Unshackled Moments ~ Febraury 29 ~ I Made A Mistake

It takes me a while to get going in the mornings, especially here lately. I haven't been resting well at night, so the morning is feels rough. Add to my bain doing the slow to rise thing the fact that as bad as my vision has become overall, it's worse in the mornings and you have the recipe for the mistake I made yesterday. Yesterday morning I had nothing, no whisper from the Holy Spirit or any other inspiration, no ideas about what to write for the day's Unshackled Moment. I lay in bed praying, hoping for inspiriation and a good start to the day. I got a text as a lay there, and when I glanced at it, well, let's just say that I hadn't made it our of bed yet, although I had been awake for quite a while, and I not only made my first mistake of the day, but it was a domino doozey.

I took the opportunity and the inspiration I received when I read the text to brag on both my little brothers in yesterday's UM Deflating The Pretty Pride Balloon. I stand by the lmessafe overall. I am sure that I embarrassed my brother Jon, bragging on him as I did, especially since it turns out that he didnt' send the text I credited to him. Mom did/ She was the one who rejoiced by gifting and serving me (us) by purchasing papers with the article about U.S. Army Captain Jeremy Woodard on the front page. So there is a ministry moment out there giving praise to Jon for doing something he didn't do. I felt grateful that he didn't just comment on the post and make me look foolish as I felt when I found out. It's easier to eat crow when you hold the fork yourself.

But that said, I don't really feel like I'm eating crow. I made a mistake. But then again, I didn't. The reason why I so easily misread the text identification (a single letter in group messages to show who said what - that's one time I don't care for my message app) and believed Jon had done what I had attributed to him is that it is completely in his nature and history to do such things and act in that way. He may not have purchased a paper for Mom yesterday and sent her a text saying so, but he has so lived and exemplified that honor, love and service that it would've been no surprise if he had. Everything that I said about him was right and true and although some of the details of the story were wrong, the rest was not. Well just call it a parable and move on.

So no, I'm not eating crow. But I did once more get a clear vision of how easy it is, even when trying to do the right thing and with good motivation and intentions, to make a mistake that leads to another mistake that leads to, well the chain of dominoes can pretty long and make a lot of noise as they topple one another. I misread a message. I ran with the inspiration I got and used revelation based on a mistake to illustrate a ministry message. The revelation came from tuth. The lesson was a good one, but the illustration was untrue, or at least incorrect. That mistake may have caused my brother to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable or frustrated that I "lied" about him. No, I wasn't lyingt about him, but intentionally or not my illustration was untrue. That ouuld give the appearence of a minister who plays fast and loose with the truth in order to manipulate things to fit what he wants to say, and since rigourous honesty is important to me, I hate that idea.

All truth be told, this mistake wasn't that big of a deal I felt a little foolish, but I can still stand by the message. My mother didn't get hurt by my crediting her generosity to another. And I can easily and just as publicly adit my mistake and set the record straight. I got a glimpse of truth about the nature of progress and the danger of getting comfortable and the need to press on toward the goal. What I said was true, and if you take the story from yesterday morning as a parable rather than autobiography, we're good to go. My motivation was to share the light of the truth and my experience, strength and hope to help others and not to puff myself up. I had not wish to deceive. There was nothing wron in the message or motive, and yet mistakes led to other mistakes which led to other mistakes.

Rareley does a mistake stand alone in solitude, except maybe on a test in school. We don't have to be way off the deep end and so outside the will of God that we can't see it anymore to mess up. Our motivation doesn't have to bad. We don't have to have slipped back into selfishness and self will to miss the mark. And sometimes those mistakes that we aren't far off on are harder to see. It's like working a math problem all wrong and somehow on accidnt geting the correct answer at the end. We want to say what's the big deal? The answer is correct. The message is good, motivation checks, no harm no foul. But the truth is that if we lkeep working those types of math problems the same incorrect way, we'l start getting the answers wrong and we will not have learned how to do them corretly. This is one reason why it's so important to do a spot check inventory from time to time throughout our day. We stop and give our Teacher the Holy Spirit the opportunity to show us where we're making mistakes that we can't see.

We can catch the big ones. I know that when anger erupts in my heart like a volcano and I want to scream and curse for an hour and throw a puppy that doesn't know any better across the room into a wall for peeing on my sandal that I am not where I am supposed to be spiritually at that moment. It's easy to see that I've gotten off the mark. But when things aren't as blatant we need revelation and understanding to see the problem and how to get back on track, because even when we're at out best and with all good intentions, when we take our inspiration or impulse and rush ahead of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we get it wrong. The reason Jesus said that there is none good besides God is because we just can't do it perfectly, and therefore even our good is going to be messy. Let us be quick to allow the Spirit to show us where we are working the problems wrong, even if it seems we're getting the answers right, and agree that working the problems His way is the only right way, even when the answers come out the same. The next time, should we continue to work the problem the same way, may not be as close to correct and the mistake could be harder to clean up and do more damage. Don't get ahead of God. I'm sure He could have helped me illuminate the same message He gave me with a different illustratuion had I waited on Him.

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.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 28 ~ Deflating The Pretty Pride Balloon

Yesterday my phone went off alerting me to an incoming text. I checked and saw that I had received a group message from my mother. She had sent the text to me and the older of my two younger brothers informing us that our local paper is running an article about my youngest brother, who is the new commander of the U.S. Army 1st Cavalry Division Horse Cavalry Detachment. In all honesty my first thought was about how wonderful it must be for my mother to get to see one of her sons in the paper and it not be in the section of arrests. Considering my past, that is a nice change of pace. At least it's been a good while since we've had to worry about that kind of attention, and thanks to the grace of God, she never had to deal with submitting my obituary.

But Captain Woodard has served his country well, and it is a blessing to see him honored in our home town paper. I sent a response to my mother and told her that I would have to buy a paper today. I don't normally buy the local paper, since it is a constant reminder of the career I threw away. I mentally began to design the frame in my mind so that I could proudly display my brother's accomplishments. Leah said something about how much progress I've made in the last six years to be able to simply be happy for Jeremy and proud of him without slipping into self-pity about my own past or into self-condemnation over the many, many times I have brought disappointment and shame to the family rather than pride and honor. I hadn't thought about it, but when I thought about what she said, I felt good. No, I felt righteous. Look at me, I thought, I'm doing good.

Now, I'm the oldest, the criminal-turned-minister, and Captain Jeremy Woodard is the hero. But Jonathan is, and always has been, the best of us. Jeremy calls Jonathan his hero, and I understand why. When Jonathan got married last year, I told his new bride that she had gotten the best of the three. I am grateful that my wife thinks I'm the best and that I'm a blessing as a husband to her. But I stand by my statement that Stacy got the best of the offspring of David and Darlene Woodard.

