In this episode of Call to Freedom, join Barbara Carmack and Kimberly as they explore the transformative power of faith, especially during life’s unexpected trials. Featuring heartfelt insights, they discuss leaning on God when our understanding fails, exemplified through a personal story of loss. Dive deep into how expressing faith through evangelism, even when scared, can fill your life with purpose and joy.
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. That number, 1-877-917-7256, goes right into the studio Monday through Thursday at 1 o’clock, and we’re live in the studio. And if you have some questions or some comments, you can do that right now, because it is live right now at 1 o’clock. Oh, may you know how deeply God desires to bless you. His love is unconditional. His promises are infallible. And the good things he has planned for you, oh, they are unstoppable. See, man can’t do this for you. With man, it’s impossible. But with God, all things are possible. He supplies you with all things to enjoy, Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, 17b. And here in Ecclesiastes, it says a man to whom God has given riches and that’s people, a man or woman to whom God has given riches and wealth. He has also empowered him to eat from them, to eat from his his harvest that he’s accumulated on this earth and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God. For he will not often consider the years of his life. See, if you’re like me and you’re getting older, you’re not going to consider the years of your life and go all up, all down memory lane and remember all that stuff, all the junk and everything. No, no. For he will not often consider or remember the years of his life because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart. And that’s what I want you to remember, friend, that God is keeping you glad and happy and content in what he is doing for you. That’s why I love Isaiah 52, verse seven. How lovely on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news. Your feet, wherever you walk, are bringing good news to the people around you when you’re positive. And you bring happiness and well-being into their life because you’re announcing peace and bringing good news of happiness. And you’re announcing salvation. And you’re saying to Israel, to Jerusalem, and all of the people in this world, your God reigns. Hallelujah. Well, you can contact Kimberly and me at Barbara at FreedomStreet.org or Kimberly at FreedomStreet.org or hello.com. at freedomstreet.org. And if you’d like to listen to Call to Freedom radio programs, you can go to freedomstreet.org to the Resources column and click on Radio Shows. And you can also check out Kimberly’s blogs. And I’m going to be emailing her some more teaching from Darren so she can put that on, The Voices of Freedom. I’m just so grateful we can come to you live Monday through Thursday and then Friday, those wonderful encore shows. with Darren. I’m so grateful we still have them from when he was here on this earth. And if you’re wanting to give donations to Call to Freedom, you go to freedomstreet.org and that donations button is right there to the right. So you’re blessed. Either way you do it, you’re blessed. You are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. Oh, and on this beautiful day in October, Kimberly, I’m so glad that you are here to present us with more of your teaching.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, well, I apologize. Yesterday I was on quite the role. I’m so glad that you were able to break in and I didn’t even look at the time. Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, we should have been in our show yesterday. Yep.
SPEAKER 04 :
yeah well um i i really love it when that happens yesterday i had heard the scripture from isaiah 6 that in the year that king uzziah died i saw the lord high and lifted up and his train filled the temple and it just inspired me to just uh kind of go off onto a rabbit trail a little bit it wasn’t what i had prepared in any kind of notes that i sent you but um I have this vision that when this is King Uzziah, the year that King Uzziah died, when something happens in our life and it’s someone special who dies, or it’s a dream, something really special that we just lose, when the rug gets pulled out from under you and something happens that you’re just not expecting… When we choose to lean on the Lord instead of leaning on our own understanding, then he becomes high and lifted up in our lives and his train fills the temple. That just means everything about his lordship, his kingship, it’s full and it fills us. We are the temple. And he does not leave any space unfulfilled. He fills the whole space. Yes. And I know that to be true. So I just love that picture so much that his train fills the temple and part of part of us. Really seeing that about him is letting go of our own ideas of what we think we need. You know, Isaiah back then might have thought that he needed King Uzziah to live and not die.
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Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, so we have these ideas like my dream. It needs to live and not die. or my business, my job. It needs to live and not die. Whatever our ideas are, we’re limiting our God, who is the king of redemption, the king of restoration. He’s the king of resurrection. He can bring things back to life and they’re better than they were before.
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Yes, we have to believe that. Yes, we have a caller. I think his name is John. John, are you there?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, this is John from Loveland.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, hi.
