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Is God in control of everything? Does the Devil have any real power? In today's episode, find out the answers to these questions and learn how you can find true peace and security.
Visit our website at DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com
A collection of podcasts from our wonderful programs and hosts that specifically discuss Anger. How to navigate it when it happens, and what Jesus says about it. These messages are not meant to replace any psychological assistance you might need, however they might help you gain valuable perspective. If you're in need of prayer for your or someone else's anger, or any other needs, please reach out to us using the form below, or you can call us at 303.481.1800 and we will pray with you over your issue or need. We are in this life together and Jesus wants us to love one another. Let us help.
Is God in control of everything? Does the Devil have any real power? In today's episode, find out the answers to these questions and learn how you can find true peace and security.
Visit our website at DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com
Pride and arrogance are counter culture to the Kingdom of God. In today's episode Rabbi teaches us how to position our hearts against pride.
Visit our website at DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com
Whether you’re talking about relationships at home or at work—or anywhere—this truth applies: Hurt people hurt people. Pastor Rick teaches in this message how looking for the hurt underneath the anger leads to understanding and reconciliation.
If you are quick to listen and you are slow to speak, you will be slow to get angry. On the other hand, if you have a trigger temper and you get angry really fast, I'll tell you why. It's because you're not quick to listen and you're not slow to speak. How many times have I told you God gave you two ears and one mouth? You should always listen twice as much as you speak. Thanks for tuning in to Daily Hope with Pastor Rick Warren. I know a lot of people think that having the good life is looking good and having the goods. But Pastor Rick says trusting in material wealth and health is not enough to overcome that sense of hopelessness so many people feel deep down inside. As we continue with this new series called The Keys to a Blessed Life, you're gonna learn how you can have peace and fulfillment in your life, your work, and your relationships. In just a few moments, we're gonna tell you how you can get this complete audio series. You can find out more by going to rickworn.org or by texting the word daily to 313131 while you listen to the message. Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with part three of a message called How to Reconcile a Relationship. So the first cause of conflict, the Bible makes it very clear, is self-centered, selfishness. The second cause of conflict is pride. We pride, I'm stubborn and in pride I get my feelings hurt easily. Humble people don't get their feelings hurt. Prideful people do. They get their feelings hurt all the time. And so my ego gets wounded. Then we have conflict. Proverbs 13, 10 says this. Pride, let's read it aloud together. Pride only leads to arguments. And where is that verse found? Proverbs 13, 10. Now, that's such a short verse. That's gonna be our memory verse this week. So we can learn this one. You can use this one. So let's say it aloud together. Proverbs 13, 10, pride only leads to arguments. And where is that? Proverbs 13, 10. You're gonna need this one. By the way, what's this Proverbs 13, 10 say? Pride only leads to arguments. And where is that found? Proverbs 13, 10. That was the first verse that Kay and I memorized in our marriage. We memorized it on the honeymoon. Why? Because we needed it on the honeymoon. We were already at each other's throats fighting on the honeymoon. We are so different. I wanna do this and I wanna do that and you wanna do this, you wanna do that. We had to memorize that verse before a week of our marriage was up. And it has helped us many, many times. Pride only leads to arguments. Now, think of a conflict you're in right now. And if you're in a log jam and maybe you've been in this conflict with your mother, your father, your wife or husband or friend or something, you've been in it for years and you're in a log jam and you think nothing is ever happening. There's no movement. We're not making any progress. I am going to give you a secret miracle sentence that will break any log jam in any argument. Guarantee, I guarantee you this. This is a secret sentence that will break a log jam in any conflict. If you'll use it. Are you ready? Here it is. I'm sorry, I was only thinking of myself. (Laughter) Now when your spouse wakes up from fainting, you can say it again, I'm sorry, I was only thinking of myself and they'll faint again. When they wake up, then you can actually start dealing with, when was the last time you said that to somebody? Have you ever said that in your marriage? No. And yet how many times were you only thinking of yourself on a daily basis? That is a miracle phrase. You need to memorize and get over your pride, which causes conflict, and begin to say, "In somebody, your husband or your wife says something to you and you start to get defensive about it and distant and demanding, you just say, 'I'm sorry, I was only thinking of myself.' And you watch the balloon, the air come out of that balloon and the pride and the ego just kind of shrinks down." Now the reason you need to learn to say that is because you have what's called blind spots in your life. The blind spots are the weaknesses you don't see in your life. You have a lot of weaknesses that you know about and you know about those weaknesses in your life. Those aren't blind spots because you can see them. The blind spots are the weaknesses you can't see. That's why they're called blind spots because you can't see them. You have weaknesses in your life. You have never seen. Now we all see them. Wings are in real clearly. Wings see your weaknesses really clear. You don't have to defend them because you don't even know they're there. They are your blind spots. That's why you need other people in your life who can actually point out to you what you cannot see. Your blind spots. Those are weaknesses. You don't even have any idea. You're clueless that you have that weakness. That's why you need to come to conflict with a humble heart and you begin with your own faults. Here's what Jesus says. Notice this verse. Matthew 7 verses 3 and 5. Same sermon on the Mount. Jesus, why do you notice the little speck of dust in your friend's eye? But you don't notice the big piece of wood in your own eye. First take the wood out of your own eye and then you'll be able to see clearly the blind spots to take the dust out of your friend's eye. Now guys, you don't understand this because 2,000 years later we don't understand Hebrew humor but that sense is joke. It's humor. You may not realize this but the sermon on the Mount is filled with laugh lines. Jesus told a lot of jokes and he used a lot of humor in his preaching. We just don't understand it because we don't think in Hebrew humor from 2,000 years ago. The rest of today's message is coming your way in just a few moments but first if you'd like to connect with Rick on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn just go to RickWoron.org and click on his social media links. Or while you're at it, go ahead and sign up for his free Daily Hope email devotional and take a look at all the other helpful resources. Again, that's RickWoron.org or just text the word daily to 313131. That's the word daily to 313131. The second half of today's lesson is coming up. Hey, if you're enjoying this series in today's message but you've got a long day in the office ahead of you, kids to pick up or meals to cook, then let us send you a copy of this entire series which includes eight full-length teachings from Pastor Rick. That way you can listen from start to finish or just a little at a time whenever it's convenient for you. And you can always go back and listen as often as you want. Today when you support Daily Hope with a financial gift, we'll give you the choice of either an eight audio CD box set or downloadable high quality MP3s. Well today, 800-6004 or visit RickWoron.org to get your copy of this series. That's 800-600-5004 or RickWoron.org. Thanks so much for your support. When you contact us, remember to ask for the keys to a blessed life, complete audio series by Pastor Rick Worn. Once again, here's Rick. Jesus told a lot of jokes and he used a lot of humor in his preaching. We just don't understand it because we don't think in Hebrew humor from 2000 years ago. Hebrew humor is humor by exaggeration. And so Jesus is when he would tell stuff, he would often throw in a laugh line. The sermon amounts filled with some funny stuff. We just don't get it. For instance, when Jesus says, "You've heard this one, it's easier for the camel, a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to hold on to his money and to get into heaven." Now when Jesus said that, they died laughing. They go, "Oh, Lord, that's a good one, a camel going through an eye of an needle." Yeah, right. That's obviously impossible. And they're like, "Oh, Lord, that you're too funny, that's hilarious." When Jesus says, "Hey, you know those religious leaders over there, they strain at a nap." And then they swallow a camel. "Oh, Lord, you're killing me, Lord. That's too much. This guy should be on Comedy Club. Try the liver. I'm here to Friday. It's great. "Oh, Lord, that's just you've been strained at a nap and swallow." It's a funny line. Now we don't get it. We're going now. The meaning, Greek meaning of the word "naught." Right over our heads. Totally oblivious to what Jesus is using humor and sarcasm to make the point. And here he said, "Hey guys, before you get the speck of sawdust out of your wife's eye, why don't you get the telephone pole out of yours?" "Oh, Lord, you're killing me. Oh, you and my wife, please stop. I'm dying. I'm dying." You know, he's telling humor. Now here's the point. He's saying, "You need to confess your part of the conflict first." So I need to say, when I come to you in this piece of thing, I don't start with you. I don't start with all the ways you've hurt me. I don't, we'll get to that. We'll get to that. But I just start with me. And I go, "Have I been unrealistic?" And I'm asking myself. Am I being insensitive? That's cause conflict. Am I being over-sensitive? That's cause conflict. Am I being ungrateful? And I just haven't showed gratitude to this person. And that's hurting. Am I being over-demanding? You just do an honest evaluation. You say, "What are my blind spots?" All right? Then, once you've done that, you've confessed your part of the problem. Number four, I listen for their hurt and perspective. I listen for their hurt and their perspective. Now, it's very important you're listening for hurt because there's always hurt in a conflict. We think we argue over ideas, but we actually argue over emotion. We argue over feelings. And anytime there's a conflict, somebody got their feelings hurt. They felt abused. Somebody felt slided. It's not the idea that causes the conflict. It's the emotion behind the idea. How many times have you heard me say, "Hurt people, hurt people?" In other words, the more I'm hurting, the more I lash out at everybody else. People aren't hurting, don't hurt others. People who are filled with love are loving to others. People who are filled with joy are joyful to others. People who are at peace are at peace with everybody else. But if I'm hurting inside, I'm going to hurt you. And the more I hurt, the more I'm going to hurt you, the more I'm going to lash out. The people who need love the most are those who deserve it the least. The people who are most obnoxious and irritating and just, you don't even want to be around those are people who need massive doses of love. Hurt people, hurt people. I mean, my mom hurt me. You need to know why she was hurting. My dad hurt me. You need to know the hurt that caused him to hurt you. Hurt people, hurt people. Now, I want to tell you this principle. It doesn't matter if it's in a marriage or if it's in the marketplace or if it's in the Middle East, when people feel they're not listened to, when people feel slided, when people are robbed of their dignity, they get mad. Doesn't matter if it's on the border or if it's in Ukraine or anywhere else that there's a conflict, when people feel their dignity is destroyed, when people feel they're not being listened to, they're not being paid attention to, they're not being valued, they get mad. Like a cat pushed back into a corner. And if you want to connect with people, you must start with their needs, their hurts and their interest. You want to be a good salesman? You don't start with your product. You start with their need, their hurts and their entrance. You want to be a good professor or pastor or you start with their needs, their hurts, their interest. Not what you have to share, but what they need. And if you want to connect with people, that's where it starts. So you listen for their hurt and you're actually listening behind the words. It's not what they say in an argument that you need to listen. You need to listen to the emotion behind the words. The emotions are more important because people will say one thing, but they're feeling something else. Like, how you doing? I'm fine. I'm fine means I'm not fine in a lot of cases. James chapter 1 verse 19 says this, "Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry." Now if you do the first two, the third is automatic. If you are quick to listen and you are slow to speak, you will be slow to get angry. On the other hand, if you have a trigger temper and you get angry really fast, I'll tell you why. Because you're not quick to listen and you're not slow to speak. In fact, you're quick to speak and slow to listen. And that's why you get angry. How many times have I told you God gave you two ears and one mouth, you should always listen twice as much as you speak? And this is the next step in conflict management. You listen to their hurt and you listen to their perspective because you don't know their perspective. That's why there's conflict. You should have right this down. Always listen before speaking. Always, always, always, always, always, always, always, always, always, listen before speaking. This is the key to diffusing conflict. You listen before you speak and then people feel validated when your ears are actually love organs. Because when you speak, you're showing love by listening to them. Now, so are your eyes. When you look at people and you pay attention, you're saying, you matter to me, you're valuable, you're worth my attention. Philippians 2, 4 and 5 says this. Each of you should look. Circle the word look. We'll come back to that a minute. Each of you should look not only to your own interest, but also to the interest of others. And your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. What is he saying? Intentionally switch your focus from your needs to their, to their needs. Conflict resolution starts with the way you look at the situation, the way you see it. That word look there, said, don't just look at your own needs. Look at the needs of the person you're having a problem with. That word look is the Greek word, scopos. We get the word microscope. You look at little things that you don't normally see. Tell us, go, you look at stars, you can't see that close. Scopos means to focus, focus. And it says your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ. You