In this episode of Call to Freedom, explore the depths of spiritual connection and the joy it brings into our lives. Barbara Carmack and guests take you on a spiritual journey, discussing how trusting in God and His teachings can replace the daily struggles with overwhelming peace and joy. Reflecting on biblical anecdotes and personal experiences, listeners are encouraged to choose life and nurture relationships over the rigidity of rules.
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 called a freedom. And that number is good. If you would like to get a power pack, that’s a whole bunch of scripture cards. And it has different areas of unforgiveness and anger. and suicide and need healing, pain, suffering. And then the other half of the power pack has wonderful attributes that you can learn how much God loves you. I just gave a friend a suggestion of a power pack. card number 29 that god loves you so much so wholehearted trust in god turns into a whole lot of peace joy and quietness for your souls your investment is a simple prayer lord my day is in your control i trust you completely can you say that with me today i trust you completely again i trust you completely oh and we do today lord we do It’s so good to have you join us. God bless you. And you truly are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. I when I got home yesterday, Kimberly had this wonderful Alfredo sauce. You make it with cream, don’t you? Yes. And butter and butter and garlic and Parmesan cheese.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Mm hmm. And I knew she was going to have it. So I thought, well, you know, I’ll just go buy Chick-fil-A and get a little eight-piece grilled chicken to put in with the noodles because I didn’t want to fix chicken or go get a rotisserie. So I went by Chick-fil-A. And then that reminds me, oh, and it was delicious. Oh, Kimberly, it was so good. Oh, I have to really watch myself that I don’t overeat. I realized then as I watched today, watched the news that… Chick-fil-A has a little thing going about conversation at their tables, and they have what’s called a chicken, a coop, and it’s just a little kind of like a carry-on case, like a… Happy meal with two little handles. It’s like a little basket or something. If you choose to do what Chick-fil-A is asking you to, then you get free ice cream. Now, that’s cool. So what they’re asking you is that while you’re at Chick-fil-A with your family, put your phone in that little coop, that little basket. And it’s just a little white basket with Chick-fil-A on the side. And if that stays in your basket all through the meal, then come up to the counter and we have free ice cream for you. Isn’t that great? Yeah. And 250 stores. I think we’re going to join. I really do.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s really a fun way to encourage conversation rather than being on your phone. Yes. And it’s so interesting to me now that we include our phones in conversations because we’ll think of something and say, oh, when did that happen? Or how much or how tall is or how long have they been married? And we have these conversations. Yeah, we go straight to Google, don’t we? We do. We look on our phones. Oh, let me look that up. I’m too curious to leave it alone. So let me look it up. I know. Yeah. So that’s fun, though. We do need more conversation. And that conversation brings an energy. There’s a power in that conversation. And I think for many of us, we’ve got a constant conversation going on in our head. We’ve got thoughts going through our minds and whether or not those thoughts bring to us life and energy or they bring us discouragement and hopelessness. That’s when we can tell if we’re hooked in to the enemy. because he brings the discouragement or if we’re hooked into our God who has made us for himself, who wants us to have life more abundant and energy. And I was talking about that on Monday yesterday, you were talking about it is finished. Jesus came to do a work, a complete work that has finished what, what would cause us to stumble. And we just need to know how to tap into that. So we were going to talk about that a little bit more today.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I was reading in Deuteronomy 30 this morning that God has set before us, and it’s not across the sea or across the ocean. No, not at all. It’s in our mouths. And he said, I want you to choose life and choose that. Thank you. Thank you. To choose life and not choose death and adversity. And so we see, Kimberly, that God himself wants the very best for us. He says, I don’t want you to fear anything. I don’t want you to lose. I don’t want you to die. I’m giving you a choice here. And I want you so deeply to have life. Yes. Have it abundantly.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. Yes. That’s what Jesus told us in John 10. And we’re talking a lot about some of the phrases that Jesus spoke during Holy Week, during those days and hours leading up to the Garden of Gethsemane and then ultimately to the crucifixion. And what I should say, ultimately we rejoice in the resurrection. So we’re, we’ve been talking about, about those phrases. And one of them, Jesus says in John 14, John 14, verse 30, the prince of this world has come for me, but he has nothing in me. He has nothing in me. And there’s layers of meaning in what Jesus says all the way through. All of scripture has layers of meaning. And so I just wanted to look at what this says in John 1430. The prince of this world has come for me, but he has nothing in me. Wouldn’t that be a boost of confidence to know that the enemy has nothing in you, that there is nothing that you can be triggered by, tempted by. There’s nothing that can do you any harm. No more thoughts that drag you down. So the prince of this world that is referring to our enemy. And when our enemy fell from heaven, he took a third of the angels with him. So there are plenty of darker beings that are praying on people that want P R E Y people. