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Join us for an inspiring episode of Call to Freedom where spiritual and emotional wellness is at the forefront. Hosts Barbara Carmack and Darren dive into understanding how depression stems from deeper spiritual issues and share letters from listeners who offer testimonies of faith and resilience. The program sheds light on combating depression's root causes with spiritual introspection, prayer, and an unyielding trust in God's blessings. The episode offers steps to untangle the burdens that keep individuals from reaching their full spiritual potential. Through heartfelt conversation and prayer, listeners are encouraged to practice forgiveness and seek God's wisdom in navigating life's struggles. This episode is a reminder that spiritual freedom is attainable, and God's love is the key to unlocking it.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a Word Power Daily Reading Bible Guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number, 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio.
SPEAKER 02 :
After thanking children who are sending in offerings to give to the orphans with Home of Refuge, I read a letter written by a wife who is concerned because her husband is depressed about his job. But Darren brings up the fact that depression is only a symptom of a deeper spiritual root. We bring up the areas of fear and pride and unforgiveness which may indicate depression. that maybe things aren't working out according to your plans, and you're allowing anger, fear, or unforgiveness to take over. As we discuss unforgiveness, Darren gives a solution to bring freedom into your heart and life. God's will is to bless you, but it's important that you get rid of the junk that's clogging up the communication lines between you and your Heavenly Father. Now let's join the program.
SPEAKER 04 :
You have a wonderful letter there in your hand, don't you?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, and I forgot to bring the letters of the Yost family. The children all sent letters, and they sent their Christmas money that they'd gotten for Christmas for the home of refuge, for the orphanage, for the children, and I forgot that this morning.
SPEAKER 04 :
They're over in Nebraska, aren't they?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, and thank you so much. I remember three of the children's names, Caitlin, Logan, and Coda, but I don't remember the other little boys, and they're so precious. We'll call them number four. Forgive me. No, no, no, not number four. Okay. And so we have a letter here from Shelby, and it's, Dear Darren and Barbara, how are you? I am fine. I'm writing you to thank you for the VeggieTales. I really like it. Thanks for your newsletter. Tell Barbara hi. I enjoy your program very much. I'm sending you $5. And Shelby, we're going to apply this $5 with the other, I think we got $46 from the Yost children. God bless you. We're going to give it to the Home of Refuge, and it's going to bless them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Where's Shelby from?
SPEAKER 03 :
Lyman.
SPEAKER 04 :
Lyman, Colorado.
SPEAKER 03 :
It's a wonderful little letter. And we just appreciate the letters from the children. That's wonderful. Praise God.
SPEAKER 04 :
We have a letter here that's really, I'm going to say it's a treasured letter because this lady is so gifted in explaining what's going on. But she said, may I ask for prayer help? I've never asked this before. It's difficult and I'm not even sure why. Okay. Oh, I got a phone call coming in. So I'm going to hold this letter because I want to treat this right. It's a great letter and it will strike the chord with so many of you that are, you know, in an employment change transition. And, you know, you may be looking at the wrong thing or why you're having problems. I think we can help this lady. Well, let's talk to Sean. Hello, Sean.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hello, Darren, Barbara, this is Sean Anselmo. I don't know if you remember my father.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my goodness, yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Steve Anselmo.
SPEAKER 04 :
I was talking about your dad a couple of days ago. As a matter of fact, a lady came to our meeting, and she said she talked to somebody on the phone who received a marvelous healing, and I said to Barb, that person talked to Anselmo.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, to Steve. We were talking about your dad just the other day, and I remember having dinner with you, and you were really young. How old are you, Sean?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I'm 31 now. Oh, my goodness.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my goodness.
SPEAKER 05 :
Tack that on.
SPEAKER 04 :
So how are you doing, Sean?
SPEAKER 05 :
I'm doing great. I just wanted to praise God for you. And welcome back to the airwaves. And it's great to hear your voice on the radio. It's only by chance that I even caught your program the other day. And I'm just praising God for your ministry. And I've entered the ministry myself.
SPEAKER 04 :
Praise God. Do you have a church?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, I just started a newsletter from our home, my family and I, and it's going to follow up with my dad's newsletter and his prison ministry.
SPEAKER 04 :
Good, good.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, we're looking forward to seeing what God's got in store for us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I'll tell you, your dad helped me out in Tulsa, Oklahoma one time, and I won't go into the whole story, but I'll tell you, he was there for me. And then he worked with me in Fort Collins for quite a while, and there's a wonderful anointing on your father and mother's lives.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's right. Amen. Praise God. I just want to thank you guys and encourage you. You're doing a great job, and I appreciate the words of God that he gives to you guys.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, thank you, sir. Thank you, Sean. I hope you'll take time to give our office a call and leave your address.
SPEAKER 05 :
I would certainly do that.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, here's the number, Sean. Well, I guess if you can hang on, I'll just have our engineer take it. How would that be?
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER 04 :
Sean, it's good to hear from you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Good to hear from you.
SPEAKER 04 :
You're married? You're married now?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, married and three children.
SPEAKER 04 :
What's your little wife's name?
SPEAKER 05 :
Patricia and Elmo.
SPEAKER 04 :
Patricia. Wonderful. Well, we just bless you, Sean.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, thank you.
SPEAKER 04 :
I know there's a wonderful anointing being passed down from your father, and that's good. Next time you see your dad, have him give us a call.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. Praise God.
SPEAKER 04 :
I will. God bless. God bless you. Okay. Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Calls from out of the past. Yes. Amen. That's just really.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I tell you, I watched Steve and he was a wonderful man for us on the prayer lines.
SPEAKER 03 :
He was a man of prayer. That's right. He was. He was a man of prayer.
SPEAKER 04 :
This letter goes on to say, I've never asked for prayer help before. I've never asked anyone. I don't know why. Maybe it's fear. Maybe it's pride. And maybe we think it shows weakness, but we haven't asked before. It goes on to say, my husband had been trying to break into a certain business, and I won't name that business, for a whole year. He had to leave another type of business, which is much different by the letter here. but it was driving him to great depression. He loves doing what he's doing now, but it's 100% commission, and he just can't seem to make it work. We're almost out of money, and he's become so depressed and despondent, I'm fearful we're going to lose everything. Is that what's going to happen to us? Pray that we will find suitable work soon. My husband has even looked back to his past job, and we've fasted and we've prayed, and we'll continue. And I guess I struggle with knowing what the Lord's will is here. If Jesus prayed about his father's will being done, shouldn't we also pray that way? Could it be that his will that we go through losing all that we have? Now, I'm going to stop right there. I don't believe it's God's will that you lose all that you have. But I do believe this, that God is trying to get down to a root cause. And I don't believe the depression came on this husband just because of this new work or because of a lack of sales income, commission income. And I believe God allows us to go through these things for us to face ourselves and say, well... It wasn't the old job. It's not the new job. It must be something wrong inside of me. And I went through a period of time like that when I had to face myself. And I thought it was the circumstances around me, my family, my work, my profession, my whatever. And I made somewhat of a massive change. And that's when I hit the wall and it was the best thing that ever happened to me because I had to face some things down inside of Darren and cry out for help. And some people prayed for me. And because of their prayer, that's the basis of this ministry and that's setting people free.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Showing them how to get set free.
SPEAKER 03 :
Life is hard on us, and so we start building walls and we start putting layer upon layer. And I feel like this precious lady is just crying out, and I feel so much for her. We weren't given very many... details and I wish she would have written a little bit more about her family if her husband is born again if they go to a spiritual church if they have had counseling because I believe there's a curse going on in his husband's life I believe that there has been depression in his life before and I believe that if he is a melancholy at all that means if he has mood swings And I'm very aware of that and familiar with that because my life has been my previous life was made up of much mood swings. If something didn't work, I'd get very depressed. And if something did work, I'd be flying high as a kite.
SPEAKER 04 :
But let me tell you, that's not just for a melancholic personality.
SPEAKER 03 :
I understand.
SPEAKER 04 :
I'm a choleric personality. I've had that same thing. And mine came from fear and from anger. When I get frustrated. then what happens a lot of times is the chemical go goofy inside your body, and then the result of that many times is a chemically induced depression.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, but you're not prone to giving up. And there are some personalities that are absolutely prone to giving up. They hide in a corner, they sit in a corner, and they say, well, this is it, I'm just going to face the consequences. And you get up, when you get depressed, you get up and you go in another direction. I mean, you begin to do something to take care of that. Well, there are...
SPEAKER 04 :
Let me tell you why, though, Barbara. I absolutely hate to be depressed. I hate to be depressed and I hate to be sick. And I'll fight that with everything that's in me.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's because you're not a melancholy.
SPEAKER 04 :
Because I know that it pays no dividends. That's right. And you get in that spiral. And that spiral accelerates, and you go down, down, down, down, down. It gets worse, worse, worse, worse. It's like a person said to me, I think it was this, I don't know, last two or three days. He said, you know, even, well, I know who it was. Even if it didn't work, I'd still want to be a Christian. I mean, this is better than what the alternative is. And not exactly what they said, but... They said, no, I know what she said. She said, giving up is worse than hanging in there because the alternatives for what's going on. And she was saying, our lives are really tough right now. She's talking about she and her husband and their business. Things are really tough right now, but it's not as bad as giving up.
SPEAKER 07 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, if you give up, I mean, that's just a horrible way to go. That's an option that I personally will not take.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I would say this lady who wrote this letter, I don't have your phone number. If you would call our office number, we would really like to get a hold of you. And our office number is area code 303-689-0499. And again, our office number is area code 303-689-0499. We would really like to talk with you because this is a very serious situation. And I believe that God and us and you have the answer. I truly do. There's wisdom and counsel in numbers.
SPEAKER 04 :
When you think about losing everything, there's obviously fear. There's frustration. There's going to be some anger. Oh, it piles up. You have to fight those at the root level, the spirit level. You have to command that spirit of fear to get out of your life, out of your household. The fear of losing everything. The fear of failure. The husband here is obviously facing a fear of failure, a fear of rejection, a fear of being labeled a loser, and I don't think he's a loser.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, no, I do not.
SPEAKER 04 :
I mean, I don't think that.
SPEAKER 03 :
I do not feel like he has found his blueprint in life. That's right. I truly... And so we would really like to talk to you and... You know, so many people do not have the right identity. Like you have said so many times and taught so many times, Darren, they are carrying a false passport in their billfold, and they do not even realize.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you know, in the high seas, the ship registers in a certain country. So if it's registered U.S., it's going to fly a U.S. flag. If it's Panama, it's going to fly that and whatever. Well, in the high seas, many times, you know, one of the big crimes on the high sea is to fly the wrong type of flag. And that's been done for hundreds of years. I mean, they've been doing that. But, you know, people also, and I had some wonderful people about 20, a little over 20 years ago, say to me, you're carrying false paperwork. You believed a lie. You believed what the devil has said about yourself. No wonder you're depressed. No wonder you're confused. No wonder you're going in circles. And you know those loving people sat me down. They talked to me for about an hour. Then they lovingly laid hands on me and they cast out a spirit of fear, a spirit of anger and some other things. They just plain said it has to go in the name of Jesus. Well, we have that power as Christians.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And sometimes we are so balled up with our problems and we're so weighed down. It's almost like. You see a picture of a kitten playing with a ball of string. Pretty soon that string's around the leg and around their tail and around their body, around their head, around their paws, and they're just a mess. And if something doesn't come along there, they're going to get in a bigger mess. They're going to be all balled up, as we say. There are some people, Barbara, that are all balled up with all the things that are going on. And then the work doesn't go well, and then the bills start potting up, and this thing starts spiraling into a real mess.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. And this precious lady, I'd like to say that your prayer and fasting are effective, but your husband who is the covering, if he is not in agreement with you, it's going to just stretch out into a longer and a longer period. dilemma here and you need to talk with your husband get counseling be in a situation where you and your husband I have everything out on the table really truly get gut level honest and sometimes that hurts and but be in agreement and I want to say Jesus will for us Darren is perfect it really is not to take everything away that's right and in the Lord's Prayer I would encourage you to say the Lord's Prayer thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God's will for you and your family is perfect in heaven, and his will for you on earth is the very best. It's not God that's taken it away. It may be the enemy that you have opened a door to allow him to come in to take it away.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you talked about the Lord prayer in Matthew six and you ought to read Matthew six because it talks about food and arraignment and shelter and all those things and how the birds don't worry about those things. And yet God provides. But the key is in Matthew 633 to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, meaning right standing before him. And all of these things previously listed will be added unto you. Now, let me let me talk about depression for just a minute. In our country, I don't know what the number is, but I'll bet you it's up in the billions of dollars a year spent with people trying to get rid of depression. If you try to take depression and treat it, you're missing the point because depression is a symptom of something deeper.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
We talked about some of those root causes being anger and fear and frustration. And, you know, sometimes when you get you want to run, you know, you get depressed. Maybe too many bills and the job isn't going right. Your career has come to an end and you're trying to change careers and locations and all this kind of stuff and you're not getting it figured out. And the bills keep piling up and the money, if you had any to start with, is quickly going out the door. Well, I'm telling you folks, unless you address the root cause, in other words, what caused the depression? Depression is not a root cause. It's a symptom of something deeper.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. Anger, jealousy, the frustration that we have at the very beginning that something isn't working out according to how we want it to work out. Sometimes frustration sets in, then jealousy because everybody else around us is doing so well and we're struggling.
SPEAKER 04 :
Or we think they're doing well.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. And then anger sets in. And then on top of the anger is unforgiveness. Unforgiveness comes in, Darren, and we get hateful. And we are unforgiving towards ourselves because we have messed up our life and our family is suffering. We have unforgiveness towards that person or that company that we're working for. And we have unforgiveness towards God. And Darren, some people say, how can you have unforgiveness against God because he didn't do anything? That's absolutely true. But sometimes we we make God unforgivable.
SPEAKER 04 :
the scapegoat and we say god you can change this god why aren't you changing this and we get angry with god and unforgiving well and we charge him wrongly we say you're the heavyweight here you're the reason i'm having all these problems but he's not no it's it's the enemy the devil now let us give you this triangle of forgiveness again all right number one let's say in the case of this gentleman here that's talked about in this letter this husband here probably he needs to forgive the old company he worked for because he got to where he couldn't stand it. So there must be some people there, some circumstances there that he needs to forgive. Some of you today have been listening to a lot of television. You're listening to Y2K. You're listening to the Senate hearings. You're on and on. You're saying, man, this thing's out of control. Well, you might need to forgive the president. You might need to forgive, you know, the people that are quote, unquote, in charge of the economy, you might need to forgive the Russian government for screwing up their economy or the Brazilians, which was on the air yesterday, and that's affecting us Americans here. What I'm getting at is whoever you resent out there, you need to forgive, number one, and number two, you need to release them totally. And you do that by saying, it's an act of my will, and God will help you do this. As an act of my will, I choose to forgive and release the president, the Congress, the Pentagon, whoever you're unhappy with, with the forgiveness of Jesus. Let that forgiveness of Jesus flow through your heart and through your mouth by an act of your will. Then number two, as you talked about a while ago, some of you say, you know, I am an absolute failure here. I'm just not a good person. I'm just unworthy. I'm just always messing up. I just didn't work hard enough. I didn't prepare well enough. Because of my failures, my family's in a mess.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you need to forgive yourself as an act of your will. You can say it like this. As an act of my will, I choose to forgive and release myself. With the forgiveness and release of Jesus Christ, you need to judge yourself innocent and stop putting yourself down. Number three, then you need to forgive and release God by an act of your will with forgiveness of Jesus. And we tell you, you learn to do that. That's such a wonderful thing that was given to me by those people that prayed for me.
SPEAKER 03 :
Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER 04 :
Praise God for that.
SPEAKER 03 :
And when we first do that sometimes, Darren, we do need a counselor who is giving us this prayer. Just a little while ago, we prayed with a man and he willingly forgave everyone that had hurt him. And Darren, as he lifted all that up and forgave and released and forgave and released, the very next day, an absolutely tremendous breakthrough came to him because he gave it up. He gave up all of that offense. And I'll tell you, that really hurts us when we are offended and we keep it inside and it becomes broiling and it's like a pressure cooker. We cannot handle that. And so that's why I'm saying if you, the one that we're talking about, you know who you are, if you would like to have prayer and have Darren pray for you, it's our office number. Get in touch with us at the office number if you can't call us here. And it's 689-0499, area code 303-689-0499.
SPEAKER 04 :
And now let me talk about this matter of this forgiveness thing. A lot of us look for a feeling. Well, I don't feel like forgiving them or I don't feel like forgiving myself or I'm not in the mood. Let me tell you, if you will do what we just suggested, do it mechanically, the feelings will come. But you've got to take care of the legal issues first and the vital issues, these conditions of the heart. You need to forgive as an act of your will. Got that? As an act of your will. I give this illustration all the time. We have light on here in the studio because I reached over the wall and by an act of my will, I mechanically turned the switch on. I flipped the switch up. Well, the will works the same way. You need to mechanically set your will and you set it with your mouth. And you say, when you say as an act of my will, I choose to forgive. I choose to release as an act of my will. I'm making a decision here. I want to change. I'm tired of going around in this circle of depression.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And you can, you are responsible for your feelings. You're responsible for your life.
SPEAKER 03 :
I talk about Cain and Abel in Genesis 4 and how Abel brought a gift of his favorite lamb for an offering and God absolutely was delighted with that offering. And after a while, Cain came and brought some of his harvest, some of the crops that he had raised. And God was not pleased with that because Cain had waited and Cain had not brought his first fruits. He had not brought his best to the Lord. He brought probably blemished things. God was not delighted with Cain's offering, and Cain became jealous of his brother, and he became very angry, and he became depressed. It says in the fifth verse of the fourth chapter of Genesis, And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why are you depressed? Or why has your countenance fallen? And if you do well, this is God's message to you today. If you do well, will not your depression be lifted? Will not your countenance be lifted up? If you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door and its desire is for you, but you can master it. The very next thing that Cain did, Darren, he went out to Abel. He didn't pray. He didn't seek God. God said, Cain, you can master this thing. You can handle it. You are in control and you can come and bring me a great offering and I will be pleased with you as I am with your brother Abel. What did Cain do? He did the very opposite. He went out to his brother Abel and he killed him. He murdered him. He didn't have that control of the spirit. And we're saying you can either go to God, run to God, who is the loving God, or you can run away from God. And I'll tell you, if you run away from God, only evil consequences are there to face you. I mean, there's nothing good that's going to happen to you if you run away from God. God is your source. God is your creator, and he's very loving.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, there's a scripture going along with that in Hebrews 12, 15. It says, See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. Sometimes we get resentful that we're in these situations. God, this is just too hard for me. Why are you letting this happen to me? Why are you dumping on me? Why are you shortchanging me? Why are you blessing everybody else? Look at that guy over there. He doesn't even go to church. It just seems like he's blessed. Sometimes it does. That's been a complaint of the righteous all through scripture. If you read the book of Job, you'll say, how come they're so blessed? And they don't even worship you, Father. Well, you have to make a decision that you're not going to get into a root of bitterness because of resentment.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And you have to take that thing on and say, this monster is going to get me if I don't make a decision and take some action. That's why we put out the scripture cards called the Power Pack. If you don't have those, they're $5. They come out in a cassette case, and that'll tell you that it'll fit right in your pocket or in your purse or on the visor of your car. But you need to speak the word of God.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, we've gotten so many great letters, Darren, with people saying, hey, I carry my Power Pack with me, and it has changed my life in the last six months. Well... Praise the Lord. It's not the power pack. It's the word of God in that power pack. And it's you. It's you putting action to those words. You are part of that solution. That's what's so amazing. You read the word and your words become powerful in the midst of diversity, in the midst of adversity, in the midst of tribulation.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, this new Rotherham translation I was given for Christmas. Here's what it says. And I'll quote, first of all, the new American standard.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it's not new Rotherham. Well, it's an old Rotherham. It really is old.
SPEAKER 04 :
But it's so accurate. And here's what it says. Cast not away your freedom of speech for it has a great reward. Now, why is that so special? And we were talking about this earlier this morning at our house and we were saying, you know, one thing television has done to us is it keeps us from reacting. We sit there and watch and we're watchers and we're not participators.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
We're spectators. If you're going to get involved here with God's word, you have to become a speaker of the word. Cast not away your privilege of speech. You need to know that that's a privilege of speech. or the freedom of speech i should say cast out away your freedom of speech for it has great recompense or it has great reward you need to be speaking the word of god and let me tell you there's nobody in our listening audience barbara that would fail if they speak the word of the lord nobody and you need to start speaking the right things and stop stirring around see i know how it works with many people that are depressed you're either going in the circle in your mind in your heart running all the scenarios that's right all the regrets all the remorse all the flashbacks you're replaying all of the failures all of the missed opportunities let me tell you that is a dead issue you need to have a funeral for that thing now i used to take people and i'd say i want you to write this all down on piece paper maybe they write down all their sins all their failures all their worries and i say right now we're going to burn that thing And we'd put a match to it and we'd burn it up right there in front of us. Burn the whole piece of paper.
SPEAKER 03 :
And don't mention it again. Don't mention it.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is your burial ceremony. You're going to get rid of this thing. Whatever you have to do, but you need to do something. You've got to make a move in the right direction, in a positive direction. Or it may be that you want to tear it up and then flush it down the toilet. I've had people do that also. Bury that thing. But you have to make a decision to stop talking about it and stop doing the loop. Or it's going to get worse and worse and worse. You need to get over to the Word of God. In fact, I would recommend this. Take Psalm 91 and all through Psalm 91, revive me, O Lord, according to your Word. Read that out loud. Read it again. Read it a third time. You can't read scripture without that word of God becoming alive to you and changing your life and your circumstances, changing your attitude about life. And some of you just have a dirty windshield. Let me say that again. Some of you are just looking through a dirty windshield. You need to clean that up with the word of God so that you can see your life accurately and begin to hear the word of God and his counsel for you. He did not send Jesus Christ to die on the cross so you could fail.
SPEAKER 07 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
He wants you to win. Another scripture I'd advise you to get and memorize is Joshua 1.8. It says if you meditate the word, in other words, if you speak and mumble the word day and night, you will be prosperous and successful. And that solves those things.
SPEAKER 03 :
How can you do that, Darren? You can't speak the word day and night.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yes, you can.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, we have a spirit. And most of us, the spirit's the last one. We have the physical and the soul, and then the spirit comes in last, very last, third place in most of our lives. Well, the spirit should be in control. It should be number one. Our spirit should be fed all the time with the word of God and with good things and not evil and wicked things. We should have spirit, soul, and then body should be the third. But we got it all turned around. Well, in our spirit, we can meditate without even speaking. Darren, I know people at work that meditate during their work and they don't even talk, but they meditate continually in their spirit day and night.
