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Do you want more peace in your life? Today, Joyce discusses the importance of making peace and being a peacemaker with those around you.
I'm teaching this weekend about the dangers of strife and the importance of peace. If you know how important peace is, you'll do anything you have to do in order to have it. But if you don't realize how important it is, then you'll never have it, because the devil is constantly setting you up to get you upset. Amen? It's challenging to go through one whole day and not get upset about anything, but let's just say, how many could go a whole week? Well, Jesus has given us peace. John 14:27, "My peace I leave with you: not as the world gives do I given unto you. My own special peace I now give to you". But here's the important part. So, "Stop allowing yourselves to be upset and disturbed. Stop allowing yourselves to be fearful and intimidated".
And I love to say this, and I don't know how many of us really get this, but we're partners with God. God is not gonna do everything for us while we sit back and do nothing. That's not what prayer is. Prayer is not just asking God to fix your problems. It's also cooperating and asking him if there's something he wants you to do to change things. And so, Jesus has given us peace, but it's our job to hang on to it. And I'm an expert in this because I was not peaceful. Trust me. And if I can learn to live in peace, anybody can learn to live in peace. But I had to be willing to make a lot of changes.
And I said last night, and I'll say it again, you are never gonna to walk in peace, you're never gonna live in peace without humility. And humility is, I think, probably the most challenging Christian virtue to develop and to maintain in your life. 'cause we've all got a big ego. We don't want to be told what to do. We always wanna be right. We wanna be first. We wanna be on top. We really like to judge and criticize and gossip. I don't know why we like to gossip so much. But it's just, boy, if you know something, it is very hard not to tell it, isn't it? And, but a lot of times it's those things that cause strife. We start telling things and telling things. And I mean, I made the mistake last weekend of deciding, "I'm gonna look myself up on the internet".
Whoo, buddy, I found out some things about me I didn't even know. People just say stuff. You know, they just make stuff up. Or they hear something, and they just pass it on to somebody else and it just. You need to be careful about how much time you spend on that social media, because if you start believing everything that you read in print, you're gonna end up hating everybody. Amen? And don't get on there and leave some nasty opinion about somebody and then not even have the guts to sign your name to it. That's really bad.
If you're gonna get on there, say somethin' nice, say somethin' pleasant, say somethin' happy. But strife, and I said this last night but I'm gonna say it again quickly today, by the way, I'm starting this morning on page one of my notes where I was supposed to start last night. I did preach the message, but I somehow or another didn't get it in the direction it was supposed to go in. But I think it turned out alright anyway. So that's normally the way it is with me. I spend weeks stuffing all this stuff in me and then it comes out however God wants it to come out.
And I said last night, when God first gave us the call to start, Joyce Meyer Ministries, he really spoke strongly to my heart and said, "There's three things I want you to do, and if you do them, I'll bless your ministry". How many of you want to be blessed in your life? Okay. Well, the blessings from God don't fall in your life just because you go to church, tithe every week, and read your Bible. "Well, I don't understand why I've got all these problems, I tithe". Well, what else do you do? See, we gotta, you can do the right thing here, but then kill it by doing the wrong thing over here. And Psalm 133 says that where there's unity, that it's like oil being poured down on the head of Aaron and running all down his face and on his beard and all down his body, you know, that's the way they anointed people who were called into ministry, serve as kings and prophets back in the Old Testament. They didn't just dab them, they poured oil on them and that represented the anointing.
I am so grateful for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And in 1 John 2, it says that we all have an anointing from God. And if you don't know what that word means, boy, you need to study the anointing. I'm reading a book right now on the sacred anointing. It's getting me all stirred up again. I mean, we have to have God's anointing. And what that is, is his presence and his power on our life, enabling us to do things. And you can have a little bit, or you can have a whole lot. And I want all I can get. And yes, God's gifts are free, but we can't buy the anointing, but we can make it stronger or weaker depending on how we live. Amen?
So, if you want God's anointing on your life and you don't need an anointing just for ministry. Let me tell you something, you need an anointing to get in and out of the grocery store in peace. If you've got teenagers, you need a strong anointing. Amen? If you're married, you need an anointing. Amen? If you've got a dog, you need an anointing. So, it says that where there's unity, where people are in agreement, gettin' along, maintaining peace, there's anointing and blessing. And I want to live a blessed life, don't you? Being blessed doesn't mean just havin' a lot of money, that can be part of it, but it's joy, and peace, and favor. Favor is so amazing to watch God open doors for you that, you know, God did that. You can't even explain it, but you know that it was God.
I love havin' this little, awesome, intimate, secret relationship with God where he does things for me that wouldn't make any sense to anybody else, but I know it's God just giving me a little wink. And sayin', "I gotcha girl. You're doing okay". Amen? And my heart, I love to see people born again, but I so hate to see people receive Christ and then never grow up spiritually. And so, we have to have the full counsel of the Word of God. We need to hear all the encouraging things, but we also need to hear the word in a way that it will correct us and help us want to get from where we are to where we need to be. And I've kind of been assigned that part. And God does give you an assignment. And my job has always been to help the believer mature and so he can have the things that Jesus died to give him. And this thing about peace is it's a key part of this whole thing.
In Ephesians 6, it talks about spiritual warfare, beginning at about verse 10 going through 18, and it says that God has given us armor. And it's not armor you can see, but it's spiritual armor. "We war not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers and wickedness in high places". There are evil spirits, demons in the world, just like there's angels. And you need to think about that once in a while that you've got angels that have been assigned to you that travel with you all the time. You ought to just say, "Hey," to 'em once in a while. "Hey, I'm glad you're watching out for me. Thank you, Jesus, for my angels". But there are also demons. And I know people don't like to talk about this kind of stuff, but we can't stick our head in the sand and pretend like everything is just que sera sera.
Listen, the devil hates you. And he hates anybody that's trying to work for God and spread the gospel. And God has told us that we can protect ourselves by wearing the armor that he gives us. But it's spiritual armor. It's the breastplate of righteousness. It's knowing who you are in Christ and not living under condemnation. Don't waste another day of your life feeling guilty. If you have done something wrong, then repent, ask God to forgive you, receive it, shake it off and go on. You say, "Well, what if I keep doing the same thing over and over"? Well, then keep repenting over and over, and trust that God is working in you and keep trusting him to set you free. Peter said, "How many times must I forgive my brother"? And the answer he gave really was "However many times you need to".
So, if God tells a person to do that, surely, he does it himself. Wear that breastplate of righteousness. Get over being insecure and comparing yourself with somebody else all the time. Hey, you got what you need. You got what it takes. If you're born again, God lives in you. You're the house of God and you can do whatever you need to do through Christ, if you lean on him and trust him. Tighten the belt of truth. The truth is the Word of God. Put on your shoes of peace. Walk in peace. The helmet of salvation. Think like a Christian. You know, the Bible says that if you look at a woman and have lustful thoughts about her, it's the same as actually committing the act of adultery. So, we gotta do something about this thinking thing. That's why I teach about it so much.
"Well, I can't help what I think". Yes, you can. We won't get into that, I'll never get off page one. I'll be gone this afternoon, and still will not have gotten off page one. There's scripture in 1 Peter 3:10 and 11 that I absolutely love, love, love, love, love. 1 Peter 3:10 and 11 in the Amplified Bible says, "For let him who wants to enjoy life and see good days, [good, whether apparent or not]". And I like that, so that's basically meaning that your circumstances might not be good, but it can still be a good day. I like that. In other words, the devil can throw his best shot and you can still have a good day. "Let him keep his tongue free from evil". Well, there's the mouth again. I'll just throw this out for free. When you have a problem, don't start complaining.
