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.
ULM
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Jesus And The Chicken Coop
Dalyn Woodard shares a Lenten message from Philippians 2, with a call to awaken our desire to have the mind of Christ and love as Jesus loves. The message, "Jesus And The Chicken Coop," is about 33 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, March 15, 2017. 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, 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 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.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Unshackled Moments ~ March 15 ~ Beware The Ides Of March
That would be today, March 15. So let me state again in the body what I wrote as the title, and you can read it in your inner spooky voice, beware that Ides of March....and every other day too! I'm not saying freak out, get all twisted up anxious. I'm not saying we should be afraid to step out of our doors. I'm saying beware, as in be cautious and alert to the dangers of, the day. Which day? This day. No, not March 15. You're not Julius Caesar. Neither am I. This day, regardless of what the date is, the day of the present.
You can't beware of the past. It's a pointless waste of time. Yes, we can learn from our mistakes and let God give us the guidance, wisdom and power not to repeat the past, but there's no point in worrying about it. The past is over. There is no caution that can change that. There are no dangers. There may be dangers today from effects birthed out of yesterday's causes, but nothing in yesterday itself is a danger. The past is so over and done with that Jesus doesn't even mention it in His famous discourse on worry (Matthew 6:25-34).
Speaking of what Jesus said, there's no point in freaking about over the future either. We love to take the Matthew 6 passage where Jesus says to trust God and reminds us that God cares for the needs of flowers as a passage saying that if we trust God there's nothing to worry about. If we trust God, everything is going to magically turn out right. But that's not it. That's not what He said. And it isn't true either.
God cares for us, and He will meet our needs. But sometimes what we need and what we want or think we need aren't the same thing. There are people today who love God and trust Him completely who are going to die. There are people who are going to get and stay sick. Jesus didn't say trust God so nothing bad, unwanted or uncomfortable will happen. Even the the flowers mentioned to demonstrate that God cares for us get stepped on. Dogs come along...and you get the idea. Some days are like that. What Jesus actually said is trust God because you need to beware today, not tomorrow.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. That's what He said. That was the summation. That was the last sentence in the passage. Don't worry about tomorrow because today is dangerous. Today has things to be cautions about. He said the same thing when He said today is the day of salvation. If today is the day of salvation, it is also the day we need salvation, and we need to be saved when we are in danger of dying....which, just in case you missed what I am saying we are, today.
In recovery we are told that we are not permanently released from the bondage of our addiction, rather we have a 24 hour reprieve contingent upon our spiritual condition. What that is saying is that when I am spiritually fit, when I am walking with God and surrendered to His will, I can go anywhere He needs me to go and do whatever He needs me to do. I can trust Him. I go places that serve alcohol on a regular basis. There is not a single day that goes by where I could not grab a drink if I were to choose to do so. So why don't I? Drunks drink. That's what we do. Because God freed me from the obsession to do so. I can also hang out with addicts and try to help them without wanting to try and see if it feels like I remember to get high. But that's not because of me. That's the reprieve given by the grace of God.
If I take things back, if I stop walking with God and go back to living for myself on my own will an power, it is only a matter of time. One of these days my now, my present, my today will include me picking up a drink or drug and courting death. We can trust God to care for us. We can trust Him to love us. We can trust Him to take us through whatever may come and end up closer to Him and more like Jesus as long as we turn to Him and not from Him when the hard times come. But the hard times are coming. Jesus said we would suffer. Jesus had perfect faith, perfect trust, perfect behavior and sinless righteousness. There is no more deserving or doing it right than what He did. And they beat Him nearly to death, ripped His beard out and nailed Him naked to a cross.
So beware today. Don't worry about tomorrow, because you need to be paying attention to today. It has more trouble in it than we can handle. So what do we do about today? How do we handle, prepare for and respond to the dangers and troubles it has? We watch Him. We listen to His voice. We get as close as we can to the One who loves us and cares for us and will carry us through and make it work for our good. When it gets hard, run to Daddy. When it gets really hard, run to Daddy really fast. Some of our todays are going to suck. Those aren't necessarily the days really bad stuff happens. The days that suck the most are the ones we miss the danger of and think we can make it through without Jesus, the ones where we think we are OK when we are not. Where we think we're safe because of anything other than our relationship with Jesus. That's when the things we allowed around us rise up and stab us in the back. But as long as we deny self, take up our cross and follow Him, this day, we can endure anything with Him and come out closer to Him and as a demonstration of His love, power and way of life.
