The Challenge of Change and Self-Deception

SPEAKER 01 : 0:10

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 04 : 1:04

Welcome to Calda Freedom on this very warm day. I hope that you are cool somewhere, maybe drinking iced tea or something cool for your body. It’s really a good idea to hydrate during this time. Life is God’s precious gift for you. May you spend it bringing glory to him. It says in Romans 8, verse 6, that the mindset on the flesh is death. The mindset on the spirit is life and peace. And Jesus said in John 6, 63, it is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. Did you hear him say that? The flesh profits nothing because the flesh is going to be gone very soon. But the spirit is life eternal. He goes on to say, the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. Oh, that’s beautiful. Praise the Lord. You are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and Have your being, and welcome, Kimberly. You keep welcoming me.

SPEAKER 02 : 2:05

I should just start interrupting your sentences and let people know I’m right here. You’re right here, yes, yes. Thank you for your patience with me being here this time.

SPEAKER 04 : 2:15

Oh, absolutely. It’s been a pleasure. It’s really been a pleasure. Our memory verse for this week is first Peter four, verse eight. And in the new American standard, it says above all, keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins. You see a brother or sister sinning and you think, oh, I got to talk to them. Just love them. Just love them. Holy Spirit’s going to go to work. In both you and him. So just keep loving him. Praise the Lord. You love the Passion Translation of 1 Peter 4, 8, Kimberly. I do love it.

SPEAKER 02 : 2:51

And yes, I’m looking at all these different notes. I’ve got your notes. I’ve got my notes on a tablet scrolling. It’s right at the bottom of my first page. Everything in the world is about, did you say passion or did you say message?

SPEAKER 04 : 3:06

Passion, but that’s okay. You read the message.

SPEAKER 02 : 3:08

We’ll just read all of them today. Let me keep going with the message. Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up. So take nothing for granted. I think I’m distracted today by the idea that we keep looking forward to when the flesh ends, but we have a choice today to end thinking in the flesh and thinking of our rights. You know, even Nancy DeMoss Wagemuth, right before this program, was talking about how in this day and age, we’re all saying, I have a right. I’ve got a right to this. I’ve got a right to that. But when we’re claiming our rights… We’re not practicing the spirit and what the spirit has given us to practice. We’re not living in the spirit of truth. We’re not living in the spirit of freedom. And this program, the ministry that God has given you is called to freedom. We’re not looking ahead to where the flesh ends. We’re looking at how we can defeat flesh every day, in every moment, in our thoughts. Yes. And so as we are struggling with the idea that, well, I have a right, especially if somebody wrongs you, like you were talking about earlier, when you’re wronged, you really want to get that person back or say something to them. You want to bring correction to it because you have a right to be heard. You have a right to correct the wrong.

SPEAKER 04 : 4:41

Do we really have a right? Do we know more than that person?

SPEAKER 02 : 4:44

Yes, because we’ve been given the freedom. So in our freedom, we think we have a right.

SPEAKER 04 : 4:50

We think we have a right.

SPEAKER 02 : 4:52

Yes, we think we have a right in our freedom. When we become servants to the spirit realm… and slaves to love, the way that Paul talks about being a slave to God now. He’s a slave to Christ. When we become that, then we are saying, essentially, I’m laying down that right. And then we might find ourselves fighting back and forth with our flesh and with the spirit. Each day we find ourselves doing that. So We want to learn to yield our rights and not claim our rights. We want to learn that in the flesh. And I think that’s the distraction. Even in reading, everything in the world is about to be wrapped up. So take nothing for granted. What if we just lived each moment that way? And say, you know what? What happened just now, somebody cutting me off in traffic, that’s not going to last. It doesn’t have to bother me. I can let go of my right to this place in the line of traffic. And I can have liberty right now. I can have joy right now and peace right now. I don’t have to take it personally when somebody has cut me off or when somebody has wronged me in this life. I don’t have to take it personally.

SPEAKER 04 : 6:13

The first few thoughts into your mind might be, I’m going to go get them, or I am going to flip them off, or I’m going to… And it’s always a fleshly decision, probably first of all, because the mindset on the flesh is death. But when you say, Holy Spirit, you need to help me right now because my mind is going all over the place because this person cut me off. So Holy Spirit, just come in and tell me now. a scripture on peace. Tell me a scripture on joy. And he will give you scriptures on joy. We can and must change our attitudes about self. That’s right. We really must. And begin to realize we’re here to worship and commune with God.