This morning, as I lay in bed praying and trying to come up with something to write for today's Unshackled Moment, my phone went off again. This time it was Jonathan's response to yesterday's text from my mother. It read simply, I got a paper for you. I looked inward at the pretty little pride balloon I filled yesterday and saw it deflated, sinking slowly into the corner of my mind. I had rejoiced for my brother and for the blessing this day would be for my parents, but Jonathan had simply and quietly gone and increased the blessing. My mother doesn't have to buy a paper today. It's been done for her. It's important to lose the selfishness and self-centeredness, but to go further than not being selfish and having that natural response be to bless and serve and honor someone else is what being a Christian is all about. In fact, I realized with some chagrin that it is exactly what I preached about only four days ago in the sermon The Final Lesson. I preached it. Jonathan lived it and exemplifies it.

I didn't do bad this weekend. I think I probably scored a good solid B in not being self focused in my reaction and in not beating myself up over the mistakes of the past and the limited future that those mistakes have given me. And I'm not even beating myself up for not measuring up to Jonathan. I gave up on being able to measure up to him a long time ago. The only person we need to measure up to is Christ, and in that we all fall far short. In fact, I'm not beating myself up at all. I am grateful for Jonathan's actions that shone the light for me to see that there is still so much farther to go. I am grateful for the grace that will empower me to continue to grow and progress and is responsible for every inch of progress that I have made since I got out of prison in 2008.

It is good to see progress made. Rejoice in it and thank the God who made it possible. Shout it to the rooftops that once we were captives and broken and that we are now free and healing because of the mercy that a loving God freely poured out on us. But let us not forget that it is He and not us who did the work, performed the miraculous transformations and rebuilt the lives. And let us not get prideful or comfortable with the amazing progress made. We have come through the Red Sea on dry land, but we have yet to achieve the promise. It's not time to get comfortable and set up camp. It's time to march on, faithful to grow and progress even further in the calling to be free, and to serve.

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.

Unshackled Moments ~ Febraury 27 ~ Spring Cleaning

I understand that one had nothing to do with the other, but I personally find it interesting that Lent comes each year during the time or just before the time (depending on the year and the weather) that people often begin to think and work on Spring Cleaning. I never saw the point of Spring Cleaning, to be honest. It was hard enough to keep up with the regular cleaning. The idea of taking time, when the weather was just beginning to get nice again, when I could be resting or playing, to work harder and longer than usual cleaning house did not appeal to me at all. Besides, cleaning rooms that I rarely used or  didn't enter felt like a waste of time. Then someone took me through and showed me.

There were no huge horrible messes, nothing that could be seen from the moment a light switch came on that made you want to go ew, but still, somehow the place had become, well, nasty. Areas on top of cabinets where I can't see or even reach had a layer of dust, no, lets be honest, it was dirt. The baseboards were filthy as well. There are corners where the broom and mop evidently don't reach well that need some special attention. And now I am scared to look behind the refrigerator and the freezer. As much as I don't want to use up my "free" time cleaning, this place is in dire need of a spring cleaning.

We can do the same things in our spiritual life that we do with our homes. It's easy to glance quickly over our lives and see that there are no huge, blatant, hideous sins to be seen. Nothing's tucked in a closest that would make our mother hide her face in shame or ruin ministries. But if we look with an objective eye and a new light, man what we will find? There's a thin stain there we tried to clean up, but we didn't quite get it all, foot traffic here, and the door is literally a different color where the dog scratches to be let in. Little things we don't see anymore, not because they're in the unused areas but precisely because they are in the areas we go through every day. They weren't that bad, and so we instinctively began not seeing them at all. The little areas of wear, tear and uncleanliness that add up to a mess. We think little to nothing of it when it's just us, but tell us we have company coming over and our first thought is panic. I need time to clean first.

Let us remember that Jesus is making His home in us. He is the honored guest that we have invited in, and He has free reign to poke around in our closets and medicine cabinets and even to look under the rug and on top of cabinets. He doesn't even have to get down on His hands and knees to see those stains on the baseboards. Let us reexamine our life in light of the company we keep and get as eager to clean the little, everyday not so bad filth as we would be to clean the huge stains of the past.

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.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 26 ~ Jonah And The Not Whale

I have multiple reading plans, devotionals and the like that I read regularly. I switch them out from time to time and read some during special times, for example I usually do some special Bible reading plans and devotionals during Advent and Lent each year. One 40 day scripture reading plan that I am in the middle of used the section of Luke chapter 11 where Jesus tells those demanding a sign that the sign that would be provided was the sign of Jonah, which they would only be able to see and recognize after His death and resurrection. I can't even estimate how many times I have heard or read this from either Luke or Matthew and thought, "Yeah, I get it. Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three nights and then resurrected as it were by being puked up on shore. Jesus was in the tomb three days and then 'Hear the bells ringing. They're singing, "Christ is risen from the dead!"'"

But there are some interesting complexities that I missed by believing I had the meaning of the parable-like statement in its entirety. That's not even to mention how we all got it wrong in Sunday school with the whale thing. Jonah wasn't swallowed by a whale, but a fish. A whale is not a fish. It's a mammal. But the writer or Jonah didn't have that information. Well, the Holy Spirit who inspired him to write it did, and the same Spirit who could tell the author of Job to write of the springs of the deep, which weren't discovered by science until recently, as in my lifetime, could tell the author of Job the sea beast that swallowed Jonah wasn't a whale if it wasn't. Also, the whales would all have either had to be altered physically or instinctively in order to swallow a man whole, whereas the whale shark, a fish that can get up to over 50 feet in length and easily swallow a man whole, would just be doing its thing.

Anyway, to get back on topic, there's more to this than Jesus pointing out that He would be swallowed by death for three days and then come back to life. Not that that's not huge enough to stand alone. It is. But let us also remember that there is a huge difference in these two stories. Jesus came and lived the perfect, sinless life, doing only what His Father told Him to do and doing all of that without delay or falling short in any way. He did it all, even and especially to the point of the cross, in order that we would have the opportunity to repent and be restored to relationship with our Creator. Jonah got mad at the idea that the people he was sent to would repent, refused to do it, preferred that they simply suffered the wrath and death of judgement and ran from the calling of God. He tried to escape God's will and found himself in the dark death of the fish.

The people of Nineveh were gentiles. After Jonah returned to the shore he preached to them, they repented and were spared the impending judgement. The story of these gentiles responding to God had been written down as an example to the Jew. One of the things we miss in the idea of the sign of Jonah being a foreshadowing of Jesus is that the gentiles would be the ones who mainly hear, respond and repent after the resurrection of Christ and would be used as an example to show the Jews that the Messiah has indeed come.

