Transcending Temptations in Faith

SPEAKER 04 : 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 01 : 1:04

Welcome to Call to Freedom. May the righteous be glad and rejoice before God. May they be happy and joyful. Oh, the Bible is chock full of goodness and happiness and joyfulness and rejoicing in the Lord. And we can’t find the roots of those beautiful words in this world. It’s only temporary, folks. When you get something new, brand new in your life, it’s only temporary. It’s just a temporary feeling. But in Jesus Christ, we’re always alive in him. Praise the Lord. You are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. And Kimberly, it was like Christmas at my house today.

SPEAKER 02 : 1:42

It was having a new computer installed and you got a new mouse and a new keyboard.

SPEAKER 01 : 1:47

Yeah, it’s been a fun day. It really has been. And all of you who still have Microsoft 10, it’s gone.

SPEAKER 02 : 1:54

The Windows 10. The Windows 10. It won’t be supported for much longer. So we’re moving and shifting to Windows 11. You don’t have to get a new computer to do that. But your computer was how old? 15 years? Yeah.

SPEAKER 01 : 2:10

But new programming, yes, new programs. And it was just so much fun seeing the webmaster going to work today. It was just a pleasure. He brought his dog, Leroy, and Leroy was just amazing. Enjoying the backyard and enjoying extra company. That’s right. And we’re going to, if you’re waiting on the donation page, thank you for being patient and understanding. Tomorrow, all the files are going to be in. And it’s going to be in place from this weekend on. So thank you so much for your faithfulness. And your giving will be recorded then in different format. But it’ll be just beautiful. And it’ll be easier. And they don’t have to require all of… uh, your identity on that link.

SPEAKER 02 : 3:01

So, and there were some of you who donated last week. We did receive that before the launch happened on the weekend. We did receive yours. So, um, yeah, again, thank you for your, your generosity. We are so blessed by you and the way that you are vessels for the Lord to just provide seed and, And we choose to be the same. We’re vessels, too. And we we pass on what you give to us. We pass on to others. And it is a blessing to be givers, isn’t it?

SPEAKER 01 : 3:30

It is home of refuge. We give to the Texas flood. I’ll be sending a check here very soon. Thank you so much for thinking about people that have nothing after some of these storms, just nothing. We were watching Twister, a movie, and oh my goodness, the devastation. We can’t even begin to understand how these people are trying to pick up afterwards, and there’s no way. There is no way, Kimberly. And with this flood, it just swept away everything. In a twister, you may have rubble there, but in a flood, everything goes downstream to the ocean or wherever it goes, and you don’t ever see some of that again.

SPEAKER 02 : 4:11

Loss is hard. It is hard. And, you know, you started out at the top of the hour here talking about joy. Yes. And it’s a choice to get back to it. You know, sometimes we get stuck in our grief or our anger over loss. Mm-hmm. And when we get stuck, that’s when it’s dangerous. We’ve got to choose joy. And the way that we choose it, we don’t feel joy right away when we choose it. We choose it by saying, God, help me. Help me get back to joy.

SPEAKER 01 : 4:41

I remember when we lost our home in a fire, Kimberly, and the big thing for me was that spirit of self-pity. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER 02 : 4:50

It set in. Oh, wow. And we can end up stuck in a victim mentality like nobody understands what I’ve gone through because nobody’s experienced. And you know what? There’s truth in that. There’s truth for each one of us that others would not understand what we are going through because we are unique individuals and our stories are all very different. But the point is not whether or not somebody understands because they’ve walked through the exact same thing you’ve walked through. The point is knowing that others have experienced loss and have experienced grief and anger and rage. Others have experienced self-pity and pride. These are the enemies to Christ. And that’s why we’re talking about joy at the top of the hour, because when we choose joy, we’re choosing Christ. And when we choose love and we want others to be healed and whole that, Even, or maybe I should say, especially the ones who do harm to us, looking at them and saying, okay, they’ve got to be miserable in a miserable life. So I pray, I pray that they will wake up. They will be awakened to new life in Christ, new life in love.

