Good morning. Welcome to Victoria's Faith. I'm Cherry Campbell. This morning I'm going to begin sharing with you a short teaching that I gave in one of our Victoria's Faith services called Faith, Hope, and Joy. So join me now in our live service for part one of this message, Faith, Hope, and Joy. So we're going to talk about Hope and expecting tonight. So we give in Faith now, if you've been joining us, you know, that before we receive the offering, we always share the word because how does Faith come? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So before we give, we hear the word so that we're ready to give in Faith because it's when you give in Faith that you can expect the harvest and the reward and God working for you and through you and your finances and your life and for your family and everything you need. Hallelujah. Glory to God. So we're looking at the word tonight. So we're going to give in Faith, but we also receive in Faith and we're going to talk about receiving Hebrews 111 says now Faith is the substance. That word is actually an old English word in the King James, but we can actually see it. Sub stands. Stance is standing. Sub is below our underneath. And the literal meaning of that word in the Greek New Testament, the New Testament was written in Greek. It is actually foundation. It is that which something stands on. It's a foundation. And so substance is the foundation. The substance, the foundation, Faith is the foundation of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. Now what is hope? It's the Greek word alpizo and it means to wait with joy and full confidence. Are you waiting for your answer with joy? Or are you getting impatient and impatience produces grumpiness and grouchiness? Well, if you're grumpy and grouchy, you're not in faith or in hope because in hope you wait in joy. Happy and dance and praise the Lord. It's coming and full confidence. Confident expectation. You are fully confident that what you are believing for is coming. It's on its way. Hallelujah. Confident expectation and happy anticipation. All right, let's think of something to be happy anticipation. Christmas dinner. Thanksgiving dinner, especially when you start smelling all the wonderful aromas of the turkey, the dressing, the pies, maybe chocolate chip cookies or something like that. And then your mouth starts watering and the children are looking forward to opening the presents with what are they sad or they depressed or they scared? No. Happy anticipation because they know something good is coming. Why else would you have happy anticipation unless you know that something good is coming? Now that points out let me point out to you that what is the opposite of hope hope is expecting good. Dread is expecting bad. Dread and fear. Dread and fear are expecting bad things. You're dreading it. Oh, no, this is going to be bad. Well, we don't have dread. We have hope because we expect it to be good. All that God has for every good and perfect gift is from the father. He daily loads us with benefits. Amen. And so he's always doing good. So we have happy anticipation, which is hope in what happy about it because we know what's coming is what good. Amen. And then it's a strained expectancy. So think of those children and they expect grandma and grandpa to come driving up in the driveway and they keep running. Look out the window and stretch in their head. Is that them? Oh, I just heard a car. They heard a car. They run out. Is that them? Is that them? Strained expectancy. Looking. I think it's coming. Oh, they're just coming right over the hill there. That strained expectancy because they know someone is coming or you know something is coming. You're looking with an outstretched neck. I know it's coming. It must be right on the corner. There I can almost see it. That strained expectancy is hope. And then watching with that stretch head. What was I doing them looking when you're straining expecting you're stretching out your neck. Looking, watching with that stretch head and another definition of hope is the vision. It's the picture. It's the image. It's the dream of what you are expecting. You're seeing it or you're smelling it. I mean the aroma of the cookies and yeah, they're in the oven. You can't see them or taste them. But in your mind, you can see them in your mouth. You can almost taste them. They're not there yet. Right now it's just a figment of your imagination, but it's so real because you are so expectant of that coming. Those delicious chocolate chip cookies or apple pie or whatever your cinnamon rolls, whatever you like to smell of. That you can smell it and while it's in the oven, you can't see it. It's baking. You know it's coming. You know it's getting ready. You can't see it. You can't touch it. You can't taste it. But you know it's coming. It's almost there. And so in your mind, you can see it. And in your mouth, you can almost taste it. Well, that's the vision that the picture, the image or the dream of what God has promised you. I mean, if it's a new home, you actually you do need to put up pictures of what you're dreaming for. If you're dreaming for a new home, then put a picture up on your refrigerator. I've done it and it worked. I've done it and it worked and car. I did it and it worked. I got it within a year, just a few years ago. I was living in one place and I wanted to upgrade and I put a picture on my refrigerator of something similar to what I wanted to upgrade to. And within a year, I got it and at the same time I put a picture of a car, a nicer car than I had on the refrigerator and about it the same time I put them up on the fridge and about it the same time about 11 months later, 11 and 12 months later, I got both of those. But all year, I was laying my hand on it and saying, thank you Lord, this is my vision. This is what I believe I receive. And you know, in Habakkuk too, we talk about this many times that in January, especially the beginning of the year, to write the vision and make it plain on tablets so that those can run with it, who read it. Well, that's going to be you and you need to be able to run with it. But you need to have it written and have a picture of it. And so I've heard a people have envisioned boards and that's a perfectly good thing to do. And I've made my refrigerator door into a vision board and put things on there that I'm believing for. And so that I can lay my hand on it and say, thank you Lord, I believe I receive it, I claim it, I have it now in Jesus name and the picture of it puts a picture and image in my mind of what I'm laying hold of with my faith. And so you need a picture. So words are good, but if you can get a picture, it'll even, well, they even say a picture is worth a thousand words. So maybe you need a healing. Well, maybe get a picture of you in perfect health. Maybe it was 10 years ago before, you know, when you were younger, it might have been 10 years ago. So sometimes when you were in perfect health, put a picture of you in front of your eyes to see yourself that way again that you don't see yourself with the problem you have now. You see the weakness, the illness, the pain or the injury that you have now. Now you see yourself and you keep that picture of you in excellent condition in front of your eyes. Maybe you were even doing something physically active. And you are showing your strength. Maybe it a park playing or running a race or playing a sport or something. Get a picture of you being perfectly healthy and doing something active. And then put it on your refrigerator on your bathroom near where you will see it all the time and let that picture get burned into your mind. So you don't see what you are now. You see that. And that is what your faith is building. I believe I received that. And you know, face says I'm not looking at what I see now. That's what Abraham did. And it Romans 4 says he considered not his body now dead or Sarah in her dead room. But he expected and believed those promises that God had said to him that he would be the father of many nations. And he changed his name to the father of many nations. So if you have to change your name, I've heard a people doing that too. I've heard a people changing their names. I mean one man, he was called Jerry Newhart because he needed a new heart. And he called himself Jerry Newhart. The doctor said your heart just worn out. It's just worn out. You need a new heart. And guess what? He got it. He got it. It manifested. He got a new heart after he stood in faith and his family stood with him. And they believed God in some months later. He went back to the doctor and the doctor took the test and your heart is like it's brand new. And the medical records show that he had a new heart. So call yourself what you desire to be healed. Prosperous. A successful business person. Maybe a CEO or a manager or some promotion that you desire owning your own business. Whatever you want to be or do or have. Call yourself that and call yourself having that. And that is the picture, the image of what your faith begins to work to build. So when you have hope, your faith has a project. See, faith is the force that builds what you are dreaming and visioning. Faith goes to work. But if there's no dream, no vision, how can your faith build anything? You know, with no blueprint, a builder cannot build a building. Faith cannot build anything without a vision of what to build. So when you have hope, a vision, a picture, an image of what you want to be, do and have. Be, do and have. Write them down. Put a picture of them up on your refrigerator and let your faith go to work. I believe I receive that. I claim that I have that. It's mine in Jesus name. And then pull out scriptures. Go through the word of God. Scriptures that promise you what you are believing for. There are many, many, many, many specific promises for healing, finances, family, children, marriage, homes, jobs, vehicles, everything. And then there are many just general promises like whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it. And it shall be yours is whatever, whatever. Yes. And Jesus said, if you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you ask whatever does whatever mean whatever. Whatever you wish and it will be done. Now that says it has to be started in the word. The word paints the picture. The word gives the promises. What you just heard was part one of a short teaching that I gave in one of our victorious faith services called faith, hope, and joy. And we will continue and conclude this message again tomorrow. So join me again tomorrow and remember God loves you. You are blessed and highly favored by the Lord.
Join us for an inspiring episode of Call to Freedom where spiritual and emotional wellness is at the forefront. Hosts Barbara Carmack and Darren dive into understanding how depression stems from deeper spiritual issues and share letters from listeners who offer testimonies of faith and resilience. The program sheds light on combating depression's root causes with spiritual introspection, prayer, and an unyielding trust in God's blessings. The episode offers steps to untangle the burdens that keep individuals from reaching their full spiritual potential. Through heartfelt conversation and prayer, listeners are encouraged to practice forgiveness and seek God's wisdom in navigating life's struggles. This episode is a reminder that spiritual freedom is attainable, and God's love is the key to unlocking it.
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 Power 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 :
After thanking children who are sending in offerings to give to the orphans with Home of Refuge, I read a letter written by a wife who is concerned because her husband is depressed about his job. But Darren brings up the fact that depression is only a symptom of a deeper spiritual root. We bring up the areas of fear and pride and unforgiveness which may indicate depression. that maybe things aren't working out according to your plans, and you're allowing anger, fear, or unforgiveness to take over. As we discuss unforgiveness, Darren gives a solution to bring freedom into your heart and life. God's will is to bless you, but it's important that you get rid of the junk that's clogging up the communication lines between you and your Heavenly Father. Now let's join the program.
SPEAKER 04 :
You have a wonderful letter there in your hand, don't you?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, and I forgot to bring the letters of the Yost family. The children all sent letters, and they sent their Christmas money that they'd gotten for Christmas for the home of refuge, for the orphanage, for the children, and I forgot that this morning.
