Join Barbara Carmack in this enriching episode of Call to Freedom as she dives into the divine wisdom of scripture, drawing connections to contemporary life and personal anecdotes. Barbara reflects on cherished Bible verses, exploring their relevance to our daily challenges and the way they can fortify our spiritual walk. She discusses how God’s promises, as seen in Psalm 121 and Psalm 46, offer a profound sense of comfort and reassurance, urging listeners to anchor themselves in faith amidst life’s uncertainties.
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 Called Up Freedom. And that number, 1-877-917-7256. That’s 91 Psalm, really. That’s what Darren got a long time ago. That is good to call in at 1 o’clock Monday through Thursday. And you can get me live and ask me any – well, not any question. I would like you to maybe concentrate on the Word of God maybe than politics because I don’t know that much with politics. I know that I’m enjoying these years that President Trump is the president. Oh, my goodness, yes. It’s so much easier and better to wake up in the morning and say, this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it than go – Oh, no, another day under the Biden. Oh, my goodness. You caught me. You got me in a relaxed moment. Oh, I want to tell you today from Psalm 55, verse 22, cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous fall. Never, never, never let the righteous fall. And that’s why I really believe that when I heard. Joni Lamb and Paula White interviewing Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife and sons that he said the Bible has been his guide all his life. And he did say Bible. And so I believe that man is a godly man. And he follows after the things of the Lord. So I’m so grateful that he’s where he is as prime minister of Israel right now. God just has a perfect plan, doesn’t he? And if we are asking God to do his will, not my will, Lord, but yours be done, you can just fit into that perfect plan of God. It’s so beautiful. You are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. When I read this scripture, and this is our weekly scripture that we’re talking about, 3 John 2. This is such a great little verse. And when I read this in my daily Bible reading Sunday, I thought of you. So I thought, I’m going to make this verse of scripture for this week. So every time I say it, I think of you. And I wish the very best for you. And in the New Living Translation, 3 John 2 says, Dear Friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit. And I know many of you, many of you are strong in spirit. And maybe you’re getting weaker in your body. Well, you can thank God for strength because he says in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9, when you are weak, my strength is made perfect in you. So know that when you feel weak, that you can ask Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, you are my strength. And I praise you that you’re going to help me get through my day or through this assignment that I have or through these things that I have to do today, that you’re going to get me through it. And in the Passion Translation, 3 John 2 says, I pray that you are prospering in every way and that you continually enjoy good health just as your soul is prospering. See, John is praying for his good friend Gaius, that he would be continually prospering in every way. And that’s what I’m praying for you. Every time I see your name, every time I’m sending out receipts or sending out newsletters and see your name, I put my hand on your name and I pray. That wonderful prayer, Beloved, I pray above all respects that you might be in health as your soul prospers. And God is concerned for both our physical health. He gives our bodies wonderful immune systems. Oh, can you imagine all the bacteria that’s floating around and all the warnings you get? don’t eat this, don’t eat that, E. coli and all this stuff, that your body’s immune system is keeping you safe. I never had a vax. I did not have anybody jab me during the COVID. And if you did, God bless you. I hope that you’re safe from that vaccine. But I’ll tell you what, God kept me safe. And I’m so grateful. I’m so grateful. So we praise you, Father God, for keeping us healthy. And our souls, that emotional and spiritual well-being, our souls are just perfect in the Lord. So if physical health and soul prosperity were not the will of God, Why would John pray that for Gaius, his friend? And why would I be using that beautiful scripture for you today to give you confidence and reassurance that God is with you wherever you go? He is. He really is. And as Kimberly called me today, she’s in the panhandle of… Oklahoma right now. And if you’re listening, Kimberly, we love you. And she just had a marvelous time in the mountains of Colorado. She didn’t want to leave. She was at Crested Butte and she was in Gunnison. And she said, Mom, it’s so beautiful and the people are so friendly. So I’m glad that she found some friendly people that she could minister to. It’s wonderful to be able to look forward to Seeing people, new people, servers in restaurants, people that help you at the gas stations, all these things are opportunities for us to witness. So we see that we’ve got everything to live for today. God is building strong character in you, my friend. You have no need of the things that you once thought were important and vital in your life. And I see that in my own life. Those things that I thought were so important, they’re just not nearly that important anymore. And I’m grateful that God is keeping my eyes on him. and my hands