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.
You can't beware of the past. It's a pointless waste of time. Yes, we can learn from our mistakes and let God give us the guidance, wisdom and power not to repeat the past, but there's no point in worrying about it. The past is over. There is no caution that can change that. There are no dangers. There may be dangers today from effects birthed out of yesterday's causes, but nothing in yesterday itself is a danger. The past is so over and done with that Jesus doesn't even mention it in His famous discourse on worry (Matthew 6:25-34).
Speaking of what Jesus said, there's no point in freaking about over the future either. We love to take the Matthew 6 passage where Jesus says to trust God and reminds us that God cares for the needs of flowers as a passage saying that if we trust God there's nothing to worry about. If we trust God, everything is going to magically turn out right. But that's not it. That's not what He said. And it isn't true either.
God cares for us, and He will meet our needs. But sometimes what we need and what we want or think we need aren't the same thing. There are people today who love God and trust Him completely who are going to die. There are people who are going to get and stay sick. Jesus didn't say trust God so nothing bad, unwanted or uncomfortable will happen. Even the the flowers mentioned to demonstrate that God cares for us get stepped on. Dogs come along...and you get the idea. Some days are like that. What Jesus actually said is trust God because you need to beware today, not tomorrow.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. That's what He said. That was the summation. That was the last sentence in the passage. Don't worry about tomorrow because today is dangerous. Today has things to be cautions about. He said the same thing when He said today is the day of salvation. If today is the day of salvation, it is also the day we need salvation, and we need to be saved when we are in danger of dying....which, just in case you missed what I am saying we are, today.
In recovery we are told that we are not permanently released from the bondage of our addiction, rather we have a 24 hour reprieve contingent upon our spiritual condition. What that is saying is that when I am spiritually fit, when I am walking with God and surrendered to His will, I can go anywhere He needs me to go and do whatever He needs me to do. I can trust Him. I go places that serve alcohol on a regular basis. There is not a single day that goes by where I could not grab a drink if I were to choose to do so. So why don't I? Drunks drink. That's what we do. Because God freed me from the obsession to do so. I can also hang out with addicts and try to help them without wanting to try and see if it feels like I remember to get high. But that's not because of me. That's the reprieve given by the grace of God.
If I take things back, if I stop walking with God and go back to living for myself on my own will an power, it is only a matter of time. One of these days my now, my present, my today will include me picking up a drink or drug and courting death. We can trust God to care for us. We can trust Him to love us. We can trust Him to take us through whatever may come and end up closer to Him and more like Jesus as long as we turn to Him and not from Him when the hard times come. But the hard times are coming. Jesus said we would suffer. Jesus had perfect faith, perfect trust, perfect behavior and sinless righteousness. There is no more deserving or doing it right than what He did. And they beat Him nearly to death, ripped His beard out and nailed Him naked to a cross.
So beware today. Don't worry about tomorrow, because you need to be paying attention to today. It has more trouble in it than we can handle. So what do we do about today? How do we handle, prepare for and respond to the dangers and troubles it has? We watch Him. We listen to His voice. We get as close as we can to the One who loves us and cares for us and will carry us through and make it work for our good. When it gets hard, run to Daddy. When it gets really hard, run to Daddy really fast. Some of our todays are going to suck. Those aren't necessarily the days really bad stuff happens. The days that suck the most are the ones we miss the danger of and think we can make it through without Jesus, the ones where we think we are OK when we are not. Where we think we're safe because of anything other than our relationship with Jesus. That's when the things we allowed around us rise up and stab us in the back. But as long as we deny self, take up our cross and follow Him, this day, we can endure anything with Him and come out closer to Him and as a demonstration of His love, power and way of life.