SPEAKER 04 :
How nice to hear your voice.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hi, I had a question.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay. Hello? Go ahead. Yes, please.
SPEAKER 02 :
I had a question about with men it’s impossible, but with God all things are possible.
SPEAKER 03 :
So true.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hello?
SPEAKER 03 :
So what is the question, John? Because that verse is true. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. Well, I just have a hard time with that sometimes. But I try. I went to a store and shared the word with two ladies and a guy. And I got scared and then I went back to the house, the Heritage House.
SPEAKER 05 :
Uh-huh. Hmm.
SPEAKER 02 :
So at least I tried to share the word.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, yes, you did. Did you give them scriptures, or did you tell them that Jesus loves them, or how did you present yourself to these people? Now, they were strangers, right? These were people you didn’t know. Okay, so how did you approach them?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I just said, would you like to hear a short verse I memorized from the Bible? And they said, yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
Good.
SPEAKER 02 :
So I gave him one.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s wonderful. What did you give him? Let’s see.
SPEAKER 02 :
I gave him Romans 15, 13. Oh, that’s so good. Oh, that’s so good. Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m trying to memorize the new one, Isaiah 52, 7, but it takes a long time because there’s quite a number of lines to it in my Bible.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, okay. Well, just remember that when you go forth, John, your feet are going forth like you did with these people, that you are bringing good news to them, news of peace and joy and happiness. Yes. And remember, when you speak the word to people, even though you’re shaking in your boots, that word does not return empty or void. That’s right. Oh, okay. Yeah. So good. Yeah. God bless you.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’ll let you… Yeah, thank you so much. I’ll let you go to your program and I’ll listen in.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. We love you, John. Bye. That’s so good.
SPEAKER 04 :
Such a good, yes, such a good question. You know, when we think things are impossible for us. And realizing, oh, even if we are afraid, just being obedient and stepping out, we can see that God will use his word. You’re so right, mom. It will not return void. When we speak the word of God, it goes forth and it accomplishes what it was sent out to do.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. And when we do go, like he approached these people, total strangers, would you like to hear a Bible verse? And they said, yes, because people are hungry, Kimberly. They’re hungry to fill that void. And I’m so glad he gave them Romans 15, 13. I mean, what? Oh, what a blessed verse of scripture. So we’re encouraging those of you who are listening, memorize. Memorize the scriptures so that when you’re out doing groceries or filling your vehicle with gas or whatever you’re doing, you can approach someone and give them a beautiful verse of scripture. Oh, praise God. Oh, that’s so good. I’m pumped.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
Me too. Me too. And I think folding that into this this idea of climbing that ladder, just childlike faith, just believing that as I do this, this is what’s on my heart to do. It’s something good. You know, it’s a good thing. We’re being we’re being morally good to want to share scriptures with people and then trusting that God is using that, that our father is pleased and he loves what we’re doing. wherever we find ourselves you know we might not be in a place in our lives i don’t i don’t know who’s listening today but if you you might be bound to a room or a bed or a wheelchair and you can’t get out there are other ways to be love and light to the people around you yes and It really starts with faith, that belief. We’re talking about needing faith in this life. Yesterday we were talking a little bit about children and how as you grow as a child, you start to believe that you know what’s going to make you happy. And then it’s unfair to you in your young eyes when you don’t get what you want. so learning i i think we go through a couple of decades or more um for for me it might have been a lot more i don’t know of just wanting my own way right learning to lay down my way and my ideas has been quite a process and first peter 2 Verses 1 and 2 says, therefore, put aside all malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy. So often that is exactly what gets us in trouble is we want what we want. We want what somebody else has. We want what we saw on the television. We want that. And that’s envy. Set it aside. Set aside all slander and like newborn babies. long for the pure milk of the Word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.” This is 1 Peter 2. And when we have tasted the kindness of the Lord, that means that we have the perspective that our God is good. Even if we have been in situations that don’t feel really good to us, We know that our God is good. And instead of being that child that throws a tantrum and tries to manipulate a quote-unquote better position for ourselves, it’s really our idea of what is better, right? Only our Heavenly Father knows what is better, what’s truly better.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. My reading today was in Mark 10. and jesus is so precious here he’s informing the disciples that he’s going to die and then be raised again i mean this is like the third or fourth time he’s mentioned it in the book of mark and what a segue after he’s saying he’ll be mocked he’ll be whipped he’ll be and he’ll die and he’ll be raised again then james and john the sons of zebedee came up to him and what a segue teacher we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you that’s what you were just talking about kimberly And he said to them, what do you want me to do for you? Okay, here we go. Grant that we may sit in your glory, one on your right and one on your left. They forgot about all the other disciples, all the other followers of Jesus. And Jesus comes in with the cup that I drink. You shall drink and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. But to sit on my right or on my left, this is not mine to give. And he goes on to say, Kimberly, it is not so among you. Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. Because Jesus was the servant of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life for a ransom. I mean, that’s our selfish nature, Kimberly. This is what I want. Yes. I want to sit on your right hand.