off of the earthly things and onto the heavenly things. When you’re wondering what in the world is happening and wishing that things were like they used to be or hoping that things will go back to normal, take my word, things will never be the same. They’ll never get back to normal. But you can build on the new in your life and make that experience better than ever before. Remember what God says about those who are faithful. I will never leave you or forsake you. God is building your character. And you may ask me, Barbara, do you always go to the Bible when things happen? I do. I do. I’ve learned that that’s the best place to be in, the secret place of the Most High, when unexpected things happen. God’s Word keeps me steady and calm, knowing that my Heavenly Father is with me. I remember reading Psalm 121 with Kimberly just, oh, two or three weeks ago, and we were doing this on the air. But I want to go back to Psalm 121 for just a little bit today. And this is from the second verse of Psalm 121. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Remember that. The creator of the universe lives in you. Oh, his power is there for you when needed. But he will not allow your foot to slip. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. He’s never asleep. He’s always there for you. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on the right hand. I love that. Say, the Lord will protect me from all evil. Let’s say that together. The Lord will protect me from all evil. He will keep my soul. The Lord will guard my going out and my coming in from this time forth and forever. Remember that, friend. Remember that God is with you wherever you go. I was reading yesterday as we came to the end of the program. I was reading Psalm 46, and I want to read it again. I was right in the middle of, I believe, verse 3 or 4. And it’s just such an important psalm when you are going through persecution, opposition. And you can just rely on these kind of psalms like the one I just read, Psalm 121. Make that your psalm. And it’s just a short psalm, but it’s so beautiful. And Psalm 46, 1 through 10. And this is from the Passion Translation. God, you’re such a safe and powerful place to find refuge. You’re a proven help in time of trouble. You’re more than enough. He’s El Shaddai, the God of more than enough and always available whenever I need you. So we will never fear even if every structure of support were to crumble away. We will not fear even when the earthquakes and shakes and moving mountains and casting them into the sea. For the raging roar of stormy winds and crashing waves cannot erode our faith in you. If all the banks closed and you had no more money in your hand, oh, God is there for you. He really is. I remember when we were broke, broke, broke. In my first marriage, we were broke. In my second marriage, we were broken. I don’t know why I marry men that are in debt, but God is there. I’ll tell you, I am so grateful that they were in debt because I saw God bring us out supernaturally. I’m just praising him today. Oh, for the raging roar of the stormy winds and crashing waves cannot erode our faith in you. Holy Spirit takes you into a place of peace and your imagination sees what God wants you to see. And then we pause here right now. We have a Selah right here in this Psalm 46. And then going into verse 4, that means Selah means you pause and you think about what he just said. Then verse 4, God has a constantly flowing river whose sparkling streams bring joy and delight to his people. His river flows right through the city of God most high. into his holy dwelling places. Oh, can you imagine the world that God lives in? Oh, and that our precious loved ones who have gone to be with him, what they are enjoying right now. God is in the midst of his city, secure and never shaken. At daybreak, his help will be seen with the appearing of the dawn. Now, that reminds me of Romans 8, verse 17 or 21, where it says, where the earth is groaning for the revealing of the sons of God. The earth itself is groaning, getting ready. That’s why you’re seeing more earthquakes. You’re seeing more tsunamis. You’re seeing more high waves because the earth is groaning to see the revealing of the son of God and the sons of God. Here he comes, the commander, the mighty Lord of the heavenly host is on our side. The God of Jacob fights for us. And here’s another Selah. Pause in his presence, and we think about that beautiful city that we are going to dwell with him. Oh, we’re going to live there. Oh, praise God. Verse 8 and 9 says, Everyone look, come and see the breathtaking wonders of our God, for he brings both ruin and revival. He’s the one who makes conflicts and through end. Throughout the earth, he’s going to bring the earth, all of the conflicts in the earth, he’s going to bring them to an end. And no man is going to do this, friend, even President Trump. There’s always going to be conflicts until Jesus comes back. Surrender your anxiety. Be still and realize that I am God. This is the 10th verse. I love this verse. After you’ve seen all the tumult and all the erosion and all the waves and crashing in, Then God says, be still, be still now, and know that I am God. He’s the one who makes conflicts and throughout the world. He says, I am God above all the nations, and I am exalted throughout the whole earth. When you begin to realize that God is on your side and nothing can really harm you, it will be the beginning of the relationship God wants with you. When you begin saying, not my will, but yours be done, peace will come to your whole being because you know that you