Do you have a permanent sense of peace in your heart, or is it temporary?
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Do you have a permanent sense of peace in your heart, or is it temporary?
In this heartfelt episode of Call to Freedom, Kimberly reflects on the Advent season and the powerful metaphor of making room for Jesus as the ultimate “roommate” in our lives. Through personal stories, scriptural insights, and worship, she challenges us to evaluate how much space we give to Christ in our hearts and minds. Discover the joy and transformation that comes when we prioritize Him and embrace His presence in every area of our lives.
Welcome to call to freedom with Barbara.
00:00:12 Jimmy Lakey
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, Co 802 three, seven or by going to the website at www.freedom St. dot.
00:00:31 Jimmy Lakey
If you want to leave a message or order a word powered daily by.
00:00:35 Jimmy Lakey
Guide or a Freedom St. Express newsletter.
00:00:38 Jimmy Lakey
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.
00:00:52 Jimmy Lakey
You may call that same toll free number 1-877-917-7256. To speak to her.
00:01:00 Jimmy Lakey
And now, let's join Barbara in the studio.
00:01:04 Jimmy Lakey
Oh.
00:01:05 Kimberly
Welcome to call to freedom.
00:01:07 Kimberly
This is Kimberly once again sitting in for Barbara.
00:01:10 Kimberly
She is traveling back to Denver right now as we speak, and I just called her 10 minutes ago, she said. She was in the lowlands just right outside Denver.
00:01:20 Kimberly
I'm thinking she might be seeing Denver International Airport.
00:01:24 Kimberly
That right? Hi, mom.
00:01:26 Kimberly
Say that because she's.
00:01:27 Kimberly
She's close enough that she can get the station loud.
00:01:30 Kimberly
Clear so.
00:01:31 Kimberly
We've been praying for your your safe journey and wow, look at you.
00:01:35 Kimberly
You almost made it in time to be.
00:01:37 Kimberly
The air.
00:01:37 Kimberly
Me.
00:01:38 Kimberly
And I love that.
00:01:40 Kimberly
Wow, there's just one bit of business that I want to mention before I start into what's on my heart for today, and that is the Christmas meeting for call to freedom.
00:01:52 Kimberly
Coming up December 14th.
00:01:54 Kimberly
That's a Saturday, Saturday morning.
00:01:57 Kimberly
We would love to see you if you can come and join us for that Christmas meeting.
00:02:01 Kimberly
You give us a.
00:02:02 Kimberly
Give us your RSVP. I'm actually going to be the one doing the traveling next week.
00:02:09 Kimberly
And I'll be there, Lord willing. And if he tarries, I will be there for that Christmas meeting on December 14th.
00:02:17 Kimberly
So let us know if you can make it. Call that number 877-917-7256.
00:02:24 Kimberly
And let us know that you are going to be.
00:02:26 Kimberly
We'd love to see you. And I know I'm doing this a couple weeks early, but I'm kind of doing that selfishly.
00:02:31 Kimberly
Getting really excited about this Christmas season.
00:02:35 Kimberly
We were.
00:02:36 Kimberly
To drive around the Tulsa and Broken Arrow area.
00:02:40 Kimberly
Last night.
00:02:42 Kimberly
And there are already so many Christmas lights, maybe even more than we've ever seen before. And right now, as I'm on the air with you, I've got somebody on my roof putting up Christmas lights on my house too, so.
00:02:57 Kimberly
It is just.
00:02:57 Kimberly
Season of excitement and as we were looking at all the Christmas lights.
00:03:01 Kimberly
Lights we just mentioned to one another isn't this.
00:03:05 Kimberly
There's there's this excitement in the air and I don't think it's just the political season that that we just came out of.
00:03:13 Kimberly
I think there's something really moving.
00:03:17 Kimberly
God is moving on the hearts of his people and causing us to to expect with a with a hopeful expectancy, and I we're praying that over all of you, I am so excited about Christmas and.
00:03:32 Kimberly
Fellowship and meeting together to worship.
00:03:35 Kimberly
Come, let us adore.
