Unshackled Life Ministries: January 2016

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Unshackled Moments ~ January 30 ~ Guilt-Free Grief

Life deals some heavy blows. There are losses and setbacks and devastation. There is evil in the world, and it effects our lives, even when,sometimes especially when, we are walking with God. Verses like Rejoice in the Lord always and in everything give thanks for this is the will of God and concepts learned in recovery, from self-help books and life coaches like have an attitude of gratitude can become hammers of condemnation when misunderstood or taken out of context as we struggle to be grateful and thankful during times of sorrow and grief.

Gratitude is important, and it is a useful weapon with which to combat self-pity. But gratitude is not a spiritual baking soda absorbing sorrow on contact. Gratitude is not an instant fix or escape from all pain. To look at it this way can produce condemnation and guilt in us and in others who are struggling. There is a time to grieve. There can be sorrow, even in times when we rely on the joy of the Lord to make it through hard times. Jesus said blessed are they that mourn. He never said don't morn. In fact, though He never sinned or failed in any way, He was known as a man of sorrow acquainted with grief.

Sorrow is not a sin. We are not required or commanded to snap out of it. Christianity has never been a call to deny or ignore reality, and sometimes reality is painful and grief stained. That is why when Jesus first mentioned the promise of the Holy Spirit as a help to those that believe, He called Him the Comforter. Comfort does not mean sorrow eliminator. It does not mean grief eraser. Sometimes our greatest comfort is that true friend who empathizes and feels our pain with us, who allows us to lean on them for strength and go through it. They don't try to make it less than it is. They don't try to pretend it away, or even cheer us up. They just quietly go through it with us, and somehow in the process make it Ok. Their presence gives us the strength to endure the sorrow and go through the process of grieving so that later, when the time is right, we can begin to heal. Wounds must be cleaned before they can heal, and sometimes what cleans them is our tears.

No one is a better friend to us in this respect than the Holy Spirit. He is always there and available when we need Him. When grief rises up, we do need to beware the quicksand of self pity, but sorrow is something we all go through. It's OK. Don't feel guilty about not being able to shake it off. Don't try to blot it out or escape it. Lean on Him who is able to help us through every valley of the shadow and be comforted that we are never alone in our pain. Jesus wept. And He did so for and with your pain.

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.

Friday, January 29, 2016

Covenant Vs Contract

Dalyn Woodard continues the study on Romans and shares a message from Romans 10 on the kind of relationship God desires to have with us. Our misunderstanding of the starting point to approach the meaning in verses like Romans 10:9-13 can lead to insecurity in our salvation or sloppy grace. The relation that God desires is far more than a spiritual insurance policy. The message, "Covenant Vs Contract" is about 56 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, January 27, 2016. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Unshackled Moments ~ January 29 ~ Take A Break

There are times when the stress of life and the pressure of what we need to do and what's going on in our lives becomes so great that we feel it's impossible to stop. We become so determined on getting though whatever is happening that we cut out the very thing that gives us the power to get through it.

I'm sure that I am not the only one who's been running late, glanced down to see the fuel gauge on empty and kept going, praying I didn't run out of gas. I had to get to my destination. I didn't have time to stop for gas. But the truth is that if I ran out I would be even more late as I found myself forced to walk to a station or wait for help. The wise thing to do is stop and put a gallon or two in the tank to make sure I can keep going until I have time to fill up.

For those who have been set free from the bondage of addiction, this kind of behavior spiritually is an extremely dangerous game of roulette. Sooner or later, we will misjudge and run out of power if we keep refusing to take the time to add to the tank. Even those who don't have have dangerous addictions will find themselves trying to go through their day on their own strength, and it's impossible to stay in the will of God on out own power. The results are never good. Sometimes they are disastrous.

When we feel that we don't have time to stop is when we need to take time the most. A few minutes to get still and quiet with God refuels and refreshes us. We travel on down the road more efficiently, our spiritual engine runs better. In the end, that few minutes saves time. It keeps us from having to start over, from having to back track or change directions and prevents us from becoming stuck or sidetracked.

No matter what is happening in our lives, we need that time with God each and every day. Maybe we don't have time to fill up But if we keep stopping for a gallon or two here and there we will never run out of gas. We will not have to switch from His power to our own. Let us take a break today and spend time refueling our spiritual tanks so that we can drive though our day free and under His power.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Unshackled Moments ~ January 28 ~ Fine Tuning

If you were to ask my wife, I have a touch of OCD, and it blooms gloriously in the garden of my Pandora. Maybe it's the former DJ and the Radio/TV minor in me, or maybe it's something else. I don't know. I do know Pandora provides a thumbs up button and a thumbs down button to fine tune stations, and I use it. I get serious about it, much to my wife's amusement. As far as I'm concerned, if I have the tools to tweak the station, I should.

Sometimes it's frustrating. I understand certain musicality factors in how Pandora chooses what to play on a station, but I wish that they would add a few more options or parameters. For example, I have a station that plays classic Jesus Music and classic contemporary Christian music. When I say classic, I mean classic. But there's no way to make Pandora understand the era restrictions. So in the midst of music from the 70s and 80s that I grew up on, newer songs by the same artists or with a slightly similar sound are played. I finally gave up and extended the cut off to 1995, but everything newer than that gets a thumbs down. Period. I don't care how good it is. No, I don't care if it is Michael W. Smith. It's not one of his 1980s releases, it came out in 200? and doesn't belong on the classic station.

I can forgive and understand why Pandora feels I should like songs by the same artists who have managed to keep putting out music for 30 or 40 years. I just thumbs down, probably confuse the computer, and move on. But then out of the blue something weird happens. It happened yesterday. The same station I've been talking about played a song by Nelly. That one stumped me. It's not close to the era, Nelly does not sound like classic Russ Taff, Petra, Larry Norman, etc. He's not in the same neighborhood as the artists and bands on that station, and he's a secular artist being thrown in with nothing but Christian artists. The incongruity jarred me. If it had happened on my Christian Hip Hop station it would be closer to understandable, but in no stretch of the imagination did it belong on the station that attempted to play it before I had to waste one of my limited thumbs down on something that never should have happened. I shook my head and wondered what the Pandora system was thinking when it did that.

So what's the point? Sometimes the songs that are out of place are close. They are the same artist or sound similar or come close to what should be on a particular station but don't quite fit. Sometimes the wrongness is glaring. The latter frustrate me, because I don't think after all this time of fine tuning my stations that something so out of place should ever show up. Then I wonder how often I am like Pandora and cause the Holy Spirit to shake His head and wonder what I could have possibly been thinking with some action I took.

I surrendered my will and life over to the care of God. I committed to give Him control and the right to dictate the thoughts and actions that occur in my life, to fine tune me to play in harmony with His will and purpose. Some things that I throw in the mix may not really be bad. They may even fit in another station, at a different time and place. It's not that they are wrong as much as they just don't quite fit with the music He's playing then and there. That's fine tuning, as He nudges me to skip on to the next song and play something else.

But then there are times when I throw in a Nelly. The direction I go off on has nothing to do with God's genre, It's entirely me, the old me, and the difference is obvious. Those actions where, if witnessed, no one would see any aspect of Christ in me. No one would see or feel the love of God. They are secular, if not down right opposite of all God is trying to do in my life. In no way could they possibly fit or belong on any of God's stations in my life. It's a glitch in the program that causes the Holy Spirit to have to almost start from scratch rather than fine tune. It's ridiculous and never should happen. But it does,

The good thing is that God doesn't get angry when we go off program like that. If we will listen and not limit His thumbs downs we don't have to play the song through. He can put us back on track quickly. Today let us pay close attention to Him who calls the tunes and play what is pleasing to His ear. If we get off, let us be quick to repent, ask for forgiveness and let Him make the necessary adjustments to the music of our lives so that we can go through our day in harmony.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Unshackled Moments ~ January 27 ~ Twinkle, Twinkle Litlte Star

Twinkle, twinkle little star...