are most like Jesus when you're focusing on the hurts of somebody else rather than your own. You are most like Jesus when you're focusing on the hurts of somebody else, your child, your wife, your dad, your client, when you're focusing on somebody else's hurts and you study your own, that's when you're like Jesus. When Jesus is on the cross, dying for the sins of all mankind, he's not focusing on his pain. He's saying, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. He's still focusing on us, even in the middle of his pain. So he says, focus, scopos, try to see their perspective. Before you go mouth and off on your hurt, your need, those are legitimate, but go ahead and first try to focus on their perspective. How do you do that? By paying attention. There's an old Chinese parable, a proverb that says, seek to understand before seeking to be understood. That's what Jesus is saying here. He's saying before, you see, we are so busy trying to get the person we're in conflict with, to see our position, we're not listening to theirs. We're so busy speaking, we're not listening to theirs. And we're, as a result, we move further and further away. Now, let's just take an example. The people that you work with, and you have some people you work with, and they think that one person, they are so irritating to me. Every time I get around them, my blood starts to boil. I just don't even like being around them. And the reason why is you don't scopos. You don't see their circumstance. You don't see their temperament, and you don't see their background. The people that you work with, the more you understand them, the more patient you're going to be. The less you understand the people you work with, the more impatient you're going to be. Why? Because human nature, when you're working with people, that you tend, we tend to judge how far people have to go. We look at it and go, man, they got a long way to go before they start being mature. Instead of looking at how far they've come. When you look at how far they've come, then you start cutting them some slack. And if you scopos, you actually take the time to get to know that jerk and find out their temperament, their background, and the things that they're going through, their pressures, you cut them some slack. You go, man, if I had a father like that, I'd probably be irritating too. If I had gone through all the difficulty they went through, if I had experienced that kind of prejudice, if I had experienced that kind of bigotry, if I had understood the hurt, if I had that hurt in my life, I probably wouldn't be as far along as they are. Not looking at how far people have to go. And start looking at how far people have come. And then you're listening for their hurt and their perspective. Now there are two areas, the Bible says, that you are commanded by God to be patient with, to be understanding with, and to be considerate of when you're dealing with anybody else. It's in Romans chapter 15, verse 2. We must be considerate of the doubts and fears of others, circle doubts and fears. Let's please the other fellow, not ourselves, and do what is for his good, and thus build him up in the Lord. Anytime somebody does something that you go, that doesn't make sense. Why in the world are they doing that? It's almost always a fear. And if you just look at their behavior, you're going to be quite judgmental. But if you look at their fear and you find it out, you're going to be a whole lot more understanding. We are going to be considerate of the doubts and fears of others. That'll make you more patient. Now here's the problem. My fears are perfectly rational and entirely normal. Their fears are stupid. They're irrational. They don't make sense. And that's the way we feel. My fears, there's a legitimate reason why I'm afraid of this, and you ought to be afraid too. That's Pastor Rick Warren. And you're listening to Daily Hope. Rick will be back in just a moment with a closing thought, but first, if you'd like to connect with Rick on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, just go to RickWoron.org and click on his social media links. Oh, and while you're at it, go ahead and sign up for his free Daily Hope email devotional and take a look at all the other helpful resources. Again, that's RickWoron.org or just text the word Daily to 313131. That's the word Daily to 313131. And now here's Pastor Rick with a closing thought. Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9, God says this, "My thoughts are completely different from yours," says the Lord. And my ways of thinking are far beyond anything you could imagine, for just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. If you're serious about having God's blessing on your life and God's blessing on your work and God's blessing on your relationships and your finances and everything else, you have to learn to do things differently than the culture around you. Now get this, "To be blessed by God in unusual ways, you must think and act in unusual ways." In other words, in ways that are different from how you've been taught. In fact, so many of our problems come from trying to do things our ways, instead of God's ways. The problem is that we live our lives in ways that prevent God's blessing and block God's blessing and hinder God's blessing on our lives. Problem isn't with God. The problem is with us. The Bible says in the book of Proverbs, "There's a way that seems right to men, but in the end it leads to death. Our ways lead to dead ends. God's ways lead to blessing and to life." As a pastor, "I want God to bless your life. I want God to bless your finances, your relationship, your health, so I want you to know what brings his blessings." I'm really excited to share this new series, "The Keys to a Bless Life" from the words of Jesus. It could change the rest of your life just as my life was changed when I learned these principles. And may this series bless the rest of your life. Thanks. If you're enjoying these messages and you'd like to hear them again or share them with a friend, then let us send you a copy of this entire series which includes eight full-length audio teachings from Pastor Rick. Today, when you support Daily Hope with a financial gift, we'll give you the choice of either an eight audio CD box set or high quality downloadable MP3s. Request yours today by calling 800-600-5400-4. This program is sponsored by Daily Hope Ministries and your generous financial support.
There is the long time saying, “There are none so blind as those who will not see.” Sadly, this is true in matters of things that are spiritual. The Bible warns us of such blindness so that we can see.
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Sermon Overview
Scripture Passage: Acts 20:35-38
The world often measures a man by his intelligence, strength, or wealth. However, the world often forgets that when we pass away, we leave behind all that we have and take with us all that we are. What will you take with you? What truly matters in a man?
Consider what the Apostle Paul took with him. Acts 20:19 says, “Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations…”
A man’s life will be measured by his manner.
We must live a life of humility, and the mark of humility is service. Adrian Rogers says, “Humility is an honest estimation of yourself… based on what God says about you. It results primarily in serving others.”
Our manner of life should be marked by heartache.
"Serving the Lord... with many tears." The apostle Paul was a compassionate man. He knew how to weep. He knew how to enter into the sorrows and the hurts of other people.
Our manner of life must also include hardship.
There is no way to live a life that counts and make an impression on this world without making some enemies. That didn’t scare Paul, and it shouldn’t scare us.
A man's life will also be measured by his message.
We will be known for something when we are gone. Our lives will bear a message for others to remember when they think about us. Paul’s life message revolved around repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.
Finally, a man’s life is measured by his motto.
Every man has a life motto; something that motivates, drives, and constrains him. Paul's life motto was: "Remembering the words of Jesus, it is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35) Paul spent his life, not primarily as a receiver, but as a giver. This motto freed Paul from covetousness, idleness, and selfishness. Therefore, his life was blessed.
There is no easy way to have a great life. But if we remember that a man’s life is measured by the manner, the message, and the motto of his life, we will find a life worth living.
Apply it to your life
If you based your life on Paul’s testimony in Acts 20:19, how would you measure up? When we pass away, we leave behind all that we have and take with us all that we are. What will you take with you?
Scripture Passage: Acts 20:35-38
The world often measures a man by his intelligence, strength, or wealth. However, the world often forgets that when we pass away, we leave behind all that we have and take with us all that we are. What will you take with you? What truly matters in a man?
Consider what the Apostle Paul took with him. Acts 20:19 says, “Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations…”
A man’s life will be measured by his manner.
We must live a life of humility, and the mark of humility is service. Adrian Rogers says, “Humility is an honest estimation of yourself… based on what God says about you. It results primarily in serving others.”
Our manner of life should be marked by heartache.
"Serving the Lord... with many tears." The apostle Paul was a compassionate man. He knew how to weep. He knew how to enter into the sorrows and the hurts of other people.
Our manner of life must also include hardship.
There is no way to live a life that counts and make an impression on this world without making some enemies. That didn’t scare Paul, and it shouldn’t scare us.
A man's life will also be measured by his message.
We will be known for something when we are gone. Our lives will bear a message for others to remember when they think about us. Paul’s life message revolved around repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.
Finally, a man’s life is measured by his motto. Every man has a life motto; something that motivates, drives, and constrains him. Paul's life motto was: "Remembering the words of Jesus, it is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35) Paul spent his life, not primarily as a receiver, but as a giver. This motto freed Paul from covetousness, idleness, and selfishness. Therefore, his life was blessed.
There is no easy way to have a great life. But if we remember that a man’s life is measured by the manner, the message, and the motto of his life, we will find a life worth living.
Apply it to your life
If you based your life on Paul’s testimony in Acts 20:19, how would you measure up? When we pass away, we leave behind all that we have and take with us all that we are. What will you take with you?
Is there an ongoing competition between good and evil? Is God in a power struggle with the Devil? Find out in today's episode.
Visit our website at DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com
Nothing can happen unless God allows it.
0:03
Sometimes God will allow Satan to do something, because God
0:08
has a higher purpose in mind.
0:17
today, modern-day
0:19
Christians, that don't have
0:21
a grounding in the theology
0:22
of the Old Testament, think
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that everything that's bad
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that happens happens from
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Satan and God has nothing to
0:30
do with that.
0:31
And everything that good
0:32
that happens happens from God.
0:34
And they're in no way able
0:36
to understand oftentimes
0:38
that some of the bad things that
0:40
happen that they think are bad
0:42
are actually part of God's plan.
0:44
And that even though they
0:46
seem bad in the temporal,
0:48
ultimately, there's an
0:49
eternal purpose of God
0:51
that's going on in which God
0:53
is using the bad things, the
0:55
things that we perceive as
0:57
bad for something good. And we
0:59
could not enter into the higher
1:01
good without the temporal,
1:03
bad things that happen,
1:05
so that even what we perceive
1:07
to be bad is oftentimes,
1:08
beloved ones, a blessing.
1:11
So I laid a huge theological
1:14
foundation for that last week.
1:16
And in conjunction with
1:18
that, I talked about the
1:19
fact that we need to
1:21
understand as Christians
1:23
that God's judgment is
1:26
oftentimes a gift.
1:27
Because for example, if
1:30
someone has a child that's
1:32
rebellious, it is oftentimes
1:34
because the child has never
1:37
been disciplined or judged
1:39
for bad behavior.
1:41
So sometimes God, because
1:43
He's a moral God, will bring
1:45
a judgment into the lives of
1:48
His godly ones in order
1:50
to correct them.
1:52
So God's judgments are
1:53
necessary and needed.
1:56
And not only that.
1:58
If God was not to bring His
2:00
judgment upon sin like we
2:03
see so many times
2:04
illustrated in the Hebrew
2:05
Bible, then God would not be
2:08
a moral God.
2:09
Because in order for God to
2:10
be the God who He is, a
2:13
holy, moral God, sin has
2:15
to be punished. And
2:17
that's why God poured forth His
2:19
judgment upon His Son, Yeshua
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the Messiah, for our sins.
2:24
I talked about all those
2:27
things last week, because
2:28
Hannah understood both of
2:32
these dimensions of God.
2:33
She understood that when
2:36
seemingly good things
2:38
happened to her, it was a
2:39
blessing from the Lord.
2:40
But she also submitted when
2:42
things were hard as part of
2:44
God's sovereign purposes for
2:47
her life. So, once again,
2:49
before we move on today, 1
2:51
Samuel opens up in chapter 1,
2:53
verse 6 with the writer of
2:56
Scripture saying that it was the
2:58
Lord that closed Chana's womb.
3:00
They were willing to say,
3:02
"You know what?
3:03
God is involved in this.
3:04
It's hard that Hannah's
3:06
womb is closed.
3:07
She's suffering a lot of
3:08
pain." In fact, the book of
3:10
1 Samuel opens up with
3:12
Hannah in the temple weeping
3:14
in her heart, talking to
3:16
God, praying to God, begging
3:17
God, asking God for a child,
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committing that you would
3:22
dedicate the child to the
3:23
Lord if He would open her womb.
3:25
But she once again
3:27
attributed everything that
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was going on in her life as
3:30
part of God's sovereign
3:31
reign over the host of
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heaven and the inhabitants
3:34
of the earth.
3:35
The scripture continues that
3:36
the Lord heard her prayer.
3:37
And it wasn't long after
3:39
that until she did conceive
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and she bought forth Samuel
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and dedicated him to the Lord.
3:45
And he became one of the
3:47
mightiest prophets that
3:49
Israel ever saw.
3:50
But the time that Hannah's
3:51
wound was closed, although
3:53
it was painful, it was a
3:55
time of preparation.
3:57
Because Hannah was brought
3:59
to a place in her life that
4:00
she said, "Lord, if you give
4:01
me a child, I'm going to
4:03
totally dedicate him to
4:05
you." So let's not separate
4:08
our conception of life in
4:10
the sense that all the bad
4:12
things that happen are from
4:14
the devil, and God has
4:15
nothing to do with them.