SPEAKER 02 : 6:57

That’s right. That’s right. So going back to the memory verse of 1 Peter 4, 8, and 9, most of all, in the message translation, it says, most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Mm-hmm. Love each other. Love each other. And realize that when somebody is wronging you, it’s because of insecurity. It’s because of fear. It’s because they are prioritizing something else that’s just not as important. And they don’t know. They don’t know. Jesus said, Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing. That’s what he was doing. Most of all, loving everyone as if his life depended on it. And his life did depend on it. Jesus’ life depended on that kind of love. Love makes up for practically anything. That’s an interesting way to word it in the message. I think love makes up for everything.

SPEAKER 03 : 7:49

Yes.

SPEAKER 02 : 7:50

I think love, when it says love covers a multitude of sins, that means all of them. Multitude, it’s not excluding anyone. The only way you’re excluded is if you choose to be excluded. If you choose that you don’t want any part of this love. So be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless, cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you. Pass them around so that all will get in on it. Yes. I love your generosity, Mom. You pass it around. Everything that comes into Call to Freedom, you are passing it around constantly. You are not hoarding it for yourself, and I’m so thankful.

SPEAKER 04 : 8:29

To God be the glory. Absolutely. Because our natural selves… are to keep the money, keep the bank account flowing, keep the savings going.

SPEAKER 02 : 8:41

And make sure that you’ve stored up enough for retirement.

SPEAKER 04 : 8:45

Yes. Boy, we’ve got to absolutely reject all of those worldly thoughts and all that planning. It just won’t bless God. It won’t. He said, give and it shall be given unto you. So we’ve just got to give. We do. That’s right. And we’ve got to let go. I’ll tell you, self-deception is one of the worst things for every, I must say, Christian. because we grew up with laws and rules and those laws and rules if they’re old testament law okay take for instance tithing a lot of people think that we need to tithe according to malachi 3. i’m getting off the subject today but according to malachi 3 bring it all into the storehouse i was a proponent of that i taught that darren and i taught that And yet, in the New Testament, Jesus is saying, just give. Just give out of a heart of love. Just give. Don’t be taking that little book that you keep all of the tithes and all the offerings and all the figures and everything you give. Just throw it out. Don’t keep a book on all your giving. Don’t, because that is Old Testament, and that is a part of deception. And I’m getting out of that deception, Kimberly. I want to give, I want to show you who are listening, one example of deception we all need to look out for. Okay, here’s one. And there are 400 websites and chat rooms available to help anorexics stay thin and to help them resist pressure from parents.

SPEAKER 02 : 10:24

I’m sorry, got to interrupt. There are 400 different websites and chat rooms that are trying to talk anorexic people who are already unhealthily thin. Yes. To stay thin. They’re trying to talk them into staying thin.

SPEAKER 04 : 10:41

Absolutely. And one website actually says, anorexia is a lifestyle or a friend, not a disease. Do you see the fallacy in this statement? Some things that we’ve believed all of our lives, and I’m including me, all my life, I find out it’s deception. And from this statement, not only that, but it’s dangerous. Ignoring counselors and parents is not the answer. And as you watch the news, you are seeing that young people are being told mainly by their professors, but also people that pay them to protest. Don’t get advice from your parents or friends who don’t believe the way you do. So our young people are being lied to. by people that they’ve gotten accustomed to trusting. What a dangerous and powerful medication to put your child or your friend on the road to destruction.

SPEAKER 02 : 11:33

And we’re talking about self-deception when we have ideas that have been… Maybe not even something we developed for ourselves. It could be generational. You know, we don’t know if maybe a parent and you’re specifically talking about anorexia here, but maybe a parent had an eating disorder and then that that parent passed it on to a child, you know, so it can be a generational thing. It’s still self-deception if we choose to believe our feelings about that and what we’ve observed from other people and from our parents. And we don’t go to the word of God and hear what he has to say over us and then make changes. I think, why is change hard? I don’t know why change is so hard for humans, but it is. Change is one of those difficult obstacles to maneuver.

SPEAKER 04 : 12:29

Well, we’ve always done it this way, Kimberly. Why change now, midstream?

SPEAKER 02 : 12:36

Because I believe that’s the whole point. I’m glad you asked it that way, because the whole point is, are you willing to change your mind about something? Are you willing to go into a situation? I heard, and I believe it was a lyric in a song of Gotta Find the Song. If you are in love, you’re willing to see a different perspective. That’s right. with whomever you love. You’re not trying to beat them over the head with what you think is truth. You love them, and so you’re just in life with them.

SPEAKER 04 : 13:10

Absolutely, yes.

SPEAKER 02 : 13:11

And that hopefully will bring truth, but the truth, when Jesus says, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, he’s talking about his heart. Mm-hmm. He’s talking about his relationship to us.