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. Pray. Praying on people while the people are praying to the Lord. P R A Y. Okay. Yeah. Amen. Well, these beings, if you think about it, these beings were made to be connected to God himself. God, the one who is all powerful, who has all power, power enough to create all of what we see, everything we’ve ever imagined. He created it all. And these beings were created to be connected to him. Now they’re disconnected. Think of that as your phone. Your phone needs power. And so when it has been disconnected long enough, it’s looking for a power source. It’s bleeping at you and telling you it needs to be connected. Battery is low, needs to be charged. Yeah. Well, these beings were used to being connected to the source of power. We humans are created to be connected to a source of power. And we want to be looking to our source when these beings can’t find that, and they won’t. They’re not connected to God anymore, right? They’ve fallen. So now these beings are looking for a source. Well, guess what? We are that source. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 03 :
we human beings were made to be connected to god and the ones who believe that and stay connected to him those are the ones that are going to be attacked the most because they’ve got more power that’s right well jesus himself said you’re talking about john 14 where the ruler of this world is is coming and he has nothing in me and i pray today that all of you you have nothing for the for the enemy to come in and threaten you or tempt you in any way. But in the next chapter, Kimberly, because we’ve got to be connected. You’re right. We’ve got to be connected to him. And he says, apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart from me, stay in that vine. You are a branch and you do bear fruit, but it’s not from your bearing. God bears the fruit for you. We put so much responsibility on ourselves and we think that we do so much, Kimberly, and we do nothing. We really do without him. We are nothing.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, that’s true. Yeah. Yeah. That’s good for us to remember that apart from him, we can do nothing. And it’s really good for us to look at this, this need to stay connected to the power source and realize that there are beings that have thoughts that are discouraging thoughts that try to get us to be thinking dark thoughts so that it’s really draining us of our power. That is the power that we have is to stay connected to the Lord. But when the enemy gets in, the enemy comes to kill and steal and destroy. And it’s the enemy who does that, not our Lord. So if we are feeling exhausted or discouraged, it’s a sure sign that power is being sapped from us. And there is something that’s causing that something’s being stolen from you, even just your physical energy. You can assume with certainty that your enemy is working to stay connected to you and sap you of that power that you are meant to have from the Lord. It is Jesus who told us that he has given us. I was just looking some of these scriptures up here. He has given us authority. He has given us power. Jesus came and said, Luke 10 says, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy. So nothing will harm you. So Jesus has done a work that is so complete. He has finished a work that is so amazing that we he’s transferred that power to us. We now have power and authority over the enemy. Well, you know, sometimes we look at that power and we see something outside of us that we don’t like. And so we take authority over that. Now, I’m not saying that you’re never supposed to do that, but I want us to look inwardly. at some of our own feelings and some of our own thoughts that we have allowed and patterns that we’ve allowed in our lives that have sapped us of power and energy. We want to look at that because if you’re feeling any kind of self pity, if you’re feeling pride, even pride will, will sap you of your energy. If you’re feeling a need to control something, if you’re feeling fear, fear is a big one. Those are things that we can look at and say, no, this is a mountain in my life that I no longer want.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 02 :
And so I say to this mountain, be moved, be cast into the sea. Jesus told us that when we believe, and you know what? When we start looking inwardly and believing that we can catch those things and tell them, get out now. Mm-hmm. When we do that, we actually end up with more peace, more joy. And that is what Jesus is asking. That’s why he invites us to come to him, because he wants us to do the things he did, say the things he said. When he said, the prince of this world has come for me and he has nothing in me, that means Jesus stayed on top of every one of those emotions and feelings and that would sap him of his power that would cause him to feel exhaustion. Now that doesn’t mean that he never felt exhausted physically, but he knew how not to be discouraged and disappointed. He knew how to throw those mountains of feelings into the sea and not let those feelings rule him because he knew who he was. Yes. Well, we want all of you listening to know who you are so that you can also stay on top of these feelings. And I know that it’s tricky. I know that it’s hard when you are feeling sorrow. Now, it is good for us to grieve. It is very good for us to feel sorrow at a loss, especially of a life that is so valuable and treasured. We want to grieve. We don’t want to let that move into self-pity because self-pity then is what drains us. When we’re grieving with those who grieve, there’s an energy and connection together that causes us to rise up above those feelings. But if we isolate ourselves and stay in self-pity and discouragement and hopelessness, it goes down darker and deeper. And it goes down a slippery slope. So that’s what we want to be aware of. We want to be aware that those are the things that are stealing from us, killing and destroying. That’s the enemy. Now, how are we going to get back up on top of that?