SPEAKER 04 :
They're over in Nebraska, aren't they?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, and thank you so much. I remember three of the children's names, Caitlin, Logan, and Coda, but I don't remember the other little boys, and they're so precious. We'll call them number four. Forgive me. No, no, no, not number four. Okay. And so we have a letter here from Shelby, and it's, Dear Darren and Barbara, how are you? I am fine. I'm writing you to thank you for the VeggieTales. I really like it. Thanks for your newsletter. Tell Barbara hi. I enjoy your program very much. I'm sending you $5. And Shelby, we're going to apply this $5 with the other, I think we got $46 from the Yost children. God bless you. We're going to give it to the Home of Refuge, and it's going to bless them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Where's Shelby from?
SPEAKER 03 :
Lyman.
SPEAKER 04 :
Lyman, Colorado.
SPEAKER 03 :
It's a wonderful little letter. And we just appreciate the letters from the children. That's wonderful. Praise God.
SPEAKER 04 :
We have a letter here that's really, I'm going to say it's a treasured letter because this lady is so gifted in explaining what's going on. But she said, may I ask for prayer help? I've never asked this before. It's difficult and I'm not even sure why. Okay. Oh, I got a phone call coming in. So I'm going to hold this letter because I want to treat this right. It's a great letter and it will strike the chord with so many of you that are, you know, in an employment change transition. And, you know, you may be looking at the wrong thing or why you're having problems. I think we can help this lady. Well, let's talk to Sean. Hello, Sean.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hello, Darren, Barbara, this is Sean Anselmo. I don't know if you remember my father.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my goodness, yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Steve Anselmo.
SPEAKER 04 :
I was talking about your dad a couple of days ago. As a matter of fact, a lady came to our meeting, and she said she talked to somebody on the phone who received a marvelous healing, and I said to Barb, that person talked to Anselmo.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, to Steve. We were talking about your dad just the other day, and I remember having dinner with you, and you were really young. How old are you, Sean?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I'm 31 now. Oh, my goodness.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my goodness.
SPEAKER 05 :
Tack that on.
SPEAKER 04 :
So how are you doing, Sean?
SPEAKER 05 :
I'm doing great. I just wanted to praise God for you. And welcome back to the airwaves. And it's great to hear your voice on the radio. It's only by chance that I even caught your program the other day. And I'm just praising God for your ministry. And I've entered the ministry myself.
SPEAKER 04 :
Praise God. Do you have a church?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, I just started a newsletter from our home, my family and I, and it's going to follow up with my dad's newsletter and his prison ministry.
SPEAKER 04 :
Good, good.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, we're looking forward to seeing what God's got in store for us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I'll tell you, your dad helped me out in Tulsa, Oklahoma one time, and I won't go into the whole story, but I'll tell you, he was there for me. And then he worked with me in Fort Collins for quite a while, and there's a wonderful anointing on your father and mother's lives.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's right. Amen. Praise God. I just want to thank you guys and encourage you. You're doing a great job, and I appreciate the words of God that he gives to you guys.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, thank you, sir. Thank you, Sean. I hope you'll take time to give our office a call and leave your address.
SPEAKER 05 :
I would certainly do that.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, here's the number, Sean. Well, I guess if you can hang on, I'll just have our engineer take it. How would that be?
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER 04 :
Sean, it's good to hear from you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Good to hear from you.
SPEAKER 04 :
You're married? You're married now?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, married and three children.
SPEAKER 04 :
What's your little wife's name?
SPEAKER 05 :
Patricia and Elmo.
SPEAKER 04 :
Patricia. Wonderful. Well, we just bless you, Sean.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, thank you.
SPEAKER 04 :
I know there's a wonderful anointing being passed down from your father, and that's good. Next time you see your dad, have him give us a call.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. Praise God.
SPEAKER 04 :
I will. God bless. God bless you. Okay. Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Calls from out of the past. Yes. Amen. That's just really.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I tell you, I watched Steve and he was a wonderful man for us on the prayer lines.
SPEAKER 03 :
He was a man of prayer. That's right. He was. He was a man of prayer.
SPEAKER 04 :
This letter goes on to say, I've never asked for prayer help before. I've never asked anyone. I don't know why. Maybe it's fear. Maybe it's pride. And maybe we think it shows weakness, but we haven't asked before. It goes on to say, my husband had been trying to break into a certain business, and I won't name that business, for a whole year. He had to leave another type of business, which is much different by the letter here. but it was driving him to great depression. He loves doing what he's doing now, but it's 100% commission, and he just can't seem to make it work. We're almost out of money, and he's become so depressed and despondent, I'm fearful we're going to lose everything. Is that what's going to happen to us? Pray that we will find suitable work soon. My husband has even looked back to his past job, and we've fasted and we've prayed, and we'll continue. And I guess I struggle with knowing what the Lord's will is here. If Jesus prayed about his father's will being done, shouldn't we also pray that way? Could it be that his will that we go through losing all that we have? Now, I'm going to stop right there. I don't believe it's God's will that you lose all that you have. But I do believe this, that God is trying to get down to a root cause. And I don't believe the depression came on this husband just because of this new work or because of a lack of sales income, commission income. And I believe God allows us to go through these things for us to face ourselves and say, well... It wasn't the old job. It's not the new job. It must be something wrong inside of me. And I went through a period of time like that when I had to face myself. And I thought it was the circumstances around me, my family, my work, my profession, my whatever. And I made somewhat of a massive change. And that's when I hit the wall and it was the best thing that ever happened to me because I had to face some things down inside of Darren and cry out for help. And some people prayed for me. And because of their prayer, that's the basis of this ministry and that's setting people free.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Showing them how to get set free.
SPEAKER 03 :
Life is hard on us, and so we start building walls and we start putting layer upon layer. And I feel like this precious lady is just crying out, and I feel so much for her. We weren't given very many... details and I wish she would have written a little bit more about her family if her husband is born again if they go to a spiritual church if they have had counseling because I believe there's a curse going on in his husband's life I believe that there has been depression in his life before and I believe that if he is a melancholy at all that means if he has mood swings And I'm very aware of that and familiar with that because my life has been my previous life was made up of much mood swings. If something didn't work, I'd get very depressed. And if something did work, I'd be flying high as a kite.
SPEAKER 04 :
But let me tell you, that's not just for a melancholic personality.
SPEAKER 03 :
I understand.
SPEAKER 04 :
I'm a choleric personality. I've had that same thing. And mine came from fear and from anger. When I get frustrated. then what happens a lot of times is the chemical go goofy inside your body, and then the result of that many times is a chemically induced depression.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, but you're not prone to giving up. And there are some personalities that are absolutely prone to giving up. They hide in a corner, they sit in a corner, and they say, well, this is it, I'm just going to face the consequences. And you get up, when you get depressed, you get up and you go in another direction. I mean, you begin to do something to take care of that. Well, there are...
SPEAKER 04 :
Let me tell you why, though, Barbara. I absolutely hate to be depressed. I hate to be depressed and I hate to be sick. And I'll fight that with everything that's in me.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's because you're not a melancholy.
SPEAKER 04 :
Because I know that it pays no dividends. That's right. And you get in that spiral. And that spiral accelerates, and you go down, down, down, down, down. It gets worse, worse, worse, worse. It's like a person said to me, I think it was this, I don't know, last two or three days. He said, you know, even, well, I know who it was. Even if it didn't work, I'd still want to be a Christian. I mean, this is better than what the alternative is. And not exactly what they said, but... They said, no, I know what she said. She said, giving up is worse than hanging in there because the alternatives for what's going on. And she was saying, our lives are really tough right now. She's talking about she and her husband and their business. Things are really tough right now, but it's not as bad as giving up.
SPEAKER 07 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, if you give up, I mean, that's just a horrible way to go. That's an option that I personally will not take.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I would say this lady who wrote this letter, I don't have your phone number. If you would call our office number, we would really like to get a hold of you. And our office number is area code 303-689-0499. And again, our office number is area code 303-689-0499. We would really like to talk with you because this is a very serious situation. And I believe that God and us and you have the answer. I truly do. There's wisdom and counsel in numbers.
SPEAKER 04 :
When you think about losing everything, there's obviously fear. There's frustration. There's going to be some anger. Oh, it piles up. You have to fight those at the root level, the spirit level. You have to command that spirit of fear to get out of your life, out of your household. The fear of losing everything. The fear of failure. The husband here is obviously facing a fear of failure, a fear of rejection, a fear of being labeled a loser, and I don't think he's a loser.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, no, I do not.
SPEAKER 04 :
I mean, I don't think that.
