In this enlightening episode, Barbara Carmack invites listeners to embark on a journey of spiritual discovery. Through heartfelt dialogue, they explore the significance of reading the Bible chronologically and using scriptural affirmations to navigate life’s tribulations. Engage with profound teachings on prioritizing God, understanding faith as gold perfected by fire, and embracing the mystery of Christ in transformative ways. Stay tuned for listener interactions and closing reflections on stepping out of comfort zones with confidence and support.
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 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.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, Kimberly is with me today, and we would welcome all your calls. That number again, and we’re live here at 1 o’clock, the number again is 1-877-917-7256. And even if you have a prayer request or praise report, let us know. And you can let Rachel know, and she will zip that call right into the studio. That’s such a blessing. What a miraculous thing technology is. As I said in my slate, let my words be pleasing, my actions be honoring, and my life be glorifying to God in every way. And Kimberly, I really believe that with all our hearts. If we as a body of believers said that, may my words be pleasing, my actions be honoring, and my life be glorifying to God in every way, we wouldn’t have any needs in the church.
SPEAKER 04 :
No, and we wouldn’t have any fears because we would know that we are delightful, that we are pleasing, that we are fulfilling everything that the Lord has dreamed for us instead of us fulfilling our own dreams.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. And so I can say to you, you are blessed to dispense, for in him you live and move and have your being. Every morning I say that verse. I really do. It’s just powerful. You do. It gives me strength. I am living for him. I’m thinking of him when I say that verse. In you, Lord, I live and move and have my being. And you can donate to Call to Freedom online. Go to freedomstreet.org and click on that Donate button, or you can get all kinds of other things. I just sent out a Bible guide to a listener, and I appreciate that. If you’d like to have more power packs or a Bible guide, you can call after the program, or you can call live. We’ll talk to you. 1-877-917-7256 or go to Barbara at FreedomStreet.org. Well, maybe some people need to know what the Bible Guide is, and it does help you read through the Bible in a year. I’m so glad you said that because it is a booklet. It goes from January through December. We go through the Bible. From Genesis.
SPEAKER 04 :
Chronologically.
SPEAKER 03 :
Chronologically.
SPEAKER 04 :
Because Genesis, we don’t go straight to Exodus. You have Genesis and then you read through Job because Job was one of the first books ever written. So it’s a chronological way of reading through the Bible and getting an idea of of how things were patterned and mapped out in the Bible.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. I’ve used my specific individual Bible guide for, oh, 10 years or so. I had to replace it because it was getting really ragged. But they last for five, six years if you keep them nice. Or 10. You said 10. That’s a long time.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Or if you carry them in your Bible without having them just in the car being thrown around. So they’re good. The font is a wonderful reading font. It also has a power gem for everyday reading. You can actually memorize. The scriptures that I have printed on the Bible guide. So it’s just a really wonderful Bible guide. I am not the originator, the Lord, but Marilyn Hickey was the one in 1975. I began reading the Bible through in a year. And she was the one that inspired me. Instrumental, yeah. Yes. And helping you put one together. That’s right. Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
And the power packs, those are just little cards that have scriptures for situations in your life or even feelings, emotions that you might be struggling with in your life.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And these cards just have scriptures that you can use. Say them. I don’t like to use the word use. I probably say it all the time. But say these scriptures and let them be what overrides the emotions. That’s right. What overrides the situation that you’re in. So those are really wonderful gifts to give to other people and to yourself.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. And we all have issues. Hear ye, hear ye. We all have issues. And on each card, Darren wrote an affirmation. So you get an affirmation with each card and you say that out loud. And then as you learn your scripture, you realize the power in your words. You’ve got power in your words because your words are now coming from your spirit and Holy Spirit is giving you those words to speak. Kimberly, it is such a joy to go on this journey. It truly is.
SPEAKER 04 :
And really, both of those resources are a way of prioritizing God in your life and making sure that he is put first in your life. And that’s what we left off on last week on Thursday. We were talking about Aleph and Tav. And when you put him, when you put God first as Aleph or Alpha, he’s the Alpha, he’s the Aleph. He’s first in your life. When you have him first, everything else falls into a very peaceful, neat order. That doesn’t mean that you don’t have any problems. It just means that you have all the peace you need with those problems and those situations, that you know that you’ve been given everything that you need for life. And when you have the word as the rock of your life, and that makes everything else really solid, then you can’t be thrown and tossed around with every storm that comes.