It's easy sometimes to look up at the night sky and see the beauty of the little lights floating above us. We may even at times see the magnitude of the night sky and be overwhelmed by the glory of what God has created. In times like those, we feel small.

But even as the stars make us feel small, it is hard to see them as gigantic. They are tiny dots. It's hard to visualize that our sun is a small star and that most of the little stars twinkling in the night sky are many times larger than the sun. If we could get close to even our tiny sun it would be easy to understand that next to it, the earth is a speck. And of course, as tiny little creatures running around on the surface of that speck we wouldn't even be noticeable. The sun wouldn't have changed. We wouldn't have made it bigger. We would just finally have a better perspective of the reality that already is.

Even when we magnify a star in a telescope, making it larger from our perspective, we aren't actually making it larger. Even our magnified view can not fathom the reality of the stars brilliance and size. We simply can't see it. Not even with the huge telescopes that take the awesome and beautiful images we see and wonder in awe at can capture what it would be like to be in that star's presence.

So it is with God. We see evidence of His mighty works and declare our God is a big God, an awesome God. But the truth is that He is beyond our ability to fathom. When the scriptures call on us to magnify the Lord, it's not so that we can make Him bigger. We are not magnifying Him, but rather our perspective of, our view of, our understanding of Him. Like with a telescoped and stars, we get a better idea of His size, beauty and glory with some magnification. When we look at God with the naked eye of our understanding, it's like looking at the stars in the night sky. He seems small, glorious but small. How can He really help? But as our perspective changes, when He is magnified within us, we understand more how Big and Mighty big and mighty really is. He makes those things that seem so big and overwhelming to us smaller than specks in comparison.

We don't need a bigger God. He is more than enough. We need a magnified, bigger and better understanding of who He is that is on our side. If we could come more close to seeing Him life sized nothing in life would cause us fear. Nothing would ever seem close to too much for Him to handle for us. We would never again doubt that we can give it all to Him and do so safely. One day, we will see Him in His presence and there will be no need to magnify anything. We will understand and fall on our knees in worship and wonder. But until then,

magnify the Lord with me.

-Psalm 34:3

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Unshackled Moments ~ January 26 ~ Stop And Go

Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

- Isaiah 40:31

Sometimes it feels like things keep going from bad to worse. There is no end to the rough road, and the light at the end of the tunnel is a freight train coming our way. It exhausts us to push through the weight of the situation and the obstacles of circumstances. Where is God when nothing is getting better, and it's taking every bit of determination we have just to keep breathing. We want to stop. sit down beside the road and quit.

We can't do that. We need to do exactly that. We can not stop on the side of the road. If we cease to walk, we will never reach our destination. But if we continue to attempt to make the journey on our strength, we will collapse and also fail to survive and arrive. We need to give the load to One able to carry it. Let the Spirit go before us and remove the obstacles. Let Him carry the weight of the situations. Let Him carry us.

To wait on the Lord is to rest in who He is and His love for us. It is to trust Him with our lives and with what's happening in and around them, We don't have to push our way through it or force ourselves to make one more step. When we can trust God to handle what needs to be handled and rest in His love, patiently letting God's timetable operate without being hindered by our anxiety and fears, then we will find the Spirit refreshing us. We can soar above the situations, we can run to Him and we can walk through the desert and the valley of the shadow, no matter how long it takes. It doesn't mean that if we give it to God He'll instantly remove all our problems. It means that we can keep going and remain faithful for as long as it takes, knowing there will come a point when we will be looking behind us to see what is blocking the path today. Keep going, but on His strength.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Unshackle Moments ~ January 25 ~ Creep

The band Radiohead sings one of my favorite secular songs. It is, in my opinion, without doubt, the best thing they ever released, although I wouldn't play it in front of my mother or in church. It's PG teen + for language. I wouldn't dare to put words in the mouth of the writer or pretend to know for sure what he meant or why he wrote the song. If you do a search for the meaning behind it, you will learn that there is a universal feeling of pain that broken people are relating to and then the song means different things to different people. They all take it to a personal place, and most have a valid point about why they feel the song means what it does to them.

I was one of the broken people that loved and related to Creep. It felt very personal, as though Albert Hammond looked into my heart and wrote what he saw. I can see the arguments about it being about trying to fit in, to look and be like the image portrayed by media in society, and anorexia. The love gone bad theories, and the effects of time on relationships. I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong. Like art, it means what it means to people because it invokes a response within. That's what makes it great. I used to relate because of my own individual brokenness, Now it reminds of where I used to be and have been brought out of. I still love the song. But recently I heard it, and it hit me that what made this song sad is also what brings me joy today.

When you were here before Couldn't look you in the eye ...

chorus

I wish I was special

You're so {written radio edit}' special

But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo

What the hell am I doing here?

I don't belong here

I don't care if it hurts

I want to have control I want a perfect body

I want a perfect soul

I want you to notice

chorus

Whatever makes you happy

Whatever you want

chorus

That, as some know I am sure, are not all the lyrics, but the ones I related to most, the ones I see being fulfilled. I remember years of feeling alone in the middle of a crowd. I wanted to be special, to feel special, not like the freak that I had come to believe I was but as one highly valued. I always feared that if anyone knew the real me and what went on inside me, they could never accept me or love me. The smart ones would run away. My life felt out of control, and I dreamed and fantasized about having control of my self and the world around me, of feeling powerful and safe. I wanted to live up to expectations and stop failing and feeling like a failure. And I would do whatever helped me feel better and escape the emptiness and pain, no matter how much it hurt me.

The places I went trying to fill the God-shaped hole in my heart with anything and everything besides God were ugly and deadly and heartbreaking. And while I know this song wasn't written about God and that this was not the writer's intent, I came to a place of surrender where I cried out to my Heavenly Daddy and decided that I no longer needed control if someone else had to be in control to fix things and give me the rest. I wanted to be free. I told God sincerely Whatever makes You happy. Whatever You want.

My life changed. The transformation from the creep, the weirdo, the caterpillar, into the beautiful butterfly, the perfect, righteous, child of God began to show in my life. I am no longer ashamed of who and what I am. I can look people in the eye again. I can hold my head up. I can look the God of all creation in the eye. I don't sit in fear of every good situation and relationship falling apart, because I am not pretending to be someone I'm not, I'm not trying to force myself into a mold. I don't fear that the truth that I don't belong will be discovered. I do belong. I'm not perfect or beautiful like God. But He's making me into someone like Him. No matter who does or doesn't value me in my life, my Creator highly values me. I don't deserve to be in relationship with Him or with any of the people He's brought into my life, but that's where I belong. I don't have a perfect body or a perfect soul, but one day, on the other side of eternity, I will. People may still come and go, they may still run away, but God will never leave me, forsake me or reject me. He set me free from the chains, addictions and the need to fit in and have approval from others at any cost. He can and will do the same for you if you let Him. I may still have a touch of the weirdo within, but the creep is dead and gone. In His place is a unique and beautiful child of God, and I know what I'm doing here. There is a solution.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Unshackled Moments ~ January 24 ~ An Open Letter To My WIfe

I'm going to do something a little different today. Rather than share or teach or whatever it is that I normally do with the Unshackled Moments, I want to express some gratitude and share with rigorous honesty an example of the miraculous power of God to bring blessing, freedom and transformation into the lives of the broken. All we have to give is our experience strength and hope.