00:03:38 Kimberly
Oh, come let us come together and adore him.
00:03:42 Kimberly
So we're looking forward to.
00:03:44 Kimberly
Again, that's December 14th on Saturday. So Mark your calendar and plan to join.
00:03:49 Kimberly
We would love to see you and as we are moving into this Advent season, I'm looking at Luke Chapter 2.
00:03:59 Kimberly
And in verse 7 it says she gave birth to her first born son and she wrapped him in cloth and laid him in a Manger because there was no room for him in the inn.
00:04:11 Kimberly
It says there was no room for them in the inn.
00:04:15 Kimberly
But I took that really personally about Jesus.
00:04:18 Kimberly
Harry is the Lord has come.
00:04:21 Kimberly
And there's no room for him.
00:04:24 Speaker 3
Well.
00:04:25 Kimberly
I have some some people on my mind lately. My son is one of them.
00:04:31 Kimberly
He has a new roommate and he's been living in his own space for a few months and thoroughly enjoying that. But now he's adjusting to having someone else in his space.
00:04:43 Kimberly
I also have a friend who's currently sharing her home with her daughter, her son-in-law, their toddler and their dog.
00:04:53 Kimberly
And that's just a whole new dynamic. When you invite others to live with you, it can take quite a bit of adjustment.
00:05:02 Kimberly
So I'm thinking about roommates and I'm thinking about Christmas, Advent and I'm.
00:05:09 Kimberly
You know, I'm just looking at how we try to hold on to our boundaries when we're.
00:05:15 Kimberly
We're asking someone else to do things our way, or they're asking us if they can do it their way, whether it's taking care of the home, cleaning the kitchen, the bathrooms.
00:05:27 Kimberly
Or how much time you take in a bathroom.
00:05:30 Kimberly
So all of those things can cause some tension and conflict.
00:05:36 Kimberly
But let me tie this in with Advent now, because we have a new roommate, right?
00:05:42 Kimberly
His name is Jesus and it made me wonder about Jesus moving in when Jesus moves into our hearts. You know, how do we accept him?
00:05:53 Kimberly
What kind of a roommate are we?
00:05:56 Kimberly
He is so kind and he is such a gentleman that he actually takes the lowest room in our home and that's what the word of God tells us.
00:06:05 Kimberly
Taking this story of him.
00:06:09 Kimberly
Appearing to the world.
00:06:12 Kimberly
Because it says there was number room available, no space for him to stay in the upper rooms in the guest rooms in the Nice places.
00:06:22 Kimberly
He was actually laid in a feeding through.
00:06:27 Kimberly
Where the animals gather, it's a place that when Matthew and I visited, we saw it's carved out of.
00:06:34 Kimberly
It's usually underneath the homes, it's down under and it's where they would keep the frail animals or the animals that were young or.
00:06:43 Kimberly
Weak or vulnerable to enemies, so they would keep those animals in there, and I imagine it did not smell very good at all.
00:06:54 Kimberly
That is the place that Jesus chooses to move into.
00:06:59 Kimberly
That's where he first appears is in the lowest place, the darkest place in the feeding through.
00:07:06 Kimberly
And he is so kind and so generous that he doesn't demand being moved up to a higher place.
00:07:14 Kimberly
He stays there and he waits for us to notice him.
00:07:18 Kimberly
I've been wondering about what kind of a roommate I have been for. Jesus.
00:07:22 Kimberly
Have I made more room for him since he first moved in, or am I still tightly holding onto my boundaries and my desires, my agendas, my comforts?
00:07:35 Kimberly
I had a roommate over three decades ago.
00:07:38 Kimberly
Was so thoughtful.
00:07:41 Kimberly
Choosing styles of decorating that suited me and colours that I liked.
00:07:45 Kimberly
It was really very kind, but I was too immature and too entitled at the time.
00:07:51 Kimberly
Maybe spoiled would be a good word to even recognize how blessed I was to have a roommate like that.
00:07:58 Kimberly
Now of course I realize.
