In this heartfelt episode of Call to Freedom, join Barbara Carmack and her guests as they reflect on the significance of the National Day of Prayer. They share personal stories and insights about the enduring struggle between religion and modern society, exploring how the message of one nation under God resonates with today’s issues. Discover how the threads of God’s goodness weave throughout our lives, leading to transformative changes and spiritual awakenings. Diving deep into the human experience, Barbara and Kimberly discuss the pressures of modern life and the importance of aligning our goals with divine intentions. From the
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 :
On this national day of prayer, welcome to Call to Freedom. This is when I am so grateful that we are live Monday through Thursday. It’s been that way for almost 30 years. And it was a real project for Darren to be on live every day. He wanted to hear people and listen to people. Even though we don’t get calls anymore, the generation has changed. We know that you’re listening and we know that God is wanting to edify you today. May he bless you with wisdom in each decision you make, strengthen in each responsibility, success in each endeavor, joy in each commitment, peace in each relationship, and love in everything. It was such a delight to see our president out in the Rose Garden with several spiritual leaders around him and a crowd. that he said at this time, oh, it was so good. I hope you can Google or do something to hear the president talking on the National Day of Prayer. He said, America will always be one nation under God. That’s what he said. He was emphatic. And God has favored us, friends, with a wise president who loves the people of the USA and he loves America. I mean, who else would sit out there like a sitting duck and and take shots from a man who’s across the court. I mean, he could have died that day. And then to have another man ready to kill him at a golf course. Wow, this man has taken a lot to be the president. And it’s not that he wanted to be the president. He wanted to change this country for the good of the people. Welcome, Kimberly. Thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, as you’re talking, I’m thinking about those who don’t really want religion in this country. And the way that he proclaimed as our president, this will always be one nation under God. I think the people who don’t want religion have been hurt by religion. And I just want to say, yeah, I can actually relate to you. I have been hurt by religion also. So have you. And so when we look at it that way and realize, well, let’s talk about God, how good God really is. And that’s what we’re talking about today. When we realize how good he is and that our president wants goodness back in this country. He wants this country to thrive. He wants this country to be safe. He wants this country to be heading in a better direction than where it was heading before.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 03 :
And why not be on board with that? We want to be on board with that. You know, so we’ll we’ll just talk about it being goodness. You know, this is this will always be one nation under God because God wants goodness for his people. That’s right.
SPEAKER 02 :
And we might have a whole bunch of atheists and agnostics and people that don’t want religion in the government. But, Kimberly, one day here, they’re not going to be able to deny God any longer. He is God no matter what anybody says.
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly. Just like we’re not going to be able to deny, we human beings were made for goodness, right? Yes. We weren’t made to be wicked and evil. We were made to be good and kind and gentle. Yes. And to have the fruits of the spirit flowing through us.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s what we were made for. Yes. Oh, well, this half hour, we’re going to talk about that. And I want you to know that you are blessed to dispense. That word dispense means you’re scattering seed all through the kingdom of God. You are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. And it’s just been so good having you here with me. And we’re going to continue this maybe next week. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s going to be a fun time.
SPEAKER 03 :
It will. I’m looking forward. And next week, the Saturday of next week.
SPEAKER 02 :
Next week. May the 10th. May 10th. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
So put it on your calendars. I’m not going anywhere. I should be here.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, good. Yes. And a special little note here for the meeting on May 10th is I’m going to have Kimberly give her testimony. She’s been through so much. And in her years that she’s been on this earth, so much has happened. it will be good just to hear her testimony. So we’re not going to have the Bible study as we usually have, but we’re going to have a wonderful time, a great time of rejoicing in God for his goodness. Amen. Amen.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. We’ve been talking about entering into God’s rest. That’s another way of looking at goodness, that we’re not just going to have to have pressure on us for the rest of our lives. And To enter his rest in the context of giving up your own limited human perspective in order to embrace his unlimited eternal goals. Yes. And that’s that’s kind of the context I’m trying to create here. We have these goals and dreams. Yes. And chores in life that are unending. And for an example, you might dream of being in the medical field. I know a young lady who just really wants to be in the medical field. And that means you’ve got to have an education.