SPEAKER 03 :
I do not feel like he has found his blueprint in life. That's right. I truly... And so we would really like to talk to you and... You know, so many people do not have the right identity. Like you have said so many times and taught so many times, Darren, they are carrying a false passport in their billfold, and they do not even realize.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you know, in the high seas, the ship registers in a certain country. So if it's registered U.S., it's going to fly a U.S. flag. If it's Panama, it's going to fly that and whatever. Well, in the high seas, many times, you know, one of the big crimes on the high sea is to fly the wrong type of flag. And that's been done for hundreds of years. I mean, they've been doing that. But, you know, people also, and I had some wonderful people about 20, a little over 20 years ago, say to me, you're carrying false paperwork. You believed a lie. You believed what the devil has said about yourself. No wonder you're depressed. No wonder you're confused. No wonder you're going in circles. And you know those loving people sat me down. They talked to me for about an hour. Then they lovingly laid hands on me and they cast out a spirit of fear, a spirit of anger and some other things. They just plain said it has to go in the name of Jesus. Well, we have that power as Christians.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And sometimes we are so balled up with our problems and we're so weighed down. It's almost like. You see a picture of a kitten playing with a ball of string. Pretty soon that string's around the leg and around their tail and around their body, around their head, around their paws, and they're just a mess. And if something doesn't come along there, they're going to get in a bigger mess. They're going to be all balled up, as we say. There are some people, Barbara, that are all balled up with all the things that are going on. And then the work doesn't go well, and then the bills start potting up, and this thing starts spiraling into a real mess.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. And this precious lady, I'd like to say that your prayer and fasting are effective, but your husband who is the covering, if he is not in agreement with you, it's going to just stretch out into a longer and a longer period. dilemma here and you need to talk with your husband get counseling be in a situation where you and your husband I have everything out on the table really truly get gut level honest and sometimes that hurts and but be in agreement and I want to say Jesus will for us Darren is perfect it really is not to take everything away that's right and in the Lord's Prayer I would encourage you to say the Lord's Prayer thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God's will for you and your family is perfect in heaven, and his will for you on earth is the very best. It's not God that's taken it away. It may be the enemy that you have opened a door to allow him to come in to take it away.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you talked about the Lord prayer in Matthew six and you ought to read Matthew six because it talks about food and arraignment and shelter and all those things and how the birds don't worry about those things. And yet God provides. But the key is in Matthew 633 to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, meaning right standing before him. And all of these things previously listed will be added unto you. Now, let me let me talk about depression for just a minute. In our country, I don't know what the number is, but I'll bet you it's up in the billions of dollars a year spent with people trying to get rid of depression. If you try to take depression and treat it, you're missing the point because depression is a symptom of something deeper.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
We talked about some of those root causes being anger and fear and frustration. And, you know, sometimes when you get you want to run, you know, you get depressed. Maybe too many bills and the job isn't going right. Your career has come to an end and you're trying to change careers and locations and all this kind of stuff and you're not getting it figured out. And the bills keep piling up and the money, if you had any to start with, is quickly going out the door. Well, I'm telling you folks, unless you address the root cause, in other words, what caused the depression? Depression is not a root cause. It's a symptom of something deeper.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. Anger, jealousy, the frustration that we have at the very beginning that something isn't working out according to how we want it to work out. Sometimes frustration sets in, then jealousy because everybody else around us is doing so well and we're struggling.
SPEAKER 04 :
Or we think they're doing well.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. And then anger sets in. And then on top of the anger is unforgiveness. Unforgiveness comes in, Darren, and we get hateful. And we are unforgiving towards ourselves because we have messed up our life and our family is suffering. We have unforgiveness towards that person or that company that we're working for. And we have unforgiveness towards God. And Darren, some people say, how can you have unforgiveness against God because he didn't do anything? That's absolutely true. But sometimes we we make God unforgivable.
SPEAKER 04 :
the scapegoat and we say god you can change this god why aren't you changing this and we get angry with god and unforgiving well and we charge him wrongly we say you're the heavyweight here you're the reason i'm having all these problems but he's not no it's it's the enemy the devil now let us give you this triangle of forgiveness again all right number one let's say in the case of this gentleman here that's talked about in this letter this husband here probably he needs to forgive the old company he worked for because he got to where he couldn't stand it. So there must be some people there, some circumstances there that he needs to forgive. Some of you today have been listening to a lot of television. You're listening to Y2K. You're listening to the Senate hearings. You're on and on. You're saying, man, this thing's out of control. Well, you might need to forgive the president. You might need to forgive, you know, the people that are quote, unquote, in charge of the economy, you might need to forgive the Russian government for screwing up their economy or the Brazilians, which was on the air yesterday, and that's affecting us Americans here. What I'm getting at is whoever you resent out there, you need to forgive, number one, and number two, you need to release them totally. And you do that by saying, it's an act of my will, and God will help you do this. As an act of my will, I choose to forgive and release the president, the Congress, the Pentagon, whoever you're unhappy with, with the forgiveness of Jesus. Let that forgiveness of Jesus flow through your heart and through your mouth by an act of your will. Then number two, as you talked about a while ago, some of you say, you know, I am an absolute failure here. I'm just not a good person. I'm just unworthy. I'm just always messing up. I just didn't work hard enough. I didn't prepare well enough. Because of my failures, my family's in a mess.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you need to forgive yourself as an act of your will. You can say it like this. As an act of my will, I choose to forgive and release myself. With the forgiveness and release of Jesus Christ, you need to judge yourself innocent and stop putting yourself down. Number three, then you need to forgive and release God by an act of your will with forgiveness of Jesus. And we tell you, you learn to do that. That's such a wonderful thing that was given to me by those people that prayed for me.
SPEAKER 03 :
Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER 04 :
Praise God for that.
SPEAKER 03 :
And when we first do that sometimes, Darren, we do need a counselor who is giving us this prayer. Just a little while ago, we prayed with a man and he willingly forgave everyone that had hurt him. And Darren, as he lifted all that up and forgave and released and forgave and released, the very next day, an absolutely tremendous breakthrough came to him because he gave it up. He gave up all of that offense. And I'll tell you, that really hurts us when we are offended and we keep it inside and it becomes broiling and it's like a pressure cooker. We cannot handle that. And so that's why I'm saying if you, the one that we're talking about, you know who you are, if you would like to have prayer and have Darren pray for you, it's our office number. Get in touch with us at the office number if you can't call us here. And it's 689-0499, area code 303-689-0499.
SPEAKER 04 :
And now let me talk about this matter of this forgiveness thing. A lot of us look for a feeling. Well, I don't feel like forgiving them or I don't feel like forgiving myself or I'm not in the mood. Let me tell you, if you will do what we just suggested, do it mechanically, the feelings will come. But you've got to take care of the legal issues first and the vital issues, these conditions of the heart. You need to forgive as an act of your will. Got that? As an act of your will. I give this illustration all the time. We have light on here in the studio because I reached over the wall and by an act of my will, I mechanically turned the switch on. I flipped the switch up. Well, the will works the same way. You need to mechanically set your will and you set it with your mouth. And you say, when you say as an act of my will, I choose to forgive. I choose to release as an act of my will. I'm making a decision here. I want to change. I'm tired of going around in this circle of depression.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And you can, you are responsible for your feelings. You're responsible for your life.
SPEAKER 03 :
I talk about Cain and Abel in Genesis 4 and how Abel brought a gift of his favorite lamb for an offering and God absolutely was delighted with that offering. And after a while, Cain came and brought some of his harvest, some of the crops that he had raised. And God was not pleased with that because Cain had waited and Cain had not brought his first fruits. He had not brought his best to the Lord. He brought probably blemished things. God was not delighted with Cain's offering, and Cain became jealous of his brother, and he became very angry, and he became depressed. It says in the fifth verse of the fourth chapter of Genesis, And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why are you depressed? Or why has your countenance fallen? And if you do well, this is God's message to you today. If you do well, will not your depression be lifted? Will not your countenance be lifted up? If you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door and its desire is for you, but you can master it. The very next thing that Cain did, Darren, he went out to Abel. He didn't pray. He didn't seek God. God said, Cain, you can master this thing. You can handle it. You are in control and you can come and bring me a great offering and I will be pleased with you as I am with your brother Abel. What did Cain do? He did the very opposite. He went out to his brother Abel and he killed him. He murdered him. He didn't have that control of the spirit. And we're saying you can either go to God, run to God, who is the loving God, or you can run away from God. And I'll tell you, if you run away from God, only evil consequences are there to face you. I mean, there's nothing good that's going to happen to you if you run away from God. God is your source. God is your creator, and he's very loving.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, there's a scripture going along with that in Hebrews 12, 15. It says, See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. Sometimes we get resentful that we're in these situations. God, this is just too hard for me. Why are you letting this happen to me? Why are you dumping on me? Why are you shortchanging me? Why are you blessing everybody else? Look at that guy over there. He doesn't even go to church. It just seems like he's blessed. Sometimes it does. That's been a complaint of the righteous all through scripture. If you read the book of Job, you'll say, how come they're so blessed? And they don't even worship you, Father. Well, you have to make a decision that you're not going to get into a root of bitterness because of resentment.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And you have to take that thing on and say, this monster is going to get me if I don't make a decision and take some action. That's why we put out the scripture cards called the Power Pack. If you don't have those, they're $5. They come out in a cassette case, and that'll tell you that it'll fit right in your pocket or in your purse or on the visor of your car. But you need to speak the word of God.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, we've gotten so many great letters, Darren, with people saying, hey, I carry my Power Pack with me, and it has changed my life in the last six months. Well... Praise the Lord. It's not the power pack. It's the word of God in that power pack. And it's you. It's you putting action to those words. You are part of that solution. That's what's so amazing. You read the word and your words become powerful in the midst of diversity, in the midst of adversity, in the midst of tribulation.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, this new Rotherham translation I was given for Christmas. Here's what it says. And I'll quote, first of all, the new American standard.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it's not new Rotherham. Well, it's an old Rotherham. It really is old.