My experience is that I was a bad son, brother and husband. Bad doesn't quite cover it. I was a nightmare of selfishness, betrayal and destruction. With my track record, I deserved no more chances and had no hope of anything being different or better had I received one. But God performed a miracle and freed me from the bondage of self. Then He gave me a great blessing, another chance, the treasure I believed I would never have and didn't deserve. Today I celebrate that awesome gift.

My Dearest Lady,
Leah, I can't believe that it's been five years today since we stood together in my parent's living room and heard my father pronounce us one before God and the state of Texas. Sometimes it feels so much longer, as the connection of our souls feels ancient and timeless. Other times it feels like yesterday. There are still mysteries and amazing discoveries that leave me in joyous wonder in seeing more deeply who you are and who you are becoming. I feel like the honeymoon has just begun.

You are my treasure, and I adore you. I feel so blessed to have been given such a wonderful helpmate and blessing so far beyond what I deserve. Even more, I rejoice at the transformation that has made it possible for me to make you happy and be the kind of man and husband that you deserve.To be a part of your joy and healing rather than added destruction is a miraculous twist of the story of my life that continues to amaze me. You and our relationship is perhaps the greatest testimony to the power of God to heal the broken and restore beauty from ashes that God has used my life to demonstrate.

I regret that we robbed our parents , family and friends of the pleasure of seeing you walk down an aisle. It has been my desire to renew our vows with a public ceremony so that they might experience that, so I can see you in a wedding dress meant for me and so that you can have your cake and eat it too. I am grateful that we were unable to fulfill our plans to do this on our fifth anniversary since I can barely walk at the moment. Someday I pray. Still, I renew my vows to you every morning and with every declaration of my love for you, both public and private.

Here, at this moment, on this anniversary of our union, I promise to continue to cherish you. I take comfort in the grace that has been and will continue to be on my life which keeps me free from the selfishness and addictions that would make this vow impossible to honor. I am yours, and you are mine, because we are God's. I will spend the rest of our days walking by your side, helping you and being there for you to lean on, and leaning on you as we help each other walk with God. I honor you and adore you and will always do so.

You are my love, my joy, my greatest blessing second only to Christ. You will remain the priority of my life above everything but Him. I can promise this in faith that I will be able to fulfill it, because I know that it is the will of God for us to be one and for me to love you and care for you as Christ loved and sacrificed Himself for us, for His bride. I thank you for the love you give me, and I ask you to forgive every moment when I have fallen short of the ideal that I strive for, for the times when fear or pain make my tone unloving, or when I have slipped into self and failed to be the help you need.

I have never for one second regretted our marriage or our life together. I truly believe that it is better now than when it was new and young. I pray that the trend continues and that when we hit the ten year mark it will find us still honeymooning and growing closer and happier together than we are today. I give glory and praise to the God who made it possible. For Him to take a selfish addict who couldn't love anyone well, not even himself, and create a man captivated by love, ready and willing to lay down his daily life for his bride amazes me and feels me with hope for the future. Not to take away from the enormity of that miracle, but you make it easy. Loving you is the easiest thing God has ever called me to do. I could more quickly cease breathing than harden my heart towards you.

I love you. Happy Anniversary.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Unshackled Moments ! January 23 ~ Breaking The Corrosive Thread

It took longer than usual, so I had just begun to think I might escape the horror show sequel that usually comes to the carnival that is my brain when I spend too much time in pain. A little chronic pain has become a part of life for me, but when the volume gets turned up to a six or seven or higher and stays a while, bugs start crawling in my head.

My dreams turn into nightmares and my mental time machine takes me back to the era of steel and razor wire. I don't know if this happens because my subconscious mind associates severe and long lasting pain with prison, or because it's sadistic and hates me. Maybe it's as simple as the devil likes to kick us when we're already crippled and down. Canwe go for the combo platter?

Last night the cycle continued and got ugly quickly. After finally getting comfortable enough to bear the pain in my back, I would drift off and float down and down and down to REMland and Dream River. Dream River bent and twisted its way to Nightmare Rapids and PTSD Falls, which would result in my waking in a panic, heart racing, body clenching and jerking. That last part would send waves of pain washing through me. I managed not to scream. I lay there until the pain subsided enough to ride the ride again. And again. And again.

I hate nights like this. I'm afraid that I'm going to wake up swinging and hit my wife. I'm afraid I'm going to wake up screaming and frighten and disturb my wife. I'm afraid that I'm going to go back to sleep. I'm afraid I won't be able to function if I don't get some rest. I guess the common thread here is obvious. I am afraid.

Fear is an evil, corroding thread; the fabric of our lives is shot through with it.

- Bill W

Bill is right. But the answer to fear is the peace that passes understanding and the perfect love that God gives. Like so many other things, I am powerless over fear, flashbacks and my subconscious torments. But there is One who is higher than I whose sandals....you get the idea.

But some things really do take more than spouting one liners, platitudes and scripture to handle and manage. There is power in the Word, but it's not a magic spell or a talisman that wards off evil. It's our faith in God that brings peace, not repeating scriptures like mantras.

I got up and prayed, because going back to sleep wasn't an option. The sound of the falls slowly faded and the fog from the dreams began to lift. Now, I don't want to give the impression that I whispered a prayer and rainbows lit up the morning sky and birds whistled and sang as the flitted about and I felt like skipping to Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah What A Wonderful Day. I hurt. My brain still feels the effects of nightmare hangover. I am exhausted but in no way eager to sleep. A dose of peace has quieted the waters, but the lake is still full of fear. Yet,I remember that I don't have to beat this foe. I can run to Him who is able.

It occurred to me as I began to write that this is the best the enemy has. I'm not saying fear isn't dangerous or rough. It is. But fears of the past haunting us and dreading the future are the devil's two best weapons. Even his attacks on the present are just disguised war heads loaded with what was and what might be. In other words, fantasy and illusion. The past is gone, and the future doesn't exist. All that ever enters reality is the now, and today is the day of deliverance. No matter what they do to me mentally, PTSD dreams can't physically take me back in time or leave me there. No matter what my dreams dread about tomorrow, today I am under the shadow of the wings of God.

How many of our fears are just the past or predictions, neither of which exist in reality, being used against us? When we begin to drown in fear, let us remember the Rock on which we can stand as the waters swirl around us is in today, in the now, in this moment. There is no peace in yesterday, and who knows what tomorrow may bring? But peace flows from God to where we are at this moment.

Friday, January 22, 2016

Be A Herald

Dalyn Woodard continues the study on Romans and shares a message from Romans 10 on being a part of the answer to our prayers for the lost. The message, "Be A Herald" is about 48 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, January 20, 2016. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Unshackled Moments ~ January 22 ~ Word Grenades

I am a fan of Michael Sweet. I have been since at the age of 13 I heard one of the most powerful voices on the planet utter the words The hair is long and the screams are loud and clear. They were. Stryper rocked, and Michael's voice blew me away. Some of my friends disliked my Christian Rock because it sounded like a poor copy of the secular sound. Stryper didn't respond to Larry Norman's question of why should the devil have all the good music with an almost as good alternative or with a sub par similarity. They uniquely blasted something better. We could play Blizzard of Oz and then pop in The Yellow And Black Attack without any sort of of let down. It was the only source of God some of my friends had in their lives.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't think Michael, or any of the Stryper guys, were perfect or idols. They had their problems, issues, shortcomings and failures. There were areas where their walk was not what it should have been. They messed up. Even as Christians, the spirit of rebellion and the hurt they suffered at the hands of "the church" nearly destroyed them. But all ministers fall short. All have areas that aren't right. So does the rest of the body of Christ. And as a preacher's kid who felt sick of being forced into a box that didn't fit and that I wasn't called to, I could so relate to the rebellion and the pain. I still relate, because those issues nearly destroyed me as well. But the God who called us is faithful.