SPEAKER 03 :
And with every different doctrine you listen to, I’ll tell you, your ears are hearing all kinds of teaching. And we’ve got to separate the good from that teaching that you don’t feel is anointed. That’s discernment. You have a spirit of discernment that tells you, no, I’m not going to listen to this. This is not isn’t even biblical. And then you can go to a teaching. Well, like the one right before our one o’clock prayer. program david jeremiah you know that that man is reliable in the word of god so it’s important that we get into the word we discern the word because it’s inspired of god yes oh and we have we do have a call all right uh hello oh this is john from loveland hi john hi john hi hi
SPEAKER 02 :
I wanted to call about if I could get some more power packs because I gave away five already.
SPEAKER 03 :
Good for you. Yes, I will send you more power packs. You are my best power pack distributor. You really are. You give more power packs away than any other person on my mailing list. So congratulations, John. Yep, that’s right. You do.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I’ve been trying to memorize that one that goes, Yes, very good, yes. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, and I just gave that yesterday. And he who hears my voice and opens the door. See, we have the wonderful privilege of opening the door to Jesus. Then he will come in and eat with us. He will give us wonderful life-giving words. Oh, that’s good, John. Wow, memorized in one day.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I was thinking of knocking on doors, and that’s what I did. And I thought, well, maybe I should knock on doors and and talk to people. So I talked to a few people that were different. I mean, different people that I haven’t seen before. And they had a different background. And I shared with giving them a power pack.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, that takes a lot of courage. Thank you for doing that.
SPEAKER 02 :
But I feel like I haven’t been brave enough to do other things before. I try to stick towards fear not, for God is with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. Behold, I will, let’s see, behold, you are my God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. You know, John, when you say something slowly, we feel like we just have to rattle that verse off because we want to impress people. No, no, we don’t say that to impress people. We say that because God is pleased with his word in our mouth. That’s what he’s pleased with right now in Jesus’ name. And, you know, you have a special situation, John, where you are and you. Yes. And so you don’t get out into the public like other people do. And still, you’re such a fine witness. I think of that verse in Isaiah 52, seven. How lovely on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, announcing joy, bringing words of happiness. Our God reigns. Yes. So. That’s wonderful. Yes. That’s you that describes you, John. Yes, I know you have. You’ve memorized that. Well, thank you for calling. Have a Merry Christmas and know that you are loved, John. Okay?
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’ll let you go to your program. All right. Okay. Thank you, John.
SPEAKER 03 :
Bye. Wow. That’s so precious. It is. I’d like to read from the Passion, Revelation 3, 15 through 25. John gave a little snippet of the verse of this week, but I would like to read what the Passion says. I know some of you don’t agree with that translation, but it’s original Aramaic and And Greek and Hebrew and it’s just a marvelous translation to the church or the heart condition of the people. Now, he’s not only talks about the vicinity, the geographical locations, but he also talks about the spiritual inclinations, the heart condition of the people. I know all that you do. I know that you are neither frozen in apathy nor fervent with passion. How I wish you were either one or the other. But because you’re neither cold or hot but lukewarm, I’m about to spit you from my mouth. And this is concerning the seventh church, the Laodicean church. And for you claim I’m rich and getting richer, I don’t need a thing. And a lot of people are comfortable now, Kimberly. very comfortable with their lives, they’ve got some savings in the bank, they’ve got a new car, their house is paid off, their children are all grown and they’re raising their children and so everything’s pretty good. Well, Jesus says, you are clueless and you are miserable, poor, blind, barren and naked. So I counsel you to purchase gold perfected by fire so that you can be truly rich. Purchase a white garment to cover and clothe your shameful Adam nakedness. Purchase eye salve to be placed over your eyes so that you can truly see. And would you like to read the 19 through the 22nd, Kimberly? All right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Verse 19 says, All those I dearly love, I unmask and train. So repent and be eager to pursue what is right. Behold, I am standing at the door knocking. If your heart is open to hear my voice and you open the door within, I will come into you and feast with you and you will feast with me. And to the one who conquers, I will give the privilege of sitting with me on my throne, just as I conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. The one whose heart is open, let him listen carefully to what the Spirit is saying now to the churches.
SPEAKER 03 :
Wow. So his dearly beloved, he is asking them to unmask their lives. See, we have a lot of… So he’s actually saying he will unmask.