SPEAKER 04 :
But it's so accurate. And here's what it says. Cast not away your freedom of speech for it has a great reward. Now, why is that so special? And we were talking about this earlier this morning at our house and we were saying, you know, one thing television has done to us is it keeps us from reacting. We sit there and watch and we're watchers and we're not participators.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
We're spectators. If you're going to get involved here with God's word, you have to become a speaker of the word. Cast not away your privilege of speech. You need to know that that's a privilege of speech. or the freedom of speech i should say cast out away your freedom of speech for it has great recompense or it has great reward you need to be speaking the word of god and let me tell you there's nobody in our listening audience barbara that would fail if they speak the word of the lord nobody and you need to start speaking the right things and stop stirring around see i know how it works with many people that are depressed you're either going in the circle in your mind in your heart running all the scenarios that's right all the regrets all the remorse all the flashbacks you're replaying all of the failures all of the missed opportunities let me tell you that is a dead issue you need to have a funeral for that thing now i used to take people and i'd say i want you to write this all down on piece paper maybe they write down all their sins all their failures all their worries and i say right now we're going to burn that thing And we'd put a match to it and we'd burn it up right there in front of us. Burn the whole piece of paper.
SPEAKER 03 :
And don't mention it again. Don't mention it.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is your burial ceremony. You're going to get rid of this thing. Whatever you have to do, but you need to do something. You've got to make a move in the right direction, in a positive direction. Or it may be that you want to tear it up and then flush it down the toilet. I've had people do that also. Bury that thing. But you have to make a decision to stop talking about it and stop doing the loop. Or it's going to get worse and worse and worse. You need to get over to the Word of God. In fact, I would recommend this. Take Psalm 91 and all through Psalm 91, revive me, O Lord, according to your Word. Read that out loud. Read it again. Read it a third time. You can't read scripture without that word of God becoming alive to you and changing your life and your circumstances, changing your attitude about life. And some of you just have a dirty windshield. Let me say that again. Some of you are just looking through a dirty windshield. You need to clean that up with the word of God so that you can see your life accurately and begin to hear the word of God and his counsel for you. He did not send Jesus Christ to die on the cross so you could fail.
SPEAKER 07 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
He wants you to win. Another scripture I'd advise you to get and memorize is Joshua 1.8. It says if you meditate the word, in other words, if you speak and mumble the word day and night, you will be prosperous and successful. And that solves those things.
SPEAKER 03 :
How can you do that, Darren? You can't speak the word day and night.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yes, you can.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, we have a spirit. And most of us, the spirit's the last one. We have the physical and the soul, and then the spirit comes in last, very last, third place in most of our lives. Well, the spirit should be in control. It should be number one. Our spirit should be fed all the time with the word of God and with good things and not evil and wicked things. We should have spirit, soul, and then body should be the third. But we got it all turned around. Well, in our spirit, we can meditate without even speaking. Darren, I know people at work that meditate during their work and they don't even talk, but they meditate continually in their spirit day and night.
SPEAKER 1 :
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. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
In today's soul-enriching episode, Barbara and Kimberly offer profound insights on encountering and overcoming life's trials with unwavering faith. With heartwarming anecdotes and biblical teachings, they emphasize the necessity of scripture in forging a resilient relationship with God. Celebrate the joy of reconnecting with family, understanding divine purpose, and choosing praise amidst adversity. This episode is a beacon for anyone yearning to discover the sustenance that faith offers in times of uncertainty.
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 Power 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 04 :
Welcome to Called Up Freedom. I'm so glad you joined me today. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of Holy Spirit. Oh, hope is such a marvelous thing to have. You're hoping for God's perfect will in your life. It's as the Lord's Prayer says, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. You're praising God. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He wants you to enjoy that abundant life that Jesus promised to you. Oh, and may you be filled with all joy and peace so that you may overflow with hope by the power of Holy Spirit. See, God doesn't use wimps in his plan to conquer. No, he doesn't. And we're growing up. We're maturing. We're no longer on that baby bottle. And I want some of you who are still in that salvation mode. Come on. Come on with me. Read the word. Begin to get into the word and begin to be curious about the word. Examine the word and get knowledge in your heart and your soul from the word. That's the most important thing in the world for you is to learn the word of God so you can love him as Jesus loves him. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, you are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. And if you'd like to listen to previous programs, I was listening to the program for tomorrow with Darren and me, and we're celebrating his birthday. I don't know what year it is. I'll have to look that up. But it is so much fun to talk about the year that he was born and celebrating the birthday with him. And he got great calls. And I think you'll really know. I believe you'll really enjoy the show tomorrow. And you go to Freedom Street dot org. Click on radio shows and you can listen. Also, you can hit that donate button if you're enjoying the the excitement and the fervor we have for Jesus Christ and the scripture that we're giving you every day. I want you to realize, friend, that's what we live on. We don't live on just the food that we put into our physical bodies. Man shall not live by bread alone. but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And that's his word. That's his words, the word that many of you just put on a table for the week and then take it on Sunday to show yourself that you're holy. That's something we open every day of the week and read and underline and learn from. So I challenge you. I encourage you to get into the word of God today. If you need a Bible guide, you can call me after this program. at 1-877-917-7256 and ask for a Bible guide, and I will be happy to send you one to get into the Word of God for yourself. Praise the Lord. Well, Kimberly has chosen to join us again today, and I'm so glad because she had such a great teaching yesterday, and we're just going to continue that. And Kimberly, welcome. Thank you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you. Wow, Mom, you just came out the gate shooting from the hip. Thank you. Just let's get in there and tell people what we're made for. Yes, we're made for the word of God. And we did. We looked at that yesterday, how Jesus told the enemy as he was being tempted that man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
SPEAKER 04 :
And who would... Now, what would the devil... tempt Jesus with and each one of us with, first of all, in those temptations found in Luke 4 and also in Matthew 4. Food. Yeah, food. Food.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, food. Yes, especially at the beginning of the year when you've made your New Year's resolutions. And then the temptations start coming, right?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, they do. Before we get into it, I would really like you to tell the audience about meeting some of your father's relatives and how it came about. Because I know that you have known Pam for a while now. No, I really haven't.
SPEAKER 05 :
I just met her about three weeks ago for the first time. We've texted with each other when she first moved here to Broken Arrow. It's already been two years ago. I just both of us just started doing life and and didn't remember to get back with each other but we met for the very first time just within this past month and it's it's amazing to me she's in her 70s and the other two her her sister and then her first cousin they all moved here from California And that's where dad's family is all from. They all settled out there. And daddy died 35 years ago. And we really have not stayed in touch with that side of the family at all. So 35 years of... And even before he passed away, We didn't have very much interaction with them. I don't ever remember meeting these people ever in my lifetime. But they knew that I was here.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, how did they know?
SPEAKER 05 :
How did Pam text you a year ago? One of Dad's sister's. So, one of dad's sisters, one of my aunts, let them know, oh, you're moving to Broken Arrow.
SPEAKER 04 :
That's where Kimberly lives. I don't know how they knew, but I'm glad that they have kept track of where you were living. Oh, that's wonderful. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
So I got to actually meet up with them, let's see, two of them last week. And one of them just four months ago, she lost her eyesight completely. Oh. And it wasn't even something gradual at all. It was very sudden. And she's having a hard time adjusting. So she's in an assisted living place now. And that assisted living place has two pianos. And so I went and I played the piano and sang with them. And it was the most beautiful thing to have harmonies singing together. It was as if we had been singing together all our lives.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yes. It's really beautiful. Oh, that is wonderful. I am so happy. I know that the first few weeks when your dad and I were living in California before we flew and moved to Colorado, that I had probably met Pam because his whole family had gathered together for an afternoon of playing the organ and the piano and singing and having a great time. And I remember Darlene from a long time ago. But, yeah, that's been 50, 60 years. So, wow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. So the story that we're telling here really does apply to all of you listening because there are things that happen in life. For instance, Joseph. Joseph, he left his family. Well, he didn't leave Joseph. He was sold by his brothers into Egypt and he had to learn a whole new way of doing life. And that way might have been pretty challenging for someone, the way he was raised and his family and the promises of God that were given to his father, his grandfather, his great grandfather. And to know that you've got these promises from the Lord, and now you are in a completely different land. And this land does not acknowledge the same God.
SPEAKER 04 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 05 :
That would be really, very challenging, really tough. And we can all find ourselves in places in our life where it just feels very challenging, unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and really tough. what we were talking about yesterday how our Egypt, it could be the old way we grew up with our family. I look at Egypt as the thing that was left behind. Joseph left a family behind that was, I know it was a blessed family and God started all 12 tribes out of this family. The 12 tribes of Israel came from this family, but they were messed up. Let me just say that.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, they were.
SPEAKER 05 :
They did not know about harmony and unity. They did not get along very well. And to sell your brother out, to sell him into slavery, that's messed up.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, there was favoritism from the father who favored Joseph, and he made him a coat of wonderful colors. He didn't do that for the rest of the brothers. He did that for Joseph.