I’ve had many tears and sorrows,
I’ve had questions for tomorrow,
there’s been times I didn’t know right from wrong.
But in every situation,
God gave me blessed consolation,
that my trials come to only make me strong.
Through it all,
through it all,
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus,
I’ve learned to trust in God.
Through it all,
through it all,
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.
I’ve been to lots of places,
I’ve seen a lot of faces,
there’s been times I felt so all alone.
But in my lonely hours,
yes, those precious lonely hours,
Jesus lets me know that I was His own
Through it all,
through it all,
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus,
I’ve learned to trust in God.
Through it all,
through it all,
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.
I thank God for the mountains,
and I thank Him for the valleys,
I thank Him for the storms He brought me through.
For if I’d never had a problem,
I wouldn’t know God could solve them,
I’d never know what faith in God could do.
- Through It All by Andre Crouch
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, March 14, 2017
Unshackled Moments ~ March 14 ~ Don't Believe Your Own Lies
Last night Leah and I played some Farkle and had a little Netflix NCIS marathon. We finished up season 8 and got a start on season 9. In one of the episodes we saw, Tony, one of the agents, went to make an amends, and during the amends realized he had the story wrong. He had told the same lie over so many times that he had believed it himself.
It reminded me of a couple of things. The first is a man I know who told me once how working the Fourth and Fifth Steps helped him in unexpected ways. It wasn't until he committed his inventory to paper that he ever noticed that the past he swore was true, and could have passed a lie detector test about, couldn't have been true, since there was no way he could've been in two different cities at once. He had to do some digging to find what was the truth and what was the lie.
The other thing it reminded me of was my own past. I can remember some pretty hinky things I've done. I can remember some that were downright evil. I can remember some that I didn't even think were all that bad at the time because I was so messed up. Sure I would've gotten in trouble if my parents found out, but I'd have gotten in trouble for watching more than half the things that I watched on TV at my friends' houses too. So I told myself the lie that just because some people, especially my parents, thought something was wrong, didn't make it so.
The saddest thing, and most of the few regrets that I still have (as opposed to no longer regretting the past but seeing how my experience can benefit others) are from things I did in that last category that didn't seem any more messed up than watching Friday the 13th Part 3 behind my mother's back and causing my poor little brother to have nightmares because I dragged him along. I was supposed to be watching him and taking care of him, not exposing a seven-year-old to the terrors of Jason. But it actually seemed like a good idea at the time. I really thought he would enjoy it. I saw Jaws about the same age, and I loved it. But he didn't love it. I did some damage.
No, that isn't one of the regrets I mentioned, but it was during the time of the beginning of a messed up pattern of self deception that led to those regrets. It was part of the pattern. The belief system that pushed aside years of being taught right from wrong in exchange for a lie that said if it makes you happy, it can't be that bad. If it looks or seems like it might feel good or fun, try it. If it feels good, do it again. If it hurts less than the hurt you feel just from being alive and manages to take away or distract from that pain, then do it a lot. And with it came a lot of lies that said things weren't bad, or all that bad, or not a big deal that turned out to be some of the most destructive things I ever allowed to happen to me or to others by me.
And sure most of those things were done and over long before I was legal to drive. But some of the things I did under that philosophy of life continued to bring death and destruction and be things that took a miracle of God to break. The drinking I began as a preteen didn't finally completely stop until I was almost 40. The drugs that started the same time my teen years kicked off took just as long to be free of as the alcohol. It was choices I made at 11 and 12 and never dealt with or saw as a problem until too late that took me down the path of destruction that eventually took me through having to live with having hurt people I cared and care about, being raped at age 15, multiple suicide attempts, and turning 30 two months before going to prison. It was the things that started out as OK, or at least not that bad, that did the most damage by creating a life lived in secret, where as long as no one knows than nobody can care. A life that said on one hand I am a freak and no one can understand me, so I need to hide away, do my deeds in the dark with the other roaches. But on the other hand, everyone is just like me, and they probably do the same things and just keep it secret too, or at least they want to do them and are just too scared of what others think, or, if I couldn't sell myself one of those two, if they only knew what I've been through then they would understand why I.....
