Join Barbara as she masterfully blends heartwarming anecdotes with biblical wisdom, reminding us of God’s unconditional love and unyielding grace. Discover how we can all experience His peace by stepping away from the constant hustle, and finding stillness in His presence. This episode invites listeners to explore their faith, understand the divine purpose, and embrace the tranquility that comes from resting in God’s presence.
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 03 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom. This is a great hot cocoa weather day. It really is here in Denver, Colorado. The snow is coming down outside my window. You can hardly see the building next door, so it’s going to be a little snowstorm here that we have, and it’s been trying to be rain and snow both, so we got a little sleet going, and Kimberly said there was a storm there in Broken Arrow, but it just swept out, and it’s gone now, so… I’m praying that this won’t last long, but I heard that tomorrow it will be really snowing again. So we had a great fall. We’ve had a wonderful November, December. And so we’re in for just a little bit here. So I hope that you understand how wonderful and loving and gracious God is to everyone, not just to you. I mean, he considers you a wonderful, wonderful partner of his. but there are eight billion other people he’s got to be concerned about you know it’s it’s like when we used to believe in santa claus when we were five or six years old yeah that he went to every child and gave them a gift well god is concerned about all those people in the world so You may have needs today. You may have prayer requests and heart cries. But consider that in comparison with the others that have needs and see if you can’t just reach out to some few maybe that you know that have physical needs or financial needs, relationship needs, and just text them or whatever you do, call them and tell them that you’re thinking of them, you’re praying for them. and that you want them to know that God loves them. That’s so important. So you just keep traveling steadily along his pathway, and in due season, he will honor you with every blessing. It reminds me of Galatians 6-9 that says, And let us not grow weary in well-doing. For in due season, if we don’t faint, if we don’t faint, if we don’t give up, we will reap a great harvest. Praise the Lord. That’s wonderful. Hello, Kimberly. I was going to say good morning. It’s afternoon.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, but it’s so good. I love what you just said, not growing weary. May we not grow weary in seeking Him. That’s right. I remember 1980 was a tough year because we had been evicted from a church.
SPEAKER 03 :
your dad and I had been. So it was a tough year. And we went to a banquet in Boulder. I believe it was sponsored by the Assembly of God Church or something like that. And during the banquet, during the part where we had a lunch and a lady slipped a scripture under my plate and said, this is for you personally. They did not know anything about what we had been through. And the scripture was Galatians 6, 9. Do not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season, oh, if you don’t faint, you will reap a great harvest. And I cherish that verse.
SPEAKER 02 :
Reminding us to go ahead and reach out, call those people that you’re thinking about, you know, or or write out a little scripture like that. Slip it in their hand. That’s just like you said. And don’t grow weary of constantly encouraging people. Others, letting them know that you’re thinking of them. Sometimes that is exactly what we need to hear.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. It really is. Well, I’m watching the weather here and the snow coming down, but I’m still announcing a meeting this Saturday, January 10th. Hopefully it will be better. If it isn’t, then as you call in for your reservations, I will call you back if at all it is canceled. But I’m preparing for Saturday, January the 10th, 930 at the restaurant, and then 11 o’clock at my home with Bible study and music. So you are invited. I hope you can come. If the weather is good, call me at 1-877-917-7256. God bless you and keep you. Kimberly, I’m excited about what you’re going to be talking about. It’s kind of a continuation of yesterday. Yes, it definitely is. We can say you can go to freedomstreet.org, click on resources, and listen to that podcast. previous program from yesterday, and it has Kimberly and Barbara resist God’s, let’s see, something about busyness. So I put the title.
SPEAKER 02 :
Resisting busyness.
