Unshackled Moments ~ June 30 ~ What A Deal

I scrolled through my Facebook feed, attempting to ignore all the fighting, hatred and name calling when I came across a "sponsored" post, also known as an advertisement, for some POV video recording sunglasses. I clicked on the link, because I've been wishing for a helmet cam for motorcycle riding for a while now. The ad showed a long video of a jet ski rider supposedly recorded with the exact same type of glasses that you can purchase for only $29. I want something that works, and I want it to be affordable to me, which means it needs to be cheap. But when I see something that claims to fit that description my first reaction is to not buy. That's right, I said not buy. I am afraid that the glasses are junk and don't really work well. I am afraid that this is a scam or a ripoff somehow.

But what if someone told me that these glasses are really $100 and work perfectly? What if the reason that the manufacturer can offer them at this rate is that there is a super rich guy who loves the way they work so much that he wants everyone who wants them to have them? What if someone said he is paying the $70 so that we can only pay $30? More tempted or less?

Well, that's not the case with the glasses, and I'm still trying to decide if they're worth the risk or not. It is however, close to what happened with us spiritually. There is an awesome experience in having a relationship with God. Nothing compares. The problem is the cost is so high and the qualifications are so exclusive that no one can purchase it. Only one person could, and He had enough to do it for everyone. Now anyone, and I mean anyone regardless of any category of any box that can be checked or unchecked, can have a relationship with God....absolutely free. In fact if you try to add your money or your effort to pay what you are able you mess up the transaction. It doesn't work that way. It is all done and paid for. No scam. The original, perfect love of loves can be yours for absolutely nothing, but it will still cost you everything. This relationship so powerful that you can not have it and remain the same. It will change you. All that fear and doubt and confusion and misery and the such get harder and harder to experience and hold on to the closer you get to Daddy.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 29 ~ Do It Again Daddy

It's amazing how a little child can stay engrossed and amazed by a parent's actions. Mom or Dad does something  fascinating to the child, and the reaction is  "Do it again!" God preforms many daily miracles for us every day. He paints the evening sky with beautiful sunsets that are all similar yet completely unique. He renews His grace and mercy towards every morning and gives us the miracle of being able to start our day in His presence. There are far too many things to list. Let us not take for granted His love and what He does for us over and over again. Let us with childlike wonder respond to Him with worship and awe and praise and "Do it again Daddy!" It pleases His heart, and there can be no higher praise for us than to have it be said that we pleases the heart of our Heavenly Father.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 27 ~ Qualified

When Saul was first approached by Samuel before he was made the first king of Israel he responded by asking why Samuel would speak to him as though he had value since he was the least of his family that was in the least tribe of Israel. But despite Saul being of low importance in the society he was born into, God had chosen him to do great things. God placed a high value on Saul. Later, after he had been made king, Saul became puffed up with pride and full of self-importance. He forgot that he had seen himself as little and that it was only by the hand of God that he had been made more. Because he began to live for himself and not God and act like he had gotten to his position on his own merit he was removed from the throne and replaced by another.

The lesson we can learn from Saul is two-fold. First, it doesn't matter how we or society view us or what happened in our past. If God calls us to do something, He can qualify us and make it happen. But once He does, we must remember that on our own we could never have qualified. We must maintain a servant's heart, full of submission and gratitude to the God who called us and gave us the grace and strength to do what He called us to do. Our qualifications before and after have little to nothing to do with our abilities and everything to do with a willing and surrendered heart. As long as we keep that heart we can be of service to God. Once we lose it, God will have to look for someone else. By having a heart that responds to God we will always be qualified to be used by Him.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 26 ~ Losing My Religion

“That’s me in the corner…that’s me in the spotlight losing my religion.” What I would like to do is pretend it didn’t happen, to wish my wife didn’t witness the zombie of self rise from the grave in all its stinking, slimy glory. But yesterday life got big and taught me a lesson. For years now as God set me free from addiction I confessed that I don’t handle pain well at all. Yet yesterday despite all I know, despite all I’ve been taught and taught on realizing I can’t, He can, I will let Him, I tried to control my attitude myself after days of hurting worse than usual. I failed. Miserably.

If someone had been able to witness me during times driving with my wife they wouldn’t have seen the light of Christ. No one would have believed that I’m a minister. They would however, have no problem believing I’m a convict. I haven’t been and stayed so angry in a long time. At one point I actually said that some guy was about to make me lose my religion as I fought the urge to get out of the car and introduce him to the techniques of violence I honed behind bars.

It’s embarrassing to admit that. I am indeed ashamed, and it would be easy to write something else. To jot down something spiritual that doesn’t show my failure and humanity. But God can use our failures as much as our successes. As I lay in bed awake off and on last night, the pain kept me from sleeping the night through, I reflected on the day and the week and my inability to be a good, loving, non-angry Christian on my own. As my wife suggested, I checked myself. The truth is that we are as powerless over our attitudes as we are over our actions, perhaps more so. The attitudes lead to the actions. The grace of God helped me confine my foolishness to the privacy of Leah’s company yesterday, but my heart was full of self-pity, fear and anger.