SPEAKER 1 :
877-917-7256
SPEAKER 01 :
Call to Freedom is a listener-supported radio ministry. Barbara and her power partners invite you to come on board with us and become a network of hands holding up Call to Freedom ministry. Power partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. you will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom's website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
Derin and Barbara have taught that there is no situation that is too difficult for GOD! He wants His children blessed and enjoying an Abundant Life in JESUS Christ! On August 5, 2009, Derin went to be with the LORD but Barbara has continued on with the daily radio show teaching the Word of GOD. The name of the 1/2 hour show as been changed to "Call To Freedom." Barbara's spiritual motto for the show is found in Galatians 5:13, "For you were 'called to freedom', Brothers and Sisters, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." Barbara welcomes your comments and prayer requests, Monday - Friday at 1:00 PM on 670 KLTT Radio. If you have a prayer request and you need agreement in Faith, call Barbara on the LIVE! show at 1:00 PM every day Mon - Thurs at 1-877-917-7256. Repeat broadcasts at 10:15 pm, 2:30 am, and 5:30 am, and 11:00am on 1220 KLDC. Call To Freedom is a listener supported ministry. Barbara not only welcomes your financial support but your prayers are important to this ministry, because prayer truly does change things! Call To Freedom is broadcast on a 50,000 watt station, the most powerful Christian station in the nation. Call To Freedom can be heard in the following areas over-the-air, and anywhere in the world through the internet via this podcast! Boulder, CO; Cheyenne, WY; Burlington, CO; Vail, CO; Canadian, Texas Fort Collins, CO; Scotts Bluff, NE; Grand Junction, CO; Wheatland, WY; Garden City, KS; Santa Fe, NM Call To Freedom reaches 32,000 square miles, and it has a potential listening audience of over 4 million people. Anyone can listen to Call to Freedom, live-stream, as long as they have internet access.
Join us for an inspiring episode of Call to Freedom where spiritual and emotional wellness is at the forefront. Hosts Barbara Carmack and Darren dive into understanding how depression stems from deeper spiritual issues and share letters from listeners who offer testimonies of faith and resilience. The program sheds light on combating depression's root causes with spiritual introspection, prayer, and an unyielding trust in God's blessings. The episode offers steps to untangle the burdens that keep individuals from reaching their full spiritual potential. Through heartfelt conversation and prayer, listeners are encouraged to practice forgiveness and seek God's wisdom in navigating life's struggles. This episode is a reminder that spiritual freedom is attainable, and God's love is the key to unlocking it.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a Word Power Daily Reading Bible Guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number, 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio.
SPEAKER 02 :
After thanking children who are sending in offerings to give to the orphans with Home of Refuge, I read a letter written by a wife who is concerned because her husband is depressed about his job. But Darren brings up the fact that depression is only a symptom of a deeper spiritual root. We bring up the areas of fear and pride and unforgiveness which may indicate depression. that maybe things aren't working out according to your plans, and you're allowing anger, fear, or unforgiveness to take over. As we discuss unforgiveness, Darren gives a solution to bring freedom into your heart and life. God's will is to bless you, but it's important that you get rid of the junk that's clogging up the communication lines between you and your Heavenly Father. Now let's join the program.
SPEAKER 04 :
You have a wonderful letter there in your hand, don't you?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, and I forgot to bring the letters of the Yost family. The children all sent letters, and they sent their Christmas money that they'd gotten for Christmas for the home of refuge, for the orphanage, for the children, and I forgot that this morning.
SPEAKER 04 :
They're over in Nebraska, aren't they?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, and thank you so much. I remember three of the children's names, Caitlin, Logan, and Coda, but I don't remember the other little boys, and they're so precious. We'll call them number four. Forgive me. No, no, no, not number four. Okay. And so we have a letter here from Shelby, and it's, Dear Darren and Barbara, how are you? I am fine. I'm writing you to thank you for the VeggieTales. I really like it. Thanks for your newsletter. Tell Barbara hi. I enjoy your program very much. I'm sending you $5. And Shelby, we're going to apply this $5 with the other, I think we got $46 from the Yost children. God bless you. We're going to give it to the Home of Refuge, and it's going to bless them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Where's Shelby from?
SPEAKER 03 :
Lyman.
SPEAKER 04 :
Lyman, Colorado.
SPEAKER 03 :
It's a wonderful little letter. And we just appreciate the letters from the children. That's wonderful. Praise God.
SPEAKER 04 :
We have a letter here that's really, I'm going to say it's a treasured letter because this lady is so gifted in explaining what's going on. But she said, may I ask for prayer help? I've never asked this before. It's difficult and I'm not even sure why. Okay. Oh, I got a phone call coming in. So I'm going to hold this letter because I want to treat this right. It's a great letter and it will strike the chord with so many of you that are, you know, in an employment change transition. And, you know, you may be looking at the wrong thing or why you're having problems. I think we can help this lady. Well, let's talk to Sean. Hello, Sean.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hello, Darren, Barbara, this is Sean Anselmo. I don't know if you remember my father.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my goodness, yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Steve Anselmo.
SPEAKER 04 :
I was talking about your dad a couple of days ago. As a matter of fact, a lady came to our meeting, and she said she talked to somebody on the phone who received a marvelous healing, and I said to Barb, that person talked to Anselmo.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, to Steve. We were talking about your dad just the other day, and I remember having dinner with you, and you were really young. How old are you, Sean?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I'm 31 now. Oh, my goodness.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my goodness.
SPEAKER 05 :
Tack that on.
SPEAKER 04 :
So how are you doing, Sean?
SPEAKER 05 :
I'm doing great. I just wanted to praise God for you. And welcome back to the airwaves. And it's great to hear your voice on the radio. It's only by chance that I even caught your program the other day. And I'm just praising God for your ministry. And I've entered the ministry myself.
SPEAKER 04 :
Praise God. Do you have a church?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, I just started a newsletter from our home, my family and I, and it's going to follow up with my dad's newsletter and his prison ministry.
SPEAKER 04 :
Good, good.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, we're looking forward to seeing what God's got in store for us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I'll tell you, your dad helped me out in Tulsa, Oklahoma one time, and I won't go into the whole story, but I'll tell you, he was there for me. And then he worked with me in Fort Collins for quite a while, and there's a wonderful anointing on your father and mother's lives.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's right. Amen. Praise God. I just want to thank you guys and encourage you. You're doing a great job, and I appreciate the words of God that he gives to you guys.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, thank you, sir. Thank you, Sean. I hope you'll take time to give our office a call and leave your address.
SPEAKER 05 :
I would certainly do that.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, here's the number, Sean. Well, I guess if you can hang on, I'll just have our engineer take it. How would that be?
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER 04 :
Sean, it's good to hear from you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Good to hear from you.
SPEAKER 04 :
You're married? You're married now?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, married and three children.
SPEAKER 04 :
What's your little wife's name?
SPEAKER 05 :
Patricia and Elmo.
SPEAKER 04 :
Patricia. Wonderful. Well, we just bless you, Sean.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, thank you.
SPEAKER 04 :
I know there's a wonderful anointing being passed down from your father, and that's good. Next time you see your dad, have him give us a call.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. Praise God.
SPEAKER 04 :
I will. God bless. God bless you. Okay. Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Calls from out of the past. Yes. Amen. That's just really.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I tell you, I watched Steve and he was a wonderful man for us on the prayer lines.
SPEAKER 03 :
He was a man of prayer. That's right. He was. He was a man of prayer.
SPEAKER 04 :
This letter goes on to say, I've never asked for prayer help before. I've never asked anyone. I don't know why. Maybe it's fear. Maybe it's pride. And maybe we think it shows weakness, but we haven't asked before. It goes on to say, my husband had been trying to break into a certain business, and I won't name that business, for a whole year. He had to leave another type of business, which is much different by the letter here. but it was driving him to great depression. He loves doing what he's doing now, but it's 100% commission, and he just can't seem to make it work. We're almost out of money, and he's become so depressed and despondent, I'm fearful we're going to lose everything. Is that what's going to happen to us? Pray that we will find suitable work soon. My husband has even looked back to his past job, and we've fasted and we've prayed, and we'll continue. And I guess I struggle with knowing what the Lord's will is here. If Jesus prayed about his father's will being done, shouldn't we also pray that way? Could it be that his will that we go through losing all that we have? Now, I'm going to stop right there. I don't believe it's God's will that you lose all that you have. But I do believe this, that God is trying to get down to a root cause. And I don't believe the depression came on this husband just because of this new work or because of a lack of sales income, commission income. And I believe God allows us to go through these things for us to face ourselves and say, well... It wasn't the old job. It's not the new job. It must be something wrong inside of me. And I went through a period of time like that when I had to face myself. And I thought it was the circumstances around me, my family, my work, my profession, my whatever. And I made somewhat of a massive change. And that's when I hit the wall and it was the best thing that ever happened to me because I had to face some things down inside of Darren and cry out for help. And some people prayed for me. And because of their prayer, that's the basis of this ministry and that's setting people free.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Showing them how to get set free.
SPEAKER 03 :
Life is hard on us, and so we start building walls and we start putting layer upon layer. And I feel like this precious lady is just crying out, and I feel so much for her. We weren't given very many... details and I wish she would have written a little bit more about her family if her husband is born again if they go to a spiritual church if they have had counseling because I believe there's a curse going on in his husband's life I believe that there has been depression in his life before and I believe that if he is a melancholy at all that means if he has mood swings And I'm very aware of that and familiar with that because my life has been my previous life was made up of much mood swings. If something didn't work, I'd get very depressed. And if something did work, I'd be flying high as a kite.
SPEAKER 04 :
But let me tell you, that's not just for a melancholic personality.
SPEAKER 03 :
I understand.
SPEAKER 04 :
I'm a choleric personality. I've had that same thing. And mine came from fear and from anger. When I get frustrated. then what happens a lot of times is the chemical go goofy inside your body, and then the result of that many times is a chemically induced depression.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, but you're not prone to giving up. And there are some personalities that are absolutely prone to giving up. They hide in a corner, they sit in a corner, and they say, well, this is it, I'm just going to face the consequences. And you get up, when you get depressed, you get up and you go in another direction. I mean, you begin to do something to take care of that. Well, there are...
SPEAKER 04 :
Let me tell you why, though, Barbara. I absolutely hate to be depressed. I hate to be depressed and I hate to be sick. And I'll fight that with everything that's in me.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's because you're not a melancholy.
SPEAKER 04 :
Because I know that it pays no dividends. That's right. And you get in that spiral. And that spiral accelerates, and you go down, down, down, down, down. It gets worse, worse, worse, worse. It's like a person said to me, I think it was this, I don't know, last two or three days. He said, you know, even, well, I know who it was. Even if it didn't work, I'd still want to be a Christian. I mean, this is better than what the alternative is. And not exactly what they said, but... They said, no, I know what she said. She said, giving up is worse than hanging in there because the alternatives for what's going on. And she was saying, our lives are really tough right now. She's talking about she and her husband and their business. Things are really tough right now, but it's not as bad as giving up.
SPEAKER 07 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, if you give up, I mean, that's just a horrible way to go. That's an option that I personally will not take.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I would say this lady who wrote this letter, I don't have your phone number. If you would call our office number, we would really like to get a hold of you. And our office number is area code 303-689-0499. And again, our office number is area code 303-689-0499. We would really like to talk with you because this is a very serious situation. And I believe that God and us and you have the answer. I truly do. There's wisdom and counsel in numbers.
SPEAKER 04 :
When you think about losing everything, there's obviously fear. There's frustration. There's going to be some anger. Oh, it piles up. You have to fight those at the root level, the spirit level. You have to command that spirit of fear to get out of your life, out of your household. The fear of losing everything. The fear of failure. The husband here is obviously facing a fear of failure, a fear of rejection, a fear of being labeled a loser, and I don't think he's a loser.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, no, I do not.
SPEAKER 04 :
I mean, I don't think that.
SPEAKER 03 :
I do not feel like he has found his blueprint in life. That's right. I truly... And so we would really like to talk to you and... You know, so many people do not have the right identity. Like you have said so many times and taught so many times, Darren, they are carrying a false passport in their billfold, and they do not even realize.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you know, in the high seas, the ship registers in a certain country. So if it's registered U.S., it's going to fly a U.S. flag. If it's Panama, it's going to fly that and whatever. Well, in the high seas, many times, you know, one of the big crimes on the high sea is to fly the wrong type of flag. And that's been done for hundreds of years. I mean, they've been doing that. But, you know, people also, and I had some wonderful people about 20, a little over 20 years ago, say to me, you're carrying false paperwork. You believed a lie. You believed what the devil has said about yourself. No wonder you're depressed. No wonder you're confused. No wonder you're going in circles. And you know those loving people sat me down. They talked to me for about an hour. Then they lovingly laid hands on me and they cast out a spirit of fear, a spirit of anger and some other things. They just plain said it has to go in the name of Jesus. Well, we have that power as Christians.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And sometimes we are so balled up with our problems and we're so weighed down. It's almost like. You see a picture of a kitten playing with a ball of string. Pretty soon that string's around the leg and around their tail and around their body, around their head, around their paws, and they're just a mess. And if something doesn't come along there, they're going to get in a bigger mess. They're going to be all balled up, as we say. There are some people, Barbara, that are all balled up with all the things that are going on. And then the work doesn't go well, and then the bills start potting up, and this thing starts spiraling into a real mess.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. And this precious lady, I'd like to say that your prayer and fasting are effective, but your husband who is the covering, if he is not in agreement with you, it's going to just stretch out into a longer and a longer period. dilemma here and you need to talk with your husband get counseling be in a situation where you and your husband I have everything out on the table really truly get gut level honest and sometimes that hurts and but be in agreement and I want to say Jesus will for us Darren is perfect it really is not to take everything away that's right and in the Lord's Prayer I would encourage you to say the Lord's Prayer thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God's will for you and your family is perfect in heaven, and his will for you on earth is the very best. It's not God that's taken it away. It may be the enemy that you have opened a door to allow him to come in to take it away.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you talked about the Lord prayer in Matthew six and you ought to read Matthew six because it talks about food and arraignment and shelter and all those things and how the birds don't worry about those things. And yet God provides. But the key is in Matthew 633 to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, meaning right standing before him. And all of these things previously listed will be added unto you. Now, let me let me talk about depression for just a minute. In our country, I don't know what the number is, but I'll bet you it's up in the billions of dollars a year spent with people trying to get rid of depression. If you try to take depression and treat it, you're missing the point because depression is a symptom of something deeper.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
We talked about some of those root causes being anger and fear and frustration. And, you know, sometimes when you get you want to run, you know, you get depressed. Maybe too many bills and the job isn't going right. Your career has come to an end and you're trying to change careers and locations and all this kind of stuff and you're not getting it figured out. And the bills keep piling up and the money, if you had any to start with, is quickly going out the door. Well, I'm telling you folks, unless you address the root cause, in other words, what caused the depression? Depression is not a root cause. It's a symptom of something deeper.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. Anger, jealousy, the frustration that we have at the very beginning that something isn't working out according to how we want it to work out. Sometimes frustration sets in, then jealousy because everybody else around us is doing so well and we're struggling.
SPEAKER 04 :
Or we think they're doing well.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. And then anger sets in. And then on top of the anger is unforgiveness. Unforgiveness comes in, Darren, and we get hateful. And we are unforgiving towards ourselves because we have messed up our life and our family is suffering. We have unforgiveness towards that person or that company that we're working for. And we have unforgiveness towards God. And Darren, some people say, how can you have unforgiveness against God because he didn't do anything? That's absolutely true. But sometimes we we make God unforgivable.
SPEAKER 04 :
the scapegoat and we say god you can change this god why aren't you changing this and we get angry with god and unforgiving well and we charge him wrongly we say you're the heavyweight here you're the reason i'm having all these problems but he's not no it's it's the enemy the devil now let us give you this triangle of forgiveness again all right number one let's say in the case of this gentleman here that's talked about in this letter this husband here probably he needs to forgive the old company he worked for because he got to where he couldn't stand it. So there must be some people there, some circumstances there that he needs to forgive. Some of you today have been listening to a lot of television. You're listening to Y2K. You're listening to the Senate hearings. You're on and on. You're saying, man, this thing's out of control. Well, you might need to forgive the president. You might need to forgive, you know, the people that are quote, unquote, in charge of the economy, you might need to forgive the Russian government for screwing up their economy or the Brazilians, which was on the air yesterday, and that's affecting us Americans here. What I'm getting at is whoever you resent out there, you need to forgive, number one, and number two, you need to release them totally. And you do that by saying, it's an act of my will, and God will help you do this. As an act of my will, I choose to forgive and release the president, the Congress, the Pentagon, whoever you're unhappy with, with the forgiveness of Jesus. Let that forgiveness of Jesus flow through your heart and through your mouth by an act of your will. Then number two, as you talked about a while ago, some of you say, you know, I am an absolute failure here. I'm just not a good person. I'm just unworthy. I'm just always messing up. I just didn't work hard enough. I didn't prepare well enough. Because of my failures, my family's in a mess.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you need to forgive yourself as an act of your will. You can say it like this. As an act of my will, I choose to forgive and release myself. With the forgiveness and release of Jesus Christ, you need to judge yourself innocent and stop putting yourself down. Number three, then you need to forgive and release God by an act of your will with forgiveness of Jesus. And we tell you, you learn to do that. That's such a wonderful thing that was given to me by those people that prayed for me.
SPEAKER 03 :
Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER 04 :
Praise God for that.
SPEAKER 03 :
And when we first do that sometimes, Darren, we do need a counselor who is giving us this prayer. Just a little while ago, we prayed with a man and he willingly forgave everyone that had hurt him. And Darren, as he lifted all that up and forgave and released and forgave and released, the very next day, an absolutely tremendous breakthrough came to him because he gave it up. He gave up all of that offense. And I'll tell you, that really hurts us when we are offended and we keep it inside and it becomes broiling and it's like a pressure cooker. We cannot handle that. And so that's why I'm saying if you, the one that we're talking about, you know who you are, if you would like to have prayer and have Darren pray for you, it's our office number. Get in touch with us at the office number if you can't call us here. And it's 689-0499, area code 303-689-0499.
SPEAKER 04 :
And now let me talk about this matter of this forgiveness thing. A lot of us look for a feeling. Well, I don't feel like forgiving them or I don't feel like forgiving myself or I'm not in the mood. Let me tell you, if you will do what we just suggested, do it mechanically, the feelings will come. But you've got to take care of the legal issues first and the vital issues, these conditions of the heart. You need to forgive as an act of your will. Got that? As an act of your will. I give this illustration all the time. We have light on here in the studio because I reached over the wall and by an act of my will, I mechanically turned the switch on. I flipped the switch up. Well, the will works the same way. You need to mechanically set your will and you set it with your mouth. And you say, when you say as an act of my will, I choose to forgive. I choose to release as an act of my will. I'm making a decision here. I want to change. I'm tired of going around in this circle of depression.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And you can, you are responsible for your feelings. You're responsible for your life.
SPEAKER 03 :
I talk about Cain and Abel in Genesis 4 and how Abel brought a gift of his favorite lamb for an offering and God absolutely was delighted with that offering. And after a while, Cain came and brought some of his harvest, some of the crops that he had raised. And God was not pleased with that because Cain had waited and Cain had not brought his first fruits. He had not brought his best to the Lord. He brought probably blemished things. God was not delighted with Cain's offering, and Cain became jealous of his brother, and he became very angry, and he became depressed. It says in the fifth verse of the fourth chapter of Genesis, And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why are you depressed? Or why has your countenance fallen? And if you do well, this is God's message to you today. If you do well, will not your depression be lifted? Will not your countenance be lifted up? If you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door and its desire is for you, but you can master it. The very next thing that Cain did, Darren, he went out to Abel. He didn't pray. He didn't seek God. God said, Cain, you can master this thing. You can handle it. You are in control and you can come and bring me a great offering and I will be pleased with you as I am with your brother Abel. What did Cain do? He did the very opposite. He went out to his brother Abel and he killed him. He murdered him. He didn't have that control of the spirit. And we're saying you can either go to God, run to God, who is the loving God, or you can run away from God. And I'll tell you, if you run away from God, only evil consequences are there to face you. I mean, there's nothing good that's going to happen to you if you run away from God. God is your source. God is your creator, and he's very loving.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, there's a scripture going along with that in Hebrews 12, 15. It says, See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. Sometimes we get resentful that we're in these situations. God, this is just too hard for me. Why are you letting this happen to me? Why are you dumping on me? Why are you shortchanging me? Why are you blessing everybody else? Look at that guy over there. He doesn't even go to church. It just seems like he's blessed. Sometimes it does. That's been a complaint of the righteous all through scripture. If you read the book of Job, you'll say, how come they're so blessed? And they don't even worship you, Father. Well, you have to make a decision that you're not going to get into a root of bitterness because of resentment.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And you have to take that thing on and say, this monster is going to get me if I don't make a decision and take some action. That's why we put out the scripture cards called the Power Pack. If you don't have those, they're $5. They come out in a cassette case, and that'll tell you that it'll fit right in your pocket or in your purse or on the visor of your car. But you need to speak the word of God.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, we've gotten so many great letters, Darren, with people saying, hey, I carry my Power Pack with me, and it has changed my life in the last six months. Well... Praise the Lord. It's not the power pack. It's the word of God in that power pack. And it's you. It's you putting action to those words. You are part of that solution. That's what's so amazing. You read the word and your words become powerful in the midst of diversity, in the midst of adversity, in the midst of tribulation.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, this new Rotherham translation I was given for Christmas. Here's what it says. And I'll quote, first of all, the new American standard.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it's not new Rotherham. Well, it's an old Rotherham. It really is old.
SPEAKER 04 :
But it's so accurate. And here's what it says. Cast not away your freedom of speech for it has a great reward. Now, why is that so special? And we were talking about this earlier this morning at our house and we were saying, you know, one thing television has done to us is it keeps us from reacting. We sit there and watch and we're watchers and we're not participators.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
We're spectators. If you're going to get involved here with God's word, you have to become a speaker of the word. Cast not away your privilege of speech. You need to know that that's a privilege of speech. or the freedom of speech i should say cast out away your freedom of speech for it has great recompense or it has great reward you need to be speaking the word of god and let me tell you there's nobody in our listening audience barbara that would fail if they speak the word of the lord nobody and you need to start speaking the right things and stop stirring around see i know how it works with many people that are depressed you're either going in the circle in your mind in your heart running all the scenarios that's right all the regrets all the remorse all the flashbacks you're replaying all of the failures all of the missed opportunities let me tell you that is a dead issue you need to have a funeral for that thing now i used to take people and i'd say i want you to write this all down on piece paper maybe they write down all their sins all their failures all their worries and i say right now we're going to burn that thing And we'd put a match to it and we'd burn it up right there in front of us. Burn the whole piece of paper.
SPEAKER 03 :
And don't mention it again. Don't mention it.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is your burial ceremony. You're going to get rid of this thing. Whatever you have to do, but you need to do something. You've got to make a move in the right direction, in a positive direction. Or it may be that you want to tear it up and then flush it down the toilet. I've had people do that also. Bury that thing. But you have to make a decision to stop talking about it and stop doing the loop. Or it's going to get worse and worse and worse. You need to get over to the Word of God. In fact, I would recommend this. Take Psalm 91 and all through Psalm 91, revive me, O Lord, according to your Word. Read that out loud. Read it again. Read it a third time. You can't read scripture without that word of God becoming alive to you and changing your life and your circumstances, changing your attitude about life. And some of you just have a dirty windshield. Let me say that again. Some of you are just looking through a dirty windshield. You need to clean that up with the word of God so that you can see your life accurately and begin to hear the word of God and his counsel for you. He did not send Jesus Christ to die on the cross so you could fail.
SPEAKER 07 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
He wants you to win. Another scripture I'd advise you to get and memorize is Joshua 1.8. It says if you meditate the word, in other words, if you speak and mumble the word day and night, you will be prosperous and successful. And that solves those things.