SPEAKER 03 :
Resisting, yes, resisting busyness. And that’s important that we resist busyness in our lives.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, well, we can end up with too much to do, too much on our to-do list. Yeah. Yeah. And we get so distracted that we leave God out of the picture and we were made for him. So that’s what I want to remember. I want to resist the busyness so that I can remember who I was really made for and what I was really made for. And it’s so much more than everything that’s right in front of us right now. Some of us, Matthew, my husband included, is struggling with the new year and We’re starting a brand new year and there’s a lot to be done. There’s a lot to be done. You know, there are a lot of businesses feeling that way. There’s a lot to do. There’s a lot of ministries feeling that way. Yes. There’s a lot to do in 2026. Yes. We can get so caught up with how much there is to do that we forget to just rest in the Lord and let him have his way. And I was reminded there’s a there’s someone that I found out in the last few months here, someone that I know that who’s in her late 30s and she does not have a birth certificate. And the reason why I bring this up right here right now, it I’m going to. connect it by saying she doesn’t have a birth certificate you would think you can’t do anything without a birth certificate in this world in this life because the way that our government is um The way, I don’t know, the way that we travel, the way that we get our driver’s license, you need a birth certificate for everything.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, but it’s gotten so lax, Kimberly, in the last few years. I can go online and get my driver’s license renewed just by saying I am who I am. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
I understand what you’re saying, but you started with a birth certificate. So they usually that’s just, and I’m saying she’s in her late thirties. So it’s not just in the last few years that it’s gotten lax. This is, we’re talking about almost 40 years ago.
SPEAKER 03 :
How she got, how she got along. Yeah. How has she gotten along without?
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay. That’s my point. When you know it is God who supplies everything you need. It is him. I look at what she she has a better blender, a better electric teapot, a better microwave. I mean, I look around her home and I’m like, wait a minute. You have some really great stuff better than my stuff. And you have this without a job. without a birth certificate without you know and i i just think and and she does have a driver’s license so somehow she got a driver’s license the lord provided and gave her favor and she has even had jobs in the past where she did drive that was her job was to drive I’m laughing at this because God can do anything. There is nothing impossible for him. Absolutely. So when we feel overwhelmed with our tasks in front of us, maybe it’s because we have put too much on our to-do list. Maybe we have dreams or goals that are a little bit too much for us to handle. So what would we be willing to say? You know what? I don’t need to worry about that right now. All I need is to remember that I belong to God. I was made for Him. And He loves providing for me. He loves being in the middle of my life and establishing me. That word established stands out to me because you have a memory verse from Genesis 17, 1, I believe.
SPEAKER 1 :
2.
SPEAKER 03 :
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. Yeah, do you want to read that? Because I love being reminded of that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, let me find the New American Standard. Then God is saying, I am God Almighty, El Shaddai. Walk before me and be blameless, honest in your dealings and seeking the truth, and I will establish… my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly. And this is when Abram didn’t have any children. And then Ishmael and his mother was chased away. So he really couldn’t establish himself as being a father at all with Ishmael gone and no son.
SPEAKER 02 :
But did you hear that? Oh, that’s so wonderful. Walk before me. and be blameless and I will establish and multiply.” God’s going to do it. God’s going to do it, not us. It’s Him. It’s Him. So we don’t have to be so caught up with what we think we need to accomplish and how productive we need to be. And that’s what we were talking about yesterday. We were talking about how busyness can rob us. It’s a mask that makes us feel like we are productive and we are accomplishing much in this life. But did you hear that? We are productive. We are accomplishing. It can be a deceptive tool that the enemy uses to keep us from our real purpose, which is being God’s best friend. That’s right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
One of the reasons that we stay so busy is to avoid the negative thoughts that plague us. They just keep coming up. And those very thoughts are where God wants to meet with us. So when we lean into those thoughts by being still and having a more peaceful day, Even the thoughts that scare us, that make us angry or sad or feeling hopeless or discouraged, those can be kind of scary because we don’t know how to get up and out of that discouragement or anger or sadness. But leaning into them, that’s where we can ask God what he wants to do with them. Instead of taking responsibility on our own shoulders, we give it to him. And he longs for us to invite him into these places so he can bring us rest, to bring us his peace and calm. He’s the only one who can do that. Yes. I love remembering that he tells us 365 times in the Bible to not be afraid. That is one reminder for every day of the year. Don’t be afraid. And I’m going to be really straight about fear right now. I’m going to say the hard thing right here. Revelation 21.8 gives us a list of all that will end up in the lake of fire forever and ever. Now, hear me say this. I said all that will end up. I didn’t say all people. All people. maybe qualities, all characteristics that will end up in the lake of fire. And I’m saying it that way because I’m not trying to produce fear here. I’m trying to take fear out of this subject. So Revelation 21, 8 says, lists the abominable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, the liars. It sounds like a terrible list right there. And those are the qualities that end up in the lake of fire. But there’s two more. There’s two more here. In Revelation 21.8, it says the cowardly and the unbelieving will end up in the lake of fire. The fearful and the ones who doubt, they make the list of that eternal flame that’s being sent to the eternal flame. And that might sound kind of harsh to condemn. I picture the cowardly lion, you know, from the Wizard of Oz.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