But the main idea for today is that the sign of Jonah is our sign. Jonah went to darkness and sure death because of his rebellion and sin. He repented and was saved. Jesus was sinless, but He took upon Himself our sins and rebellion, and the result was darkness and death. But He overcame death and raised from the dead so that we could have life with Him. Like Jonah, we have all ran and rebelled. We all bear the scars from the stomach acid of the fishes of our life that served to show us that the result of running from God is to run to the gaping mouth or Death. We deserved our death, surrounded by the stench of rot and digestion, cut off from light and life. But Jesus stepped in and suffered it for us, so that, if from the depths of despair, upon realization our position and chances without relationship with our Creator, we would repent, admit we can't save ourselves or be our own gods, and call out to Him for help, we will be saved. The fish spit us out on the shore to go and do the will of the One who saved us and loved us and gave Himself for us.

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.

The Final Lesson

Dalyn Woodard shares on the object lesson Christ chose to give as the last lesson before His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. Why did Jesus wash the disciples feet? What was He trying to illustrate? How are we supposed to respond to this teaching? The message, "The Final Lesson" is about 24 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, February 24, 2016. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

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

Unshackled Moments ~ February 25 ~ Puzzle Brain

I am a puzzle nerd. I have always enjoyed puzzles and brain teasers. Logic problems are my favorites, but I enjoy other things as well, such as sudoku, cryptograms and crossword puzzles. For a while now I have been playing different games on my phone, but I have grown unsatisfied with the apps that I had. The strategy bubble pop game I played the most recently has become boring. So, I downloaded a crossword puzzle app.

A comment Leah made started me thinking a little about the puzzles.  Leah mentioned they make you smarter. I see where she is coming from. These puzzles definitely educate you on mostly useless trivia, for example, by filling in the other clues I learned the capital city of a foreign country I had not known before. Never mind that I can't remember it this morning. If it comes up as a clue a few more times the information it will most likely stick. And it is important to know how to spell in order to complete crosswords. Still, ability to work crosswords is not an accurate measure of intelligence, and neither is not having that ability.

It's a little like mental arm wrestling. Strength is secondary to technique. A weaker opponent with the right technique can pin the arm of a much stronger person who does not have that skill. The lateral thinking that is required for logic and crossword puzzles is more technique than intelligence. It's a matter of being able to think in a different way than normal, everyday, living requires. Here's a word problem that shows what I mean. A man rides into town on Monday. He stays for three nights, and then leaves on Monday again. Why or how?

Someone who does not naturally think laterally will frustrate themselves trying to come up with the answer. How is this possible? It doesn't make sense. There are four days unaccounted for. But the lateral thinker comes at the problem from a different perspective and realizes that Monday is the name of the man's horse.  There are crossword clues that are a lot like the problem with the horse. They are almost corny. It's not that some people don't know the definitions, but rather they don't think sideways.

I can think sideways, but I have real issues thinking mechanically. My brother Jon can look at something and understand how it works, how to take it apart, put it back together and how to build something like it or even better. I have to stop and think righty tighty lefty loosey every time I need to work a screw driver. That kind of thinking simply does not come naturally to me. I could be wrong, but I doubt that Jon does logic problems for fun. Our brains are wired differently.

To some extent we can learn to think in different ways. A person can learn how to work puzzles, even if it is always a struggle or outside their comfort zone. A person can learn things like the rule of thirds to be better at photography, but it will always be easier for the person who naturally sees and composes the scene in their mind from an artistic way of thinking. A person can use a book to learn to build and fix things. But you're always going to be best at things that fall within your natural aptitude and skill set, unless your brain changes.

God's ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. There are some very intelligent people who can never appear as such on spiritual matters, and there are simple people who can seem wiser than sages. Then there are intelligent people like C.S. Lewis and Ravi Zacharias who can come off like geniuses as they act as go betweens, translating one way of thinking into another form that more can understand. You can learn some about how to think as God thinks by learning what God thinks, but in order to really understand spiritual matters, you have to think spiritually. That takes being given a new mind, wired differently than the old mind, created by God to think as He does.

It's like suddenly being able to see and understand how mechanics work, or gaining a natural ability to think sideways outside the box. It doesn't necessarily make you any smarter, but it does open up a whole other aspect of reality.  The best thing is that this new and better mode of thinking is available to us all. It's a free gift. When we come to Him, He gives us a new mind with a Godly way of thinking mode as its natural base. The problem is that we have this new mind housed in the old shell. Sometimes we forget that we can think in the new mode, sometimes we slip back into old patterns, and at all times the two approaches to reality are at war with each other. But the more we surrender to Him, the stronger the new mind grows and the old way of thinking dies away. Then the puzzles of the things of God and spiritual matters begin to make sense.

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.

t of despair.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 24 ~ Nature Sings

I stood outside, admiring nature and the beauty of God's creation. I had my Pandora playing on my phone, and Lindsey Stirling rocked her violin, lifting my spirits. Suddenly it seemed as though the wind blew the leaves in rhythm with the music. A bird flew by, flapping its wings to the beat. The whole world seemed to be connected to the music playing on my phone.

It reminded me of an amazing movie Leah and I love. The movie, an independent film called Ink, has some language that isn't very uplifting at times, but overall the film is one of the best tales of recovery, redemption and love I have ever seen. There is a scene in the movie where a supernatural, or at least spiritual natural character alters events by changing the rhythm of the scene. I think there is some truth in the idea that there is a rhythm to and a music underlying creation.  The earth and the heavens declare the glory of God with its music, and that music is a song of praise that makes the trees clap their hands and the mountains rejoice.

Today, let us join in with creation and praise our Creator. Let our spirit sing and connect us to Him and the world around us.

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.

t of despair.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 23 ~ Vision Problems

My eyes are going bad, not the need stronger glasses due to growing old bad, but the something physically wrong, fix it or go blind kind of bad. I will need surgery sometime in the future, and there is a possibility that I won't even need glasses at all once that is done. Until then, it is getting more and more difficult for me to see. It's as though the brightness level on the screen has been turned down. It even at times feels like I am looking at the world through a thin layer of gauze.

Today is a grey, wet day. The cloud cover is complete, and there are no bright colors in the world around me. The entire area is muted. When this natural phenomena is combined with my eyes not receiving the light they need it makes it hard to discern some things. I had a moment this morning while driving where I came up behind a car about the same shade as the grey of the road and the sky above. The car completely blended in with the surroundings. When I finally saw it, I was about four car lengths back, and it appeared like a space ship coming out of cloaking mode.  There wasn't any close call about the situation. I had plenty of time to see the car, but I got much closer than I should have been able to before seeing it. In times past I would have seen it from much further back.