00:08:00 Kimberly
And I wonder, you know, wow, what kind of a roommate was I?
00:08:06 Kimberly
I was.
00:08:07 Kimberly
Very good to them, I'm sure.
00:08:09 Kimberly
What if we were all like this other roommate of?
00:08:12 Kimberly
What if we were all thinking of others before we think of ourselves?
00:08:17 Kimberly
This is exactly what Jesus emulated when he came to this realm. He was thinking of us.
00:08:25 Kimberly
And moving into a place where everyone could visit him.
00:08:28 Kimberly
The lowest of shepherds and the highest of.
00:08:32 Kimberly
They were all allowed to go into that place, that low place where he was.
00:08:38 Kimberly
You may have heard me talking this year.
00:08:42 Kimberly
About how I've attempted to fast my thoughts at the beginning of this year.
00:08:47 Kimberly
I realized everything that I think in my mind is being shared and I know that it doesn't really make much sense to fast our thoughts.
00:08:58 Kimberly
Do we do that?
00:09:00 Kimberly
We're just constantly thinking there's always something in our mind.
00:09:04 Kimberly
But I think I've just been more aware than ever that I'm sharing this space, that I call me.
00:09:12 Kimberly
I am not my own.
00:09:13 Kimberly
I belong to someone else and this space is actually his.
00:09:20 Kimberly
He doesn't have to give me the free will to try all my own ways, and he certainly doesn't have to pay the price when I lead myself into ******* or into rough places. But that's exactly what he did.
00:09:33 Kimberly
Moved in to.
00:09:36 Kimberly
His face.
00:09:37 Kimberly
I'm his. He created me.
00:09:40 Kimberly
And then he gave me free will to make all the choices about how I'm going to host him.
00:09:47 Kimberly
Oh, I don't ever want to forget that he has paid such a high price and he's so kind and generous and loving that he'll just stay on the sidelines and let me make all the decisions.
00:10:02 Kimberly
I want to start remembering that he gets to make decisions too.
00:10:05 Kimberly
Do you know anyone else?
00:10:08 Kimberly
Is so good.
00:10:10 Kimberly
Anyone else that is so kind as him, so generous as him.
00:10:15 Kimberly
Anyone else who would take the lowest place in your life and lay his own life on the line?
00:10:23 Kimberly
I've been listening and meditating to a worship song and it's called sure been good to me.
00:10:30 Kimberly
And I just want to focus on that for a little while. How good Jesus is.
00:10:35 Kimberly
Listen to that now.
00:11:01 Speaker 3
Who?
00:11:03 Speaker 3
Hey.
00:11:14 Speaker 3
I.
00:11:20 Speaker 3
But you love me like I.
00:11:32 Speaker 3
One of the spaces on the tree.
00:11:34 Speaker 3
'Ve always.
00:11:38 Speaker 3
Nobody else is going.
00:11:42 Speaker 3
Nobody.
00:11:43 Speaker 3
Else.
00:11:45 Speaker 3
Nobody else would lay the life down.
00:11:51 Speaker 3
On the life.
00:11:53 Speaker 3
Nobody else could do.
00:11:57 Speaker 3
Even if they tried.
00:12:01 Speaker 3
Nobody else could bomb and save.
00:12:06 Speaker 3
Every time.
00:12:08 Speaker 3
But you've.
00:12:09 Speaker 3
Been.
00:12:10 Speaker 3
Just.
00:12:13 Speaker 3
You're.
00:12:13 Speaker 3
You're good to me.
00:12:16 Speaker 3
You.
00:12:17 Speaker 3
And offend yourself.
00:12:20 Speaker 3
Good to.
00:12:20 Speaker 3
Look, we know your love. We know.
00:13:00 Speaker 3
Making me into.
00:13:18 Speaker 3
I.
00:13:22 Speaker 3
Spacing between.
00:13:44 Speaker 3
Span's right?
00:13:52 Speaker 3
Nobody else can run.
00:13:59 Speaker 3
You.
00:14:23 Speaker 3
Oh, my God. You sure name girl?