Do you know that complaining opens a door for the devil? The Israelites murmured and complained. And God got so tired of it, he finally let serpents into the camp and 23,000 of 'em died in one day. And it was all because of complaining. And I'm not telling you, you're gonna drop dead if you complain. But I am saying that it opens the door for the devil to steal your joy, and your peace, and your blessings, and your favor, and all the other things that you say you want from God. Now, we all make mistakes with our mouth, but here again, we can repent. "Oh, God, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I take that back. I'm gonna pull it back, Lord". Quick, say something good. God is so good to us. I said this just last night as we were closing, but I heard this a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was so good. What if you woke up today and all you had was what you were thankful for yesterday? Amen?
"Let him keep his tongue free from evil and his lips from guile. Let him turn away from wickedness and shun it, and let him do what is right". You know, this is really a pretty simple deal. Jesus has provided everything and all he says is, "If you love me, you'll obey me". He did not say if you obey me, I will love you. That's already settled. He's gonna love you. God will never love you any more than he does at this moment, right now. God loves you completely and totally, unconditionally. He loves you. I'm sorry, I don't care how big of a stinker you are, he loves you. He loves you. God loves you. Amen? And if we really learn to appreciate that and soak in it, we have to respond with obedience. I'm gonna say something that, ah, I don't know, maybe I shouldn't say, but I say a lot of things I shouldn't say, I guess, 'cause I think it needs to be said.
You know, you can pray what we call the sinner's prayer with somebody in a meeting. But I'm gonna tell you the truth, if you are truly born again and you really made a serious commitment, I don't think it's possible for anybody to be truly born again and never change. I just don't think it's possible. Because when you receive Christ, he comes to live in you, and boy, the war is on. Your spirit wars against the flesh and the flesh wars against the spirit. Things you could do before and them not bother you at all, you do them now it's gonna bother you. And I pray God will just keep bothering you and keep bothering you and keep bothering you until you can't stand it anymore, and you do what he wants you to.
How do you like that for a loving prayer? And you know, you need to, instead of just praying, "Oh, God bless them. Lord, bless uncle Charlie and aunt June and", no, "God bother them. Send the Holy Spirit after them and don't leave them alone until they submit to you". Amen? And that is a blessing. You are praying for them to be blessed when you pray like that. That's why the Bible says to "Pray for your enemies, bless and do not curse them".
When you pray for your enemies to be blessed, you're not praying for them to get a new car and a big house. Really the biggest blessing they can have is for them to see truth and face that truth and let God deal with them. And there is nobody, listen to me, there is nobody that God cannot change. I don't care how bad they are or how long they've been that way. There is nobody that God can't change. "Turn away from wickedness and shun it". Verse 11, "Let him do right. Let him", now, this is the part I don't want you to miss, "Let him search for peace".
See, you gotta want it. You gotta figure out how the devil is stealing your peace and get the upper hand over him. He knows how to push your buttons. "(harmony: undisturbedness from fears, agitating passions, moral conflicts) and seek", seek is a very strong word. It means to go after with all your might. "And seek it eagerly. Do not merely desire peaceful relationships with God, with your fellowman, and with yourself, but pursue and go after them!]" I pray that a whole bunch of people here today make the decision that I made years ago, "I am not gonna live without peace. I refuse to live without peace any longer. God, I don't care what you have to change in me, change it. No matter how much pride I have to swallow, give me the grace to swallow it".
Because I can tell you what fighting with somebody just to prove you're right is not worth the price you're paying to get it. First, you have peace with God. And that comes through either doing the right thing to start with or when you do make a mistake and sin, repenting right away, seriously repenting right away. And we're all gonna do plenty of that in our life because there's none of us that do it all right all the time. And this peace with yourself is so important. And I'll tell you why it's important, you cannot have peace with people if you don't have peace with yourself.
What kind of a relationship do you have with yourself? I like myself. I didn't for a lot of years. I hated myself and I thought about only what was wrong with me. I didn't like my voice. I didn't like this. I didn't like that. I didn't like my thighs. I didn't, you know, it was just. Come on, if you don't like your feet, too bad it's the feet you got. Just doctor 'em up, put some rhinestones on those toes. It is miserable if you don't like yourself because you never get away from yourself. You know what it's like to spend one afternoon with a relative you don't like. Well, think about spending your whole life with somebody you don't like. You can't even go to the bathroom without you. You can't give away what you don't have. And if you don't have love in you, you can't give it to somebody else. And that's the high command on our life.
In this captivating episode, Liz Franzel sits down with Nick Vujicic, a motivational speaker and founder of Nick V Ministries, to explore the profound impact of human trafficking in America. With his personal triumph over physical and mental obstacles as a backdrop, Nick calls upon listeners to recognize and combat the insidious issue of modern slavery. Discover how you can contribute to protecting vulnerable communities as we reveal the frightening truth behind the statistics, and learn tangible steps you can take to make a difference.
SPEAKER 02 :
This is Liz Franzel with Crawford Media Group, and today we are privileged to have Nick Vujicic with us today. He is the founder and CEO of Nick V Ministries, renowned speaker around the world and best-selling author. This month is National Human Trafficking Month, and we'll be talking about his mission to end this horrific crime against humanity. Nick, it's an honor to have you here with us today.
SPEAKER 01 :
Liz, thank you so much for having me on.
SPEAKER 02 :
Nick, you have such an amazing testimony and for our listeners that might not know, you were born with no arms or legs and you have overcome what some would say are impossible circumstances, but we know that all things are possible with God and you are a testament to that. Can you tell us a little bit about your story and how you overcame incredible challenges?
SPEAKER 01 :
Look, thank you so much for asking. I am so blessed at 42 years of age to be able to always let everyone know that first and foremost, having no limbs sounds pretty difficult. But I always tell people that it's not about the physical difficulties as much as the disabilities of the heart and the mind. And for me, you know, people could look at me at school and judge me or decide if they interact with me, isolate themselves from me or even bully me. And I think it was around age six that I knew that I was different than everyone else. And for the first time, I thought, well, that might be an issue. I was raised in a beautiful, loving home, went to church every week. My dad was a pastor, and I was asked by many people, why were you born this way? I did not know why. My brother and sister were born with limbs. People then asked me, what do you want to be when you grow up? I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. And I really felt like I was a burden to my parents. I had ups and downs at school as any student, but obviously had a lot of unwanted attention and definitely fears about my future. The Bible says that God has a hope, plan, and future, and I didn't understand if that verse would really be for me ever. I thought I'd be a burden to everyone around me, never get married, never be happy, never have children, never even get a job. And so I premeditated and planned a suicide attempt at age 10. I attempted in my bathtub and tried to drown myself because all I could see were broken pieces. And by the grace of God, I was stopped by one thought, imagining my parents at my grave wishing they could have done something more. And I didn't want to leave them with that pain. And I just am so glad I decided to stay by His grace. Age 15, I read John chapter 9, a man was born blind. No one knew why he was born that way. And Jesus was asked, why was he born with his disability? And I very much, as you can imagine, related to that story. The blind man gets the fingers of Jesus that are sticky and icky from the mud, and then he sees. And the blind man didn't ask any questions. And I realized, God, if you had a plan for a blind man, And you have a plan for me. And the blind man didn't ask for your plan, but he trusted you. And so, God, today I trust you with my greatest disability of death, of sin, that both you conquered on the cross, Jesus. And so I gave my life to Jesus at 15. At 17, I became vice president of my high school. I did a speech. And the janitor pulled me aside later, and he said, God's going to use you to go around the world. and share your story. And I actually said, I have no story. I don't know what you're talking about. And by the grace of God, started ministry at age 19. I've now gone to 84 countries, met 34 presidents and prime ministers. A billion people in China know who I am, and a billion people in India know who I am. And then out of the story, obviously not preaching, preaching. But then outside of those two closed countries, We've been in many others preaching the gospel to 10% of the whole world.