SPEAKER 05 :
And even besides that, some of those brothers, like one of them slept with his dad's maid, and then another couple of them, they were so angry that they went and slaughtered a whole city. I mean, there were some problems. So Joseph was leaving those problems behind, but it was also his familiar family. And whatever we get familiar with in life, when we have to leave it behind, that can be really tough. And we start looking back when we've left something, left a job, left a family, left left an area where you've lived for a long time, whatever it is that you've left behind, it can be so uncomfortable that you start looking back and thinking, well, maybe I should go back. And we all have that tendency to do that. What we need to remember is that our journey in this wilderness that feels uncomfortable is such a blessed journey. And Jesus himself showed us how to do this journey. In Hebrews 5, 8, we're told that Jesus learned obedience through suffering. And I think of wilderness as being a place where we have some suffering. It's uncomfortable, and that can feel like you're suffering. And there can be other ways to suffer too. But Jesus was made perfect through the suffering, and he was giving us that example. He became the source of eternal salvation by walking through that wilderness, going through that wilderness, and at every turn, defeating all of the temptations of the flesh. And just like we were talking about, the first one was food. He was hungry. And that temptation toward the hunger, there it was right in front of him. And he defeated that temptation by saying, no, no, I don't just live on food. I'm not going to be scared. I'm not going to have fear enter in and tell me that I'm going to starve to death. Because I won't starve to death. If my father wants me here, I will remain right here, not living on bread alone, but by living on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the father.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Praise God. He showed us how not to be in fear of these things that are coming at us and that feel uncomfortable and feel like suffering. Walking through the wilderness is just never comfortable. And trying to leave our old lifestyles, our old family, our old career, our old life behind, it is hard to break away from what was normal routine. Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
At whatever normal is. That's right. If Joseph hadn't have been jerked out of that familiar thing, would he have ever left on his own? No, uh-uh. Probably not. He was jerked out of it. That's right. The Lord just jerked him out of it. And it seems really cruel what happened to him. But that was for God's ultimate good. God had this whole thing planned.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's right. So when we look at our situations and we don't know what lies ahead of us, that can be scary to us. And that's when we really need to know how good our Heavenly Father is. And we're going to find that out by being in His Word. Because our life and our joy and our true peace, it's not fragile joy. It's not fragile peace that can just break apart at one bit of news that comes your way. This is a really solid joy and a solid peace that's so much different than the world's happiness and the world's kind of peace and calm.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
This is different. It is so tangibly big, powerful in our lives. And we're not going to know it if we don't get into the word of God. Yesterday we were reading from Deuteronomy 8. And It's it's I love this whole passage here. It's talking about how the people of Israel were led out into the wilderness and the Lord humbled them and allowed them to hunger. And I like how in verse three, it says he fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know. None of them recognized the way they were going to be sustained. I love that because they repeat it. Deuteronomy 8, if you go down to verse 15, they say it again. Moses says it again as he's writing, or whoever wrote this out. He says, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, but who brought you forth water out of the flinty rock. and who, here it is, fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know. And here's the point. We don't want to miss this point. Just because you don't know You don't know what it is or how it happens. Just because you can't see how your circumstances are good. Don't let that stop you from praising the one who does know. He has a plan for everything. And he proves himself time and time again, over and over, that he is Redeemer. And he is in the restoration business. And he is constantly at work for us.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
And we don't want to forget that, that he is constantly at work for good for us to restore what just broke and to redeem what was just lost. That is who he is. His love is so great. And in Deuteronomy 8, it goes on to say that he might humble you. Now, the humbling is to recognize that our plan is not the best one. His is. Yes. And even when our plans shatter and our circumstances look totally lost, He has a great plan. to fix it, to redeem it. And His way of fixing it is better than ours. So this is how we are humbled. And we humble ourselves and say, not my will, but Yours be done, O Lord. And that is hard. You know, yesterday you mentioned my friend who had to release her husband last week to heaven's great cloud of witnesses. And her anger, it was threatening to take over. When you have a friend whose emotions are getting the best of them, that's a sure sign that they are drowning. That's a sure sign that they have been bit by a fiery serpent in the wilderness and it is painful. It stings. And a good friend will throw out a lifesaver to that one who is suffering. And a good friend can be understanding of the anger. But I just simply planted a seed with her. I just told her, don't give in to the temptation to feed that anger and keep feeding it and keep feeding it. Don't give in to that. I understand where you are, but your faith needs food right now. And if you're listening and you're in a hard circumstance, know that your faith needs food. And the way that we build up faith is to praise God in all circumstances. We praise him when we're doubting. We praise him when we're sure. We praise him in the valleys and on the mountaintops. And there's this wonderful song by Elevation, and it's featuring Brandon Lake. It's called Praise. Let's just listen to that right now.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let's go. of how we And I'll praise when I don't. I'll praise cause I know you're still in control. Cause my praise is a weapon. It's worth the sound. Oh, my praise is the shout that brings Jericho down. As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord, oh, my soul. Praise God. Praise God. Come on, come on!
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, such a good song. I had to stand up. I was standing up just pumping my fist to the air, you know, and it's not because I have the best circumstances in life right now. There are some sad things going on around me and there's some really broken things in my life. but I know my Redeemer lives.
SPEAKER 02 :
I know my Redeemer lives.
SPEAKER 05 :
I know how good he is. And I just want to bring up Numbers 21. And I didn't talk with you about this, Mom, but in Numbers 21, the Israelites defeated the Canaanites. They're in the wilderness. They are not trained for war. And God blessed them to go to war with some Canaanites. and defeat them, they utterly destroyed the cities and they named the place Horma. And Horma means utter holy destruction. They recognized it was a miracle. It was a holy destruction. And then the Israelites set out to go around the land of Edom and the people became impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against God and Moses. He said, why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water. And we loathe this miserable food. Oh, that brings you can hear the emotion in my voice. It brings me to tears every time I read that we loathe this miserable food. Jesus is the bread of heaven. He is the bread that has come down from heaven. And to say, I loathe what you are providing for me, Jesus. Ouch. And I think it really brings tears to my eyes because I realized those times in my life, those seasons where I would rather have my own idea of food and provision for this life rather than what God has gifted me with and what he paid for with his very own life. I recognize that I'd rather have Egypt's food and provision than to be okay with the unknown. See, the manna is the unknown. And the complaining and the grumbling went against the blueprints of the lives of those people. We were made to praise at all times. Praise. We were made to worship. And we were made to see God's goodness and have gratitude for all the ways that he restores and redeems all the brokenness. Yet, when we complain... that's when things break down even more because now we're functioning outside of our parameters and there are natural consequences that cause more brokenness so in this case with these people complaining it opened the door and attracted fiery serpents and many people died from those snake bites but look at god's gracious and merciful response He guides Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a standard. He was setting a standard. He was making a prophetic promise to send his only son and to lift him up on a cross that all who look to him would be saved. So complaining and grumbling, they go against our God-designed blueprints. But we know how to get back on track and be blessed. It's to look to Jesus, the one who gave his life for us to have salvation, to be healed, to live in joy, to live in peace. I don't know if I've even taken a breath today.
SPEAKER 02 :
But I'm pretty excited about that. So thank you for letting me share this excitement with you today.
SPEAKER 04 :
It's been wonderful. It's been wonderful. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Lord lifts up a standard against him. And that's Isaiah 59, 19. We've got to. You're absolutely right, Kimberly. Be praising God in all things for this is God's vision for us to praise him. And boy, when he lives in our praises, he can do anything through us. God bless you, Kimberly. Oh, God bless you. It's been wonderful. Remember, tomorrow we're going to celebrate Darren's birthday on the Friday show. God bless you and keep you and take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
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. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
This enlightening episode of Call to Freedom takes listeners on a journey through the emotional struggles connected to depression from a spiritual perspective. Hosts Barbara Carmack and her guests delve into the letters from listeners, responding to their stories with empathy and wisdom rooted in spiritual teachings. The narrative intensifies with discussions about the emotional and spiritual turmoil that comes with life changes and job transitions. The conversation serves as a reminder of the power of forgiveness and how relinquishing past grievances can lead to spiritual freedom. Through personal anecdotes, the hosts demonstrate the power of community in overcoming personal battles. Listeners are invited to join the Call to Freedom community, where spiritual nourishment and guidance await. This compelling episode reminds all that through faith, prayer, and the spoken word, individual and collective healing is possible.
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 Power 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 :
After thanking children who are sending in offerings to give to the orphans with Home of Refuge, I read a letter written by a wife who is concerned because her husband is depressed about his job. But Darren brings up the fact that depression is only a symptom of a deeper spiritual root. We bring up the areas of fear and pride and unforgiveness which may indicate depression. that maybe things aren't working out according to your plans, and you're allowing anger, fear, or unforgiveness to take over. As we discuss unforgiveness, Darren gives a solution to bring freedom into your heart and life. God's will is to bless you, but it's important that you get rid of the junk that's clogging up the communication lines between you and your Heavenly Father. Now let's join the program.
SPEAKER 04 :
You have a wonderful letter there in your hand, don't you?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, and I forgot to bring the letters of the Yost family. The children all sent letters, and they sent their Christmas money that they'd gotten for Christmas for the home of refuge, for the orphanage, for the children, and I forgot that this morning.
SPEAKER 04 :
They're over in Nebraska, aren't they?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, and thank you so much. I remember three of the children's names, Caitlin, Logan, and Coda, but I don't remember the other little boys, and they're so precious. We'll call them number four. Forgive me. No, no, no, not number four. Okay. And so we have a letter here from Shelby, and it's, Dear Darren and Barbara, how are you? I am fine. I'm writing you to thank you for the VeggieTales. I really like it. Thanks for your newsletter. Tell Barbara hi. I enjoy your program very much. I'm sending you $5. And Shelby, we're going to apply this $5 with the other, I think we got $46 from the Yost children. God bless you. We're going to give it to the Home of Refuge, and it's going to bless them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Where's Shelby from?
SPEAKER 03 :
Lyman.
SPEAKER 04 :
Lyman, Colorado.