The situation made me think about how we see spiritual things through a veil or through a glass darkly. When that's all that you're used to, it may feel like you see pretty well. But as the light comes into the world and illuminates things better, you realize that you were practically blind before. We need to constantly move toward God so that His light can illuminate the world around us. The more that we do this, the more we will be able to see clearly. The closer we get to Him, the better our spiritual vision grows, ad one day, the spiritual surgery will be done and everything that is in the way will be removed. We will see clearly and without hindrance. Until then, let us remember that we don't always see the whole scene and what we do see is not always as clearly defined as we think it is. We need God to guide us. We are no longer completely blind, stumbling through the dark, but we do not yet see clearly. We need to trust and rely on the One who sees.

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.

t of despair.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 22 ~ GPS

Recently I spent a little time driving in Dallas with my wife, Leah, and stepdaughter, Amanda. We were on our way to pick up a puppy for Leah. Time mattered, since we had a time we were supposed to meet the man we were buying the puppy from, and, although I didn't realize it until almost too late, how much random driving we did also mattered, since we were low on gas. I had a general idea of where we were going and how to get there. All three of us have some experience with the DFW area.

Leah plugged the destination address into the GPS, and we were on our way. I should have had a clue that we needed to do something a little differently than we were. A few times along the route I moved into the lane we needed to be in before the GPS informed us of the next move we needed to make. I remember at one point being surrounded by traffic, driving in the left hand lane in anticipation of the next highway divergence. The GPS told us that in 800 feet we would need to exit to the left. "I'm glad that I already knew that or we would never have been able to get over in time," I said.

But we kept right on going down the road waiting for the GPS to tell us what to do. Near the end of the journey we found ourselves in a conglomeration of roads and turns. There were many streets going of in many directions, and driving with the flow of traffic made it hard to see the street signs and to know what was coming up. By the time the GPS told us what to do, we were either too far along to navigate where we needed to or didn't have enough time to figure our exactly which road it wanted us to take before it was too late.

Frustration began to set in as we had to make a few loops and circle back arounds in the route in order to get back to where we needed to be. Amanda took the phone and looked at the list of directions. Rather than wait for the GPS to speak the next move, we got some idea of what we needed to do by reading what was needed and what to expect. Soon we were positioning the vehicle correctly and making the right turns. Instead of not hearing the GPS in time to make the right move, the GPS served as confirmation that we were on the right route. A few minutes later we pulled into the place we had been trying to reach.

The Holy Spirit is like a GPS that never loses location lock gets confused or mislead by a map that's wrong and is always able  to guide us properly. But sometimes in our rush to get down the road or in an effort to stay with the flow we go so fast that by the time we hear what the Spirit is saying we have trouble trying to adjust and make the course corrections we need to. Other times in our frustrated, confused or anxious mental, emotional and or spiritual state we don't understand the directions or read the signs around us right and take the wrong path when two choices are close together, even though the Spirit clearly and in time told us what to do.

Listening to the voice of the Spirit is a necessary part of being guided by God. You can not navigate the roads and choices of life without listening to God's Positioning System. But we were never intended to only us the voice feature, and sometimes the hustle, bustle and confusion of life makes that difficult to near impossible. The plan God put forth is to use and be guided by the voice of the Spirit in conjunction with the Word. When you read the Word of God you have a better ability to position yourself correctly in anticipation of the next move. When we are letting the Word guide us the Spirit confirms our moves more than tells us to make major course corrections. When He does need to adjust our path we are closer to where we need to be and have time to hear and respond.

The Word alone, like a map, can lead us to make poor choices because we see the routes but not the current situations involving construction, traffic flow, accidents ahead, etc. Listening to the Spirit alone can be a problem when we are not able to go slowly enough to make sure we understand before life forces us to act or we understand between all the options what the Spirit is telling us to do. But when we fill our hearts and minds with the Word and the voice of the Spirit together we can travel with confidence and faith the the path of God's will will be clear and take us precisely and surely where we need to be.

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.

t of despair.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 21 ~ More Than A Healing

Ten lepers stood on the outskirts of the town. They were outcasts. No one would come close to them, and they were not allowed within the city. They couldn't hug their loves ones. Slowly their body ate itself, leaving them disfigured and monstrous. They had no hope.

Then one day Jesus passed by and the me called out to Him, begging for mercy and help. Jesus declared them healed and told them to show themselves to the priests for verification that the disease had been stopped in its tracks. They left rejoicing to be declared clean and be allowed to once more rejoin society. Hope had returned. They were scared, missing ears, noses and bits of fingers and toes, but they were alive and the disease had been removed. They were in a hurry to do all the things they dreamed of when they dared to dream of somehow being healed of the leprosy.

One of them took the time to stop, return to Jesus, to draw close to Him and thank Him. Jesus told Him that his faith had saved Him. That man went away with healing in his soul as well as in his body. He had made contact with the Word that created Him, recognized that and drew near to Him with Thanksgiving. Ten lepers found healing that day, relief from their disease. But one found himself made new and found an eternal relationship with his Lord.

Every blessing we receive from God is opportunity to be closer to Him when the events are over than we were when they started. Let us not be like the nine, but let us be quick when we see that God has performed a miracle in our life to return with thanksgiving and gratitude to give Him glory. Every time we respond to God by drawing closer rather than taking what He has given and going on about our way we are saved, made more like Jesus and sanctified , a little more. We are brought a little closer to the being we will be in the end and for eternity, uniquely reflecting the glory of God in our life.

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.

t of despair.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 20 ~ The Grand Experiment

Jesus came to preach freedom to the captives, all captives in all types of bondage and captivity. The truth that makes us free is who He is. So I rarely share or write anything here specific to one type of bondage or recovery. The bondage of my alcoholism and drug addiction was not a physical illness, despite what some might claim, but rather it was a symptom of a spiritual illness.

As I submitted myself to The Great Physician, I discovered that those two links were only the most blatant and obvious in a long chain of field masters that kept me a slave and whipped me to the point of death under their control. Any and all habitual sin, especially when we try to manipulate our thinking and deceive ourselves into thinking it's really OK or something we don't need to worry about right now because it's not THAT bad or THAT out of control or not really hurting anyone, etc.,  are areas of bondage where we are captive and have lost all ability to effectively manage and or control that sin. We can not simply stop,  not for long. We are powerless to stop and control the sin in our lives, to keep the want to do what we know isn't right from rising up in our will and taking control of our actions and lives.

Paul, in Romans 7:18-19, explained the powerlessness of being held captive by sin and the old nature (self will) like this:

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

In order for us to submit fully and stop trying to wrestle and overcome these areas of sin in our lives, we must come to the place where we truly and completely believe that we are outmatched and overpowered and have no hope of surviving, much less winning, the war unless the Lord fights on our behalf, in our place, as our champion.