4:16
But let's when bad things
4:18
happen, say to the Lord, "Lord,
4:20
how am I to interpret this?
4:21
What does this mean?
4:24
How does this seemingly bad
4:26
situation that I'm in right
4:28
now or that I'm
4:29
experiencing, how does this
4:31
filter into your purposes
4:33
for my life?" Isaiah 45,
4:38
verse 5 and 7 says this.
4:40
"I am the Lord, and there is
4:43
no other; besides me there
4:46
is no God...
4:47
The One forming light and
4:50
creating darkness, causing
4:53
well-being and creating
4:56
calamity..." The King
4:58
James says evil.
4:59
"I am the LORD who does all
5:01
these things." You see,
5:04
beloved ones, His ways are above
5:06
our ways, even as the heavens
5:08
are higher than the earth.
5:10
He has an eternal perspective.
5:11
We can only see in the here
5:13
and the now.
5:15
The writers of scripture
5:16
understood that all of life
5:18
had a purpose.
5:20
For example, when the
5:22
Israelites lost a battle, it
5:24
wasn't just because the
5:26
enemy overpowered them.
5:27
There was something wrong.
5:29
There was a lesson they
5:30
needed to learn.
5:31
Oftentimes, it was because
5:32
they had made allegiances
5:34
with foreign nations.
5:36
Depending on the might of
5:37
the flesh to win the battle
5:39
rather than them on just
5:41
depending on the arm
5:42
of the Lord.
5:43
And so I'm just trying to bring
5:44
you back to Hebraic mindset.
5:46
God is sovereign.
5:48
He is God and there is no other.
5:49
No matter what we're walking
5:51
through in life, like
5:52
Hannah, let's look to the
5:54
Lord and get His mindset on it.
5:57
Let's not just blame it
5:58
on the devil.
5:59
But let's recognize that
6:01
even beyond that, even if
6:02
the devil is involved, he
6:04
can only be involved if
6:06
God allows him.
6:07
Just like Jesus said to
6:09
Pilate, when Jesus said to
6:10
Pilate, "You would have no
6:12
power over me unless it were
6:14
given to you from above." So
6:16
in our life, nothing can
6:17
happen unless God allows it.
6:20
The scripture says, "Not a
6:22
sparrow falls to the ground
6:24
apart from the Father." So
6:25
we always need to be looking
6:26
to God alone rather than
6:29
having this dualistic
6:30
mindset about the devil
6:33
being over here, God being over
6:34
here. The two processes of what
6:38
the actions are never can meet.
6:40
Sometimes God will allow
6:43
Satan to do something
6:44
because God has a higher
6:46
purpose in mind, just like
6:48
in the life of the Apostle
6:49
Paul, where Paul said there
6:52
was a messenger of Satan,
6:55
Paul said, "that was given
6:57
to him, that was given to
6:58
Paul to torment him in his
7:00
flesh, in his body.
7:02
And Paul prayed to the Lord,
7:03
"Lord, take it away.
7:05
Take it away.
7:06
Lord, take away this pain,
7:08
this torment, this messenger
7:10
of Satan, this thorn in the
7:12
flesh from the enemy." And
7:14
Paul said that it was
7:15
revealed to him that God was
7:18
the one that sent this thorn
7:20
in the flesh, this messenger
7:21
of Satan, to keep Paul from
7:23
exalting himself because of
7:27
the abundance of the revelation
7:28
that Paul had received.
7:30
You see, the natural
7:31
tendency of the flesh is
7:33
that when we receive such
7:34
revelation, our natural
7:36
disposition is to get puffed up.
7:38
But to keep Paul from
7:40
getting puffed up, to
7:42
protect him, God sent this
7:45
messenger of Satan.
7:46
Notice how the two are working.
7:48
God is sovereign but God is
7:50
using Satan for His own purpose.
7:51
Satan just is taking
7:53
glee in the
7:54
fact that he's causing
7:55
torment to Paul, but God's
7:56
got a higher purpose in it,
7:58
and God's purpose is for good.
8:00
So this messenger of Satan
8:02
comes to keep Paul
8:04
from exalting himself.
8:05
Paul show praise to the Lord.
8:07
"Lord, take this away."
8:08
Finally, God says, "No,
8:11
Paul, My power will be
8:13
perfected in your weakness
8:14
and My strength will be
8:16
sufficient for you." Then
8:17
Paul goes on.
8:18
He says, "Therefore, I'd
8:20
rather boast in my weakness
8:21
because in my weakness His
8:23
strength is being
8:24
perfected." So do you see,
8:26
beloved one, what I'm
8:27
wanting to impart to your
8:28
soul right now?
8:29
Don't have this dualistic
8:31
mindset of the devil did this.
8:33
No. Let's whatever happens
8:35
to us in life...
8:36
I'm not saying the devil
8:37
never does anything.
8:38
But whatever happens, let's
8:39
say, "Lord, what are you
8:41
saying in this?
8:42
What's your mind in all this?
8:44
Because I know that You
8:45
cause all things to work
8:47
together for good."
8:48
RABBI SCHNEIDER>> Back to our
8:49
text. The song of Chana or the
8:52
song of Hannah, we started
8:53
out in chapter 1, verse 6.
8:55
That her womb was closed.
8:57
And the author of the text
8:58
says that the Lord had
9:00
closed her womb.
9:01
And then after going to the
9:03
temple and praying and
9:04
saying, "Lord, if you open
9:05
my womb," Chana said to the
9:07
Lord, "I'll dedicate my
9:08
child to you." And sure enough,
9:11
the Lord opens her womb, she
9:12
conceives the Prophet Samuel.
9:15
After she had weaned him,
9:17
she brought him to the temple.
9:19
And that's where we pick up
9:20
now in chapter 2, which is
9:22
the point of our sermon
9:24
series here, the Song of
9:26
Chana or Hannah.
9:28
Last week I looked at verse 1.
9:29
"Then Hannah prayed and
9:31
said, 'My heart exults in
9:33
the LORD; my horn is exalted
9:35
in YHWH the LORD...
9:37
My mouth speaks boldly
9:39
against my enemies, because
9:42
I rejoice in Your
9:43
salvation." You see, what
9:45
the devil meant for evil,
9:47
God used for good.
9:50
In other words, the devil might
9:51
have an assignment against us.
9:53
She said, "Because I rejoice
9:55
now against my enemy..." She
9:57
might have understood that
9:58
it was the enemy at work
9:59
that was keeping her womb close.
10:00
But now she understood that
10:02
what he meant for evil, God
10:04
meant for good.
10:05
He was ultimately involved
10:06
in all of it.
10:07
And now she had victory
10:08
over her enemy.
10:10
So she said, "My mouth
10:11
speaks boldly against my
10:14
enemies, because I rejoice
10:16
in Your salvation." Did you
10:19
know, beloved one, that
10:21
Yeshua promised you that as
10:23
you continue to cling to
10:25
Him, as you continue to make
10:27
Him your God and Savior, He
10:29
is going to bring you to a
10:30
place where you will exalt
10:32
over your enemies, over all
10:35
those that accused you, over
10:37
every spirit that's
10:38
condemned you, over
10:39
everybody that's laughed at you.
10:41
You will have the last laugh
10:43
in Messiah Yeshua.
10:44
Notice what Hannah says.
10:46
"My mouth speaks boldly
10:48
against my enemies..." Jesus
10:51
said, "I will cause those
10:54
that accused you to bow down
10:58
and to know that I have loved
11:01
you," in the book of Revelation.
11:03
So I want you to know you're
11:04
going to do what Chana did.
11:05
As you continue to put
11:07
Yeshua first in your life,
11:08
you're going to come to a
11:09
place in your life where
11:11
every accusing voice that
11:13
has been brought against you,
11:14
you will condemn. This is the
11:16
Word of the Lord and His story
11:19
written over your life. You
11:21
will have the ultimate victory.
11:24
You will have the last laugh.
11:26
Hold on, be strong because
11:27
God is going to bring you to
11:30
a victorious conclusion
11:31
in your life.
11:33
You may lose some battles,
11:35
beloved child of God, but
11:37
you will win the war.
11:40
It looked like Jesus had
11:41
lost when He was on the
11:43
cross and they were laughing
11:44
at Him and mocking Him and
11:46
spitting on Him, when they
11:48
thrust the spear on His
11:49
side, when they thrust the
11:51
thorn of crowns on His head.
11:53
It might have looked like
11:55
they had the last laugh.
11:56
But Yeshua rose from the dead.
12:02
And now He sits at the right
12:03
hand of God.
12:05
Every knee will bow, every
12:06
tongue confess that Yeshua
12:08
HaMashiach is Lord, to the
12:10
glory of God the Father.
12:14
And beloved, the same thing
12:15
is going to happen in your life.
12:16
Every mouth that has accused
12:18
you in judgment, you will
12:20
condemn and you continue to live
12:22
for Jesus unto the very end.
12:25
Baruch Hashem. Blessed
12:26
be the name of the Lord.
12:28
Victory is over your life.
12:29
Chana continues in verse 2.
12:31
"There is no one holy like YHWH.
12:37
There is no one holy like
12:39
LORD..." Once again, YHWH is
12:42
God's holy, personal
12:44
covenant name used 7,000
12:47
times in the Hebrew Bible.
12:50
"There is no one holy like
12:52
YHWH, indeed," she
12:54
continues, "there is no one
12:56
besides You, nor is there
12:59
any rock like our God."
13:01
Notice, again, her filter.
13:02
"There is no one besides
13:05
you," She said.
13:06
This is what I've been
13:07
trying to hammer last week
13:09
and this week.
13:10
Please, again, listen to
13:11
last week's message.
13:12
We have to interpret life
13:14
only through the
13:15
filter of the fact that
13:16
there is one sovereign God.
13:18
And even when bad things happen,
13:20
we have to ask God, "What
13:22
are you saying to me in this?
13:23
What can I learn from this?
13:25
How can I respond to this?
13:26
How can I put my foot
13:28
down over this?
13:29
How can I handle this so
13:30
that it will be used for
13:31
good in my life?"
13:32
Because at the end of the
13:33
day, there's only one God.
13:34
Every knee will bow and
13:36
every tongue confess that
13:37
Yeshua HaMashiach is Lord.
13:39
So Hannah interpreted both
13:42
the hard times in her life
13:43
and the good times in her
13:44
life through the fact that
13:45
there was only one sovereign.
13:47
"...there is no one like
13:49
you, there's no one besides
13:51
you, nor is there any rock
13:53
like our God." Let's
13:55
continue in verse 3.
13:57
"Boast no more so very
13:59
proudly, do not let
14:01
arrogance come out of your
14:03
mouth; for the LORD is
14:05
God..." Yahweh is God.
14:07
He is Elohim.
14:09
"...the LORD is a God of
14:11
knowledge, and with Him actions
14:13
are weighed." Notice the first
14:15
point she's making here. Boast
14:17
no more so very proudly... for
14:20
the Lord Yahweh alone is God.
14:22
You know, today, when I look
14:24
at secular television, and I
14:26
see all the moves that people
14:28
are making, you know, like
14:29
this all about me. Everything
14:30
is me, me, me, me. me.
14:32
"Look at me.
14:33
Look at me.
14:33
Look at this.
14:34
Look at this.
14:35
Look at this cute, little
14:36
gesture. Look at this dance
14:38
move. Look at this style."
14:39
Notice it's all focused on the
14:42
exultation and the pushing
14:44
forth of me.
14:46
But Chana had a revelation
14:49
of the Holy One.
14:51
And her response in this
14:52
revelation was "there is no
14:53
one holy like the LORD,
14:56
indeed, there's no one beside
14:57
You... Boast no more so very
15:01
proudly." I wonder how many,
15:04
when the whole world is
15:07
standing before Yahweh naked
15:11
and transparent in His
15:14
power, in the revelation of
15:16
His glory, I wonder how many
15:19
will be acting before Him
15:21
like they do now.
15:22
I wonder how many will have
15:25
the same personality that
15:27
they have right now.
15:29
No, it'll be completely,
15:31
absolutely radically change.
15:35
Because you know what the
15:36
best response is to have before
15:38
God, first of all? Silence.
15:41
Just to be silent before Him.
15:45
That's what Job did.
