PATIENCE

[Music] Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barber Carmac. This is Jimmy Lakey and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367 Denver, Colorado 80237 or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a word-powered daily reading Bible guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll-free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio. And on this snowy day in Denver, Colorado, welcome to Call to Freedom. Oh, celebrate the Lord with me, with Kimberly and me and let us exalt his name together. We must do that even when we're apart. We are one in heart. And I know when I heard from my friend Stephanie in Alabama, we were just yelling and screaming and praising God and it was just so fun to even talk over the phone and celebrate what's going on in our country. Every day we have the opportunity to thank the Lord for the gift of another day to love Him, to praise Him and serve Him with all of our hearts. Oh, so wonderful to know Him, isn't it? Oh, you are blessed to dispense for in Him you live and move and have your being. And I'm right in the midst of deciding that we may not get to have a meeting this Saturday, the 9th of November. It is coming down. I have about four inches of snow in my yard and Friday is a second front coming in with another storm. So I think I'm going to be postponing this until our turkey and our scalp potatoes and our sweet potatoes. I'm not forgetting that, but we'll have that for December dinner instead. I hope that you're hearing me and if you do call in about coming on Saturday, I will call you back and tell you what's going on because I, oh, very, very seldom do I cancel or postpone anything, especially a meeting. So I appreciate your understanding and the weather conditions are just not conducive to driving right now. Just really, just really pretty slushy and the driving is pretty dicey. So God bless you and I hope that we can see you then in December. And if you come on Saturday, I'll have something anyway and we can meet around the table. I mean, if that happens, I'm always welcoming you to the table. So God bless you and welcome to the program Kimberly. A lot's been going on. Yes. Thank you. I just realized as you were talking that that means I can participate in that yummy meal, the turkey and scallop potatoes and sweet potato because we've been talking and I think I'm making another trip, right? Yes. Yes. I think you are because you and the new webmaster have made a date to have lunch together. And so I'm included. So I guess you are coming like the first week of December. Yes. Or the second week, whatever that is. I wouldn't call it a date. But yes, we've scheduled an appointment. Right. Yes. But yeah, can I be excited about that? I love the roasted turkey scallop potatoes. Yes. Oh, yes. Amen. That's wonderful. And I'm glad I get to celebrate that with you and have a meal with with our partners and friends. Yes. Really family. You all feel like family to me. So I'm excited that I'll be able to see you in December. Yeah. A lot of our friends are power partners. They're just kind of gone. Two of them are overseas. One of them is in St. Louis. And so we see a lot of people just traveling traveling right now. So right before Thanksgiving. So I think that would be the best. So praise the Lord. Well, you've got. And go ahead. This is how we trust the Lord. Right. Yes. Yes. You were choosing to really focus your trust on the Lord and playing the song by Twilight Paris. Do I trust you? Do you know asking that question? Yes. Yes. And I love what your church did. Kimberly, this whole thing was based on the prayer of people really going to prayer according to second chronicles 714. If my people who are called by my name, she'll humble themselves and pray because your church took a 72 hour prayer vigil. Yes. Yes. And you went during the early morning hours of was it Friday from three to five in the morning? Oh, your praise. So it was actually the voting day that I went from three to five and yeah, I was just wanting to pray even before the polls opened on the east coast. And you know, it's such a privilege. It's such an honor to be up early in the morning driving around the end in Tulsa. It's not like Denver where there's people out and about every hour of every day. In Tulsa and Broken Arrow driving around at two thirty and three o'clock in the morning, there's not a soul out. You know, it really feels very much like the rapture has happened and everyone is gone. Oh, no. Yeah. In Denver, sometimes I hear it two, three and three. They use big mufflers, you know, at our corner of Palamita and Quebec. Yeah. So do you. Yeah. But even our busiest streets that have all the restaurants and everything, our restaurants don't stay open 24/7. And so the very busiest streets like your coal facts, our busy memorial street. I passed that street and I looked for miles up and down. There was no one. That's the only one out. That's good. That's good when you're out there in the middle of the night. Yes. And it feels very intimate to be out with the Lord knowing that you are on a mission with him to meet with him, to pray and really choosing our focus to be on his agendas and what his plans are. You know, yesterday you were talking about trusting. Can we trust him no matter what and really letting ourselves trust if it had turned out a little bit differently today. Like it did four years ago in the election. You know, could we still be trusting and can we still enter into Thanksgiving and have a heart of gratitude. And this is our month. No, November's the month for us to be focusing on gratitude and Thanksgiving. And so today we choose to give thanks not just because of our political agendas, but because our God is good no matter what. And right before this program started, I heard Nancy Dimaswagamoo speaking about creating a beautiful yard, how she hauled in the dirt and planted seeds. And it doesn't happen all at once. So you're just getting up every morning, staring at dirt. Yes. And how often does that happen to us in our lives? You know, we think that we want something beautiful and when we wake up in the morning, we're not looking at beauty facing us for that day. And it can be hard to choose to be thankful. But God has asked us to be thankful at all times. At all times, even when you're staring at dirt every morning, when you wake up at all times choosing to be thankful. And it is a choice, right? That's something that we must choose. This is when we exercise faith and trust