SPEAKER 04 :
He’s doing the unmasking. God is doing it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Christ is doing it.
SPEAKER 04 :
And if we go back one verse to verse 18, so he’s counseling you. God is counseling you to purchase gold perfected by fire. That’s Christ. That is faith in Christ. That’s right. That is what our faith is. It is purified. It’s been refined. It has gone through a lot. And as we go through a lot, we decide and discern that Christ is our rock. And having faith in him is the gold that we purchased that is perfected by fire. And that’s how we are truly rich in this life. And purchase a white garment to cover and clothe your nakedness. That’s Christ. He is the white garment. He is the one who covers us. When we discover that there is nothing we can say, there is nothing we can do. that can make us more righteous. It’s only Christ’s righteousness that covers us. When we discover that, we are putting Christ on. So we have the gold, we’ve purchased the gold, that’s Christ. We’ve covered ourselves with a garment, that’s Christ, that white garment. And purchase eye salve to be placed over your eyes so that you can truly see. Again, that’s Christ. We’re asking for his vision, for his perspective. And when we see his vision instead of our own, we are putting Christ on our eyes and seeing through a different pair of glasses. Seeing through his. So then in verse 19, all those I dearly love, I unmask and train them. He is saying that he reveals, he uncovers the things that we’re trying to do in our own self-effort. This particular letter to the church of Laodicea is to people who are leaning on their own self-efforts. Mm-hmm. The people who… And I’ve done it. I’ve been there. And this is what I love about these seven letters. You just… You jumped right in on the seventh one there. But the seven letters in Revelation that start in Revelation chapter 2… These letters are to the seven churches, and I believe they are for all of us individually. These are the seven different states, maybe seasons of our life that we can go through, that we find ourselves in. And this is exactly how Jesus sees us in each state that we’re in. So as we’re talking about the Laodicean state, we’re talking about how we have a tendency as human beings to, To lean on our own self-efforts and to think that we’re doing it all really well because we’re following the guides we’ve been given. We’re following the map. So aren’t we good? And we’re patting ourselves on the back and we’re saying, oh, we’ve checked all the boxes off. We’re doing such a good job.
SPEAKER 03 :
And that is such a thing that each one of us is challenged with that temptation to take all the credit. Right. Yes. Right.
SPEAKER 04 :
We need saving when we get to that place where we think we’ve been so morally good and we’ve done so much for the Lord. We need saving. It’s not just the immoral people that need to be saved. It’s the moral people who are leaning on their own efforts and saying, oh, I’ve done such a good job. And we were talking earlier today about First Corinthians 13. And if you’re reading that chapter and taking it for what it’s really saying, it’s telling us that we could be speaking with the tongues of men and of angels. We might think that we have such a great gift if we are prophesying and we are speaking in different tongues. We might think we are so spiritually mature, but that chapter is telling us that if you’re doing any of that without love, It’s nothing. It comes to nothing. It matters not at all for the eternal realm. And so what really matters is love. What really counts is love. And love is patient with each other. Love is kind. So Jesus came and he talked to us in all kinds of parables. And we could be looking at Revelation more as a parable. Many people open the book of Revelation and they’re trying to figure out when this is going to happen or what it is exactly or how are we supposed to translate this and see the meaning of it. Or who is the Babylon?
SPEAKER 03 :
Where is it in this world? We’ve made up a lot of theories. God will probably be creative enough to just shock us all.
SPEAKER 04 :
So if we look at the letters that are written in Revelation 2 and 3, to Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamum, Thyatira, to Sardis and Philadelphia, and this last one that you mentioned in Laodicea. We’re looking at these names that the Lord has given his people. He calls his people Ephesus, which means darling, desirable, beloved. And he writes a letter and he says, please don’t leave your first love. Yes. We have all done that. We have all been born again. And then we have been distracted by what we think we might need to do with being born again. And that distraction can cause anxiety. I just love what John was saying on the phone call here that when he just called in and he said, I’m afraid that I’m not being brave enough. We can get distracted by thoughts like that. And we end up leaving our first love because of the distractions that can bring stress, anxiety and fear. And even the book of Revelation itself, when you open it up, it might distract you with all of its metaphors and parables. And there are pictures in this book that cause a lot of stress for people. Mm hmm. But let’s be reminded that God is love and that perfect love casts out all fear. Yes. Let’s be reminded of that. He is perfect love and he casts out all fear. So as we read through these letters, Smyrna is the next one. I mentioned Ephesus first. Smyrna is next. And it’s about being persecuted and suffering.