SPEAKER 01 : 6:06

Yes. And I want to remind you, I remind myself this, and I have one precious power partner who puts this scripture on his donation from 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man, and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. He knows what you can handle. He really does. And Jesus was at all points faithful. tempted as we are.

SPEAKER 02 : 6:37

Yes. I love how that scripture brings out the commonality between all men. We all have this in common. We know what it’s like to be tempted. We know what it’s like to be tempted, to be angry, tempted, to be full of self pity, tempted to be irritated, tempted to be stuck in grief, discouragement, despair, hopelessness. Yes. These are the things that we’re not called to in our new life. And that’s when we are told to put on the new life and to leave the old behind. Sometimes it’s hard to leave the old emotions. They’re so familiar to us. And we think that we’ve got to keep living with them, but we don’t have to.

SPEAKER 01 : 7:22

No, I was going to remind all of you who are from 65 to where I am at 80 and then above that we no longer have access to the old in this future that’s coming about. There’s more frequency and intensity in everything that is happening. And you don’t hold on to the old. You don’t hold even on to the old CDs or the cassettes. There is a new format coming. And Kimberly, I’m having to get used to all the new. We were throwing out and trashing so much the other day. So many cassette tapes and CDs. And even today, the webmaster was saying, wow. wow, you’ve got so many CDs. They’re going to be gone. It’s just like the Windows 10. It’s going to be gone. And we’ve got to go on with the new. Yes.

SPEAKER 02 : 8:13

We’re moving on with the new. You know, I have a new floor going in in my home right now.

SPEAKER 03 : 8:18

Yes, you do.

SPEAKER 02 : 8:20

It’s beautiful. I can’t even describe it. It really looks like stone. These are stone tiles, and they feel like stone, kind of like flagstone. And I’m so excited about this new flooring that’s going in and out. I’m a little sad that my old floor that I have painted. You painted it. I put a lot of time into this floor that it was art for me. It was ragged on and it just looked really, it looked kind of watery, but mostly like stone because I used real natural stone colors in it. And I loved my painted floor. Yeah.

SPEAKER 01 : 8:57

Yes, and even Sarah helped you. Oh, all the kids. They all helped me with it. So those memories are there, too.

SPEAKER 02 : 9:04

Right. Well, and when we didn’t have any kind of tile or roughness, it was just the smooth foundation of the home, the cement foundation of the home that had been poured. So it was very smooth. And when I painted it, it was even smoother. And the kids all have memories of helping me mop the floor. And the way we did that, we called it Cinderella day. It was Cinderella day when we would get buckets, two buckets of water, soapy, warm, soapy water. And they would just, they’d put their feet in the soapy buckets that when they were little, they would, they would track it all around. We would dump the buckets out onto this cement foundation and then they would go sliding around on it and play in the water on the floor. Then we would get out a bunch of towels and that those towels would be our rags and we would just slide around on them with our feet or our knees or and the kids would have the floor mopped in no time. But it was fun because it was really smooth and that’s all being covered up. We’re going away from the old and saying hello to the new. And sometimes it’s hard to say goodbye to those old memories that are familiar, that we’re attached to, the things that we have defaulted to, the kinds of thinking, the thought patterns that we default to. Like the wheel that I was talking about yesterday. I can get onto a thought and be thinking it, thinking it, thinking it over and over like this wheel spinning in my head. And when we choose to let go of it, it’s kind of hard because it’s so familiar to us. We do it all the time. We default that way and don’t realize, oh, I need some new thinking. I need some new programming. And Jesus is the only one who can really help you with that. I know a few people who have grit, they’ve gritted their teeth and they have chosen to really try hard to think differently every day. And it has done some good. But wow, what effort that has taken. Jesus, he invites us to come to him because he will make it happen for you. His yoke is easy. His burden is light and he will help you in the transition if you ask him.