know that God of the universe is taking care of you. He truly is. When you are transformed by the renewing of your mind, and when you listen to programs like this every day, or you’re in your Bible reading for yourself the wonderful words of God, that love letter to you, then you are transforming your mind, that mind that has been raised by the world, educated by the world and established by the world, you’re changing your mind because now you have a new spirit within you. When you are transformed by the renewing of your mind and desiring God’s will above everything else, you will experience godly maturity. And we all want to mature, don’t we? Romans 12 verse 2 tells us that when we fix our attention on God, we’ll be changed from the inside out and readily recognize what He wants from us and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. It’s so wonderful to know that God is doing a marvelous work. Just today, as I was listening to the cabinet meeting with President Trump, and it was two hours. Don’t tell me that he’s hiding from people. He just loves to talk. And he was talking with Robert Kennedy and saying, we need to get these prescription prices down for the people. People have gone to Europe. They’ve gone to Canada to get prescriptions. And we have been robbed by the world because people They get the same products, the same drugs from these companies, and they don’t raise the prices as the, he says, who is the middleman? That middleman has disappeared. We’re going to have prices down for the people. So we know that God is maturing every level of our country today. So don’t fear, my friend. Don’t fear. Don’t fear the expense. Don’t fear all the finances that are are being dealt out at us every month after month after month in the bills don’t fear them that god is going to take care of you in first corinthians 2 9-16 eye has not seen nor ear heard nor has entered into the heart of man the things which god has prepared for those who love him But God has revealed these beautiful revelations through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all the things, yes, the deep things of God. Holy Spirit is going right now into the deep mind of God to extract and get out those things that you need. You need, you need today. Just think of God looking down upon you and say, okay, George needs that today. Judy needs that today. So you go out and deal that out, angels. You go forth and you encourage and you deal out the things that they need. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man? So it’s Holy Spirit to our spirits that begins to revitalize us. It is the spirit of each person where God reveals his knowledge and truth. Now, we have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. 1 Corinthians 2. Oh, beautiful chapter. See, God is making sure that you are fully equipped. Remember the verse of last week, 2 Peter 1.3 says, God’s divine power has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness, this life and godliness. Everything you need in the spirit of God is living in you. Everything you need, he’s in you. Wow. Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know personally and intimately the one who invited us to God. Oh, it’s such a beautiful thing to know that we can know him, really, truly know him. That was hard for me to understand for a long time. Well, God, if you live in me, there are so many billions of people. Are you in each and every one of them? He says, each and every one of them that will open the door to me. So if you open the door to the Lord God and say, Lord, you are welcome in this place. Go into my attic. Go into the main floor. Go into the basement and search out everything in my life. I am an open door to you. And I believe that God is going to really bless you in everything you do. The other day I found, over the weekend, I came upon the Serenity Prayer. And I don’t know if many of you know that prayer or are well-versed in where it came from, but it’s really interesting. It is a well-known and cherished prayer that offers comfort and guidance. often associated with finding peace in challenging times. It is widely attributed to a theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, a German, and is commonly used in recovery programs like Alcoholics Anonymous. So if you’ve had a person who is recovering from alcoholism, then you are probably familiar with this serenity prayer. This prayer builds character in many people who have not had the blessing of being raised in a spiritual atmosphere, as many of us. The prayer goes as follows, God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. That’s a shortened version of the original. The prayer of serenity encourages reflection, resilience, confidence, and clarity helping individuals focus on what they can control by the power of holy spirit of course while finding peace with what they cannot change and sometimes we get into a situation where we cannot change we cannot change it because god is really in control and i give him control i give him the control it’s a beautiful reminder to approach life with grace and strength the earliest written reference to the serenity prayer dates to 1932 in a diary entry by Winifred Crane Weigall. And Weigall was a pupil of Niebuhr and quoted the prayer in a personal diary, attributing it to the theologist. Now, so many of us are writing in diaries and journals. We can get… The next generation is able to, because we have written in our journals, they are able to look into our journals and find really gold nuggets, things that are just so beautiful. And this Winifred Weigel was then