SPEAKER 03 :
and we all have been persecuted in one way or another we have all suffered all humans have suffered in one way or another you will see this word myrrh m-y-r-r-h as one of the gifts that the magi brought to baby jesus and we know that he was under the age of two at that time and he’s he was living in a home And this Magi was bringing him myrrh to signify the suffering that our Messiah would go through.
SPEAKER 04 :
Myrrh is, yes, myrrh is an oil that is used to put on wounds, any open wound. Myrrh is what is used that helps with the pain and it helps in the healing process.
SPEAKER 03 :
And so we see that this suffering and being crushed by persecution, Jesus actually went through it, Kimberly. And he said in John 16, verse 33, in this world, you will, you will, we will. You and me, we will have tribulations and sorrows, but be of good cheer. You must be courageous, the passion says, for I have conquered the world. This was before he died on the cross that he said, you will have tribulations, but be of good cheer. I’ve overcome the world. I have conquered the world before he was even on the cross.
SPEAKER 04 :
And notice that that’s not saying that you’re bad if you’re afraid. It’s saying don’t yield to the fear. We all will experience some kind of fear. There will be some fearfulness, but courage is when you move forward in the face of fear. So you don’t have to be concerned about the fear. Just don’t yield to it. Don’t curl up in a ball and hide because there’s fear present.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. One thing that Dr. Simmons said in his footnotes, and I hope if you have a passion, you’re reading the footnotes in Revelation, the suffering and being crushed by persecution. I thought, oh, crushed. Jesus, you were crushed. You were crushed. And so I looked up Isaiah 53, 5. And yes, the New American Standard says he was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being was upon him. And by his stripes we are healed. Oh, what a great verse.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes. Marvelous verse. You know, maybe we need to be reminded that we need to be crushed for the Lord to be present with us. Yes. That he is with those who are crushed in spirit. That is what the Bible tells us in Psalm 34, verse 18. The Lord is close to all whose hearts are crushed by pain, and he is always ready to restore the contrite. Oh, yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, doesn’t that happen when you crush the petals of a rose? And in the crushing, the fragrance really comes forth. And that’s in us. When we’re crushed, God sees the true person, what he or she is made of.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, and this is what happens with grain. When the grain is crushed, then it is available to be used for a flour to make a bread. Or when the olive is crushed and the oil comes out. When the grapes are crushed and the wine, the juice comes out, there’s always a higher purpose and something really beautiful that comes from that. We could be afraid of that process, but let’s not yield to that fear. Let’s remind ourselves that something better is coming. Remind yourself that Jesus has gone through this crushing. to show us that we don’t have to be afraid when it happens because it does happen in this life. We just don’t have to give in to the fear of it. That’s right. Yeah, and I know you’ve said it. I kind of don’t want to focus too much on whether people like the Passion Translation or not. I just want to read from it because… It does give us some different perspectives. And maybe there are those who are not sure about the metaphors, the parables, the maybe some will would even call it mysticism. But even mysticism, it’s about mystery. And our God is so vast and so great. There’s no way we can wrap our minds around everything that he is.
SPEAKER 03 :
It is mystery to us. Yes. And when we focus on the mystery of Jesus, when we really focus on Jesus, as you said today, it’s Jesus. It’s Jesus. It’s Jesus. When you finally realize, Jesus, it’s you. It’s you. That’s what it’s all about. And even Holy Spirit focuses on Jesus. So when we get that into our spirits, our souls, and our minds, that it’s all about Jesus. Boy, that is such a wonderful platform on which to jump and go to other things in our life. Oh, we only have one more minute.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, OK, then speaking about Jesus, we need to understand that he doesn’t always make sense to our senses. Yes. And so that he goes beyond our senses and even beyond our logic and intellect. And so that mystery, that part of it is what we want to stay open to. And when we read the different translations, that’s when we can really be open to some other understanding that we may not have had before.
SPEAKER 03 :
Maybe get out of the box, out of the box, out of the box and build up that courage to do what, you know, John was doing, knocking on doors and telling people about God and giving them a power pack. And if you’d like a power pack, you can email me at Barbara Carmack or Barbara at FreedomStreet.org and call at 1-877-917-7256. God bless you and take joy.
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 calltofreedom.org. 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.