SPEAKER 04 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
We’re talking about how the enemy comes in to steal something from us. We don’t want him to steal anything from us. And Jesus had the confidence that the Prince was coming for him, the Prince of this world, but he had nothing more that he could ever steal. There was nothing in Jesus that the enemy could take. And you brought up the scripture in the next chapter. So apart from me, you can do nothing. What verse is that? That is the fifth verse. John 15, 5. John 15, 5. That’s right.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s what we want to remember. And that’s why Matthew 11, 29 is such a great verse to remember. Not only this week, but hopefully you’re going to be memorizing. And I have it in the New American Standard. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. But in the passion, Kimberly, it says, I will refresh your life for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you’ll discover that I am gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me for all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear.
SPEAKER 02 :
Beautiful. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Thank you for that reminder, because we want to know what that means to take his yoke upon us, learn of him, and he will give us rest. Yes. As I have been confronting these emotions in my life and realizing, oh, this is what’s stealing from me. They can’t make me. They, whoever has said something or done something, they can’t make me feel a certain way. I choose to feel it. Mm hmm. Now, can I choose to say no to that feeling? No, you are a mountain that has been an obstacle to me for long enough. You be cast into the sea and then it will be done. Wow. When we are free from those emotions, we’re free from the enemy. And then the enemy does not have that to trigger in us anymore. That’s good.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, if we could think about when a person says something to you. Now, this can get really sensitive. Touchy, touchy. When a person says something to you that you may take in the wrong way. Maybe his words are those that you sense something he’s condescending to you or he’s bragging about something and he’s not asking you how you’re doing in your day. These relationships can really get icky. And if you just say, all right, did I hear the right thing? Am I understanding what he is saying to me? I’m only saying this in case you’re a married woman and you have your husband or you’re a husband and your wife comes at you with condescending remarks. That can happen both ways. And you’re saying, now, how am I taking this? Am I taking it in the way that he is wanting me to understand it? And do I really need to ask you, Holy Spirit, to let me know that this was not done in anger or vindictiveness or pride or any of those fleshly behavioral patterns? Right. We can get along so much better if you put a little bit of that… What do I want to say?
SPEAKER 02 :
Curiosity, where you’re curious enough to ask questions and really wonder, where is this coming from? And can I trust their heart? You know, maybe I don’t even know them. Maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m the one that needs to calm down, settle down. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Because we have to realize our past has a lot to do with how we react to things that are going on today. So we need to really be asking Holy Spirit about the comment that was made. Is that made for me specifically? Is that just a generality? And sometimes that happens. They’re not intending to just point at you, but everybody in general speaking. So, Kimberly, there’s so much involved here. in our behavioral behavior and how we, how we understand things that are said to us and how we connect.