SPEAKER 02 :
That is absolutely an amazing testimony and I thank you for sharing that. I know who you are and that's why it's such a privilege to be able to talk with you today and I'm so thrilled that we can share you with our listeners. Today we are talking about human trafficking because this month is National Human Trafficking. You know, it's getting more attention but it's still not really being acknowledged a lot by the media. Give us some insight on what it is and how this even happens.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, look, there's so many different things that I needed to learn. I really want people to go to nickveeministries.org, find out the champions for the Brokenhearted series, click on human trafficking. For two years, we've been actually interviewing experts in different fields, including human trafficking, to really understand where this really is in our own backyard and For about two decades, everyone thought that this was more of an international problem. But more so, people are realizing it's actually happening in our own schools, in front of our own children. They don't need to be as violent kidnapping people for sex slavery in our own backyard. They just get lured in from social media, actually, by peers of their school now. People don't understand that a lot of media attention is not really going down to the root issue. People don't still know that there are $100 million worth of lobbying money for bills to pass continually pornographic material in our country. People don't understand that 67% of all teenagers are actually producing sexual images of themselves on their cell phones. People don't understand that one in three girls by age 17 have been raped in America. One out of five boys by age 17 raped in America. What's devious of all these things and other things that, I mean, it's very dark, very heavy to also understand the CPS and foster care system. I have had many friends in the foster care, incredible opportunity to help these children. and they ask these three siblings who are two, four, and six, hey, let's take a photo together as a family. And one of them says, okay, and comes back naked. And so there's a ton, ton, ton of foster kids waiting to go into a loving, protected home. There's a lot of corruption in our country, a lot of fragmented systems between county to county, and it's pretty disgusting as we learn these things. But What's most devious is no one who actually is being trafficked will say that they're being trafficked because they don't think they're being trafficked because they actually get brainwashed. And so what's crazy is, well, that's just what we do. This is who we are. And this is my new circle. It's unbelievable. And this is actually infiltrated to coaches, teachers and even parents in America.
SPEAKER 02 :
When you say infiltrated, what do you mean by that?
SPEAKER 01 :
Actually, softball coaches, basketball coaches, teachers of different tutorials, and even parents actually being part of the pimping and sexual acts. And more of that is going to be revealed here in America. Yaku Boyens is the tip of the spearhead of this issue. And as a church, you know, as a Christian... We need to go to what we really—I mean, no one's really talking about this in the church at all. No one's really bringing this in in education. Louisiana's done a great job in bringing education for adoption and helping unexpected pregnancies with teenagers to know about adoption on just the precipice. It's the first of its kind. It really needs to be mandated. That needs to be mandated. What also needs to be mandated is the real danger to parents as well to warn what human trafficking really is, to know the signs of your own child going through that. But what's crazy is this. There are surveys out there that say that one in five men who go to church on a weekly basis are actually addicted to pornography. And we're not talking about pornography. We're not talking about, you know, just to Gen Z to keep your pants on. to understand the sexualization of a generation. And when we now look at, I mean, even Christian schools, go to the football little team there and hear their conversations. And if you overhear some conversations, you'll actually probably hear someone asking their peers, how many trophies do you have? And that actually means how many girls have you slept with? And so the whole way that the enemy has come in and infiltrated and sexualized and debilitated our young people and attacking them without any buffer because they're on their phone seven hours straight a day. And this is now, this is real. And there is a lot of work to do, a lot of work to do. And I think the church needs to be aware of it. educate their schools, every charter school, every Christian school, every public school, every home, but also in the church to start talking about this as, hey, how many foster kids can we get out of that risk?
SPEAKER 02 :
You had mentioned some of the training you do. What are some of the signs that we can look for that would kind of alert us to something that's off?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, look, it's really peer-to-peer and really isolation and even some emojis. If you actually do some audits on your teenagers, as far as I'm concerned, everyone has their own house rules. But there are expert curriculum and signs of the types of emojis that pimps use, how they go trolling. You know, they're meeting people that they've never met before or they're being coerced in the school. There are signs of isolation. There are signs of even eye contact when they're lying. And just to have an atmosphere at home of saying, don't do this, don't do that, don't meet strangers, to actually sit down and have discussions with your family about what this really is. It is absolutely not surprising to me that 330,000 children are missing, with 3 million that have come over the border completely missing. But even before the border crisis that we have had in recent years, there's hundreds of thousands of people. In DFW alone, there are estimated 400. I'm from Dallas-Fort Worth. estimated 400 active slaves being pimped every single night in Dallas. And it's really interesting to know that those clienteles are normally people who earn more than $150,000, who have two children, and who are aged between 45 and 55 years of age. And you just would never believe that those are the people that are having sex with minors, And so even Native Americans, people don't understand right now, Native Americans are seen as exotic. And so we've been to Native American reservations, and they're taking, the Mexican cartels in Montana are taking daily children and women. And because of the jurisdictions, guess what? The federal government still has not been able to stop this kidnapping right in front of their eyes. And as soon as they get off the reservation, they actually can get away with it. It's happening on a daily basis. Tons of missing kids from Native Americans. People have no clue what's really going on.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, that is tragic news. And such, you know, the statistics are so, so huge. We're visiting with Nick Vujicic, founder and CEO of Nick V Ministries. renowned speaker and best-selling author, and we've been talking about the work his ministry is doing to help end human trafficking. Nick, would you tell our listeners where they can go to find out more about your ministries and actually get involved in this tragic crime against humanity?
SPEAKER 01 :
Please, thank you very much. nickveenministries.org is where you go. Go click the tab of Champions for the Brokenhearted. you will see then 12 topics that we've chosen, and one of them that we deep dive into is human trafficking. We have been doing that intentionally for two years. Check out Jacob Boyan's ministry. Check out A21, Christine Kane. Check out other people out there that we have shown free resources for all churches, all families, and teenagers alike to just Help them understand we need to address this. We need to address this now and do all that we can and not rest until it's done.
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely. Thank you for bringing this to light, Nick, and so much for joining us today.
SPEAKER 01 :
I love you so much. Thank you so much.
Discover the transformative principle of learning to be content in all situations as discussed in today's podcast. Charles Stanley delves into the profound implications of Philippians chapter 4, explaining Paul's wisdom on finding true contentment and inner peace amidst life's chaos. This episode is an invitation to understand and apply the biblical approach to bringing God's unlimited power into personal struggles, enabling listeners to emerge stronger, more resilient, and deeply fulfilled.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, January 31st. Does your life resemble a roller coaster? Well, the good news is we don't have to be at the mercy of circumstances. Today, you'll hear a simple principle from the Bible that can help you overcome the ups and downs of life.
