Unshackled Life Ministries

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Unshackled Moments ~ January 17, 2018 ~ You Can't Honor What You Don't Know

I love the show Top Chef. I have seen every season, and I am grateful that my wife enjoys watching it with me. Somehow though we missed the start of the current season. I noticed a couple of nights ago that we are six episodes in, which is OK, because Leah and I pretty much stream everything after it airs anyway. So, we've been watching this season where the chefs are in Denver, and so far it's good. There have been some dishes that I would seriously love to try, and as far as the sister show Last Chance Kitchen goes, I can't believe no one chose the basket with licorice and peanut butter.

But getting back on topic, the last episode we watched the chefs were told to go back to their roots and cook a dish that honored their heritage. I'll try to do this without any worse spoilers than no one picked the licorice basket. The chef who fell short had difficulty because they (trying to avoid he or she just in case you, Dear Reader, are like me and sometimes watch shows after they air and hate to read spoilers,,,,,anyway, they) didn't really know their heritage. The chef knew just enough to try to incorporate some things in the dish but not enough to really bring honor to the dish and make it good. One of the judges commented that they would have been better to simply leave that side of their lineage out of the dish because it came out confused as the chef was. Leah and I were discussing our heritage, what we would do to honor it, etc. and I said, you can't honor what you don't know.

An that Dear Reader is the point of this Moment and why I brought up Top Chef. The contestant chef truly wished to honor their heritage and wanted to do well, but since they didn't know it, they moved on to Last Chance Kitchen. And in so doing, they gave an excellent object lesson. We who have been given freedom and found a life worth living want tour lives to be a demonstration of God's power, love and way of life. We want to be a light of love and an instrument of service to others that brings honor and glory to Daddy. But if we don't really get to know Daddy well, we can't honor Him. You can't honor what you don't know.

If we only know a little about the One who saved us, then we can say we believe in Him, but what we do will often be more confused than honoring I know people that I respect and think are pretty awesome, but I would dearly hate to be asked to speak in their honor because I don't know them well enough to do them justice. But I believe I could speak about my wife in a way that honors her, because I know her well. And I want my life to bring as much honor to God as possible. The key to that is not in learning rules and rites and doing everything a certain way. It's not in never making a mistake or falling short. The way to bring honor to Him with my life is to really get close to Him and get to know Him in such a way that our association rubs off on me and shows in how I live and act and am.

Let us draw near to the Daddy who loves us and get to know Him so well that knowing Him influences our very being. Then the confusion of what He would or wouldn't want or approve of falls away, and our efforts to bring Him glory are not muddled and confused.

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Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Unshackled Moments ~ January 16, 2018 ~ No Need To Cut

I am fluent in sarcasm. It feels like a pretty natural second language to me most of the time. But I try not to use it like a knife these days. When I was younger, my friends and I frequently cut each other down. We called it having cut down wars. Now, cut downs are different than sarcasm, but the two often overlap, and a lot of sarcasm is pretty insulting, even if the person it is directed at doesn't realize it. I used to pride myself on being able to insult someone without them seeing the insult and on being able to win most cut down wars.

My mother however hated it. She is still quick to stop any cut down matches she hears if her sons, grandchildren or church youth are involved. She often would silence us with a look and a short statement of 4:29. That last part was Mom shorthand for Ephesians 4:29 -

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

Aw Mom, we're just playing. These were my friends, and no one took it seriously. Cut downs and sarcasm are funny. But my Mom was right. I've realized that, as I have come to realize she was right about so many things I once thought she was taking too seriously. As I think back on some of those moments with friends where sarcasm and cut downs were prevalent, I can remember several occasions where things went a little too far. Someone would make a remark that hit a little close to home, struck one of my many nerves of insecurity. No matter how able I might have been to laugh it off, or how much I told myself my friend didn't mean it because we were just playing, it hurt. And I am sure that I hurt my friends more than once or twice as well.

In truth, these harmless games weren't harmless. We ran each other down in order to feel like it made us look better. And God help the people who weren't our friends. Those were the easiest targets as we felt no need to hold back. I believe it's human nature to try to build ourselves up by tearing others down. I think that's a big reason why the tabloids are so popular. While we tend to envy the rich and famous, we also love to see them brought down, so that we no longer feel inferior. But tearing someone else down, whether in their presence or behind their back, never really works to strengthen our own sense of self worth. It certainly doesn't encourage anyone, build them up or impart the love and grace of God.