Of course the lies of my youth in those two hands aren't true, and even if one were, they can't both be true at the same time. They contradict. Yet, I lived as though they were both true for decades. And they infested me and my life and my relationships. There is a situation where someone has kind of pulled a Tony with me. I have heard stories that have been told about some of my exploits in the late 90's that never happened. I'm pretty sure the ones telling them could pass a lie detector test though. I know they believe the tales. And the truth is that they aren't nearly as bad as things I did do and readily admit to. So I let it go. It's not worth trying to correct. What reputation would I be trying to protect? Seriously, true or false, those tales are not even on the top whatever list of bad things I did while living in my drinking and drugging bottom.
And another reason not to defend myself is that I know that some of the damage I did in those early days of lingering regret led to the destruction in the relationships that led to the untruths. I may never have done whatever in 1999 and 2000, but I did worse in 1984. Choices made at 13 were stones in a path that ended with me alone and in prison in 2001. The decade of the decadence that preceded it, which was birthed out of the lies I told myself and believed as a middle schooler, cost me every relationship I had. Even the ones that weren't lost completely, by the grace of God, were damaged greatly. Some are only now beginning to heal. They cost me enough money to live on for years. They cost me a career I loved. They cost me my freedom, and they nearly cast me my life.
So much could have been different, so many things spared the fires of hell I set, had I simply looked and went wait, they can't both be true. But we can lie to ourselves and actually believe our own propaganda. It seems stupid, but we do it. And if we aren't careful, those lies can make giants of destruction seem like no big deal, and can make eating the candy that leads to the house of death seem like the most excellent idea ever. It's truth that makes us free, but we can't walk in truth while clinging to the lies. We can't heal while the poison remains. And we can't see through our crap on our own. We can never be truly self-objective. We are either going to go too easy, shift blame and excuse or we are going to be too hard, too critical and accept blame that is not, or not totally, ours. They may have started it or done the most or the worst while we had a part. Or we may have started it or done the most or the worst but they had a part, or someone else had a part. I must own my part, never too little or too much. But I can't evaluate correctly because I can't even always tell on my own that two things are contradicting each other.
We need the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit to show us the truth. We need to stay in close conscious contact with Daddy so that when we see the candy trail and say that looks good! He can say Look again child, that leads to death. We need to be so full of the love of Jesus, that we can't lie and be OK with it because it grieves our heart, but, like Him, we don't always have to defend ourselves either. Sometimes it's best to let things go until God is ready to deal with them. Some of the truth of my life didn't find it's way into my understanding until years and years later as God continued to draw me closer to Him and burn away the things that get in the way of our relationship. I must allow Him His timing in the lives of others as well. But I can't know when to move and when to wait on my own. So I need Him. His guidance. His wisdom. His truth, which is THE truth. His patience. His grace. His mercy, and most of all, His love. And I can't have those work in my life or access those while trying to run the show, handle the mess and the stress, design the plan, or be independent. It takes surrender of my life and will to His care and then staying as close as possible, trying to improve conscious contact with Daddy so that I can know what His will is and have the power to do it. And this, Dear Reader, is one of those things that really is true for you as well.
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.
It reminded me of a couple of things. The first is a man I know who told me once how working the Fourth and Fifth Steps helped him in unexpected ways. It wasn't until he committed his inventory to paper that he ever noticed that the past he swore was true, and could have passed a lie detector test about, couldn't have been true, since there was no way he could've been in two different cities at once. He had to do some digging to find what was the truth and what was the lie.
The other thing it reminded me of was my own past. I can remember some pretty hinky things I've done. I can remember some that were downright evil. I can remember some that I didn't even think were all that bad at the time because I was so messed up. Sure I would've gotten in trouble if my parents found out, but I'd have gotten in trouble for watching more than half the things that I watched on TV at my friends' houses too. So I told myself the lie that just because some people, especially my parents, thought something was wrong, didn't make it so.