SPEAKER 03 :
How can you do that, Darren? You can't speak the word day and night.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yes, you can.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, we have a spirit. And most of us, the spirit's the last one. We have the physical and the soul, and then the spirit comes in last, very last, third place in most of our lives. Well, the spirit should be in control. It should be number one. Our spirit should be fed all the time with the word of God and with good things and not evil and wicked things. We should have spirit, soul, and then body should be the third. But we got it all turned around. Well, in our spirit, we can meditate without even speaking. Darren, I know people at work that meditate during their work and they don't even talk, but they meditate continually in their spirit day and night.
SPEAKER 1 :
877-917-7256
SPEAKER 01 :
Call to Freedom is a listener-supported radio ministry. Barbara and her power partners invite you to come on board with us and become a network of hands holding up Call to Freedom ministry. Power partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. you will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom's website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
In today's soul-enriching episode, Barbara and Kimberly offer profound insights on encountering and overcoming life's trials with unwavering faith. With heartwarming anecdotes and biblical teachings, they emphasize the necessity of scripture in forging a resilient relationship with God. Celebrate the joy of reconnecting with family, understanding divine purpose, and choosing praise amidst adversity. This episode is a beacon for anyone yearning to discover the sustenance that faith offers in times of uncertainty.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a Word Power Daily Reading Bible Guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number, 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome to Called Up Freedom. I'm so glad you joined me today. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of Holy Spirit. Oh, hope is such a marvelous thing to have. You're hoping for God's perfect will in your life. It's as the Lord's Prayer says, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. You're praising God. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He wants you to enjoy that abundant life that Jesus promised to you. Oh, and may you be filled with all joy and peace so that you may overflow with hope by the power of Holy Spirit. See, God doesn't use wimps in his plan to conquer. No, he doesn't. And we're growing up. We're maturing. We're no longer on that baby bottle. And I want some of you who are still in that salvation mode. Come on. Come on with me. Read the word. Begin to get into the word and begin to be curious about the word. Examine the word and get knowledge in your heart and your soul from the word. That's the most important thing in the world for you is to learn the word of God so you can love him as Jesus loves him. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, you are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. And if you'd like to listen to previous programs, I was listening to the program for tomorrow with Darren and me, and we're celebrating his birthday. I don't know what year it is. I'll have to look that up. But it is so much fun to talk about the year that he was born and celebrating the birthday with him. And he got great calls. And I think you'll really know. I believe you'll really enjoy the show tomorrow. And you go to Freedom Street dot org. Click on radio shows and you can listen. Also, you can hit that donate button if you're enjoying the the excitement and the fervor we have for Jesus Christ and the scripture that we're giving you every day. I want you to realize, friend, that's what we live on. We don't live on just the food that we put into our physical bodies. Man shall not live by bread alone. but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And that's his word. That's his words, the word that many of you just put on a table for the week and then take it on Sunday to show yourself that you're holy. That's something we open every day of the week and read and underline and learn from. So I challenge you. I encourage you to get into the word of God today. If you need a Bible guide, you can call me after this program. at 1-877-917-7256 and ask for a Bible guide, and I will be happy to send you one to get into the Word of God for yourself. Praise the Lord. Well, Kimberly has chosen to join us again today, and I'm so glad because she had such a great teaching yesterday, and we're just going to continue that. And Kimberly, welcome. Thank you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you. Wow, Mom, you just came out the gate shooting from the hip. Thank you. Just let's get in there and tell people what we're made for. Yes, we're made for the word of God. And we did. We looked at that yesterday, how Jesus told the enemy as he was being tempted that man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
SPEAKER 04 :
And who would... Now, what would the devil... tempt Jesus with and each one of us with, first of all, in those temptations found in Luke 4 and also in Matthew 4. Food. Yeah, food. Food.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, food. Yes, especially at the beginning of the year when you've made your New Year's resolutions. And then the temptations start coming, right?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, they do. Before we get into it, I would really like you to tell the audience about meeting some of your father's relatives and how it came about. Because I know that you have known Pam for a while now. No, I really haven't.
SPEAKER 05 :
I just met her about three weeks ago for the first time. We've texted with each other when she first moved here to Broken Arrow. It's already been two years ago. I just both of us just started doing life and and didn't remember to get back with each other but we met for the very first time just within this past month and it's it's amazing to me she's in her 70s and the other two her her sister and then her first cousin they all moved here from California And that's where dad's family is all from. They all settled out there. And daddy died 35 years ago. And we really have not stayed in touch with that side of the family at all. So 35 years of... And even before he passed away, We didn't have very much interaction with them. I don't ever remember meeting these people ever in my lifetime. But they knew that I was here.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, how did they know?
SPEAKER 05 :
How did Pam text you a year ago? One of Dad's sister's. So, one of dad's sisters, one of my aunts, let them know, oh, you're moving to Broken Arrow.
SPEAKER 04 :
That's where Kimberly lives. I don't know how they knew, but I'm glad that they have kept track of where you were living. Oh, that's wonderful. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
So I got to actually meet up with them, let's see, two of them last week. And one of them just four months ago, she lost her eyesight completely. Oh. And it wasn't even something gradual at all. It was very sudden. And she's having a hard time adjusting. So she's in an assisted living place now. And that assisted living place has two pianos. And so I went and I played the piano and sang with them. And it was the most beautiful thing to have harmonies singing together. It was as if we had been singing together all our lives.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yes. It's really beautiful. Oh, that is wonderful. I am so happy. I know that the first few weeks when your dad and I were living in California before we flew and moved to Colorado, that I had probably met Pam because his whole family had gathered together for an afternoon of playing the organ and the piano and singing and having a great time. And I remember Darlene from a long time ago. But, yeah, that's been 50, 60 years. So, wow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. So the story that we're telling here really does apply to all of you listening because there are things that happen in life. For instance, Joseph. Joseph, he left his family. Well, he didn't leave Joseph. He was sold by his brothers into Egypt and he had to learn a whole new way of doing life. And that way might have been pretty challenging for someone, the way he was raised and his family and the promises of God that were given to his father, his grandfather, his great grandfather. And to know that you've got these promises from the Lord, and now you are in a completely different land. And this land does not acknowledge the same God.
SPEAKER 04 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 05 :
That would be really, very challenging, really tough. And we can all find ourselves in places in our life where it just feels very challenging, unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and really tough. what we were talking about yesterday how our Egypt, it could be the old way we grew up with our family. I look at Egypt as the thing that was left behind. Joseph left a family behind that was, I know it was a blessed family and God started all 12 tribes out of this family. The 12 tribes of Israel came from this family, but they were messed up. Let me just say that.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, they were.
SPEAKER 05 :
They did not know about harmony and unity. They did not get along very well. And to sell your brother out, to sell him into slavery, that's messed up.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, there was favoritism from the father who favored Joseph, and he made him a coat of wonderful colors. He didn't do that for the rest of the brothers. He did that for Joseph.
SPEAKER 05 :
And even besides that, some of those brothers, like one of them slept with his dad's maid, and then another couple of them, they were so angry that they went and slaughtered a whole city. I mean, there were some problems. So Joseph was leaving those problems behind, but it was also his familiar family. And whatever we get familiar with in life, when we have to leave it behind, that can be really tough. And we start looking back when we've left something, left a job, left a family, left left an area where you've lived for a long time, whatever it is that you've left behind, it can be so uncomfortable that you start looking back and thinking, well, maybe I should go back. And we all have that tendency to do that. What we need to remember is that our journey in this wilderness that feels uncomfortable is such a blessed journey. And Jesus himself showed us how to do this journey. In Hebrews 5, 8, we're told that Jesus learned obedience through suffering. And I think of wilderness as being a place where we have some suffering. It's uncomfortable, and that can feel like you're suffering. And there can be other ways to suffer too. But Jesus was made perfect through the suffering, and he was giving us that example. He became the source of eternal salvation by walking through that wilderness, going through that wilderness, and at every turn, defeating all of the temptations of the flesh. And just like we were talking about, the first one was food. He was hungry. And that temptation toward the hunger, there it was right in front of him. And he defeated that temptation by saying, no, no, I don't just live on food. I'm not going to be scared. I'm not going to have fear enter in and tell me that I'm going to starve to death. Because I won't starve to death. If my father wants me here, I will remain right here, not living on bread alone, but by living on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the father.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Praise God. He showed us how not to be in fear of these things that are coming at us and that feel uncomfortable and feel like suffering. Walking through the wilderness is just never comfortable. And trying to leave our old lifestyles, our old family, our old career, our old life behind, it is hard to break away from what was normal routine. Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
At whatever normal is. That's right. If Joseph hadn't have been jerked out of that familiar thing, would he have ever left on his own? No, uh-uh. Probably not. He was jerked out of it. That's right. The Lord just jerked him out of it. And it seems really cruel what happened to him. But that was for God's ultimate good. God had this whole thing planned.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's right. So when we look at our situations and we don't know what lies ahead of us, that can be scary to us. And that's when we really need to know how good our Heavenly Father is. And we're going to find that out by being in His Word. Because our life and our joy and our true peace, it's not fragile joy. It's not fragile peace that can just break apart at one bit of news that comes your way. This is a really solid joy and a solid peace that's so much different than the world's happiness and the world's kind of peace and calm.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
This is different. It is so tangibly big, powerful in our lives. And we're not going to know it if we don't get into the word of God. Yesterday we were reading from Deuteronomy 8. And It's it's I love this whole passage here. It's talking about how the people of Israel were led out into the wilderness and the Lord humbled them and allowed them to hunger. And I like how in verse three, it says he fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know. None of them recognized the way they were going to be sustained. I love that because they repeat it. Deuteronomy 8, if you go down to verse 15, they say it again. Moses says it again as he's writing, or whoever wrote this out. He says, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, but who brought you forth water out of the flinty rock. and who, here it is, fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know. And here's the point. We don't want to miss this point. Just because you don't know You don't know what it is or how it happens. Just because you can't see how your circumstances are good. Don't let that stop you from praising the one who does know. He has a plan for everything. And he proves himself time and time again, over and over, that he is Redeemer. And he is in the restoration business. And he is constantly at work for us.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
And we don't want to forget that, that he is constantly at work for good for us to restore what just broke and to redeem what was just lost. That is who he is. His love is so great. And in Deuteronomy 8, it goes on to say that he might humble you. Now, the humbling is to recognize that our plan is not the best one. His is. Yes. And even when our plans shatter and our circumstances look totally lost, He has a great plan. to fix it, to redeem it. And His way of fixing it is better than ours. So this is how we are humbled. And we humble ourselves and say, not my will, but Yours be done, O Lord. And that is hard. You know, yesterday you mentioned my friend who had to release her husband last week to heaven's great cloud of witnesses. And her anger, it was threatening to take over. When you have a friend whose emotions are getting the best of them, that's a sure sign that they are drowning. That's a sure sign that they have been bit by a fiery serpent in the wilderness and it is painful. It stings. And a good friend will throw out a lifesaver to that one who is suffering. And a good friend can be understanding of the anger. But I just simply planted a seed with her. I just told her, don't give in to the temptation to feed that anger and keep feeding it and keep feeding it. Don't give in to that. I understand where you are, but your faith needs food right now. And if you're listening and you're in a hard circumstance, know that your faith needs food. And the way that we build up faith is to praise God in all circumstances. We praise him when we're doubting. We praise him when we're sure. We praise him in the valleys and on the mountaintops. And there's this wonderful song by Elevation, and it's featuring Brandon Lake. It's called Praise. Let's just listen to that right now.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let's go. of how we And I'll praise when I don't. I'll praise cause I know you're still in control. Cause my praise is a weapon. It's worth the sound. Oh, my praise is the shout that brings Jericho down. As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord, oh, my soul. Praise God. Praise God. Come on, come on!
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, such a good song. I had to stand up. I was standing up just pumping my fist to the air, you know, and it's not because I have the best circumstances in life right now. There are some sad things going on around me and there's some really broken things in my life. but I know my Redeemer lives.
SPEAKER 02 :
I know my Redeemer lives.
SPEAKER 05 :
I know how good he is. And I just want to bring up Numbers 21. And I didn't talk with you about this, Mom, but in Numbers 21, the Israelites defeated the Canaanites. They're in the wilderness. They are not trained for war. And God blessed them to go to war with some Canaanites. and defeat them, they utterly destroyed the cities and they named the place Horma. And Horma means utter holy destruction. They recognized it was a miracle. It was a holy destruction. And then the Israelites set out to go around the land of Edom and the people became impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against God and Moses. He said, why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water. And we loathe this miserable food. Oh, that brings you can hear the emotion in my voice. It brings me to tears every time I read that we loathe this miserable food. Jesus is the bread of heaven. He is the bread that has come down from heaven. And to say, I loathe what you are providing for me, Jesus. Ouch. And I think it really brings tears to my eyes because I realized those times in my life, those seasons where I would rather have my own idea of food and provision for this life rather than what God has gifted me with and what he paid for with his very own life. I recognize that I'd rather have Egypt's food and provision than to be okay with the unknown. See, the manna is the unknown. And the complaining and the grumbling went against the blueprints of the lives of those people. We were made to praise at all times. Praise. We were made to worship. And we were made to see God's goodness and have gratitude for all the ways that he restores and redeems all the brokenness. Yet, when we complain... that's when things break down even more because now we're functioning outside of our parameters and there are natural consequences that cause more brokenness so in this case with these people complaining it opened the door and attracted fiery serpents and many people died from those snake bites but look at god's gracious and merciful response He guides Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a standard. He was setting a standard. He was making a prophetic promise to send his only son and to lift him up on a cross that all who look to him would be saved. So complaining and grumbling, they go against our God-designed blueprints. But we know how to get back on track and be blessed. It's to look to Jesus, the one who gave his life for us to have salvation, to be healed, to live in joy, to live in peace. I don't know if I've even taken a breath today.
SPEAKER 02 :
But I'm pretty excited about that. So thank you for letting me share this excitement with you today.
SPEAKER 04 :
It's been wonderful. It's been wonderful. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Lord lifts up a standard against him. And that's Isaiah 59, 19. We've got to. You're absolutely right, Kimberly. Be praising God in all things for this is God's vision for us to praise him. And boy, when he lives in our praises, he can do anything through us. God bless you, Kimberly. Oh, God bless you. It's been wonderful. Remember, tomorrow we're going to celebrate Darren's birthday on the Friday show. God bless you and keep you and take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
877-917-7256
SPEAKER 01 :
Call to Freedom is a listener-supported radio ministry. Barbara and her power partners invite you to come on board with us and become a network of hands holding up Call to Freedom ministry. Power partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. You will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom's website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
This enlightening episode of Call to Freedom takes listeners on a journey through the emotional struggles connected to depression from a spiritual perspective. Hosts Barbara Carmack and her guests delve into the letters from listeners, responding to their stories with empathy and wisdom rooted in spiritual teachings. The narrative intensifies with discussions about the emotional and spiritual turmoil that comes with life changes and job transitions. The conversation serves as a reminder of the power of forgiveness and how relinquishing past grievances can lead to spiritual freedom. Through personal anecdotes, the hosts demonstrate the power of community in overcoming personal battles. Listeners are invited to join the Call to Freedom community, where spiritual nourishment and guidance await. This compelling episode reminds all that through faith, prayer, and the spoken word, individual and collective healing is possible.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a Word Power Daily Reading Bible Guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number, 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio.
SPEAKER 02 :
After thanking children who are sending in offerings to give to the orphans with Home of Refuge, I read a letter written by a wife who is concerned because her husband is depressed about his job. But Darren brings up the fact that depression is only a symptom of a deeper spiritual root. We bring up the areas of fear and pride and unforgiveness which may indicate depression. that maybe things aren't working out according to your plans, and you're allowing anger, fear, or unforgiveness to take over. As we discuss unforgiveness, Darren gives a solution to bring freedom into your heart and life. God's will is to bless you, but it's important that you get rid of the junk that's clogging up the communication lines between you and your Heavenly Father. Now let's join the program.
SPEAKER 04 :
You have a wonderful letter there in your hand, don't you?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, and I forgot to bring the letters of the Yost family. The children all sent letters, and they sent their Christmas money that they'd gotten for Christmas for the home of refuge, for the orphanage, for the children, and I forgot that this morning.
SPEAKER 04 :
They're over in Nebraska, aren't they?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, and thank you so much. I remember three of the children's names, Caitlin, Logan, and Coda, but I don't remember the other little boys, and they're so precious. We'll call them number four. Forgive me. No, no, no, not number four. Okay. And so we have a letter here from Shelby, and it's, Dear Darren and Barbara, how are you? I am fine. I'm writing you to thank you for the VeggieTales. I really like it. Thanks for your newsletter. Tell Barbara hi. I enjoy your program very much. I'm sending you $5. And Shelby, we're going to apply this $5 with the other, I think we got $46 from the Yost children. God bless you. We're going to give it to the Home of Refuge, and it's going to bless them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Where's Shelby from?
SPEAKER 03 :
Lyman.
SPEAKER 04 :
Lyman, Colorado.
SPEAKER 03 :
It's a wonderful little letter. And we just appreciate the letters from the children. That's wonderful. Praise God.
SPEAKER 04 :
We have a letter here that's really, I'm going to say it's a treasured letter because this lady is so gifted in explaining what's going on. But she said, may I ask for prayer help? I've never asked this before. It's difficult and I'm not even sure why. Okay. Oh, I got a phone call coming in. So I'm going to hold this letter because I want to treat this right. It's a great letter and it will strike the chord with so many of you that are, you know, in an employment change transition. And, you know, you may be looking at the wrong thing or why you're having problems. I think we can help this lady. Well, let's talk to Sean. Hello, Sean.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hello, Darren, Barbara, this is Sean Anselmo. I don't know if you remember my father.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my goodness, yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Steve Anselmo.
SPEAKER 04 :
I was talking about your dad a couple of days ago. As a matter of fact, a lady came to our meeting, and she said she talked to somebody on the phone who received a marvelous healing, and I said to Barb, that person talked to Anselmo.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, to Steve. We were talking about your dad just the other day, and I remember having dinner with you, and you were really young. How old are you, Sean?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I'm 31 now. Oh, my goodness.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my goodness.
SPEAKER 05 :
Tack that on.
SPEAKER 04 :
So how are you doing, Sean?
SPEAKER 05 :
I'm doing great. I just wanted to praise God for you. And welcome back to the airwaves. And it's great to hear your voice on the radio. It's only by chance that I even caught your program the other day. And I'm just praising God for your ministry. And I've entered the ministry myself.
SPEAKER 04 :
Praise God. Do you have a church?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, I just started a newsletter from our home, my family and I, and it's going to follow up with my dad's newsletter and his prison ministry.
SPEAKER 04 :
Good, good.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, we're looking forward to seeing what God's got in store for us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I'll tell you, your dad helped me out in Tulsa, Oklahoma one time, and I won't go into the whole story, but I'll tell you, he was there for me. And then he worked with me in Fort Collins for quite a while, and there's a wonderful anointing on your father and mother's lives.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's right. Amen. Praise God. I just want to thank you guys and encourage you. You're doing a great job, and I appreciate the words of God that he gives to you guys.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, thank you, sir. Thank you, Sean. I hope you'll take time to give our office a call and leave your address.
SPEAKER 05 :
I would certainly do that.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, here's the number, Sean. Well, I guess if you can hang on, I'll just have our engineer take it. How would that be?
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER 04 :
Sean, it's good to hear from you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Good to hear from you.
SPEAKER 04 :
You're married? You're married now?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, married and three children.
SPEAKER 04 :
What's your little wife's name?
SPEAKER 05 :
Patricia and Elmo.
SPEAKER 04 :
Patricia. Wonderful. Well, we just bless you, Sean.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, thank you.
SPEAKER 04 :
I know there's a wonderful anointing being passed down from your father, and that's good. Next time you see your dad, have him give us a call.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. Praise God.
SPEAKER 04 :
I will. God bless. God bless you. Okay. Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Calls from out of the past. Yes. Amen. That's just really.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I tell you, I watched Steve and he was a wonderful man for us on the prayer lines.
SPEAKER 03 :
He was a man of prayer. That's right. He was. He was a man of prayer.
SPEAKER 04 :
This letter goes on to say, I've never asked for prayer help before. I've never asked anyone. I don't know why. Maybe it's fear. Maybe it's pride. And maybe we think it shows weakness, but we haven't asked before. It goes on to say, my husband had been trying to break into a certain business, and I won't name that business, for a whole year. He had to leave another type of business, which is much different by the letter here. but it was driving him to great depression. He loves doing what he's doing now, but it's 100% commission, and he just can't seem to make it work. We're almost out of money, and he's become so depressed and despondent, I'm fearful we're going to lose everything. Is that what's going to happen to us? Pray that we will find suitable work soon. My husband has even looked back to his past job, and we've fasted and we've prayed, and we'll continue. And I guess I struggle with knowing what the Lord's will is here. If Jesus prayed about his father's will being done, shouldn't we also pray that way? Could it be that his will that we go through losing all that we have? Now, I'm going to stop right there. I don't believe it's God's will that you lose all that you have. But I do believe this, that God is trying to get down to a root cause. And I don't believe the depression came on this husband just because of this new work or because of a lack of sales income, commission income. And I believe God allows us to go through these things for us to face ourselves and say, well... It wasn't the old job. It's not the new job. It must be something wrong inside of me. And I went through a period of time like that when I had to face myself. And I thought it was the circumstances around me, my family, my work, my profession, my whatever. And I made somewhat of a massive change. And that's when I hit the wall and it was the best thing that ever happened to me because I had to face some things down inside of Darren and cry out for help. And some people prayed for me. And because of their prayer, that's the basis of this ministry and that's setting people free.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Showing them how to get set free.
SPEAKER 03 :
Life is hard on us, and so we start building walls and we start putting layer upon layer. And I feel like this precious lady is just crying out, and I feel so much for her. We weren't given very many... details and I wish she would have written a little bit more about her family if her husband is born again if they go to a spiritual church if they have had counseling because I believe there's a curse going on in his husband's life I believe that there has been depression in his life before and I believe that if he is a melancholy at all that means if he has mood swings And I'm very aware of that and familiar with that because my life has been my previous life was made up of much mood swings. If something didn't work, I'd get very depressed. And if something did work, I'd be flying high as a kite.
SPEAKER 04 :
But let me tell you, that's not just for a melancholic personality.
SPEAKER 03 :
I understand.
SPEAKER 04 :
I'm a choleric personality. I've had that same thing. And mine came from fear and from anger. When I get frustrated. then what happens a lot of times is the chemical go goofy inside your body, and then the result of that many times is a chemically induced depression.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, but you're not prone to giving up. And there are some personalities that are absolutely prone to giving up. They hide in a corner, they sit in a corner, and they say, well, this is it, I'm just going to face the consequences. And you get up, when you get depressed, you get up and you go in another direction. I mean, you begin to do something to take care of that. Well, there are...
SPEAKER 04 :
Let me tell you why, though, Barbara. I absolutely hate to be depressed. I hate to be depressed and I hate to be sick. And I'll fight that with everything that's in me.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's because you're not a melancholy.
