Unshackled Moments ~ February 14, 2018 ~ Love Is In The Air

Love is in the air. Along with loneliness, despair, bitterness and regret. One person smells the sweet scent of roses on the same wind on which someone else smells decay. Position is everything. Upwind from the dump and downwind from the rose garden makes for a pleasant stroll through nature. Flip that position and nothing is right. Love and loneliness mingle on the breeze most days, but it never seems more emphasized than Valentine's Day. Even those who don't observe it or pay it little mind, can't help but be aware of the significance and either feel a little happier than usual that they have someone, a little wistful that their relationship was a little better or regret a bit more deeply that they are alone.

I think that's why I am so grateful that Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday intersect this year. Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Lenten season, is a day when we perhaps feel the significance of our need and the amazing love and sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf more than other days. Not that we don't have awareness other days, but the focus makes us that much more aware, much like Valentine's Day makes us more aware of our love or lack of, like it or not. And the reason that this is such a great combination is that Ash Wednesday is a highlight in the greatest love story of all time. And the best news is that it can be our story.

I don't know about you, Dear Reader, but I couldn't have been more of a mess and lived. Drugging and drinking and all the wrong kinds of love in all the wrong places weren't enough to ever let me escape the understanding that I was broken and worthless. Never good enough and never able to measure up, and not even able to lie, cheat and hide well enough to pretend to fit in and belong with those who could measure up, until I gave up trying. I didn't realize that all those I thought measured up also didn't, and unable to serve in heaven I tried to rule the hell my life had become, only to fail at even that. Love? I didn't really understand the meaning of the word, and everything became about me, my acceptance, my need, and what someone or something could make me feel. Finally, I became so broken, lost and afraid that pain became the only feeling I trusted and life became agony. The only truth I knew for sure was that I was unaccepted, unforgiven and deserved to be.

Cut away to another scene. A perfect, holy and blameless God who had created everything stands apart. I can't approach Him. I don't deserve to. And no matter how hard I try, I can't ever quite reach the place where I feel comfortable going to Him, because I know the truth of who and how I am. But the God that I thought hated me for my faults and failures, loved me as I was, and am, not as I should be. He loved me so much that He wrapped Himself in flesh, fasted from His glory and suffered my life and temptations. He did what I was always supposed to do and never could. And then, He gave me His prize for success as He took my pain and punishment and death that comes with failure. And because He loves me enough not to leave me the way I was, He gave me His power to enter into relationship with Him, to walk away from the chemicals and the habits that had me enslaved, to become something new and different.

Today I have a life worth living, I am free from the obsession to drink and drug, and I am someone who is able to give and receive love in a healthy way. Not because I did anything. Not because I figured out how to be a better man. Not because I deserved help or yet another chance. No, all because He loved me enough to accept me as I am, not as I should be, because He wanted to bring me to Himself so much that He was willing to suffer everything I deserved in my place, and because His love has the power to make us new, clean and beautiful.

It's the greatest story ever told, and it's true for me. Some of the details may  be different, but it is or can be true for you as well. Because when He fasted from His glory and suffered in my place, He did it for you as well. He died for you, as He did for me, because He loves you as you are, not as you should be, but He also loves you enough not to leave you the mess you are.  In  46 days the focus will be on the glorious turn of the story where He rises from the grave and ascends into heaven so that His Spirit can come make His home within us and give us the power to do what we could never do on our own. But for now, let us remember with a grateful heart what He gave up and how He suffered so that He could have relationship with us, so that we could become His. What an amazing love! How fitting for us to begin to fine tune our focus on what He has done for us on the same day we can't help but think of love. Because whether you have been blessed with the amazing grace of a loving relationship with another human being, whether your relationship needs some work or even a miracle, or if love seems like just another cosmic joke played on you by a cruel life, the truth is that you are more deeply and truly loved than you will ever be able to comprehend this side of eternity.

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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.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 13, 2018 ~ Carrying The Wilderness With Us

One of the aspects of discipleship and recovery is to seek to improve our conscious contact with Daddy, especially through prayer and meditation, seeking His will for us and the power to carry it out. Conscious contact is essential, because if we forget or lose sight of the truth that Daddy is with us and loves us, then we may falter when times get hard. The truth is that He is with us. He cares for us, and no matter how it may feel at times, we are never alone.

I like to think of conscious contact as an awareness of His presence and His love. Do you have specials times and or places where this awareness is easier to feel than others? I do, as I suspect that most of us in relationship with our Creator do. Mine may be different than yours. And that's OK. Some people may find a special connection with the Creator in His creation, perhaps sitting outside listening to the birds and feeling the breeze.  But others may find that experience miserable and distracting, The birds are annoying, and, oh wait, that's not  a bird....it's a mosquito. It's a good idea to find those places and times that work for you, where you can lose yourself in your time and relationship with Him. Time in the awareness of His presence and love refreshes and strengthens us.