SPEAKER 03 :
It's a wonderful little letter. And we just appreciate the letters from the children. That's wonderful. Praise God.
SPEAKER 04 :
We have a letter here that's really, I'm going to say it's a treasured letter because this lady is so gifted in explaining what's going on. But she said, may I ask for prayer help? I've never asked this before. It's difficult and I'm not even sure why. Okay. Oh, I got a phone call coming in. So I'm going to hold this letter because I want to treat this right. It's a great letter and it will strike the chord with so many of you that are, you know, in an employment change transition. And, you know, you may be looking at the wrong thing or why you're having problems. I think we can help this lady. Well, let's talk to Sean. Hello, Sean.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hello, Darren, Barbara, this is Sean Anselmo. I don't know if you remember my father.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my goodness, yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Steve Anselmo.
SPEAKER 04 :
I was talking about your dad a couple of days ago. As a matter of fact, a lady came to our meeting, and she said she talked to somebody on the phone who received a marvelous healing, and I said to Barb, that person talked to Anselmo.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, to Steve. We were talking about your dad just the other day, and I remember having dinner with you, and you were really young. How old are you, Sean?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I'm 31 now. Oh, my goodness.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my goodness.
SPEAKER 05 :
Tack that on.
SPEAKER 04 :
So how are you doing, Sean?
SPEAKER 05 :
I'm doing great. I just wanted to praise God for you. And welcome back to the airwaves. And it's great to hear your voice on the radio. It's only by chance that I even caught your program the other day. And I'm just praising God for your ministry. And I've entered the ministry myself.
SPEAKER 04 :
Praise God. Do you have a church?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, I just started a newsletter from our home, my family and I, and it's going to follow up with my dad's newsletter and his prison ministry.
SPEAKER 04 :
Good, good.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, we're looking forward to seeing what God's got in store for us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I'll tell you, your dad helped me out in Tulsa, Oklahoma one time, and I won't go into the whole story, but I'll tell you, he was there for me. And then he worked with me in Fort Collins for quite a while, and there's a wonderful anointing on your father and mother's lives.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's right. Amen. Praise God. I just want to thank you guys and encourage you. You're doing a great job, and I appreciate the words of God that he gives to you guys.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, thank you, sir. Thank you, Sean. I hope you'll take time to give our office a call and leave your address.
SPEAKER 05 :
I would certainly do that.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, here's the number, Sean. Well, I guess if you can hang on, I'll just have our engineer take it. How would that be?
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER 04 :
Sean, it's good to hear from you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Good to hear from you.
SPEAKER 04 :
You're married? You're married now?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, married and three children.
SPEAKER 04 :
What's your little wife's name?
SPEAKER 05 :
Patricia and Elmo.
SPEAKER 04 :
Patricia. Wonderful. Well, we just bless you, Sean.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, thank you.
SPEAKER 04 :
I know there's a wonderful anointing being passed down from your father, and that's good. Next time you see your dad, have him give us a call.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. Praise God.
SPEAKER 04 :
I will. God bless. God bless you. Okay. Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Calls from out of the past. Yes. Amen. That's just really.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I tell you, I watched Steve and he was a wonderful man for us on the prayer lines.
SPEAKER 03 :
He was a man of prayer. That's right. He was. He was a man of prayer.
SPEAKER 04 :
This letter goes on to say, I've never asked for prayer help before. I've never asked anyone. I don't know why. Maybe it's fear. Maybe it's pride. And maybe we think it shows weakness, but we haven't asked before. It goes on to say, my husband had been trying to break into a certain business, and I won't name that business, for a whole year. He had to leave another type of business, which is much different by the letter here. but it was driving him to great depression. He loves doing what he's doing now, but it's 100% commission, and he just can't seem to make it work. We're almost out of money, and he's become so depressed and despondent, I'm fearful we're going to lose everything. Is that what's going to happen to us? Pray that we will find suitable work soon. My husband has even looked back to his past job, and we've fasted and we've prayed, and we'll continue. And I guess I struggle with knowing what the Lord's will is here. If Jesus prayed about his father's will being done, shouldn't we also pray that way? Could it be that his will that we go through losing all that we have? Now, I'm going to stop right there. I don't believe it's God's will that you lose all that you have. But I do believe this, that God is trying to get down to a root cause. And I don't believe the depression came on this husband just because of this new work or because of a lack of sales income, commission income. And I believe God allows us to go through these things for us to face ourselves and say, well... It wasn't the old job. It's not the new job. It must be something wrong inside of me. And I went through a period of time like that when I had to face myself. And I thought it was the circumstances around me, my family, my work, my profession, my whatever. And I made somewhat of a massive change. And that's when I hit the wall and it was the best thing that ever happened to me because I had to face some things down inside of Darren and cry out for help. And some people prayed for me. And because of their prayer, that's the basis of this ministry and that's setting people free.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Showing them how to get set free.
SPEAKER 03 :
Life is hard on us, and so we start building walls and we start putting layer upon layer. And I feel like this precious lady is just crying out, and I feel so much for her. We weren't given very many... details and I wish she would have written a little bit more about her family if her husband is born again if they go to a spiritual church if they have had counseling because I believe there's a curse going on in his husband's life I believe that there has been depression in his life before and I believe that if he is a melancholy at all that means if he has mood swings And I'm very aware of that and familiar with that because my life has been my previous life was made up of much mood swings. If something didn't work, I'd get very depressed. And if something did work, I'd be flying high as a kite.
SPEAKER 04 :
But let me tell you, that's not just for a melancholic personality.
SPEAKER 03 :
I understand.
SPEAKER 04 :
I'm a choleric personality. I've had that same thing. And mine came from fear and from anger. When I get frustrated. then what happens a lot of times is the chemical go goofy inside your body, and then the result of that many times is a chemically induced depression.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, but you're not prone to giving up. And there are some personalities that are absolutely prone to giving up. They hide in a corner, they sit in a corner, and they say, well, this is it, I'm just going to face the consequences. And you get up, when you get depressed, you get up and you go in another direction. I mean, you begin to do something to take care of that. Well, there are...
SPEAKER 04 :
Let me tell you why, though, Barbara. I absolutely hate to be depressed. I hate to be depressed and I hate to be sick. And I'll fight that with everything that's in me.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's because you're not a melancholy.
SPEAKER 04 :
Because I know that it pays no dividends. That's right. And you get in that spiral. And that spiral accelerates, and you go down, down, down, down, down. It gets worse, worse, worse, worse. It's like a person said to me, I think it was this, I don't know, last two or three days. He said, you know, even, well, I know who it was. Even if it didn't work, I'd still want to be a Christian. I mean, this is better than what the alternative is. And not exactly what they said, but... They said, no, I know what she said. She said, giving up is worse than hanging in there because the alternatives for what's going on. And she was saying, our lives are really tough right now. She's talking about she and her husband and their business. Things are really tough right now, but it's not as bad as giving up.
SPEAKER 07 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, if you give up, I mean, that's just a horrible way to go. That's an option that I personally will not take.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I would say this lady who wrote this letter, I don't have your phone number. If you would call our office number, we would really like to get a hold of you. And our office number is area code 303-689-0499. And again, our office number is area code 303-689-0499. We would really like to talk with you because this is a very serious situation. And I believe that God and us and you have the answer. I truly do. There's wisdom and counsel in numbers.
SPEAKER 04 :
When you think about losing everything, there's obviously fear. There's frustration. There's going to be some anger. Oh, it piles up. You have to fight those at the root level, the spirit level. You have to command that spirit of fear to get out of your life, out of your household. The fear of losing everything. The fear of failure. The husband here is obviously facing a fear of failure, a fear of rejection, a fear of being labeled a loser, and I don't think he's a loser.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, no, I do not.
SPEAKER 04 :
I mean, I don't think that.
SPEAKER 03 :
I do not feel like he has found his blueprint in life. That's right. I truly... And so we would really like to talk to you and... You know, so many people do not have the right identity. Like you have said so many times and taught so many times, Darren, they are carrying a false passport in their billfold, and they do not even realize.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you know, in the high seas, the ship registers in a certain country. So if it's registered U.S., it's going to fly a U.S. flag. If it's Panama, it's going to fly that and whatever. Well, in the high seas, many times, you know, one of the big crimes on the high sea is to fly the wrong type of flag. And that's been done for hundreds of years. I mean, they've been doing that. But, you know, people also, and I had some wonderful people about 20, a little over 20 years ago, say to me, you're carrying false paperwork. You believed a lie. You believed what the devil has said about yourself. No wonder you're depressed. No wonder you're confused. No wonder you're going in circles. And you know those loving people sat me down. They talked to me for about an hour. Then they lovingly laid hands on me and they cast out a spirit of fear, a spirit of anger and some other things. They just plain said it has to go in the name of Jesus. Well, we have that power as Christians.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And sometimes we are so balled up with our problems and we're so weighed down. It's almost like. You see a picture of a kitten playing with a ball of string. Pretty soon that string's around the leg and around their tail and around their body, around their head, around their paws, and they're just a mess. And if something doesn't come along there, they're going to get in a bigger mess. They're going to be all balled up, as we say. There are some people, Barbara, that are all balled up with all the things that are going on. And then the work doesn't go well, and then the bills start potting up, and this thing starts spiraling into a real mess.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. And this precious lady, I'd like to say that your prayer and fasting are effective, but your husband who is the covering, if he is not in agreement with you, it's going to just stretch out into a longer and a longer period. dilemma here and you need to talk with your husband get counseling be in a situation where you and your husband I have everything out on the table really truly get gut level honest and sometimes that hurts and but be in agreement and I want to say Jesus will for us Darren is perfect it really is not to take everything away that's right and in the Lord's Prayer I would encourage you to say the Lord's Prayer thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God's will for you and your family is perfect in heaven, and his will for you on earth is the very best. It's not God that's taken it away. It may be the enemy that you have opened a door to allow him to come in to take it away.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you talked about the Lord prayer in Matthew six and you ought to read Matthew six because it talks about food and arraignment and shelter and all those things and how the birds don't worry about those things. And yet God provides. But the key is in Matthew 633 to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, meaning right standing before him. And all of these things previously listed will be added unto you. Now, let me let me talk about depression for just a minute. In our country, I don't know what the number is, but I'll bet you it's up in the billions of dollars a year spent with people trying to get rid of depression. If you try to take depression and treat it, you're missing the point because depression is a symptom of something deeper.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
We talked about some of those root causes being anger and fear and frustration. And, you know, sometimes when you get you want to run, you know, you get depressed. Maybe too many bills and the job isn't going right. Your career has come to an end and you're trying to change careers and locations and all this kind of stuff and you're not getting it figured out. And the bills keep piling up and the money, if you had any to start with, is quickly going out the door. Well, I'm telling you folks, unless you address the root cause, in other words, what caused the depression? Depression is not a root cause. It's a symptom of something deeper.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. Anger, jealousy, the frustration that we have at the very beginning that something isn't working out according to how we want it to work out. Sometimes frustration sets in, then jealousy because everybody else around us is doing so well and we're struggling.