00:14:46 Speaker 3
Do you have to take my son?
00:14:49 Speaker 3
His people and our.
00:14:51 Speaker 3
To get it, if you have to call me.
00:15:10 Speaker 3
Save my soul.
00:15:12 Speaker 3
It's.
00:15:16 Speaker 3
You didn't.
00:15:17 Speaker 3
To take my shame.
00:15:22 Speaker 3
I.
00:15:28 Speaker 3
I.
00:15:28 Speaker 3
Was.
00:15:29 Speaker 3
OK.
00:15:55 Speaker 3
Told me.
00:16:12 Speaker 3
I.
00:16:21 Speaker 3
I.
00:16:50 Speaker 3
I.
00:16:51
I.
00:16:55 Speaker 3
I.
00:17:28 Speaker 3
Me.
00:17:43 Speaker 3
Wonder like I.
00:17:48 Speaker 3
Filling up the space is over three you always spend.
00:17:56 Kimberly
That song has just turned into one of my favorites.
00:17:59 Kimberly
I just keep it on repeat and if you are just tuning in, this is called a freedom and we're talking about the goodness of God.
00:18:06 Kimberly
What kind of a roommate he is to us and what kind of a roommate we are for him?
00:18:13 Kimberly
His love is so great.
00:18:16 Kimberly
So kind when he moves into our lives, he treats us with the utmost patience.
00:18:23 Kimberly
And he does exceedingly more from behind the scenes from the lowest places in our apartment complex of our body and mind.
00:18:33 Kimberly
The kind of roommate that doesn't leave me like I was.
00:18:38 Kimberly
And he always knew there was a better meat that he always knew there's a better place to stay in me, but just loves me like I was filling up all the spaces in between.
00:18:50 Kimberly
He is always enough.
00:18:52 Kimberly
That is the kind of roommate that everybody would long for.
00:18:56 Kimberly
And do we make room for that roommate?
00:19:01 Kimberly
What would happen if we gave him the presidential suite of our minds and our?
00:19:07 Kimberly
What if we gave him all of our choices that are swirling around in our minds and can give him control of all the emotional waves? I know that he would make us into the best.
00:19:20 Kimberly
Surfers I would be a really good surfer, you know, on top of all those waves, I we would be the most amazing wave walkers. We could just walk on top of the water.
00:19:32 Kimberly
He is the reason that we can have any joy at all and he is the only one who can hold that title of Prince of Peace.
00:19:43 Kimberly
If you're feeling lost or stuck, he is the wonderful counselor and in the middle of impossible situations he is mighty God. His arm is not short.
00:19:57 Kimberly
And any lack or any need that you may have can be brought to him because he is the everlasting father.
00:20:07 Kimberly
The Hebrew words in that part of Isaiah 9 that calls him wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Everlasting Father. Let me tell you where it says, Everlasting father.
00:20:22 Kimberly
It's been.
00:20:23 Kimberly
Translated that way in the English, the Hebrew is literally the possessor of eternity. He is the owner of it all. On every space of the timeline, outside of the time line. He puts us at all.
00:20:41 Kimberly
So he can fill everyone of those spaces in our lives.
00:20:46 Kimberly
What do those spaces look like?
00:20:49 Kimberly
Are those spaces loneliness?
00:20:52 Kimberly
Is it just feeling really lost?
00:20:56 Kimberly
Is it needing control over something?
00:20:59 Kimberly
What about lack financially?
00:21:02 Kimberly
It could be weakness.
00:21:04 Kimberly
In our bodies, in our minds.
00:21:07
And.
00:21:07 Kimberly
Yet he feels all the spaces of our lives with himself.
00:21:12 Kimberly
He is more than enough.
00:21:15 Kimberly
He wants to fill those spaces as as the very best roommate.
00:21:20 Kimberly
The planet.
00:21:21 Kimberly
And again, I'm getting this idea from Luke Chapter 2 and verse 7 where it says that she gave birth to her first born son.
00:21:32 Kimberly
And after wrapping the newborn baby in strips of cloth, they laid him in a feeding through.