SPEAKER 04 :
I want to sit on your left hand. That’s a good example of manipulating for a better position in life. And it’s hard for us to learn to trust that God’s idea of better is better than ours.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 04 :
So becoming like a child again and just trusting that his way is better. I think that’s especially hard. for individuals who had parents that maybe were not very kind or not very patient then it’s hard to imagine the father the heavenly father as being really patient and really kind but he can heal all of that when you ask him to that’s right and he wants to he wants to heal that um first peter 2 Verses 21 through 25 says, for you’ve been called for this purpose since Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps. While being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but he kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. We need to learn to trust again. Jesus entrusted himself to the Father’s plan. And trusting that father’s plan, trusting our divine partner’s ideas are better than our own is how we climb this ladder that I’ve been talking about for a couple of weeks. It’s becoming childlike again. And that’s how we connect heaven to earth. That’s how we make God’s dream come true. We’re determining that his will be done and his kingdom comes instead of, no, I want what I want. That doesn’t help his dream come true. And sometimes it does. If we want his will, I just want your will, then that’s really a good help. So learning to become surrendered. You know, I was recently talking to someone whose husband experienced a retina detachment. And he’s a very, very involved principal of a large school. And he is used to giving the orders, not taking them. So when he started having this issue in his eye, he went in. And they said, oh, we need to do emergency surgery today. The retina is detaching and we need to make sure it doesn’t detach all the way. But then they gave him protocol after the surgery of what he needed to do for recovery so that it would heal properly. And he did not follow the protocol. And my friend, my friend, his wife was kind of she was beside herself. She was just trying to make him sleep upright and follow all of the directives that they were given. And she was so frustrated because she would take her dog for a walk and come back to find her husband lying on the couch snoring. And she’s like, you’re not supposed to lay down. And he had to go in for a second emergency surgery. And again, he didn’t follow the protocol and he had to go in for a third emergency surgery.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER 04 :
Like he’s losing the sight in his eye and he’s not following the protocol. He’s not following those directives, the plan that is a better plan. And she just finally said, okay, I can’t be the one controlling this. That’s right. I just think this is a good example because when we get to that place where we say, all right, I don’t want to control this. And she just told me if he has to lose his sight, I guess he has to lose his sight. Essentially, I was hearing her say she was just surrendering. So instead of being the one to fight for her husband’s eyesight, she’s willing to submit that situation and surrender to the Lord and let him work. And if that means that he loses his sight, she can believe that that will be restored because we serve a God who restores. Mm hmm. And this is how we want to bring God’s dream into existence is to let go of our manipulation and the way that we are trying to control a circumstance and let God have it. Just let him have it. Yes. And pray it through and praise him through it. So coming back to 2 Peter, I think I started on that. I’m not sure when I started on that, but I meant to. 2 Peter 1, verses 5 through 8. And I’m going to read this from the Passion Translation. It says, “…devote yourselves to lavishly supplementing your faith with goodness.” And to goodness add understanding. And to understanding add the strength of self-control. And to self-control add patient endurance. and to patient and endurance add godliness and to godliness add mercy toward your brothers and sisters and to mercy add unending love since these virtues are already planted deep within and you possess them in abundant supply They will keep you from being inactive or fruitless in your pursuit of knowing Jesus Christ more intimately. Yes. To know him more is our goal. That’s right. And we start the whole journey with faith. And then we supplement that faith, believing that God is doing beautiful things with our circumstance. We supplement it. We add to it goodness. And we do that by doing the right thing. We do the kind thing. We do the gentle thing. We do the patient thing. I’m listing off, you know, fruits of the spirit here. So