In the area of alcohol, this need to understand the hopelessness of the situation on our own leads some to The Grand Experiment. Now, today's Unshackled Moment is not about alcoholism, but if you bear with me a moment, Dear Reader, how this understanding of alcoholism can apply to each and every one of us sinners will be made clear. The Grand Experiment is a way to self diagnose the real alcoholic. A heavy drinker may look the same as an alcoholic from the outside and the wreckage in their life until something happens. For whatever reason, when they drink themselves to the point where it is causing problems and they realize they aren't handling their drink well, they stop or successfully cut back to a point where they are in control and stay there. Imagine that. This is, at this level, causing me problems and pain so I'm not going to stay at this level. I know some folks who were able to do exactly that and they still enjoy a drink or two from time to time.

It doesn't work that way with a real alcoholic. First we try to abstain, then convince ourselves we can cut back and control, then comes the truth that if we control our drinking we don't enjoy it and if we enjoy our drinking all hope of controlling it dies.  Soon we are right back to the place of captivity and destruction as before, and, often, things are even worse. But we all too often just can't get it through our heads that we are alcoholics rather than heavy drinkers with some control.

The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death....

All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals - usually brief - were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization....

By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic. If anyone who is showing inability to control his drinking can do the right- about-face and drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to him. Heaven knows, we have tried hard enough and long enough to drink like other people!

Here are some of the methods we have tried: Drinking beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drinking only at home, never having it in the house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to brandy, drinking only natural wines, agreeing to resign if ever drunk on the job, taking a trip, not taking a trip, swearing off forever (with and without a solemn oath), taking more physical exercise, reading inspirational books, going to health farms and sanitariums, accepting voluntary commitment to asylums - we could increase the list ad infinitum.

We do not like to pronounce any individual as alcoholic, but you can quickly diagnose yourself. Step over to the nearest barroom and try some controlled drinking. Try to drink and stop abruptly. Try it more than once. It will not take long for you to decide, if you are honest with yourself about it. It may be worth a bad case of jitters if you get a full knowledge of your condition.

- from Ch. 3 More About Alcoholism in the "Big Book" Alcoholics Anonymous

I had someone who was helping me in the early days of sobriety suggest such an experiment. She told me to buy a bottle, line up three perfect ounce shots beside the bottle and then drink one and only one shot an hour for three hours, putting the bottle up afterwards without drinking more. If I didn't like that idea then to try just one shot, no more and no less, every night, for 30 days. If I could do either of these two things I might be able to control my drinking after all. I never tried the experiment, because I knew better. Even today at nearly six years sober both of those ideas sound horrible and miserable to me. The idea of slamming a shot and waiting a whole hour for another is ridiculous, and stopping after 3 shots with an entire bottle right there either wouldn't happen or would be a horrible war within. The one shot a day would simply lead to failure in a few short days. I know myself too well. I've lost control of that monster inside me too many times.

Despite understanding this, and understanding that all bondage to sin is just as much out of our control, I still sometimes try to step into the ring with and overcome those areas in my life that I know are outside the will of God for me. Even with an understanding of the need for grace to have the power of the Spirit to overcome the lusts of the flesh and multiple failures in the past, I deceive myself into acting as though I am spiritually a heavy drinker, and therefore able to control, manage, set limits on or swear off my sin on my own. I try not to fall into this, but I do.

Lent is a time to understand that powerlessness over the sin in our lives and to refresh our memories of the need to rely totally and completely on God's grace to walk in the righteousness to which we have been called. But, if that reason slips our minds and we fall into the trap of once more determining to strengthen our will and resole to walk right, live right, to act right, love right, to simply not sin and live as a Christian should for 40 days, then it can be a wonderful Grand Experiment. I doubt it will be long before we come to the fresh conclusion that we are spiritually completely and totally unable to control and manage our self will, our carnal nature and our sin in order to live in a manner worthy of the calling of Christ. We can not, on our own, even act like, much less become like Jesus for 40 days. When once more we fail The Grand Experiment, we should quickly return to the brokenness of complete surrender and the only path to true freedom to those of us who are the real deal spiritual alcoholics and slaves to our sin without Christ.

By the way, while there are some who can completely control their drinking, some who can put it down forever on their own, and even some who can simply never pick it up in the first place, that is not true with self will and sin.  You can try The Grand Experiment if you must, but without the grace of God, if you're breathing, you are, without doubt, question or fail, a slave and addicted to sin. But praise be to God who came that we might be set free and find abundant life!

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.

t of despair.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 19 ~ No Such Thing As A Free Horse

When I was a boy I wanted a motorcycle and a horse. I think my mother pretty much vetoed any thoughts about motorcycles and wasn't too thrilled with the first bike I brought home to use for my college commute. Despite the heartbreaking horse scene in Gone With The Wind, she didn't appear to have an issue with horses. My father loves horses. So, I always held out hope. The thing that always came up whenever I asked for a horse was the simple fact that as much as they would like to get me one, we couldn't afford one.

One summer when my father and I were hauling hay, one of the farmers offered me a horse, for free! I got so excited until I saw my father's face. He didn't look happy. The farmer didn't seem to see anything amiss as Dad said, "We'll see," but I knew the subtleties of his face. Something was wrong. He looked sad.

When we got back in the truck and headed for the field to load up again, I asked him what was wrong and why we weren't going to accept the horse from the farmer. His answer, once again was that we couldn't afford it. "But he's free!," I cried.

"Son," Dad said. "There's no such thing as a free horse. You have to have a place to keep it, and you have to pay to feed it. A place big enough for good grazing is too expensive to rent or buy, and if you kept him in the back yard you'd need hundreds of dollars to keep him in grain."

I found out later that the farmer actually never rode and was tired a paying to feed a field decoration. He had tried to get us to take that cost from him by pointing out the beauty of the horse without saying anything about how much he ate. But my father understood the hidden costs. A few years later I finally got my first horse, Dillo, and now my wife and father have horses thanks to free grazing space graciously provided by a friend.

While that farmer wasn't being mean or bad and wasn't really much like the devil, our tempter is often a lot like that farmer. He's an awesome salesmen, and he understands our weaknesses and desires. He has no problem giving away what will eventually be a weight we can not bear with a cost we can not pay. He knows how to make sin look harmless and fun while hiding the costs from view or distracting us from counting them even when they are known. We get sucked in by the image of riding through a field, hell bent for leather, laughing with glee at the pounding of the hooves. We fail to see or even look at the costs that dream will incur.

There's no such thing as a free horse. There's also no such thing as a free or harmless sin. The cost of sin is death. Every time we put our will over God's we allow a little death in our life, death in our relationships, death in our soul and mind. Sin brings two types of death. There is an eternal cost, when all is tallied and the full bill comes due, and there is the immediate mortal cost, the destruction, bondage and loss caused by our choices, the distance created between us and God and the confusion, chaos, fear and anger it sows in the field of our life.