I picture the cowardly lion and, oh, that’s harsh to condemn him to the lake of fire. But fear, when you think about fear… It separates us from God. All of the things that are listed in Revelation 21.8 are things that stand in the way of relationship, not just with God, but with anyone else. As a murderer and a liar and idolater, you’re doing damage to relationships. And we were created for relationship.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, we think, Kimberly, that all the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable are people, actually people that have degenerate hearts. And here, I want to read from the New American Standard in Revelation 21, verse 8, for the cowardly, unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and immoral persons. Now remember, when you hate someone, you have murdered him in your heart. And sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire. Their part, that part of each one of us that is keeping us from that close relationship with God, that’s going into hellfire. All that stuff, all the bad stuff that we have lived. We’ve lied. We’ve cheated. We have committed adultery. Yes, we’ve committing adultery in Jesus words is when you lust after someone in your heart. You don’t have to go to bed with them. And so we see all the Lord that all of that is going to be burned. That’s right. It’s going to be all burned.
SPEAKER 02 :
I love the thought of that. Yes. Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Their part and all liars, their part will be in the lake. It doesn’t say they will be thrown into the lake, but their part, that which has kept them from being close to God.
SPEAKER 02 :
I like how that’s worded. I really like that. That’s good. Yeah. So if we put this into a perspective, maybe that’s more relatable. Yeah. When you’re thinking of a friend or a parent or a sibling or your mate, your mate, if you’re afraid of your mate, you can’t trust them and believe that they’re good. So that fear is going to just be burned right out of the whole equation so that it won’t stand in the way of trust. We don’t want to be asking, was I even meant to be in this marriage with this spouse? Is this the right one for me? Every time we’re distracted with that thought or that question, it brings more separation to the relationship. Absolutely right. Yeah. So we don’t want that for all eternity. We don’t want to be thinking, wow, was I really made for God? Yes, you were made for God to be His perfect partner, His bride, His best friend for all eternity. And that is our highest purpose. Not to be married in this realm. That’s not our highest purpose, but to be married in the eternal realm to the Most High God who created the heavens and the earth. Oh, praise God. This is just the place that he has put us to form us to become his bride, to become his best friend. This is the place here. And there’s a lot of distraction here. We get to choose if we’re going to be distracted or if we’re going to be still and know that he is God. And so all of this started with the scripture out of Proverbs 27, 21. Yesterday, we mentioned that the crucible is for silver and the furnace is for gold, but praise is what tests the heart of a man. Hmm. And when we fill our lives with activity and we are known for being productive people, we kind of feel good about ourselves. We feel better about ourselves when we’re productive and we’ve accomplished a lot. But it does not necessarily help us feel better about God. In fact, we have a tendency to push our bodies so hard in the process of checking things off our list that we experience weakness and illness, which are not what God made us for. That’s not His normal. And we might call it normal that we’re feeling weak, that we’re ill, but it’s not His normal. And we might even wonder in the back of our mind why He’s not keeping us healthy or keeping us strong. We just get it all mixed up. It’s just all complicated in our head. We start checking all the things off our lists and we feel so good by how much that we’ve accomplished. And if you listen to that, it’s how much we accomplish. Does that give God the pleasure of our attention? While we are accomplishing and being productive, are we enjoying Him at the same time? Some people are able to do that. I’m still learning how to do that well because it is really important that we take time to be still in His presence and ask Him how He would like to bring order to the chaos of our lives. Give Him a chance to give us His grace and His strength for the tasks that are in front of us. Oh, give Him a chance. He wants to pour out His grace and His strength for these tasks. But most of the time, we just pat ourselves on the back and we feel really good about what we’ve accomplished without him. That’s kind of how it happens in this life, being a human being.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, even people who are in sales and on commissions. A lot of times I think of the store that we had. If people didn’t come through that door and buy a piano or organ, it’s almost like living on commissions because… You only get the money in when you sell a piano or organ. And it’s like so many people are really pressured to get so many sales per day. Now, that’s got to be a difficult lifestyle to live. But even in that, Kimberly… Or Matthew’s line of work has to give so many quantities of this BG product to dealerships or he won’t get paid. So we lean on God. We truly do. Even in the pressure.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, what you’re describing, I love that because it’s really describing works. You know, that’s a works system. You do this. So you’ll get that.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 02 :
And that’s our own works.