SPEAKER 04 : 13:26

That’s right. And to God the Father. Yes. And he says in Matthew 15 that the tradition of man makes powerless the word of God. Right. Tradition of man. And that is keeping record. It’s like you said, keeping in your little book. I gave this last Sunday. I gave $100 last Sunday and I gave, okay, I’m almost caught up on my tithe. We get to the end of the month and We’re under pressure all the time, Kimberly. That’s pressure. Right. It really is. And relationship is not. It is not. It’s supposed to be. Freedom. Pressure. Right. That’s right. James 4 tells us how to live a godly life. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that he is fiercely jealous. He is a fiercely jealous lover. And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that God goes against or opposes the willful proud. God gives grace to the willing humble. So let God work his will in you. Yell aloud no to the devil and watch him scamper and say a quiet yes to God. And he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field, sitting on the fence. Hit bottom and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the master. It’s the only way you’ll get on your feet. If you get on your knees, you’ll get on your feet. That’s from the message. Wow. James 4. It’s amazing. It’s saying things that are opposite. Well, I’ve got to build a career. I’ve got to make a name for myself. No, Jesus says, humble yourself and you will be exalted.

SPEAKER 02 : 15:16

He’s not asking us to do something that he hasn’t done himself. And really, all of that is reflecting his own heart. And, you know, you had asked me to read the Passion Translation of 1 Peter 4, 8. That’s the memory verse of the week. Above all, constantly echo God’s intense love for one another. Because that’s who he is. He is love. God is love. God is relationship. And we get to work and practice relationship with one another. Do we really want people to be pointing out every little thing that we have excluded, that we have missed out, that we have hurt them with? Is that what we want? God doesn’t keep record like that. No. And so he’s asking us not to, that we should echo God’s intense love for one another. For love will be the canopy over all sin.

SPEAKER 04 : 16:17

That is so good. It’s like God is saying to each and every one of us, I want you to be with me. And we’re going to go on a great adventure. And we’re going to climb a mountain. And it’s going to be the best thing that you’ve ever had in your life. And you’re going, no, Lord, no, no, no. I don’t want this. I don’t want change. I’m not ready for change, just like you were saying, Kimberly. Why are people so obstinately set against change? A great Scottish preacher, Arthur Gossip, what a name for a preacher, Gossip, lost his wife suddenly. And his first sermon after she passed was entitled, When Life Tumbles In, What Then? And in that sermon, he made a powerful statement. You people in the sunshine may believe the faith, but we in the shadows must believe it. And we have nothing else. It reminds me of that phrase that we saw at the church in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Faith is not believing God can. It’s knowing he will. And so we’ve got to step over that little threshold of if or when or all of that and say, Father, I’m just yours. I’m yours. I’m yours completely and wholly, and I want to do your will. Praise the Lord. That’s right. We also have a story of Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. It’s interesting. We were just talking to Rachel before the program that J.R.R. Tolkien, who wrote The Lord of the Rings, which is probably the greatest sci-fi movie ever, ever made, I mean, things that happened in The Lord of the Rings was just amazing. And it was done in 2000 and 2001. It was ahead of its time. And his friendship with C.S. Lewis was really profound because C.S. Lewis was an atheist. So J.R.R. got him to thinking really deeply these two things. Great authors and preachers got to him to thinking really deeply about, am I right about being an atheist? Am I right in going up this journey, believing there is no God? And we have to ask ourselves questions, Kimberly, every once in a while. Am I doing the right thing in my life in God’s order, in God’s confidence, in God’s ways? Am I doing it?

SPEAKER 02 : 18:42

I think we stay blind in our routines. And I think that is why we don’t want change, because we’re comfortable where we’re blind. When we start taking those blinders off, we realize what is really happening around us. What is truly required of us? That’s right. Love is not an easy thing. Yes, it is. When you’re asking the Lord to help you with it, but on your own, love is impossible. And relationship with love being at the center all the time is impossible without God.

SPEAKER 04 : 19:20

It’s like the little acrostic I talk about every once in a while. The word joy is made up of J-O-Y, Jesus, others, and then you. And it’s usually Jesus, you, and others, and it’s not going to compute the way Jesus wanted to.

SPEAKER 02 : 19:37

Well, let’s be really honest about it. It’s usually you, and then you might think about Jesus and then others. Okay.