SPEAKER 01 : 11:19

That’s right. We’ve been talking and reading 1 Corinthians 15, and I hope that you are familiar with this portion of Scripture because it’s beautiful. It’s Paul just putting out everything that he knows as far as everybody dies in Adam and everybody comes alive in Christ, and then the resurrection of the dead, all of that, and how different animals are from human beings and what’s going to happen at the end here. in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. And I realized this morning as I was awakened, the Holy Spirit says, I want you to go to the office and I want you to copy 1 Corinthians 15 in the message. And so I have it here. I’m just going to talk a little bit about from… Verse 32, I wish we had an hour when these things happen. And Paul is talking about what he has suffered in bringing this message to not only the Gentiles, but hopefully the Jewish people that will listen. And he says, I look at death personally. Practically every day. Now, we don’t go through that. We know that there’s persecution, but we don’t go through that realization that there is death. And in verse 32, he says, Do you think I was just trying to act heroic when I fought the wild beasts at Ephesus? We were talking about the wild beasts, Kimberly, and what they entailed. They could be evil spirits. They could be people. And they could be actual animals. office, I mean, to the studio.

SPEAKER 02 : 12:56

Well, that anything that is against Christ is wild. It’s in Christ. We have the fruits of the spirit, which includes the self being controlled by love. We very often when we get angry or full of self-pity, you know, like you were talking about. We’re so familiar with it that we don’t want to be controlled by love. We want to be out of control. And it’s wild. It’s beastly. And those things that are against Christ come across as wild beasts in our lives. They do. And they ravage. They do damage. So that’s I know that’s what he’s talking about here.

SPEAKER 01 : 13:32

Yes, he says in that same verse, verse 32 of 1 Corinthians 15, and now he’s talking to the believer. It’s resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection. I’m reading from the message translation that undergirds what I do and say the way I live. If there’s no resurrection, it’s just we eat, we drink, we’re married, and the next day we die, and that’s all there is to it. Oh, don’t fool yourselves. Don’t let yourselves be poisoned by this anti-resurrection loose talk. Then he says bad company corrupts good morals or manners, and it surely does. It’s like a rotten apple in a bushel. You want to get it out as fast, as quickly as possible. It’s like potatoes, too. Once you smell a smell of rot or spoiling, I grab into my little potato bag and I look for the one, the culprit, that’s making all the other potatoes bad.

SPEAKER 02 : 14:30

Right, right. The idea of hanging out with people who will… go on that wheel with you and think it over and think it over and come up with ideas for how to fix something. And even those that are gossiping, somebody that you might want to talk to because they would understand how bad so-and-so hurt you. We tend to gravitate toward people who are going to empathize with us when we want more self-pity. When we want somebody to be irritated with us. Yes. Right. And so that’s that’s the bad company that corrupts the good. The good in us is saying, I want to forgive you. I want to let go. I want to show you peace and joy and goodness and kindness. I want myself to be controlled by love rather than going out and being a wild beast with it. Mm hmm.

SPEAKER 01 : 15:24

Sometimes we just have to back off, Kimberly, and take a breath and say, what am I doing here? Who do I belong to? Okay, all of us who have believed on Jesus Christ, we belong to Jesus. We belong to God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. So we’ve got to stand back sometimes when all of the distractions are just whirling around and say, think straight. Make your thoughts. Think straight. Awaken to the holiness of life. Jesus way.

SPEAKER 02 : 15:51

You don’t know this because we haven’t talked about it, but you even quieted a thought in me because I was feeling a difference in your house ever since the roof went on. And I realized because they scraped off all of those shingles and there was no decking underneath. Those shingles were falling through into your attic and smashed down all of your insulation.

SPEAKER 01 : 16:15

Yes.