Sometimes it takes a few days before we get miserable enough and defeated enough to remember the simplicity of the truth that we can’t elevate ourselves by determination, positive thinking and will power. However, if I remember that, and surrender even my pain to God as a sacrifice of praise, then I can go through anything, including pain, by the power of Christ who gives the strength that I need. Today let us surrender so completely that even when the hardships are not removed we can access the grace that lets us be a light of love regardless of the circumstances. So that even if the pain and fear are not taken away as quickly as we like, we can say with our attitudes and actions that it is indeed well with our soul.

This morning I hurt worse than I did yesterday morning. Yet there is a smile on my face that is coming from somewhere else. That’s a much better declaration of the grace and power of a loving God than the physical healing of my back would provide. Peace during the storm is a better light in the dark than the removal of the storm. I lost my religion again, but as a result I improved my relationship, and that is better by far.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 25 ~ Spiritual Cruise Control

I have a tendency to drive too fast. It's hard for me to maintain a consistent speed when I drive. I let up on the gas too much and go to slow. I get into a song or otherwise a little distracted and the next time I look down I'm doing at least 10 mph over the speed limit. But I understand this truth about who I am and how I drive.

It's easier to avoid getting hassled over your criminal record when you don't give law enforcement a reason to pull you over. I also understand that truth. Because of this I don't speed anymore. Period. But I had to turn my control over to the car. I use the cruise control. I accelerate and decelerate by increments once I have the speed set, and this way no matter how I feel or how good the song is or the conversation with Leah I don't stat speeding.

There are areas in my life that I know I have a natural tendency that leads to not doing how I ought to do. I can control  them for a while if I stay extremely focused and at the ready/ But the reason that they say "Ready, set. GO!" to racers is that no one can maintain full at the ready attention and energy for long. And no matter how diligent I try to be I will get distracted, tired or simply stop caring as much. But by turning on the Spiritual Cruise Control and letting the Holy Spirit set the speed and direction we can stay right where we need to stay. Then, it no longer matters how we feel or what happens around us. The Spirit keeps us from going too fast or too slow or from taking the wrong turn. Because God's Powerful Spirit is our GPS that never gets confused or lost and always knows where we need to go as well as our cruise control. The key is to stop trying to do it ourselves and give as much of the driving up to Him as we can.

The Force That Delivers

Dalyn Woodard shares on the theme verses of the book of Romans, verses 16 and 17 of the first chapter. The Gospel of Christ is the power we need but can never have on our own. The message, "The Force That Delivers" is about 24 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, June 25, 2015. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 24 ~ No More Fight Club

The first rule about fight club is that you don't talk about fight club, and why is that? Because if people knew that we voluntarily stood around in parking lots and abandoned buildings fighting each other for no purpose other than to fight, they'd think that we were nuts. And if people realized that our toughest opponent and the one who beat us worse than anyone else was ourself, they'd know we're nuts. You can't talk about it because standing there hitting yourself in the face as hard as you can is stupid. Yet, if you're anything like me you do this quite regularly mentally and emotionally.

With selves like ours who needs enemies? I can beat myself up way more than any enemy could. Pulling up the past I've been forgiven for and ridiculing myself for the foolishness of dreams, mocking my ineptitude of walking with God the way I'd like, struggling to submit my will to His and to deny self when a large part of me wants to play The Walking Dead are just a few of the myriad of ways that I tend to abuse and fight myself.

But one of the promises of recovery is that we will cease fighting anyone and anything, and this includes ourselves. That doesn't mean we return to being ruled by our impulses and reactions and travel back to the Egypt of our past, putting back on the chains that made us slaves. No, it's about realizing that the battle belongs to the Lord. We can stop fighting because it isn't necessary He is more than able to win the battle. The best thing we can do is get out of the way.

And when it comes to fighting and beating up on ourself, maybe we should show our Daddy a little more respect. If someone you cared about deeply came up and started showing you something that they loved and held precious courtesy and respect would be enough to keep you from nitpicking it and tearing it apart. If you thought is were a piece of junk you still wouldn't voice that because you could see how precious that it is to the person that you care about. Well, you are a precious and valued child of God. He loves you and declared you to be fearfully and wonderfully made, precious to Him and worth dying for. So stop bullying God's tied for favorite child. Stop picking on the King's Kid. Have enough respect for Daddy not to argue with His description of who and how valuable you are until you can see yourself with His  eyes and believe it. No more doing the Devil's work for him and beating ourself up. No more fight club.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 23 ~ The Lights of Home

Yesterday I sat down at a counter and drank a couple of cups of coffee with a cowboy friend of mine. He began telling stories, as he often does, and one struck me as containing more truth than history. One afternoon he took his young daughter to the field with him a few miles from home to work one of the horses he was training. He hitched that horse up to his little pickup truck and gave the gelding a galloping workout. He led the horse into some bottoms and promptly got stuck. He tried everything that he could think of to get the truck free of the mud, but nothing worked.