15:48
When God finally brought Job
15:50
into the fullness of
15:51
revelation, Job was trying
15:52
to interpret what had
15:53
happened in his life.
15:55
The bad things that had
15:56
happened, he started
15:57
speaking about this and that
15:58
and accusing God, and all
16:00
the counselors of his started
16:03
giving him advice.
16:04
Finally, when God showed up, you
16:05
know what their response was?
16:07
They put their hand over
16:08
their mouth. Silence.
16:10
So I want you to ask yourself
16:14
for a second, is the way that
16:18
you act, is your personality,
16:20
is it exalting self?
16:23
Is it proud?
16:24
Is it like, "Look at me,
16:28
look at me, look at me"?
16:30
You know, with the cutesy
16:33
moves that everybody has
16:34
today, and the fancy
16:35
gestures and the eye
16:36
movements and the face
16:37
movements, the expressions.
16:40
How are you going to feel
16:46
when you stand before the Lord?
16:48
Will that type of
16:49
personification, of your
16:50
essence, of who you are, be
16:52
holy and acceptable and
16:54
clear and cleansed?
16:56
I mean, is what you're doing
16:57
now, is it going to be able
16:59
to stand before the Lord in
17:02
the fullness of His
17:03
glory and power?
17:05
And if the way that you
17:06
behave now, or if that what
17:08
you're receiving into your
17:10
life, the shows that you're
17:11
watching on television, the
17:13
types of personalities and
17:15
the types of energy that
17:16
you're receiving, which is
17:18
centered in the me, in the
17:20
individual sense of exalting
17:23
self and in pride, if what
17:25
you're doing now and what
17:28
you're receiving now will
17:30
not be able to hold up when
17:31
you stand before God in the
17:33
day of His power, what that
17:35
says is we have to change
17:37
what we're doing now, so
17:39
that what we're doing now
17:41
will stand in His power as if
17:43
it was the day of God's power.
17:44
In an essence, what I'm
17:46
saying to you, beloved, is
17:47
we need to repent.
17:48
Hannah realized that all
17:52
proudness needs to be
17:54
abyssed, because there's
17:57
only one that's holy.
17:58
He's God in heaven above and
18:01
the earth beneath.
18:02
Whether her womb was opened
18:03
or closed, she had to give
18:04
honor to the Lord and filter
18:06
all her life through Him and
18:08
walk before Him with a sense
18:11
of His Holiness, a sense of
18:13
His beauty, and a sense
18:14
of His glory.
18:15
So I want to challenge you
18:16
and I today, beloved one,
18:18
let's lead a life that
18:20
reflects something similar
18:23
to the Spirit and
18:24
disposition of Hannah.
18:26
God is holy, and he's
18:28
calling you and I to be holy.
18:30
Now is the day of salvation.
18:32
If today you're hearing His
18:34
voice, repent and
18:35
change your life.
18:37
RABBI SCHNEIDER>> God's love
18:38
demands a response.
18:40
In other words, the love of
18:42
God is calling us to respond.
18:45
This is why Jesus said, "If
18:48
you love me," He said,
18:49
"you'll keep My
18:50
commandments." So as I think
18:53
about this in my own life, I
18:54
think of three areas in my
18:56
life that the love of God is
18:58
demanding a response from:
18:59
what I do with my time, what
19:01
I do with my talent, and
19:04
what I do with my treasure.
19:05
And I'm always trying to
19:06
examine myself as to whether
19:08
I'm giving myself
19:10
fully to the Lord.
19:11
As we come to the end of the
19:12
broadcast today, I would
19:14
simply ask you, if the Holy
19:16
Spirit is feeding you through
19:17
this ministry, and you feel
19:19
him leading, you urging you
19:21
to sow your financial gifts
19:22
unto the Lord through
19:24
Discovering the Jewish Jesus
19:25
today, just be obedient.
19:27
Because when we're obedient,
19:28
a channel is opened up in
19:31
our heart for the Spirit of the
19:32
Lord to take possession of us.
19:34
And beloved, not only that.
19:35
By sowing to the Lord
19:37
through this ministry,
19:38
you'll be a channel that
19:39
will be used to the Lord
19:40
to bless others.
Do you want more peace in your life? Today, Joyce discusses the importance of making peace and being a peacemaker with those around you.
I'm teaching this weekend about the dangers of strife and the importance of peace. If you know how important peace is, you'll do anything you have to do in order to have it. But if you don't realize how important it is, then you'll never have it, because the devil is constantly setting you up to get you upset. Amen? It's challenging to go through one whole day and not get upset about anything, but let's just say, how many could go a whole week? Well, Jesus has given us peace. John 14:27, "My peace I leave with you: not as the world gives do I given unto you. My own special peace I now give to you". But here's the important part. So, "Stop allowing yourselves to be upset and disturbed. Stop allowing yourselves to be fearful and intimidated".
And I love to say this, and I don't know how many of us really get this, but we're partners with God. God is not gonna do everything for us while we sit back and do nothing. That's not what prayer is. Prayer is not just asking God to fix your problems. It's also cooperating and asking him if there's something he wants you to do to change things. And so, Jesus has given us peace, but it's our job to hang on to it. And I'm an expert in this because I was not peaceful. Trust me. And if I can learn to live in peace, anybody can learn to live in peace. But I had to be willing to make a lot of changes.
And I said last night, and I'll say it again, you are never gonna to walk in peace, you're never gonna live in peace without humility. And humility is, I think, probably the most challenging Christian virtue to develop and to maintain in your life. 'cause we've all got a big ego. We don't want to be told what to do. We always wanna be right. We wanna be first. We wanna be on top. We really like to judge and criticize and gossip. I don't know why we like to gossip so much. But it's just, boy, if you know something, it is very hard not to tell it, isn't it? And, but a lot of times it's those things that cause strife. We start telling things and telling things. And I mean, I made the mistake last weekend of deciding, "I'm gonna look myself up on the internet".
Whoo, buddy, I found out some things about me I didn't even know. People just say stuff. You know, they just make stuff up. Or they hear something, and they just pass it on to somebody else and it just. You need to be careful about how much time you spend on that social media, because if you start believing everything that you read in print, you're gonna end up hating everybody. Amen? And don't get on there and leave some nasty opinion about somebody and then not even have the guts to sign your name to it. That's really bad.
If you're gonna get on there, say somethin' nice, say somethin' pleasant, say somethin' happy. But strife, and I said this last night but I'm gonna say it again quickly today, by the way, I'm starting this morning on page one of my notes where I was supposed to start last night. I did preach the message, but I somehow or another didn't get it in the direction it was supposed to go in. But I think it turned out alright anyway. So that's normally the way it is with me. I spend weeks stuffing all this stuff in me and then it comes out however God wants it to come out.
And I said last night, when God first gave us the call to start, Joyce Meyer Ministries, he really spoke strongly to my heart and said, "There's three things I want you to do, and if you do them, I'll bless your ministry". How many of you want to be blessed in your life? Okay. Well, the blessings from God don't fall in your life just because you go to church, tithe every week, and read your Bible. "Well, I don't understand why I've got all these problems, I tithe". Well, what else do you do? See, we gotta, you can do the right thing here, but then kill it by doing the wrong thing over here. And Psalm 133 says that where there's unity, that it's like oil being poured down on the head of Aaron and running all down his face and on his beard and all down his body, you know, that's the way they anointed people who were called into ministry, serve as kings and prophets back in the Old Testament. They didn't just dab them, they poured oil on them and that represented the anointing.
I am so grateful for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And in 1 John 2, it says that we all have an anointing from God. And if you don't know what that word means, boy, you need to study the anointing. I'm reading a book right now on the sacred anointing. It's getting me all stirred up again. I mean, we have to have God's anointing. And what that is, is his presence and his power on our life, enabling us to do things. And you can have a little bit, or you can have a whole lot. And I want all I can get. And yes, God's gifts are free, but we can't buy the anointing, but we can make it stronger or weaker depending on how we live. Amen?
So, if you want God's anointing on your life and you don't need an anointing just for ministry. Let me tell you something, you need an anointing to get in and out of the grocery store in peace. If you've got teenagers, you need a strong anointing. Amen? If you're married, you need an anointing. Amen? If you've got a dog, you need an anointing. So, it says that where there's unity, where people are in agreement, gettin' along, maintaining peace, there's anointing and blessing. And I want to live a blessed life, don't you? Being blessed doesn't mean just havin' a lot of money, that can be part of it, but it's joy, and peace, and favor. Favor is so amazing to watch God open doors for you that, you know, God did that. You can't even explain it, but you know that it was God.
I love havin' this little, awesome, intimate, secret relationship with God where he does things for me that wouldn't make any sense to anybody else, but I know it's God just giving me a little wink. And sayin', "I gotcha girl. You're doing okay". Amen? And my heart, I love to see people born again, but I so hate to see people receive Christ and then never grow up spiritually. And so, we have to have the full counsel of the Word of God. We need to hear all the encouraging things, but we also need to hear the word in a way that it will correct us and help us want to get from where we are to where we need to be. And I've kind of been assigned that part. And God does give you an assignment. And my job has always been to help the believer mature and so he can have the things that Jesus died to give him. And this thing about peace is it's a key part of this whole thing.
In Ephesians 6, it talks about spiritual warfare, beginning at about verse 10 going through 18, and it says that God has given us armor. And it's not armor you can see, but it's spiritual armor. "We war not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers and wickedness in high places". There are evil spirits, demons in the world, just like there's angels. And you need to think about that once in a while that you've got angels that have been assigned to you that travel with you all the time. You ought to just say, "Hey," to 'em once in a while. "Hey, I'm glad you're watching out for me. Thank you, Jesus, for my angels". But there are also demons. And I know people don't like to talk about this kind of stuff, but we can't stick our head in the sand and pretend like everything is just que sera sera.
Listen, the devil hates you. And he hates anybody that's trying to work for God and spread the gospel. And God has told us that we can protect ourselves by wearing the armor that he gives us. But it's spiritual armor. It's the breastplate of righteousness. It's knowing who you are in Christ and not living under condemnation. Don't waste another day of your life feeling guilty. If you have done something wrong, then repent, ask God to forgive you, receive it, shake it off and go on. You say, "Well, what if I keep doing the same thing over and over"? Well, then keep repenting over and over, and trust that God is working in you and keep trusting him to set you free. Peter said, "How many times must I forgive my brother"? And the answer he gave really was "However many times you need to".
So, if God tells a person to do that, surely, he does it himself. Wear that breastplate of righteousness. Get over being insecure and comparing yourself with somebody else all the time. Hey, you got what you need. You got what it takes. If you're born again, God lives in you. You're the house of God and you can do whatever you need to do through Christ, if you lean on him and trust him. Tighten the belt of truth. The truth is the Word of God. Put on your shoes of peace. Walk in peace. The helmet of salvation. Think like a Christian. You know, the Bible says that if you look at a woman and have lustful thoughts about her, it's the same as actually committing the act of adultery. So, we gotta do something about this thinking thing. That's why I teach about it so much.
"Well, I can't help what I think". Yes, you can. We won't get into that, I'll never get off page one. I'll be gone this afternoon, and still will not have gotten off page one. There's scripture in 1 Peter 3:10 and 11 that I absolutely love, love, love, love, love. 1 Peter 3:10 and 11 in the Amplified Bible says, "For let him who wants to enjoy life and see good days, [good, whether apparent or not]". And I like that, so that's basically meaning that your circumstances might not be good, but it can still be a good day. I like that. In other words, the devil can throw his best shot and you can still have a good day. "Let him keep his tongue free from evil". Well, there's the mouth again. I'll just throw this out for free. When you have a problem, don't start complaining.
Do you know that complaining opens a door for the devil? The Israelites murmured and complained. And God got so tired of it, he finally let serpents into the camp and 23,000 of 'em died in one day. And it was all because of complaining. And I'm not telling you, you're gonna drop dead if you complain. But I am saying that it opens the door for the devil to steal your joy, and your peace, and your blessings, and your favor, and all the other things that you say you want from God. Now, we all make mistakes with our mouth, but here again, we can repent. "Oh, God, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I take that back. I'm gonna pull it back, Lord". Quick, say something good. God is so good to us. I said this just last night as we were closing, but I heard this a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was so good. What if you woke up today and all you had was what you were thankful for yesterday? Amen?