SPEAKER 02 : 16:15

And so this summer visiting you is unlike any other summer. It has always felt to me like you have air conditioning in your home because it’s always been so cool in your house. It’s been really warm this time. And I’m not complaining. Not at all. But in that warmth, I’ve been thinking, what happened? And I figured out, oh, the roof. When they put the roof on it, smash down the insulation. You probably need more insulation again. Absolutely. Call the roof people. They’re the ones who caused the problem. I’m starting to see you can already hear the wheels starting, even as I’m talking right now. Let’s call the roof people. Let’s make this right. We need to get that insulation back in there. And you just went, no, I don’t think this is the right time. And I just sat and I just went, OK, Jesus, it’s not the right time. Yeah, that’s all right. You and look what he did yesterday. He provided a 71 was the high 71 yesterday in the middle of July. That’s kind of unheard of. Well, it’s unheard of for us Oklahomans. But it was so beautifully cool. And it was just this wonderful respite where it felt like air conditioning all day long.

SPEAKER 01 : 17:25

Yes. And so sometimes you want your friend to do something that you believe is the best thing, the right way to do. And God is telling your friend, wait, wait, wait. And so we’ve got to go along and cooperate with our friend. We can’t go ahead of our friend’s way of doing things and listening to God because we all listen differently to Holy Spirit. Yes. He’s got different messages for each and every one of us. So verse 34 of first Corinthians 15 says, no more playing fast and loose with resurrection facts. Ignorance of God is a luxury you can’t afford in times like these. Aren’t you embarrassed that you’ve let this kind of thing go on as long as you have? And it’s true. Did it start out with the awake, awake, think straight, awaken to the holiness of life in verse 34.

SPEAKER 02 : 18:19

Oh, that’s so good. In another translation, it says, come back to your right senses and awaken to what is right. And our right senses are the ones that go along with the fruit of the spirit. Our right senses are the one that says, you know what? I’m going to show mercy and I’m going to be kind in this area. It’s really impossible to do that. Well, it feels impossible to just grit your teeth and do it. But Jesus can actually change your heart to where you feel mercy for someone else. You, or, or you change your idea of what you need in the middle of a situation and no longer are you, you don’t even think of being full of self pity. You just look for the grace of God and say, thank you. Your grace is enough. That’s right. You heal my broken heart. You replace and you redeem and restore that which has been lost to me. When we lean on the Lord for that and ask him for help and, in making that switch, he does it.

SPEAKER 01 : 19:25

He does. The enemy is trying with every tactic, everything that he has. I know I was listening to a defense lawyer for President Trump, and she said 91 charges and indictments came against President Trump. And I’m thinking, oh, my goodness, taking him either into court or to go through another trial issue with his lawyers of getting things taken care of. And I’m thinking, you know what? The devil has tried everything to keep us, you and me listening, keeping us from experiencing the love of God and spreading it abroad to our brothers and sisters. He’s trying anger. He’s trying accidents. He’s trying all kinds of things to keep us distracted from the love of God.

SPEAKER 02 : 20:15

And when we get our senses back, our right senses, and we are awakened to what is right, then we repent of those places where we’re stuck in grief and self-pity and resentment and bitterness and anger. When you get stuck there, it’s okay to grieve. It’s okay to be angry. But getting stuck there is not okay. That’s when it becomes sin. Yes.

SPEAKER 01 : 20:40

Well, there is a righteous anger we know in Ephesians. Right. But boy, we’ve got to be careful that it doesn’t turn into that bitterness you’re talking about. Yes.

SPEAKER 02 : 20:49

Yes. We just don’t want to be stuck that way. No. So we return, we’re awakened and we return to our right senses and repent of those ways that have kept us stuck. And wow, can I just say, as I’ve been continuing to ask for that, I feel more peace, more joy, real joy in my life. Circumstances haven’t changed. And in some areas of my life, they’ve even gone a little the opposite direction of what I was hoping for.

SPEAKER 01 : 21:20

You use the word wonky. A little wonky.