that the project will come together that that dirt will grow the seeds that we can trust that dirt to do its work. Yes. Amen. If you're waking up in the mornings and you're just looking at a day that seems to be full of dirt, trust that the dirt is going to do its work because it will. How much more can we trust our Lord to accomplish His plan? It is His plan. And He is God. He will accomplish the plan. And so even for those who are not celebrating like we are today, we can trust that God has got a really good plan for you, for this country, for our families, for our communities, for the nations. Yes. Oh, praise God. He has a really good plan. Yes. He does. I know yesterday, my lawnmower guy called me. He's a precious man. He's a not Korean, but Vietnamese. And he called yesterday morning and he said, in broken English, in Barbara, I know you have lots of leaves because the week before he says, I can't mo, you've got too many leaves. And you know, when it's stacked up three or four inches all over my backyard. And so he said, could I come at three or four today? And I said, well, sure. And then yesterday morning, the weather was beautiful. It was still, it was just absolutely a gorgeous day. Well, when he got there, he got there at four o'clock. I mean it was cloudy. The wind was just swirling those leaves all over the yard. And he got going with two big, huge machines. And Kimberly, in an hour, they had that whole backyard. And you know, I've got a big backyard. They had it all cleared. And I sat there after they left. And I said, God, you knew you even know the small plans that we have. And you make everything good in its season. You do. And so some people are afraid to give God their little details. Oh, that I don't want to bother God. That's just too small. But Kimberly, he wants to be involved in every minute of our day in our decision making. That's right. Yes. Yes. That's the truth of it. And you know, that that reminds me of the story in Luke 17. In Luke 17, starting in verse 11, Jesus is traveling on toward Jerusalem. And he passed through the border region between Samaritan Galilee. And as he entered a village, 10 men approached him. But they kept their distance because they were lepers. And they shouted to him, mighty Lord, our wonderful master. They already know who he is. And so they're calling him by his rightful name, mighty Lord, wonderful master. Won't you have mercy on us and heal us? And when Jesus stopped to look at them, he spoke these words. Go to be examined by the Jewish priests. Go show yourselves to the priests. That's what Jesus says to them. He didn't actually say your faith has made you go. Go show yourself to the priests. He wanted to see their actions with their requests. And they set off and they were healed while they were going. Praise God. And one of them. And by the way, this one was a foreigner from Samaria. One of them, when he discovered he was completely healed, he turned back around to go find Jesus. And he was shouting out joyful praises and glorifying God. Can you just imagine him jumping up and down the path, screaming and yelling and excitement. You know, it's just when he found Jesus, he felt down at his feet and thanked him over and over, saying to him, "You are the Messiah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Can you imagine the joy this man felt?" And it says that again, this man was a Samaritan. This man was a foreigner. And Jesus was kind of, well, he knew. He knows all things, right? Yes, he does. But he was pointing out right here, where are the other nine? Weren't there ten of you who were healed? And so where are the others? And they all refused to return to give thanks and give glory to God, except you, a foreigner from Samaria. And then Jesus said to the healed man, "Arise and go. It was your faith that brought you salvation and healing." And it doesn't say that he revoked the healing from the others. The others apparently remained healed. And they did. They went and showed themselves to the priest. But how blessed was this man to actually have another conversation with Jesus? And it says that all of them were crying out, "Mighty Lord, our wonderful Master, won't you have mercy on us and heal us?" There are those of us who know God to be God, and we call Him God. We call Him Lord. But how much do we really know Him? Do we know Him well enough to know that He would love to hear our thanks, to hear our gratitude? That that would really bless Him. To know that we're thinking of Him, that we're thinking of His agendas. We want to choose to make God's plans our first priority and His thoughts. No longer defending and pushing for our own interests in agendas. I think maybe what happened with these other nine is they were so excited and there's nothing wrong with being excited, but they were so excited to get back to work. They were so excited to reconnect with their families. Oh, yes. Maybe they were excited to get back to normal. Man, after what happened four years ago with all of us, do we even know what normal is anymore? I think that's something to consider. When we think that we are getting back to normal, maybe we need to reconsider and turn around in our path and head toward Jesus. I just say thank you. Thank you. I am so grateful for these last four years, Kimberly, because it shows us the great divide between left and right. And I'm so grateful. I think it was something that pushed the people into change of vote and realignment of the people of this country. They were sick of what they were doing going down the grocery aisle and seeing food that was twice as much as it had been before. And I don't know about you, but when I used to go the grocery store, this was kind of four years before, I would see something new on the shelf and I said, "Oh, I think I'll try that." But now, in the last three and a half years, I have just stayed with the staples, the potatoes, the carrots, a little bit of meat and some vegetables. And I have not tried some new things, but now we have some hope. I love that Jeremiah 29/11. God's plans for us are for good and for well-being and not for evil or harm of any kind to give us a hope and a future. Praise God. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I know it is really tricky to continue trusting when we see things take turns like that, when we see prices go up. And really, today, even though there are many of us celebrating, my heart was just so tender for the Lord. I had gone to Him before the poles even opened, just wanting to spend time with Him. For His agenda, and today, I continue in that same tender place of just saying, "You know, I just want to keep telling you that I trust you, that you are making this dirt produce." And you make the seed sprout. I can't make the seed sprout. I can't make this look like a beautiful garden, but you can. Yes. All I can do is plant the seed. And I can be thankful. And I want to be thankful. So help me continue to want your agendas and your priorities. First, there's a song that Lauren Dagel sings. I love this song so much. I was so blessed to actually sing this song for someone's wedding. And they were choosing to put God first over everything else that would come in the years to come as they unite. And I just want to listen to the words of this song today. Okay. [Music] I want to know you. I want to find you in every season, in every moment. Before I bring my need, I will bring mine and seek you. [Music] Before I speak a word, let me hear your voice. And in the midst of pain, let me feel your joy. Oh, I want to know you. I want to find you in every season, in every moment. Before I speak a word, I will bring mine and seek you. I want to seek you. I want to seek you. I want to keep you. I want to keep you fast. Before then anything I want, I want you back. You are my treasure in my reward. Let nothing ever come before. You are my treasure in my reward. Let nothing ever come before. I seek you. [Music] Before then anything I want, I want you back. [Music] Amen. Oh, that's so good. Why are we playing that song? Because we want God to be first, even over our celebration. You know, just like those ten lepers, they went away and they showed themselves to the priest they were healed. But one came back and said, "Your first priority to me." That's right. I want to know you. I want to find you. I want to seek you. I want to keep you first. More than anything I want, I want you first. Before I speak a word, you are my treasure and my reward. Let nothing ever come before you, God. And as I've been reading Ezekiel, it has actually surprised me this time around how many times the phrase, then they will know the Lord is God. They may know the Lord is God. We can know logically but until we actually prioritize Him, then we won't know His heart the way He wants to be known. God wants to be known. Yes. And I want to make it my life's focus to prioritize Him and know Him. That's right. God had a better plan, Kimberly. And when we look at the Old Testament, we see that God was zeroed in on the Jewish people. But when Jesus came, He said, "And the Samaritan is a wonderful example." Jesus said, "I have another flock." Let's turn to John 10. And He says, "I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also." And they shall hear my voice and they shall become one flock with one shepherd and He's the shepherd. So it's really true. God turned that around from the Old Testament to new to include all the world for God so loved all the world that He gave His only begotten Son. So that includes all the seeds in us. Yes. And He has planted seeds in every one of us that we would actually grow into knowing Him intimately and having a relationship with Him. We're not just here to have families and our own idea of career or education or power or riches or whatever you might have in your mind. That's not why we're here. We're here to be His best friends, His perfect partner. And it says in Romans 121, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks." Yes. They didn't just turn around and give Him thanks. And I like how the Passion translation says, "Throughout human history, the fingerprints of God were upon them, yet they refused to honor Him as God or even be thankful for His kindness." That's from Romans 1 verse 21. Ephesians 5, 19 through 21 says, "Speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father. And be submissive to one another because of your reverence for Christ." And again, I like how the Passion translation says, "Always give thanks to Father God for every person He brings into your life in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and out of your reverence for Christ. Be supportive of each other and love. That is exactly what our Father is and what He does. He is supportive of us. He loves us. He is on our side. He is with us, Emmanuel. God with us and He does not ever leave us. Sometimes we find ourselves in some pretty hard situations that are really difficult and we don't realize what has placed us in those positions is part of His plan. He will work it into His plan, working all things together for good and He will make a beautiful garden out of it. It might look like dirt, but we can give Him thanks for it. And that's just how I want to be focused, not just for today. I want to start today, but I want it to turn into a whole week of giving Him thanks and then a whole month. And then I really want this to be a lifestyle and I just challenge you listening today to have your life be a priority of giving thanks to God. Lord, we place you first today in our thoughts and in our speech. We give you thanks for all your goodness and your kindness. Thank you for this new season that we are walking into. Help us glorify you and think of your agendas and your dreams above our own. In Jesus name we ask. Amen. Amen. Let's celebrate God. Absolutely. I agree with you. It's been wonderful, Kimberly, getting our minds back into the spiritual and lifting Him up. That's what counts. It really does. And that's what brought about this wonderful result in our country that we're seeing today. God bless you and thank you so much for that wonderful lesson on Thanksgiving. We pray that all of you will be thankful and that you will take joy. Thank you for listening to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. You may get in touch with Barbara at Call to Freedom. Box 370-367 Denver, Colorado 80237. Or you may leave your message at 1-877-917-7256. Call to Freedom is a listener supported radio ministry. Barbara and her power partners invite you to come on board with us and become a network of hands holding up Call to Freedom Ministry. Power partner support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. You will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom's website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your phrase reports in heart prize by mailing them to Call to Freedom. Box 370-367 Denver, Colorado 80237. Or you may email us at barbracarmac@freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy. [Music]