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 03 :
So you’re going to feel the pressure of all the classes and all the requirements that you need to meet to go through that education and and paying for it, too. So let’s talk about the financial pressure while working at the same time to provide for yourself while you’re going through these classes. It’s a lot of pressure.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
And, um, that’s, you know, that’s really just the beginning. By the time you get into the medical field, then you have requirements that you have to keep up with. There are government requirements. There’s, there’s just always going to be some type of pressure. Many people will get down the road of, you know, having that dream come true, you know, and they’re down the road and they’ve achieved it and it took a long time to get this achievement. They get down the road in their career and they find that they’re unhappy with their choice. Yeah, it happens a lot. And what about, you know, maybe a dream of marriage or a dream of family? Yes. Things happen in marriage that really are heartbreaking. That’s right. And you get down the road and you get in the middle of this and wow, can I stay? Can I stay with the dream when it’s not really what I was expecting?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yep. I was talking to my power partners here on the air just a few weeks ago. saying i went to college to be a teacher didn’t realize that god had a different idea for teacher so i go through the four years i do student teaching in arcadia and temple city and i realize i remember coming out of the room of that school and it was junior hires so they are so full of energy and they’re just on top of the desks and everything And I realized, this isn’t for me. It’s like when Darren had gotten his master’s degree, and he was the superintendent of 16 schools in Fort Collins. And they said, you’re doing so well, we’re going to put you in this little cubicle. And that wasn’t Darren. And so at noon that very day that they told him, you’re going to get new responsibility and you’re going to get raises. And he said, raises were nothing to me. I wanted to be with the children. I wanted to experience what they are experiencing. He quit. He quit after all that six years of study. Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. When when you get to that place where you’re like, what am I doing here? What what did I set myself up for? You know, and and then you can panic, right? Well, that’s when you need God’s rest. That’s what we’re talking about. How do you enter his rest when you find yourself in these places that you were not expecting? And this even applies to those who are in ministry. Some of us have a call on our lives to be in ministry and doing a work for the Lord. And because we are ministry-minded, that can be also another strong distraction from the rest that God is inviting us into.
SPEAKER 02 :
If you don’t have the people that God has put within your sphere, if you don’t have your mind on the people instead of the ministry, it will go down the tubes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, even if you put your mind on people, it really, I’m just saying my mind has to be focused on what the Lord wants.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Because people can let you down. Well, they do.
SPEAKER 02 :
They do. It’s true. Your motivation. Well, I guess what I’m wanting to say is your motivation. I know God is first, but your motivation is to bless the people who are listening to you. Bless the people who come to the meetings. That’s your motivation for being there, for taking all the effort and the time and everything that you go through.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. Your motivation cannot be fame. No. It cannot be money. No. Power. You know, even having a motivation of having gifts of healing, gifts of miracles, the motivation really has to be about God. Mm-hmm. And what is his dream? What is his goal? So very often in the Christian, and maybe this does happen out in the worldly jobs, I don’t know. With Matthew, you know, he works at a secular job, and they might ask him, What kind of money do you want to make? But the big question in the Christian spheres are, what are you believing for? That’s right. Yeah. People want to know what you’re believing for. And I just have this dear friend. Any of you a couple years ago when you heard me talking about the book, Will You Choose the Wilderness? Yes. This is my friend, Michelle, who told me about that book. And we both, when we talk about that book, we just talk about how it ruined us. It has completely ruined us because now everything that we set our mind to, everything that comes our way, we are putting it in the balance of, Lord, is this going to fulfill your dream on this earth?
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Will your kingdom come and your will be done here? if I make this decision and go this direction.
SPEAKER 02 :
Do you see the church turning almost a 45 degree angle from, I want God to bless my life. And that was in the 80s and 90s. I need a new Cadillac. I need a new home. I’m praying for… Well, in the 2000s.
SPEAKER 01 :
And it’s okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s okay. But that was some of the people’s main motive for prayer on this National Day of Prayer. And I see them turning and more and more, even the young people, not my will, God, but yours be done. Yes. Yeah. It’s just it’s a wave.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. Spiritual wave. And instead of being so focused on our goals and our dreams, our ideas. Yes. Trying to just sit and be quiet, be still and know the Lord is God and he’s got a dream that’s bigger than yours. Yes. And it’s better than yours. And so quieting our spirits and just getting used to the idea that Jesus is our reward. That’s right. Yeah. you know, that might sound intangible to you. That might sound like it’s something you can’t connect with. Well, how is Jesus my reward? Well, okay. To think about being created, to be the best friend of the creator. Look at what he created. Just look around. This whole universe was made for us to enjoy as we are being formed in his character and his likeness so that he can have us as coworkers. Best friends have us as his bride for the rest of eternity.