SPEAKER 03 :
But some of us are under that. And I know several. Exactly.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, exactly. And that’s what we’re talking about today. How to get out from under that so that we can remember who we really are and who we were made for and that he is a God of peace. He is a God of joy. He is a God of gentleness and kindness. And so when I’m wondering, okay, did we ask God, would you be a part of my life today? Did we give him a chance? Or are we just patting ourselves on the back and feeling good about what we accomplished without him in our lives? You know, when I’m asking questions like that, I know some people might feel some guilt or condemnation in that. And you mentioned something yesterday that I think is so good, it’s that phrase, falling from grace, and how we used to think that that phrase, falling from grace, it’s speaking about disqualifying us from really being in His Kingdom or being called His own. Negative connotation, yes. Yeah. And if we’re honest about it, it does. Falling from grace or not including God in our life, it does separate us from Him. But that doesn’t mean it’s permanent. And it doesn’t mean that we’re disqualified. We’re separated and it might be for a moment. I like to think of this like his umbrella covering that there’s no condemnation for running out from under the umbrella that he provides to protect us and provide for us. He gives us full freedom to do life our way and even get so distracted with our goals and our dreams that we forget to remain close to him in conversation. He gave us that freedom. So he does not scold us for using that freedom that he is so generously given to us. He does not punish us for using that freedom and not including him and recognizing him in our routines and daily activities. But we were made for him. for relationship with him. So life is not going to go very smoothly all the time, or maybe it won’t go smoothly at all if we leave him out. Yes. All we have to do, though, is just run right back under his umbrella of protection when the storms of this life overwhelm us. He is always welcoming. That’s right. And I like to think that I’m fulfilling his dream every time I come running back to him.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, some of us have schedules like you and me. They’re flexible, except for the radio program for an hour or two every day. We have flexible schedules, but a lot of people don’t. And I we have a friend who when she is in the word of God first thing in the morning for even just 15 or 20 minutes. When she concentrates and focuses on him, he just keeps her day going well. Sales are up. Meetings are met. And so I believe, Kimberly, even if we give God, I mean, super priority, no television, no phones, phones are off. Give him those few moments at the beginning of our day. First fruits, first place.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. I believe that He actually helps us include Him all along the way then. Yes, He does. So even those that have the most taxing routines and jobs can really be including the Lord in conversation all the time, all day long. I really believe that, that that’s a possible thing. But I personally can’t wait for the day when the distractions of this life no longer distract me anymore, that I remain with Him, that I stay with Him, that I never leave conversation with Him. There’s just so much, too much maybe, of our work in this world that is performed without even acknowledging God’s presence or His part in us. And that’s hard. It’s hard to let go of our default behaviors and ways of doing life, to embrace God’s ways. But this is exactly why we need to learn to enter God’s rest for us, to be still and know that He is God, to maybe re-center ourselves and just keep coming back to knowing who we were made for. and why we are His, why He needs us. He needs us. We do need God, but we don’t need Him on our own He needed us first, and that’s why he created us. And so he created us to need him because he needs us. That’s an amazing thought.
SPEAKER 03 :
It really is. It’s amazing. He loves us. He loves you, special friend. He really does. Thank you for listening to Call to Freedom. And I want you to know that God is always there for you. He’s always there for you. I know some of you think, oh, I’m not worthy. I’m so unworthy. I’ve done this or that. God loves you with an unconditional. That means there are no conditions to his love for you. Remember that. Thank you, Kimberly, for the wonderful lesson today. I appreciate the anointing that’s on that. And if you’d like to go to freedomstreet.org and click on resources, you can listen to the program again. God bless you and keep you and take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
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. 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.