"Let him keep his tongue free from evil and his lips from guile. Let him turn away from wickedness and shun it, and let him do what is right". You know, this is really a pretty simple deal. Jesus has provided everything and all he says is, "If you love me, you'll obey me". He did not say if you obey me, I will love you. That's already settled. He's gonna love you. God will never love you any more than he does at this moment, right now. God loves you completely and totally, unconditionally. He loves you. I'm sorry, I don't care how big of a stinker you are, he loves you. He loves you. God loves you. Amen? And if we really learn to appreciate that and soak in it, we have to respond with obedience. I'm gonna say something that, ah, I don't know, maybe I shouldn't say, but I say a lot of things I shouldn't say, I guess, 'cause I think it needs to be said.
You know, you can pray what we call the sinner's prayer with somebody in a meeting. But I'm gonna tell you the truth, if you are truly born again and you really made a serious commitment, I don't think it's possible for anybody to be truly born again and never change. I just don't think it's possible. Because when you receive Christ, he comes to live in you, and boy, the war is on. Your spirit wars against the flesh and the flesh wars against the spirit. Things you could do before and them not bother you at all, you do them now it's gonna bother you. And I pray God will just keep bothering you and keep bothering you and keep bothering you until you can't stand it anymore, and you do what he wants you to.
How do you like that for a loving prayer? And you know, you need to, instead of just praying, "Oh, God bless them. Lord, bless uncle Charlie and aunt June and", no, "God bother them. Send the Holy Spirit after them and don't leave them alone until they submit to you". Amen? And that is a blessing. You are praying for them to be blessed when you pray like that. That's why the Bible says to "Pray for your enemies, bless and do not curse them".
When you pray for your enemies to be blessed, you're not praying for them to get a new car and a big house. Really the biggest blessing they can have is for them to see truth and face that truth and let God deal with them. And there is nobody, listen to me, there is nobody that God cannot change. I don't care how bad they are or how long they've been that way. There is nobody that God can't change. "Turn away from wickedness and shun it". Verse 11, "Let him do right. Let him", now, this is the part I don't want you to miss, "Let him search for peace".
See, you gotta want it. You gotta figure out how the devil is stealing your peace and get the upper hand over him. He knows how to push your buttons. "(harmony: undisturbedness from fears, agitating passions, moral conflicts) and seek", seek is a very strong word. It means to go after with all your might. "And seek it eagerly. Do not merely desire peaceful relationships with God, with your fellowman, and with yourself, but pursue and go after them!]" I pray that a whole bunch of people here today make the decision that I made years ago, "I am not gonna live without peace. I refuse to live without peace any longer. God, I don't care what you have to change in me, change it. No matter how much pride I have to swallow, give me the grace to swallow it".
Because I can tell you what fighting with somebody just to prove you're right is not worth the price you're paying to get it. First, you have peace with God. And that comes through either doing the right thing to start with or when you do make a mistake and sin, repenting right away, seriously repenting right away. And we're all gonna do plenty of that in our life because there's none of us that do it all right all the time. And this peace with yourself is so important. And I'll tell you why it's important, you cannot have peace with people if you don't have peace with yourself.
What kind of a relationship do you have with yourself? I like myself. I didn't for a lot of years. I hated myself and I thought about only what was wrong with me. I didn't like my voice. I didn't like this. I didn't like that. I didn't like my thighs. I didn't, you know, it was just. Come on, if you don't like your feet, too bad it's the feet you got. Just doctor 'em up, put some rhinestones on those toes. It is miserable if you don't like yourself because you never get away from yourself. You know what it's like to spend one afternoon with a relative you don't like. Well, think about spending your whole life with somebody you don't like. You can't even go to the bathroom without you. You can't give away what you don't have. And if you don't have love in you, you can't give it to somebody else. And that's the high command on our life.
Barbara talks today about JUSTICE. Justice in the world, justice in the Church, justice in your family, and everywhere else...it's all His justice!
[Music] Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barber Car Mag. This is Jimmy Lakey and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at box 370367 Denver, Colorado 80237 or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a word-powered daily reading Bible guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll-free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now let's join Barbara in the studio. Oh, this beautiful. I would love to say, "Oh, what a beautiful mort, but it's not morning." But what a beautiful day. It's in the 80s. I mean, there's a slight breeze. That's ideal weather for me. It really is sunny and beautiful and I love weather like this. I was telling the Lord as I was coming to the building today. Oh, you could have this every day, Lord. It's going to be really good. Oh, I don't know if you... Well, yes, I know he listens to me, but sometimes his plans are so much better than my plans. So I just thank God for you listening and hope that you are in a situation where you're peaceful and joyful and comfortable in what God has brought you to. God is faithful, my friend. And he knows the unspoken needs of your heart. You can rest in the assurance that he'll meet them on time and generously. You are in agreement with God. I am prophesying over you right now that you are in agreement with God. You have the mind of Christ. And your mouth, your mouth, is the faith switch that either takes you to the negative or to the positive. And I'm going to say you are a person of faith. In Jesus' name, praise the Lord. You are blessed to dispense for in Him you live and move and have your being. And I asked Kimberly to come back on today because she had just mentioned thorns and thistles. And I thought, wow, that's really good because we heard about that in Genesis with Adam. He's going to live by the sweat of his brow and the thorns and thistles. And I thought so many of us live among thorns and thistles before we know Jesus. And then all of a sudden he pulls up all these weeds like you did Kimberly. Welcome. Like you did Kimberly from my yard. Oh my goodness, girl, you are a worker. In fact, I have one of your gloves up on my little bulletin board. And they were new gloves when you started to pulling weeds. I think it was like a maybe a couple years ago. And it's got a big hole in the index finger. You were so hard at that afternoon. And you wore out the glove. And so I don't know. Well, maybe it wasn't a very sturdy glove in the first place. Well, it's a well. I mean, it's from a sits one of those big leather gloves. So you just work hard. You do. You're a hard worker. And so I praise God for your bone structure and anatomy, your skeletal system. Everything that God has given to you is just wonderfully made. Even though the doctors say you're not wonderfully made, God sees you as wonderfully made. Oh, thank you. Thank you. I received that. If you can see me right now, my arms are just outstretched with my hands upward just receiving that. And we speak that over you listening to that if you're struggling with something in your body that God has made you here fearfully and wonderfully made by the uncreated God. And he knew exactly how to knit you together. He knows how to repair. We just speak reparation. We speak repairs to you who are listening right now. We bless you with those repairs. And mom, I just love that you brought up the thorns and thistles from Genesis. I wasn't thinking about those when I brought that up because the scripture that I was reading from is from Isaiah 27 verse 4. And it says, this is God speaking. It says, there is no anger in me. If someone offers me thorns and thistles, I will march into battle and burn them up. I will set them all on fire. Let him rely on my protection. Make me his refuge and let him make peace with me. It says that twice. Let him make peace with me. I love thinking about giving him my thorns and thistles that's the things in my life that are causing obstacles. And you're right when we come to Jesus, he just pulls up the thorns and the thistles. He just weeds that garden for us. But we do need to make the choice of bringing them to him. That's right. And letting them be burned up. And you know what? Sometimes we cling to our thorns and thistles. Sometimes we think that they're doing us more good. And they're not. It's interesting to me what the thorns and thistles might be. They can be idols in our lives. And those are the things that do need to be pulled up. And I was just thinking about God's justice and what that looks like because when we cry out for justice or even when we read about able, can an able. There are two brothers that were very different personalities and Cain became jealous of his brother, Abel, and murdered him. So in the New Testament, there's a scripture that talks about Abel's blood crying out for justice. And now that word for justice is not always the same justice that God talks about for himself. And God's justice is always accompanied by his mercy. Do you remember that scripture in Malachi? Malachi 6.8 that he tells us what is required of us. You're seeing that that is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're right. I said Malachi. Thanks for it. Yeah. Yeah. And he says that he requires a man to do justice. By showing mercy and walking humbly with our God. Yes. I know that I've been talking to the listeners earlier this week about King Hezekiah and how he was threatened by King Sinacarib who at that time he had conquered every nation around Israel. And Hezekiah was so scared that he gave him all the gold, all the silver, even the gold from the temple doors. And finally, he realized he had done wrong. And what did Hezekiah do in asking for justice? He called on Isaiah the prophet. And Isaiah came to the people and said, don't be afraid. God's got this all figured out. He's got a plan. And he's going to bring you through victoriously. So when we look to counseling in a godly way, Kimberly, that's justice from God. When we look to godly counselors that we can talk to and pray with to help us make these decisions, these life decisions, then that justice is going to prevail because God is a God of justice. You're absolutely right. Oh, that's good. And he has mercy that accompanies that justice. He's not even angry that Hezekiah was trying a different route, selling off all the gold. And he doesn't get angry. That's what Isaiah 274 says. There is no anger in me. I'm just letting you know what these thorns and thistles look like. There's no anger in it. In fact, I think our God is delighted when we're trying these other paths because they do fail. He's the only one who never fails. That's right. And once we get to the end of everything else that we want to try and we realize, look, all of that fails in comparison to who you are and the way you do this life. God's right. So we return to him. That's what he wants. He wants us to return to him. It's a wonderful plan. It's a wonderful design. And the way that God measures His justice is as the great architect, the capital G, capital A, architect. He has original blueprints for us and for this world. And his original design for you and for me and for this whole planet is to be a sanctuary, a place of peace and rest. And he has invited us into this rest, whatever it might be that's keeping us from that rest. That's what he will dull out his justice on. That's what he will burn up and make sure that it doesn't stand in the way of his rest. Oh, yes. So those thorns and thistles of your life that prevent you from experiencing his peace will be burned up in the glory of his love for you. Oh, that's so good, Kimberly. And some of us think when we're pressured, when we're in pain, God, what did I do to deserve this? And He says, it's not me. It's those thorns and thistles that have built up in your life and we're just going to burn them off with my love. Oh, it's good. I experienced that last week, Kimberly, when I decided, okay, I am going to do what Kimberly asked me to do. I am going to for 30 days be gluten free. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know what I was saying. And coming off of that sugar over years and years, I had brain fog. I had all kinds of things going on in my body, but my body was sloughing off all this junk that I had stored inside of it. And so I went through pain. I went through shaking. I went through fever. And coming out on the other side, Kimberly, I realized so many people are in pain. And what do they do? They go to the doctor and get medication that only covers up the symptoms. And they don't follow through. Oh, yes. Now you took the whole gluten free step further. You also decided to go sugar free. So you had some pretty big detoxing going on. And I don't think you or I realized what that was going to look like. I haven't had sugar now for 12 days, not one piece of sugar. And I'm the kind of mom you know that I have just a little piece of dark chocolate every day. Because dark chocolate is good for you. I mean, we can just-- Oh, sure. And you know what? No judgment. No judgment on that. No. But we can justify our lifestyle so well now in this world. And it's been quite a challenge for my body. And also for me, just get my thought life right again. So I'm so grateful for you coming on during this interim that I'm getting back on a restorative and renewal of what God wants me. Me, Barbara Carmack to be in. Is that restored place? Yes, that's right. So. So sometimes God's justice, the way that He brings justice to us, looks unfair and feels painful like you're talking, you know, detoxing or whatever the burning of the thorns and fizzles is. It can look like pain to us. It can look like suffering to us. And we just don't have the same wisdom that God has. In 1 Corinthians 1, 25, it says the foolish things of God have proven to be wiser than any human wisdom. Oh, it's so good. And the feeble things of God have proven to be far more powerful than any human ability. And in that same chapter, 1 Corinthians 1 verse 21, it says, "For in His wisdom, God designed that all the world's wisdom would be insufficient to lead people to the discovery of Himself." Himself, yes. He took great delight in baffling the wisdom of the world by using the simplicity of preaching the story of the cross. That's the message of forgiveness for all in order to save those who believe it. So sometimes forgiveness looks foolish to us and it looks unfair. We can get justice and fairness confused, I think. In our cry for justice in a situation, we don't think that that person deserves any kind of forgiveness. And here is God presenting forgiveness to all. When Christ stretched his arms out on that cross, allowed Himself to be flagged and crucified. And then He spoke from the cross, from that place of suffering and pain. He spoke these words, "Father, forgive them." Or they know not what they're doing. And when He asked our Father, our Heavenly Father to forgive, He wasn't just asking for the disciples that ran off and left Him or asking for the religious leaders that were standing around mocking Him and looking at them realizing, "You know, these are religious leaders. They have good hearts. They want to follow God. They just don't have any idea what they're doing." He was also speaking forgiveness over the Romans, the Gentiles, those who were causing the crucifixion to actually happen and nailing Him to the cross, those who were drunk, those who go home and beat their wives, those who are rapists and murderers. He was speaking forgiveness over everyone. We need to remember that. And that sometimes looks unfair and feels unfair. But what we want to remember