SPEAKER 04 :
Because I know that it pays no dividends. That's right. And you get in that spiral. And that spiral accelerates, and you go down, down, down, down, down. It gets worse, worse, worse, worse. It's like a person said to me, I think it was this, I don't know, last two or three days. He said, you know, even, well, I know who it was. Even if it didn't work, I'd still want to be a Christian. I mean, this is better than what the alternative is. And not exactly what they said, but... They said, no, I know what she said. She said, giving up is worse than hanging in there because the alternatives for what's going on. And she was saying, our lives are really tough right now. She's talking about she and her husband and their business. Things are really tough right now, but it's not as bad as giving up.
SPEAKER 07 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, if you give up, I mean, that's just a horrible way to go. That's an option that I personally will not take.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I would say this lady who wrote this letter, I don't have your phone number. If you would call our office number, we would really like to get a hold of you. And our office number is area code 303-689-0499. And again, our office number is area code 303-689-0499. We would really like to talk with you because this is a very serious situation. And I believe that God and us and you have the answer. I truly do. There's wisdom and counsel in numbers.
SPEAKER 04 :
When you think about losing everything, there's obviously fear. There's frustration. There's going to be some anger. Oh, it piles up. You have to fight those at the root level, the spirit level. You have to command that spirit of fear to get out of your life, out of your household. The fear of losing everything. The fear of failure. The husband here is obviously facing a fear of failure, a fear of rejection, a fear of being labeled a loser, and I don't think he's a loser.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, no, I do not.
SPEAKER 04 :
I mean, I don't think that.
SPEAKER 03 :
I do not feel like he has found his blueprint in life. That's right. I truly... And so we would really like to talk to you and... You know, so many people do not have the right identity. Like you have said so many times and taught so many times, Darren, they are carrying a false passport in their billfold, and they do not even realize.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you know, in the high seas, the ship registers in a certain country. So if it's registered U.S., it's going to fly a U.S. flag. If it's Panama, it's going to fly that and whatever. Well, in the high seas, many times, you know, one of the big crimes on the high sea is to fly the wrong type of flag. And that's been done for hundreds of years. I mean, they've been doing that. But, you know, people also, and I had some wonderful people about 20, a little over 20 years ago, say to me, you're carrying false paperwork. You believed a lie. You believed what the devil has said about yourself. No wonder you're depressed. No wonder you're confused. No wonder you're going in circles. And you know those loving people sat me down. They talked to me for about an hour. Then they lovingly laid hands on me and they cast out a spirit of fear, a spirit of anger and some other things. They just plain said it has to go in the name of Jesus. Well, we have that power as Christians.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And sometimes we are so balled up with our problems and we're so weighed down. It's almost like. You see a picture of a kitten playing with a ball of string. Pretty soon that string's around the leg and around their tail and around their body, around their head, around their paws, and they're just a mess. And if something doesn't come along there, they're going to get in a bigger mess. They're going to be all balled up, as we say. There are some people, Barbara, that are all balled up with all the things that are going on. And then the work doesn't go well, and then the bills start potting up, and this thing starts spiraling into a real mess.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. And this precious lady, I'd like to say that your prayer and fasting are effective, but your husband who is the covering, if he is not in agreement with you, it's going to just stretch out into a longer and a longer period. dilemma here and you need to talk with your husband get counseling be in a situation where you and your husband I have everything out on the table really truly get gut level honest and sometimes that hurts and but be in agreement and I want to say Jesus will for us Darren is perfect it really is not to take everything away that's right and in the Lord's Prayer I would encourage you to say the Lord's Prayer thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God's will for you and your family is perfect in heaven, and his will for you on earth is the very best. It's not God that's taken it away. It may be the enemy that you have opened a door to allow him to come in to take it away.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you talked about the Lord prayer in Matthew six and you ought to read Matthew six because it talks about food and arraignment and shelter and all those things and how the birds don't worry about those things. And yet God provides. But the key is in Matthew 633 to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, meaning right standing before him. And all of these things previously listed will be added unto you. Now, let me let me talk about depression for just a minute. In our country, I don't know what the number is, but I'll bet you it's up in the billions of dollars a year spent with people trying to get rid of depression. If you try to take depression and treat it, you're missing the point because depression is a symptom of something deeper.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
We talked about some of those root causes being anger and fear and frustration. And, you know, sometimes when you get you want to run, you know, you get depressed. Maybe too many bills and the job isn't going right. Your career has come to an end and you're trying to change careers and locations and all this kind of stuff and you're not getting it figured out. And the bills keep piling up and the money, if you had any to start with, is quickly going out the door. Well, I'm telling you folks, unless you address the root cause, in other words, what caused the depression? Depression is not a root cause. It's a symptom of something deeper.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. Anger, jealousy, the frustration that we have at the very beginning that something isn't working out according to how we want it to work out. Sometimes frustration sets in, then jealousy because everybody else around us is doing so well and we're struggling.
SPEAKER 04 :
Or we think they're doing well.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right. And then anger sets in. And then on top of the anger is unforgiveness. Unforgiveness comes in, Darren, and we get hateful. And we are unforgiving towards ourselves because we have messed up our life and our family is suffering. We have unforgiveness towards that person or that company that we're working for. And we have unforgiveness towards God. And Darren, some people say, how can you have unforgiveness against God because he didn't do anything? That's absolutely true. But sometimes we we make God unforgivable.
SPEAKER 04 :
the scapegoat and we say god you can change this god why aren't you changing this and we get angry with god and unforgiving well and we charge him wrongly we say you're the heavyweight here you're the reason i'm having all these problems but he's not no it's it's the enemy the devil now let us give you this triangle of forgiveness again all right number one let's say in the case of this gentleman here that's talked about in this letter this husband here probably he needs to forgive the old company he worked for because he got to where he couldn't stand it. So there must be some people there, some circumstances there that he needs to forgive. Some of you today have been listening to a lot of television. You're listening to Y2K. You're listening to the Senate hearings. You're on and on. You're saying, man, this thing's out of control. Well, you might need to forgive the president. You might need to forgive, you know, the people that are quote, unquote, in charge of the economy, you might need to forgive the Russian government for screwing up their economy or the Brazilians, which was on the air yesterday, and that's affecting us Americans here. What I'm getting at is whoever you resent out there, you need to forgive, number one, and number two, you need to release them totally. And you do that by saying, it's an act of my will, and God will help you do this. As an act of my will, I choose to forgive and release the president, the Congress, the Pentagon, whoever you're unhappy with, with the forgiveness of Jesus. Let that forgiveness of Jesus flow through your heart and through your mouth by an act of your will. Then number two, as you talked about a while ago, some of you say, you know, I am an absolute failure here. I'm just not a good person. I'm just unworthy. I'm just always messing up. I just didn't work hard enough. I didn't prepare well enough. Because of my failures, my family's in a mess.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you need to forgive yourself as an act of your will. You can say it like this. As an act of my will, I choose to forgive and release myself. With the forgiveness and release of Jesus Christ, you need to judge yourself innocent and stop putting yourself down. Number three, then you need to forgive and release God by an act of your will with forgiveness of Jesus. And we tell you, you learn to do that. That's such a wonderful thing that was given to me by those people that prayed for me.
SPEAKER 03 :
Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER 04 :
Praise God for that.
SPEAKER 03 :
And when we first do that sometimes, Darren, we do need a counselor who is giving us this prayer. Just a little while ago, we prayed with a man and he willingly forgave everyone that had hurt him. And Darren, as he lifted all that up and forgave and released and forgave and released, the very next day, an absolutely tremendous breakthrough came to him because he gave it up. He gave up all of that offense. And I'll tell you, that really hurts us when we are offended and we keep it inside and it becomes broiling and it's like a pressure cooker. We cannot handle that. And so that's why I'm saying if you, the one that we're talking about, you know who you are, if you would like to have prayer and have Darren pray for you, it's our office number. Get in touch with us at the office number if you can't call us here. And it's 689-0499, area code 303-689-0499.
SPEAKER 04 :
And now let me talk about this matter of this forgiveness thing. A lot of us look for a feeling. Well, I don't feel like forgiving them or I don't feel like forgiving myself or I'm not in the mood. Let me tell you, if you will do what we just suggested, do it mechanically, the feelings will come. But you've got to take care of the legal issues first and the vital issues, these conditions of the heart. You need to forgive as an act of your will. Got that? As an act of your will. I give this illustration all the time. We have light on here in the studio because I reached over the wall and by an act of my will, I mechanically turned the switch on. I flipped the switch up. Well, the will works the same way. You need to mechanically set your will and you set it with your mouth. And you say, when you say as an act of my will, I choose to forgive. I choose to release as an act of my will. I'm making a decision here. I want to change. I'm tired of going around in this circle of depression.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And you can, you are responsible for your feelings. You're responsible for your life.
SPEAKER 03 :
I talk about Cain and Abel in Genesis 4 and how Abel brought a gift of his favorite lamb for an offering and God absolutely was delighted with that offering. And after a while, Cain came and brought some of his harvest, some of the crops that he had raised. And God was not pleased with that because Cain had waited and Cain had not brought his first fruits. He had not brought his best to the Lord. He brought probably blemished things. God was not delighted with Cain's offering, and Cain became jealous of his brother, and he became very angry, and he became depressed. It says in the fifth verse of the fourth chapter of Genesis, And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why are you depressed? Or why has your countenance fallen? And if you do well, this is God's message to you today. If you do well, will not your depression be lifted? Will not your countenance be lifted up? If you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door and its desire is for you, but you can master it. The very next thing that Cain did, Darren, he went out to Abel. He didn't pray. He didn't seek God. God said, Cain, you can master this thing. You can handle it. You are in control and you can come and bring me a great offering and I will be pleased with you as I am with your brother Abel. What did Cain do? He did the very opposite. He went out to his brother Abel and he killed him. He murdered him. He didn't have that control of the spirit. And we're saying you can either go to God, run to God, who is the loving God, or you can run away from God. And I'll tell you, if you run away from God, only evil consequences are there to face you. I mean, there's nothing good that's going to happen to you if you run away from God. God is your source. God is your creator, and he's very loving.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, there's a scripture going along with that in Hebrews 12, 15. It says, See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. Sometimes we get resentful that we're in these situations. God, this is just too hard for me. Why are you letting this happen to me? Why are you dumping on me? Why are you shortchanging me? Why are you blessing everybody else? Look at that guy over there. He doesn't even go to church. It just seems like he's blessed. Sometimes it does. That's been a complaint of the righteous all through scripture. If you read the book of Job, you'll say, how come they're so blessed? And they don't even worship you, Father. Well, you have to make a decision that you're not going to get into a root of bitterness because of resentment.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And you have to take that thing on and say, this monster is going to get me if I don't make a decision and take some action. That's why we put out the scripture cards called the Power Pack. If you don't have those, they're $5. They come out in a cassette case, and that'll tell you that it'll fit right in your pocket or in your purse or on the visor of your car. But you need to speak the word of God.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, we've gotten so many great letters, Darren, with people saying, hey, I carry my Power Pack with me, and it has changed my life in the last six months. Well... Praise the Lord. It's not the power pack. It's the word of God in that power pack. And it's you. It's you putting action to those words. You are part of that solution. That's what's so amazing. You read the word and your words become powerful in the midst of diversity, in the midst of adversity, in the midst of tribulation.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, this new Rotherham translation I was given for Christmas. Here's what it says. And I'll quote, first of all, the new American standard.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it's not new Rotherham. Well, it's an old Rotherham. It really is old.
SPEAKER 04 :
But it's so accurate. And here's what it says. Cast not away your freedom of speech for it has a great reward. Now, why is that so special? And we were talking about this earlier this morning at our house and we were saying, you know, one thing television has done to us is it keeps us from reacting. We sit there and watch and we're watchers and we're not participators.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
We're spectators. If you're going to get involved here with God's word, you have to become a speaker of the word. Cast not away your privilege of speech. You need to know that that's a privilege of speech. or the freedom of speech i should say cast out away your freedom of speech for it has great recompense or it has great reward you need to be speaking the word of god and let me tell you there's nobody in our listening audience barbara that would fail if they speak the word of the lord nobody and you need to start speaking the right things and stop stirring around see i know how it works with many people that are depressed you're either going in the circle in your mind in your heart running all the scenarios that's right all the regrets all the remorse all the flashbacks you're replaying all of the failures all of the missed opportunities let me tell you that is a dead issue you need to have a funeral for that thing now i used to take people and i'd say i want you to write this all down on piece paper maybe they write down all their sins all their failures all their worries and i say right now we're going to burn that thing And we'd put a match to it and we'd burn it up right there in front of us. Burn the whole piece of paper.
SPEAKER 03 :
And don't mention it again. Don't mention it.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is your burial ceremony. You're going to get rid of this thing. Whatever you have to do, but you need to do something. You've got to make a move in the right direction, in a positive direction. Or it may be that you want to tear it up and then flush it down the toilet. I've had people do that also. Bury that thing. But you have to make a decision to stop talking about it and stop doing the loop. Or it's going to get worse and worse and worse. You need to get over to the Word of God. In fact, I would recommend this. Take Psalm 91 and all through Psalm 91, revive me, O Lord, according to your Word. Read that out loud. Read it again. Read it a third time. You can't read scripture without that word of God becoming alive to you and changing your life and your circumstances, changing your attitude about life. And some of you just have a dirty windshield. Let me say that again. Some of you are just looking through a dirty windshield. You need to clean that up with the word of God so that you can see your life accurately and begin to hear the word of God and his counsel for you. He did not send Jesus Christ to die on the cross so you could fail.
SPEAKER 07 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
He wants you to win. Another scripture I'd advise you to get and memorize is Joshua 1.8. It says if you meditate the word, in other words, if you speak and mumble the word day and night, you will be prosperous and successful. And that solves those things.
SPEAKER 03 :
How can you do that, Darren? You can't speak the word day and night.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yes, you can.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, we have a spirit. And most of us, the spirit's the last one. We have the physical and the soul, and then the spirit comes in last, very last, third place in most of our lives. Well, the spirit should be in control. It should be number one. Our spirit should be fed all the time with the word of God and with good things and not evil and wicked things. We should have spirit, soul, and then body should be the third. But we got it all turned around. Well, in our spirit, we can meditate without even speaking. Darren, I know people at work that meditate during their work and they don't even talk, but they meditate continually in their spirit day and night.
SPEAKER 1 :
877-917-7256
SPEAKER 01 :
Call to Freedom is a listener-supported radio ministry. Barbara and her power partners invite you to come on board with us and become a network of hands holding up Call to Freedom ministry. Power partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. you will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom's website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
Join Barbara and Kimberly as they discuss the life-altering decisions we face and the inner strength required to lay our burdens on the altar. Through scriptures and poignant personal experiences, they highlight how true fulfillment and contentment arise from union with God. As they reflect on the complex dynamics of prayer and desire, listeners are encouraged to align their will with God's and navigate the challenging yet rewarding path of spiritual growth.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a Word Power Daily Reading Bible Guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number, 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom. I'm so glad you joined us today. It's going to be a wonderful day. You know why? Because I had opposition all morning long. And I know when the enemy doesn't want you to do something, then you go full barrel through. You do. You stand strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, not the enemy's. And I'm so grateful. I am just so grateful. I've been listening a little bit to some of the people who are going to be heads of the departments today. that Trump has appointed. And it's really interesting. It's, you know, from one party to the next, they're asking deep, deep questions. Some of them questions that have nothing to do with the position the person's going to take, but they still ask anyway. And I'm so grateful. I listened a little bit to what Pam Bondi had to say. And she is going to make a terrific attorney general. And I'm so grateful for Trump's appointees. I am truly excited. And I know you know that I'm excited. So I'm excited to see the wonderful things that God has in store for his people through people that he's going to put in leadership. And that's what he does. He puts wonderful people in leadership. And then we take orders from those people in leadership. I'm so looking forward to it. is Inauguration Day. Oh, how long have we looked forward to that day? Oh, my friends, take courage. God is on the throne. He's not going to leave you or forsake you. Remember that. You are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. And from Ephesians 3.20, he who is able to do immeasurably more than all All we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us, to him, to him, not to us. We don't get any of the credit. I don't want any of the glory. To him be glory forevermore. Amen. Praise the Lord. God never compromises on his promises. I want you to know that you can believe that promise, that he's going to keep that promise no matter what. Even though it looks dreary, it looks hopeless, God's going to keep that promise. So I want you to know that. As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. And at the last, he will take his stand on the earth. And I'll be with him. I hope you'll be with him. I hope you will be one of the wonderful crowd of people that are going to be with God. Father God and our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ and us. Amen. Well, Kimberly has a great teaching today. We've had a little bit of problems with the transferring of voice prints and stuff, but we're going to do it. And Kimberly, I welcome you to the broadcast. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER 03 :
I had a little glitch with my Wi-Fi this morning, so if I drop out, you just be prepared to be reading scripture until I come back. Oh, wonderful. Okay. Yep, I do. I have the Bible. But you were expressing at the top of the hour here that you had opposition in your world this morning, and me, too. You know, and you said, when we stand strong in the Lord, that's how we confront opposition. Mm-hmm. And when there is a war, God does send out his worshipers in front. We choose to worship him. We choose to make him first, to make him our focus. And when we do that, he does take care of all the details. And he does unexpected things, very unexpected things. So I was reading in Psalm 84, and I just want to invite all of you to turn to Psalm 84 if you have the ability to do that right now. If you're driving, please don't do that. You can just listen. That's right. Psalm 84 starts out, And I just want to mention that So much of what we read in the Bible might not feel very tangible to us now. When we're talking about God's dwelling places and how the heart and the flesh are yearning for the courts of the Lord. Well, what does that look like? The courts of the Lord. And I know that for myself. I've had to imagine just being in His place and having His perspective, being able to know that He is God and He has limitless solutions to our problems. We get stuck on one idea of being a solution to our problem. And when we get stuck there and we're consumed with that one idea, then we cause stress. We cause anxiety. We start comparing to other people, comparing with our other family members or neighbors. We compare to even Bible stories. We'll pull out Bible stories and start comparing our lives to others. And then... We might even take a scripture and decide to stand on that scripture and believe that is going to be our answer.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I just wanted to take a few moments today to talk about the dangers of that. Because when we have it in our mind that it has to work one single way, then we're not really tapped into who our God is. He can do so many limitless ways of working things out and surprise us with it. That's where I'm talking about his dwelling places. How lovely are your dwelling places, O Lord. The Passion Translation of Psalm 84 says, God of heaven's armies, you find so much beauty in your people. They are like lovely sanctuaries of your presence. And when you stop to think about that, how many people that he has created. And so how many lovely sanctuaries does he have? There's so much beauty in 8 billion different ways of looking at a situation. That's who our God is. He is so vast and he has so many ways to work things out that he has given us a picture of 8 billion people on the planet. And all these different paths, all these different perspectives that we can rejoice in, that we can really be glad in. The scripture in Psalm 84 goes on to say in the Passion Translation, Deep within me are these lovesick longings and desires and daydreams of living in union with you. When I'm near you, my heart and my soul sing and worship with joyful songs of you, my true source and spring of life.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes. Oh, praise God. That's one thing, Kimberly. that after your father died, God gave us, we still had the piano and organ store, you still had your students, and we just praised God through all that grief and loss. And we had friends who came alongside, like Roger, for instance, and Mike. And I praise God for those friends that stuck closer to us than even our relatives did. And then when Darren passed away, the only one I had was God. It really cuts into that. the things that you trust in. When he died, I thought, there's no one else. It's only you, God. You're the only one I have to lean on. And yeah, you're so right.
SPEAKER 03 :
And he became your true source, just like the scripture is saying. Your true source, your capital T, true, capital S, source, and has never let you down. No. And that's the kind of rest, the kind of stillness that we want to come to our physical bodies and to our minds that are so full of anxiety or fear or doubt or anger because it's not going the way we want it to go. The very next verse in this Psalm, Psalm 84, verse 3, starts talking about a bird. The bird also has found a house and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young. Even your altars, O Lord, my rock, my king. Ah! Here's a bird that's in the house of the Lord, the smallest little creature. And this bird knows where to find rest on the altar, on the altar. Oh, my goodness. As I saw that, I realized that's how we have rest. We lay it down. We put it on the altar, so to speak. You know, we we give our idea and our plan on how to work this out. We give it over. Yes. And sometimes we're forced to, right? Like you were talking about, when there's a death, when there's an accident, when there are health issues, when there is the kind of disaster like the fires in California, we don't even have a choice. Here it comes. And then we're making the choices in our mind. Am I going to trust God or am I going to become bitter and angry? Yes.
SPEAKER 01 :
I know, Kimberly, that the altar here in the Old Testament was meant for the sacrifice. And so if we see ourselves submitting to God by laying our bodies and our souls and our spirits on the altar for him to do what he needs to do, then it's going to be much easier. But like you said, if we're angry, well, it's going to be hard.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's it, though. That's it. That's exactly it. We lay the anger down, even though we don't feel like it. You know, we lay down our idea and our anxiety and our doubts and our fears. We lay it down, even though we don't understand what might be happening and we can't even see how it's going to work out. That's what faith is. Yes. Faith. And faith, last week we started talking about building up a tolerance for... Yeah, now I don't remember the terms. And I didn't write it in my notes. I'm just pulling all of this up from my memory. But building up a tolerance for something that seems insecure, like it's not secured. We can't really understand what's coming next. But building up a tolerance for that. Yes. To... To not need the confidence of something we see and something we hear and something we touch. To not need the confidence of that, but to sit with it while it's still just kind of simmering and we don't know what's coming next.
SPEAKER 01 :
That's right. You were telling me, Kimberly, about Jonathan and how he was a groomsman for one of his friend's weddings. And he did not realize he was going to have all the duties that were required of him until he got into the ceremony. He was supposed to be the driver for the groom and the bride. and take them everywhere they needed to be and well he but he didn't you're right they didn't ever tell him that they just gave it to him at the last moment yeah that was hard for him i know and he he volunteered really he was willing he did not know the extent of the responsibility he had so he starts the wedding at you know one in the afternoon And by the time you got to the reception at night, he was exhausted. I mean, he was totally exhausted because he had willingly volunteered for a position that he did not know what it entailed. And sometimes we find ourselves in those same situations. Oh, for sure. Too much. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, we don't know what we're getting into, and it's uncertainty was the word I was looking for. We build up a tolerance for uncertainty. You can't be certain of the very next step that's coming. You can't be certain that you'll have enough strength for what's happening And God is our strength in the middle of it all. When we call out to him and we put our own ideas on the altar and say, Lord, this is where I'm at. This is where I find myself. And I'm exhausted. And I don't know how to go on, but you know how to give me your strength. So I'm calling out to you.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, right here. Yes. taking him home, taking him to his place. So we always have some. God provides. Kimberly, he's our provider in every situation we're in. He provides that wonderful rescue that we need sometimes in our lives.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I did not feel drawn to go to that reception at all. I didn't want to go to the reception, but I knew the Holy Spirit had put it on my heart and I knew I was supposed to be there for Jonathan. And so when I showed up, I just told him, hey, I'm just here for moral support for you. And he didn't even want me to walk in to the reception. He wanted me to wait outside and wait for him. And I didn't know that they had asked him to be the chauffeur to this place. So he had no ride. He had no way to get out. He had no way out. No exit plan. He was stuck. He really was stuck. And so when I showed up, I was the wheels that could take him away from this place. Take me away, yes. But I didn't know that that's what the Lord wanted for Jonathan. Jonathan did not know. That's how God wanted to answer his desperate prayer for help. And we don't know. There are so many different ways that God can bring an answer. And we don't know. So building that tolerance for uncertainty. It happens in the middle of our anxiety, in the middle of the stress or in the middle of the anger. If we could just stop ourselves long enough to say, am I serving a God who is limited? Has he run out of ideas? Is he going to drop the ball? You know, we have to remember that he has been on the throne the whole time the world has been in existence. And he has lovingly and patiently seen us through looking at that bird, putting her nest on the altar. That's where she can raise her young. Yes. We can trust our young. We can trust our most precious and our most valuable people and things and dreams to the Lord. Um, I had a friend call me and, and just say that her husband went back into the hospital. And you might remember if you're listening of three years ago, many of you were praying for Holly, my friend and her husband, Gary, and he is now with the Lord just happened just, just in the last, well, 24 hours here. And, um, That is something that she was walking into with anger. She wanted a miracle again for him to come up and out of this. And there was a huge miracle last time, three years ago. and and so that's what she wanted again she wanted it again that's what we do we compare what we're going through to what we've seen before yes what we've experienced before what what might be happening to other people around us and when we start those comparisons we get these ideas in our head yes and we want it to go that way well as she's praying for that miracle I knew because of talking with her husband, Gary, I knew that he was not completely satisfied with his recovery from three years ago. He still felt weak, and he did not want to go through the rest of this life in a weakened state like that. And so, as I was praying, I could see how our Heavenly Father, who loves us all equally, that he was listening to two very conflicting prayers rising up to him. Gary's heart was so weak now after this heart attack this week, and Holly's prayer to revive him again, I know that Gary's prayer was, please just take me home now. That's right. Yes.