Criticizing and finding fault in others doesn't help make them better. It only angers, hurts and discourages. It also doesn't make us better. Pointing out the shortcomings and insufficiencies in others doesn't really raise our own esteem. There are times when we battle with insecurity and feelings of worthlessness, but the answer to those times is not in tearing someone else apart. It is in remembering that our worth is determined by Daddy who loves us and holds us in high esteem. Daddy delights in you and loves you as you are, not as you should be. There is no need for further validation when we realize how true that really is.

Today, let us be quick to show mercy, kindness and compassion with our tongues so that our words impart grace, and let us remember that someone else's esteem in their own eyes, our eyes, or the eyes of anyone else, has nothing to do with our own significance and value. That is determined by God's great love for us. When we need to feel better or of worth, let us turn to the Comforter for reassurance of God's love and acceptance and lay aside cut downs, biting sarcasm and gossip.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Unshackled Moments ~ January 15, 2018 ~ Weed Killer

One exercise that I practice is to try for a full inventory of my blessings. . . .

- AS BILL SEES IT p. 37

For a few years I regularly made a daily list of five things I felt grateful for that day and posted it on social media. I stopped because a few months ago it occurred to me that such a list might be causing others pain. Like it might feel to someone who didn't have said blessing I felt grateful for that their nose was being rubbed in their need and lack. I am not sure if that is real or just some crazy thought that popped into my head, but I have not been publicly posting my list until I feel more comfortable doing so again. In the meantime though, I do still make a nightly gratitude list when I review my day, and it continues to be a source of strength and joy for me.

The idea of coming up with five things I'm grateful for every day, regardless of how rough the day may have been, came about five years ago while waiting to have a biopsy done on some growths in my chest. Fearing the worst and what might happen if the growths were malignant, I turned to Daddy for my comfort and refuge rather than blowing two years of sobriety by trying to escape that fear. The daily mini gratitude list was one of the things I did to remind myself of my blessings and Daddy's love and care for me. It worked well, and I managed to stay sober during the anxious waiting period to find that I have sarcoidosis and not cancer.

It hasn't always been easy, but I have never had a day, no matter how bad, where I was unable to find at least five things that happened or that I had in my life that were worthy of my gratitude. It really helps protect against the danger of falling into self pity when I can find a reason to be grateful. Speaking of gratitude, I am extremely grateful to a friend in recovery who helped me to learn the importance of a gratitude list. During my early days of sobriety as I struggled not to go back out and began to feel pain and hurt that I had numbed for years, an older man with decades of sobriety told me to sit down and write out an inventory of things I had to be grateful for when I felt like I couldn't do anything else to keep from drinking or drugging. He later received a diagnosis of cancer and went through that fear and the treatment staying sober, Every time I spoke with him during his battle with cancer he always brought up at least one thing he felt grateful for. What a great example he gave me.

Another old timer gave me an empty tin box early on and told me to take scraps of paper and jot down things I felt grateful for a place them inside. During hard times I could then open the gratitude box and read the many things I had happen that I could be grateful for. That also helped for a while, although I no longer keep a gratitude box, that was what helped me learn to keep an eye out through my day for things to be grateful for.

I can't describe how important gratitude has been in my recovery and how much of a help it has been in keeping me clean and sober. I have never known anyone who practiced looking for reasons to be grateful who wasn't able to find them, and I have never known anyone who made a practice of expressing gratitude from the heart who relapsed. I know that in the three months before my last relapse in 2010 I quit all aspects of practicing gratitude, and with it came a distancing in my relationship with Daddy. Old hurts and resentments cropped back up, and I nursed and fed them rather than pouring gratitude over them like a spiritual weed killer. As the weeds of resentment and self pity grew, they choked out my appreciation for life and relationship with God. I went back out. I know of no better weed killer to control the growth of the things that choke out the fruits of the Spirit and destroy our ability to stay free than gratitude.

I would encourage everyone who wishes to be free and stay free to practice gratitude. But sometimes an attitude of gratitude is hard to maintain. During those times, taking a moment to physically write out a list is helpful, and at times when even that proves difficult, reviewing older lists can be a source of help and strength and a reminder of our blessings. It's amazing how many of the things I had to be grateful for five years ago as I went through some difficult times are things that I can still be grateful for today. Try it. You may find it works for you as well. And remember that the greatest thing we have to do be grateful for is Daddy's great love for us, and that is always true, even when life is hardest.