00:21:39 Kimberly
Because there was no room available, no room.
00:21:44 Kimberly
I want to make sure that I am making room for him in my heart and in my mind, and as we are in the month of December and looking forward to Christmas with so much excitement in the air so much.
00:21:59 Kimberly
Energy and life and light, including Christmas lights. We see it all over.
00:22:06 Kimberly
I just want to encourage each one of you to make room for him.
00:22:10 Kimberly
There was no room, but we make room every.
00:22:13 Kimberly
We are making decisions and those decisions lead us to more and more of him.
00:22:22 Kimberly
And that's that's the one part that we do have some control.
00:22:27 Kimberly
We get to decide what we're going to do with the emotions, with the loneliness, with the pain, the suffering, the weakness in our body. We get to decide what we're going.
00:22:39 Kimberly
Do with it.
00:22:40 Kimberly
Are we going to sulk and give in to anger?
00:22:44 Kimberly
Give in to self pity, maybe even unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment.
00:22:52 Kimberly
Or will we recognize the best roommate in the universe and realize how kind he is, how good he is that he has been doing exceedingly more behind the scenes than we ever could think or hope for?
00:23:08 Kimberly
Or imagine.
00:23:10 Kimberly
He didn't have to take that messy room that we gave him at the very bottom of our life in a feeding through, he didn't have to take it, but he took that place.
00:23:22 Kimberly
And he was happy to take that place any space at all.
00:23:25 Kimberly
That's what he is happy to take and as he moves into that messy place, he's willing to take our shame and our pain and our sin.
00:23:37 Kimberly
And he didn't have to do it.
00:23:39 Kimberly
He did not have to call you friend.
00:23:43 Kimberly
But that is just how good of a God he is.
00:23:46 Kimberly
Calls you friend and he didn't leave.
00:23:49 Kimberly
Never moved out.
00:23:51 Kimberly
He is Emmanuel.
00:23:54 Kimberly
Do you know what Emmanuel?
00:23:56 Kimberly
God with us.
00:23:58 Kimberly
In every space in any space that we might provide.
00:24:02 Kimberly
Right. I just want to be encouraging each one of us to choose to give him higher space and higher place, meaning higher priority.
00:24:13 Kimberly
Make him first in your life.
00:24:16 Kimberly
Give him that top priority. Kind of like on the cell towers. You know, each of us are vying for that top spot because.
00:24:24 Kimberly
All want the.
00:24:26 Kimberly
We all want to be heard.
00:24:28 Kimberly
How much more so? The one who made us for himself.
00:24:33 Kimberly
Let him be heard in your mind and in your heart.
00:24:37 Kimberly
Let him be heard in your emotions instead of justice. Letting those emotions and those thoughts take over.
00:24:46 Kimberly
Give him first place.
00:24:47 Kimberly
Them to him.
00:24:49 Kimberly
Ask him what he wants to do with it. Because guess what.
00:24:52 Kimberly
Is your roommate.
00:24:53 Kimberly
Is.
00:24:54 Kimberly
He's experiencing it all with you anyway.
00:24:58 Kimberly
Let him help you make the very best decision with what you are in the middle of.
00:25:05 Kimberly
Because he is working all things together for good.
00:25:09 Kimberly
And that is something that we can count on that he's doing exceedingly more than we could ever hope for than we could ever imagine.
00:25:19 Kimberly
And we can give him our gratitude and our.
00:25:22 Kimberly
We're just coming off of a a week of Thanksgiving, a day of Thanksgiving, and wow, I was just so aware of how much I can eat and maybe forget to keep giving thanks to keep.
00:25:37 Kimberly
You.
00:25:37 Kimberly
Just stop what I'm doing and say thank you.
00:25:40 Kimberly
Thank you for this.
00:25:42 Kimberly
Don't let me hurt myself with all of these gifts you've given me and all of this food you've given me, God.
00:25:48 Kimberly
Keep me grateful.
00:25:51 Kimberly
Keep me thankful.
00:25:52 Kimberly
Help me always be thinking of you at every moment.