The saddest thing, and most of the few regrets that I still have (as opposed to no longer regretting the past but seeing how my experience can benefit others) are from things I did in that last category that didn't seem any more messed up than watching Friday the 13th Part 3 behind my mother's back and causing my poor little brother to have nightmares because I dragged him along. I was supposed to be watching him and taking care of him, not exposing a seven-year-old to the terrors of Jason. But it actually seemed like a good idea at the time. I really thought he would enjoy it. I saw Jaws about the same age, and I loved it. But he didn't love it. I did some damage.
No, that isn't one of the regrets I mentioned, but it was during the time of the beginning of a messed up pattern of self deception that led to those regrets. It was part of the pattern. The belief system that pushed aside years of being taught right from wrong in exchange for a lie that said if it makes you happy, it can't be that bad. If it looks or seems like it might feel good or fun, try it. If it feels good, do it again. If it hurts less than the hurt you feel just from being alive and manages to take away or distract from that pain, then do it a lot. And with it came a lot of lies that said things weren't bad, or all that bad, or not a big deal that turned out to be some of the most destructive things I ever allowed to happen to me or to others by me.
And sure most of those things were done and over long before I was legal to drive. But some of the things I did under that philosophy of life continued to bring death and destruction and be things that took a miracle of God to break. The drinking I began as a preteen didn't finally completely stop until I was almost 40. The drugs that started the same time my teen years kicked off took just as long to be free of as the alcohol. It was choices I made at 11 and 12 and never dealt with or saw as a problem until too late that took me down the path of destruction that eventually took me through having to live with having hurt people I cared and care about, being raped at age 15, multiple suicide attempts, and turning 30 two months before going to prison. It was the things that started out as OK, or at least not that bad, that did the most damage by creating a life lived in secret, where as long as no one knows than nobody can care. A life that said on one hand I am a freak and no one can understand me, so I need to hide away, do my deeds in the dark with the other roaches. But on the other hand, everyone is just like me, and they probably do the same things and just keep it secret too, or at least they want to do them and are just too scared of what others think, or, if I couldn't sell myself one of those two, if they only knew what I've been through then they would understand why I.....
Of course the lies of my youth in those two hands aren't true, and even if one were, they can't both be true at the same time. They contradict. Yet, I lived as though they were both true for decades. And they infested me and my life and my relationships. There is a situation where someone has kind of pulled a Tony with me. I have heard stories that have been told about some of my exploits in the late 90's that never happened. I'm pretty sure the ones telling them could pass a lie detector test though. I know they believe the tales. And the truth is that they aren't nearly as bad as things I did do and readily admit to. So I let it go. It's not worth trying to correct. What reputation would I be trying to protect? Seriously, true or false, those tales are not even on the top whatever list of bad things I did while living in my drinking and drugging bottom.
And another reason not to defend myself is that I know that some of the damage I did in those early days of lingering regret led to the destruction in the relationships that led to the untruths. I may never have done whatever in 1999 and 2000, but I did worse in 1984. Choices made at 13 were stones in a path that ended with me alone and in prison in 2001. The decade of the decadence that preceded it, which was birthed out of the lies I told myself and believed as a middle schooler, cost me every relationship I had. Even the ones that weren't lost completely, by the grace of God, were damaged greatly. Some are only now beginning to heal. They cost me enough money to live on for years. They cost me a career I loved. They cost me my freedom, and they nearly cast me my life.
So much could have been different, so many things spared the fires of hell I set, had I simply looked and went wait, they can't both be true. But we can lie to ourselves and actually believe our own propaganda. It seems stupid, but we do it. And if we aren't careful, those lies can make giants of destruction seem like no big deal, and can make eating the candy that leads to the house of death seem like the most excellent idea ever. It's truth that makes us free, but we can't walk in truth while clinging to the lies. We can't heal while the poison remains. And we can't see through our crap on our own. We can never be truly self-objective. We are either going to go too easy, shift blame and excuse or we are going to be too hard, too critical and accept blame that is not, or not totally, ours. They may have started it or done the most or the worst while we had a part. Or we may have started it or done the most or the worst but they had a part, or someone else had a part. I must own my part, never too little or too much. But I can't evaluate correctly because I can't even always tell on my own that two things are contradicting each other.