They had to walk out. My friend put his daughter up on the back of that horse and began to head across the fields, through the mud, to the home. The hour grew late. The sun set, and the coyotes began to howl. Now, the little girl had nothing to hold onto from her bareback seat on the horse except for his mane, and he was sidestepping and acting up a little, fighting the lead rope and causing the cowboy some serious frustration as he tried to get his daughter to the house, keep the horse under lead and not slip and fall in the mud. The ruckus of the horse and the situation didn't seem to faze or scare his daughter any. In fact, she would've enjoyed the ride had it not been for the coyotes' serenade.

Their song scared her. She felt sure they were going to catch her and her father before they reached home and eat them. Finally, they topped a hill and looked down on their house in the distance with its security light shining brightly. The moment she saw that light she said, "We;re saved." At this point in the tale, my friend chuckled and  talked some more about how she'd been afraid of the coyotes, but I missed some of what he said.

I was thinking. How often in life we are like my friend's little girl. Life gets dark and scary. Some of the things that scare us should because they are a true threat, and some are not as threatening as they seem. Still, our fears are real, and even though we are heading home and  our Father, who by the way is not scared for us at all, is right there with us, we can't quit staring out into the dark, watching the shadows become monsters and listening to every cry and croak in the dark as though they were a signal of the encroaching enemy. But though we still haven't made it home, and the truth is that the danger or lack of it remains about the same, from time to time we top a hill and get a glimpse of the lights of home.

That makes all the difference. The fear is dissipated. We realize and remember that we are saved and that nothing that comes against us can kill or defeat us. The darkness will not prevail. Our Redeemer lives and is mighty to save. He's the light of home in the darkest night on the hardest and scariest trail. Today if fear sings its coyote song in our ear, let us ask our Daddy to give us a glimpse of home, so that we can relax and and rejoice in the anticipation of what is to come.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 22 ~ Staying Balanced

Like there are two sides to a coin, there are two sides to spiritual life. On one side there is isolation with our Creator. No matter how busy He got, Jesus would go off by Himself to pray. We are told that life is found in the Father and in the words He speaks to us. If we don't separate ourselves and spend time alone with Him on a regular basis, we will begin to weaken and starve. We'll find ourselves powerless once more to walk with God and to remain free of self and sin.

But if we stay in that place of isolation we will fail to produce fruit. "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another." John 15:16-17 We are called to love and serve one another and to produce fruit. We can't do that hiding out on the mountain top alone with God. We have to go down into the valley where the people are to give away what we have received.

We have to maintain a balance with both sides of the coin to fulfill our calling and to stay healthy and fruitful. Let us set aside time alone with God today, and let us go out from that time with love to give to those we encounter.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 21 ~ Father Knows Best

Our immediate temptation will be to ask for specific solutions to specific problems, and for the ability to help other people as we have already thought they shoud be helped. In that case, we are asking God to do it our way.

~Bill W.

It's good and important to pray for our needs and the needs of others. It's not only OK but encouraged that we ask our Heavenly Daddy for help and to meet our needs. We're even told to ask for our desires, our wants. And it's part of loving our neighbor as ourself to be concerned for them and pray for them. But as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, it's crucial that we keep our will submitted to God's and leave the answer and the how and when of it to Him. His way is not our way, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. But they are always best.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 20 ~ Beautiful Scars

Sometimes it hurts to look at ourselves and the scars of the past. It's easy to feel like if there is a scar that shows that we haven't been completely healed and restored. But our scars serve an important purpose. They are a reminder to us of where we have been, what we have gone through, and what God has delivered us from. They also make a great statement to others, declaring God's glory and power. If no one can imagine that I've really been to hell and back because of the smoothness of my skin, then I am robbed of one of my two greatest assets. We overcome the enemy and win victories for God by the Blood of the Lamb and by the power of our testimony.

The power of our testimony is increased by the presence of our scars. We will not regret the past is not a promise of recovery because we are able to forget about it or pretend it didn't happen. The rest of the promise is that we will also not wish to shut the door on it. We will not get hung up on wishing our scars away. This is because we will see how our experience, our scars, can benefit others. Our scars become our passports into the hearts of those we would serve.

Today let us not despise our scars are get bitter that God has not removed them as He healed us. Let us be thankful for the doors they open, the power they provide and the memory they give of God's grace and mercy in our lives. We can "make an altar build an altar with the rubble" that God rescued us from.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 19 ~ Spillage

Maybe I'm just not meant to have cologne. That thought crossed my mind this morning in a moment of frustration and self pity. Not too long ago my wife bought me a bottle of my favorite cologne before we went on trip to visit our grandson. Evidently I left it in the cabin we rented.  I went without for a while. Recently she bought me another bottle. This morning I woke and stumbled my way to the bathroom. As I turned to leave I somehow hit the bottle of cologne and knocked it from the counter to the floor where it immediately burst. I picked up the broken glass and wiped up the contents of fragrance from the floor. It came then, the thought of self pity and defeat. Later, after she had gotten up and realized what happened, Leah said, "You broke your cologne. I'll have to get you some more." Simple as that. No defeat. No condemnation or criticizing.