I mention all of this, because even today I listen to Michael's solo work and Stryper. On my Pandora as I write, amidst the Jeremy Camp and Chris Tomlin and Todd Agnew a little Stryper must come. I love Shuffle.

This morning I sat after reading a blog on hope verses despair and blame. I remembered hating hope, fearing hope and losing hope. I remembered that slowly changing. I thought of one of the issues that I had the least amount of hope regarding was a relationship that I desperately wanted and prayed to be restored. It would take a miracle. So much hurt on both sides had brought destruction and built a wall between us that seemed impossible to bring down.

Like Berlin used to be, we were divided, and two people who should never have been enemies were at best in a cold war. The chorus of the Dixie Chicks song Not Ready To Make Nice seemed to accurately describe how both of us felt, and those who loved us suffered from the fallout. One of the things that made peace such a hard thing to create came from words that had been said that couldn't be taken back. Whoever first said words can never hurt me was a liar or an idiot.

Then one day, we both stopped throwing word grenades. We began to stop getting in God's way. I can't speak for what the other did, but I determined not to do or say anything to make things worse or try to force unity. I prayed and waited, waited and prayed. It came without warning, also like with Berlin. Overnight it seemed, the wall came down. Healing had begun. Restoration was in progress. It's still not a perfect relationship, and it may never be. But there is a relationship, and I thank God for it.

As I sat and said a prayer of thanksgiving to the God who made it possible, I heard the unmistakable sound of Michael Sweets voice follow Jeremy Camp's declaration about walking by faith. I stopped and listened because somehow this was a song I hadn't heard before. I thought it might be off the new Stryper release, which I intend to buy but can't afford at the moment,. but it was off one of Michael's solo albums that I missed, I'm Not Your Suicide, released in 2014. Now I have two albums I want to get soon. The song was All That's Left.

The music rocked, but the lyrics got me. I nearly cried as I listened to Michael sing about not giving up on broken relationships and refusing to continue in a war with words. It felt like God confirming what I had learned about restoration. Stop reacting. Cease firing, regardless of whether or not the other side does, and get out of God's way. It may take a while, but healing is possible. Restoration can come. And even if it doesn't, we can keep from increasing the hurt. The key is to not allow the hurts and wounds from our relationships to cause us to react differently than Jesus would.

They cursed Him, mocked Him and ridiculed Him, yet He never opened His mouth in defense or attack. He loved to the point of laying down His life. And in the end He won. Not only did He win, but many who cursed and ridiculed, then and later like me, came to and back to relationship with Him. Following His example can bring healing and victory in every situation, even broken relationships. Don't give up, and let us all put the pins back in our word grenades.

Everybody owns a gun And everybody shoots someone The words we say are weapons of a mass destruction But I don't want to join the war or see you hurting anymore.

- Michael Sweet

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Choose To Be Pliable

Dalyn Woodard continues the study on Romans and shares a message from Romans 9 on the doctrine of predestination and the nature of God. He also touches on key aspects to understanding scripture for yourself. The message, "Choose To Be Pliable" is about 57 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, January 13, 2016. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Since God Is For Us

Dalyn Woodard continues the study on Romans and shares a message from Romans 8 on the security of our salvation and what it means and how it apples to our life that God is on our side, The message, "Since God Is For Us" which is about 42 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, December 30, 2015. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Loving God

Dalyn Woodard continues the study on Romans and shares a message, "Loving God" which is about 48 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, December 16, 2015. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Unshackled Moments ~ January 21 ~ Runaway Horse

I woke up angry yesterday. Doesn't that sound rational? How are you? Fine, thank you for asking. Well, to be honest I woke a bit angry this morning. No. There was nothing so refined. Nothing fine in general. I woke full of wrath. Ticked. I wanted to stomp through the house. I wanted to yell. I wanted to cuss. I wanted to hit things. Anger owned me.

It had been building all morning until I nearly exploded. From the start I used my tools and little tricks to try to change tracks before my crazy train went off the rails. At 5 something I mumbled gratitude that I woke up since I forgot to set my alarm the night before. I set the alarm and went back to sleep. The truth was that I did indeed feel grateful that I had noticed that I hadn't set the alarm and wouldn't oversleep. The truth was also that I was upset that I had been waking every hour or so all night and didn't feel rested at all. I almost got up, but no, I went back to sleep.

And dreamed.

I woke up a couple of minutes before my alarm screamed at me, and I lay there heart racing, covered in sweat and breathing hard. I got up this time, a couple of minutes later about 30 seconds after I snoozed the alarm to silence instead of cutting it off. I walked to the closet and realized that I forgot to put the clothes I washed when I got home from work the previous day into the dryer. I needed them for work. The time bomb I had been struggling to defuse all night went off. It was one of those bombs where one small explosion sets off a chain reaction of ever increasing detonations until the big one occurs, bringing with it massive destruction.

I knew that I had to stop the reactions before things went from bad to worse. My wonderful wife would not react well to my rage. She would take it upon herself and ask me not to be mad at her. She would not believe for a second that not one particle of the fire burning in my heart was directed at her or had anything to do with her. She would take responsibility for two reasons. One, it's what she does. If I get upset about anything she either blames herself for upsetting me or for not helping me be not upset. Secondly, I had asked her to remind me to put the clothes in the dryer.

But I wasn't mad at her. I didn't blame her. It was totally my fault. I tried to calm myself. Again with the gratitude, I had time to dry the clothes before I had to leave for work. I would get a later start than I should, but it would be OK. I felt grateful to have remembered as soon as I did and that I got up with my alarm and not three snooze buttons in. I tried to be grateful that I only hurt a little and not a lot and might not have to take more than two Ibuprofen to start the day.

Still angry. I tried not to stomp and disturb Leah. I fought the urge to slam doors and display the turmoil within. I knew better. I knew how it would be perceived. I knew it would be a dangerous direction to allow myself to go. I knew I couldn't stay angry and do God's will for the day. I wanted to break things and hurt things. God is about restoration and healing. I reigned it in from a gallop to a trot, but wrath continued to carry me toward the morning's apocalypse. Then the alarm I had snoozed went off, and with it the next reaction in the chain.

I became angry with myself for not turning the alarm off and for having risked disturbing Leah. What if it had gone of while I was in the other room and couldn't turn it off quickly? The fact that I probably silenced it faster then it normally takes for me to sluggishly hit the snooze button again did nothing to slow the burning inside.

I wasn't moments away from out of control. I had been out of control all morning. I felt like I had as a child on my Uncle Jimmie's paint horse Ringo. The horse wanted to go back to the barn and kept taking off in that direction with me along for the ride. I fought him. I struggled with the bit. I made him slow. I turned him back the direction I wanted to go for a minute and fought against his desire to make another turn, which sooner or later, he was always able to do. No, Ringo didn't ever get to run straight back to the barn as he wished. I hindered him. But the idea that I was in control of that horse never occurred to me. I knew better. The same was true of my anger.

I had deluded myself into thinking I had some control because I slowed and hindered the direction and degree of what was going on, but like with Ringo I never had control. I tried to take control with gratitude. Didn't work. I tried to start my day over and let the morning I had already lived go. The time is now. The past is gone. I started over mad. That did it. As Ringo's antics came back to haunt me, I remembered how that ended.