SPEAKER 01 :
I think of your father. He loved God so much that there was a point in his battle with cancer, especially after the coma, that his desire took precedence over our desires, and God took him home. And we need to recognize that, Kimberly, that the person that is going through it, what do they want? And sometimes the person who's praying for them, they don't even ask them, what do you want? And so many times they say, I want to be with God. And that's what your father so many times said. I'm going to be with God sooner in my life than I thought. So, yes. Yes, it's true.
SPEAKER 03 :
And, you know, what does our Heavenly Father want? I mean, he's working with us. We're working with him. Are we really including him? Right. In our prayers? Yeah, right, right. When we say, not my will, but thy will be done, Lord, when we say that, do we really mean it? Because often our prayers start sounding like, well, if it's your will, Lord, this is what I want. Don't they? We do that a lot. You know, if it's your will, we want you to heal this. We want you to supply that, provide this, lead us here, guide us there, if it's your will. And we didn't even stop long enough to actually find out what his will was. That's just how we started praying. This is my idea, and I want you to bless it, God.
SPEAKER 02 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's how we started praying. Well, the lovely dwelling place in Psalm 84 that's being talked about here, that lovely dwelling place that we're actually yearning for, that we are heartsick for, that we desire, that place is in union with him. That's where that place is. The place that we're longing for is in union with him. It's a place. Being in agreement with him and being in union with the Lord is a place. Yes. And it's beautiful. Yes. And it's better than anything we could ever imagine. So we don't have to have our own way and our own dream come true in order to experience fulfillment and deep satisfaction. In order to be blessed and to be favored and sustained, to be whole and content with And full of God's peace. For only God can bring all that to us. Yes. And there's not any amount of money. There's not any position. There's not any relationship or dwelling place on this planet that can bring us this fulfillment, this satisfaction, this assurance. It's only Him. And we find... we find this place of assurance and rest when we lay everything down on his altar. You know, I was writing out the word altar as I was just taking some notes, and I noticed if you write altar in all lowercase letters, A-L-T-A-R, T is in the middle, and that particular T in a lowercase is a cross. Yes, it's a cross. And when we choose to look to Jesus and how he did this, he was constantly laying all of his desires on the altar, so to speak. He was laying down his ideas. He was laying down his dreams and all the way to the cross. He did it so that we could learn how to do the same thing.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, there's a scripture in the New Testament and reminds me probably most people, Kimberly, that I would ask, are you spiritually where God wants you to be? And they'd say, oh, yes. Oh, yes. I've gone through all kinds of stuff. I'm right where God wants me to be. When God is saying, no, I want you to come a little farther here into the deeper world. realm of my spirit. It's like the time when Jesus said, are you willing to take this cup? Are you ready to take this cup that you're saying you're going to go with me? Oh, yes, master. We're ready. We're willing to go with you wherever you go. And they all fled from him. So they weren't spiritually engaged. into the deeper parts of Holy Spirit that God wanted them to be until the baptism of Holy Spirit was upon them. So, Kimberly, a lot of people are saying, oh, yeah, I'm right where God wants me to be when they're not where God wants them to be.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, you're bringing up something very interesting to me, because I get that, and I actually believe God really gets where we're at, and He has seasons for all of us. Oh, yes, I agree. Yes. There are some who are in just defiant, stubborn rebellion. And I've I've even been there, too, in my own life. And that's you know, that's between us and God when we get to those places. And he constantly woos us even in those stubborn, defiant, rebellious places. He is. is constantly wooing, and he has a plan for us to watch those who are stubbornly rebelling, who are angry and raging and spewing out horrible things. We watch these things and he lets us have that example in this life. It's these conflicting comparisons that we actually need so that we will keep making choices to grow closer and grow closer. Now, I personally find it, I guess it's a lot of pressure for me to be thinking, oh, I'm not where I need to be. And I'm not. where I need to be because I'm here on this planet. This is temporary. This is where I get to grow and learn.
SPEAKER 01 :
I don't think that most of us know that it's a conscious thing. It's it's an inner thing. Well, you know, I'm right where I need to be. And God is saying, I want you. I want to move you just a little bit farther here. See, God is at work in us both to will and to work for his good pleasure. And it's so important. Kimberly, we know that we deep down.
SPEAKER 03 :
We opened up. We opened up something really, really. It's going to take longer because we're out of time. I know.
SPEAKER 01 :
I wish you were here in the person, in the physical. But I think we're going to have to talk about this tomorrow because this is an area in which a lot of people think they're spiritually where they need to be when God is wanting to move them further and further. So it's been wonderful. Thank you. I'm enjoying this teaching so much and I love Psalm 83. It's just one of my favorites. So I guess I'm going to say to you, I'll see you tomorrow unless Jesus comes back in the interim. I would enjoy that. Thank you so much. We'll see you tomorrow. Okay. Well, God bless all of you that are listening today. We all need this spiritual information that Kimberly is giving to us. So I want to say goodbye for now. We're going to be back on tomorrow, the Lord willing, and take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
877-917-7256
SPEAKER 04 :
Call to Freedom is a listener-supported radio ministry. Barbara and her power partners invite you to come on board with us and become a network of hands holding up Call to Freedom ministry. Power partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. you will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom's website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
In this heartfelt episode of Call to Freedom, Barbara Carmack invites listeners into a reflective space where gratitude and faith intersect with the challenges of life. As wildfires ravage Southern California and leave communities displaced, Barbara reminds us of the importance of gratitude—both for the comforts we enjoy and for the presence of God in our everyday lives. Through personal anecdotes and scriptural reflections, she encourages us to find strength in faith as we navigate turbulent times. Amidst stories of profound loss and recovery, Barbara emphasizes the importance of trust in God. Drawing inspiration from the stories of Job and the calming presence of Jesus in the storm, she assures listeners that peace can be found in trusting God's plan. Join Barbara as she explores the unseen comforts of faith, the promises of scripture, and the indomitable spirit of those who choose thankfulness despite adversity. The episode also pays tribute to the enduring message of Jesus through the music and legacy of Andre Crouch, celebrating the profound sweetness and solace found in faith.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a Word Power Daily Reading Bible Guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number, 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to Calda Freedom. God bless you for tuning in. I believe I have a lot of verses that you can stand on and maybe a verse or two that you can begin to memorize. Oh, may God pour out his blessings upon you. Love and kindness, joy and laughter. Oh, sometimes we just ache for laughter, don't we? Peace and good things to come. And I'll tell you, when things are looking bad and things aren't going right in your life, I want you to know God is there. The world is changing there. In the last days, he warned us there is going to be more frequency of things happening and more intensity. And as we saw last week with the wildfires in Southern California, they never even imagined. ever, ever in their lives that they would be lost. They're refugees right now. They're like people that are fleeing from their country. They have no church, no grocery store, no post office. The friends that they had around them, they're gone. The houses are gone. Oh, God bless them. I'm so grateful. I believe Samaritan's Purse is there, and Samaritan's Purse has been on the scene since the North Carolina hurricane. And I believe they're really going to come in and help in the disaster areas. And I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful that I can be with you every day, Monday through Friday live. I'm so grateful that when I go through the rooms in my home, I'm just saying, thank you, Lord. Thank you for my bed, my comfortable bed. Thank you for the dishwasher, Lord. Thank you for the laundry, Lord. Thank you for all the things that you've given to me. I am so grateful, Lord. See, when we see other people suffering, I believe it's a time when we begin thanking God. Oh, Father God, thank you so much. And then God will pour out his blessings upon you. If you're just a grumbler, grumble on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, grumble on Thursday, too. If you're just a grumbler, oh, it's going to be hard for you, friend. It really is because people don't like grumblers around them. And so we need to pray for the precious people in Southern California. And if you want to send, go to SamaritansPurse.org. That's the organization. I wouldn't be giving to Red Cross. I know they're good, but you know your dollar is going to go to something good when you give to Samaritans Purse. So SamaritansPurse.org, that's where you give. Praise the Lord. We just really need to be thankful, friends. Really thankful. Oh, I am so thankful. And we have a memory verse. Whatever you're going through, I hope you can say with Job. And I'm in Job right now. As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. And at the last, he will take his stand on the earth. Isn't that beautiful? In Job 19, 23 through 25. And this is Job speaking. If only my words were written in a book. Well, they are, Job. The words that you wrote, I believe that even Moses, I believe, wrote the words for the Bible. But the words that Job wrote down and his friends, they're written in the Bible. And if only my words were written in a book, better yet, chiseled in stone, still I know that God lives, the one who gives me back my life. And eventually he'll take his stand on the earth. I know that they were interviewing one lady who'd been in her home in Pacific Palisades since 1967, and that's the year John and I were married, and then we left California soon after we were married. She was in that house for almost 60 years, and they went back. Her relatives went back to see if anything was left, and there was nothing left. So these precious people are just starting from... I don't even know where. And I believe that the United States of America and all the people are going to join in, if not in prayer, in giving. So thank you so much for continuing to pray for them. Oh, Mission Possible by Tim Tebow. I love his little devotionals. In Mark 4, Jesus finished teaching a crowd. Then he gathered his disciples to go over to the other side of the lake. Now, that involves getting your things together and getting into a boat and starting on your way. And you've got to be prepared. But what happened? A great windstorm arose and verse 37 of Mark 4 says that frightened the disciples who were on the boat and they were greatly afraid. They went to get Jesus. When you're afraid, who do you go to? They went to get Jesus. He was asleep. The disciples then woke a sleeping Jesus and he proceeded to rebuke the winds and the seas as the storm ceased. there was great calm oh praise the lord don't you love it when you've been through a really hard difficult time and then you can take a breath and say father god you got me through it you got me through it instead of breathing a sigh of relief the disciples disciples excuse me were filled with great fear that's verse 41 of mark 4. they were filled with great fear even though jesus was there why were they so afraid note the interesting sequence of events a great storm a great calm and great fear don't let what's happened to you linger and become a familiar spirit in your soul because that's that can happen something that has been real traumatic you're going to be absolutely paralyzed from doing anything from that point on of any fruitful endeavor Don't allow that to happen because the enemy is trying to get you stuck, stuck in one place. And so they were fearful, even though a great calm came. Oh, and it's time, folks, that we begin to depend entirely on Jesus. It's a question that is a question the disciples had to ask for themselves more than 2000 years ago and not just once, but many times. And it's one we must ask ourselves today. Why do we become afraid at a change of routine or a sudden occurrence or an expectation of not having what we have taken for granted today? For so long, going into a place where it used to be a grocery store, it's no longer. Driving into a place that used to be beautiful homes along the Pacific Ocean, it's no longer. It's just smoke and ashes and ruins. I know that the Fox News reporter talked to one man in Altadena. He's a coach on the high school football team, and they lost everything. They have four relatives, brothers and sisters that live in the same area. And as they went away, he was hoping that his sister would follow soon. Well, she didn't appear, and she didn't appear. And so three days later, they went to where they had lived, and her car was still in the driveway. And as they sifted through the ashes, they found her remains. So some people have gone through more than just loss of property and physical possessions. They've gone through loss of loved ones. So we need to remember that, friend. God, thank you. Lord God, thank you that you've kept us safe and healthy and strong in your word. At times I've reacted like the disciples and fear has overwhelmed me. Yeah, more times than not. Oh, it seemed like the floor went out from under me. Have you ever been in that situation where you just felt you were just falling, free falling? And that's why I'm not really comfortable flying. There's nothing under the plane traveling 30 or 40,000 feet above the terra firma. And when we were flying to San Antonio to see Lance get his commissioning, this was quite a while ago, he was going to be a lieutenant in the Air Force. And he later resigned as a full colonel. So he's getting all that extra money that he deserves after being in the Air Force for so long. And as we were flying to San Antonio, all the oxygen masks dropped because the plane just dropped suddenly. I mean, even the airline attendants were grasping for seats because they didn't realize it's going to be such a sudden drop. And I was reading my Bible at the time, exactly at the moment that I was reading Psalm 94, verse 19. And I'll never forget it. Are there some verses that you read and something happened and you'll never forget that verse? And God gave me such assurance. And here it is, Psalm 94, verse 19. When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, thy consolations delight my soul.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hmm.
SPEAKER 02 :
That was such a blessing to me. And at that very moment, Darren took my hand. He was in the seat next to me and assured me that he was there for me. What a blessing to know now that our Lord Jesus is with us every step of the way. Whether we have a life partner on this earth or not, God will never leave us or forsake us. Hallelujah. That's such a wonderful assurance for me. Every day as I wake up knowing that in him I live and move and have my being. Jesus has promised that he would be with us. That's a promise that we can take to the bank. In fact, it's better than a bank account or any savings we can accumulate. And I have never been on the end of having a huge bank account or accumulating a lot of earthly money. No, I never have. But God has always taken care of me, even in the financial area. In Colossians 1, 11-29... we see a wonderful description of Jesus through all these scriptures. Colossians 1 and Colossians 2 is centered in on Jesus as not only our Redeemer, but our High Priest and all that he is coming back soon. And here is Paul in a Roman prison telling us to be strong. Wow. Talk about impending doom. If you were in shackles in a dungeon, in the dark, and you didn't know whether you were going to live another day or if they were going to come for you and you were going to die. He's encouraging us to be strong. I want to be like that. No matter what is happening to me in the world, I want to be a strong representative of Jesus Christ telling you that he will never leave you, my friend. He never will. Well, let's get started with Colossians 1. Paul is saying here, we pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul. Not the grim strength of gritting your teeth, but the glory strength God gives. And I know some of you have had TMJ because you've gritted your teeth so much that now you've got a problem with your jaw. But let's just let God have his way with every part of our physical activity. and soulish bodies. That's wonderful. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. God went on a rescue mission and rescued us from the dead in alleys and dark dungeons. He set us up in the kingdom of the sun he loved so much. The sun who got us out of the pit we were in and got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating. It reminds me that Saturday we sang a couple songs by Fanny Crosby at our meeting. And we had a delightful time. I always do. I always do. And I hope that everybody around me did, too. But Fanny Crosby talks so much about the light, the light of Jesus. And she's totally blind. And she talks about the light of Jesus. How can you do that? Well, she knows the Lord and the light of Jesus Christ is in her. And she's now with him. I was speaking to the people at the meeting. What do you suppose when she went up, when she died, she went up instantly to be with Jesus and she could see everything, every color, everything that was there in the heavenly welcoming her image. And my friend Mary says she probably wanted to see Jesus first of all. And I said, you're right. You're right. Praise the Lord. Verse 15 of Colossians 1 says, we look at this son and see the God who cannot be seen. Do you realize here that Jesus came so you could see God? Yes, Jesus, who is God in the flesh. We have never seen God. Nobody has ever seen God. He's the wonderful spirit that created the whole universe and the worlds and everything in it. But he decided that he would come down as a human being to show us what he looks like. Because in the very first part of Genesis, it says we were created in his image and likeness. So we kind of know what he looks like. But Jesus gives us a wonderful description of who God really is. I love that. I love that perspective. We look at this son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels, everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And I'm used to reading this in the New American Standard. And here it is. For by him, this is Jesus Christ, all things were created. He is from the beginning. In the beginning, he was in John one, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things. And in him, all things hold together. Well, what do you know about that? My best friend, my best friend did all this. And there is still more to come. We ain't seen nothing yet. Nothing. Nothing. In the 18th verse of Colossians 1, it says, And when it comes to the church, we are his church who believe in Jesus Christ. He organizes and holds it together like a head does a body. He was supreme in the beginning and leading the resurrection parade. He is supreme in the end. From the beginning to end, he's there towering far above everyone and everything. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without any crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe, people and things, animals and atoms, get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross. And this is from the message. And I'd like to introduce you. to a little thing called laminins. And these are cells. It's the substance and the glue that hold the cells together. I want to read a little bit about the laminins. And each one of us have millions of laminins. God spoke the world into being, and yet his creativity is so intricate that he fashions together the trillions of cells that form every facet of who you are. You are made up of trillions of cells, my friend. He knows everything about you, from the smallest molecule to the situation you find yourself in right now. He's aware of your circumstances and intimately acquainted with everything you do. God cares about you and promises to carry you through. The power that holds all of creation together is God's everlasting love. He is also your sustainer. In your body, it is Laminin's, L-A-M-I-N-I-N-S. You can look that up, L-A-M-I-N-I-N-S, that hold you together literally. They are cell adhesion molecules that hold one cell of your body to the next. I love this. Without them, you would literally fall apart. Do you want to know what they look like? Look it up. They are in the shape of the cross. Yes. The glue that holds you together in each cell is in the shape of the cross. You are holding the cross of Jesus Christ in your body. Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue. And it's just amazing how we realize, no, we can't even begin to realize what God has done for us. You yourself, verse 21 of Colossians 1, you yourselves are a case study of what Jesus does. At one time, you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But when Jesus submitted himself to hanging on a cross, actually dying for you Christ brought you over to God's side and put your lives together whole and wholly in his presence how I wish I could have heard sermons like this forty years ago I really do I wish that they had been preaching sermons that are about Jesus our friend our best friend Jesus Christ and we know that there's that no one in this whole world like our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ Jesus did so much more than this and I'll have to wait till tomorrow to tell you about what he did more than just saving you from your sins. Jesus, you have the sweetest name on earth. And this morning I was going through YouTube. I found this beautiful song by Andre Crouch and the choir. And I want you to enjoy Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
SPEAKER 04 :
There's no other name under heaven whereby men can be saved only in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
SPEAKER 1 :
Sing it. Jesus.
SPEAKER 04 :
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Is the sweetest name I know. Under heaven Jesus, Jesus Through him I am forgiven I'm living my life Just to please him I'm living my life Just to live with him forever.
SPEAKER 05 :
I'm living my life.
SPEAKER 04 :
Just to see him. Jesus is the sweetest name I know. Jesus is the sweetest name under heaven. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Through him I am forgiven. I'm living my life just to be with you.
SPEAKER 05 :
I know Jesus is the sweetest name under heaven. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Through him I am forgiven. I'm living my life just to praise him.
SPEAKER 1 :
I
SPEAKER 05 :
i'm living my life Jesus, Jesus, Jesus is the sweetest name under heaven. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus is the sweetest name under heaven. I'm living my life just to please Him. I'm living my life to live with Him forever. I'm living my life to see Him. Jesus is the sweetest, sweetest name I know.
SPEAKER 1 :
Nobody, nowhere.
SPEAKER 05 :
jesus is
SPEAKER 1 :
No one like him. No one like him.
SPEAKER 02 :
There's no one in the whole wide world like Jesus. Oh, I love the enthusiasm of my black brothers and sisters. In fact, John so many times said he wished he was black. And he sang like a black singer, but oh my goodness, I miss Andre. I miss Andre Crouch. Well, Paul is saying here, you just don't walk away from the gift of Jesus. You just don't do it. You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned into the message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. Boy, that's one thing we've got to really watch, friend, especially with social media right now. Just the minute that phone that you're holding, the minute that phone goes bing or there's something, a ring or whatever it is, you're... Attention is totally distracted to that phone. And so we've got to watch that. I am going to continue in Colossians, and we're going to talk about some of the other things that Jesus did for us to make us free. You know, it was for freedom that Jesus set us free. So stand firm and be no longer subject or slave to the bond of slavery that we have lived in. Before Jesus, we lived in darkness, my friend. Oh, it's been so good to be with you today. I'm all enthused. about serving our Lord and Savior. I hope you are too.
SPEAKER 01 :
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 partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. You will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom's website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
In this invigorating episode of Call to Freedom, host Barbara Carmack engages listeners with heartfelt stories of faith, healing, and deliverance. Drawing inspiration from biblical scripture, she recounts the timeless power of God's love and the impact it has on our lives. Join Barbara as she discusses how trusting in Jesus can fill one's life with goodness, reflect on personal experiences that demonstrate the wonders of faith, and share the encouraging testimonies of beloved friends and family. The episode reminds believers that God's wisdom unfolds perfectly in our timing and that our mission on Earth is to testify the great things He has done.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a Word Power Daily Reading Bible Guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number, 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio.