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Daddy Do You Really Love Me

Dalyn Woodard shares on how it is not a reason to feel condemned when we wonder if God is really who He says He is and if He really loves us. The message, "Daddy Do You Really Love Me" is about 42 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, January 14, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments and or listens to the messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions to more people by sharing the Moments and messages that you read or listen to? Hitting the share button instead of or in addition to the like button will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

God Is Not Missing

Wally Flynt shares on how the way we go through our difficult times can be a demonstration of His love, power and way of life. God is not missing. He Is here and cares for us. The message, "God Is Not Missing" is about 4 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, January 14, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Unshackled Echo ~ January 13, 2018

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

February 15, 2015.

When I let go of who I am I make it possible to become who I might be, who I want to be and who God created me to be.

Father may we let go of who and what we are without You and pursue Your presence today and every day so that we can become like Jesus and the people of love and liberty that You have called us to be. Amen

Friday, January 12, 2018

Unshackled Moments ~ January 12, 2018 ~ Fighting My Shadow

I'm shadow boxing the phantom of my will

- Randy Stonehill

I heard the above line in a song this morning, and it created a vivid picture in my mind. Maybe that's because I grew up loving to watch boxing with my father, who himself loved it because he had a brother who boxed and who had a large influence and impact on him. I can picture my uncle shadow boxing in training for a fight, even though I never saw him do anything boxing related. He had quit before I was born, and even I long preceded the days before everyone began carrying a video camera around in their pocket.

If you are unfamiliar with the term shadow boxing and were to look up the definition, you would find something like to spar with an imaginary opponent as a form of training. In one sense pretending to fight may seem childish and silly. There's no one there. You can't fight your shadow. And this truth led me to the first thoughts on the idea of shadow boxing the phantom of my will. As hard as the struggle can be at times to keep the old man, old nature, the flesh, the carnal self, however you wish to define the who we were when we're talking about the what it was like portion of our story before we found relationship with the Power greater than us who loves us and cares about us enough to do for us what we can not do for ourselves and set us free, when we struggle with that nature, we're fighting a phantom. The old is passed away, and we have been made new.

As big and scary as shadows can be, they are only shadows. They are not able to hurt us if we don't react out of our fear and do something foolish. I do remember once as a child running into a door as I turned to run from what turned out to be a shadow in my room. That hurt, but it wasn't the shadow that hurt me but my giving in to fear and reacting without caution, thought or direction. Who we were before is just a shadow, a phantom, and there is no need to worry about him or be afraid of him, even if he looms over us. The amazing thing about our shadow is that if we change our position in relation to the light, it gets smaller and less substantial, even if it doesn't ever completely go away. If the phantom we of the past calls and taunts and makes us feel like we have no choice but to live and breathe and be the way we once did when we were slaves, we can simply reposition ourselves in the light of the Spirit and watch the threat shrivel and fade to thin and small and non-threatening.

But while the phantom we are fighting is no real threat if we remember whose we are and that it is His power and light that defeats our darkness and not our ability, strength or determination, shadow boxing is not silly, frivolous or pointless.

Most boxing trainers prefer that their fighters do their shadow boxing before engaging in any other daily exercise routines. The main purpose of this exercise, apart from getting the muscles ready for another activity, is usually to maintain a fighter's rhythm and show the fighter how they would look at that stage of training against a certain opponent. This could be important as fighters envision themselves facing their immediate future opponents: it usually gives fighters an idea of what is, and what is not, to be fixed.

- Jacob Stevens

While our phantom past is not a real threat when we remember that it is dead and gone and we have been made new in Christ, we are still living in enemy territory, in a fallen, contrary world with dangers, pitfalls and temptations. This shadow boxing our phantom is will is an important part of our training and readiness to face our real opponents and should be done before any other exercise or training.

I hope that I haven't taken the metaphor too far and lost you, Dear Reader. I know that not everyone is a fight fan. Our phantom will, our self, the way we were, is no real threat to us if we remember that we have been given a power beyond our own through Daddy's love for us, the work of Christ on the cross for us and the indwelling Spirit working in us. If we remember the grace, the power of God doing for us what we can't do for ourselves, we have and our identity as those who have been set free, then putting our self in its place is as effortless as slapping our shadow. But it is critically important to do so.

We are to daily deny self and follow Him. We have a daily reprieve contingent upon the maintenance of our spiritual condition. That means that first things first, we need to remember our position to and in the Light and make sure our form is good and we are surrendered to His will and care before we plan, strategize and prepare for the day by putting the shadow phantom of our will in submission to His will. When that is done, we can go through our day prepared for the fights we will face, because we are in the shadow of His wing, His will, and the Lord will fight on our behalf. No foe, not even the temptations of our past, can defeat us when we are walking in the light of the Spirit.