if you know what the fruits of the spirit are, that’s how you know how to do the right thing. And Sometimes it’s hard to work up that patience, right, and cover people, to cover others and be kind and bear with them and believe the best about them. But this is how we add goodness to our faith. So to recap, we’re starting this journey, this ladder, this climb with faith. because we believe that our Father is good. And then, number two, we act with goodness in that faith. We are deciding to be morally excellent. And that can take courage. You’ve got to have boldness to do the right thing when you are surrounded by people who are not doing the right thing. Many times we just want to mirror and mimic the person that is being bad. Well, if they’re going to do that, then I’m going to do this, you know, and it’s kind of a tit for tat kind of thing. But that’s not what goodness is. Goodness is doing God’s right way, his morally excellent way. And after we’ve added goodness to our faith, we grow in knowledge and we learn more. We all need knowledge. more knowledge. And we gain that through experience. So just like John, if you’re scared to do something, it’s okay. Don’t be paralyzed by it. Just step out. Yes. How wonderful, John, that you just stepped out and you decided that you were going to ask some people if they’d like to hear a memory verse. That’s wonderful. When you step out like that, you gain some experience. Yes. And that is gaining knowledge. You’re growing in knowledge and you’re realizing, you know what, I might have gotten scared in that, but it didn’t paralyze me. I still went right through. That’s right. We don’t wanna miss those opportunities. So we’re not gonna let fear rob us of that experience to learn. We’re just gonna keep moving forward. Knowledge also comes through study and it’s never too late to begin studying. Knowing the word of God is the best way to help you climb this ladder of virtues that will connect heaven to earth and help God’s dream come true. So, believing, acting with goodness, and then growing in knowledge, which is experience and the study of the Word of God. Yes. We add self-control to that. And that one’s a hard one.
SPEAKER 03 :
That is. It is. Just today I went into a coffee shop and I saw a person eating a Danish. And it used to be my favorite. And I said, oh, oh, Lord, thank you for taking that taste out of my mouth and out of my memories. So, yeah, when it comes to baked goods, which I used to love, oh, my goodness. But you do lose weight when you’re off of all those wonderful pastries. Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, and for you and I, I know we do not experience the pain in our joints when we’re not enjoying those wonderful pastries and sugar. So self-control is hard. And I just want to say that you cannot get to that rung on the ladder. We’re looking at this as a climb. You can’t get to self-control if you have not started with faith, and climbed with goodness and knowledge. You’ve got to have those other rungs in there. You’ve got to take those steps with faith and believing and goodness and responding in goodness. adding knowledge, and then self control becomes a little bit easier. And, and I am watching the time today.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, like yesterday, yes, I do want to say that all things are possible. Some of you listening may think, Oh, that’s not possible. That’s not possible. All things are possible to those who believe so believe friend, believe that you can do this and you can achieve this.
SPEAKER 04 :
And if you do have any questions, you are welcome to get a hold of us at Barbara at FreedomStreet.org or Kimberly at FreedomStreet.org. And if you’ve got prayer requests, we want to be praying for you. You have been such a wonderful group of partners that have supported us and we want to be a support to you. So feel free to contact us and let us know where your struggles are. And we will come alongside you in prayer and believe that you will see the goodness of God. Oh, yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you, Kimberly. Oh, we love you. We love you guys out there. I mean, we may never meet you, but we know you. Oh, bless you and take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
877-917-7256
SPEAKER 01 :
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 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.
In this episode of Call to Freedom, join Barbara Carmack and Kimberly as they explore the transformative power of faith, especially during life’s unexpected trials. Featuring heartfelt insights, they discuss leaning on God when our understanding fails, exemplified through a personal story of loss. Dive deep into how expressing faith through evangelism, even when scared, can fill your life with purpose and joy.