It struck me that sometimes we react that way about the blessings of God. God gives us something sweet, fragrant and wonderful, and before the new even wears off we've forgotten it, or broken it, or someone or something has stolen it from us. We wallow in self-pity and defeat and react with an attitude that says I guess we weren't supposed to have good things from God, or God doesn't really want us to have that blessing or maybe the loss serves as proof that we don't deserve the blessing in the first place. It's ridiculous. First we don't deserve the blessing of God. That's why is a blessing of God and not payment from God. Secondly, it's His desire that are lives are overflowing with good things from Him. Everything within us and outside of us that is not of God is constantly contrary to that, trying to spill the cologne God gives to enhance our life. Rather than giving up and doing without due to self-pity, let us quickly turn to God and hear Him say, "You broke what I gave you," or "Someone stole what I meant you to have." That is followed by, "Come to me so that I can give you more." He has plenty to give. No matter how much He has blessed us or how much we have lost or destroyed, we haven't come close to exhausting His supply.

The Heart Of A Servant

Dalyn Woodard shares on the difference between serving for outward motives and serving out of the heart, with the spirit in a way that is good and pleasing to God. We all have times when are motives to serve are mixed or even wrong, but this message helps us to see a better way and gives us somethings to aim for. The message, "The Heart Of A Servant" is about 37 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, June 17, 2015. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 18 ~ God Suits

I love classic movies. The old sci-fi and horror movies are great fun. It's hard to remember at times when I'm watching one where I can see the zipper on the creature costume that this was not intended to be cute or amusing. The film makers were seriously doing their best to portray a creature beyond the special effects techniques and or their resources could afford at the time. Even in today's movies there are times when something is just off enough that the CGI screams out, "Look at me I'm fake and pretend!" It breaks the spell of fantasy and brings us back to the reality that this is fiction.

For too much of my life I lived as though I were God, at least as though I were Lord of my own life. I thought I pulled it off most times and looked pretty good doing it. But the sad truth is that not only did my God suit not fit, but everyone around me could see the zipper. It was ridiculous and sad that I could suspend my own disbelief enough to think that I came across as realistic. There is a God, and I am not Him. Neither are you. And our God suits don't fool anyone but ourselves. Today let's let God be God and we be His servants.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 17 ~ More Than We Can Handle

God never gives us more than we can handle. Heard that before? Said it? I have, on both accounts. But I was wrong, and so were all the people who said. It's simply not a true statement. God loves to give us more than we can handle. It's His standard operating procedure. If all God allows in our life in the way of enemies and obstacles is what we can handle and only calls us to do for Him what we have the ability and power to do, then we will quickly forget that we need Him in the first place.

No, God loves to give us way more than we can handle so that we will run to Him, lean on Him and trust Him to do the work and so that He will be given the glory for what is accomplished. I pray regularly that God gives me victory over my difficulties so that my success in those areas will be a testimony of His love and power and way of life. How could my success possibly point to the power of God if it appears that I could have won without Him?

Like the Israelites facing the mighty Jericho with walls so thick they raced chariots on them with nothing but their simple swords and their Mighty God, so God calls us to face things and situations that are absolutely impossible. It's when the impossible occurs that others can see His glory and power. No, it's not that God doesn't give us more than we can handle; it's that He handles what He gives us. So  today when we come across those situations that we simply can't handle, let us not get angry at God for giving us too much but rather be thankful that He gave us enough that we would know better than to try to do it without Him.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 16 ~ It's The Little Things

God calls us in the small choices of each day. ~John Covington

This is so very true. It's so easy to think of God's calling and our service to Him as large, vague ideas. Some of us have prayed and told God that we'd do anything He wants us too, such as go to Africa, but then we miss the call of God to smile at the checkout clerk at the store who was rude or indifferent to us. Yes, sometimes God calls us in big ways to do big things for Him, but more often than not, our true service is found in a series of small acts of love throughout each and every day. God doesn't need everyone to go to Africa. There are a lot of hurting people within a few miles of our homes. God does want us to love Him and others and to choose to do so at each and every opportunity and to be faithful in the little things rather than waiting for some big calling. We do not have a limited supply of anything that it takes to share the love of God. There is no need to be sparing with it. The more we give it away, the more we have. The more quickly it is poured out on a hurting world the faster it flows. When we come to the end of our path, I believe, that even those who were called to big things will find it's the minor notes that create the harmony of the symphony of our lives. Today let us choose God's way and will over ours and love in the small ways, the small opportunities and in the now. Let us not save up for some grand event.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 15 ~ Are You An Outie Or An Innie?