My Uncle Jimmie had come out of his house and seen Ringo running away with me and nearly scraping me off his back by way of low hanging tree limbs. He ran to the lot we were in, caught Ringo by the bridle and stopped him. Ringo never tried to run another step with me that day. He was under control. It just wasn't mine.

I was trying to control myself all morning. But I don't have that power when the horse of wrath really wants to rage and run within me. God help me, I cried. Suddenly I felt the gallop slow to a trot. It wasn't up to me. Daddy can stop this beast. The trot slowed to a walk, and as it did I saw that what had stampeded it in the first place wasn't the laundry but the dream. I had a dream that had triggered my still not fully healed issues with the past. I had awoken feeling burnt and raw and beaten and angry. I never had a chance. Not on my own. But I'm not on my own,

We learn ways to help discipline ourselves. Stop and think before we speak and act. Play the movie through. Start the day over. Change attitude with gratitude. Stop self-pity by helping someone else. And more. They are good things and work when the thing we're trying to control is something we can control, when the beast within is being cooperative. But when it wants to go it's own way, there is nothing in our power that can do more than slightly hinder it. Let's not get so stuck in using the tools we have learned that we hold onto the problem too long. Be quick to turn it over to the One who has the power to stop the horse in its tracks so we can get off its back without getting hurt.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Unshackled Moments ~ January 20 ~ Now Look What You've Done

It's happened to me before, and it happened again today, that now look what you did moment. We've all had them, and it always seems to make things worse. Something goes wrong, we react badly or make a poor choice in how to deal with the situation, and then someone, or maybe even we ourselves, comes out with the dreaded now look what you've done, or some variation that means the same thing.

It happened to me yesterday when I got a tractor stuck in a creek bottom. I grabbed a chain and another tractor and tried to pull it out. No go. It wasn't moving. I got frustrated, backed up to get some slack in the chain and attempted to jerk the struck tractor loose from the mud. POW! The chain snapped. For one second I felt drained, calm and a little broken. That's a good place to be, believe it or not. It means I'll stop long enough to see that I need to change course before things get worse. I need to get calm and let God have control of my emotions and the situation. I need to stop and think.Then after that brief window where things could make a turn for the better inside me, even though they're worse on the outside, an annoying voice inside my head said those heartbreaking words. Immediately my anger returned. I wanted to throttle that voice.

We all do it from time to time. Someone isn't handling something the way they should, the way we know would be better because we're at least a little more detached from the situation or they're just not doing it the way we want them to, and they make things worse. Even when we're able to resist saying it, we can't stop the thought from coming. Now look what you've done. You've made things worse than they were before! And, since most of human communication is non-verbal, the other person sees it. They react even worse. They get defensive. They get angry. Or they fall apart and feel even more foolish or stupid. They feel worthless. We feel the same when it happens to us. It's human nature, both the giving and the receiving of that condemnation and scorn.

The good new is that our Heavenly Daddy doesn't do that to us. Ever. He never says See! I knew you would blow it. You always get that way. He never points out how we've failed again and made things worse. Jesus never said now look what you've done. He says Come to me. Let me hold you and comfort you until you can calm down and hear me. Then, when we're in a better place emotionally He shows us what we can learn from the situation, how to go on from that point and make things right and better. He doesn't knock us down for failing, He says I never expected you to do this on your own. My grace is sufficient. Let Me be your resource, your help, your strength.

What an awesome God we serve! How wonderful it is to know that God's not making us feel worse by pointing out everything we did to make things worse at the time when it will cause us the most pain and humiliation. We can take comfort in that, but we also need to learn from it. Take the time to give the Spirit control of our reactions so that, by grace, we can cease turning to ourselves and others when they're down and saying now look what you've done. We can instead give grace and comfort and peace and make things better.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Unshackled Moments ~ January 19 ~ Growing Old

I know logically that I am middle aged, but I am starting to realize that I am old. It's a roller coaster, this understanding and coming to a place of acceptance with my deterioration. Some days I feel it and believe that I am getting old, other days I am in denial. I'm not old. I'm middle aged. I'm only 44. I still feel young at heart. And then I do something like I did the other day in a conversation with someone who was getting a puppy from Leah and me. I said, "We're not on twitter, but we're on the Facebook."

The couple never showed any reaction. Neither did my wife, but inwardly I did a face palm. I am so old. I used to make fun of old people who said things like, "I don't understand why you young people watch THE MTV." There's no THE, it was just MTV!! And now I am one of them. It just slipped out from the ancient old man living inside me, evidently wanting to get out. And now, as of yesterday, I am on the twitter, excuse me I have a Twitter account, and I feel a bit like a fish out of water with it. I understand the rhythms, purpose and techniques of Facebook, but I don't get Twitter. Maybe I never will, and I'll be the Twitter version of people on Facebook that just don't understand that telling Facebook in a public post that your thoughts and photos are private just isn't going to work.

A few days ago, Leah and I were playing Rock Band, and one of the loading screens had something about how it can't get too loud, and Leah and I said together that it could be too loud because we're old. I lived by that anthem of if it's too loud, you're too old for years. Now it's often too loud, and if it is, it probably means you can hear, because I set the volume where it is because I can't hear thank you very much.

I am getting, old. There is gray in my beard. Things my twentyish friends do, watch and like make no sense to me, or just seem stupid most of the time. I'm getting old, and I'm OK with that. In fact, I am grateful for it. I enjoy my life, despite the aches and pains and the embarrassing too old to relate moments. Growing old is the number one side effect of not dying.

I should be dead. I can count numerous times I should have died. There have been wrecks and overdoses and risks taken and far too much living like a rock star. I may only be 44, but I'm like 88 in rock star years, and it's a miracle I'm alive. It's a miracle I'm happy that I'm alive. I don't remember feeling that way much for a few years or decades. Today I have a life worth living. I'm a few months away from six years clean and sober. I'm five days away from celebrating five years of marriage that is as precious and as wonderful to me today as it was on day one. I am grateful to be growing old and to be doing it with Leah.

I never thought I would be so grateful to be alive that I would be happy about turning into an old man. I never thought I would become someone my teen self would have mocked and ridiculed. It's because I found a life worth living, where the good can be enjoyed and doesn't need to be enhanced, and where the bad can be endured and doesn't have to be blotted out and obliterated. I found the truth in the enigma that hedonistic living for pleasure and self really does lead to suicidal misery and self loathing, while caring for others and service to God and man really do bring joy. Giving up your life really is the way to find and achieve a life worth living, as long as your giving it up to the God who is able to take it, transform it into what your soul always wanted to be but didn't know it, and give it back.

Monday, January 18, 2016

Unshackled Moments ~ January 18 ~ Living Like A King

Most Americans are familiar with at least one quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., even if all they know of the famous speech is "I have a dream". Today is a day when King is remembered and honored, and sadly, in some ways and by some dishonored. My favorite quote from King is not the one that comes to mind for most people at the mention of his name.

Have faith in God. God is Love. Love never fails. It is our prayer that we may be children of light, the kind of people for whose coming and ministry the world is waiting.

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

He also said:

Agape love, repentance, forgiveness, prayer, faith: all are keys to resolving human issues.

King had the ability to point out what was wrong, what had been injustice and unfair treatment toward himself and others, while at the same time calling for and promoting unity over division. Part of what made this possible is that King loved, not perfectly of course, but the love of Christ loved through him, even for the people on the opposite side of the issue. His message was always more about how things need to change and that we, as a people, need to come together as one group, following and loving God and each other. He tried to live as the example of love and the light that he wanted others to see. As one of my mentors put it, be the change you want to see.