SPEAKER 02 :
I can’t comprehend that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, most of us can’t. And so we don’t really think about it. And that’s why we get distracted with our careers and our agendas. You know, we just got through, well, now it’s been two months ago, March Madness. But I feel like March Madness just flows right into April Madness.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, it’s NBA.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and then April Madness flows right into May Madness. I mean, it’s all madness. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s one entertainment sports, especially in Colorado, after another, after another. And we get so impatient then in just going into a place in our spirit where we can be quiet.
SPEAKER 03 :
Kimberly, that’s difficult. And I wasn’t trying to say anything negative to all you sports fans out there. And it is fun. It is fun. It is. But realizing that everything we put our hand to can become madness, right? When we’ve got so much pressure to see it through, we’re trying to make sure that we realize our dream, our goal. And as we’re trying to see it through, it can really disturb our spirits. Yes. And we don’t even know then how to enter this rest. Well, the rest is the invitation today. It says that in Hebrews 4, verse 7. Today, if you hear his voice. Today, if you hear his promise to you. Today, if you hear his dream and his goal. And it’s so much bigger than anything you could imagine. Don’t harden your heart toward it. Don’t just decide, well, yeah, I can’t grasp that. So I’m just going to keep moving in my little circle, my madness. Open your ears, open your eyes, open your heart to the idea that you are being formed into a likeness that you can’t. eye has not seen, ear has not heard, it has not even occurred to the imagination of any human being what the Lord has in store for you. That’s right. Oh, so good. That’s something to live for and that’s something to rest in. Now, When we are, I was trying to think of some examples, you know, when we’re in the middle of situations that feel like a lot of pressure, you know, how do you move your, that place that wants to go to anxiety, that wants to go to stress, that place in you, how do you move it toward rest? And that really is about giving up and just do it for a few seconds at a time. Give up your own idea of what you think you need, what you think you have to have in this life. Give it up for a moment to just think about what God needs.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
What does he have to have that he would go to this much effort to create all of this? What does he have to have? And just think about it. Just start changing your mind a little bit and think about what he wants. And he is delighted to give us the desires of our heart. We know that the word tells us that. And that’s truth. He gives us the desires of our heart. When he sees that your desire is starting to do some damage because you’re so focused on it that it’s stressing you out. You’re so focused on it that it is no longer letting you sleep at night and you have no rest. When he sees that, you might not see the desire of your heart in the way you’re thinking. He will redirect. And even when an accident has happened and there has been great loss in our lives, he is constantly at work. to do good. Yes. To redeem, to restore. He is the restorer. I love how Papa used to say that, that our God is in the restoration business.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
He’s a trash guy. He takes the trash. The recycled. Yes. And he is constantly restoring. And it’s so much better than recycling. It’s not even recycling. He comes up with a brand new creative miracle for us. Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
I know last week that I called you last week because I had a plumber who was saying that, well, I had had a slow sink. So the first plumber the day before had used the snake to get down under the bathtub and into the crawl space, but it was still choked up. So he called an expert plumber to come to the house. And so I showed Corey the crawl space. And here all these numbers are going through my mind.
SPEAKER 03 :
And it wasn’t rest for you, was it?
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. It was a simple thing to clear the sink with a snake. But going down to the crawl space now and replacing pipes, whoa, how much is that going to be? Well, he did give me three estimates. And, you know, near 4,000 if he does all new plastic pipes. Because I still have the lead. The cast iron and lead.
SPEAKER 03 :
Don’t tell too many people that.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. Yeah. They’ll come to my house and they take sharp turns. And when you snake things through, it gets caught in those turns. But the plastic, the PCP that they’re putting in now is tough, but it’s flexible. And so I asked Corey, well, can I do just partial and then you can come back in maybe four or five months and And do the rest. He said, yes, I can do that. See, when we’re asking questions and getting our minds on Father God, what would you do? Well, we’re not going to spend the whole $4,000 here because we’ve got a lot of expenses next week. I’m getting a new roof.