But let us not lose sight of the truth that He is always with us. We need to be careful not to fall into thinking that we can only have conscious contact in that way,  in that place and in that time. As much as those special times and places can be important to our relationship and recovery, after all, even Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness to spend time alone with Daddy, we should ask for the grace to have awareness of Him with us in those times and places that are the opposite of our special times. As close as Jesus was to Daddy alone in the wilderness, there is no doubt that He knew Daddy was with Him in the midst of the multitudes with all the need and reproach surrounding Him. We can cultivate an awareness of His love and provision and presence in the midst of the chaos, stress and distractions of our every day existence. It may start in our own version of the wilderness, but when we take that into the chaos it is such a blessing and even more of a help. As wonderful as it is to be able to connect with God when it's just the two of you, how much more amazing is it to be able to take those wilderness moments with us to the places and times when we need them most and where it is harder to remember?

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

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.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 12, 2018 ~ The Forgiveness Ripple Effect

When we think of Biblical examples of forgiveness and their impact, of course the first person that comes to mind is Jesus Himself. There is no greater example of forgiveness. He is the author of forgiveness and changed the world and our lives with His willingness to forgive and the price He paid so that forgiveness is even possible. From the woman caught in adultery who escaped stoning because of the forgiveness and compassion of Christ, to the thief on the cross who mocked Jesus until his heart was changed and went with Jesus to paradise, to you and me, who have been forgiven so much, the love of Jesus for us, while we were undeserving and even enemies, is the standard of forgiveness that we try to live up to and can only accomplish by grace.

But then, while all man, Jesus was also all God. Of course He could do the impossible and forgive what only God can forgive. What about human, totally human, examples? Well, probably the one pulled up the most often is that of Joseph. Sold into slavery by his brothers who  had actually wanted to kill him at first, he rose from the pits of prison to second in command of all Egypt. When he found himself in a position of power over the brothers who hurt him, he chose to forgive. And yes, it is awesome and inspiring. But there is another example that perhaps is just as powerful, maybe more so.

Joseph had the visions God had given him to hold on to during those dark years. Yes, it would have been hard to hold on to them and not give them up, but he had them.  Esau on the other hand isn't an example often mentioned, because he isn't one of the patriarchs. He wasn't the one chosen by God. His brother was. His father favored him, yet even his father was disappointed in him because of his marriage choices. How hard it must have been to be daddy's favorite and still not be able to live up to his little brother. His brother, Jacob, conned him out of his birthright. And then Jacob tricked Isaac and flat out stole Esau's blessing before running for the hills to escape Esau's wrath.

Years later, Jacob returns with his family and finds Esau has grown powerful. What is the use of power if you can't exact vengeance on those who've done  you wrong, right? Jacob knew this. He fully expected Esau's retaliation. But Esau didn't attack. He forgave and welcomed the brother who'd done him so wrong. We usually speak of forgiveness being more for ourselves than for others. It frees us from the poison of resentment. And that is true. But we are not told when or how Esau forgave. We are not told how it freed him and made his life better. What we see instead is the ripple effect. Esau could have killed his brother and his brother's family and taken everything Jacob had acquired. That is  pretty much what Jacob feared. If he had, God would have had to start over, because the chosen line of promise would have come to a premature end.

But Esau forgave, and Jacob, now called Israel, flourished and his twelve sons became a nation  that would eventually deliver the Messiah to us all Yes, forgiveness of others helps us spiritually. Tremendously. It may even bless and help the person we forgive and be a seed that grows into their having a relationship with God. But we may never know the lives of others even further from the center that we may touch. God can use our willingness to forgive to bless others far beyond the original parties involved. Every act of obedience to God, even that of forgiveness, is something God can use to draw all people to Himself. Let us be quick to forgive, even when we may not see all the good it can do.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

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.

Communion In A Slow Cooker

Dalyn Woodard shares on the meaning of communion and Lent to him as an reminder of our recovery and discipleship and being made right with God. The message,  "Communion In A Slow Cooker" is about 14 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, February 11, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

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.

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Unshackled Echo ~ February 10, 2018 ~ More

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

February 18, 2015, as More Of Jesus.

Dalyn Woodard sharing on the purpose and meaning of Ash Wednesday and calling for a time to reflect on our love for God, our desire to follow Him, and out understanding of His great love for us. The song played at the end of the sermon was "More (Of Jesus)" by Mylon Lefevre and Broken Heart and has been cut out of the recording for copyright purposes. The song is included below the message, which is about 40 minutes long and is titled "More Of Jesus." It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

 

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

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.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 9, 2018 ~ Broken Promises

But I am poor and needy; Yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.