SPEAKER 02 : 21:22

They’ve gone a little wonky. And in the past, I may have been discouraged about that or felt hopeless. Disappointment can sometimes really cause some hopelessness for me. But I have more joy than I have ever felt before. I’ve released those old patterns, those old feelings, because the old is going away. And the new has come. Jesus has replaced that. It’s like he’s written new software into me so that I am able to truly walk in his joy, his peace, this grace. It’s a substance that is so different than the old way.

SPEAKER 01 : 22:04

Physical purchases and physical things around us cannot replace the joy of the Lord. And that joy, I believe why so many people are tired and weary, so they take medication to go to bed and medication to wake up. I believe because they’re trying to manufacture joy on their own. You can’t have it. The joy of the Lord is our strength. It truly is.

SPEAKER 02 : 22:34

And do you know, the Lord really is, he, Jesus, Jesus came, Jesus came to show how to walk in mercy and how to live in mercy and love. And that is without opinion. I mean, he left all judgment to his father and he did not come here to judge any man. It says that in John very clearly, he did not come to judge. He came to bring forgiveness. and to forgive all. So he’s showing us a way to do that. That’s why he was first fruits of resurrection into this new way of thinking, this new life. It’s the new way is to let go of your old opinions and your old judgments. And I’ve been watching you do that more and more. You tell me, I think I’m being swayed by you. I think, I think he loves all men. And he wants all to be saved. He does not wish for any to perish, not even the wicked. I know sometimes we come back to saying, okay, but it does say there will be some in the fires of hell. It’s just that we are not to focus on that and we are not to give our energy or our time to who that might be and how that might happen. or even wish it upon somebody. We should not wish it upon anyone. To become like him and to have this kind of joy and peace is to let go of that judgment and that idea of trying to figure out, you know, well, I don’t want them to make it to heaven. I don’t want to live with them in heaven. No, that’s not a Christ spirit. Hold on to the new. The new life is forgiving. and loving and sees. And boy, the energy that I see in you, Mom, you’re a new person. I know you told me you’re taking some new supplements. Well, all glory to God. You have so much energy all day long. It’s wonderful. You are really, I think you’re kind of running circles around me at this point.

SPEAKER 01 : 24:39

And I’m excited about that for you. Yes, it is. I really, truly believe when our focus is on the Lord Jesus, and not on our own circumstances and surroundings. He just makes it so more pleasant for us than we ever imagined.

SPEAKER 02 : 24:56

I know that we have a tendency to condemn ourselves. We’re so hard on ourselves, and then we’re hard on other people. And I love my friend who called and asked for some help. He just said he was in a bad, dark place, and he really wanted somebody to pray for him. And I did. I ended up praying for him and praying with him. And he really felt something immediately. But then I asked for him, would you pray for me? I’m in a place that I need some extra strength. I’m in a really tough place right now. And he stuttered and stammered. Well, I don’t know if I can. And he was trying to get over the dark place that he had just been in. And he let himself realize someone’s asking me, even though I am really in a dark place right now. He felt limited. Yes. Someone’s asking me for prayer. And he let go of his judgments of himself. Yes. Yes. In order to pray for me. And a miracle happened. Praise the Lord. A miracle happened in that moment. And I felt it through my body physically. And it was such a substantial miracle that it continued on for another week to 10 days.

SPEAKER 01 : 26:14

Don’t you think those physical issues have spiritual roots?

SPEAKER 02 : 26:18

Yes.

SPEAKER 01 : 26:19

When we get our roots all cleaned up and ready for the fruit to bear above on the earth, That’s a wonderful thing from God. It really is.

SPEAKER 02 : 26:29

So walk in forgiveness. Walk in mercy. Walk in love and kindness. And watch the joy of the Lord take over in your life.

SPEAKER 01 : 26:38

Oh, it’s been so good being with you this week. I hope and pray that you will grasp hold of what we’re saying. The joy of the Lord truly is your strength, my friend. And we wish that and pray for that in your life in Jesus’ name. God bless you and keep you and take joy. Or you may leave your message at 1-877-917-7256.

SPEAKER 04 : 27:23

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 : 28:27

Thank you.