is that God's justice is perfect and it includes mercy and walking humbly. We can't always figure it out on our own. I heard somebody asking Rabbi about how a God who is so kind and loving, how could He allow pain and suffering. And the Rabbi simply explained that the wisest person on this planet is still an infant compared to God and His wisdom. And he said, "You know as infants, we can sometimes end up with a skin rash. When we have a rash, our mother, our loving mother, if we have a loving mother, will put an ointment on that rash. But it doesn't feel good at first. It hurts. It's irritating to have that skin touched when you've got a rash. And as an infant, you can't know that that touch is actually healing. All you know is it's irritating. It really hurts. So you might be crying out, screaming out and crying out in pain. But that pain is actually healing. We just don't know it yet. And that's how we want to see God's justice. We want to see that He is bringing healing. He's justifying a situation that has actually been a bunch of thorns and thistles in our lives. And He wants to burn those out of our lives and bring a reconciliation that does usher in a peace and a joy and a happiness and a contentment that we never would know otherwise. It is so good. I really needed that. There I was reminded of my husband's generosity. I just want to give this as an example because for many, many years, he's just been so generous to other people but also to our kids just spending in ways that I thought was irresponsible. And his gift of generosity is a trait that our Heavenly Father possesses. And He has passed that trait down to many of His beloved. So I need to keep that in mind. The gift of generosity does not look like wisdom to the world. That's one of the gifts in Romans 12 with the teachers and the administrators, a gift of generosity. Yes. That's right. So, it often doesn't fall into my category of what responsible looks like. And I was at odds with Matthew's generosity for years because it appeared wasteful to me. I would argue with him that we weren't making enough for him to be so freehanded with our resources. And my sense of responsibility was an obstacle. It was a thorn. It was thorns and fizzles to how the Lord wanted to bless others. It looked like wisdom to me but foolishness to God. That's just a really good example of how Matthew and I were not reconciled with one another. And we weren't reconciled with God. Our small human ideas cannot compare to the brilliant wisdom that belongs to our Lord. And we need to humble ourselves and be willing to see things a little bit differently because he is God. We are not. Yes. Yes. First Corinthians 3, 19. I love this. I love the world. I love the scripture. Yes. You probably have it in other translations. Let me read it from this one. And then if you've got more, please, please add to this. For what the world says is wisdom is actually foolishness in God's eyes. Yes. And he says here in the 19th verse of what you just read, "Did you read in the living?" I believe that was the Passion Transm… Oh, okay, the Passion is the New American Standard and it says, "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness." And that's God's business. That's not our business. That's God's business. And then verse 20 says, "The Lord knows the reasonings, reasonings of the wise, that they are useless, Kimberly. The reasonings that we live by, that we do every day by, they are useless to God." Yes, that's right. As we're talking about forgiveness, it may seem foolish to forgive. There might be situations that it just seems absolutely impossible to forgive, but forgiveness is the wisdom and justice of our God. It truly is. He uses forgiveness to bring us back to our original blueprint, back to our original design, so that we can walk with Him. And we want to be able to offer that kind of forgiveness to others as well. We want them to find their way back to peace, back to God, the designer, the creator. You know, I was thinking about this justice, and Pinocchio came to my mind because it was a woodworker, right, that created Pinocchio. And I don't even remember his name. But I was just thinking about how Pinocchio went rogue. He just decided he became alive. He became sentient. And in his own ideas, he decided to start lying. And he chose to lie. That lying actually damaged him. It caused his nose to grow and grow and grow. That was producing damage to this little wooden puppet. So to be a truly just inventor, that inventor would not just leave him that way. He would find a way to reverse what is damaging Pinocchio. And our very just creator has found a way to reconcile the wrong that has damaged us and bring us back to a restored place with him. His justice is beautiful and it is found in forgiveness. Praise God. Kimberly, so many of us say, well, I don't have any odd against anybody. Well, I sense and I feel like more Christians than not have unforgiveness towards God. They think that God has done something to them to prevent them from living a successful life. So their unforgiveness, their grudges are against God, not maybe against human beings, but against God himself. Well, God, you just didn't work it out the way I wanted you to work it out. Well, Kimberly, we've got to get on our knees and say, Father God, I want you to take the wheel. I want you to be in charge of my life here. Yes, yes. And really unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, they are sneaky because you might feel like you don't have anything like that against God or others, but what about yourself? How do you feel about yourself and who you are and your journey in this life? Being able to really look at that with fairness, be fair with yourself and be fair with God. Try to do it. That's a hard thing to do. And I just am picturing God. We are His creation. And He is the Creator. He is uncreated. We are created. And the only truly just way of handling a piece of creation that has gone rogue or is being rebellious is to reconcile its programming, you know, to actually tweak it and get to the conscience, get to that level where your conscience is pricking you, bring it back into a peaceful place. And God's justice always includes mercy. Yes. His timing is so perfect. It's full of mercy. And the place where He does it is full of mercy. We all need that mercy. Yes, we do. We need to be able to show mercy and walk humbly with our God. He never asks us to do something that He doesn't Himself do. We are made in His image. So He is instructing us how to be like Him. And you know what? We don't really ponder that enough. That's the whole big plan is to be like Him. That's why He made us so that we would become like Him, be His perfect partner, be His body. He is the head where His body, to be His bride. Wow. How do you create a bride for the Creator of the universe? There's nothing impossible for Him. That's right. I think we need to spend some time realizing what our original blueprint really is. If we can come back to our original design, then we can really trust the designer that everything that He's allowing in this life is making us like Him. It's doing its job. That's right. It's fulfilling the plan. I gave Him permission to burn up all the thorns and thistles in my life. That's where I am right now in my life. I just want to be closer to Jesus. I want to also tell all of you listeners that Travis at Crawford has a web designer and he just let me know that my name is on the podcast list at Crawford. If you'd like to listen to it besides going to FreedomStreet.org, and Kimberly, you looked up another way of getting to that. You can go to kltt.com and slash podcast. And then did you go into the podcast? Just go to their homepage. Just look up the radio homepage. The kltt. The kltt. KLTT. KLTT. And then you can go to the homepage and look for podcasts when you get there. Just search for podcasts and you can then revisit some of these programs that we have had and any other programs that they had at kltt. Oh, that's so good. So I hope you can now you've got choices into which to call not only listen to call to freedom, but all the other programs on kltt. Which gives you a larger area of listening. So I think that's a great idea. Thank you, Travis, TJ. We call him TJ here at the stations, but he's a intelligent gifted young man. I can say young man because of my age. Thank you, Kimberly. Oh, this has been so good. I'm glad you could come today and explain the thorns and the fizzles to us. And-- Oh, I pray that all of you will have great labor day. It's going to be a long one this weekend. Have a wonderful, restful time in God. Thank you for listening to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. You may get in touch with Barbara at Call to Freedom. Box 370-367. Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may leave your message at 1-877-917-7256. 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 partner 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 in heart prize by mailing them to Call to Freedom. Box 370-367. Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may email us at Barbara Carmack at FreedomStreet.org. Until next time, remember Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy. Thank you. [Music]
Rest is important! Today barbara talks about rest and how that was so important to Jesus that he gave us a whole day for it!
[Music] Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbar Car Mag. 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 370-367 Denver, Colorado 802-37 or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a word-powered daily reading Bible guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll-free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio. [Music] So this is Kimberly sitting in for Barbara today on Call to Freedom. I apologize for the technical difficulties. I think it's on my end and I'm having to call in from Oklahoma. So thank you for your patience with me. Barbara woke up with a scratchy throat this morning and she asked me to sit in for her so she could have a day of rest. So thank you for your prayers over her and this ministry that there will be wholeness, strength, and health. Her faithfulness to proclaim that word of God is such an inspiration and a blessing to me. So it is an honor to sit in and let her rest and be restored and rejuvenated today. Thank you for your prayers for her. If you would like to leave a message of encouragement for my mom, Barbara, feel free to call that number 877-917-7256. She is probably not going to be answering the phones today but feel free to leave her a message at 877-917-7256 and let her know that you missed her today. We do love hearing from you any time that you leave us a message. So please feel free to do that. And if you are being blessed by what you hear at Call to Freedom, visit us at FreedomStreet.org. You will find some of the past radio shows there and you will also find ways to donate. So we pray over each donation that comes into this ministry that it will be multiplied back to you. And we pray over you every individual as well as the families that you represent. You are dear to us and we love to pray over you. Well, I'm just going to continue with the subject that we were talking about yesterday. We left off talking about how to cultivate a life that emulates Jesus. And Jesus did not fight the circumstances that he found himself in. Even when he saw what was coming, how a crowd could run out of food and need to be fed. He did not try to prevent that hunger. He did not see it ahead of time and decide that he was going to do something about it. He sometimes lets us be hungry so that he can feed us. And we know if we've ever been really hungry, how good that first meal is that we have. And Jesus is our very best meal. The words from his mouth are a better meal for us than any food on this planet. So I can only imagine that maybe the people didn't even realize they were going hungry because they were listening to his words. I would love to have been there. And the other things that Jesus would see ahead of time are things like the storm. A storm on the lake. And he told the disciples, let's get in the boat and go to the other side. He knew there was a storm coming but he didn't stop the trip from happening. He didn't wait for a more opportune time to cross that lake. And we tend to do that as human beings. We'll look at the weather and we'll think, oh well, maybe today isn't a good day to travel. Wow, Jesus was not like that. And he also saw how one of his closest friends would betray him. He did not take that information and put in a boundary and distance himself from that friend. I want to read from Romans 8, 28 and 29. And when I was asked to sit in, I was looking at my Bible and praying and asking the Lord, what would you have me share? And I think we share this verse so very often. But I know that I was led back to it today for a reason and a purpose. So let me read Romans 8, 28 and 29 from the new American standard version. It says, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good. To those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose, for whom He for knew He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren. I want to go ahead and read this from another translation, the passion translation. It says, we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together for good. For we are His lovers who have been called to fulfill His designed purpose. For He knew all about us before we were born. And He destined us from the beginning to share the likeness of His Son. This means the Son is the oldest among a vast family of brothers and sisters who will become just like Him. That's you, just like Jesus. Wow, what does that mean to you when you think about that? What does that mean to become just like Jesus, the Son of God? If you could describe Jesus in one word, what would that word be? I had to think about that myself. I was just trying to figure out, wow, how do you condense the Son of God into one word? Would it be trusting, fruitful, a miracle worker would have a hyphen in it? How do you describe God in one word? Would the word holy work? It would work for me, but you have to have a good working definition of holy. And to me, holy is being set apart, so different from anything else on this planet. It's holy, it is above what we might imagine. I heard someone describe Jesus as relaxed. I don't think that would have been the first word that comes to my mind, but then I started thinking about it, relaxed, Jesus being relaxed. And what does that look like to us as human beings? How do we relax? Do we relax with a nice cold drink on a hot day or being in a place where there's a cool breeze? Taking a vacation. Do you relax when you're on vacation? Sometimes I do, but sometimes my vacations are full of some work, too. And then I come home and I need a vacation from my vacation. So I know some of you know what I'm talking about. I think about Jesus being relaxed and I realize, you know, being relaxed is just knowing that everything is taken care of. Right? It's all done. It's all taken care of. Now we can just relax. And I think Jesus lived, relaxed, because he knew his father had taken care of everything. It was all taken care of. He had an understanding of that that maybe we don't. And so being relaxed is not necessarily the goal. It is the byproduct of being in relationship with our creator, our Heavenly Father. And being in relationship with Jesus and becoming like him helps us get to this place of being relaxed. We don't have to worry. We don't have to stress over what might be coming up in the day. What the weather might be. How a friend is treating us or what our job is like. We don't have to be stressed. We can relax because God is working all things together for good. Every detail of our lives. He's got it in his hands and we know this about him. We've lived enough life to know that he is causing all these things to come together for good. So even if it looks like the enemy is working things to trip us up to the obstacles to get in our way, we know that God is actually causing those obstacles to be the very thing that causes good to come into our life. And it's a better good than what we would have ever imagined. So being like Jesus and being relaxed, he allows us to go through some chaos and confusion. He allows us to go through the wilderness, even calls us into the wilderness with him in order to become like him. So we will not fight the circumstances that we