We need the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit to show us the truth. We need to stay in close conscious contact with Daddy so that when we see the candy trail and say that looks good! He can say Look again child, that leads to death. We need to be so full of the love of Jesus, that we can't lie and be OK with it because it grieves our heart, but, like Him, we don't always have to defend ourselves either. Sometimes it's best to let things go until God is ready to deal with them. Some of the truth of my life didn't find it's way into my understanding until years and years later as God continued to draw me closer to Him and burn away the things that get in the way of our relationship. I must allow Him His timing in the lives of others as well. But I can't know when to move and when to wait on my own. So I need Him. His guidance. His wisdom. His truth, which is THE truth. His patience. His grace. His mercy, and most of all, His love. And I can't have those work in my life or access those while trying to run the show, handle the mess and the stress, design the plan, or be independent. It takes surrender of my life and will to His care and then staying as close as possible, trying to improve conscious contact with Daddy so that I can know what His will is and have the power to do it. And this, Dear Reader, is one of those things that really is true for you as well.
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.
Monday, March 13, 2017
Unshackled Moments ~ March 13, 2017 ~ I So Do Not Got This
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Step 11
There are many folks in recovery that have amazing prayer lives. Those who have the desperation of the drowning are quick to take their need to the One who gives and guards life. And in return for being quick to seek and turn to God they get the Kingdom. How do I know? Because Jesus said so. Blessed are the poor in spirit, the needy, the ones who know they can't take care of themselves, for theirs is the Kingdom (Matthew 5:3). And God's Kingdom is not eating nor drinking, but righteousness (doing what is right, the next right thing), peace and joy (Romans 14:17). The needy and the broken and the sick are the targets of the One who came to set the captives free, to heal the sick and restore the broken, and to make a way for the children of the curse to become the children of God and citizens of the kingdom.
But we all fit those descriptions. We are all, or were all, captive, sick, and broken children of the curse and enemies of God. The only difference between those who are poor in spirit and those who are not is awareness of need, not need. We all need God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, because none of us can walk with God and love God and others with a pure, unselfish love, do what is right and control our cursed mind, body and instincts on our own. None of us can free ourselves from sin. None of us can save ourselves from ourselves. All of us our poor and needy. Only some of us are blessed to have suffered enough, screwed up enough, been abused enough, been crushed and broken enough, been slaves enough and or have gotten sick enough to know we are poor and need help.
One of the scariest things to see in an addict or alcoholic is the attitude that says I got this begin to return as he or she gets healthier and stronger. It's like we have a tendency in the pit to realize we need help, but as God pulls us up from the mire and we start to get our footing we want to let go of His helping hand and say thanks, but I can take it from here. But we can't. We never get strong enough, healthy enough, good enough or wise enough to make it on our own. And when I talk to others who have gotten to that point where the illusion of self sufficiency and the pride that pulls us to pursue our independence from God has risen up or when I see it start to grow in myself, I hear about or observe in myself a diminishing prayer life, rather than one that is seeking to grow and increase and improve our conscious contact with Daddy.
Our Red Sea moment is not a one time thing like the Israelites. Every day we find ourselves in hopeless and helpless need. There are obstacles and difficulties and needs ahead of us that we cannot move, go around, meet or overcome without help from God. Behind us the enemy is rushing toward us hell bent on bringing destruction into our lives. If we attempt to defend and help ourselves, we will find ourselves even worse off. But if we are keeping an eye on the smoke and fire in our spirit that indicates the presence of God to us, for us and with us, and if we are pursuing more of Him and His will and acknowledging our dependence, then we find ourselves closer to freedom, not further from it. The sea parts and we are provided a way to the Land of Promise, that kingdom full of freedom, life, right and good choices, peace, joy and all the fruits of spirit our little souls can eat. The enemy is thwarted time an time again.