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Welcome to Call to Freedom. Oh, friend, be blessed today. There are no limits to God's love for you and what he can accomplish through you. He enjoys filling your life with goodness. It's the sweet reward of trusting him. And when I think of filling our lives with his goodness, I think of Psalm 84, one of my favorite chapters and verses is the 11th verse. And remember, when you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior... You have righteousness from Jesus to the Father because the Father can't stand sin. So you who were once in sin now have a robe of righteousness around you. Praise God. That is such a wonderful blessing for me. Every day I recognize how Jesus has redeemed us and made us God's children. Hallelujah. On the way back to home today, I went across town to deliver the express to And I got a call from Sandy, and she's right north of Malibu in the town of Chatsworth. And I was pretty concerned about her and my Aunt Virginia, and they're just fine. The flames were pretty close, but she said they did not come near the house, although they're adjusting to being on the alert in case something happens, especially if the winds come. So I've been praying to God that the winds would calm. Remember, just like Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee. and that the enemy would be totally rebuked from this scene. I believe that sometimes we see the will of God being allowed because of the political climate going on in this country, but it is not God's will for any of his people to suffer. So I pray that everything will be all right. It was so good to talk to her for just a few minutes. She's such a wonderful cousin and a wonderful friend. And she received Jesus a few years, three or four years back, and she wants to learn what I have learned. And it's been 50 years, folks, that I have been learning what I am learning. And I said, Sandy, just take time. Just take time with yourself. Don't get frustrated. God is going to bring his wisdom to you in absolutely your timing. And so the same with you today, my friend. Don't be frustrated that maybe a brother or sister knows more of the word than you do because we're all together, brothers and sisters loving one another. You are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. And I want to tell you that. You can go to Freedom Street last week. It was down for a little while because they were updating. And I am going to get a new computer here in the next month or two. So it's going to be off again, on again. But I know that you're going to be faithful and you're going to be patient with FreedomStreet.org and Barbara Carmack at FreedomStreet.org, which is the email address. And you can go online and give there at Donate. Just click that button, Donate, and you can have a donation to Call to Freedom. And I will receive it in the office. God bless you for your wonderful giving, your faithful giving. And I will be sending receipts out here in the next couple of days. Praise the Lord. Our scripture for this week is from Job 19, verse 25. As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will take his stand on the earth. When the history is just about to fold up, friend, when we've had all the history, just imagine, all the history will just be rolled up like a scroll, and it will be the end. and then we will have eternity with him. Oh, it's just going to be amazing. It's kind of, well, not kind of, no, it isn't at all like next week when we have a new president at the White House. That's going to be a celebration, but it's not at all going to be like when Jesus comes back. The Living Translation of Job 19, 25 and 26 says, But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God. And you're going to have a new body when you see God. Now, Job was at the point in his life where he was scraping the crusty skin. I mean, he had a disease that caused his whole body to erupt. And here he was scraping the scabs and everything on his body. Can you imagine the pain? And yet he said, I know that my Redeemer lives. And that's got to happen with us when we know that we're at the last of our lives or we're at the point of our lives where devastation is happening like these fires. I know that my Redeemer lives and depend on him. Well, we have Mission Possible with Tim Tebow here. And on the page that he has the great response, we're going to go. Yesterday we went to Mark 4 where Jesus was asleep in the boat when the big storm came and he calmed the storm. Praise God. And so today it's Mark 5 and the scripture is Jesus is saying to the man, go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he had mercy on you. And that's each of our assignments. to go to friends, go to loved ones and say, do you know what God did for me? He has kept me well. He's kept me secure. He's kept me secure in his love and in this world that we're living in. That's what we need to tell our friends. In Mark 5, the Bible tells a story of a man who was demon possessed. He lived in a cave in a mountain, cutting himself with stones. I just can't imagine. One day he saw Jesus from afar and ran toward him. Jesus delivered and healed the man, casting out the demons from him. There were many demons. And sending them into a herd of pigs that ran off a cliff, fell into the sea, then drowned. If you remember in Mark 5, when the people of the village came out to see what was going on, The people told Jesus they wanted him to leave the territory. Isn't that sad? He wanted the healer and deliverer of this man to leave the territory. And so many times we see that the good people are either rejected or opposed in some way or the other. And we need to stand our ground, folks. We really do. And when it was time for Jesus to get back into the boat and return to the other side of the lake, the man who had been freed from the demons begged Jesus that he might accompany him. And that's verse 18 of Mark 5. Now, that's what I call a great response. You know, he's healed. He wants to go with Jesus. I mean, I want to go with you, Jesus. Now, I know that many of us have been healed in our lives. Did we want to go deeper with Jesus or did we just go on to another crisis, a new crisis? Oh, man, you know, and you don't even remember what he did for you. Well, this man did. He knew what Jesus had done for him. And though he wanted to stay with Jesus, Jesus had a different mission in mind for him. Jesus asked him to go home and tell the people there what Jesus had done for him. The man said yes, and he had an amazing impact on his town. I'm sure he did. I'm sure that at first they said, don't go near him. This is a man that's crazy. But then when he showed them the love of Jesus in his heart, I'm sure there was a lot of people born again then. Well, you weren't born again, but came close to Jesus then. God might have a different mission than what you have in mind, but whatever it is, say yes. Go and make your life count. That is the great response that Jesus wants to hear from you. Yes, Lord, send me. And Tim says, tim has a prayer here that you might want to pray dear jesus i believe i can live a mission possible life because your mission was accomplished remind me that because you have overcome the world and he calls us overcomers friend that you have overcome the world i can do whatever you have called me to do Thank you that I get to live mission possible. Amen. that will not be taken care of in the name of jesus and i'm so grateful for that a man came to the disciples with a demon-possessed son and asked them to deliver his son from the demon that made him froth at the mouth and roll about they could not and when jesus approached from being on the mount of transfiguration with his father and two disciples the son's father ran to jesus Jesus' first remark after he heard that this demon was not cast out of this little boy said, you unbelieving generation. And I believe that we who are born again live in an unbelieving generation. There are so many things that are happening and unbelief is rampant right now. Now Mark 9, 21 through 32 in the message says, he asked the boy's father, how long has this been going on? ever since he was a little boy many times it pitches him into fire or the river to do away with him if you can do anything do it jesus have a heart and help us jesus said jesus reply to this man was if there are no ifs for Praise God among believers. If God does this for me, then I will do this. If God heals me, then I will go and do this. No, there are no ifs among believers. It's not my will, but thine be done. And we live in that wonderful, secure place. There are no ifs among believers. Anything can happen. Jesus said, I'm here. All things are possible to those who believe. And that's Mark 9, verse 23. And no sooner were the words out of his mouth than the father cried, then I believe. Help me with my doubts. Seeing the crowd was forming fast. And see, that's unbelief charging forward. Jesus knew there was a lot of, well, show me, show me, show me. A lot of unbelief in that crowd. Jesus gave the vile spirits its marching orders. Dumb and deaf spirit, I command you out of him and stay out. Screaming and with much thrashing about, it left. The boy was pale as a corpse, so people started saying, he's dead, he's dead. But Jesus, taking his hand, raised him. The boy stood up. After arriving back home, his disciples cornered Jesus and asked, why couldn't we throw the demon out? He answered, there is no way to get rid of unbelief or there is no way to get rid of this kind of demon spirit except by prayer and fasting. Now, this concept of there is no way to get rid of unbelief came from Kenneth E. Hagan. And I really believe that's what Jesus was talking about. There is no way to get rid of unbelief except by prayer and fasting. And friend, if you've ever fasted before, that's going to get rid of a whole lot of unbelief. You are going to stay close to Jesus when you're fasting food. The prayer and fasting get rid of the unbelief. And verse 30 of Mark 9 says, He told them the son of man is about to be betrayed to some people who want nothing to do with God. They will murder him. And three days after his murder, he will rise alive. They did not know what he was talking about, but were afraid to ask him about it. See, we need to know that Jesus is our friend. We can talk to him about anything. our fears, our doubts, anything, you can talk to your friend Jesus. Yesterday I was reading part of Colossians 1 about Paul in the dungeon and wanting to let us know that Jesus has made us complete in all he has done. He has been there from the beginning and in him are all things made. And I want to go on in that reading of Colossians 1, 24. There's a lot of suffering to be entered into in this world, the kind of suffering Christ takes on. Paul says, I welcome the chance to take my share in the church's part of that suffering. When I became a servant in this church, I experienced this suffering as a sheer gift, God's way of helping me serve you, laying out the whole truth. So he calls his time in the dungeons. He was in the dungeon in Ephesus. He was in the dungeon at Philippi. He was in the dungeon at Colossae here. So he wants you to know that it was a gift to him. That's amazing. This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it's out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is this. Christ in you, the King James Version says, the hope of glory. sharing in God's glory, Christ in you. It's that simple. That is the substance of our message, Christ in you, the hope of glory. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense. Wow, I've heard that word so much, or those two words so much in these last few weeks. Common sense. We need to get back to common sense. No more woke. We need to get back to common sense. Praise the Lord. There are only two genders. Hello. Profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ, no more, no less. That's what I'm working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me. Hallelujah. There are many reasons why Jesus came to earth. The first was to redeem us from the sin of this fallen world. And in redeeming us, he came to destroy the works of the devil. Let me read that in 1 John 3. Dear children, don't let anyone deceive you about this. When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, they make a practice of doing the sinning all the time. It shows that they belong to the devil who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. And boy, did he destroy the works of the devil on that Sunday morning when when Jesus rose from the dead. Those who have been born into God's family do not make a practice of sinning because God's life is in them. So they can't keep on sinning because they're children of God. So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. And I'm going to be talking to you a little bit more about fruit bearing. When you become a child of God, you begin to bear good fruit, not rotten fruit, not spoiled fruit, good fruit. And it's talking about having an advocate with the father that when we do sin and he knows we do sin, but we are now righteous before him. But when we do sin, we walk in the light as he is in the light and we have fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus. His son cleanses us from sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness. Wow. I love those verses because that tells me that when I do sin and boy, you know, when you sin, when you said the wrong thing, when you've done the wrong thing, you really feel it as a believer. Well, anyway, I do. And I confess that sin. And I say, Father God, I need to ask you to help me yield myself to you more and more each day. And get rid of whatever is causing that problem in my life. And he will. He'll help you. He'll help you to get through that and overcome that problem that you've had. Now, when you're up against that struggle that shatters all your dreams. and your hopes have been cruelly crushed by Satan's manifested schemes, and you feel the urge within you to submit to earthly fear, don't let the faith you're standing in seem to disappear. Praise the Lord when you're in that struggle. I was doing that today when I was listening to the confirmation of Pete Hegsfeth. And I was saying, Father God, I praise you. I praise you for this man. I thank you, Father God. You're going to confirm him. Well, Barbara, how do you know he's going to be confirmed? Well, I know that God works miraculously in those kind of things. I remember when I went to court with Darren. So many times I had not been in a courtroom before then, except maybe for one speeding ticket. But when I went to court with Darren quite a few times, I prayed and I praised God that he was going to get out of the situation, the legal situation that he was going through. And it did. It happened. They did not charge him or the judge said he's innocent. Mr. Carmack is innocent. And so I know that when we praise the Lord, he will work through those who praise him. Praise the Lord for our God inhabits praise. Praise the Lord for the chains that seem to bind you serve only to remind you. They drop powerless behind you when you praise him. Here's Russ Taff and the Imperials.
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When you're up against a struggle that shatters all your dreams And your hopes have been cruelly crushed by Satan's manifested scheme And you feel the urge within you to submit to earthly fears Don't let the faith you're standing in seem to disappear
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that seem to bind you serve only to remind you
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We'll be right back.
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For the chains that seem to bind you, serve only to remind you that they dropped.
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I remember the day I brought that album home. Oh, played it and played it and played it. Praise the Lord. He will work through those who praise him. Praise the Lord for our God inhabits praise. Praise the Lord for the chains that seem to bind you serve only to remind you. they draw powerless behind you when you praise him. Oh, Paul knew God had delivered him from a life of dragging believers to prison, to dungeons, and yes, even killing. Remember, he was sitting there watching Stephen being stoned, and he approved of it when Stephen, the precious disciple of Jesus Christ, was stoned in Acts. So Paul understood that God is a deliverer as well as a redeemer. In Romans 7, Paul is saying here right before he realizes there's no more condemnation here, folks. He said, oh, that which I wanted to do, I didn't do. And that which I didn't want to do, I did do. See, that's the carnality battling the spirit. And we've all been through it. There's a battle going on, friend. And we got to crush that carnality. mind that is influenced by the enemy, that carnal, that fleshly spirit. And then after he's saying that which I do not, that which I do not, I want to do and that which I don't want to do, I do. Oh, wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death? And this is in the seventh chapter of Romans. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. We know Jesus is Lord. So then on the one hand, I myself with my mind am serving the law. But on the other, my flesh is the law of sin. Then he goes into one of the best chapters of all in the New Testament. There is therefore now no condemnation. When you are in Christ Jesus and you may still feel guilt or shame, we can cast that down in Jesus' name. I bind that spirit of condemnation, of guilt, of inferiority, of fear in Jesus' name. When we pray that prayer in Jesus' name, that spirit is gone just like Jesus did in Mark 9. When he cast that spirit, that deaf and dumb spirit out of that precious little boy, it left. Praise God. And then Paul goes on to say, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did. God did. Sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. See, Jesus became sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him. That's 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. Oh, he became sin. Jesus became sin, took sin on that cross. He became sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Oh, what a blessing it is. We no longer want a mindset on the flesh. No, no longer a mindset on the flesh because that's death. But the mindset on the spirit is life and peace. And that's what I desire for you today, friend. Life, abundant life in Jesus Christ and that peace that passes all understanding. God bless you and keep you. Kimberly and I are going to be on the air tomorrow, hopefully, the Lord willing. And pray for Pete Hegseth. I believe he's going to be confirmed. And I want God's willingness. Thank you. God bless you and take joy.
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877-917-7256
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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. Our partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. You will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom's website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
Join Barbara Carmack as she welcomes you to a heartfelt session on 'Call to Freedom.' The episode begins with light-hearted discussions about the chilly weather and the excitement it brings during the stock show season. As the show progresses, Barbara offers spiritual guidance through shared verses and personal insights. Learn how to stay grounded spiritually, even when chilled to the bone. The conversation deepens as Barbara reflects on the profound themes of freedom and selflessness. Drawing on the wisdom of Ecclesiastes and the down-to-earth Mission Possible devotional by Tim Tebow, Barbara covers how living a life of purpose—which doesn’t necessarily involve grand gestures or travels—begins right where you stand. Barbara further delves into the realities of devastation, drawing parallels with the present-day challenges facing Californians. Through tales of resilience and perseverance, she provides comfort and motivation to rise above with divine support and community involvement. Whether you are facing literal storms or metaphorical ones, find inspiration and hope in divine promises as you navigate your own life mission.
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Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a Word Power Daily Reading Bible Guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number, 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio.
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Welcome to Call to Freedom. I blew in here. The wind, it's an Arctic freeze. It really is today, friends. And I hope you're warm and cozy and you've got a mug of hot cocoa or some coffee. We are in the middle. It seems like every year when the stock show is about to begin, I mean, we have got frozen chosen weather. That's amazing. But we made it in on this morning. Rachel and I were talking on the phone and she was saying, well, I'm going to try to make it to KLTT. And I said, well, if you don't, I'll stay home.
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And you made it, Rachel. I made it. I was thankful. I'm down near Castle Rock, and so it was kind of sketchy down there.
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Yes, yes. And that I-25 from Castle Rock into Denver can really be dangerous sometimes because people want to drive so fast.
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Yes.
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And I'm glad you got here.
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Me too. Praise God.
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Yes. And keep a precious little meadow caged or something because she'd blow away. She would. Yeah. She's only three pounds. I know. I know. Oh, thank you. Thank you for producing my show, Rachel. It's a joy. Well, the Lord bless you and keep you, friend. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance, turn his face toward you and give you peace today. So important that we have the peace of God that passes all understanding. And you are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. You can go to freedomstreet.org and listen to radio shows. You can go online with donations if you'd like to do that. We do have a meeting this Saturday. Now, if the weather is like this, no, you stay home nice and cozy. But January 11th, this Saturday, this Saturday, I'm looking forward to seeing you at my home. And I'm just, you know, this weather sometimes delays what we are hoping for. But I hope to see you on Saturday. We're going to have praise and worship and have a wonderful study about our Lord Jesus and what he did for us. If you'd like to stay for lunch, I'll be fixing a girl. It's just apropos for Saturday, stew. And it's really wonderful. It's so good for you. And if you'd like to bring a side dish and your name begins with A through M, bring a salad or a finger food. And if your name begins with N through Z, bring a dessert. God bless you, and I hope to see you Saturday. You can call me at 1-877-917-7256. And I was raised on a farm in northern Colorado, only about, oh, 50 miles from Cheyenne, Wyoming. So I've got that kind of strong, strong kind of being. I'm a strong woman, and so I don't stop much or postpone much. But if you feel like this weather is not for you, you just stay home. And in the Passion Translation, our verse for this week is Genesis 17, 1 and 2. And it's when Abraham was 99 years old, Yahweh appeared to him again and said, I am the God who is more than enough, El Shaddai. Live your life in my presence and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants. Now, Tim Tebow has a Mission Possible devotional here, and it's taken from Hebrews 13, verse 20 and 21. May the God of peace equip you in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. What a wonderful verse, Hebrews 13, verses 20 and 21. He says in his devotional, living a Mission Possible life, means carrying out the good works that God has already prepared for you. We are each on a mission to make a difference and ensure that our lives count, a mission to help the hurting and reach the lost and the last and the least of humanity. This looks different for everyone. It might take you into the darkness of a rescue mission for those who are being human trafficked. It might keep you in your own neighborhood, breathing life and spirit into your children or your neighbors. When you are mission driven, you use your ability together with God's empowerment to help, serve, guide, teach, pray, and lead others in innumerable ways, each as unique as a person's DNA. In fact, helping, serving, guiding, teaching, praying, and leading others are perfect examples of what Mission Possible looks like lived out. Here's a surprise for you. One's mission is not really as mysterious as it's made out to be. It's more available to you than you ever imagined. You don't have to go on a mission trip around the world or start a church. Has God ever pricked your heart to take a step in a particular direction to meet a need? Doing that is the essence of mission possible living. So keep taking steps to do good things for the kingdom. I've read three of Tim Tebow's books, and I know that he has a mission's heart. He was born in the Philippines to Baptist missionary parents, and he has a real calling on his heart for that area of missions. And he and his precious wife, they do all kinds of things for the disabled. And what about you? Do you have a heart to help others? It doesn't have to be something big to get you involved with going into all the world and preaching and reaching people for Jesus Christ. Taking a moment to write a note to someone whom you admire. Oh, and I love your notes. Friends, when you send your donations to Call to Freedom, it's not the check or the money order I look at first. I look at your remarks on the back of the insert card. I do. I love reading your remarks. And thank you so much for your edifying portions that you write for me. Call to Freedom, and for me and for Kimberly, who calls from Tulsa. And by the way, they got snow today. And she said, it's really coming down, Mom. We might have three or four inches. And I thought, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that is rare. That truly is a rare occasion. You know, it might be just getting the focus off all the things that you personally have to attend to and begin to reach out. Getting rid of that. I call this a syndrome. The I, me, my syndrome. It's all about me. It's all about my stuff. It's all about... I don't have words to say. And becoming other-centered. And it took me a long time to get other-centered. And I know having children really helps getting you off of your me-I-my syndrome. But it's something that we need to really work at, getting other-centered. I was drawn to Ecclesiastes because of Tim's talking about being other-centered. And I realized that King Solomon was in the middle of an I, me, my syndrome in his life in Chapter 2. I'm just going to read a little bit. And then I'm going to talk about some other things here today. In Ecclesiastes 2, it says, I said to myself, and he's the king, and he's talking to himself here. Come on, let's try pleasure. Let's look for the good things in life. But what good does it do to seek pleasure? After much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine. And while still seeking wisdom, I clutched at foolishness. Now, I want you to listen to me and write down or read Have it in your head every time he says I. Okay? Write it down. Every time he says I. I. I clutched at foolishness in this way. I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during this brief life in this world. I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees, and I believe he also put peacocks in his gardens and many elaborate animals. I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves. I bought slaves, both men and women, and others were born into my household. I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me. I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. Are you taking it down? I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire. So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me. And my wisdom never failed me. Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure whatsoever. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. Hard work? I don't believe that man worked hard. Do you see a pattern here? He said 15 times he said I in this one brief passage. And he says, he goes on, I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish. It was all so meaningless, like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere. So I decided to compare wisdom with foolishness and madness. For who can do this better than I, the king? Oh, in thinking about that, I'm saying so many people in this world have that me-my-I syndrome. They really do. They think about themselves from morning till night. They do the things that give them pleasure. And I thought about this devastation that has just destroyed the coast of California and gone inland. And I only lived there for four years. I didn't live there very, very long. But my husband, John, was a man who lived in Pasadena and in Los Angeles. And I think of all those precious people. They were totally devastated. As I'm reading Job now, I introduce Job right in the middle of Genesis. Why, you ask? Why? Because Abraham's brother had a child, and he called him Uz. Yeah, he called him U-Z-Uz. And that's in Genesis 22. So right away when I was reading Job, it begins with, there was a man in the land of Uz. And I thought, how many Uz's are there? Are there Uz's in that land? And the book of Job begins with a very prosperous, respectable, and good man who was devastated in just one day. Absolutely. The devil destroyed not only his home, but killed his children. He lost all his flocks. I mean, it says here in the very first part of Job, he had 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants. I look at this devastation in Los Angeles and I say, Father God, it's happening. And then I read 2 Timothy where Paul is talking about the last days when it's going to be absolutely destructive in every direction that we take. And the people I was. Yeah, I was glued to my TV last night and portions of this morning because the precious people are saying, why has this happened? It didn't need to happen. And it really didn't. It's because of all the regulations in all the home building. in everything that's taking place, and that's why a lot of insurance companies have dropped Californians as clients because of all the regulations going on. There was no water. Why is there no water? Well, because Gavin Newsom has taken out three reservoirs from California, northern California, and then he blames Trump. It's just amazing how we blame other people. And I believe Gavin Newsom and some of these left people have the I, me, my syndrome. And it's all about making them comfortable and everybody else suffers. I was listening to one man who had lost his pets in the home. And, oh, I'm thinking, oh, my goodness. I'm grateful that only five people have lost their lives. What a horrible way to lose your life. And it didn't have to be. And I remember I went to school in Pasadena, at Pasadena College. right up from Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, up Hill Street, and it was right in the foothills of the San Gabriels, so it was real hilly. Altadena is right west of Pasadena. We had many friends, went over to their homes, enjoyed fellowship with them, a lot of time spent in the homes of people in Altadena and Pasadena, and I'm thinking, wow. What are they going through today? What are they going through? Losing everything. And here, Job lost everything. He was so depressed that when his friends saw him, his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, And they saw him and they were so shocked. They saw him at a distance. They raised their voices and wept. Each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky. And I'm thinking, oh, I would probably be absolutely abject to what was going on. All these neighborhoods, people coming back to nothing. Even the high schools, the grocery stores, they can't even go to the grocery stores that they used to go to. So they're going to have to find places where they can live temporarily. And not all of them are millionaires. I know there were some homes. I know that one man paid $26 million for his home in Pacific Palisades. That's a lot of money. But other people are just middle class people like you and I are. and they lost everything, everything. And Job just sat there with them. They did not speak a word for seven days as they sat there with Job. And I'm thinking, oh, what would you do if your house was destroyed? What would you do if you came home after going to work and your house had been burned with fire, it had gone up in smoke, and you lost everything? If you have a comment, I'm in the studio at 1 o'clock here, and if you're listening at 1 o'clock, if you have a comment about what you would do if that happened to you, I'd like you to call in. I really would. It's a time when we can come together and say, wow, I really want to be your friend. I really want to be there for you if anything like this happened. And I know when we lost our home in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and it burned, it was totally destroyed, and even the piano we had in the home was destroyed. And people around were so good about bringing clothes, about bringing dishes, about having us in a home, renting a home for a while, because our home was gone. Just like they were not nearly with the winds, the high winds, 90 and 100 mile per hour winds. And as I was coming into the studio today, it almost knocked me over. I'm so glad I found a parking spot close to the pavilion here, the high-rise pavilion. because the winds were so horribly hard and swift. And when I think of the people going back to their homes in the wind, still the embers flying through the air, they had to wear goggles to get into their neighborhoods. If you have a comment or anything you'd like to say about how God keeps us, doesn't he keep us? He really does. He promised that no harm would come to us. Even Jesus said, and it was Satan here in Job that did all these things to Job. God permitted it because he knew Job's heart. He knew that Job was a man of integrity. He was well respected. But it was Satan. And as we see here, the things that happened to us, the enemy is out to kill, steal and destroy. But we have that promise from Jesus in Luke 10, verse 19. Behold, I've given you authority over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall harm you. I believe that's why the fatalities have been low here, because God is watching. His mercy is watching. I believe there needs to be a real change in not only California, but all these other states that are left-wing states. Why did you vote for a left-wing mayor, chief of police, chief of firefighters? And Larry Elder, who was campaigning to be governor of California. Why did you choose... Why have you been a Democrat all these years when your city and state are being destroyed by Democrats? I know I'm on a political soapbox right now, but I really believe that there's going to be a change in the policy of the parties in the Californias and the Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. and New York because of the things that are happening here, folks. That there are things that need to be changed. And I'm praying that people that were so left and, you know, no, no Trumpers and they would never vote for Trump. I pray that their eyes would be open. I know that there's a scripture in Ephesians. I'm going to go there in Ephesians one. And Ephesians is about the church of Jesus Christ. And I didn't. I'm unclear away from my notes for today. I hope you don't mind. But when we pray for people that are so hoodwinked by a political party or by the ideology of people around them. Then we can pray this prayer. And this is from Paul in Ephesians 1, verse 17. And he says that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes of your heart see the eye. Our heart has eyes and we may see things in the physical with our physical eyes. But God wants you to reach clear down there into your spirit eyes that they may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling. He's got a hope for each and every one of you. He's got a hope for those people whose homes have been burned to the ground, everything destroyed, everything. And they showed some before and after of the Pacific Palisades and also Altadena. Their boulevards used to be so tree-lined and beautiful green trees. It was just black, just black with ashes. God is wanting you to fulfill your calling, my friend, and it doesn't have to be like Tim Tebow. but to become involved in maybe your neighborhood, even with your own family. Get to know your family members, your aunts and uncles, those people that may have been gone a long time. I know that I'd like to reach out to some of John's relatives. I'm going to call my cousin. Sandy, who lives in Chatsworth, who's just north of that area, and just see how they're doing today, because I do have them on my heart. But Paul is saying here that you would have hope in the calling that he's called you to, the riches of his glory, and you have been an inherited person. saint of his, why don't we look in 2025 at the things that could be possible with our relatives and our friends that they might come into the fold. They might know the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we wouldn't have to say, well, those dumb relatives. No, no longer say that. Oh, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power towards us, who believe these are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might. Oh, I pray for the strength of his might for you today, my friend. I have a song that Rachel is going to play, the song sung by John, Isaiah 55. Ho, everyone who is thirsty, come drink.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, everyone who is thirsty in spirit Oh, everyone who is weary and sad come to the fountain there's fullness in jesus all that you're longing for come and be glad i will pour water on him who is thirsty I will pour floods upon the dry ground.