King also understood the response to division and disharmony regardless of the issue. No matter the conflict or disagreement, there is a way that we can handle the situation for the growth of unity and the glory of God. Many who promote the idea of harmony today do so by saying that all things should be permitted. Can't we all just get along? Just don't fight. Accept the unacceptable. But this is not the example King gave us. He stood for what is right over the wrong to the point of dying for what is right. He didn't promote unity by compromising right or truth. The solution is to go further toward right and truth rather than away from it, to provoke each other to love and good works (Hebrews 10), by first acting in agape love (which means to love those on all sides of the issue with the same perfect love that God has for them), repentance, forgiveness prayer and faith.

These are what King said are the keys to resolving all human issues, not just ones of a nation or of race, but issues at home, issues ar work, issues with the stranger on the street, and any other issue that threatens to stir hate and division. The order matters. First, we understand God's perfect highest form of love for the world that includes us and includes those we are at odds with as well. We accept His love for us and as we have freely received we freely give that love even to our opponents and enemies. We repent or agree that God's way is better than our way while admitting our wrong and our part in the division. We take care of our heart first. Then we can look to those on the other side, not in such a way as to say See, you are wrong, here is how you must change and do what I want. We look to them to forgive them so that we are not responding to them out of hurt and in anger any longer. It is the Spirit that allowed Jesus to forgive those that crucified Him as it happened that gives us the power and ability to do this. We pray, taking the need to Daddy, and we trust Him with the situation. This is not a momentary or one time thing. It must be lived out, but when it is, it change lives. It can change the world. And it starts with us surrendering to God and the law of love.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Unshackled Moments ~ January 17 ~ Willingly Repurposed

OK, when it comes to coffee, I'm a little strange according to the tastes of most people. I make my coffee, the night before and let it sit at room temperature over night. Then the next morning I drink the pot, about a liter and a half, at room temperature. I say room temperature and not cold, because when I say cold, people think iced. I have an empty one and a half liter Mountain Dew bottle that I have recycled and repurposed to carry my coffee and drink from.

This morning I got up and grabbed my coffee pot. I looked around but couldn't find my bottle/ There was a crisis at the Woodard Menagerie yesterday morning, and I can't remember what I did with the bottle amidst the scrambling to handle the situation that came up. So I had a whole pot of coffee and no ideal vessel for it. I knew what I wanted to do, the plan I had, but something else had to be done. If I can't find the bottle, I will have to buy another one. I don't really mind that, since I like Mountain Dew, but it actually made me think of what God goes through with us at times.

We were originally one type of vessel, but He ransomed us and repurposed us for His glory to carry His love, His light and His power. Now we are never misplaced, set aside and forgotten or thrown away even by accident, but sometimes we decide to do our own thing, to carry our own will rather than His. Our lives are effected by this, and sometimes we blame God for what's happening in our lives and for our struggles. It's not Him; it's us. He has the power and love and the plan and desire to pour it into our lives just as He always does. He hasn't changed. But unlike me with my empty Mountain Dew bottle, God needs willing vessels to fil.

Today, let us not stray away to fill our lives with other things. Let pour out our hearts before Him and be willing vesels for the awesome and good things that He wants to pour into our lives.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Unshackled Moments ~ January 16 ~ Becoming A War Horse

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

Most of us are probably familiar with the wisdom quoted above. It's used often to show how training and education is better than a hand out. And it's true in the context of giving someone the skill to provide for themselves is much better than meeting their need for one day. But it's not the end all be all on the matter.

I know how to fish, in theory. I have caught more than one meal. And if I had to feed myself with a fishing pole, I probably wouldn't starve, but there would definitely be hunger and times I went without. I'm not very good at it. Compared to some people I know and am related to, I don't know much about fishing. It is an effort for me. It is a skill I have only the basic ability to do. So naturally the snarky voice within my head always responded to the above by saying that you only know for sure that the man will have fish every day if you give him a fish everyday.

Now, in the context of welfare and charity, this is not a good solution. Resources are limited, someone has to do the work of fishing to give to those who aren't fishing when they could be taught to, and it causes the receiver to become helpless and totally reliant upon the fisherman. But that snarky voice that understood if I had to really on my fishing abilities there would be days when I went hungry had something right. When it comes to the spiritual and our relationship with God, the response that isn't good for human aid is exactly the right response.

This is why Jesus told us to pray to Daddy to give us our daily bread. God's resources aren't limited. There is no danger of Him running out. Moreover we are to be totally reliant on Him. God is not teaching us and guiding us to a place of self reliance. On the contrary, the closer we get to Him and the more we become spiritually mature, the less self reliant we are for our needs.

God placed this thought on my heart this morning when while opening my computer to prepare for my morning readings and writing, and I saw something on Facebook that that felt off. Someone I care a lot about and respect posted some verses from The Message. I know several people who read this paraphrasing of the Scripture, and today's Unshackled Moment is not a rant against that version of the Word. Nor is it in any way an attack on, or a disparaging of, people who read The Message. I am a firm believer that the Holy Spirit can speak the truth of the Word to the heart of those willing to hear and seek Him, regardless of the translation. I just also firmly believe that The Message makes that job harder for Him. It has nuances that lead our minds and hearts subtly in the wrong direction at times, at least when compared to the original Greek scripture. Like I mentioned, the Holy Spirit is able to minister the truth of His meaning to the hearts of those willing to hear. Perhaps my friends who use this version don't assume they understand it and allow the Spirit to teach them the meaning, while the Spirit guides me away from The Message knowing my limits and that I would take the words and run the wrong direction while thinking I understood.

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-lifting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.

-Matthew 28-30 (MSG)

Here is how these verses read from the Greek:

Come hither towards Me, all the ones who are toiling and having been laden, and I shall be giving you rest. Lift the yoke of Me on you. Learn from Me that meek I am and humble of the heart, and you shall be finding rest to the souls of you. The yoke of Me kindly and the load of me light is.

The New King James says it this way:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

So what's the big deal? They're all pretty much the same, except in the Greek Jesus sounds a little like Yoda. Right? Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, they actually will, all three, mean the same thing to our hearts if we don't assume to know and allow Him to teach us. But for folks like me, they are very different. So it's for us that I want to point of something very important to our spiritual life and how this relates to teaching a man to fish.

First, this is not about, or at least not only about being worn out and tired of religion, but weary with life. Some may not limit this to spiritual matters because of the line about religion, but there is that within me that would try to stick it in the spiritual only category because being a Christian doesn't seem to make my manual labor job less hard on my body and exhausting. But when we are going through life on our own, trying to make it work our own way, we get weary and burdened in every area of life, in all our situations, our emotions, our minds, our hearts and our souls, This is what Jesus is addressing.

The second thing, and here is where the teach a man to fish comes in, is that this verse does not imply or say that Jesus will teach us how to take or get or make rest for ourselves. He says quite bluntly that He shall or will be the One giving us rest. The difference is subtle but huge. It's the difference in reliance. Teach a man to fish, and from then on, he is responsible to get up each day, grab his net or his pole, go fishing, catch fish and feed himself. Teach a man to rest, and then he is responsible for applying that education into practice so that he has rest. But give a man a fish every day, and he relies on you to bring him his fish. Jesus wants us to rely on Him, every single moment of every single day for the rest He gives. Our reliance is on him and not on our ability to put into practice the methods of finding rest that He teaches.