But it is so not just the junkie in the pit in need of this. It is not only the alcoholic who still suffers. It is not solely the victim and the diseased. It is also the ones of us who have been set free and made glad and who wish to continue to be free. It is the follower of Jesus who has never brought epic destruction into their life and wants to keep it that way. It is for all of us who are breathing. The goal of faith is not to grow and mature to the point where we no longer need God. We must grow into the people who realize their ever increasing need for and dependence upon God for everything.
Today let us be quick to see that we are poor in needy. Let us accept the suffering of Jesus for us instead of waiting until we suffer to run to Him. Let us not allow wherever we are in relationship be good enough but seek throughout this and each day to desire more of Him and less of ourselves. Let us pray, for it is through talking and listening that we improve our relationship with Him. Let us never deceive ourselves into thinking that we have outgrown our need for Daddy, but let us remain ever poor in spirit. Daddy, I so do not got this. Help me this day to walk with You and love with You.
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.
Sunday, March 12, 2017
All We Need Is Love
Wally Flynt on 60s music, The Beetle's and the essential truth of God. The message, All We Need Is Love, is about 4 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, March 12, 2017. 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.
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.
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Unshackled Echo ~ March 11, 2017 ~ Wanted
Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on
June 15, 2013 as Wanted.
"You are wanted
To every broken heart, He stands with open arms
You are wanted
To every searching soul, look to the rising sun
If you're lonely, hurting, gone too far
To the outcast you come as you are
For you, you are wanted, you are wanted"
~ "Wanted" Dara Maclean
We were created to have relationship with God. What God wants most is to be close to and intimate with you and with me! His desire for relationship with us was so great He gave everything to make it possible. And when we find that relationship and understand how much God loves us and wants us we find the joy of a life worth living. Everything is better. Life becomes the emotional equivalent of riding off into the sunset together that makes romantic movies so wonderful and appealing to us.
There is such power and freedom in knowing that we are loved and wanted by God that the one who seeks to devour and destroy us would like nothing better than to make sure that we never come to that place. If we can be prevented from understanding the truth that God loves us and wants us in the depths of who we are then we can be robbed of what God wants for us and be made ineffective to help others find relationship with Him as well.
So it starts early, when we're young. For some, making us feel unwanted and unloved is easy. Broken and inadequate parents fail miserably, or worse, abuse and do damage. For those who are taken from biological parents in order to save them or who lose parents due to death and find themselves bouncing from place to place in the foster system the lie that we are unwanted becomes all too easy to believe as strongly as the concept of what goes up must come down. But that doesn't mean that those of us who had parents who loved us and cared for us are immune.
The lies come that we just don't fit in, that we do not and can not ever belong. We see all the ways that we fail to measure up to the hopes and desires of others as proof that we are worthless. The attitudes of peers can cause us to feel like outcasts. We take feelings of insecurity and shame and confusion and stuff them down, hiding them, and those secrets leave us feeling separated and misunderstood, failing to know the truth that others feel the same way and also just aren't talking about it. We buy the lie that nobody understands us. We are broken and defective and no one who ever really knew us, knew what we thought and felt inside, could ever want us, accept us or love us. And then comes the big lie, if no one else could, neither could God. Set up with the little lies we fall for the big con and go through life feeling unacceptable to and rejected by our Heavenly Father.
Oh what emptiness and pain that lie causes, and the things we do to try to cover up those feelings, to forget them, to find something else to take the place of our Father's love. And those things always fail and bring destruction. But there is hope, because the truth can always defeat lies and set us free. No matter if you felt alone in a crowd but were always surrounded by friends or never had a true friend, whether you had parents that loved you or know the pain of the orphan, if you've never been betrayed by love or if you never felt love at all, if you have ever felt the emptiness and loneliness of being unwanted you don't have to continue in that feeling.