find ourselves in. When we're relaxed, we don't fight them. We just relax and we trust. We know that God is causing this very situation to bring the utmost good into our lives. We don't have to worry about what we need to do right now to secure our future plans. That's not at all how Jesus taught us to do life. We need to listen and trust. In the listening and the trusting, we develop a relationship with the one that we're made for. Instead of being so concerned with whether or not we're comfortable, we instead will concern ourselves with becoming. With becoming. Becoming what we were created to be. Becoming who we were created to be. Discomfort is not that big of a deal when you realize that you were made to become like God, to become his perfect partner in this world, to become his best friend for all of eternity. It's not just a temporary mission. It is an eternal goal and it sounds absolutely impossible when you measure it up against who you see you are in the mirror. At least it becomes, it looks impossible for me. It looks like just the most amazing idea. And we really need to take some time to think about it. We are made to be his perfect partner. I remember years ago having a conversation with a close friend and she asked me, "What is it that you want?" I think I remember voicing some concerns to her at the time. I don't remember exactly what those concerns were. This was a couple decades ago. But her question made me think, "What do I want? Do I live for having a comfortable life? The American dream? Recognition? Do I want more education? Maybe you can think about it right now. What do you want? What do you want with your life? What do you want in this life? I don't think it was my friend's question that stood out to me as much as her observation. She actually repeated back to me some of what I had been telling her. And she said that she heard me say three different times in my report to her that I was uncomfortable, that some circumstance was just so uncomfortable to me. And so she noticed that I wanted comfort. I wanted to be comfortable. Is that really what I want in life? You know, I was reading from Romans 8, 28, but let me go back to Romans 8, 18. It says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." That glory is being made into his image. And when we think about that, when we see that that is the main goal, that is the plan for our lives. That's the design. The designer has made these blueprints for us. And those blueprints are for us to become just like him, made in his image. Wow, when we look at that, then anything else that we might be going through is not worthy to be compared with that kind of glory that is being revealed to us, that's being worked in us and through us as a result of these circumstances and situations that were allowed to walk through. When I wonder about what I might want in this life or what you might want as you're listening right now, I go to the question, "Well, what did Jesus want when he was here?" And the answer is found in John 638, "For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me." Jesus wanted to do the will of his father in heaven. Well, I don't know what that's like very well. I have been such a selfish creature that I haven't given a whole lot of thought to my father's will on a moment-to-moment basis every day. Have you? It's kind of a hard thing to tap into what his will is and to trust that he is accomplishing his will in the midst of our circumstances, the very ones that we are in the middle of right now. Sometimes those circumstances have a so overwhelmed that we don't even see that there could be a plan for something good. Yet this is where our heavenly father wants us to trust him. It's a natural human response to try and prevent situations that make us uncomfortable or that interrupt our routines. But when we try to control our circumstances that way, we are robbing ourselves of becoming. Yes, becoming. That's the goal. Becoming like him, being conformed to his image. Actually walking out the design that we were designed for, the whole picture. It's his picture and walking out his will is such a blessing. It brings us to a greater understanding, a greater wisdom, a greater peace, a greater joy, and greater love. We all need that. We all want that. Yesterday I heard my husband Matthew giving glory to God for bringing us where we are right now, bringing us to this place, and giving us here was not comfortable for either one of us. In fact, being uncomfortable is the very thing that brought us to this place that we are enjoying now. It's a blessed place. We both call it blessed. And how grateful we are for any and all circumstances that brought us to this place. Sometimes we just need to be awakened to God's love for us, awakened to the plan that He has for us, and awakened to what is ahead of us. It's something that none of these circumstances in our suffering can be compared to. It's a glory that is far greater than we can even understand. And there's a song that still wickens things. And I would like to listen to that. Now it's awakened us. Your love awakens me. [Music] There was between us, about across you came and broken down. You broken down. And there were chains around us. By your grace we are no longer bound. No longer bound. You called me out of the grave. You called me into the light. You called my native and my heart came alive. Your love is greater. Your love is stronger. Your love awakens me. Your love is stronger. Your love awakens me. [Music] You're the darkness shaking. All the dead are coming back to life. On back to life. You hear the song awake in our creation. You can't see me with life 'cause you're alive You called me out of the grey, you called me into the light You called my name and in my heart came a lie Your life is greater, your life is stronger Your life awakens, awakens, awakens me Your life is greater, your life is stronger Your life awakens, awakens, awakens me In what all of we found that could hold us down We shining out with love 'cause you're alive In what all of we found that could hold us down We shining out with love 'cause you're alive In what all of we found that could hold us down We shining out with love 'cause you're alive Your life is greater, your life is stronger Your life awakens, awakens, awakens me Your life is greater, your life is stronger Your life awakens, awakens, awakens me Your life is greater, your life is stronger Your life awakens, awakens me Your life is greater, your life is stronger Your life awakens, awakens, awakens me Your life awakens me Your life is greater, your life is stronger Your life awakens, awakens, awakens me Oh, I want to be awakened to his love that is greater, his love that is stronger than anything else in this life And, you know, being uncomfortable is not such a bad deal When we are uncomfortable, we are being led to a greater place, a greater understanding and a greater trust So, in Romans 8, 18 again, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time right now, this moment They're not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us And in us, that is a glory that is far beyond anything that, you know, the price is worth it The price is worth it. So, whatever we are walking through, if it makes us feel uncomfortable or embarrassed or ashamed I remember telling the Lord at one point, "I am just willing to be a fool for you" and when I said that, it ended up being a tested thing I was on the platform getting ready to sing a song at my church and it was a full service And I just couldn't do anything but leap. I started crying and I realized this is the moment that I said I was willing to be a fool And just stand up here and cry. Nobody comes and listens to a special singer cry into the mic. That's not what you come for. You want to hear the song, right? And so, being able to be the fool in that moment, it tested that place in me that might feel ashamed or feel embarrassed But you know what? That shame and embarrassment was quickly snuffed out and put under my feet And I realized this is for him, this is for his glory, and there were people who experienced healing that day 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 57 and 58 says, "But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast, inmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord Wow, what we are toiling with and what we are facing in our circumstances and in our situations is not in vain It gives us an unshakable confidence, a really solid piece, you know the piece, the piece that passes our own understanding It's a piece that's so much deeper and so much greater, it's Jesus' piece that he leaves for us and it's not fragile, it's something that is so strong Let me read that from the Passion translation, so now the Leviton stand firm, stable and enduring Live your lives with an unshakable confidence, we know that we prosper and excel in every season, that's every situation in every circumstance By serving the Lord, putting our eyes on him, focusing on him, because we are assured that our union with the Lord makes our labor productive, with fruit that endures forever The wilderness may be really out of your comfort zone, but it is a vital journey that brings us to a place where we can relax and rest in God's plan His design for us is to become like him, that should blow our minds And whatever he needs to do to accomplish this impossible task, whatever situation it is, whatever circumstance it is, it's worth it And we want to be awakened to this greater plan, this greater story that is causing us to be so much like him that we're his perfect partner for all of eternity Each one of us wants that, that's what we were designed for, so the answer to the question, what is it that you want? What is it that you want in life? The answer is to do our Father's will, to become what He designed us to become, to have the fullness of His image brought into existence through us, in us Yes, it looks impossible, sounds impossible, but that's what He's doing in your life today, so just relax, let Him finish, and know that He will get all the glory Thank you for listening to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack, you may get in touch with Barbara at Call to Freedom, box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or you may leave your message at 1-877-917-7256 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 partner 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 phrase reports in heart prize by mailing them to Call to Freedom, box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or you may email us at Barbara Carmack at FreedomStreet.org Until next time, remember Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy [Music] [Music]
Today Barbara talks about how God turns everything for good. Sometimes it's difficult for us to see the whole picture, but we can rest assured that Jesus has it under control.
[Music] Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barber Car Mag. This is Jimmy Lakey and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at box 370367 Denver, Colorado 80237 or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a word-powered daily reading Bible guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll-free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio. Welcome to Call to Freedom, such a joy to have you come and listen and long for God's Word. I think it's so important when we hunger and we thirst for God's Word more than our necessary food. More than the three squares we get most of us every day. And I'm so grateful, Lord, that you have enfolded all of us and wrapped you around in a wonderful shroud of love. I praise you, Lord God, and thank you for the listeners that listen to Call to Freedom. Oh, and friends, may you be blessed by every little thing that you do every moment of every day. I know it's hot, it's warm again, but I realize how I need to enjoy the heat because pretty soon here in Colorado, especially you're going to see the leaves falling in October and you're going to see colder weather. So I am so grateful that it's going to be 93 today and yesterday it was 95 and it's okay. It's absolutely okay. So when we can say, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. When we say that to God, to Holy Spirit, then we allow him to work in us and that's what is so beautiful about Acts 17, verse 28, that in him you live and you move and you have your being. And that's why you're blessed to dispense because if we could no longer live and move and have our being, we would need even be able to dispense what God has given us into the kingdom of God. So praise the Lord for that. Second Corinthians 12, 9, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest in me. And thank you so much for your online donations. More of you are joining and that's marvelous. That's wonderful. I'm appreciative of all that and especially Call to Freedom and all the expenses that we have these days. You know, you've had to stretch that dollar over more days and over more things that you're buying. And if you would like to, so many of you who donate online, you don't say anything. So if you'd like to leave a message or anything, you can email me at Barbara Carmack at freedom street.org. I would love to hear from you and see what you're doing. Give me a little idea of what your days are like because you hear on my days are like, but I don't get to hear how your days are like. So if you have any prayer requests or even praise reports, you can email me at Barbara Carmack at freedom street.org. God bless you and Kimberly is with us today. She left on Tuesday and now she is here again. Yes, yes, yes. And I just wanted to also join you in saying thank you for the donations. We are thankful. We not just do we are thankful for those donations because it this is all because of your support. So we're just really glad that we don't have any other subsidizing. It is all your support. So we're just really thankful. And we do pray over every one of your donations and bless that back to you that this would be good ground for you to sow in. And that you would receive a harvest on what you've sown into our lives. We're so thankful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Yes. Well, you are home. You are home. I am. I'm home in Oklahoma and Monday you and I started talking a little bit about my testimony and things that happened five years ago that were very unexpected. And I felt a little like we didn't complete that idea. That thought and so I wanted to continue a little bit today about that testimony and kind of wrap it up. I listened to the Lord and I thought that we would be able to continue that yesterday and really the Lord confirmed that I needed to be back on the road and get back to Oklahoma. And so that's why I left yesterday just listening to him. Sometimes I feel like that has consequences where I wasn't able to inform everyone there before I left. Yes. And I'm just all of a sudden gone. Yes. And so for that I apologize. You their friends and listeners. I'm sorry they didn't let anybody know, but I didn't know until the last minute because I have learned to listen. And I am thankful for that when we listen to the Lord where actually cultivating relationship with him. It's so much more than just following a set of rules. And that really does it plays into the testimony that I was sharing on Monday. Honestly, Matthew and I needed our lives to be shaken up and we needed to be able to hear God not just follow a set of habits or a set of ideas or a set of rules. But here to actually cultivate relationship with the Lord and then with each other and not just continuously do a habit. You know, habits with talking to each other in the morning or having dinner at night or whatever habits that we fall into. It becomes routine very often. Life becomes routine and then it doesn't feel very meaningful anymore. That's right. That's right. So it was a blessing when all of that was shaken five years ago. That was a huge blessing. That's why we started talking about Matthew 5, 3 through 5. You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope with less of you. There is more of God and his rule. And Jesus said, you're blessed. You're blessed. How can you be blessed if you're at the end of your rope because you give it to him. It's like relinquishing and yielding and surrendering. We sing about it. We talk about it. But until we come to the end of our rope, Kimberly, I think most of us, we want to stay in that old routine, that old scheduling. We're