wrong thinking was keeping this man’s faith imperfect. He wouldn’t be able to receive healing until his wrong thinking was addressed. The man believed Jesus could, but until he also believed He would, he wasn’t healed.

     For our faith to work right, we must properly define faith. Until we properly define faith, we will be tripped up and not able to receive.

     Matthew 8:17 tells us, “…Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Ephesians 1:3 also tells us that God has already, “…blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Healing and all the blessings of God have already been made ours – He already provided it for us! Faith believes this, for faith believes what God says.

     To believe that God is going to heal me sometime – that’s not faith. Faith is not believing that God can. This leper believed Jesus could, but that wasn’t the proper definition of faith. Faith is not defined as believing that God can heal me or is going to heal me. Faith believes: “God has already done it, and I receive it NOW!” I have it now regardless of what I see or feel – that’s faith! Faith believes what it doesn’t yet see, for faith is always dealing with the unseen.

     Mark 11:24 reads, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, WHEN YE PRAY, BELIEVE YE RECEIVE THEM, and ye shall have them.” We are to believe we receive at the time we pray, and we shall have it. That’s faith!

     Many misunderstand faith at this point. “…When ye pray, believe ye RECEIVE them, and ye shall have them.” Some think that God is asking people to believe it’s manifested before it’s manifested. That’s not what the Word is saying.

Receiving Vs. Manifestation

     Receiving and manifestation are 2 different things. “Receiving” is dealing with your spirit – “manifestation” is dealing with the natural realm. “Receiving” is something you do with your spirit, your heart. Before something from God manifests in the natural realm, it must FIRST be received with your spirit.

     God is a Spirit, and He deals with us through our spirit. When we receive something from God, we receive it with our spirit first – then it will manifest in the natural realm. That’s why we can know on the inside of us that we have something before there’s evidence of it in the natural realm.

     The truth of God’s Word must dawn on your spirit first; that’s when you believe it. Manifestation comes after you first receive it with your spirit. Your faith is in your spirit, and your hand of faith lays hold of it first.

     When you believe something, you are to then SPEAK and ACT what you believe – this is what transfers it from the “unseen realm” to the “seen realm.”

     Our answer exists in two forms: in its invisible form and in its visible form. Mark 11:24 is telling us to believe the answer is ours or belongs to us while it is in its invisible form, and when we do, God will cause it to come into its visible form. We could read Mark 11:24 as, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe you receive it (while it’s in its invisible form), and you shall have it (in its visible form).”

Perform the Act of Receiving

     Before we receive what we need from God, we must “perform the act of receiving.” What is the act of receiving? Saying, “I believe I receive it now!” Many are waiting for God to drop their answer on them, and He is waiting for them to perform the act of receiving so He can cause it to manifest.

     Our part is to believe it with our hearts and confess it, then God’s part is to manifest it. We can’t manifest our answer, only God can do that. Our part is to believe that at the time we prayed He heard us and that our answer started moving toward us.

     If you start asking, “When is it going to come? How is God going to do it?” you are getting into God’s part. Get out of God’s part. Anything to do with the manifestation is God’s part. Don’t even touch His part (the manifestation) in your thought life. Our part is to believe we receive it. As we do our part, God will always do His part. Instead of asking, “When is it going to manifest? How is God going to do it?” just go back to doing your part, which is to say, “I believe I receive it.”

     When we believe, “God does it for me now,” that’s faith at work – that’s a faith that receives!

"It Is Given – I Receive It” by Nancy Dufresne

Hebrews 4:3 tells us, “…[His] works had been COMPLETED and PREPARED [and WAITING for all who would BELIEVE] from the foundation of the world” (AMPC).

     Everything we need to fulfill God’s will and to live the life He authored for us has already been completed and prepared – it’s just waiting for our faith to show up! He completed and prepared our answer long before our need ever showed up – it’s been waiting from the foundation of the world!

     How does our faith show up? Through our words and actions. When we declare what He said is ours and act on His Word, that’s our faith giving God permission to perform what He has already provided and said about our lives.

It Is Given!

     God told me that there is something that someone is going to give to the ministry – something I won’t have to purchase. So, for a period of time, I have been saying, “Someone’s going to give me a ________.”

     But recently, God corrected me in what I was saying. He said, “It is given – just receive what’s already been given!” So, I corrected myself, saying, “It is given – and I receive it!

     We receive based on what God has already given – not based on what someone else gives. By me saying what someone else is going to do, I’m focusing on someone else’s part – on what they are doing. Instead, I am to focus on and talk about what God has already given. By talking about what someone else is going to do, that’s focusing on the manifestation. Faith doesn’t focus on the manifestation, but on what God has already done. As I talk about what God has already done, then the manifestation will come.

     The Hebrews who were delivered out of Egypt failed to take possession of the land that God said was theirs because they focused on the giants. They didn’t focus on what God had already given them; He had already given them the land. They wouldn’t move with God based on what He said. They would only believe what they saw.

     Faith only deals with words – God’s words. Don’t believe anything more than you believe what God says!

Get or Got

     One of my favorite stories of Dad Hagin’s is about the time he had recurring heart symptoms. As a teenager, he had been healed and raised off his deathbed from a heart condition, but years later, alarming heart symptoms tried to return.

     When the symptoms came in the middle of the night, he just pulled the bed covers up over his head and started laughing. He didn’t feel like laughing, so he just “put on” a laugh – ha, ha, ha!

     After about 10 minutes, the devil asked, “What are you laughing at?”

     He replied, “I’m laughing at you because you said that this is one time I’m not going to get my healing.”

     “That’s right,” the devil threatened, “this is one time you’re not going to get your healing.”

     Dad Hagin kept laughing – ha, ha, ha!

     Again, the devil questioned, “What are you laughing at?”

     He replied, “I already told you. I’m laughing at you because you said that this is one time I’m not going to get my healing.”

     “That’s right,” the devil threatened, “this is one time you’re not going to get your healing.”

     “What do I want to get my healing for? Jesus already got it for me! Now, gather up all your symptoms and get out of here!” And he did – every symptom left.

     One letter makes all the difference between get or got. You don’t have to get anything – you just need to know what you have already got!

     No matter what you need, your answer is already completed, prepared, and given – it’s just waiting for you to receive what He has already given!