No matter what we do or how we prepare, life happens. That means that there are going to be times when we are unexpectedly surprised with wonder and joy as pleasure or good fortune swing by to say hello. It also means that no matter how we determine to choose happy or think positively or have an attitude of gratitude misery, pain, and loss or going to have their visitation as well. When that happens we generally want them to leave, and quickly. We want what ever situation that precipitated their arrival to be changed for the better or done away with, and preferably five minutes ago.


But not only is that not how it works, it's not how we need it to work. It's not that the situation,  the people, places and things in our life need to change or be changed. It's we that need to change. When we change the situation, or at least our reaction to it, will change, and we will have grown as a result.  But how do we change? We don't, not really. Because we can't. You can't truly change the core of who you are or how you react to things any more than a lion can stop acting like a lion. We can cover our reactions, use determination and discipline to control ourselves and fake it...for a while, but sooner or later we'll lose control and act just like we always did before.

It is not, however, all hopeless. While we can't create any lasting and real change in our character, behavior, thinking  and reactions, we can submit to the control and power of God, who can and will change us. When we use the negative aspects of life, regardless of if their arrival is our fault, someone else's fault or the random fate of nobody's fault, to turn us to God rather than away from Him and make us malleable to our Maker's touch we can find peace in the storm, joy in the midst of sorrow and love in the face of betrayal and rejection. We can have a life worth living regardless of and not dependent upon our circumstances and situations. Life from within can not be long effected by  or controlled by the outside. While life that is due to good and positive outer circumstances will never last.

Unshackled Moments ~ 6-14 ~ Stay Tuned

I listened to my Pandora, as I usually do in the mornings, and this song came on my Instrumental Piano station.
 
I began to think about the beautiful sound of the music, especially the piano part. I remember the old piano at my grandmother's house. It looked old, and it was covered in little framed family photos. It made for a lovely decorative piece in one of the two guest bedrooms, but it sounded horrible.

I flipped the lid up, revealing the old, yellow ivory, and tried to play it once. I doubt that the piano had been tuned since before I was born. Some of the key stuck and wouldn't pop back up once they were hit, and I guess a few strings were broken because there were a few keys that failed to produce any sound at all. I didn't play on it more than a few seconds before I closed the lid and gave up. The music, if you dared to call it that, was painful to hear.

In contrast to that I remember seeing a piano that had survived a house fire in the late 90s. The body was covered in soot and there were charred places here and there on the sides.. The bench looked like a sculpture of ash that would disappear in a puff of smoke if touched or breathed on too hard. There were some stains on the top and down the side were something that had been kept on the piano had melted into an unrecognizable blob. I figured that between the heat of the fire and the water the firefighters pumped into the house, the piano was a lost cause. It surely looked like toast.

I watched as the owner of the house stepped over the scorched remains of her memories and made over the rubble of what remained of her pace of security and comfort. There was nothing left. It was a complete loss from the looks of things. When she made it to the piano she raised the lid. Her fingers turned black. She stood behind the burnt bench, reached over and begin to play. I felt so shocked to hear a beautiful melody begin to pour out. The piano played beautifully. Burnt and marred, surrounded by loss and destruction the piano responded to its owner's touch. The woman had tears in her eyes and a smile on her face as she played.  All was not lost after all.

We can use pianos as decorations and props, and probably other things as well, but they were made to make music. We are like those pianos. Our lives can serve any number of uses and go down many paths, but regardless of form and style, we were created to worship our Creator and make a melody to Him with our lives and hearts. In order to do so we have to stay tuned to His touch. It doesn't matter how good our appearance may be if the music is out of tune and our keys stick when God touches us. It also doesn't matter how destroyed we look or feel if we can still  praise. If surrounded by loss and destruction of everything in this world that produces comfort and security and covered in burns and scars we can still produce music of praise and beauty when the player places His hands on our keys, something amazing happens. Like the image of a single flower blooming in a bed of lava, there is something miraculous in beauty from ashes that inspires and moves those who witness more than that same sound or vision in a flawless environment ever  could.

Maybe you, like me, look back on life and see scars and scorch marks. There's little beauty in the rubble of the bridges that have burnt behind us and out from under us, and life feels like we've fallen into ash, choking on what's left of life. But Isaiah 61 tells us that God desires to give us beauty from ashes and an oil of joy to replace our mourning and praise in place of heaviness. So while it still may be black and dirty our lives can produce something beautiful that makes people wonder in awe at the power and glory of God.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 13~ Dancing In The Rain

Positive thinking works...to an extent. That's why  so many recommend it. It also falls short eventually. The reason is that we need power from outside to give us strength when we don't have it. My mind is not a higher or greater power than my mind. There are times when it doesn't matter what angle I look at things or what positive spin I try to place on what's going on, life is bleak and the situation sucks. Life is often hard, and it doesn't matter how we try to deceive ourselves into thinking otherwise. There is a reason that a large portion of Psalms are songs of lament or sorrow and that the Holy Spirit is called the Comforter. Sometimes we need the comfort of God to wash over us before we drown in the sorrow and pain of the temporary. Sometimes the sorrow can last for years, and it's hard as the pain drags on to remember that even 80 years is temporary compared to eternity.