SPEAKER 04 :
Or we think they're doing well.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. And then anger sets in. And then on top of the anger is unforgiveness. Unforgiveness comes in, Darren, and we get hateful. And we are unforgiving towards ourselves because we have messed up our life and our family is suffering. We have unforgiveness towards that person or that company that we're working for. And we have unforgiveness towards God. And Darren, some people say, how can you have unforgiveness against God because he didn't do anything? That's absolutely true. But sometimes we we make God unforgivable.
SPEAKER 04 :
the scapegoat and we say god you can change this god why aren't you changing this and we get angry with god and unforgiving well and we charge him wrongly we say you're the heavyweight here you're the reason i'm having all these problems but he's not no it's it's the enemy the devil now let us give you this triangle of forgiveness again all right number one let's say in the case of this gentleman here that's talked about in this letter this husband here probably he needs to forgive the old company he worked for because he got to where he couldn't stand it. So there must be some people there, some circumstances there that he needs to forgive. Some of you today have been listening to a lot of television. You're listening to Y2K. You're listening to the Senate hearings. You're on and on. You're saying, man, this thing's out of control. Well, you might need to forgive the president. You might need to forgive, you know, the people that are quote, unquote, in charge of the economy, you might need to forgive the Russian government for screwing up their economy or the Brazilians, which was on the air yesterday, and that's affecting us Americans here. What I'm getting at is whoever you resent out there, you need to forgive, number one, and number two, you need to release them totally. And you do that by saying, it's an act of my will, and God will help you do this. As an act of my will, I choose to forgive and release the president, the Congress, the Pentagon, whoever you're unhappy with, with the forgiveness of Jesus. Let that forgiveness of Jesus flow through your heart and through your mouth by an act of your will. Then number two, as you talked about a while ago, some of you say, you know, I am an absolute failure here. I'm just not a good person. I'm just unworthy. I'm just always messing up. I just didn't work hard enough. I didn't prepare well enough. Because of my failures, my family's in a mess.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you need to forgive yourself as an act of your will. You can say it like this. As an act of my will, I choose to forgive and release myself. With the forgiveness and release of Jesus Christ, you need to judge yourself innocent and stop putting yourself down. Number three, then you need to forgive and release God by an act of your will with forgiveness of Jesus. And we tell you, you learn to do that. That's such a wonderful thing that was given to me by those people that prayed for me.
SPEAKER 03 :
Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER 04 :
Praise God for that.
SPEAKER 03 :
And when we first do that sometimes, Darren, we do need a counselor who is giving us this prayer. Just a little while ago, we prayed with a man and he willingly forgave everyone that had hurt him. And Darren, as he lifted all that up and forgave and released and forgave and released, the very next day, an absolutely tremendous breakthrough came to him because he gave it up. He gave up all of that offense. And I'll tell you, that really hurts us when we are offended and we keep it inside and it becomes broiling and it's like a pressure cooker. We cannot handle that. And so that's why I'm saying if you, the one that we're talking about, you know who you are, if you would like to have prayer and have Darren pray for you, it's our office number. Get in touch with us at the office number if you can't call us here. And it's 689-0499, area code 303-689-0499.
SPEAKER 04 :
And now let me talk about this matter of this forgiveness thing. A lot of us look for a feeling. Well, I don't feel like forgiving them or I don't feel like forgiving myself or I'm not in the mood. Let me tell you, if you will do what we just suggested, do it mechanically, the feelings will come. But you've got to take care of the legal issues first and the vital issues, these conditions of the heart. You need to forgive as an act of your will. Got that? As an act of your will. I give this illustration all the time. We have light on here in the studio because I reached over the wall and by an act of my will, I mechanically turned the switch on. I flipped the switch up. Well, the will works the same way. You need to mechanically set your will and you set it with your mouth. And you say, when you say as an act of my will, I choose to forgive. I choose to release as an act of my will. I'm making a decision here. I want to change. I'm tired of going around in this circle of depression.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And you can, you are responsible for your feelings. You're responsible for your life.
SPEAKER 03 :
I talk about Cain and Abel in Genesis 4 and how Abel brought a gift of his favorite lamb for an offering and God absolutely was delighted with that offering. And after a while, Cain came and brought some of his harvest, some of the crops that he had raised. And God was not pleased with that because Cain had waited and Cain had not brought his first fruits. He had not brought his best to the Lord. He brought probably blemished things. God was not delighted with Cain's offering, and Cain became jealous of his brother, and he became very angry, and he became depressed. It says in the fifth verse of the fourth chapter of Genesis, And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why are you depressed? Or why has your countenance fallen? And if you do well, this is God's message to you today. If you do well, will not your depression be lifted? Will not your countenance be lifted up? If you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door and its desire is for you, but you can master it. The very next thing that Cain did, Darren, he went out to Abel. He didn't pray. He didn't seek God. God said, Cain, you can master this thing. You can handle it. You are in control and you can come and bring me a great offering and I will be pleased with you as I am with your brother Abel. What did Cain do? He did the very opposite. He went out to his brother Abel and he killed him. He murdered him. He didn't have that control of the spirit. And we're saying you can either go to God, run to God, who is the loving God, or you can run away from God. And I'll tell you, if you run away from God, only evil consequences are there to face you. I mean, there's nothing good that's going to happen to you if you run away from God. God is your source. God is your creator, and he's very loving.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, there's a scripture going along with that in Hebrews 12, 15. It says, See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. Sometimes we get resentful that we're in these situations. God, this is just too hard for me. Why are you letting this happen to me? Why are you dumping on me? Why are you shortchanging me? Why are you blessing everybody else? Look at that guy over there. He doesn't even go to church. It just seems like he's blessed. Sometimes it does. That's been a complaint of the righteous all through scripture. If you read the book of Job, you'll say, how come they're so blessed? And they don't even worship you, Father. Well, you have to make a decision that you're not going to get into a root of bitterness because of resentment.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And you have to take that thing on and say, this monster is going to get me if I don't make a decision and take some action. That's why we put out the scripture cards called the Power Pack. If you don't have those, they're $5. They come out in a cassette case, and that'll tell you that it'll fit right in your pocket or in your purse or on the visor of your car. But you need to speak the word of God.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, we've gotten so many great letters, Darren, with people saying, hey, I carry my Power Pack with me, and it has changed my life in the last six months. Well... Praise the Lord. It's not the power pack. It's the word of God in that power pack. And it's you. It's you putting action to those words. You are part of that solution. That's what's so amazing. You read the word and your words become powerful in the midst of diversity, in the midst of adversity, in the midst of tribulation.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, this new Rotherham translation I was given for Christmas. Here's what it says. And I'll quote, first of all, the new American standard.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it's not new Rotherham. Well, it's an old Rotherham. It really is old.
SPEAKER 04 :
But it's so accurate. And here's what it says. Cast not away your freedom of speech for it has a great reward. Now, why is that so special? And we were talking about this earlier this morning at our house and we were saying, you know, one thing television has done to us is it keeps us from reacting. We sit there and watch and we're watchers and we're not participators.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
We're spectators. If you're going to get involved here with God's word, you have to become a speaker of the word. Cast not away your privilege of speech. You need to know that that's a privilege of speech. or the freedom of speech i should say cast out away your freedom of speech for it has great recompense or it has great reward you need to be speaking the word of god and let me tell you there's nobody in our listening audience barbara that would fail if they speak the word of the lord nobody and you need to start speaking the right things and stop stirring around see i know how it works with many people that are depressed you're either going in the circle in your mind in your heart running all the scenarios that's right all the regrets all the remorse all the flashbacks you're replaying all of the failures all of the missed opportunities let me tell you that is a dead issue you need to have a funeral for that thing now i used to take people and i'd say i want you to write this all down on piece paper maybe they write down all their sins all their failures all their worries and i say right now we're going to burn that thing And we'd put a match to it and we'd burn it up right there in front of us. Burn the whole piece of paper.