00:25:56 Kimberly
I remember my dad telling me at one point that he had heard John Wesley had mentioned. I believe that's who he was talking about, and I'm going to have to look this up, but.
00:26:08 Kimberly
One of the Wesley's I believe mentioned that he wanted to keep God so present in his thoughts that he would cause himself to think of the Lord to think on Jesus.
00:26:19 Kimberly
Every minute of every day.
00:26:22 Kimberly
And that seemed like a really impossible goal for me.
00:26:25 Kimberly
That's why I started.
00:26:27 Kimberly
Yeah.
00:26:28 Kimberly
Trying to fast my thoughts so I could include him in every thought and give him the highest place in my mind and my emotions as we enter this season of Advent. We encourage you all to think about what kind of a roommate you are.
00:26:45 Kimberly
For Jesus, make room for the one who was and who is and who is to come because he deserves the highest place in our lives.
00:26:58 Kimberly
And we will have so much greater joy giving him the place that he deserves.
00:27:05 Kimberly
Thank you for joining me for this half hour.
00:27:08 Kimberly
I bless your day and look forward to talking with you again soon.
00:27:13 Kimberly
Take joy.
00:27:20 Jimmy Lakey
Thank you for listening to call to freedom with Barbara Carmack.
00:27:23 Jimmy Lakey
You may get in touch with Barbara at call to freedom Box, 370367 Denver, Co 802 three 7.
00:27:27 Speaker 3
I.
00:27:33 Jimmy Lakey
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.
00:27:45 Speaker 3
I.
00:27:50 Jimmy Lakey
Ministry.
00:27:52 Jimmy Lakey
Power partner support call to freedom with prayer and monthly financial support.
00:27:56 Jimmy Lakey
You will be.
00:27:57 Jimmy Lakey
Supernaturally. We invite you to visit. Call to Freedom's website www.freedomstorg, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials.
00:28:01 Speaker 3
I.
00:28:07 Speaker 3
I.
00:28:11 Jimmy Lakey
You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to call to freedom box 370367.
00:28:16 Speaker 3
I.
00:28:19 Jimmy Lakey
Denver, Co 802 three, seven or you may e-mail us at Barbara Carmichael at freedomst.org.
00:28:29 Jimmy Lakey
Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you. Barbara loves you.
00:28:34 Jimmy Lakey
And take joy.
For air 12/02/2024
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Strive for peace with God so you can experience genuine, lasting contentment.
On this Thanksgiving Day, Cherry Campbell highlights the significance of thankfulness in our lives and faith. From everyday blessings to the profound gift of salvation, find encouragement to give thanks in all circumstances.
Good morning. Welcome to Victoria's Faith. I'm Cherry Campbell and happy Thanksgiving. I pray that you have a very blessed day today. And today I want to share with you some things about thankfulness. It says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 that one of the signs of the end times in 2 Timothy 3 verses 1 and 2, it says, "But mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days." Well, we have seen that. And that word terrible is also a word that means perilous and it also means dangerous. And this is a sign of the last days. It says in verse 2, "People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, unthankful, and unholy." Well, I know that we can recognize almost every one of these descriptions as conditions in the world today. And here in America we are blessed and honored to have a day that is called Thanksgiving Day, a day that was set aside by the four fathers of this nation in which to honor God and give thanks to God for the goodness and the blessings that He has given to us. However, today we are living in a time where all across this nation, many people, millions will each turkey or celebrate in some way and they will not even say a prayer of thanks to God. They will not be thankful. And that we see in 2 Timothy 3 2 is another sign of the last days. Unthankfulness. Let's go back. I taught a lesson about grace. There is a side of grace that I have not heard taught. And this is something I discovered in my study and research, especially looking at the Greek word, grace and Hebrew. And actually I went back even in the English language to where our English word comes from. It actually comes from the Latin word. And the word grace in the Latin is the word gratis, GRATUS. Now that word gratis means to give freely and liberally generously. And as I've said before, grace simply means free gift. If it's given by grace, it means it is a free gift. One word to summarize grace is the word free, F-R-E-E. Free, take one. But there's another side of this word grace that is not taught. And if you study this, you can look it up in the Vine's Expository Dictionary, W-E Vine's Expository Dictionary of the New Testament. And he shows, and you studied out in there, that one side of grace is on the part of the giver. It is the benevolent attitude and disposition that he gives by. But there is another side of grace, and it's like a two-sided coin. On the other side of