The good news is that God desperately wants to be our comfort as much as we want to be comforted, even more. There often comes a time when we can become comfortable in our misery. We identify and define ourselves with it and by it. We forget how to let it go. We forget that life can be anything other than miserable, but even then God wants to take our sorrow and replace it with joy and peace. He desires to turn our mourning into dancing. But we have to be willing to hear His music.

It's not power of positive thinking or self deceit or spiritual spin doctoring to remember that God is good even when life feels bad. The truth is that God loves us, even when it feels like we are the door mat that life and other people have wiped their feet on. It's not about convincing ourselves that the situation or life isn't really as bad as it feels but that there's more to it than what we can see and sense and experience at the moment. When life sucks, and it will at times, we have three options. We can turn away from God, wallow in our self-pity or we can run to our Daddy. If we choose the latter, our souls can be soothed and we can find comfort, even if the situation doesn't change as quickly as we'd like or hope. If we choose either of the former two options life will deteriorate and become even more miserable and meaningless. It's not easy, but it is that simple.

The rain may continue to fall, but we can dance with our Daddy in the rain. There can be joy in the blackest of days or decades. It's not convincing ourselves that the sun is shining when it's not as much as realizing the truth that we are loved of God.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 12 ~ Let God Worry

A friend mentioned how she had spent her childhood in a state of constant anxiety, that had persisted and gotten worse as she grew older. Now she is trying to make things different for her son. She said she tells him not to worry because that's "mamma's job. You just be a little boy; that's your job." I liked that a lot, and it got me thinking that this is what our Heavenly Daddy wants for us. He says, "Don't worry, that's my job, and I'm big enough to handle whatever is going on. You just be my child and relax in my love and trust me to take care of you. That's your job." Our Daddy loves us so much and is very able to meet our every need. We can enjoy life as His children rather than going through life filled with anxiety. Today, let us rejoice in our childhood and leave the worry to God.

Good News

Dalyn Woodard shares on the good news that made a difference that mattered, gave him a life worth living and destroyed the power depression had over him. The message, "Good News" is 50 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, June 10, 2015. The song linked below the message is "I Still Believe" sung by Russ Taff and was chosen because of how it has been a source of encouragement to turn towards the truth of this message. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 11 ~ It's Just Not Fair

“How long will you torment my soul, And break me in pieces with words?... You are not ashamed that you have wronged me... If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice. He [God] has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass; And He has set darkness in my paths. He has stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head. He breaks me down on every side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree... For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself..." 

Job 19: 2-3, 7-10, 25 

Life and people's selfishness at times make life unfair. I almost wrote that it feels unfair, but that would be downplaying the situation. It's not a matter of feeling. Sometimes life is indeed unfair. It throws us a curve ball that is not only unexpected but unjust. The result is not what we wanted or planned or even deserved. However God is fair, just, and when He  is not fair it is because  He is being merciful. He desires to bless us and to restore what the enemy and the wickedness of others has taken from us.The key is to keep trusting Him and moving toward Him and reacting according to His will rather than our own will and instincts when life is unjust and the destruction and loss are too much to bear. We can not allow our feelings of victimization to drive us away from God.

God said “I will restore the years that were stolen, give you beauty for those ashes, weeping may endure for a night, but joy is coming in the morning.” What caught us off guard, mule kicked us in the gut and made it impossible to breathe has never surprised God.  Before the loss occurred God already set in motion a plan to heal, restore and bring us closer to Him through what happened, but  in order for His plan to succeed and the restoration to occur we must submit our will to His, trust Him, and (this is the hardest part in my opinion) love and forgive the one who lied, cheated, abused, etc., setting aside the natural desire and right to seek revenge and leaving justice and vengeance in the hands of God. We have to let go of self-pity and trust that when things don't  go our way that God can and will make things turn out even better than what we would have wanted or expected if we continue to walk with Him, toward Him and in His will. It may not happen as quickly as we would like, and it may hurt badly while we wait for God to work the wrong into something good, but it will happen. God not only wants to arrange justice on behalf of His children, but  He wants to go further and bless us far and above what we deserve.

God wants to take what’s meant for your harm and use it to your advantage and His glory. God can open closed doors and restore what seems lost forever. God knows how to get you to where you need to be no matter how lost the cause or how great the defeat. He knows the disappointment, the heartache you feel, and this is not the end of the story if you continue or begin to seek relationship with God when life is unfair. Don't let bitterness overwhelm, but understand and trust that when it is all said and done, those who trust in the Lord will not only survive but will thrive.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 10 ~ Curses Foiled Again

“If anyone is found guilty of an offense deserving the death penalty and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree, 23 you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. 