- Psalm 40:17

Broken promises. Anyone in recovery, or in need of recovery, from addiction and or habitual sin is familiar with broken promises. We make promises. We break promises. Promises to family and friends. Promises to ourselves. Promises to God. We try. We want to do better and be better. We see the need for change in our lives and our spirit. We repent and are truly sorry for the state of our life and the things that have dominion over us that shouldn't. But then we make the mistake of rising up in our own strength, determined to do better, to do it right from this point forward. And we fall on our face, failure after failure, time after time.

The key to victory and finding freedom is not in seeing the need to change. It is not in believing we should or even must change. It is in understanding we are poor, as in we do not possess the resources necessary. We are needy. We can not control or defeat this thing, whatever it is. We need help. From where does our help come from? From the Lord. He is our deliverer, our liberator. To find the help we need, we don't need to try harder, but rather be quick to turn to Him and ask for His aid. Come quickly, Lord and do the work, because we can't do it.

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God. If we want to see the rule of God in our lives instead of the rule of addiction and sin and the old nature, we must understand and accept our neediness, our inability to do it ourselves. But when we accept that we can't and He can, we can find freedom in Him, provided by our deliverer. He will not delay to help us when we give the fight to Him and admit that we are not able. We can rely on His promises, which are never broken, so that we don't continue in the cycle of repentance, promises, broken promises and more repentance.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

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.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 8, 2018 ~ Unselfish Love

There's something about loving someone that makes us want to please the person loved, to bring them joy and make them happy. I used to approach relationships by trying to get the most out of them for myself. I felt love for those who treated me the way I wished to be treated and made me feel good, happy, accepted, etc. But that wasn't really love on my part, because it was totally selfish. It was all about me, and what I wanted.

One of the ways that I knew I felt real love for Leah was that I wanted to please her rather than please myself. I received more pleasure from setting myself aside for her than I did when I ignored her pleasure for my own. After seven years of marriage that has not changed, and I am grateful for that. And one of the things that makes our relationship so wonderful is that the unselfish nature of love is not one sided. She cares for me as I care for her.

One small example of this is sports. It may seem silly, but it is far from it. I love sports. She does not. I have seen such differences produce pain in relationships as selfishness causes one or both people to feel insignificant and unappreciated. But unselfish love makes all the difference. I make sure that Leah knows she is far more important to me than a game. I set aside sports for her often, and when I do indulge, I don't force her to deal with it, to suffer through it or be ignored. Usually the way I watch sports is on the computer with the volume off so that she and I can sit together and talk, or listen to an audiobook together or watch a movie together. We get to spend time together, share something  we both enjoy, like the book or the movie, and I still get to keep an eye on how Texas Tech is playing. But from time to time, when there's a big game on the line, she will set aside the book or movie and we'll put the game on the big TV with the volume on. She usually watches the Stanley Cup with me, and last Sunday, she watched the Superbowl with me. Some of her comments made me laugh and made the game more enjoyable to me. I still smile when I think back to her saying someone needs to give the guy with the ball a big hug and tell him to stay right here with me. Yep, it makes me laugh. She didn't watch the game to earn something in return, such as I watched the game with you, so now you owe me such and such. She simply did it to make me happy. The same is true of the opposite. I will not skip tonight's Texas Tech basketball game or watch it with the sound off while doing something with her, to say, see what I gave up for you, so now you need to do such and such for me. Rather it is because I would prefer to spend the time with her in a way that brings her pleasure than ignore her happiness for my own. And the truth is that I have more pleasure in the long run by setting aside self instead of indulging in self.

I think the unselfish love in a good marriage is why we see marriage used an illustration of our relationship with Jesus. As we grow closer to God, we begin to have a desire to please Him out of love instead of as a way to manipulate Him into doing what we want. We find ourselves happily setting aside the things that don't make Him happy and doing what will make Him happy out of love. And when we find that doing so is a struggle, because laying aside self is not always easy or possible for us, His love gives us the grace, the power, to live for Him rather than for ourselves. But it's not a one sided relationship of sacrifice. He set aside His self for us, to make it possible for us to have relationship with Him and to give us the pleasure that comes from a life worth living. He loved us first unselfishly in a way that benefited us far more than it did Him, and made it possible for us to love Him unselfishly in return.

Lord, may we love You as You loved us, setting aside self and doing the things that please You, out of love and not as an attempt to earn Your favor or force Your hand. Help us to set aside those things that don't please you and let even the little things in our life be for Your pleasure and Your glory. Amen.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

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.