SPEAKER 1 :
Open your heart for the gift I am bringing.
SPEAKER 03 :
While ye are seeking me, I will be found. I will pour water on him who is thirsty. I will pour floods upon the dry ground.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, I love that. God is saying, I will pour water upon the dry ground. I will pour water on the burned ground. I will pour water upon every destructive and desolate place on this earth. Oh, because he wants you to find him. Oh, I pray and I hope you will pray for the people of Los Angeles and Pacific Palisades and Altadena and Pasadena. They would come to know the Lord Jesus. Most of all, come to know him as as the word of God says, come to me and ask. I will answer you and show you many things that you don't even know about. Many times in the Old Testament he says, call to me, call to me and I will answer you. Well, friend, with you and me praying, we're going to see many people come to the Lord Jesus. And then we're going to see God performing great miracles like he did when our home burned. We didn't have insurance. We didn't have insurance. And God just provided the rentals that we needed, brought us back to Colorado from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. And then we moved into a house that we could own, and we didn't have any down bones. provided a way. It's just he's such a miracle worker. And I pray today that you would absolutely see his ability in us and his capabilities of knowing all these people that have had destroyed homes in this area, that they would come close to him. And I know there are many Christians in that place. I do. I know that. And they're going to join hands with others in helping their brothers and sisters through this horrible, horrible time. Thank you for being with me today, for praying with me that they would find a way to Jesus' heart because he loves them so much. I love you. Remember the meeting. Call me at 1-877-917-7256. Oh, God bless you and take joy.
SPEAKER 02 :
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 partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. You will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom's website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
In this compelling installment of 'Call to Freedom,' listeners are welcomed into a conversation about the transformative nature of God's love and grace. Barbara Carmack leads a poignant discussion on maintaining faith amidst life's challenges, sharing insights that resonate with believers seeking renewal in the new year. Hear about the power of gathering in fellowship, the importance of embracing uncertainty as an opportunity for growth, and the assurance that comes from knowing that God is continuously making 'all things new.'
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a Word Power Daily Reading Bible Guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number, 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom. Oh, I have sunshine coming in my window and it's just so nice to have that in my window in the studio. I had to park my vehicle in a garage and it's total concrete for three floors and it is icy cold. I was so happy to get out in the sunshine from the garage. Oh, praise God. He just, he brings the most wonderful, beautiful things right in the middle of maybe some really challenging issues for us. And I know you have experienced his wonderful grace and strength and comfort during those times, my friend. I know you have experienced that. May God strengthen you with his love. Fill you with his assurance. Bless you with his peace. And hold you in his arms as you trust him. Trust him with every detail of your day. That's so important. And right now I'm praying that God's mercy would just pour over Los Angeles and Pacific Palisades and even where I went to school in Pasadena. It was just up alongside the San Gabriel Mountains is where the school was located. And I'm thanking God that he's going to just be merciful, bring a rain, bring a storm that would absolutely still the winds, the Santa Ana winds. Those precious people, I know a lot of them may not have depended on the Lord, and I pray that they will begin to talk about God. and to ask him to rescue them. So in Jesus' name, I thank you, Father, for pouring your mercy and your grace upon these people. As you did for us while we were yet sinners, you died for us. Oh, Lord God. Oh, Lord Jesus, thank you. And I pray that things will settle down and be still, and that the fire would be put out in Jesus' name. Praise the Lord. There are about 400,000 without electricity there, and I can't imagine what that would be like, especially with the raging fire. So I appreciate it, friend, that you will be praying for Los Angeles, California. They have limited resources because of the horrible regulations that the left has put upon that beautiful state for so many years. And so the fire department has limited resources. They don't have the things that they should have. They've been doing the climate change and the green thing for so long that they have ignored and not listened. kept up with the things that should be kept up with. So I pray that it's going to be a real difference between all these states that thought that woke and DEI and all this was so good. and that they will come to their common senses. I just wrote a note to a friend in Oregon, and I said, one of these days, these blue states are going to get some common sense, going to realize that the way they had it was pretty good. It was pretty good. Thank you for listening to me. I'm kind of on my soapbox right now. You are blessed to dispense, for in him you live and move and have your being in him. And I'm so grateful to Crawford Media Group because they've provided a way that you can listen to programming of the Christian stations and the Christian broadcasts through going, just podcasts, going to 670kltt.com slash podcast. And if you want to listen to Call to Freedom slash Call to Freedom, and you can go and look through all the teachers on that list, 670kltt.com slash podcast. And thank you, TJ, for doing that for all of us people that have teaching and sermons and all of that. We appreciate that. Our meeting is this Saturday, January the 11th. And it's going to be cold. Yep, it is. And it's winter. So I look forward to being with you and seeing you. and having a wonderful time with praise and worship, talking about our Lord Jesus and how he's always by our side. If you would like to stay for lunch, I'll be fixing my cowboy stew, and I love that stew. It's just so nourishing, and yet it's very simple. And if you would like to bring a side dish and your name begins with A through M, bring a salad or finger food. And if your name begins with N through Z, bring a dessert. And we'll start the new year with fellowship and good eating and good praise and worship. Call me for reservations at 1-877-917-7256. God bless you and hope to see you Saturday. Oh, and Kimberly, I wish you were coming on Saturday. I wish I were too.
SPEAKER 03 :
I just wish I lived a little bit closer or maybe had an airplane of my own that I could just...
SPEAKER 02 :
Pop right in. That's a pretty big commute. I know. It is. But we always enjoy having you join us and some of our other friends that are long distances. I really appreciate them coming to the meeting because it's just friendship. It's friendship. It is. Friendship. It is. Yeah, it's just really wonderful.
SPEAKER 03 :
And there's a real hunger in the group. And every time I'm there and I feel that, I just... Really, it is a very tangible presence of the Lord that falls on the group and fills that hunger. And I am so satisfied with that. I just want to stay in the presence of my hungry brothers and sisters longer. So, yes, I'm going to miss that this month.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, it's such a privilege to serve God and be around people that love the Lord. We get enough of the world every day when we go to work or we do, you know, go to grocery store or we go to other places where we need to buy things. But when you get together with people that love the Lord Jesus, it's just special. It really is special. It is.
SPEAKER 03 :
It is. And this is my first time to get to talk on your program for this new year. So that whole idea of a new year and a new year and a new you in the new year. And you're right. When we gather together and we have others that we can enjoy together, And it does make up the difference for being out in the world and not having that. It makes up the difference. It seems like it really pours into us. And at the same time, I have been asking Father God to just show me how he is present all the time. And in his presence is fullness of joy, even when I'm out in the world and I'm hearing the news and I'm walking the grocery aisles and seeing conflict, that I am more aware of his presence than ever. And I really like how you opened up this program today with this saying, trust in him all the time. Just trust him. Trust him all the time. Yes. We're so weak. We just don't know how to do that. We get confronted with something in the news or something that happens in our family or something happening to our cars breaking down or something happening at our job. And all of a sudden, the trust just crumbles away. And we don't remember that he is still on the throne. And he can be trusted in the middle of all of this. And... I love your little soapbox part of being in the red state or in a blue state. And the reason why I love your little soapbox is because it's just true about me that the blue part of me, the left part of me, takes me off into places that I don't really want to go. The parts of my humanity that are not hooked in to trusting God all the time They do. They crater and they panic and they have anxiety. And I'm talking they, me, the parts of me that are still just so human, so human. I was reading this at the beginning of this week here, Revelation 21.5, the one sitting on the throne. He sits on the throne. He knows what he's doing. And here's the thing. I'm not sure he's always in control. because he gave control to us and here we are making a mess we're just making a mess all the time as human beings this world is very broken because of our self-centeredness and our selfishness and yet he is still on the throne and i just have this picture of him with a heart that is aching, a heart that's breaking as he watches some of this destruction. And yet he says, the one sitting on the throne says, look, I am making everything new. Yes. And He's able. He can do that. He does make everything new. Look back. Look back on your life and see the things that have happened and how He's pulled us up and out of a pit of despair. How He has restored. He has. How He has renewed our thinking and helped us come alongside Him and trust him in new ways. So anything else that comes up in this life, he's still worthy to be trusted. Yes. I heard a conversation between my children this past New Year's Day. They were talking about the slogan that they hear so frequently, and I think I've already said it, New Year, New You. And it's something that they hear mostly at the gyms and fitness places, and they like to use that slogan at the beginning of the year. Well, this is the time of year for New Year's resolutions, and people like to get a fresh start. You know, okay, I'm going to exercise more. I'm going to diet. I'm just going to have a lifestyle change. And then you just find yourself struggling after the first week.
SPEAKER 02 :
I know. I know. That's why I gave up on it years ago. I said, that's it. I've had enough of these resolutions.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I heard my daughter just declare that she hates New Year's resolutions, that they don't do any good for her. They just set her up for failure. Well, that's true. Yeah, well, it is. I can see that point of view, and I've been there. I've thought the same thing. And it does feel like you're making promises to yourself that really are doomed to be broken at some point, at some point. Mm-hmm. We don't know exactly when that's going to be, even if it's when you leave this world, that you're no longer keeping that promise because you don't need to in this life anymore. But I personally really like that desire. to be better, the desire for goodness, the desire for newness, for something to be new, the desire for a refresh. And I think we all need it. We all need something to refresh, something to be new. And desiring newness and having new clarity, being able to discern our Lord's voice and guidance in a new way. That's been the focus of my prayers at the beginning of this year. And I am looking forward to that newness. I actually started a Bible reading plan much like all the others that I've ever done, which starts in Genesis. And I usually like to read something from the Old Testament and something from the New Testament at the same time. And so I started that on January 1st. I was reading in Genesis 1 and reading in Matthew 1 and planning to go through this plan that I had found and just check it off my list every day. And I stopped. I threw it out. I threw the plan out. Okay. Just two days ago, I found a different plan that was so different. And I just decided, you know, I'm going to do this instead. And it actually follows the New Testament chronologically. And it starts at where they believe would be the beginning of the New Testament. That's in Luke 1, where it describes Zacharias and David. him being in the temple and hearing from the angel of the Lord that his wife would bear a son. And he didn't believe it. And so then he was mute until that son was born. And that son is John the Baptist. And then what they do with just that little section of the New Testament is they go back to the Old Testament to all the prophecies where it was prophesied that John the Baptist would come before Jesus. And I'm looking forward to reading this new plan, but I had to scrap an old one. I had to throw it out and have another restart. And I don't want us to be afraid of that. You know, if you're listening today and you've already had some detours on what you thought you were gonna do this year, it's okay it's really okay because our god is constant and he is faithful and he's got so much grace for a detour for a turn in the path and for bumps on the road he's got so much grace i also began a fast and i had a certain just a certain way of fasting in my mind that i've done in the past and It's something changed. Something changed. And I started thinking about eating a certain food that I would not that I wouldn't do on this fast. And well, it was the Lord. He used my husband. Matthew came in and he prayed over me and he he specifically mentioned that food. And it happens to be honey. Honey, you know that I like honey. I'm always stopping for more honey at my favorite honey spot. But Matthew prayed that over me and just asked the Lord to release. Well, I had already been thinking about the honey, that I wasn't going to have it for 21 days. And when Matthew prayed that, I knew that was the Lord's grace releasing me to do something new that I wouldn't normally do. And I believe He wants every one of us to learn His voice and to know His voice, that the old things are gone, behold, the new things have come. And it's being able to hear His voice so clearly and follow that guidance and not resist it, thinking that it might be a temptation. Oh, that's a temptation for me to have honey. I could have thought that. But I chose rather to believe that that was guidance into something new and something sweet. I do believe that our Father is leading his people, all of us children, into sweeter things and trying to balance that out with people who are experiencing great loss today. You know, the fires that you mentioned at the top of the hour here, that is devastation and that is so hard to watch people going through these disasters that really do change their lives. And it appears to change them for the worse. It appears so devastating. But are we going to remember there's someone on the throne today that says, I make all things new. Behold, the old things are gone and behold, new things have come. And yeah, that was their old homes. And some of those homes don't look old. They're beautiful. You know, mansions, the millions of dollars that are burning up, you know, that doesn't look like they're old. And we grieve when we see those things being lost. This is the very time where we need to stretch our faith. And my friend Janine, she used a term that I hadn't heard in a while, and I just sat with it and went, oh, she said, there's a tolerance. let me make sure I'm saying this right, a tolerance for uncertainty. And when you're uncertain about the future, you're uncertain about what will be next on your path, it can cause worry. And when you're uncertain about what you did last week, last year, 10 years ago, you can live with so much regret That you're not living in the present moment believing that what God said in His Word is true. You can be worrying so much about the future because you're uncertain about the future. And when you're worrying, that does not help the future. It does not help your path to worry. It only produces pain. Yes. And so the idea of building a tolerance for uncertainty, it's okay to be uncertain. It's okay to be uncertain about what happened in the past, and it's okay to be uncertain about what's going to happen in the future, because it's going to work out. Yes. It is going to work out because we have a really good God on the throne. And he's declaring, look, I'm making everything new. You're in the mess and in the brokenness, but I have not left you. I'm right there with you. My heart breaks with you. And... I am making everything new for you. There's so many ways that we have testimonies of that. There's so many times in our pasts that we can look back, that there was a car wreck that we were involved in, and God provided something so much better after losing that car. There are so many testimonies of losses or brokenness that has been turned to something even better. And that is our God. That's Him. He's doing that. Constantly working. He is at work. I don't know how He's not worn out by now. Because we really have made a huge mess in this world. And I know that it's time to align ourselves with him and be in agreement with him and just say, you know what? I don't want to do this my way anymore. I want your way. And let him lead us and guide us into good things.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
I'm just talking and talking and talking. Did you have anything you wanted to add?
SPEAKER 02 :
No, this is great. I'm just listening, listening, listening. I'm listening to that because he is doing a new thing and we need to be really aware, Kimberly, and cognizant of his voice. And I believe if I talked to a lot of you listening, you would say, well, I don't hear his voice. You are. You're listening to his voice. And as you read the word, you're going to be hearing it more and more and louder and louder. And then he's going to begin to guide you and lead you. It's a process. It really is a journey and a process. But he is there. He is there to do his bidding on your life. That's right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, yeah. When you talk about being in the word and reading the word, what we're doing is we're filling ourselves with his commandments and his ways. And hopefully we're longing to obey those things, you know, to walk in those things. John chapter one and verse 16 says, It says, For of his fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses. And it's good. It's good. We want to be reading the basics from Moses. The basics are really a good pattern for us, for all of us. The law was given through Moses, and then grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. There's grace upon grace, grace upon grace. I heard Joseph Prince, I can't take any credit for this vision, but he was talking about looking at a wave of, an ocean wave and ocean waves are huge you know just watching them just come up on the shore one wave after another wave after another wave and realizing this is like god's grace wave upon wave upon wave of his grace coming into the dry areas and especially when you see a wave crashing against rocks those rocks are so hard they're so hard and they're so stubborn really that makes me think of me you know just a hard human stubborn human and and his grace just continues to crash over me just keeps lavishing me with grace and grace and more grace It's such a beautiful picture to realize that's what Jesus came to bring us, grace upon grace, and let us see his love and everything that he has in store for us. Why would we not want to align ourselves with him and be in agreement with him?
SPEAKER 02 :
Why would we not? Why would we not? That's a really great question to ask. Why would I not want to serve him? Why would I not want him to pull me out of this pit I've been in and give me a new, fresh start? Why not?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. I know that building a tolerance for uncertainty in our lives, it takes faith. You must have faith to believe that the discomfort, that the brokenness that you have just experienced or are experiencing today, that that is not the end. There is something much greater and to be able to sit in the brokenness or to sit in the discomfort, the pain, to sit in the suffering. That's how we share in the sufferings of Christ is we're in it. We recognize that we're in it and it's okay that it's not fixed right here in this moment. It's okay because We have a God who declares, I am making all things new. He's doing that for us, for you, for you personally. And to believe that is how you build that tolerance for uncertainty. You've got to believe. And that's what faith is. Faith is believing. So we continue to build and Jeremiah 33. I was just reading that this morning in verse six of Jeremiah 33. Actually, I'm going to back up. Verse three says, call to me and I will answer you, says the Lord. And I will tell you great and wonderful and marvelous things that you could never figure out on your own. That's right. And verse six says, behold, I will bring to it health and healing. It is the city of Jerusalem and the wickedness when he turned his back on them because of their wickedness caused it to be a waste place. Yes. But God says, I will restore the fortunes. I will rebuild them as they were at first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, which they've sinned against me. He is in the business to clean and to renew and to pardon them. And we can trust that in the middle of the situations that we find ourselves in that are dark and really hard. We can trust. So I hope you'll join me this year in building a tolerance for uncertainty and gaining faith in the goodness of our God.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, yes. I'm with you, Kimberly. I'm in agreement that we will build that faith that we need to be the person that God has called us to be. We're all on a mission and he's given us all a call, each one of us a calling. So thank you so much for being here, Kimberly. And we appreciate you so much. God bless you and keep you. And to all of you out there, take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
877-917-7256
SPEAKER 01 :
Call to Freedom is a listener-supported radio ministry. Barbara and her power partners invite you to come on board with us and become a network of hands holding up Call to Freedom ministry. Power partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. You will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom's website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
Join Barbara Carmack on Call to Freedom as she navigates the beautiful complexity of love, purpose, and identity. From the snowy landscapes of winter to the warmth of divine teachings, Barbara takes listeners through a profound journey inspired by scripture. She passionately articulates the importance of love, not only as a personal attribute but as a divine command that enriches lives and communities alike. This episode is a spiritual guide to understanding our roles as vessels of God's love, emphasizing how our unique identities and vocations align with divine purpose. Through heartwarming narratives and biblical references, Barbara inspires her audience to embrace love as the foundation for living without fear, encouraging an intimate relationship with the divine. With love as the central theme, this episode is a beacon for those seeking to deepen their spiritual journey.