~Deuteronomy 21:22

This Old Testament scripture is part of the reason some of the Jews could not accept Jesus as the Messiah, even after reports of His resurrection. Anyone hung on a tree was under God's curse, and they just couldn't accept the idea of the Anointed One, the Chosen Of God, The Messiah being cursed of God. Jesus was cursed of God, just not because of His own sin but because of ours.  Still, Jesus was cursed with the weight of the world's sin and a death He did not deserve.

Our greatest blessing came out of a moment of darkness and curse. This is also not the exception. There are many times and situations in life when our situation and circumstances may seem like nothing but darkness and a curse upon our life, but God can and will use those very moments and experiences to bless us and draw us closer to Him if we respond by turning toward Him rather than away from Him when the pain and fear hit us.

When it feels like you've been cursed, remember that God loves you no matter what your feelings and circumstances make it feel like, run to your Heavenly Daddy who desires to be your comfort and refuge, and look for ways to be a blessing to someone else through and in the midst of your own sorrow. When we can do this, we will find ourself being used for the glory of God, blessed and full of the peace, love and joy that comes with it. This is the path to a life worth living in the midst of hell on earth. The enemy's curses will loose their power over us and nothing he can do will be able to steal our joy and peace any longer, though sorrow may come and the winds may blow.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 9 ~ Blinding Love

As part of the labor I do to pay bills, I assist the man I work for with his welding. This usually consists of getting the leads out and ready, turning the machine on and then holding metal in place as he does the welding. Sometimes the position that I have to get in to hold things in place the way they need to be means that I can not completely turn away from the burst of light that goes with welding. I do shut my eyes and turn  away as much as possible. Still, there are times when, even with my eyes closed, the light is visible behind my closed lids. I try not to let this happen often, but when it does, for a few minutes after the welding is done I continue to see a negative version of the shape of the light superimposed over the landscape. It's unavoidable. Light that bright can not be ignored and effects the way we see. It damages our vision.

Love is a lot like the light from welding. It damages our worldly vision. Even when we don't want to be changed and don't want to see it and spiritually shut our eyes, Godly love blasts through our closed eyelids and lights up the dark. Once we walk away the image of that love light floats before us over whatever else we try to look at. Jesus said that we are the light of the world. We are to shine His love to and for those who haven't experienced it and may even shut their eyes to it. Being a light to those in the darkness is not about pointing out their faults and how blind and lost they are. It's about burning with the love of God for them so much and so brightly that even the blind can see the love light up the dark, so that they can not stay the same, see the world the same way once they leave our presence. Blind someone with love today.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 8 ~ Baby Talk

Communication is important in relationships, so much so that new parents begin working at it moments after birth. They may be using a silly tone and "baby" talk, but the truth is there is no newborn baby talk. Babies not only can't talk, they can't understand what they hear.  A mother asks a baby if he needs to be changed, knowing the answer and that the baby can communicate no better than the screaming already being done. Sooner or later the child grows and begins to understand, Usually the first word they get down really well is "NO," They begin to talk themselves, repeating what they've heard. First words, spoken poorly, and then phrases. In a few years or so our children can sit down and really have a conversation.

But it takes a while to get from birth to some spoken word toddlers to conversing child, and I won't even get into properly speaking adult, since most of us don't do all that well at that, even after 12 years or more of school. We understand this about people. No one talks to a three month old baby and really expects her to understand what is being said, much less to respond with words of her own. But when we begin our spiritual life as new babes in Christ we get frustrated with our inability to speak well to our Creator and or recognize and understand that still small voice. We want to converse with our Daddy like an educated person should be able to do, but the truth is we're babies. We don't always recognize what is and isn't the voice of God. We don't understand how to say what our spirits long to say. Don't be discouraged. Don't just not pray.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray He gave them a model prayer Yes, there are some principles in the model that we could discuss, but more than that is the idea that you learn to pray by praying. You learn to recognize the voice of your Daddy by spending enough time with Him to hear Him often enough that He becomes familiar to you. You learn to speak by parroting His words back to Him until you begin to understand what you are saying and can start putting the words together yourself. We are children of God. Let's talk to Him today, even if all we can grasp is "Da Da I love you, You love me. Amen.".

Unshackled Moments ~ June 5 ~ The Great Calling

And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

~I Peter 4:8-10

As we face each new day, we all have responsibilities, and we've all been called by God with a unique calling with which to use our unique gifts from God. But there is no earthly or heavenly duty, no responsibility, no ministry or calling that comes before loving others. The only commandment with more weight is to love God. Not only are we to be accepting, welcoming and friendly to both strangers and friends, but we are to be so truly hospitable that we can serve them without grumbling and complaining. The gifts we have we are to use to serve and love others. When the chaos of life hits and we want to push everyone away until we get things back under control and catch up with what we need to do, that may be the very time when to pause and find someone to serve, to show love to, may mean the most. No matter how busy we are or how crazy the day is, let us love others today.