Jesus, fully aware of that cost and not owing any debt, went to the cross and paid the eternal bill for all who will accept his offer. And now the Holy Spirit works in the lives of believers who will listen much like my father did in my life. When we look to Him before we jump at what the world and the tempter offer, we can hear him say, "This isn't the good deal you think it is. There is no such thing as a free sin. Besides, what you're really after is available from the Father because you're His child. This is a cheap counterfeit with a masterpiece price."

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.

t of despair.

Knowing, He Loved Us

Dalyn Woodard shares on the great, determined and faithful love of Christ. Knowing all our faults, knowing when and how we would fail, reject Him, refuse to listen and fail to trust He speaks to us, loves us, ministers to us, and even went to the cross for us.. The message, "Knowing, He Loved Us" is about 42 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, February 17, 2016. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

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

Unshackled Moments ~ February 18 ~ The Puppy And The Fishing Lure

There is something beautiful about seeing a Brittany Spaniel puppy nose to the ground suddenly smell something interesting and hit a point at about six weeks of age. They're not sure what they smell. They don't understand that the freezing is a good thing, they are just doing what their brains are wired to do. But it's beautiful. As they grow older and learn a little, those instincts should be honed and they should learn not to react with a pointing freeze to things other than game birds, and perhaps rabbits and squirrels. If they stop pointing completely and flush quail they are falling short of what they were made to do. They were giving the instinct to point for a reason. If they point when there is nothing there or at armadillos, they can't be trusted. The instincts are God given, but they must be honed, disciplined and used to fulfill purpose. They are not intended to rule indiscriminately.

Cavalier puppies share some instincts in common with Britts. Of course they are both dogs, so some instincts are universally canine, but Cavs also are birders, if you go back a ways. Those hunting instincts have not been bred out completely. It's the hunting instinct that attracts puppies and kittens to the sparkly and the shiny. My nephew told me about an incident where my sister-in-law's 13 week old puppy's instincts caused a problem more serious than hording clothes and things that are not dog toys.

A fishing lure had been dropped outside, unbeknownst to the family, and the puppy found it. It sparkled and caught the eye, and instinct said grab it. So she did. Seconds later she regretted it.  My brother hurried to help the crying pup and managed to remove the hooks without further injury. She's fine and healing. But she didn't understand that the family holding her down so that she couldn't move was actually doing a good thing, making it possible to remove the lure without tearing her. She couldn't understand that the man taking the time to use pliers to flatten the barbs on the hooks and work them out of her lip slowly was doing so in order to not make things worse, that the slow way was the only way. She wanted the hooks out instantly.

We are like that puppy sometimes. God gave us instincts for a purpose. They are not bad things. The instinct to be social,  to eat, to sleep, to enjoy pleasure, to fight or flee, to enjoy pleasure, to have sex, and on and on, are all instincts that have helped us stay alive as a person and as a people. But when the instincts go awry and rule without control or discipline or understanding, the result to our life is a lot like that puppy. We find ourselves hurting, confused and stuck in the middle of a situation that we were never supposed to be in. Then we want instant release and relief. But it usually doesn't work that way either. When our instincts get us in trouble, we need help to get out of it. Sometimes the help itself is painful or at least uncomfortable. We have less freedom at first, not more, because restriction is part of the unbinding process. We don't understand some of what needs to be done, and it goes against our nature and instincts to submit to the process, and we want to wiggle out and run away like the puppy wanted to escape the grip of the people holding her still against her instinctive reaction to the pain.

We want our hooks out now, but God knows that simply removing them might do more harm. So the process is slower than we like. Even after we are free, it takes time to heal. There may even be a scar. We might feel that the instinct which drove us is a bad thing. But it's not. When we submit to the Master and allow Him to guide and direct us, to control and discipline us, those same instincts that have caused us grief and pain in the past can be the very means by which we fulfill a greater purpose and enjoy a life worth living. Overcoming the problems of the past is not found in quenching or eliminating our instincts but in surrendering those instincts, along with the rest of us, to the One who gave them to us.

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.

t of despair.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 17 ~ More Than Freedom

Many who come to be followers of Christ do so in search of freedom from bondage, to have the Creator use His power to do what we can't, loose our chains and give us the grace to walk free from the obsessions that are ruling our actions and lives.  To be set free from the drug or the drink or the deck of cards or from the compulsive use of credit cards. People can become addicted to and enslaved by so many different things, and when it's time to break free, many who are successful  take 12 steps and escape.

The one who continually seeks to find both an improved conscious contact with God and truth, will eventually find Christ, regardless of where, who or what their conception of a higher power was. Now, many would disagree with that and even feel angry at me for saying such a thing. People are free to believe and not believe whatever they want in almost every variety of 12 Step Program out there and no one tries to push any one God above another god or one path over another.

True, we can believe what we want. No one makes anyone seek or believe in Jesus. That's not just true of 12 Step programs, that's true of God Himself. He gives us free will to choose or walk away, and freedom isn't forced on anyone. That said, Jesus was very clear and blunt when He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me." And the He promised that if you seek Him, you will find Him. Regardless of what is believed at the start of the road, if we continue to pursue truth and improved relationship with and understanding of our Creator we, maybe to our surprise, will find Christ at the center of everything.

Jesus is the answer. He is the one who came to set the captives free, and if all He did was break our chains and give us the power to walk free of the addictions and sins we were slaves to, that would be enough to love Him for. That would  be enough to show Him to be a wonderful and powerful and loving God. That would be amazing grace. But that's not all. Wait there's more! There's so much more than freedom.

Jesus is also the One who heals and restores the damage done when we belonged to our old master. He is the One who doesn't just heal and stop our leprosy but makes us new and whole again. He is the one who took our place before the judge and received the punishment that we deserved so that we would never know condemnation from God. He is the One who died so that we could live, and not just live but live an abundant life worth living, full of peace that passes our understanding, joy that gives us strength and love that can never be lost.

Whether you've ever been or needed to be in a 12 Step program or not, if you seek freedom from future judgement (i.e. to escape hell) or freedom from misery or freedom from an active addiction, that is by no means a bad place to start seeking an answer outside yourself. But once you begin to seek, don't stop. Keep searching, keep knocking and keep listening for that guiding still small voice. You will find the answer is Jesus. The theme of all Creation is Christ, and He has so much more to offer than freedom.

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.

t of despair.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 16 ~ Falling Down

Last night as I struggled to slip up on sleep and catch some Zs unaware, Falling Down by David Meece began to play on my Mental Jukebox. It's been 6 years and a month since I began the downward spiral that became my last relapse into drugs and alcohol. It's about  one more month until the six year mark of actually picking up and using, of doing OK at first then losing control again, of losing about 40 lbs and looking like an extra on The Walking Dead. It will be three more months before I celebrate the grace that allowed me to live and break that bondage again. In May of this year, I will have six years clean and sober.