SPEAKER 02 :
I'm afraid that for most of us and most Christians, the idea of living a roller coaster up and down life, off and on, hot and cold, in and out, has been accepted as the normal Christian life. This is just the normal Christian life. But I don't believe that's what Jesus taught. It's certainly not what the Apostle Paul taught. It is not the teaching of the Word of God. Does this mean that somehow we'll be able to stretch it all out and balance it all out? No. Does it mean that things will ultimately get better? No. Could get worse. But you see, here's the difference between the believer and the unbeliever, that you and I have tapped into the inexhaustible resource of a supernatural somebody who is God in the person of Jesus Christ to make it possible for us to live in the midst of these ever-changing circumstances without that. So Paul says, here's the secret. So I want to say, first of all, that overcoming these ups and downs of life is a learning process. Paul said it was true for him. It's true for us. Secondly, it is a learning process that will ultimately lead us to peace and contentment in our life when we learn to respond in the right fashion. And the apostle Paul is saying, I've learned the secret. He says the secret is very simple. In fact, it's so simple, most folks are going to just trip right over it. So I want to give you that as a little warning right now that when I show you and when I share with you what Paul is saying, don't say, oh, It can't be that simple. Let me ask you a question. Why would God want to make it hard? Why would God want to make it difficult? It's amazing to me how many principles people think they've tried because they've heard. Listen, because you've heard something doesn't mean you've applied it. And because you've applied it once doesn't mean it works or it doesn't work. Listen, there are many spiritual lessons that we go through over and over and over again before we really grasp the truth. Because we listen to them against the grid of our own thinking. Well, you know, I know some folks who've tried that. That's mind over matter. That's just confession. And, you know, life just isn't that simple. You don't know my circumstances. You don't know where I'm coming from. And if you lived in what I lived in, if you'd been where I'd been, and you'd faced what I faced, then you wouldn't say it's so simple. Well, you don't know what I faced. You don't know where I've been. And you don't know what God's had to work in my own life. But I can tell you this, that Philippians chapter 4, Verses 10 through 13. And what I want to share with you today, I'm here to tell you it works. The reason I know it works is that God has thrown me in the fire enough in my life that I know it works. And he had to bring me to the place where I had to say, God, it looks like my circumstance is not going to change. No matter what I do and how hard I try, they're not going to change. And so I had to come to the conclusion of God, all right, if you never change anything, if nothing ever changes and the circumstances remain the same, it's okay. It's all right. And that's what Paul is talking about. Writing out of a prison, he says, I want to tell you, it works. Now, what is it? Well, look, if you will, to what he says again. I want to keep reading these verses because I want you to get familiar with the idea. Listen. Verse 11. Not that I speak from want, for I've learned to be content in whatever circumstance I am. I know how to get along with humble means. I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I've learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. Now, how many of you can say this? I'm content with being weak. I'm content when I'm insulted. I'm content when I am rejected. I'm content when I'm falsely accused. I'm content when I'm persecuted. I'm content when I'm misunderstood. I'm content when I don't have all my desires fulfilled. I'm content when I don't have all my needs met. Can you say that? Listen to what Paul says now. Verse 13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Look at that. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now, I want you to see what he does not say. He does not say I can do all things. Paul would never boast of that. This sounds like a very arrogant statement, especially when in his own epistle in Romans chapter 12, you remember what Paul said in the 12th chapter? He said, for through the grace given to me, I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That sounds rather prideful and arrogant to me. Then you recall what Jesus said. He said, apart from me, you can do nothing. Paul says, I can, he says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now, is Paul just boasting or is he giving us a secret? Here's the secret. The secret to facing all of those up and down ever-changing circumstances of life is this. I want to just state it and then I want to explain it. Here's the secret. Learning to bring God's power into my weakness. That's the whole key. Learning to bring God's power into my weakness enables me to be content and With weaknesses, persecutions, insults, trials, difficulties, hardships, rejection, bringing God's power into my weakness. Now, I want you to learn a simple little phrase that's right here in the scripture. You can't miss it. Here is probably one of the simplest and most profound secrets, principles to be learned in the whole Christian life. It's four words. I can through Christ. Now, that's very simple. Here's what Paul says. We can bring the power of God into our ever-changing circumstances that seem to absolute overwhelm us and defeat us. He says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And to narrow it down, the whole key here is I can through Christ. Now, what is he saying? Here's what he's saying. Remember, before Jesus left, he said to his apostles, it is expedient for you that I go away. But if I go, I'll send the Holy Spirit. He'll be in you, with you, and upon you. So the Holy Spirit is living within us. And Jesus Christ is residing within you and me through the Holy Spirit. He says, I'm abiding in you and you're in me. So we have the life of Christ within us. Absolutely essential for everything that God wants for our lives. And here's the key. Bringing God's power into my weakness enables me to function out of the power of God, not out of my weakness. And what Paul is saying in this passage here, that his presence in us enables equals His power through us. His presence in us equals His power through us. His presence in us equals His power for us. His presence within our personality means His power for our problems. Paul said, I have learned this simple principle. I can through Christ. That is based on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, whereby we receive him as our personal savior and whereby he begins to live his life in us. We begin to respond to life circumstances on the base of truth, not on the basis of my feelings. Listen, we learn to respond to life circumstances based on the truth. What is the truth? The truth is that Christ is living within us. The truth is that God intervenes, that God releases His power in you and me to face every single circumstance of life, no exception. The promise is that God will enable you and me in our deepest, most trying times, when we feel the very weakest in our life. When we think that God we cannot handle anymore, he says that we have the privilege of bringing God's supernatural power into our weakness. And the moment we bring his power into our weakness, God enables us to face, to stand, to be quiet, to be true, to be strong, to be established. to be patient, to be confident, to be bold, to be conquering, to be victorious over any and every single circumstance of life, no exception. Listen, if there were a single one that could defeat us, If there were a single circumstance for which God is not sufficient and will not provide adequate power for us to overcome, then God is not omnipotent. God cannot be trusted. He is not faithful. He is not reliable. And therefore, our faith is in vain. There is not a single one. Now, this is why Paul says, look. Verse 11, not that I speak from one, for I have learned to be content. The next phrase is very important. I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I am. You say, but wait a minute, Paul never went through what I went through. Then my friend, all you need to do is to read the 11th chapter of 2 Corinthians. When this man says, I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I'm in, here's the man who's speaking from experience. He knows it works. Paul says, I've learned the secret of bringing his power into my ever-changing circumstance. And therefore, no matter what's going on, he says, I have learned to be content. Now, how do we do that? That is, how is it that you and I, in these circumstances that we can't control and can't change, how is it that you and I can be quiet and How can we be quiet and strong and stable and immovable and at peace and confident when everything around you is blowing sky high? And you are being attacked verbally from every direction imaginable. Paul says, I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I'm in. You see, here's the problem. We don't understand the biblical basis. Here's the biblical basis. Here's the foundation truth. When you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, He came to live in your life. The Son of God is living within you in the person of the Holy Spirit. So you have the power of God in you. So it's not a matter of having to get something you don't have. It's a matter of learning to to use what you have. It's a matter of learning to respond to life on the basis of your position in Him. Now, think about this. Paul says, I've learned the secret, but how is it that I get the power of God in a matter of changing circumstances? Two very simple words sum it all up. Number one, first requirement is I must submit my will to His will. And friend, what that means is, listen, not that you give up to your circumstances, but that you give in to Christ. You don't give up on your circumstances, you give in to Him. You say, well, why submission, the first step? For this reason, now listen carefully. If it is, and it is the plan and purpose of God to conform us to the likeness of His Son, Then some of my ever-changing circumstances may be sent to me straight from God. Some of them will come from the devil. Some from others. But you see, when I submit to him and say, Lord, I yield my life to you. Whatever you choose to send is all right. Now listen, you say, but let me tell you something. You don't know what I've been through. Hasn't got anything to do with it. Has nothing to do with it. If you want contentment, the first step is surrender. You say, you mean to surrender to my circumstances? I didn't say a thing in the world about surrendering to your circumstances. I said, surrender your life to him. Lord, I yield to you. Whatever you choose to allow is all right. Now, what's your alternative? Your alternative is to fight your circumstances. Your alternative is to resist and to be anxious and upset and worried and fretful and hostile and angry and bitter and resentful and manipulative and maneuvering and weaseling your way around, none of which is going to work. So, you see, God sometimes gives us what is difficult, but when you compare it with the other, it's the easiest. Just go ahead and surrender to him, Lord. I yield to you. Whatever you choose to send is all right. The second step is just as simple. And now, Lord, I'm going to trust you. I'm going to trust you to control all these circumstances in my life for your purpose. Now, think about it. You know what's happened? You've stopped fighting. You've stopped resisting. You've stopped running. You've stopped manipulating. You've stopped maneuvering. You've stopped weaseling around. You have laid down the old attitude of bitterness and resentment and hostility and anger and defending yourself. And you know what you've done? You've said, Lord, I just turn it all over to you. And now I'm going to rest in you. Now, let me ask you a question. Last night when you went to bed, how many of you kept one leg off the bed and your foot on the floor? Well, if you had, I don't think you would have rested. You may have slept a little bit, but you probably wouldn't have rested very well. How many of you loaded a gun and laid it by your bedside and all night long you heard something in the hallway and downstairs and upstairs that you didn't rest very well? But last night if you went to bed and you lay down and stretched out and covered up and just relaxed, what did you do? You just rested. You trusted the bed to hold you up. You trusted God to take care of you through the night, and you slept good all night long. Am I saying to you that life is like a good night's rest? No. But I am saying this, that our heavenly Father, who's living on the inside of us, has enabled every single one of us by His indwelling, available power to face every single circumstance, not in our weakness, but in his power. When we learn to get God's power into our circumstances, then what happens? We were able to rest in him. And we do that by trusting him. Lord, listen, I get on my face before God and remind him of how weak I know I am, how incapable and inadequate I know that I am. How insufficient to do what He's called me to do and to remind Him that it is only by His power and His strength, by His wisdom and by His will, I yield to Him. Lord, if making a mistake is part of building me up, then I'm willing to make one. Lord, whatever You choose to do, I choose Your will and Your way. I can walk out here, not only in the presence of God, but in a relationship with Him whereby the power of the Spirit of God is within me to enable me to do what I know I could never do. Now listen, that isn't limited to a pulpit. It isn't limited, thank God, to anything. Paul says, I've learned the secret. What's the secret? I've learned to get his power in on my weakness. And where does that begin? It begins with submitting my will to him that no matter what, it's all right. And then trusting him to supply the power, the energy, whatever's necessary to face that circumstance without wringing my hands and fretting and fuming and blaming and becoming hostile and angry and bitter and resentful and all the rest. Paul says, here's the secret. He says, I learned it. He didn't say I've always known it. He said, I learned. You know how he learned it? By being defeated. You know how he learned it? By coming to his wits end. You know how he learned it? He learned it the same way many of us learn spiritual principles. When we fail and fail and fail and fail and fail and we don't know the answer. And finally, God shows us. Here's the answer. Now, listen, one of the purposes of a pastor is to teach the word of God. And my goal for you is that God would teach me the truth in order to share it with you. Now, my sharing it with you doesn't make it work in your life. My sharing it with you makes it possible for you to pick up on it maybe earlier in life. And then you have to decide whether it's going to work or not. It's not going to work unless you apply it. I wish somebody had told me that a long time ago, that I don't have to fret and theme and live on a roller coaster and live like a sailboat in a storm. that God will enable me to walk moment by moment, day by day, in the inner quietness and peace and stability of His presence in such a fashion by faith that I can get His power in on whatever is going on in my life, every moment, every day, no matter what, if I'm willing to submit and willing to trust Him.