The Lesson Of The Lepers

Dalyn Woodard expounds on the day's Unshackled Moments ~ June 3 ~ Healing Vs. Restoration, the story of the ten lepers and how it applies to our lives. The message, "The Lesson Of The Lepers" is 24 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, June 3, 2015. The song linked below the message is "take A Little Time" by Andre Crouch and was chosen because of how it goes with this message.It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 4 ~ Take The Time

But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. 

~Luke 5:15-16

Jesus become more and more famous, or infamous, and it got to the point where He couldn't go anywhere without being recognized, followed and asked for help. The demands on His time and energy steady increased from the start of His ministry right up until the last few days. But as the world demanded more and more of him and from Him, Jesus continued to go off alone to pray. Not once in the Bible does it say anything remotely like, "And Jesus wanted to go into the wilderness to pray, but He was too busy and there were far too many people who needed His help for Him to take time for His father." Nope. Never. It didn't happen. Jesus is God, but He was also a man. His strength, as  a man, came from His relationship with the Father and the time the two spent together.

Like Jesus, our strength comes from our relationship with our Heavenly Father and the time we spend with Him. As life gets more chaotic and hectic and time seems to always run in short supply, the natural tendency is to push aside or delay the spiritual things to make more time for the immediate and pressing concerns of the material world. But that is backwards. The more crazy life gets, and the more pressed for time we are, the more we need to keep our mind on things above, on the eternal, on what really matters...our contact with and relationship with God. That is what really matters, and it is the only thing that will provide us with the grace, wisdom and strength to make it through our crazy day well.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 3 ~ Healing Vs. Restoration

Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you whole."

~Luke 17:11-19

Ten lepers were cleansed on Jesus' trip to Jerusalem, but only one was made whole. Leprosy is a horrible disease that eats away at the body's extremities. These ten men were not only outcasts of society but were horribly disfigured, missing fingers, ears, noses, etc. All ten were healed, saved from a horrible and lonely death, but while they were saved there was nowhere they could go without bearing the damage and scars of their past. But one was made hole, restored, he looked like a new man and had a fresh start. Sometimes the difference in being healed so that things don't get worse and being restored, made whole and having again what was lost is a thankful heart toward God for the blessings we have received. Give thanks with a grateful heart.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 2 ~ The Third Son

“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29 He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?”
Matthew 21:28-31a

This is the parable Jesus spoke of the two sons, and for the record, the correct answer is the first son is the one who did the will of His father. A quick jab at the Pharisees to let them know that they aren't fooling God with their lip service and hard hearts. It is better to have selfishly refused to obey God and to respond to His call than it is to say Yes with the lips but no with the heart, to continue to live for self.

But what about the third option? The third son who's missing from the story who was asked of His father to work, said yes, sir and showed up on time and worked until the job was done without complaint? What about Him? Jesus didn't mention that Son, because He is the only one who ever lived that way in perfect submission and response to the Father. The rest of us at best are second sons, at worst are first sons, and in truth are likely some of both in practice. We can't go back and change the past. We've all fallen short, but we can be forgiven. We can also, now that we have finally discovered grace and responded with the heart to the call of God, continue to walk in it. Now that we've showed up to do His will as the second son, let us keep showing up and start saying yes more and more. By grace and through discipline and because the past is under the blood we can become like the third son, who wasn't in the story but told it.

Abba, more and more let me be like Jesus, walking closer and closer with You in perfect submission and obedience in positive response to Your every call. Forgive me when I fall short of that goal. Thank You for loving me even though I all too often I have said yes and didn't follow through and just as often, if not more, I have said no and meant it. Amen.

Unshackled Moments ~ June 1 ~ Whosoever

We all have people that we deem unworthy and unfit, that we disparage and look down on. For some it's the religious hypocrite and modern day Pharisee, for others homosexuals, for yet others it's people of other races or religions. Whatever the qualification standard we hold others to to test their right to be cared for, treated with the love of Christ and worthy of our time and attention, we're using the wrong criteria when we use our own feelings and ideas. God's ways are not our ways, and the truth is that we all have failed to measure up, those we naturally accept and those we naturally reject are all equally distant from measuring up to God's standard. But the good news is that grace is equally abundant and available for us all...and I mean all. Jesus came for all the world and said  that whosoever would believe on Him would find grace and the right to have relationship with God. In saying this and declaring that we are to love our neighbors and our enemies, God has made it clear that there is no one person or group of people, whatever they might be, that we have a right to treat in an unloving manner or as though they are of no value. There is no one that we have the right to look down on unless it is with a loving hand to help raise them up.

Abba, help me to love ever person and group of people as You have loved me, willing to serve and lay down my feelings, judgements and life in order to show them the love of the Father for them. Amen.