And that's wonderful. In that area of my life I have been blessed with perfection, if you don't start measuring until after my last relapse. If you count my original sobriety date of sometime in the first week of November of 2008 (in which case I should be working on 8 years) I fell short many times. If you start counting at birth my life has been an epic fail But for close to six years now. I have not found it necessary to take anything or drink anything that I wasn't prescribed to by a doctor in six years. But that perfection is not mine. It is God's amazing grace. Still there are areas in my life where I have not achieved perfection in walking free of the bondage from which I have been set free.


In many areas and many times I have returned to my spiritual Egypt. I have failed to walk by the power of the Holy Spirit and therefore I have fulfilled the wishes and desires of my cursed carnal flesh. I am not the reprobate I used to be, but I am nowhere near the man walking with God that I should be, or that I want to be. It's good when people understand falling down and getting back up and that we fail. Christians shouldn't put one another down for messing up, since we all do it, and I am grateful for those with a spirit of grace over condemnation. That said, I know that the less I fall, the more I have victory in my life, the more it shows the world I would help His power, love and way of life.

The grace to overcome is there for me in every area of my life as much as it is with the alcohol and drugs. If I was as afraid of the consequences and desperate to avoid all bondage as much as that one, I would never fall again. But I'm not. That's just honesty. The grace is there to overcome and walk in a new and righteous way. I want that today. There is also grace to get back up. When we remember to allow Him to do the work and stop trying to free ourselves, we can be free in any area, in every area. The forgiveness for the fallen is available, and so is the grace to get back up. But as wonderful as the miracle of grace is to display, I want to bear witness to the God that defeats enemies and gives victory as much as heals wounds from lost wars.

God, I offer myself to Thee — to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!

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.

t of despair.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 15 ~ Coming Home

When he came to his senses,he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired hands.’ So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. 

- Luke 15:17-20

The story of The Prodigal Son is about all of us. All of us, to some extent or another, have left against the desire of Daddy to do our own thing, have our own way and run our own life. When we examine our life and situation and come to that realization that we're in a much worse situation than what we rebelled from it's a natural reaction to see our sin and say I'd be better off back home. That said, it's also a natural reaction in the aftermath of the destruction we've brought into our life to approach Daddy feeling I'm not worthy to be your child any more. No Daddy don't hug me. I'm dirty. I'm a mess. God's response, like the father in the story is that we were never asked to be worthy, clean or to have it all together. All He ever wanted was for us to return to Him. He'll do the clean up. Just come home.

If you've seen the sin in your life and felt heartbroken and repentant, that's a good thing. But don't slip into self deprecating and into condemnation. You are a child of the Most High God. It is the righteousness of Christ placed on you that makes you righteous, not anything of you. Accept the forgiveness and rejoice with the Father that you have once more returned to the land of the living.

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.

t of despair.

Unshackled Moments ~ Febraury 14 ~ Mr. Right

Gonorrhea on Valentines Day, And you're still looking for the perfect lay...Why don't you look into Jesus, he's got the answer.

- Larry Norman

Relationships are a good thing, a gift from God. Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper as his complement.” - Genesis 2:18 While they are exceptions in both calling and people, we were never meant to walk the road of life alone. Relationships are special, and there is a reason that repeatedly the Holy Spirit inspired the writers of Scripture to use marriage as an analogy of what we have with God. We can be one with Him. Christ loves us and laid His  life down for us the way a husband should love his bride, laying down his life for her, serving her and making her needs be what he needs.

Even in the Garden of Eden where Adam had as close to a perfect relationship with his Creator that any of us have had, was able to walk with Him and talk with Him in a manner that has never been known since the curse, God said that wasn't enough. We need one another. It is not good for us to be alone. The helpmate is God's ideal, but even other relationships with family and friends are important. We are to encourage one another to love and good works and bear one another's burdens. Not every person is going to have a romantic relationship, but that doesn't mean we are alone.

Yes, relationships are good and important. We are social creatures, and the world is a better place when we live as we rather than me. One of the most important aspects of any and every relationship, from the bonds of matrimony to the casual acquaintance, is to help one another, to encourage, and enable a better relationship with our Creator. Yes, we are supposed to be enablers. It's not a bad thing if what you're enabling is union with God. Every encounter has the opportunity to help and bless someone. But no relationship, not even marriage, was ever intended or able to take the place of what we receive through relationship with God. When we look to our partners to fill the need in our hearts and lives that only God can fill, we do them a huge disservice by demanding or expecting the impossible from them, and we set up ourselves for devastating disappointment when they fail  When we seek the love of God for us in the act of sex, especially the idea of physical pleasure without those pesky bonds of love and commitment and relationship, we eventually find things even worse than when we ask our spouse to meet the needs only God can meet.

Whether it is pleasure, chemicals, or something as great and God-ordained as marriage, anything we try to use to fill the God-shaped hole in our lives will fall apart and fall short.  I am blessed with the most perfect wife for me. God done me good, much better than I deserve. Leah is truly my helpmate. But she can never take the place of God in my life. She can however help me and encourage me to walk with Him. We are not meant to be alone, but Mr. Right is first and foremost always going to be Jesus. Only His love truly satisfies. Only God can free us and restore us and make us alive. Fill the God-shaped hole with God, then relationships are so much easier, because the ultimate need is filled and it's a lot easier to be what you were meant to be than it is to be what you can never be...God for someone's need.

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.

t of despair.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 13 ~ Time For Mourning

Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people! Be miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow.

- James 4:7-9

In every situation we can give thanks, for this is the will of God. We can rejoice in the Lord, always. That means that even during times when we take a good, hard, honest look at ourselves and see where we are, the sins that are still so much a part of our daily and habitual life, and how far we have to go to be even in the neighborhood of perfect as our Daddy is perfect, we can still be grateful for the grace that brought us this far and for the grace that will  lead us on. Yes, be grateful and rejoice for what the Lord has done in your life and what He can be trusted to complete.

But there is a time for everything under the sun, and that includes a time to weep and mourn. Even as we rejoice in who He is and His love for us, we experience heartache and sorrow over our sin. For those who use the principles of the 12 Steps to set the frame work of their spiritual house, built on the solid rock foundation of Christ, during and after inventory is an appropriate time to feel such sorrow. Some people do an inventory at the start of each year. I like to do one at Lent. There is none of us that can take an honest look at our self and say we;re getting it right now. Maybe we're getting it a lot right or at least a lot more right than we used to, but if you're still breathing, you still haven't attained full sanctification.