Jesus emphasizes His point with the rest of the verse. We take or lift His yoke upon our backs, replacing the one we carry. The one we carry, the one we are born with because of the curse, is to care for and provide for ourselves, to serve ourselves, and for many, by extension, our family. But Jesus came for one purpose, to serve and do the will of God. He says, put down your self seeking burden and serve Daddy with Me. Learn what that means by watching me, for I am meek

[The word in the Greek that is translated as meek does not mean to be timid or afraid or really even gentle, as the NKJV has it. The word in first century secular Greek writings is the word used to describe a horse that has been trained and disciplined and responds to his rider. It is the word to describe a wild animal that has been trained. As a war horse is not afraid and will charge into battle, run down enemies, but is not out of control and always responds to his rider, so Jesus is unafraid and goes even to the death on the cross in response to the direction and will of the Father.]

and lowly of heart or humble

[The word in the Greek translated as humble here means to be reliant upon God. It means to be completely the opposite of self reliant.]

and you shall find rest. Compared to the life of self seeking and self provision, My way is easy,

[Most translations say easy here. The Greek word is found in the Bible seven times. It is translated as easy once (here), kind twice, better, goodness, good and gracious once each.]

yes easier than your natural way, better than your way, good and gracious.

God's way, life in service to Him, is the easier, softer way. We don't learn to take care of ourselves, we learn from the example of Jesus the benefits of being totally controlled by and reliant upon Daddy. When we go through life with the yoke or burden or job or mission of serving Him rather than ourselves, we don't manufacture or provide rest for ourselves, but we will find it, along with peace, joy, love and all the fruits or rewards that come with being controlled by and reliant upon the Spirit of God.

Lord, give us this day our daily needs. Let us become totally reliant upon you for our rest and everything else that we need in every area of our like. Give us the grace to totally be broken and surrendered to Your will as a war horse, still full of courage and spirit is responsive and surrendered to his rider. Amen.

Friday, January 15, 2016

Unshackled Moments ~ January 15 ~ Keep Going Through The Motions

As I sit and write this, I have another tab open on my browser playing the first episode of season 10 of Faceoff from the Scyfy website. Leah and I watched it last night from another source, despite the fact that we had logged on to the Scyfy site to watch it legitimately. Even though we didn't watch it from the official site, I wanted to stream it from there to show we watched. I wanted Leah and I to be counted for ratings purposes. We enjoy the show, and I wanted Scyfy to know that, but not enough to watch it from a source that wouldn't permit full screen viewing and where a portion of the screen was lost due to window size.

There were other streaming sources that made the viewing feel up to the same standard as if we where able to watch it on our television when it aired the previous night. We did not watch the show on an official source, but I want it to appear as though we did because I want the show to continue. I'm still frustrated about Firefly being cancelled. But I don't want to watch the show on their site. I prefer the alternative streams.

It occurred to me that I do something similar to this sort of thing sometimes with God. I don't really want to do this whatever it is, or I don't feel like or up to doing this, or I don't truly have a desire to do this God's way - I prefer to tweak God's will with my more enjoyable personal touch, but I'm going to at the very least go through the motions of doing what I should, because I know it's the right thing, the better way in the end, and or I know I will want to do what I am called to do at some point, and I don't want Him to change His mind and have me do something else.

The true meaning of the Potter and the clay analogy is not that the Potter can and will make whatever He wants to out of the clay, but rather if the clay refuses to yield and be pliable the Potter will have to change His plans and make something else. I don't want that, so at times I go through the motions of compliance when the willingness and desire are lacking. Other times, I truly desire with all my heart to do what God has called me to do and to do it His way.

Sometimes going through the motions is better than not. We say it like it's always a bad thing, but the man who keeps putting one foot in front of the other, though he may stumble, though he may go a little crazy and lose all awareness of his goal, his plan or any and all of his desire, will eventually walk right up out of the desert he's trying to escape if he simply continues to go through the motions of walking. But his brain is a little fried from the heat and lack of water, He doesn't desire to walk. He's forgotten why he's walking. He no longer understands anything about what he's doing. He's just stumbling along like a wind up toy that hasn't run down. That's not the way to live. Shouldn't he stop doing anything and everything until he changes his attitude? Shouldn't he try to reawaken his desire for the right reasons? Motives matter. God looks at the heart.

Yes, motives matter. God looks at the heart. But if the man crossing the desert stops going through the motions, he will die. He can't stop or he may not start again. And when we're at our lowest, driest and can't really feel or remember why we're doing the spiritual things we are doing, why we are serving God, when we don't desire to walk with God is the most dangerous time to stop and rest. Because the desire that drives us to our feet when we're exhausted isn't there. This is the time to obey because we know if we stop walking with God, we'll die in the desert. Not because He'll curse us, but because we will have stayed too long in a place that doesn't support life.

I know if I do that thing, if I keep going through the motions, I'll find my way to the oasis and be refreshed and restored at some point. When that happens, I will rejoice again. I will see the desire once more rise up within my soul. I know that my life and service will be what it should be and with the motives coming from the right place. But until then, I trust that the desert has an end, obey what I have been told, or in other words keep walking, keep taking the spiritual steps I have been given, even when I don't feel the point anymore and go through the motions that will eventually take me through the dry place. Sometimes going through the motions is the only way to get to the place of safety and joy in Christ. Trust and obey for there's no other way.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Unshackled Moments ~ January 14 ~ Change Filters

Late yesterday morning, I sent a question to my father by text. He never responded. I didn't want to bother him, so I didn't resend it. I thought that he would answer when he had opportunity. But the day turned to evening, and I had still heard nothing from my father. When I arrived at church last night, I had mostly let the question go, as it seemed a bit late to worry about it. I had wanted to ask him something about what I planned to preach on. Even though I had my sermon prepared, I decided to go ahead and ask him my question during the first worship song.

The question isn't important at this point. My father never received my text. He checked his phone to try and figure out what time he had gotten it and what he might have been doing that caused him to miss it. He never received it. I checked my phone again a few minutes later, and my phone showed the message sent. One of our phones messed up, probably mine, or something in the signal between caused the text to be lost in space. My father couldn't answer a question he never knew had been asked.

What I realized later was that I was OK. I told my wife at one point in the afternoon that I was put out with him for not responding, but the truth is that I really wasn't. I just felt like I should be. I was trying to prepare to preach and his lack of response made me have to trust that God wouldn't have put the subject on my heart had He not desired for me to share it. I knew the sermon would be OK without the answer to the question. I knew that my father cares for me, loves me and desires to help me whenever and however he can. I didn't feel hurt or slighted. So later, when I learned the text failed somehow, I found the entire situation funny.

There was a time however when the failure to elicit a response would have sent me off the rails and into the crazy zone. I would have spiraled down into a pit of self-pity, despair and rejection. My father was always too busy to be there for me. Everything and everyone else is more important than me. I don't matter. He hates me would eventually come as a conclusion to the self-centered foolishness, even though I can think of things from every period of my life when my father proved there was nothing other than His relationship with God that he wouldn't sacrifice for me and his family. Something happened, and I had to wait six hours for a response from him, o woe is me.

Sounds ridiculous doesn't it, especially after hearing that the text failed and he never got the message. So what changed that caused my reaction to be so different from the foolishness of the past? Two things have changed. My selfishness and self-centeredness are not quite as horribly constant as they once were. So now I don't immediately take every negative thing as a personal rejection or attack. Secondly, I am secure in my father's love. I know now what I should have known then, so I don't see things not happening as quickly as I would like as evidence that I don't matter. Really, all that has changed is my perspective.