grace, it is in the heart of the receiver, the receiver being grateful for what was received, the gift that was received. Now you can see that the word gratis, we also have the word gratis, GRAT, IS, in the English language, when we say, "Well, we'll just give this to you gratis." That means free. But on the other side of it, think of our word, "great full." Gratitude, "gratitude" comes from the same word as gratis, and it's showing the two-sided coin. So on the one side of the coin, it's the heart of the giver, but on the other side of the coin, it's the heart of the receiver. It's the heart of the receiver being grateful, having gratitude, gratefulness, thankfulness for the gift received. Now we can see this easily also in Spanish, in the Spanish language. The word grace is gracia. The word thank you is gracias. Same word with an S on the end. Thank you, thank you. Now I have been in places, and I've even seen, I was in a culture, I was in a country one time, where I was talking about this, and I was talking to the pastor about saying, "Thank you." He said, "We don't say thank you in our culture." That's not our cultural practice to say thank you. Well I said to him, "When your culture does not line up with and agree with the teaching of the Bible, then your culture is wrong. And you need to change and live by a biblical culture rather than the culture you grew up in." Because the Bible teaches that we should be thankful, and that being thankful, notice with the word grace, you can only receive as much grace as you are thankful. Gracias, gracia, gratitude, grace, you can only receive as much grace from God as you are grateful for what He has given to you and what He has done for you. And we are taught this throughout the Bible that we are to be thankful. Let me remind you of some more scriptures, Colossians 3, 17, "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." So in everything whatever you do, giving thanks to God, and that's very much like 1 Thessalonians 5-18, "Give thanks in all circumstances. For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Now that does not mean give thanks for everything. We don't give thanks for things that are bad, but in every circumstance we can give thanks to God. Why? Because He's faithful, because He will deliver us, because He will take care of us, praise the Lord. Do you remember in Psalm 100 verse 4 it says, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving." And His courts with praise give thanks to Him and praise His name, and also like that Psalm 95 verse 2, "Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song." And then also in the New Testament it says, "In Philippians 4-6, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to God." So again it shows us that in our prayer, even in petitioning we should still always be giving thanks. And this is one of the teachings that we learn about prayer, that every time we begin a time of prayer, whether we are at the table or whether we're having our daily prayer, how do you come before God? You start by thanking Him. Thank Him first for what He has done for you, for what He has given to you, for what He has saved you from. You might not think you've got very much, but you just need to open your eyes and see what you've been given. First of all, I mean as I have traveled around the world and I've lived in lots of different cultures, and I've lived without electricity, without running water. I've lived among insects and bugs and rats, I've lived in dirty places, I've slept on a concrete floor, I've slept on wooden boards. Whenever I'm at home and I lay down in a soft bed at night, I am continually thankful, "Thank you Lord, for this soft bed tonight. I'm not sleeping on a board. I'm also extremely grateful when I'm not sleeping on an airplane. When I have to sit up in a crowded seat, scrunched up and tried to sleep on a 16 hour flight, and not hardly be able to stretch my legs. When I can stretch out on a bed and lie flat in a soft bed, I am so thankful. Also, when I get to have a shower, I'm thankful because many places, I mean an actual shower head that shoots water out because most places I've traveled, I end up taking a bucket bath. So having a shower that sprays water is a wonderful blessing, having hot water coming out of the faucet rather than having to boil it on the stove and pour it into your bucket and scoop it over you. All these things are blessings. Even we're taught in Deuteronomy 26 that when we give our tides and offerings to the Lord, that when we bring our tides and offerings to him, we're supposed to start by saying "Thank you Lord, I'm bringing this tithe and offering to you because you have blessed me. Because you have given to me, I have something to give back to you. And I thank you Father." So let's today be thankful for our families, be thankful for our food, that we have, our clothes, the house that we live in, even if it's not the best, and even if it's not what you're desiring. Be thankful for what you have. And then consider the spiritual side