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Thank you for listening to part two of Overcoming the Ups and Downs of Life. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
Join Sharon Knotts in an insightful exploration of the profound impact of whispers that the enemy plants in our minds. She discusses the role of fear as a crippling emotion first felt by mankind and how subtle differences in truth can lead to significant spiritual consequences. Gain wisdom on discerning between right and almost right, see how Satan's MO of stealing, killing, and destroying can be tackled with the faith in God's unwavering truth.
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Greetings, friends and new listeners, and welcome to The Sound of Faith. I'm Sharon Knotts, thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Today's message is a true eye-opener and ear-arrester, the whisperer. In Genesis and Revelation, Satan is called a serpent. The Hebrew word is nakash, and its verb form means to whisper like the hiss of a snake. From the moment he beguiled Eve in the garden, Satan has been whispering his cunning lies and accusations against God and his true people because he is the whisperer. He whispers fear. I think everyone is more powerful than the other. Now that I'm going along here, fear is so powerful. It can cripple people. It can cripple people till they can't even hardly function. It can cripple them till they cannot enjoy the blessings God has in their lives. They are so afraid of everything. And I'm not surprised because it was the first negative emotion that mankind ever felt when Adam and Eve sinned. You know, the story goes on to tell us. And then they went and hid and God came walking in the day and he said, where are you, Adam? And he said, well, I hid because I was afraid. I tell you, saints, I don't know how many times through the years that people have come to me and their prayer request is, A spirit of fear. And I can identify with it. I understand it because I was under it. I came under it very strongly. And I've told those testimonies before how I got delivered, so I won't do it today. But I understand how strong a spirit of fear is. I had it from a child. As a little child, I had it. And then as I grew up, I seemed to overcome it. And I didn't have it for many, many, many years. And then it hit me again hard when I had the back issue. So I understand the fear, the things that the devil says to you. Sometimes he'll tell you, you're going to die. You're going to die. And it can become so real to you that you start having symptoms in your body you never even had before. I know that that is true. I know it. So slander, whispers of slander. And this is blasphemy. And, you know, people always think that blasphemy can only be done against God. They always connect blasphemy against God. But you read the New Testament. You read Paul. He says you can blaspheme against other people. And a lot of times they are outright lies. And the thing about it is he is so clever and crafty, he has the ability to make it sound true. To make it seem so plausible, to make it seem true. We looked at Greek, so now we see the Hebrew word for subtle. It means to be shrewd, crafty, cunning, and sly. Again, the word here in the Hebrew, the idea is that it's hard to distinguish between two things. The difference is so subtle that it's hard to differentiate between the two of them. The distinction between them is not obvious immediately. A subtle difference. And, you know, it happens a lot of times in a good way. You know, you're going to paint your bedroom a new color. Okay, we're going to make it a blue bedroom now. And so now you have bought your bedding, and so now you've got to go to the store and get paint, and you want to make sure that it blends. So you're pretty sure you know what color you want, or vice versa. You've already painted the room. Now you're going to go look for bedding, whichever way. And you go into the paint store and you think, okay, we're going to get a light blue. There are 4,235,000 swatches of light blue. And you're like, this is just blue. Put it next to your bedding and they clash. One after another. One after another. You know, you think that it is the same color. But when you get them next to each other, there's a subtle difference. Amen. It's that subtle difference. See, sometimes, saints, it's not a matter of discerning between right and wrong. That's not subtle. It's discerning between right and almost right. Amen. That's where the devil gets in and whispers in your ear. Amen. He uses words of reasoning to camouflage his true intent. So what is the nature of HaSatan? Jesus said in John 10, 10, the thief personifying Satan is come, but, and that means the only thing he's come for to kill and to steal and to destroy. That is his MO. That is his agenda. And everything he does is to the fulfillment of those things. Amen. That's what he's come to do, to steal, to kill and to destroy. And I want you to know that you might say, well, kill and destroy. If you're dead, you can't be destroyed. Here's what you've got to understand. The word destroy there means to ruin. ruin see kill means what it means he would like to actually kill you but if he can't kill you if he can't take you out then he wants to ruin your life he wants to ruin your life with bondage and lies and fear and torment amen That's his nature. And as I've told you before, the word Satan, Satan in Hebrew, if we look at its root, remembering the original Hebrew language was written in word pictures that later became letters. And when we look at the three consonants in the word Satan, because they did not write vowels in ancient Hebrew. So we would spell it S-T-N. So when we look at the Hebrew letter S, it's shin. It's a picture of teeth or fire. Either way, it means to devour. When we look at the word T, it's tet in Hebrew, and it's a picture of a snake. And it means a snake. And when we look at the word en, it's nun in Hebrew. It's a picture of a fish swimming in water. Not just a fish, but swimming in water. And it means life. Put the three together. Satan is a snake that comes to devour life. That is the hidden layer in the name of Satan in the Hebrew. Amen? And so he comes often in whispers. And I correlate Satan's whispers to what I call white noise. Now, our ears are bombarded all day long, everywhere we go, with sound. Everywhere. Sound, sound, sound. If it's not the TV, it's the radio. If it's not that, it's machines that are running. If it's not that, it's traffic that you can hear in your home as well as if you're in your car. It's kids making noise. Everywhere we go, it's... Noise. And I dare say that a majority of people have the habit of having their TV on even when they're not watching it. It's in the background. They can be doing something completely different, but they put the TV on and they're not even paying attention to it, but it's on. And they're accustomed to noise at all times. Amen? And so we're bombarded with all of this noise. But I tell you, if at night... When everyone is asleep and you turn off the TV, you don't go to bed with the TV on and you turn off the radio or whatever else and completely silent. And you happen to live on a street where there's not traffic out there and everything is completely silent and you're laying there. I tell you, you will hear a low level of A very low level of some kind of buzz in your ear. How many have ever done that? And you know what I'm talking about? Because we're so used to sound. We're so used to be bombarded with it that when we're totally, completely quiet. And hopefully if you're married, your mate doesn't snore. If your mate snores, you won't hear the white buzz. The little white noise. Amen. But you will hear that. It is like this low level of noise. And saints, that noise, that sound is not coming from external stimuli. From external noises. That sound is coming from inside your own head. How many know what I'm talking about? It's not outside. There's not something on in your home or in your bedroom that's making this noise. It's coming from inside your own head. And you see, this is how the serpent whispers to your mind. Now, that is a physical illustration that I gave you. But can we connect it and go in the spirit and see that that's how Satan whispers to your mind? And he knows when to whisper. For you to hear him. And that's why we've got to learn to drown out the whispers with the word of God. We've got to cast them down with God's word. And for me, it means sometimes I've got to completely go to speaking out loud. I have to answer out loud. I might in my mind think of a verse or of a song or something. But you know what? I find out when I start singing. I don't hear those whispers anymore. When I start quoting the word of God, I don't hear them anymore because I'm resisting the devil and he has to flee from me. Amen? And I have learned not to wait. See, a while back before I learned all this, I would wait a while. And the thoughts kept coming. And I would just wait a while. And before I would finally, you know, because I was under a spirit of fear to a point. But I have learned now, I don't wait until he tells me two, three, four, five things. As soon as I hear the hiss. As soon as I hear it and my spiritual