responsible for several versions of the prayer, which appeared in newspapers as well as a prayer book, which was published in 1940 referencing the prayer. This prayer encourages reflection and resilience and clarity, as I said before. And it talks about when we are listening to that prayer in the spirit, God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. We know that we are getting strength inside to do things that we might not have ever believed we could do. It is believed that Niebuhr first wrote the Serenity Prayer as a part of a sermon, which he then used as pastor at an evangelical church in Massachusetts. He continued using that sermon in 1934, where it spread to Alcoholics Anonymous and was quickly adopted by the group. By 1936, the Serenity Prayer was well circulated enough that it was referenced as if common knowledge in literature of the time. So it was a prayer that almost everyone had either read or looked at or had memorized. By 1944, the Federal Council of Churches printed the prayer in a prayer book issued to the army chaplains and the USO circulated the prayer on printed cards to soldiers during World War II. So this is a prayer that almost every soldier knew as he fought during the war. In 1951, Niebuhr published the printed version of the Serenity Prayer in its entirety, including the first written mention of the word grace in the poem. God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and wisdom to distinguish one from the other, living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, taking on, as Jesus did, his assignment and your assignment, my friend. It’s so important that we go into the word of God Knowing that word is specifically written for our daily assignments, for our daily walk in this world. Because we never know what’s going to happen. We really don’t. And we don’t want to remember or we don’t want to stay in the place of not knowing what’s going on. We want to know what God has planned for us. So we don’t lose a minute in building on what we’ve been given. Complementing our basic faith with good character. And that’s what I’ve been talking about this week. Good character. Building that good character. The best invitation we ever received is building good character. Spiritual understanding. See, that’s why I always… include Proverbs 7, verse 4, that wisdom you are my sister and understanding you’re my intimate friend. Because it’s so good to know that they’re with me. They’re spirits. Wisdom is a spirit. Understanding is a spirit. And they are spirits that God has given us to understand his word. And when we say it is easy to read the Bible, it is easy to understand, he’s going to give you that understanding and knowledge of his word. I want to interject right here that it’s important that you get a translation that you do understand. And that’s why I have recommended not only the passion, but the living translation. There are so many translations now. And, you know, so many people say, well, I’ll only read from the King James Version. Well, God bless you. God bless you for being so narrow-minded. I want you to know that these have been made available to you by the Lord himself. He has opened the hearts of many of these scholars to bring a word of God that is simpler and easier to understand for those who are just beginning their trek, their journey with God. And I’m really grateful. I truly am. It’s important to know that God is willing to to open the pages of his Bible. You know, he did it in Hebrew and Greek, and now we have it in English. I’m so grateful because I know there are people that study in Hebrew and study in Greek. Kimberly has studied Hebrew for a while, but I’m not one of those. And so I’m so grateful that he has it in English. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. So we have spiritual understanding and alert discipline. we make sure that we are taking care of not only our mind, We’re not looking at things we shouldn’t look at. We’re not listening to things we shouldn’t listen to. We aren’t taking in food that may be harmful to our bodies. We’re not doing that. We are alerting our minds and our bodies that we’re going to discipline them. And that’s what I do also every day. And he’s building up a wild, passionate patience. That’s what Kimberly said last week. Wild, passionate patience. Reverent wonder for him. Warm friendliness and generous love. Those are the things we’re building on, friend. And we’re making sure that this prayer of serenity is one that we are going to quote over and over again. God grant me. I’m going to talk more about that tomorrow. God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Oh, I wish I could, but Father God, I’m going to do it your way. And the courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference. Oh, when we learn those things, life is going to get easier. It truly is. I guarantee that for you. I love you and God bless you. Beloved, I wish above all that you might prosper and be in health as your soul prospers. God bless you and keep you. And take joy.
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Join Barbara Carmack in this enriching episode of Call to Freedom as she dives into the divine wisdom of scripture, drawing connections to contemporary life and personal anecdotes. Barbara reflects on cherished Bible verses, exploring their relevance to our daily challenges and the way they can fortify our spiritual walk. She discusses how God’s promises, as seen in Psalm 121 and Psalm 46, offer a profound sense of comfort and reassurance, urging listeners to anchor themselves in faith amidst life’s uncertainties.