SPEAKER 03 :
Asking a question or just pausing.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let yourself pause. I love the be still. Be still and know that he is God. We find him in our stillness. That’s right. And when we look at all of these situations in life, you know, there used to be a time in your life, I remember, and mine too, that we could not be patient with a situation like that and ask questions. We just needed it fixed. I just need this fixed.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 03 :
I need it fixed so badly that I can’t have patience right now. You know, God wants us to have the fruit of patience. There are a lot of jokes out there too that don’t pray for patience. Yes. Because you will end up in situations that require patience. And it’s one of the hardest of the fruit of Holy Spirit. We just have to make the decision that we want it. And then when we ask him for help in achieving that, he brings the help. And the grace is there for us to actually become patient.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, we’ve got to remember that Jesus is the door. He’s also the gatekeeper to the gate where the sheep are sleeping at night, so he knows they’re safe. He is living water. Jesus is our grace. Without Jesus Christ, it would be impossible. Yes. Impossible to live a Christian life.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, right. He made a way for us to basically just be piggyback with him. You know, he has covered us with his works and with his life and his forgiveness. And that’s where we want to remember if we could just have the desire to be good, to be gentle, to be kind, to be patient in traffic. Do you know… I really enjoy the heavy traffic. It’s not something that I, that I purposefully try to get out into, but when the heavy traffic comes, I find I am having conversation with the Lord and blessing people on my right and on my left and praying over them. And when you have patients in traffic and you find rest, you’re in a much better place than when you’re shaking your fist, trying to get everybody out of your way, because they’re not going to get out of your way. It doesn’t work.
SPEAKER 02 :
Not here in Denver.
SPEAKER 03 :
We have a promise of a better life, a better way of living. And that promise is rest. And that rest comes through the fruits of the spirit. Those are what we were made for. As human beings, we were made to house the fruits of the spirit in our life and to live in them, to live and move and have our being in the fruits of the spirit.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. Rest doesn’t mean the eight hours we get or the six or some of you, the five or four that we get at night. That’s not the rest. God is talking about a rest when you’re wide awake and you need his assurance. You just need his love wrapped around you. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m kind of glad you brought that up because I used to need sleep. And I needed a full eight hours. And that was such a focus. And it was a focus because of a physical condition that I had. If I didn’t get the sleep, the joints and muscles and the lymph nodes, they would all swell. I had a lot of swelling and then pain. And so I didn’t want to be in pain. And I needed those eight hours of sleep. And I know other people that need their sleep. I have friends, dear friends, close friends who need their sleep. When you move past that to knowing that what you really need is Him, and He’s your focus. When Father God is your focus and His dreams and His goals for you are your focus, then you don’t need anything but Him. He gives you what you need. And if I get two hours of sleep now, I just say, well, you gave me what I needed. Yeah. Absolutely. And I enjoy my day. That’s a huge change for me. And I because I needed those eight hours of sleep when my children were all smaller, I used to try to make sure they all got a lot of sleep too. They all have problems sleeping because it was such a focus of mine. And when we stay so focused on a good thing, it’s good to get sleep. It is. That’s a good thing. But when we stay so focused on the thing and we are not focused on the one who gives the thing. That’s right. then we can mess up other people’s lives. We don’t mean to, we don’t mean to do it, but when anytime that we are not focused on the Lord and we’re focused on something else, it can do harm instead of good. And so that’s where we’re going to find rest is when we turn our focus to him, he’s the giver of the sleep.
SPEAKER 02 :
and we don’t need sleep we need him that’s right yes we need rest we really do and there is a difference there is a a letting go you were saying that the other day a letting go of all the things that you need to do yeah today and just letting go and letting god And he will, some of you say, I never hear from God. I never hear from Holy Spirit. Well, just quiet yourself. Are you quiet enough to maybe hear that voice? Right. Because it’s there. Yes. It’s there. Always encouraging, always directing, always guiding.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s there.
SPEAKER 03 :
Jesus is our reward because he’s the one who gave us the example of that. He is the one that gives us the higher goal. And he doesn’t want us just to be sheep in a pasture. He doesn’t want us just as servants in his mansion. He wants us as friends. And if you’re willing to accept it, his intimate friend, his intimate bride, that’s his dream. It’s huge. And it’s what he gave his life for. And it is rest to think on that rather than all the things of this world.
SPEAKER 02 :
Let him be your reward today. Yes. And while you are resting, my friends, Kimberly and I love you so much. Take joy.
SPEAKER 01 :
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In this heartfelt episode of Call to Freedom, join Barbara Carmack and her guests as they reflect on the significance of the National Day of Prayer. They share personal stories and insights about the enduring struggle between religion and modern society, exploring how the message of one nation under God resonates with today’s issues. Discover how the threads of God’s goodness weave throughout our lives, leading to transformative changes and spiritual awakenings. Diving deep into the human experience, Barbara and Kimberly discuss the pressures of modern life and the importance of aligning our goals with divine intentions. From the