ears are sensitized to know that is not the voice of my shepherd. That is not the voice of my beloved. That's not the voice of my Holy Spirit. Immediately I begin to speak against it. Immediately I rebuke it. I block it before it can become a fiery dart to go from my mind to my heart, my spirit. Amen. That's what you have to do. You've got to take scripture and counteract it at the very first whisper. So many times when I pray for people, they'll say, Sister Sharon, the devil told me. And I mean, they got this long drawn out story about what the devil told them. And after a while, I have to stop them because they're going to affect my ability to pray for them. You know, tell me, give me the gist. Give me the gist. Don't tell me everything he said. Amen. Why are you repeating it? I know you're trying to explain to me, but I don't need to hear you give me that whole big long thing. I need you to just tell me the main points because I'm getting ready to rebuke the devil. I'm getting ready to command him to back off of you and leave you alone. And I don't need to hear whatever he said because whatever it is, it's a lie. It's a lie. It's a lie. And you know when you're telling me that it's a lie, you know it. So why are you letting the devil beat you up with it? Now I'm not fussing at you. I'm telling you what I know because I know what he did to me. And I know God gave me the victory and he's not a respecter of persons. He'll give it to you. So when it's just a notion, a suggestion that you know is wrong or you know that it's untrue, you cannot let that thing develop. I'm going to go one further. Let's suppose it's not a whisper. Let's suppose the devil's got bold enough to send somebody to you and tell you something about someone or something that immediately your spirit says, that's not right. That's not true. I don't believe that you need to tell that person right then you need to say, you know what? I don't think that's right. i don't believe that it doesn't witness with my spirit and i don't believe it and you better be careful what you're saying about that person because if it's a lie you may be touching god's anointed now if the person they're speaking of is a godly person a godly person then they need to be careful i mean if it's a hypocrite and everybody knows they're a hypocrite you know you just say well you know the bible says you'll know by their fruits So let's pray about them. But when they speak against someone that is a godly person that you have never had any reason to think anything about them, then you need to be careful because it's probably the slanderer. And if it's not and it's true, it will come out. It'll come out. They'll either get right with God. And if they get right with God, then that's the good thing. If they don't get right with God and persist in whatever this thing is, it's going to come out anyway. Be sure your sin will find you out. You know, it reminds me of when they'd already beaten Peter and John and threw him in prison. Amen. And they wanted to keep doing things to him. That's how they were. And then finally, Gamaliel stood up and said, you know, if this thing is not of God, it's going to all fall apart just like he named other things. But he said, if it be of God, you may find yourself fighting against God. See, he wasn't sure. He didn't know. And he was afraid that just in case they were wrong, they would be fighting against God. So we need to proclaim God's word over our mind. And here's the thing. You may have to repeat it and repeat it and repeat it. You may have to repeat it, but you keep doing it until you've drowned out that whisper. And you will. Eventually you will. But don't let the whispers accumulate. Because then they can become a stronghold. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians. And this time let's look at chapter 10. Looking at verse 4 and 5. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or they're not of the flesh, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Now, here is what the Lord moved on my heart for myself, and it's helped me, and I will share it with you because I think it will help you. I like to reverse the order. In other words, I start with bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Because if you will capture something when it's a thought... When it's a whisper. If you will catch it when it's a thought and cast it down and bring it into the obedience of Christ, make it line up with the word of God. If it doesn't line up with the word of God, then immediately. You cast it down. If you do it when it's just a thought, it will not become an imagination. And that's a stronger because now it has become this thing of reasoning in your mind that now is actually hostile and fights against God and the knowledge of God. It's going up a step. And if you continue to have those imaginations, then they will begin to be one on upon another upon another. And then it becomes a stronghold. And a stronghold is like a fort that is surrounded with walls. So the enemy cannot get in. But in this sense, it's your mind and your mind now has these walls and the truth. cannot get in the enemy has built up walls around your mind he's so filled you with these thoughts and these imaginations and then imagination means fallacious reasoning fallacious reasoning oh you reason this to be true it's not it's false but you do so that allows you then to reason this and reason that and reason the other till it's built up this big thing amen And Satan has successfully put this wall around your mind until it's hard for truth to get in. Then what do you got to do? You got to pull it down. It's a lot easier to take one thought captive than to pull down the walls of a stronghold. I'm not saying it's not possible. Obviously it is, but it's harder and you will suffer much in the process. Amen. So that's how the Lord dealt with me and it really helped me and hopefully it will you. So we have been talking about don't listen to the whisperer. Learn how to resist him and rebuke him. Now I might step on more toes about this time because I'm going to say not only don't listen to the whisperer, don't become a whisperer. Because you know there are whisperers in the church. I'm going to prove to you. Let's look to Romans 1 29. Now in Romans 1, we have a whole catalog of deadly sins. But we're zoning in on our subject. So let's look at verse 29. Being filled with all unrighteousness. Now that's a very key description. Being filled with all unrighteousness. And here is the symptoms, the outgrowth, the fruit, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, whisperers. Now, several of the traits that we just read here are synonymous with words we've already looked at in connection with the serpent Satan. For instance, malicious and then envious and the murderers. These are all Satan's nature. Deceitful. Malignity here is the same word as craftiness that we've read in the other verses. It's the same word. But the last one is one of Satan's titles. The whisperer. So let's look at the Greek word for whisperer, whisperings and whisperer. What is the Greek word? I'm not even going to say it because it's a little tough. Not that you really care, but here's the meaning. This you do care about. A secret slanderer. Because the devil is a coward and he's like a snake in the grass. He does all his things. He tries to do secretly incognito. So you don't realize it's the devil. Amen. Slander to speak false charges, which defame and damage another's reputation to assassinate their character. That's what Satan does. revelations 12 10 names him one of his titles the accuser of the brethren amen accused means to charge someone with an offense to claim they have committed something wrong or bad and this is what satan's mo is he's always slandering someone slander is a direct connection to satan And I hate to say this to you, but he's got some saints in the church he can use to do his dirty work. I'm not saying just faith tabernacle. I'm saying the church. Amen. The body of Christ. You know, the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 2 that there are vessels of honor and there are vessels of dishonor. And the enemy knows who he can use, that he can whisper to them, accuse godly people to them, and get them to do his work of starting to slander them. Amen? Back in 2 Corinthians 12 and looking at verse 20. For I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as you would not. But here's the point. Lest when I come, there be debates, envians, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings. swellings, and tumults. So here we have that word again. I fear less when I come. This is what I'm going to find. I'm afraid when I come to see you again, Corinth. And I want you to know that this would be his third trip there. He's already been there twice. He's saying, I'm afraid, even though I've been there two times already, I'm afraid when I come back, this is what I'm going to find. Debates and envies, raps and stripes and backbiting, whispering, swellings and tumults. Saints, there was a lot of bad stuff going on in this church at Corinth. It's even all the more remarkable when you consider they are the ones to whom he wrote all about the gifts of the Spirit. But he also wrote to them the chapter on love.