of things. Be thankful that you're saved and you're born again and you're going to heaven and not to hell. Be thankful that you've been translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God's dear Son. Be thankful that you have received an inheritance from God, that you have an inheritance in God in Christ Jesus, and you are receiving your inheritance right now and you've received the deposit, the Holy Spirit. And every day you are receiving more. You see, we develop our thankfulness. Even let me remind you of this in Philippians 4.6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God. Never present your request without thanks. And thankfulness is one of your strongest acts of faith. When you are standing in faith, we are using the God kind of faith and you're saying, "I believe I'm healed. I believe I receive a new job. I believe I receive the money to pay my bills." The way you stand firm in faith, unmovable, unshakable, one of the greatest things is to thank God. Daily even a thousand times a day. Thank you Lord, I'm healed. Thank you Lord, I'm healed. Thank you Lord, I have the money to pay my bills. Thank you Lord for my new job. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And saying thank you for what you are believing for is the key to receiving what you don't have yet. You thank Him for it before you receive it and then that is your faith acting so you can receive. And today on this wonderful Thanksgiving day, you be thankful for what you do have already. The blessings that you have and don't be forgetful. Look around your house. Thank God for your chair, your table. Thank God for the plates and the silverware and the knives and the forks. Thank God for pictures on the wall. Thank God for a bed. Thank God for the Bible that you have on your table. Thank God for your family, your church. Thank God for your salvation, for Jesus Christ, for the Holy Spirit, for the Word, the blood, the name of Jesus. Be thankful. And then thank God for what you don't yet have that you're believing for. And say thank you Lord, I receive. Thank you Lord, I'm healed. Thank you Lord, I have the money I need. Thank you Lord, I have my new job and say and continually be thankful for what you don't yet have because that is your key, the act of your faith to receive what you don't yet have. Glory to God. Now I want to bless you, I bless you today, have a blessed Thanksgiving, enjoy your food, enjoy your family and remember that God loves you and he is blessing you every day. You are blessed, rejoice in the Lord today and be thankful. You are blessed and highly favored by the Lord.
On today's special edition of Family Talk, Pastor Chuck Swindoll, in a timeless sermon on the topic gratitude, reflects on Psalm 103, in which King David expresses thanks to God for pardoning his sin, redeeming his life from the pit, and crowning him with love and compassion. The lyrics of the classic hymn, "It Is Well with My Soul," reveals why we are so grateful. "My sin, not in part but the whole; Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more; Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"
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In this episode of the Fearless Faith Radio Show, Mary Grothe is joined by James Kwon, founder and CEO of the digital agency Figmints. Together, they explore the intersection of faith and business, sharing personal journeys and insights. James discusses his faith-driven approach to leadership and the importance of bringing faith into the workplace. He also shares wisdom on working with diverse clients while staying true to one's values. This episode highlights the challenges and rewards of integrating faith into professional life, reminding listeners that love and excellence require a personal touch beyond efficiency.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
QUOTES
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Connect and learn more about James Kwon.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamkwon/
Find out more about Mary Grothe through the links below.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marygrothe/
Website: https://www.marygrothe.com/
Welcome to Grace in Focus radio. Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr are talking about a recent debate with Steve Gregg about losing salvation. Is believing the same as abiding? Is staying in fellowship with God the key to not losing salvation? Bob and Sam will offer some clarity on some issues of this “once saved, always saved” debate.
On today’s edition of Family Talk, Dr. James Dobson continues his conversation with author and speaker Allison Bottke on the subject of prodigal children in her book, Setting Boundaries with Your Adult Children. Allison shares practical advice to struggling parents, and encourages moms and dads to develop a plan of action to deal with their rebellious child.
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Embrace contentment in every circumstance because you have God on your side, who supplies all of your needs.