SPEAKER 02 :
Now that whole idea of connecting, there’s power and there’s energy in it and we want it to be a good energy in our connecting very often when those negative feelings and those Maybe critical ideas, a tendency to be cynical or judgmental. When that creeps in, we know that the enemy has crept in. And that’s what causes us to think something negative about what’s being said to us and to not receive it well. This is a sure sign that the enemy is stealing. And this is what Jesus came to finish. He came to complete and finish a work so that we would be free of that. Now, all we have to do is decide that we want to be free of it. decide that. And when we decide it, it’s hard in the moment because in the moment you might be feeling something that you’re not ready to let go of, but you’re still making a decision. This is not, you know, here’s, here’s the way that I look at it. If I’m talking with somebody and I’m misunderstanding, um, I want to value the friendship and the relationship more than who’s right and who’s wrong. And so for a long time, I’ve talked about how I don’t even look at rights and wrongs anymore, which confuses a lot of people because there’s a right way to do it, isn’t there? Yeah. That’s how we think. But I want to know that there’s a relationship way to do it. And that’s what I’ve been working on for a number of years now. I’m grateful. I’m grateful for the opportunity to do that because Jesus work was for relationship. His work was not for us to understand the law better so that we could do it right or do it wrong. His work was for relationship. And when he said it is finished, that complete work is inviting us into a place of rest, a place of peace and calm, a place of joy like we’ve never felt before. And when we understand this good news of what he did, when he took all of the sin upon him and he bore it on the cross, The pure one, the holy one who was the least deserving. He did not deserve it at all. And he’s the one who took it all, took all the consequences of sin. That work that he did was to open a door for us to say, we now can join him. and say that it’s finished. We have this relationship. Now, what do we do with that? We talk to people about what Jesus has done and we enjoy it. It’s not on our shoulders to be stressed out about making more disciples. We’re not supposed to be stressed out even about memorizing scripture. It’s about relationship, enjoying the relationship instead of trying to make the journey happen the way we think it’s supposed to. Just drop the opinions, drop the ideas, drop all of the expectations and enjoy the the relationship.
SPEAKER 03 :
Enjoy who you are. Jesus himself said in John 17 verse four, I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. Jesus and the father had such an intimate and close relationship, and that’s what he wants from his body, that intimate and close relationship. I liked what Ronald Dart said yesterday after the program. I was listening to him on the way to my home. And he was talking about who killed Jesus. Was it the Romans? Well, they actually drove the nails into his hands and feet. They put the cross into that hole. And it was the Jewish leaders that spit on him, hit him, made him so painfully hurting all the time carrying that cross up the hill. So who was it? The Romans?
SPEAKER 02 :
Put him through the trial in the first place. Yes. The leaders. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
It was God. It was God. Isaiah 53 says it pleases the father to crush the son. And what was that for? Was he punishing him for some reason? No, Kimberly, you’re right. He’s perfect. He doesn’t need any of the things we do. He came for us. He suffered for us. And that’s why every day I say in him, I live and move and have more being. What more can I give him? How can we say thank you enough but to just ask him and to have us take that yoke upon us and learn of him? Oh, I love that. The fact that he wants to connect his yoke. And you remember a yoke of oxen were two. And so when he says, come connect with me, let’s have a relationship. I don’t want you wandering away anymore. I want you here with me, hooked up with what I am teaching you and you are learning and God is producing the fruit. How much better can it get, Kimberly?
SPEAKER 02 :
And it says that Jesus was willing to do this because of the joy set before him. It’s Hebrews 12 to because of the joy awaiting him. Jesus endured the cross disregarding its shame. What is that joy? That’s you. That’s you listening. You are his joy. You having relationship with you is the joy set before him. And that is what we want to enjoy. We want to enjoy that joy. We want to enjoy this place instead of being so stressed out and exhausted and feeling discouraged and hopeless because the enemy is stealing from us. We want to come to Jesus and and let him do a work where the enemy has nothing left in us to trigger us at all anymore. We can then enter that true peace, just like you were talking about, Mom, that yoke, being in agreement with him, in relationship with him. On the same page with him. Yes. That’s good.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, we have so much more to talk to you about, Jesus. I mean, can’t wait. That’s why we’re going to take forever and ever. He is with us forever and ever, folks. Oh, I hope you’re part of the family of God in the body of Jesus Christ. Take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
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