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Amen. Amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
Amen. What a bondage breaking word of the Lord, the whisperer. One of Satan's most dangerous and effective tactics is not just to lie against God, but to subtly whisper his accusations like the hiss of a deadly serpent. He is called the serpent and the accuser of the brethren. He could also be called the whisperer. Paul wrote to the church of Corinth, I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, So your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. There are five significant Greek words in this verse that tell the story of Satan, the whisperer, and reveal how he whispers thoughts to the mind that accuse God and godly members of the body of Christ. If they are not taken captive when just a thought, a notion, or suggestion, they can become mental strongholds of deception. Whisperers can tear up a church with jealousy, slander, suspicion, and lies, maligning leadership and wounding members. Learn how to discern the whispers of the enemy and take captive every thought. Make sure not to allow the hedge of protection around your life to be broken down because Proverbs says, where the hedge is broken, the serpent bites. Order The Whisperer on CD for a love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. Request SK208. Mail to Sound of Faith, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Order online at soundoffaith.org, where MP3s are available. To order by mail, send your minimum love gift of $10 to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Request SK-208. Till next time, this is Sharon Knott saying, Maranatha.
In this enlightening episode of Call to Freedom, Barbara Carmack reflects on recent political events, drawing profound parallels with biblical stories and spiritual lessons. As she delves into recent occurrences involving President Trump and their impact on the nation, Barbara calls on listeners to find solace and strength through prayer and faith. There is emphasis on the transformational power of biblical figures such as Daniel, encouraging individuals to look beyond immediate circumstances and seek divine guidance.
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Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a word-powered daily reading Bible guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number, 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom. Oh, the sun is out. Finally, it was a cold, cold week last week, even though, wow, last Monday, just a week from today, last Monday was the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump. And what an exciting week this has been. He has just kind of turned the world upside down. And to add attention to his words, even the World Economic Forum that was at Davos, Switzerland, He zoomed in and he talked to them about having equal trade and having them give their fair share into these organizations and not United States paying for everything. I'm so grateful. It's just really been a wonderful turn of events. And as we have prayed, friend, you and I have prayed that God would turn this around and help. I realize that as our prayer goes up, he begins to do his will in this world. So many times I've tried to make it happen. Well, God, we've got to go out and do this and we've got to do that. And God says, I want you just to pray. I want you to pray. I will go to work for you. I will make sure that it is done. And I'm going to be talking about Daniel today because he's the kind of person who, that did not fight back. He did not try to defend himself. He prayed to God and God absolutely delivered him. We're going to read more about that in this program. Let's do our Monday Bible slogan. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I do what it tells me to do. This is my Bible. It has given me new life. It is the word of God. I hope you're involved in some kind of reading your Bible this year and not just jumping from one verse to another. Let's go from Genesis clear through to Revelation. And even though you may not understand some books, um, Do it. Just do it. And you will understand. Even into four or five years, I was reading some of these books like Haggai, Zephaniah. I was reading Numbers. I was reading books that I really didn't truly understand. And it's becoming clearer and clearer to me as I'm reading and I'm reading. I'm asking Holy Spirit to help me to see the clarity of these verses that were given to us. Remember, These men gave their lives. They sacrificed so much that we could have the word today. And don't you think it would be good if you just respected them and honored them by getting into the word? I pray that you will today and this year. 2025, a year that we're going to read through the Bible. Praise the Lord. You are blessed to dispense, for in him you live and move and have your being. And if you would like to listen to programs of Call to Freedom, you can go to freedomstreet.org and click on Radio Show. You can also give at that time at the Donate button. It's so ready for you to hit that button and give to Call to Freedom. I hope it's been an encouragement. I hope this program has been an encouragement to you. And if you've been listening to Call to Freedom for longer than two or three years, why don't you think about giving a donation? I really appreciate it. God has blessed us so much. And, you know, just like you and your household, the bills just keep coming through. I realize that this is going to change. And I know that we're in a blue state here in Colorado. And it just seems like everything is going up and up and up. But God will take care of you, my friend, when you begin to give. because you are a cheerful giver and you want to give into the kingdom of God. It was such a joy to see Franklin Graham standing beside President Donald and Melania in the cold January weather in Asheville, North Carolina. What President Trump said brought relief to many people of that devastated region because some of them had been living in tents and others had no electricity until the week before. Many did not want President Trump to visit North Carolina. They just want to get it going to California and we're going to take care of this situation in California. He has a lot of conditions. After he talked with a council in California, and especially to Mayor Bass, I mean, they were sitting at the same table. He came down pretty hard, and he says, you've got to accomplish some conditions here before you get aid from the government. Really good. I'm so grateful to him. But he decided to visit North Carolina, and I appreciate that. Melania had this wonderful knit cap over her long hair and these aviator glasses with this heavy, heavy coat. And she looked so good. She looked like a soccer mom. It was really precious. But these people needed relief, and they needed someone to bring them hope of the relief. They've been living in tents and had no electricity until the week before, and many did not want President Trump to visit there. But he wanted to show the nation what had not been done in 120 days. Yeah, 120 days since Helene and all the floods came through. And some of these people were still without electricity. FEMA had not stepped in and given sufficient aid to those Americans and yet had spent billions of dollars to put up illegal aliens, and we can call them illegal aliens again, in expensive hotels and given them free medical aid and provide for them three squares a day, which many of them threw into the trash. Now, how would you like to get free food, lodging, and medical aid without paying taxes? By the way, my property taxes, which the Lord is going to help me pay, he always has, he always will, they went up $400 over the last year. So they're going to continue probably to rise until we see some relief from our president. But we're living among greedy politicians. And I'm saying this about this blue state that I live in. And Barbara, why are you living there? Well, because some of us are called into a wilderness area. And I am so pleased and grateful to God that I have the opportunity to tell people about Jesus. And so, you know, those greedy politicians will keep increasing and increasing and increasing on homeowners. His justice, friends, is going to prevail in his perfect timing. And I'm really believing for that, and I'm going to see it someday. Praise the Lord. And, yes, I've applied for all kinds of senior citizen stuff. And, in fact, the last time I called, did this apply to the heritage or whatever it's called for senior citizens? Yes. And you got into that program in 2021. I said, well, why is it increasing every year? Well, we have to do it according to inflation. They have an answer for everything. So what do you do? You go back to the word of God and you pray. Yes, you do. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, Father God. Our memory verse for this week is Psalm 33, verse 10 through 12. And I love the 12th verse. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen for his inheritance. Oh, I'm in his inheritance right now. We're going to start in the 10th verse of Psalm 33 in the New American Standard. The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations. He does away with the counsel of the nations. He frustrates the plans of the people. And we saw that at the World Economic Forum last week in Davos, Switzerland. when President Trump did a Zoom call to the council sitting there, and they listened, and if they don't join with the land of the free and the home of the brave, they will get left behind. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation. Blessed is the nation. This is verse 12 of Psalm 33. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance. And in the living translation, I just love these different translations. And Kimberly had given me a Bible guide with all these translations. So I can just kind of zoom into there and copy and paste. I'm a copy and paster. I am. So here's Psalm 33, 10 through 22. The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations and thwarts all their schemes. It's as if, like President Trump says, you don't take these illegals back and you won't get aid, or your tariffs are going to go up to 25%. He's got all the marbles now, and he can really tell people what they need to do. The United States of America has totally been treated unfairly, and your taxpayer dollars have gone to things that were not even planned. Praise God that he is now in office, and I'll be talking about him quite often. But the Lord's plans stand firm forever. That's in Psalm 119 as well. His intentions can never be shaken. What joy for the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people he has chosen as his inheritance. The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race. From his throne he observes all who live on earth. You can't hide from God. Nope, you can't. I don't care where you are. You can't hide from God. He made their hearts so he understands their motives. The best equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior. Don't count on your war horse to give you victory. For all its strength, it cannot save you. But the Lord watches over those who honor and reverence him, those who rely on his unfailing love. And that's from the living translation. He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine. We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In him, our hearts rejoice. Yes, we say the Lord be exalted. The Lord be magnified. Oh, praise his holy name. For we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone, in you alone, on Christ alone. Our hope is built in Christ alone. Oh, he's such a wonderful, wonderful Lord and Savior. And there was a time in my life that, yes, I counted him as a savior for saving me from my sins. But now I've made him Lord, master of my life every minute of every day. And I hope he's that for you, too. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. And there are many times when I haven't been the happiest I knew I could be because I wanted my situation to be different. I had my plans and Lord, why are you thwarting my plans? It took me a while, but learned that God can use me in whatever situation I'm in. Even if I'm not thrilled about it, God is so merciful. Even when I'm kind of stubborn about it, I want this. I want it this way, Lord. No, he's going to be very gentle and merciful. The Bible is replete with heroes who were in situations they didn't like, but were able to live mission possible because they chose to trust in God, who then used them greatly. I'm going to go to Daniel. It's such a marvelous book, and especially about the end times which we're in. And in Daniel 6, 1 through 18, we read where Daniel was opposed on every side by jealous administrators, kind of like we've seen in the last four years in our government. Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. The king also chose Daniel and two other administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king's interests. Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel's great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. Ah, but here is where jealousy enters the picture and plans for Daniel's demise. They couldn't find anything to criticize or condemn, so they made it up. He was faithful, always responsible, completely trustworthy. And so they concluded our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion. And we saw that. We saw people who are great spiritual people arrested at the Planned Parenthood clinics. They were arrested and they were still in jail when President Trump pardoned them last week. So, verse 6 of Daniel. Is it 6? Yes. So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, Long live King Darius. Give orders that for the next 30 days, any person who prays to anyone, divine or human, except you, your majesty, will be thrown into the den of lions. This sounds like the January 6th committee. And I believe that's why Liz Cheney was pardoned by Biden. They knew that they had planned wicked schemes against President Trump's supporters. So King Darius signed the law. But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room with its windows open toward Jerusalem. That's the holy city. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. Then wicked officials went together to Daniel's house and found him praying and asking for God's help. And they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law. Hearing this, the king was deeply troubled, and he tried to think of a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament. I know, we've done that. We've gone to our lawyers. We've gone to our therapists. We've gone to psychiatrists. We've gone to the banker. We've gone to the loan officer. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament. But at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. Then the king said to him, May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you. A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles so that no one could rescue Daniel. No human being, no human being could get in there and rescue him. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. Here's a wicked king, an ungodly king, and he fasted the entire night. Now, probably in their world, they were eating until all hours. Kind of reminds me of the cruise we were on last. We went to a cruise sponsored by the company that had our piano and organ store, the pianos and organs for our store. And you could go to the buffet at midnight. You could go to the buffet at 2 o'clock in the morning. It was always open, and the ship was always ready for anybody to eat. So it was probably the way they spent, you know, these rich people, they just spend the night eating and drinking. And you know the rest of the story, this story. You know that God delivered him and in the morning the king came running and said, Daniel, has the Lord delivered you? And he said, yes, the Lord has delivered me. And the Lord delivered Daniel. You know the story of Joseph because of the jealousy of his brothers. He was sold to a caravan going to Egypt. Was this all in God's plan? Yes, it was. Yes, it was. It was all in God's plan. And maybe the rough times that you've had, the hard times you've been through, the challenging times you thought, oh, I'm going to rebuke the devil. I've done that. I've done that. I'm sorry. I'm kind of laughing because we thought the devil was in all this. Well, God sometimes pushes us against a wall because we will not bend to his plan. We will not submit. And remember what James 4 says. Submit to God. Submit to God. Be obedient to God. Resist the devil and he will flee. So we first of all must submit to the plans that God has for us. And each one of us has different plans. So just as Daniel was seeing injustice every day of his life as a captive in Babylon, he saw Babylon fall and the Medo-Persians take over and Cyrus ruled then. There is another prophet who lived a lifestyle as a farmer until the Lord called him. He lived around Judah and he gave prophecies about the world he was enduring under the Assyrians and Sennacherib. And we see here his name is Micah. And the prophecies of Micah are divided into three parts. Number one, the condemnation against Samaria and Judah because of various sins the people committed. It sounds like the last administration with DEI ruling no matter what those people in the Civil offices knew what they were doing. I mean, they just appointed people. And remember, DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Equity is not the same as equality. Equality means all men are created equal. Equity is give everybody the same playing field. Every level of economy. There won't be any economy. It's like Russia right now. There's the rich, rich ruled by Putin. And then there are the poor, poor. So that's what equity means. D.I. are gone. Praise God. And also, Micah saw the future punishment of these negative actions, including the the doom that the Assyrian armies would bring about. And number three, the hope for a restoration of Israel after their repentance. Remember, it's repentance, folks. And that's why we prayed 2 Chronicles 7.14. If my people who are called by my name, that's us, that's those people in the United States that are spiritual, but we've got to see revival in our own souls, in our own hearts first. Not spread our hands out and, oh, everybody has to repent. Everybody has to have a revival here. No, you must have revival in your heart. So my people that are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. Then God says, I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sins and I will heal their land. Throughout the book of Micah, condemnation and punishment and hope for restoration repeatedly and consistently follow each other. And I want to say right here that you will not see reconciliation of any kind until you see equality, as Abraham Lincoln said so eloquently. All men are created equal. Let's look to a God who is a loving God, a merciful God, and say, oh, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Here's a Gaither vocal band.
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Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see. This was grace that taught my heart to fear. And grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear. My chains are gone, I've been set free. My God, my Savior, has ransomed me. And like a flood, His mercy rains unending love. The Lord has promised good My chains are gone, I've been set free. My God, my Savior, has ransomed me. Unending love, an amazing grace. The earth shall soon dissolve like snow. The sun forbear to shine. But God who called me here below will be. Forever
SPEAKER 02 :
He's forever ours, friend. He's forever ours. Oh, what a loving God we serve. He's truly remarkable, wonderful. It's like an old Lanny Wolf song that John and I used to sing. You're more than wonderful. You're more than wonderful. There are no words to describe God. He's out of the box, out of the universe, bigger than what we could describe. He's wonderful. And in God's eyes, we are all equal. Galatians 3, 28 through 29 says, "...there is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female." For you are all one in Christ Jesus, and now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you. So we're equal in God's eyes. We have different economic levels in this world because of our appointments in this world, our assignments in this world. And God still prospers and blesses each and every one of us who are obedient to his call. And that means, you know, I can't look jealously at someone who has more money than I have or bigger home than I have or a beautiful car and a newer car than I have. No, we praise God for what he has done in our individual lives. And then one day we're going to see him and understand all of this, just like I'm going to read on about Micah tomorrow. He's a farmer who came out of nowhere. Nobody knows too much about him. And yet he presented the plan of God to the people so that they could repent, be born, not born again, but know God, seek him again and know his name. God bless you and keep you and take joy.
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877-917-7256
SPEAKER 01 :
Call to Freedom is a listener-supported radio ministry. Barbara and her power partners invite you to come on board with us and become a network of hands holding up Call to Freedom ministry. Power partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. You will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom's website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237.org. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
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Thank you.