not people that love change. We don't really care for change. So it's true about us. It's very true about us and it might look to you like there are no more options for you. It might look like you have reached the end of your rope. But that is when life gets good. I promise. It gets really good when the end of your habits, the end of your routines, the end of the way that you think and all of the processes of your brain just are interrupted, it becomes really good to be free from that. And that is part of what I'm looking at in Deuteronomy 11. In Deuteronomy 11, starting in verse 10, it says that the land which you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come. And you might think that I'm not on the same subject anymore, but I am. The land which you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt. The place that God wants you to be thinking from is from your heart and relationship to Him. And you're entering this new relationship with the Lord. And it's not like the land of Egypt, the slavery land, where you're just a slave to your routines, you're a slave to your addictions, you're a slave to your habits. And that's not where God wants to leave us as human beings, we're made for so much more than that. So that's why I'm bringing up Deuteronomy 11. The land you are entering into to possess, the promised land, is not like the slave land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot laboriously as in a garden of vegetables. That's where you were striving, you were working so hard to gain what you thought you needed to have in this life. I worked so hard to have a family that was close, that would eat dinner together every night and have breakfast in the mornings and devotions at the tables and I was working so hard to have that. And don't you hear what I'm saying? That's not a bad thing to work for, to have a close family that'll read devotions together, that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing. But where was my striving? Was it in my own effort or was it really listening to God every day? I can tell you it was in my own efforts. Even though it was good and I was reading from the Bible every morning, that was good, it was still in my own efforts that I was making a routine out of it. And for whatever reason, not everyone in the family was able to hear God speak in that routine. When the routine just becomes a whole bunch of words that you're just listening to every day and it's not piercing your heart, that's not good. So it needed to be shaken up so that the words could actually pierce the hearts. So in Deuteronomy 11 it goes on to say, "But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it." So what I'm talking about today is the new habits, the new thoughts that will come to your mind as you are at the end of your rope. You're leaving your slave land of your old routine, your old job, your old relationships, your old schedules, whatever the old is. You don't have to be afraid to leave it behind because you are crossing over into a new land to possess it, a promise land of new habits, new relationship with the Lord where you hear His voice. And it is a land of hills and valleys. I love that that phrase is put into Deuteronomy 11. It's a land of hills and valleys. It kind of just stops in the middle of the sentence and says, "Hey, land of hills and valleys, just describing it. We can have our highs and our lows and God is prepared to give us water, to give us rain from heaven, to rain and water the land of hills and valleys. It doesn't matter if it's high, it doesn't matter if it's low. And really, I visited Israel. I can tell you it is all hills and valleys. There's just not much flat land in that area. That's a hard place to water. Yes. When you live on a hill and you're trying to water your lawn on a hill, it just runs off. And I'm sure they got used to a country where it was flatter. It was maybe more arid and they had to get used to a new land that God had promised to them. I think, really, there's so much in this message of how we can put aside the things that we are so used to. We don't even second guess. We just get up, we run to the refrigerator or run to our phones or run to the TV. And we don't even second guess what God would like us to do for our day. So I'm so glad you're talking about this. Yes. Well, we want to learn to listen. And in this new land, this new place that you're about to cross in and possess it, this is where we learn to listen. And this is where we learn to trust that God is bringing the rain from heaven and that we get to drink from that rain and so does the ground around us, drinks from his rain. And it's no longer in our own striving that we're watering the garden. We don't have to come up with an irrigating system to feed it. God is the one who will take care of the land. For his eyes are on it always, from the beginning even to the end of the year. Yes. That is such a good passage. Deuteronomy 11 is a wonderful passage to read if you need encouragement. That God is in control. That he knows exactly how to bring about good things for us. And in Deuteronomy, it's really interesting because in Deuteronomy 1 verse 11, it says you've gone around, well, not exactly verse 11, but in Deuteronomy 1, the Lord is saying to them, you've gone around this mountain long enough. And sometimes we build ruts around our mountains because we are so afraid of changing that routine or that schedule. Oh, that's good. Deuteronomy is so good. Yes. Yes. You've gone around that mountain long enough. That's really good. Yes. Going back to Deuteronomy 11, it says, it shall come about if you listen obediently to my commands, which I'm commanding you today. Now, this isn't just about the rules and the laws, okay? Because if you listen obediently to my commandments, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart, this doesn't say to love the laws and the rules I'm giving you and serve the laws with all your heart. It says to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and all your soul. Then He will give you rain for your land in its seasons, the early and late rain. That you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil, and He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. What are those seasons? It's in every season that He will bring what you need. If you are in a season where it seems really dry, He will bring you rain if it's really cold. He will bring away for you to have water in that cold season and to warm you with His love. He knows how to bless us. He knows how to care for us, provide for us, shelter us. He's a cloud by day when it's really hot. He is a fire by night when it's really cold. He knows how to take care of His people. We just need to learn how to trust that. We're not going to trust it if we stay stuck in our routines. Stuck in that slave mentality, that Egypt mentality. We have to be taken out of Egypt, thrown into some circumstances that seem very wilderness to us. That seem like they're uncertain. I really like the ad right before we came on today. Let me see if I was trying to type it and I don't think I got it word-for-word. But it said, "When our certainty is shaken, God has a chance to make us sure in Him." Yes. It's really good when we are shaken because then we can become sure in Him. That's what we want to be sure of is God Himself as our Father, as our provider, and as our best friend. We want to become that perfect partner that can be a friend to Him. I heard somebody say that Jesus wants you to be His prayer partner. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father every day interceding for you. He wants you to be His prayer partner. Join Him in that. How are we going to do that if we stay in our old routines and our old mindsets? Yes. Going back to Matthew 5, you are blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you, there's more of God and His rule. Verse 4 says, "You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the one who is truly most dear to you." I like how this verse says that you're blessed when you feel like you've lost what's most dear to you. Because we can feel like we have lost things. We can feel like this is really bad. We can feel like, "Oh, this was not supposed to happen this way." But when we base our conclusions on our feelings, that's shifting sand. That is not solid rock. We want the rock under our feet and that rock is our Lord. That rock is Jesus Himself. So we don't want to just feel like we've lost everything that is dear to us. We want to know that we serve a God who there's never a mistake. There's never a loss that he can't override and then bring something back into our lives. It's even better than what we imagined. That's right. I have seen you. And that's what happened to Matthew and I. I've seen you over the past five years. As a first Levi, he said, "Mom, I'm for you." Then Jonathan comes along and says, "Mom, I support you." It was in fragments of steps one year and then two years. And then Sarah came and joined in on just relating to you and speaking to you. Because for a while they didn't. You didn't get anybody speaking to you. And then lastly, there's been a real healing between you and Hannah. And even though she and Colton are living now in North Dakota, you're hearing from her more often. And that's a delight. It really is. So that is. I'm glad you brought that up because it is a delight. However, I was not even needing that anymore. Isn't that interesting? When you've got your eyes set and your focus is set on a certain goal, you really just want healing with someone in a relationship. And that is where you really want to see that healing is in that relationship or in your finances or your job. You can kind of just use this in any area of life. When your focus is on that, then you feel like you have to have that. There's something even on the inside of us as human beings that starts thinking, "Oh, I have to have this fixed. I have got to have this fixed. This has to be the way that I'm envisioning it." Yeah, and there are a lot of eyes there that you were just saying. When you get to the end of "I," when you get to the end of yourself and you say, "It doesn't have to be how I want it," the word "I surrender now." And I no longer live. I let you have the wheel. You take the reins here. You can be the one in control. And if I never have those relationships with my children again, which that was not an easy thing to come to. I did a lot of crying. That was something I always wondered about Abraham when he was taking Isaac up that mountain and sacrificed him where there are a lot of tears on that journey. Because that was a lot of tears for me to let go of my vision of family, my vision of being a mother and having a good relationship with my kids. But when I let go. And because that's right. Because you let go, because you surrendered, because you yielded up to the Lord, then he began working a work that you couldn't even imagine, Kimberly. But yes, but let me just make sure that this is the focus of it. None of those repaired relationships can compare to the relationship that I have with my Lord now. And the intimacy and the whispers, the way that he speaks to me and the way that I feel like I can follow him. And, "Oh my goodness, the peace that comes with that." And the joy, it is such an exuberant joy. It's just far beyond what you can imagine. And there is no healing of any relationship that can compare to that. So yes, I'm watching these relationships be repaired and come back to a healed place better than they were before. I'm thankful for that. And it wouldn't even... Oh, it's hard to say this, only because I'm afraid people are going to misunderstand this. It would not be hard for me if they broke again. That actually would not be hard for me because of the kind of comfort and peace and joy that I am talking about in the Lord. He is everything to me now. That's right. And that is a place that we can get to and you know that also. Yes. When you get to that place, you don't even need to have that other person back in your life. Well, and if there's been a loss or if there's been like the children are involved in this whole new concept of what God is doing, if you want it back the way it was, it never will be because five years in a teenager's life is a millennium. I mean, they're going for new jobs, they're moving out, they're doing things. And you can't wish that it was like it was before. It never will be. No, you can't put it back together again. That's why. Right. So the idea of getting back to normal, we have to throw that out. Whatever normal is, it's our minds. We have got to throw that out. Yes. So being encouraged that when we get to the end of our rope, that is such a good place for God to shake up a situation. I'm not saying that he causes all of the bad things that happen to us, but he certainly exploits them. And when he exploits a situation, he causes that situation to become better than you ever imagined. And you end up with a relationship with him that's vital, that becomes so important to you, and it fulfills every part of you. You feel whole, you feel complete. That's right. And that might happen in losing a home. I was prepared to be homeless five years ago. And Matthew then, it just turned. He was the one who ended up moving out, and he didn't have a place to stay for a while. So that was an interesting feeling for him. God used that situation in his life to bring him to the end of his rope too. And it broke that codependent routine that we used to have on each other, which can happen. It doesn't happen in every relationship, but it does have a possibility and a probability of happening quite often for us humans. And when that's interrupted, the freedom that comes, that's the promise land that I'm talking about. You cross over into a new area of your life, and it is better than you ever could have imagined. That's right. He's changing. He's changing everyone involved. He truly is. Yes. He's in the business of changing us in our relationship to him, because he's a jealous father. He wants all of our love. And when we give it to him, then everything around us is going to come together. It happens. Right. Kimberly, I can't explain it. No, we can't explain it, but it does. It happens. Right. Yeah. I was going to say that it occurred to me that even when Jesus was here on this planet with the disciples around him, that the disciples needed to be shaken up. They had the Son of God with them every day in their midst, but they were still holding on to wrong thinking and wrong agendas. And Jesus loved them so much that he surrendered his life to the kind of punishment that brought him to the cross. Yes. He surrendered. He did not actually defend himself. He didn't try to stop it. He didn't fight. He allowed the circumstance to play out. So when you feel like you're at the end of your rope, when you feel like you're losing what's most dear to you, those feelings can cause us to want to fight or defend, but we are called to be like Christ. So circumstances play out. Let the situation play out and entrust it to God's hands. Don't put it in human hands. Not your own hands or anyone else. Put it in God's hands and let him work. He knows how to get you to the Promised Land and he will do it. He will give you daily bread. He will give you water from a rock. He will give you miracles that bring you through this wilderness season. And you will be changed in such a way that you won't ever want to go back to the way it was. That's right. Oh, that's so good. I know that our listeners, many of them understand what you're saying, Kimberly. And we ask Father God that you would incorporate all this teaching into their hearts. So they are willing to change if need be, to be closer to you. Oh, thank you, Lord. And thank you, Kimberly, for this time. I appreciate it. Yes, you're welcome. I'm so glad that we could be with you today and we want you to know that you can take joy. Thank you for listening to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. You may get in touch with Barbara at Call to Freedom. Box 370-367 Denver, Colorado-80237. Or you may leave your message at 1-877-917-7256. 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 partner 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 phrase reports in heart prize by mailing them to Call to Freedom. Box 370-367 Denver, Colorado-80237. Or you may email us at Barbara Carmack at FreedomStreet.org. Until next time, remember Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy. [Music]