SPEAKER 04 : 19:46

Well, in the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, it involves a girl named Jill who lost her way in a scary forest. She cries and cries and develops a terrible thirst. As she looks for water, she happens upon a stream and eagerly runs toward it. But then she notices a lion is lying beside it. She stops in her tracks. The lion, knowing she is thirsty, invites her to come and drink. May I? May I? Would you mind going away while I do? Jill asks. The lion answers this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazes at its motionless bulk, and I would like to say his motionless bulk because Aslan depicts Jesus here, she realizes she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic. “‘Will you promise not to do anything to me if I do come?’ asked Jill. “‘I make no promise,’ replies the lion.” Jill was so thirsty now without noticing it. She came a step nearer. Do you eat girls? She asked. Do you want to continue, Kimberly?

SPEAKER 02 : 20:55

The lion says, I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms. He didn’t say this as if it were boasting nor as if it were sorry, as if he were sorry, nor as if he were angry. He just said it matter of factly. I dare not come and drink, said Jill. Then you will die of thirst, said the lion. Oh dear, said Jill, coming another step nearer. I suppose I must go and look for another stream then. There is not another stream, said the lion, ending the conversation.

SPEAKER 04 : 21:42

What does this mean? Okay, we know that the lion is Aslan, the Christ figure. He makes no promises that Jill will not suffer. He will not promise her the better life that the world promises you. But he does invite her to drink the water she needs. What do you need today? We’ve often answered this particular set of blessings, safety from more things to go wrong. Bless me, bless me, bless me, Father, and I will have a good day. We think we have a sort of safety net, but do we? God says, fellowship with me, safety to come into my presence. Coming into his presence, Kimberly, gives me such a confidence that I’m being taken care of by the best comforter of all times.

SPEAKER 02 : 22:29

He really is a lion. And I do believe that as we do come near him, it can be a type of awe. You know, when it says to fear the Lord and that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all things. We that could be a fear, a holy fear and a holy awe, like drawing near to a really large lion in these Narnia books. And when we know his love and are in awe of that love, we are no longer afraid of him swallowing us. In fact, we might invite him to. Please swallow me up in your love. I do not want my own ways anymore. I don’t want my desires and my selfishness anymore. I’ve been looking for a way to die lately, not literally. So don’t take that literally and think that I’m trying some suicidal because I’m not. I don’t have those kinds of thoughts. I am literally trying to keep asking the Lord for how do I die to myself, to all of this self? It’s so much about self. So much about me, me, me all the time. Whether I’m in pain. This morning I had a rib go out. I don’t know why that happens, but sometimes a rib just slips right out. of my rib cage and it makes it hard to breathe. Yes. So it happened this morning and it was really perfect timing because I was in that mindset of, okay, how do I stop thinking about me? Yeah. But when pain comes, you’re really thinking about yourself. And so that pain came and I just said, okay, thank you. Thank you. This is an opportunity for me to say, thank you that you know what’s going on in my body. I don’t have to worry about it. I don’t have to figure this out. I don’t have to figure out what stretch to do, what, what chiropractor to call, what um, what, what painkiller to take or muscle relaxant to take. I, I don’t have to figure any of that out. That’s right. I can trust that you’ve got this and I can just lay here and say, thank you. That’s right. Thank you. In the middle of this, that you are not leaving me to myself. You’re giving me an opportunity to focus on you. You’re giving me one more moment to to instead of being selfish, think of you and say, you know what? I want you. I don’t need this fixed as much as I need you.

SPEAKER 04 : 25:16

That’s where we want to get to. It really is. It reminds me of 16 years ago when Darren left and he went to be with the Lord. And here I was. I had always been a co-host. He had been the… The leader. Okay, the leader.

SPEAKER 01 : 25:36

He was the leader. He took the lead.

SPEAKER 04 : 25:38

That’s right, he did. And if you listen on Fridays, you’ll realize, yes, Darren was the anointed leader of Darren in Denver. And I realized, oh. what am I going to do? And the Lord said, just lean on me. Just lean on me. Just like Jesus said, this is in John 7, if anyone is thirsty, and Jill was thirsty, she didn’t want to approach the lion though. She was a little reticent. Let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture says, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. Do you think that I would have… even imagined I would be on the radio for 16 more years, Kimberly. No, no. A thousand times no. I just didn’t have it in me. And yet the Lord says, just follow me. I’m going to direct you every day. Do you trust me? Yes, Lord, I trust you. And it’s been such a marvelous journey for And we just ask for all of you out here listening.

SPEAKER 02 : 26:38

Oh, come to him. That’s right. Just keep trusting him with every step of your life, every every part of your journey.

SPEAKER 04 : 26:46

He will not let you down. No, he won’t. Oh, God bless you. Thank you for listening today. Take joy, my friend. Take joy.

SPEAKER 01 : 27:02

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. Our 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.

SPEAKER 1 : 28:21

Thank you.