SPEAKER 03 :
And don't mention it again. Don't mention it.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is your burial ceremony. You're going to get rid of this thing. Whatever you have to do, but you need to do something. You've got to make a move in the right direction, in a positive direction. Or it may be that you want to tear it up and then flush it down the toilet. I've had people do that also. Bury that thing. But you have to make a decision to stop talking about it and stop doing the loop. Or it's going to get worse and worse and worse. You need to get over to the Word of God. In fact, I would recommend this. Take Psalm 91 and all through Psalm 91, revive me, O Lord, according to your Word. Read that out loud. Read it again. Read it a third time. You can't read scripture without that word of God becoming alive to you and changing your life and your circumstances, changing your attitude about life. And some of you just have a dirty windshield. Let me say that again. Some of you are just looking through a dirty windshield. You need to clean that up with the word of God so that you can see your life accurately and begin to hear the word of God and his counsel for you. He did not send Jesus Christ to die on the cross so you could fail.
SPEAKER 07 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
He wants you to win. Another scripture I'd advise you to get and memorize is Joshua 1.8. It says if you meditate the word, in other words, if you speak and mumble the word day and night, you will be prosperous and successful. And that solves those things.
SPEAKER 03 :
How can you do that, Darren? You can't speak the word day and night.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yes, you can.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, we have a spirit. And most of us, the spirit's the last one. We have the physical and the soul, and then the spirit comes in last, very last, third place in most of our lives. Well, the spirit should be in control. It should be number one. Our spirit should be fed all the time with the word of God and with good things and not evil and wicked things. We should have spirit, soul, and then body should be the third. But we got it all turned around. Well, in our spirit, we can meditate without even speaking. Darren, I know people at work that meditate during their work and they don't even talk, but they meditate continually in their spirit day and night.
SPEAKER 1 :
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. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
Join us as we unravel the profound yet often misunderstood concept of the 'old man' in Christian theology. By examining Paul’s teachings in Romans, we uncover the distinction between our natural humanity and the spiritual life offered through faith in Christ. This episode challenges common misconceptions and emphasizes the freedom and common sense that comes with understanding the sacrifice of Jesus as our divine representative.
So here we are in Romans chapter 6, and we're at verse 6, where Paul says, Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Now, this is very interesting. It's strange as well. And, you know, I'm not sure how I can explain it to you, but I see the book of Romans in a very different way now from how I saw it when I first started teaching this book decades ago. I still saw the gospel in it decades ago, but I see it with a difference now. You see, I thought Paul was simply talking atomistically, shall I say, and that is his own personal experience. And he was simply talking about his having been, let's see, how does it say, that his old man had been crucified with Christ. What I didn't understand then, and I do now, I think, is that Paul is talking about the whole of humanity. Paul is talking about humanity in a personal way so that we get it personally, but it applies to all humanity. Well, let's go on, and then we'll perhaps see that more. Knowing this... What do we know? That's what you and I have to ask ourselves as Christians. Because, you see, we live in a fallen world, and we are part of that fallen world. We have a broken-down human nature, a sinful human nature. a nature that is corrupted. And so the inclination of our hearts and our minds is downward. It's towards sin. It's towards misery. It's towards evil, towards other people and to ourselves and before God, because we are in a state of suppression, as Paul says in chapter 1 of Romans verse 18. But now we've seen Jesus Christ. Christ has revealed himself to us. God sent his Son to reveal himself to the world and to reveal the Father to the world through his Son. And so something has happened to some of us, not all of us at this point. You see, Paul is talking with two voices. He is reminding us that as one man brought sin and death into the world, Adam, so one man brings righteousness and life to the world, Christ. As one man brings about death to everyone, so one man brings life to everyone. That's the good news that we're looking at here, you see. So, in general terms, he's talking about all the world, but then he gets specific about himself and about Christians who know something. What is it we know? That our old man was crucified with him. Now, what is this old man? Well, it's our human nature. It's the whole of us. It is this humanity that is all broken down, that goes in the wrong direction when we want it to go in another direction. This humanity... that would not naturally lift its heart up to God, but naturally go down into the ways of Satan, that humanity of ours, that's what we are, was crucified with him. Well, you say, that sounds weird, ridiculous. I wasn't there even. We're talking about 2,000 years ago at the cross. How could I be crucified with him? And this is where you have to understand the background that Paul is talking about Jesus as a representative for the whole of humanity. Now look, we have recently seen, or today, we have seen the inauguration of a new president. That president represents now the country. Whether we like him or not, that's not the issue. I'm not being political here. I'm simply saying that a person represents the whole. Many, many times we know this. You may have a favorite football team, and you say, we won. And you say, we? Well, we weren't on the football field, were we? But we won because our team represented us. This is what it means when we talk about Jesus as being the representative. What Jesus did for the world was to take the judgment of the world upon himself. And that means that you and I, by faith, are no longer under that judgment. It's as if our natural humanity had already been executed. You see, Jesus' death was not simply the death of a natural death. Obviously it wasn't. It was a crucifixion. But it was an execution. It was an execution for crime. We are the criminals. We are the ones who have suppressed the image of God in us, and we have gone our own way and followed idols, and ultimately that means the dehumanization of every human being. That's what our problem is, and that's what our old man is. That old man then is now counted as if it had been executed because Jesus, the representative of the human race, the sort of spiritual president of all humanity, was executed on our behalf. Now there are some people who turn this into insanity, because what they do is to say, oh well, there's an old man and there's a new man in me, and the old man now is crucified. Well, it's supposed to be anyway, they say, but I haven't succeeded in crucifying it yet, but if I keep working at it, I'll be able to finally kill it off. and they go into all kinds of spiritual insanity. This is what I call religious neurosis. And they try to kill off their old man. And they go on fasts, and they go into rituals, and they go into extensive meditation. And what they're trying to do is eliminate that old man that exists in them. You can see, can't you, how absolutely erroneous that is. Paul is not talking about an old man in us, like a part of us, while we have the new man also in us, that other part. He's not talking about a divided humanity. The old man is our human nature, our humanity. and it is crucified, but not in itself. It is crucified in Christ who represents us before the Father. So this, you see, is Paul identifying by faith with Jesus Christ. This is one of the most amazing and intimate verses you will find anywhere in the Bible. Because this is Paul feeling or knowing that he is so close to Jesus, rather more accurately, Jesus is so close to him that Jesus is identifying with Paul. Now look, you and I need to say, Jesus is identifying with me. I'm not simply identifying with Jesus, because that would be an eternity's work, and I may not be able to do it in this world totally, and I certainly will not be able to do it to identify totally with him. There are people who try to do this. There are crazy people in the Philippines, for instance, I mentioned this the other day, who actually get on a cross and nail themselves to it during the Easter season. It's insanity. It is utterly false religion. They try to identify with Jesus. The faith life is that Jesus identifies with me. You say, well, Colin, how could he identify with me? I'm a sinner. But that's precisely the point. That's why he died. He died a sinner. And this gives you and me the courage to go forward. We are faced every day with our utter corruption. Well, if you're in reality, you're faced with your corruption. If you're in delusion, you think you're an angel about to go to heaven if you don't overshoot. But the truth is, that Jesus has said, I know how messed up you are, Colin, and I am going to identify with you and take all the judgment that you deserve, and I'm going to take it upon myself. And that is how and why Jesus died on the cross. So you and I, on a daily basis, lift up our heart before God and we say, Jesus, thank you so much for identifying with me to the extent that you took my judgment. Thank you that I'm free from judgment, even though I'm a sinner still. You see then, that your old man that is crucified with him, that's not a psychological reality, because if you think it is that, then you're going to go into this religious neurosis where you're trying to spiritually kill yourself. and it is absolutely sick. Don't try it. But when you, by faith, lift up your heart, and you say, oh Jesus, thank you so much, that the burden of guilt, the sense of judgment that I feel I should take, is not upon me anymore. You took it. And as you speak this way to God, you begin to experience a freedom in your spirit that enables you to move forward with some common sense. You understand what I mean by common sense. Common sense only comes to people of faith because men and women without faith are ridden with guilt and shame. And if you're ridden with guilt and shame, you can never think in a common sense way. You're always evaluating the world and how you look before people and how other people look before you with loads of guilt and shame. You're thinking, how do I look? What do they think of me? Whatever will they think of me if they knew what I do? Or you are evaluating them. They're no good. They're stupid. They're useless. And you're contemptuous of other people because guilt and shame are floating around in your mind and heart, and you're evaluating yourself that way, and so you have no common sense at all. But when it comes to faith, we then can look at ourselves and say, I know I'm a sinner, but my Savior Jesus has taken my judgment. And so my old man, the natural humanity that I am in, is finished. It's condemned, and it has been executed. Now, you notice that Paul uses the word old man. Don't use the word old in the sense of time. Well, that was my old man a year ago when I was converted, but now I no longer have an old man because I'm converted. No, the old man is simply your natural humanity in one way of looking at it, in one sphere of existence. But you are now resurrected with Christ. And so you have a new humanity. And that humanity is the way you look at things through the eyes of Jesus Christ. So don't get bowled over by false teaching about, I was this years ago, but now I'm this now. Rather, I'm in myself, an old man, but that's not reckoned against me anymore because I'm crucified in him. And now I'm in Christ, and I have a new humanity. Thanks for listening today. Colin Cook here. You can hear this program on your smartphone any time of the day or night. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. Thanks so much for all your support and I'll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