God loves you. He wants you. He created you and declared you beautiful to Him and precious. He loves you as you are, not as you should be. He sees the mess inside your heart and head that you try to hide and cover up and accepts you anyway. Nothing that you tell yourself or that the enemy tells you makes you unlovable can keep God from loving you. And nothing you do or fail to do can make Him stop loving you. You are wanted. You are loved. The perfect parent who never fails, the most faithful friend, the lover who never strays of betrays knows everything there is to know about you and declares for all to hear, "I love you and want you with me." Hear the call to come to the security of His love. Accept His wooing, and in that relationship the emptiness is filled, the loneliness fades, the unworthiness and unvalued becomes a treasure.
Violinists around the world dream of owning a Stradivarious. They are rare, and when one does become available it costs a fortune. I read recently the story of why these violins are so precious and sound so much better than any that other makers construct. The secret is in the wood Stradivarious used. He lived in a small Italian harbor village in the 1700s, and since he was too poor to buy wood to make violins with, he pulled wood out of the polluted harbor. At that time the harbors were town dumps, smelly and filled with waste and garbage.
When experts analyzed the wood from Stradivarious violins they discovered that microbes in the contaminated water had eaten away the inside of the wood's cells. The only thing left of the cells was the superstructure. When a Strdivarious is played it's like an organ with thousands of sound chambers, each reverberating the sound of the bow moving across the strings.
No matter how polluted and worthless we may feel, God sees us as valuable. He knows that what we have done and what has been done to us has the potential, in His hands, of making us beautiful and unmatched instruments for His glory rather than the worthless driftwood we feel like and Satan would have us believe we are. We can stop looking at ourselves as trash, surrender to the Master, and allow Him to turn us into His special instruments. It's His life's work to take our broken and polluted lives and transform them into His masterpieces. That is His great desire. We are wanted and valued.
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.
Friday, March 10, 2017
Unshackled Moments ~ March 10, 2017 ~ Self Sufficiency
The message of our culture, and even of much spirituality, is self-sufficiency. Even at times when we must acknowledge that we need help it is often looked at like the help is just to strengthen what we already posses or can do in and of ourselves. This idea is behind the lie that God helps those who help themselves and behind the message of so much self help philosophy that we should stir up that which is within and of us. And it is absolutely ridiculous.
A couple of weeks ago, a dog that weighed well over 100 pounds attacked my wife's little 20 pound Brittany Spaniel and tried to kill her. I didn't even think about standing back and waiting to see if the Brit would channel her inner big dog and defend herself successfully. I jumped in and got the attacker off her. We don't surrender to God in order to have His help for us to do what we can almost do We rely on God to do for us what we absolutely can not do on our own. God helps the helpless, the powerless.
No matter what I do, no matter what natural gifting or ability I stir up inside myself, no matter how focused, prepared or determined I become, I can not make myself free or keep myself free. And neither can you. He is our strength and our power to walk free from addictions and sin. He enables us to walk with Him and to love as we should. It is no more possible for us to do that our own than it is for water to turn itself into steam or ice.
As we go through our day and our life, let us not dig deep within ourselves to make it through and do what's right. Let us always remember that it is through Him and by His grace that we live and breathe and have our being. It is through walking in the power of the Spirit that we love and do what is right and resist the impulses of our old nature to live for self.
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.
A couple of weeks ago, a dog that weighed well over 100 pounds attacked my wife's little 20 pound Brittany Spaniel and tried to kill her. I didn't even think about standing back and waiting to see if the Brit would channel her inner big dog and defend herself successfully. I jumped in and got the attacker off her. We don't surrender to God in order to have His help for us to do what we can almost do We rely on God to do for us what we absolutely can not do on our own. God helps the helpless, the powerless.
No matter what I do, no matter what natural gifting or ability I stir up inside myself, no matter how focused, prepared or determined I become, I can not make myself free or keep myself free. And neither can you. He is our strength and our power to walk free from addictions and sin. He enables us to walk with Him and to love as we should. It is no more possible for us to do that our own than it is for water to turn itself into steam or ice.
As we go through our day and our life, let us not dig deep within ourselves to make it through and do what's right. Let us always remember that it is through Him and by His grace that we live and breathe and have our being. It is through walking in the power of the Spirit that we love and do what is right and resist the impulses of our old nature to live for self.
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God...
- 2 Corinthians 3:5
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.
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