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Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a Word Power Daily Reading Bible Guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number, 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom. It's such a joy to have you join me today. And after the snow that we got, I'm sure that some of you got snow also. And I know that Kansas got snow on Sunday, so it's winter, folks. It's winter. So I'm glad you're tuned in to Call to Freedom. I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. That's from Ephesians 3, 17 and 18. Oh, love those verses, don't you? The whole book of Ephesians is about God building up the church in his love, and I love that. reading that book over and over again. I remember one time we delivered a piano, a grand piano to Lamar, Colorado. And so I went with John because it was a long trip. and we were in the truck, and I read the book of Ephesians to him, and we talked and discussed the whole book. So I will always remember that time in reading the whole book of Ephesians to my wonderful husband, John Wells. Praise God. You are blessed to dispense, for in him you live and move and have your being. And if you'd like to listen to previous radio programs, you can go to freedomstreet.org, one word lowercase. And you can also give donations online at and just hit that little Donate button on the homepage of Freedom Street. And I send receipts out every month because, you know, some of you precious people may be given an offering once a year, and I want to make sure that you get it, so that's why I do it once a month. And some of you precious people, I call you power partners, and you are giving to Call to Freedom every month. God bless you. I love that. And it's a wonderful thing to know that people are covering you not only in prayer, but also in giving. Oh, that's wonderful. Meeting. The meeting is this Saturday, the Lord willing. I know we've had some months that we've had to cancel because of the snow, but I'm praying that it will be good. January the 11th, this Saturday. And the Lord is just inviting us to leave all of the past behind and come singing songs of praise to the Father. And we're going to have Bible study that will really bless our hearts and keep us motivated to serve Jesus this year. And if you'd like to stay for lunch, I'll be fixing my cowboy stew. And it's really good. Carrots and potatoes. chunks of meat and oh it's just a super stew and if you'd like to bring a side dish and your name begins with a through m bring a salad or finger food and if your name begins with n through z bring a dessert and we'll start the new year with fellowship and a really good time together call me for reservations at 1-877-917-7256 god bless you And it's it's just always I love coming to the radio station. I really do. It's just a blessing for me every day. And it's it's I hope you're enjoying. I hope you're enjoying the word of God that Holy Spirit gives me every day to say on the air because he is my messenger and he's my teacher. And he's the one that tells me what to write. So when I'm in the office just typing away, he's actually telling me what to type. I don't know how he does it. Oh, but he's wonderful. Our verse for this week is from the Message Translation, Genesis 17, 1 and 2. When Abram, remember he wasn't Abraham till later here. When Abram was 99 years old, God showed up and said to him, I am the strong God. Live entirely before me. Live to the hilt. I'll make a covenant between us and I'll give you a huge family. And wow, did he give Abraham a huge family. And we're part of that, friend. We're part of that. And from the Passion Translation, Genesis 17, 1 and 2, when Abram was 99 years old, Yahweh appeared to him again and said, I am. Remember the I am that I am in Exodus 3 is just so important for us to imagine. I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. I am the God who is more than enough, El Shaddai. live your life in the present and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants. I know right before our program, I'm going to be reading a verse from Mark 12 for Tim Tebow, his devotion. And I'm I'm just kind of enjoying reading some of the pages of Tim Tebow's devotion called Mission Possible. And right before the program today, Tony Perkins was talking about Deuteronomy 6, 4, Shema. And that was the Jewish's most important verse of scripture in the Old Testament, to love the Lord, their God, with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their might. And then Jesus brought it into the New Testament. And Tim Tebow quoted it from Mark 12, 30 and 31. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. No other commandments in the whole word of God. To love the Lord your God with all your heart. And I'm going to be reading about he first loved you. So that love, that wonderful source of love came from your heavenly father. And Tim Tebow goes on to say the dictionary defines purpose as the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc., Purpose is a word that is often thrown around in Christian churches, goes right along with assignment in life. But when it comes to defining what our purpose is as human beings on earth, the answer can be confusing. Does it have to do with a vocation? Is it related to an inborn skill? Or is it a dream that has been burned into our hearts ever since we can remember? And I believe I've told you that when I was four years old, I was put up on a platform in church and And I sang away in the manger. So I've known how to sing from the time I was a little baby. And I know Dana and Kimberly were singing with us when we went full time into singing across the United States. Dana was two years old. So Dana has had this purpose of being a person who is joining herself with others. She's so much of a people person now. And she's saying for so many years, I know that the times change, the seasons change, but our dreams are burned into our hearts by Father God and Holy Spirit. When Darren wrote his book, Seven Steps to Inner Freedom, he laid out a simple explanation of what our purpose is on this earth. And he says here, so God laid this out in the spirit. And in a couple of days, I had it. This was Darren. He was asking God all these questions and he had it in a couple days. This teaching will set many of you free. You're trying to find your identity and your blueprint for life. And this teaching will help you do that. You may be asking, what is identity and what is my blueprint? Identity is who you are. and what you were created to be that's your identity god gave you a specific special identity all of you and it goes along with that gifting as you mature in the church And your blueprint, the blueprint is your vocation in life. Like, for instance, Rachel is a producer of a radio station, so that's her vocation. Who she is may be totally separate from what she does every day. I don't know, Rachel. Do you know? Well, now I'm all about my puppy. Okay. All right. And see, the seasons, we change with the seasons in our life. And so that's wonderful. I'm glad you're enjoying Meadow. Praise the Lord. And it's simple. Yes, you have a true identity and a blueprint for success. Tim Tebow goes on to say, one thing is certain. Oh, I love that. Oh, I love that. How can we do that? By taking to heart and putting into action the words of Jesus to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourself. Finding your purpose starts with knowing God through his son, Jesus Christ. It's also about loving your neighbor. Who is your neighbor? Everyone you come in contact with. is your neighbor everyday when you arm mixing in the crowds in the traffic in the grocery stores in your work and all those things everyone you see i'm coming uh... into that view of praying for everybody that i come across i'm praying for the trash man when they came by this morning i prayed for them i'm praying for the people whose who uh... cleared my driveway from the snow I am beginning to really focus and set my sights on the people every day that come into my world and improve my world. Just think if we didn't have trash and our trash just piled up and began to smell. Oh, my goodness. I know there have been strikes like in New York City and the trash just piled up. Oh, I couldn't handle that. Could you? So we've got to pray for those neighbors that help us and bless us. and finding purpose in God and through Jesus Christ by loving our neighbor. And before your mental and spiritual wheels start churning and searching for your individual purpose, begin to live out your macro purpose. How can I love God and others well this week? And the apostle John told us very specifically that God is love, and before we loved him, he loved us. And John is the one who wrote the book of John. Oh, beautiful, beautiful description and insight into knowing Jesus and the Father God as one. Also, he wrote 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and also he wrote the book of Revelation. Yeah, he was busy. And in Revelation, he was alone on the Isle of Patmos. See, we've got seasons in our lives. John was very busy when he was an apostle and writing the books. Then they threw him into Patmos alone and deserted. He was exiled there by the Romans. And he wrote the book of Revelation because God gave him this beautiful vision about our time. Yes, our time soon. So 1 John 4, 9 through 19 tells us, this is how God showed his love for us. And I'm reading from the passage. Excuse me from the message translation. God sent his only son into the world so we might live through him. See, your salvation is all about Jesus. You may say, well, I went down to the altar or I went here to this conference and I came. I went up front and I found Jesus. But it was God showing you who Jesus was. It was God revealing Jesus Christ to you in your heart. This is the kind of love we're talking about, John goes on to say, not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God. Yes, our sins did damage. There was a wall between us, a wall of what King James calls love. The enmity, which was a division between God and us. We were so sinful. And God thought, I've got to do something. I've got to make a plan here so that when something happens, their behavior isn't going to mark them, isn't going to be their identity. So now we have an identity in Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord. Verse 11 of 1 John 4. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us and his love becomes complete in us. Perfect love. You cannot know that friend with your relationships in this life. They aren't perfect. God's love, agape love is perfect. And you find that once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior. Verse 13 of 1 John 4 says, this is how we know we're living steadily and deeply in him. Yes, steadfast, steadfast every day, steadfast in him and he in us. He's given us life from his life, from his very own spirit. And it's Holy Spirit in you who goes into the very depths of God's mind every day for you. He's going every day to see what God has planned for you for that day. I love that. It's 1 Corinthians 2, the second chapter. It's about the 10th and 11th verses, how he goes into the very depths of God on your behalf. Also, we've seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God's son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. I'm really in awe. I'm kind of in shock that whenever Donald Trump says anything about anything, a country, whatever it is, I mean, there is change. The other day when he was talking about Trudeau, who is the president of Canada, that he could be the governor and president. Canada will be the 51st state. Well, guess what? Trudeau, he retired. He's not going to be anymore the president of Canada. I'm thinking, wow, Lord, things happen so quickly. I mean, my mind is a spin with everything that's going on. And it's because Holy Spirit is working his work because of your prayers, because of all of our prayers that God would do something for the United States of America. Oh, and we've seen ourselves and continue to change and see our state, the state of where we are, our identity that is in the father. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God's son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well. We've embraced it heart and soul. This love that comes from God. God is love. When we take a permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us so that we're free of worry on judgment day. That's right. If God called us tomorrow, we're free of that fear of judgment day. Because we're in Jesus Christ. We're standing in the world and we're identical with Christ. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling and a fearful life, fear of death, fear of judgment is one not yet fully formed in love. See, one who is full of fear, full of condemnation, they're not fully formed in love. And we must pray for them that they will find that God of love. We, though, are going to love, love and be loved. First we were loved. Now we love. He first loved us. Praise the Lord. And John said something wonderful in John 21. In the 24th verse, this is the same disciple. See, John is describing himself. This is the same disciple who was eyewitness to all these things and wrote them down. And we all know that his eyewitness account is reliable and accurate. We can know that as we read the book of John, we read through Revelation, we read 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John, that his account is reliable and accurate. He is a great editor. And there are so many other things Jesus did. If they were all written down, each of them one by one, I can't imagine a world big enough to hold such a library of books. That's what John says in John 21. And I think of those words in the third verse of this beautiful song. Nor could the scroll contain the whole, just like John was describing in John 21. Though stretched from sky to sky. A beautiful song here by Dallas Holm.
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The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the Bowed down with care God gave His Son to live His erring child He reconciled And pardoned from His sin Could we within the ocean feel And were the skies of parchment made Were every start on earth a thrill And every man described the train to write the love of God above. The train to ocean life. Nor could the scroll Fledged from sky to sky Oh love of God How rich and pure How measureless and strong It shall forevermore be. The saints and angels sing. O love of God, how rich and pure. And strong it shall forevermore be, the saints and angels sing.
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Oh, I love to just think of those words. Oh, could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry. Just imagine, nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. And forever and ever, the saints and the angels are going to, that's us, the saints and the angels are going to praise God forever and ever. Oh, if I were to speak with eloquence in earth's many languages and in the heavenly tongues of angels. Yet I didn't express myself with love. My words would be reduced to the hollow sound of nothing more than a clanging cymbal. And if I were to have the gift of prophecy with a profound understanding of God's hidden secrets, and if I possessed unending supernatural knowledge, and if I had the greatest gift of faith that could move mountains, but have never learned to love, then I am nothing." And if I were to be so generous as to give away everything I own to feed the poor and to offer my body to be burned as a martyr without the pure motive of love, I would gain nothing, nothing of value. Love is large and heavenly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. No envy or jealousy, please. Love does not brag about one's achievements nor inflate its own importance. Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect nor selfishly seek its own honor, never trying to outdo another. Oh, we see that so much. Competition in the church, in the actual church, in the congregation. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter for it never stops believing the best for others. Isn't that beautiful? It never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat for it never gives up. Love is not negative. If you think, you know what, I'm a negative person, then you can change. See, the God of love, the Holy Spirit within you is love. So you can change by making a decision. I'm no longer going to be negative. I'm going to think of the best things I can think about people. See, love never takes failure as defeat for it never gives up and it always believes the best for others. Perfect love. Love never stops loving. It extends beyond the gift of prophecy, which eventually fades away. It is more enduring than tongues, which will one day fall silent. Love remains long after words of knowledge are forgotten. Our present knowledge and our prophecies are but partial. But when love's perfection arrives, the partial will fade away. When I was a child, I spoke about childish things, childish matters. Oh, and when Holy Spirit is in you, there's only three things that remained, faith, hope, and love. yet love surpasses them all. So above all else, let love be the beautiful prize for which you run. Oh, you're running for a prize, my friend, and make love that wonderful goal that you're making. I know I was a negative person for so long, but I decided. God, I'm going to love people. I'm no longer going to be a negative person. And you know what? He's changing me. And he'll change you too, my friend. Oh, I love you. It's good being with you. Kimberly will be with me tomorrow. So I want you to know that you can take joy. Morning, noon, and night, take joy.
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877-917-7256
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Call to Freedom is a listener-supported radio ministry. Barbara and her power partners invite you to come on board with us and become a network of hands holding up Call to Freedom ministry. Power partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. You will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom's website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
Bye.
Explore the importance of willingness and obedience towards God’s mission through inspiring stories from the Bible and modern faith leaders like Tim Tebow. Dive into the idea that our spiritual path isn't just about ability but being open to new ventures and trusting God to guide the way. As we listen, we're encouraged to surrender our lives to God's will, echoing the powerful message conveyed through CeCe Winans' inspirational music.
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Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a Word Power Daily Reading Bible Guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number, 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to called a freedom. It's such a joy to have you join me today because it's the beginning of a wonderful, wonderful time seeing all of God's miracles. And it's not without opposition, my friend. So we've got to be prayed up. But, oh, such a glorious time today. I just sat and watched. I was at the kitchen table. I was praising God and raising my hands and glorifying him as they went through the certification of the 47th president of the United States and the vice president. It was just wonderful. And Kamala Harris had to oversee the whole thing because she's president of the Senate. So it was pretty spectacular. And I'm just so grateful. All I could say is, Lord, this is your miracle. This is his miracle when the 3,312 votes came in for President Trump. So I'm just, I am praising God all day long. It's such a beautiful time, a beautiful day. And God is on the throne. Praise the Lord. Oh, let's do our Monday Bible slogan. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. Yes, you are what the Bible says you are. You are a child of the Most High God. I have what it says I have. I do what it tells me to do. This is my Bible. It has given me new life. It is the Word of God. Oh, and I got to tell you that Dana is a grandmother for the second time. My daughter Dana in Pennsylvania, her daughter in South Carolina, and her husband, of course, Brandon and Rebecca. I have had their they just had their second son born to them last week. Natural childbirth. I don't know how they do it. I don't. But his name is Parker James Kurtz. And the little two year old is Elijah. And we all call him Elijah. And he has already got a baby. a bike a two-wheeled bike his father is determined to teach his son how to ride a bike so oh congratulations dana she is a wonderful grandmother a wonderful mother for raising three children all by herself she's just a terrific terrific mother and grandmother i know it makes me a great grandma i know and so it is a blessing and rachel has a new member in her household Yes, Rachel. You put open that little cage this morning in the I mean, this afternoon in the studio. Oh, she is adorable. Tell us about her. Her name is Meadow. And what is she? She is a miniature terrier. Is that what she is? She is a mini terrier. Also, Yorkie Yorkie is the full breed. All right. Oh, just adorable. And she won't be any more than five pounds? Just five pounds. She's perfect. She's perfect because I'm tiny, too. I'm only 5'1". I know. You're adorable, 5'1". And you've got an adorable puppy now. Oh, my goodness. And all you who are listening, you can have your dogs if you want to. I'm through. I'm through with all of the dogs we've had all of my life. And we have had many dogs. And the bad part of it is when you put them down because they don't last as long as you do. But love them as long as they are alive. Oh, they're wonderful. So congratulations. Thank you, Barbara. That's beautiful. Well, I want to announce we have a meeting this Saturday, July, January the 11th. I wish it were July. We would have so many things to look forward to in July. And I always look forward to a new year and a clean slate. And God is inviting us to leave all the junk behind and come with him to a brand new experience in him. and that's two thousand twenty five we're going to have a time of singing praise to the father into the senate and holy spirit and bible study to enrich our hearts if we do you would like to stay for lunch i will be fixing my cowboy stew i do that every year it's nourishing and filling so uh... you can go to your homes satisfied both spiritually and physically and if you would like to bring a side dish and your name begins with a through and bring a salad or finger food A lot of times they bring deviled eggs, that kind of thing. They're wonderful. And if your name begins with N through Z, bring a dessert or something good after the meal. We'll start the new year with fellowship and joy. Call me for reservations at one. 877-917-7256. Hope to see you Saturday. Jimmy will give you that number at the end of this program. So God bless you. I hope to see you there Saturday. May your walk with God be closer than ever and your spirit in tune with his will. You know, he is at work in you both to will and to work for not your good pleasure, for his good pleasure, because he's perfect in every way. So you will never lose your footing or courage along the path of life because our help comes from the Lord. He's the maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will never slumber. And that's from Psalm 121. Oh, beautiful passage of Scripture. And this week, I'm going to focus on Genesis 17, 1 and 2, first and second verses. I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be holy, and I will establish my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly. Yes, he multiplies us. Even when we don't realize what he's doing, he's gathering people around you, my friend. who are going to support you and be there when you need prayer, intercession. You have friends that are praying for you right now. And I am praying, if you're a power partner, I am praying for you every day. Yep, I'm looking over your name every day and asking God to watch over you in everything that you do. And then from the living translation, Genesis 17, one through two, and this is when Abram was still Abram and not having the, ah, The H-A added to his name. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, I am El Shaddai. And that means a God of more than enough. More than enough. God Almighty, serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. And I will make a covenant with you by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants. And this is a forever covenant for God's people, for you and me included, because then Jesus came and completed that whole covenant cycle that God had instituted. A forever covenant. Praise the Lord. And Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own son to obey the Lord's request. He's mentioned as the father of faith in Romans 4. He just isn't Old Testament, folks. He's New Testament, and he's somebody that we need to follow. I believe even Isaac was obedient to his father's direction, and he was willing. He was willing to be on top of that altar and ready for his father, his earthly father, to kill him. How could that be? Well, Hebrews 11, 18, and 19 tells us that even though God had promised him, Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted. God told him that. God said, Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted. Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. That's how much he believed that covenant promise God had given to him in Genesis 8. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead. Yes, he did. Praise the Lord. Because he was dead. He had no more sperm left. And she was dead. She was 90 years old. She couldn't bear a child. Can you imagine bearing a child for nine months at 90 years of age? Oh, my goodness. Well, Tim Tebow has a message for each and every one of us to be willing to step out and do things we've never done before. Are you willing to open a door to new ideas and experiences in 2025? Oh, I pray that I pray to God that we all are willing to do that. Father God, I'm kind of scared right now, but I'm willing to step out with you to do anything you ask me to do. Well, here's from Mission Impossible. I'm so used to saying Mission Impossible, but this is Mission Possible with Tim Tebow. Willingness is what is required. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land, from Isaiah 1, verse 19. Thursday, I related the story of Jesus being in the temple for three days, listening to the scholars and his parents being upset. But he was obedient to his earthly parents, knowing what his mission required from his heavenly father. So he was obedient to his earthly parents, but he knew he had a far-reaching, eternal mission from his father. And Tim is saying here, willingness to obey is what is required. A mission possible life is not about our ability. It's about being willing. When Moses was 80 years old he was spending his days as a shepherd for his father-in-law. We're not sure what his retirement plan was at that point, but it sure doesn't seem like a career plan a man who had been raised in a royal court would appreciate. However, everything changed in an afternoon when God spoke to him through a burning bush. Moses received instructions to return to Egypt, the place from which he had fled 40 years earlier. And now God wanted him to lead the nation of Israel out of captivity. Moses hardly seemed the man for the job. He really didn't. He was shepherd for 40 years. My goodness. He told God this by listing five excuses. Moses gave, and I'm glad Tim brought this out, five excuses why God must have gotten his wires crossed. Number one, he said in Exodus 3.11, I don't have the ability for what you're asking of me, God. And Exodus 3.13, I don't know enough. You're asking me to do something I have never done before. It's like when Darren asked me to be his co-host on the radio. i've never done this i don't know what to do just follow my instructions follow me just look at my eyes and follow me number three and this is from exodus 4 1 what if the people don't believe me what if they don't believe me what if all of you listening today wouldn't believe me wouldn't believe the word of god oh that would be so tragic And from Exodus 4.10, Moses was saying, I'm the worst speaker ever. How many of us have said that? I can't even talk good, God. And then from Exodus 4.13, Tim lists, send someone else. I'm desperate for someone else. And of course, God was angry with him at that point in Exodus 4, but he gave him Aaron, his brother, to be the mouthpiece for the rest of his, the duration of his travel until Aaron died. But God didn't let the reluctant man's bevy of excuses keep the mission from moving forward. The stage was set, and Moses was already part of the scene at the right place at the right time. Despite Moses' perceived lack of abilities and skills, God was waiting for him to offer his willingness. Eventually, Moses relented and carried out an unbelievable rescue mission. And that required when God turned his staff into a snake and then back into a staff. I mean, he was showing Moses he can do anything with God's help. A mission possible life is not about feeling ready. It's about being willing. What excuses hold you back being willing to step forward and live mission possible? When I think of the men and women God has commissioned to do his will, I'm in shock most of the time. I really am. When I see men and women who have been appointed by God to preach the gospel or to fill some kind of position, even in government, I'm looking for, you know, usually I'm looking at the physical attributes rather than the spiritual potential of the people involved. And we all do, that's normal, to look at their features, to look at their speech, to look at how they're presenting themselves. Take for instance, President Trump. When he went down that escalator in 2015 to announce that he was running for President of the United States, We were all aghast. I mean, I couldn't think of anybody in the Republican Party that was worthy of being a president of the United States. And here was a businessman, a very successful businessman, and he was a billionaire. And I want to tell you, during his position as president of the United States, he received $1 each year. And I see now that Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk will not receive any monies for their positions. That's phenomenal because usually money speaks. And although President Trump was comfortable in the setting that he had built, He had no idea what would transpire in the next six years, what he would have to face with opposition, 34 counts of felony that were lies, that he had his, you know, his death on his mind. Oh, my goodness. They tried to kill him twice. The United States needed that man in the top office, and God has brought him through a man for this time. In 2028, Darren and I went, I mean, in 19... I'm sorry. In 2008, excuse me, Darren and I went with Dr. and Mrs. Grosser to New York. And Kurt had worked in the Twin Towers that went down. So he had been in New York for so many years. He was an absolutely phenomenal guide for us during that trip. We went to the Trump Tower. And I have a mug. Darren bought a coffee mug, a Trump coffee mug. It's beautiful. And we were awestruck at the gorgeous display of opulence and gold. The escalator is far greater than I could have imagined. I mean, it's huge. And it goes up for almost three stories. And it seemed to stretch for story upon story in that huge building, that huge, gorgeous building. I've never seen anything like that. And to think that President Trump decided to walk, or not walk, but stand going down that escalator. It was just a miracle, and I praise God for he is a man for such a time as this. I think of Jesus willing to strip himself of his royalty to come to earth. to those dusty roads filled with needy people. I mean, we're talking about people that have needs of deliverance from evil spirits, and they had needs of all kinds of miracles and healing in their bodies, their eyes, their limbs. And he volunteered and came in an earth suit in the flesh to represent God to the world that he created. But that world rejected him and deserted him. He somehow knew that would happen. He did. He knew because he had realized the prophecy in John. John 1, he entered into the world he created, yet the world was unaware, couldn't care less. He came to the people he created, to those who should have received him, but they did not recognize him. But those who embraced him and took hold of his name, he gave authority to become the children of God. Not child, but children. He's got a big family, friend. I saw in Trump Tower the best man he had to offer, and yet the King of Kings gave all of us who accept his name his authority. He was not born by the joining of human parents or from natural means or by a man's desire, but he was born of God. And so the living expression became a man and lived among us. We gazed upon his glory, the glory of the one and only who came from the Father, overflowing with grace and truth. And from the overflow of his fullness, we receive grace heaped upon more grace, God's operational love wrapped about in the arms of Jesus. Moses gave us the law, but Jesus, the anointed one, unveils truth wrapped in tender mercy. And that's verse 17 of John 1. Verse 18 says, No one ever before gazed upon the full splendor of God except his uniquely beloved Son, who is cherished by the Father and held close to his heart. Now that he has come to us, he has unfolded the full expression of who God truly is. When you realize what God did to bring that love and that mercy and that truth to us, to us right now in the 21st century, my friend. We are just overwhelmed with emotion as I was this morning when they certified President Trump as the 47th president. And I realized, Father God, you want us willing. You want us to surrender it all to you. Surrender all that we have spiritually and mentally and physically. And I do it, Lord God. I do it before you right now. Here's CeCe Winans, I surrender all.
SPEAKER 02 :
In His presence. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Him, my blessed Savior. Oh, to Jesus I surrender. Make me Savior, Holy God. Amen. Surrender all All to Thee, my blessed Saviour I surrender all All to thee my blessing
SPEAKER 1 :
Oh.
SPEAKER 01 :
Ah, thank you. You know, surrendering is an emotional experience. And I'm glad she had those moments when she just cried out. Cece is a great singer, but she had an emotional expression in there that some of us have. Sometimes I'm exasperated. Not anymore, but I was when they put Darren's body into the ground. Lord Jesus, haven't I given up enough? Haven't I given up enough, Lord Jesus? And he says, are you willing to die? See, we all have to die. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. Now, the very fact that this song seeks an answer, and it means that we've arrived at the right place. When I heard Cece singing this song, I realized we're at the right place. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. If you can truly say that you're ready to give it all to Christ and trust in his power, you will find that no weapon, no weapon formed against you can prosper. I pray right now for you, my friend and my family on the air. that God Almighty may make his face to shine upon you and give you peace. May he use this trial that you may be going through to draw you and your whole household near to him. Oh, your children, grandchildren, your spouses, everyone that you are connected to. Oh, we'll come to know him and be near him. We pray for that in Jesus' name. I love you. I really do. Remember the meeting on Saturday. For those of you who can make it, I'm so grateful. And call me at 1-877-917-7256. God bless you and keep you and take joy.
SPEAKER 03 :
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 partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. You will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom's website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