I share this because sometimes we get this way with our Heavenly Daddy. We are so spoiled with instant messaging, microwave popcorn and pay at the pump that any request or need that isn't met in 30 seconds or less feels like a huge and horrible wait. Our idea of patience is waiting three hours for the rain to fall and the drought to end. We would die at the the thought of waiting three years as Elijah did. We see the lack of a quick response from God as signs and evidence that He doesn't really want to talk to us, fellowship with us, love us, care about us, provide for us, etc. It is self-centered, spoiled foolishness. And it makes any waiting period miserable. But when we get out of our selves and trust in the security that our Father loves us, regardless of if it feels like He's ignoring us or too busy for us or whatever lie our self-pity tells us, then the wait is no big thing. We wait, and our patience somehow strengthens our faith, and we are all the more able to give God glory when the drought does end. We are able to maintain a heart full of gratitude and joy, even when we are not instantly getting our way. It is a much better way to be. Trust that He loves you and filter everything through that truth, rather than through the lie that God doesn't care. It will change how it feels to wait for an answer.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Unshackled Moments ~ January 13 ~ You Can't Take It Back

From time to time people who enter into a relationship of surrender to God, may say something like I took my will back. I have said things like this before myself, although today I try to say it more like I tried to take my will back or I wanted to take my will back. We in our very worship of free will dethrone God in our beliefs and make Him subject to our whims and will. God can do complete the work He's begun in my life if I allow it, but if I refuse to allow it, He's powerless over me is the idea. We set ourselves up as king of our own life and destiny as we pay lip service to the true King.

It seems silly to say it like that, because something in our nature when faced with the blatant irreverent setting of ourselves over God knows this to be ridiculous and shrink away from it. But there something within us that longs to believe it still, because we suffer from the same sin that caused Lucifer to fall, the desire to be our own god, and we have all each fallen for the same lie that tripped up Adam and Ever, that we will know and therefore be like gods ourselves.

I determine my own fate with my free will! We declare this and put limits on the power of God over our life. But here's the rub. If you are a Christian, you got to be that by free will. You chose to say yes to the call to come to God. But the reason why we are told to count the cost is that once we surrender our will, it's surrendered. We are no longer our own, but were paid for with a costly price. The reason that He can assure us that He will accomplish what He started in each and every one of us is that each and every one of us are powerless to stop Him. He is sovereign. He has the power. Oh how we hate that idea, to be powerless, and yet we are. We give up our right to choose our will over His at the cross. We may want to take it back, we may even try, but we can't because we don't have the right or the power anymore.

Fifteen years ago I made a choice and entered into a plea bargain with the State of Texas. I plead guilty to a crime in exchange for knowing my fate rather than going to trial where I could end up in a better situation or a much worse one depending on the whims of the jury. I was in control to determine my fate. I did. I accepted the deal, and by doing so gave up my right to appeal. Now, the truth is that I was high when I made the deal and probably shouldn't have been allowed to make an irrevocable decision under those circumstances, so there were times during my incarceration when I regretted it and got angry over it. But all my regret and anger did was make my life even more miserable. It didn't change anything. I had surrendered my rights to the state, and wanting to take them back would never open those doors.

Part of me really hates to use the analogy of prison to explain this, since becoming God's child sets us free, but the analogy hold true. Once we truly enter into covenant with God, we give up our right to appeal, to change our mind. We can want to, we can try, we can play the prodigal and run, but all we are doing is making ourselves miserable fighting against the inevitable change happening in our lives. It's in the absolute surrender that life becomes worth living, because we are free from the struggle, we are free to enjoy the blessings and benefits of having God as our Sovereign Lord and Daddy. Because the difference between prison and God is prison seeks to punish and God wants to give us every good thing and fill us with joy, peace and love. Will you give up your rights for perfect peace, joy and love? People do it every day for the illusion of that. We look to drugs, drink, sex, money, power and so many other things that promise peace, joy and love but can't deliver the real thing, at a core level, for any length of time. We become slaves and live in bondage to those con artists. But God delivers the real thing and permanently. And with His power over our will He simply guides us to and through that which makes us more perfectly us, content and satisfied.

We can't take back our will, and to try only makes life hard. but in surrendering the fight we find out that God's will for us actually feels, at the core of our spirit, like what our will would have been all along had we realized how fulfilling and wonderful it is to do His will. It is only in giving up or will to God's, then not trying to take it back that we can discover the joy of knowing an doing exactly what we want to do, which turned out to be His will all along. So if you want to be happy, stop trying to win the fight you can never win, stop trying to convince yourself that the counterfeit which has never been enough is somehow better than God's plan, and let His will squash your will and then lead you to your inner and better desires of your heart of hearts.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Unshackled Moments ~ January 12 ~ Fasting Regret

Well, we're a dozen days into the new year, and perfectly far enough to haven fallen short of a goal set, fallen back into a bad habit or epic failed a resolution made. I know I fell short of the mark of a goal I had set a few days ago. Maybe you truly don't try to make a new start in any way at the first of the year but have been struggling with regret over times of failure to walk in the freedom we've been called to, failure that it took so long to get where you need to be and family, friends and yourself suffered as you ran from God, or played the prodigal or refused to respond to the call. Or maybe there is that feeling that life would be better or easier if not for the mistakes of the past. If I hadn't done that thing then..... Regret is a heavy weight that hinders our forward progress toward God and eats away at our grateful heart like a cancer.

Ash Wednesday is coming up in less than a month, and some people will be contemplating on what to give up for Lent. Now, there is no requirement to fast before Easter. Nothing in the scriptures tells us a specific time we have to fast. There's freedom to observe fasts and dates and freedom not to. But if we do, we need to remember that it doesn't earn us anything and we fast to spend time with and to learn to get closer to our Daddy. Motives matter. And, if you are thinking in participating in Lent this season, may I suggest adding regret to your list?

I am serious, I think that it might be at the top of my list. To have a period just over a month long where I refuse to dwell on, or even entertain, thoughts of regret. And If I fail, I won't regret that either, but pick up where I dropped things and move on. Because Lamentations tells us that the mercies of God are new every morning. He doesn't wake us up with a don't screw today up like you did yesterday speech.We're the ones who beat ourselves up like that because of regret. He wakes us with You are forgiven, I love you, I will help you walk with Me. You just have to lean on me and let me do all the heavy lifting since you aren't powerful enough.

Regret says that we could have done more for God if we hadn't done whatever in the past. While that may be true, it doesn't matter. The past is gone. And while our whining thoughts about what we could have done had we not messed up in the past may or may not be true, it is a sure and true thing that we could do more for God today if we focus on God today and spending time with Him rather than thinking about the past and its perceived hindrances.

If there is something in the past that weighs us down that hasn't been death with, then by all means deal with it and move on. But if it's that same old thing coming back to torment, to fuel self-pity or our self-condemnation (we're supposed to kill self, not torture it), then let it go. Regrets just get in the way. Easier said than done? Yes, I know. But maybe we need to make a conscious effort. Take a period of time, like Lent season, or start early and get in an extra month to get refusing regret to become a habit. Regrets will come, but when they do, let us declare our forgiveness, our new status in Christ (He has made us new) and the truth of Romans 8:28 that even those things we regret are being used to bring us closer to God and give Him glory and then turn our thoughts to praise and worship and gratitude to God. Instead of slipping into self when thoughts of regret come up, turn our thoughts to surrender even more, get out of self.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

- Philippians 4:8

Regret doesn't make the list of things to think about, to chew on, to dwell on, to meditate on. Fasting from regret will be worth the effort it will take to force our thoughts to go elsewhere. And maybe we can learn to make it a lifetime fast.

ULM

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Friday, January 29, 2016

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Monday, January 25, 2016

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Friday, January 22, 2016

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Monday, January 18, 2016

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Friday, January 15, 2016

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Tuesday, January 12, 2016