If we ever examine our hearts and are not grieved by the sin we find, than we either need to take another look because we didn't examine under the guidance of the Holy Spirit or with rigorous honesty or we have hardened our hearts by becoming comfortable with our sin and rejecting the voice of the Spirit. We need to sub,it ourselves to God, ask Him to forgive us and to break our hearts of stone and transform them into hearts of clay that He can mold. Soften our hearts, Oh God, that we may no urn and weep and be filled with sorrow at the sins that we have allowed to stay within us.

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.

t of despair.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 12 ~ Autopilot

If you, Dear Reader, are anything like me, it can feel quite disappointing to take a look withing, examine the heart, take a moral inventory like many did on Ash Wednesday two days ago, see what needs to be different or better, decide on a change of heart or attitude and then fall short soon thereafter. It might go something like I've been impatient with people to the point of being unloving and critical,even hateful, in my heart so I'm going be more patient and loving. Even if I don't let it show on the outside, that impatience isn't Christlike, and I want to be more like Jesus, especially during this Lenten season. Or maybe it's more along the lines of self deprecation and self condemnation over mistakes of the past. So during the Lenten season you determine to remember that you are forgiven of those mistakes and are a valued and significant child of the Most High God. Or maybe mentally you've returned to the fantasy of living for self without consequences. Insert your own thing here. I imagine that we all have something where either our thoughts or our attitude hasn't been what it should be.

Maybe, like me, you've decided to do something different during Lent. Maybe you vow to be more loving and patient and kind toward that annoying co-worker. Maybe you vowed to agree with what God says about you instead of the self deprecating that is the norm. Maybe something else. And maybe, just maybe, like me, three days in it's already a struggle. The good news is that we don't feed to get more determined. The good news is that we don't need to strengthen our resolve. We don't need to give up i the face of defeat. The same forgiveness we received for the sins of Fat Tuesday is available for the sins of Tough Thursday and Frailty Friday.

We've never been good at control our thoughts, changing our heart or walking and living in a Christ-like manner. That's why we need grace. That's why we need the power of the Holy Spirit. It's not even that we didn't desire or really determine to do things different. But maybe, like me, as the day goes by sometimes, without even realising it, we flip on the autopilot and cruise through not really paying much attention to our position. Then something happens, and before we even stop to think that old default switch is flipped and we're thinking and acting just like the days before the vow.

Something like that happened to me in the days of my early sobriety. I went into the store for a soda. I wasn't even consciously craving alcohol, but as I approached the counter to pay I realized I had a beer in my hand. I hadn't even thought about picking it up. I simply went through the automatic motions so familiar to me. I almost dropped it like it was a hot coal. I put it back and grabbed a Mt. Dew, aid for it and left. It was a narrow escape because I wasn't paying attention.

When desiring to surrender and let God change something that has become as natural to us as breathing, whether it's picking up a drink or drug, cutting someone to pieces with our tongue or hating on our self, no matter what it is, autopilot is the enemy.We have to guard our hearts and minds. It's not our power that gives us strength to overcome our old nature, but we can't just go about mentally like business as usual. It's time to pay attention, close attention, to our position in regards to where we are at that moment with the will of God, how we are feeling and how we are acting and thinking. Until the new flight plan has become second nature and the automatic response, we cant afford to fly without direction.

Today, I can go into any store on autopilot and come out with a Mt. Dew. There's nothing in me that reaches automatically for alcohol any longer. But I can't go stand in a crowded, noisy room with far too many people and concrete floors without slipping back into the irritability of a convict in crowds, not on autopilot anyway. What I can do is catch it fast, pray, ask for grace and help to get through the situation without getting further off course and getting back on course as fast as possible. I can refuse to let the autopilot be switched back on/ With vigilant awareness, we can pause our natural reactions to situations long enough for grace to kick in and show the necessary course adjustments that we need in order to do it differently today than we did yesterday. So if you wanted to change something and used Lent as a good time to start...and then failed already or at least struggled with the issue, ask for grace and, if necessary, forgiveness, and turn the autopilot off. One good thing about Lent is that 40 days of vigilance is long enough to change a pattern of thinking. Just remember that it's God who does the changing in us, we just have to slow down our reactions long enough to surrender to His transforming touch.

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.

t of despair.

Unshackled Moments ~ February 11 ~ A Word Worth More Than Our Picture

If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, then his religion is useless and he deceives himself.  Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world..

- James 1:26-27

I don't know how many times I have heard James 1:27 quoted, even preached, and I can't ever remember it being used in its entirety. Usually it boils down to pure religion is to care for orphans and widows. or in other words to help and love those who can't care for themselves and have no one to do so. Some use this verse to point out that they do this, so their spirituality is OK, good enough to get by at least. Some use it to inspire people to love and help others more. But as I read these two verses this morning the impact of what usually is left off in the usage of this passage hit me hard.

First James reminds us that it's about the heart and not appearance when he leads into the idea of pure religion by telling us first that if we seem to do things right, to have it together, to follow the rituals and spirituality that we should but don't control our tongue than our beliefs are useless and we're deceived when we say we are in a state of submission and surrender. Does that seem harsh? After all, to truly be in control of the tongue is near impossible. In fact, James himself will write two chapters further into his letter that no one can control the tongue!

So if no one can control the tongue and you have to be in control of your tongue or your belief is useless is everyone deceiving themselves and being foolish to live as Christians? No. It's just that James knows what Jesus said, “A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs aren’t gathered from thornbushes, or grapes picked from a bramble bush. A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart. An evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.(Luke 6:43-45). Since we can't fully, reliably or constantly control our tongue the secret state and condition of our heart will show as it overflows and comes out of our mouths.

The entire point of Christianity is seeing that we have no righteousness on our own and can not control our carnal nature. When we surrender our hearts to God and give Him control, believing and trusting Him to do for us what we can't do, we receive grace and power from and through the Holy Spirit to walk free from our sinful desires and old nature and are made new. We are given a new heart and taught how to walk according to the ways and desires of the new spirit within us. If our relationship with God is real and progressing in the process of sanctification (being transformed into the likeness of Jesus) then it will start in our heart and what comes out of our heart, our words when caught off guard, reacting without time to think about what we're saying, etc., will show that. If our tongues don't reflect a new heart and being controlled by the Spirit of a loving God, then we've deceived ourselves and the religion we are practicing is useless, empty ritual for show that hasn't produced a change.

Now, before the spirit of condemnation comes and beats us all about the head with a baseball bat, let us remember that this also goes with the standard of being perfect as God in heaven is perfect. The standard is the new heart being completely in control at all times. We all fall short. James is not saying that if you ever lose control of your tongue that you're not saved. What he's saying is that if you never control your tongue Christ does not have control of your heart. The words we say, the way we treat others with them, and our tone of voice reveal our heart and our present level of surrender.

To emphasize that it's about the heart and giving God control to do what we can never do, James goes on to say that pure religion is to care for those no one else cares for, to help them and love them. Oh wait, no he doesn't stop there. He says not to be stained by or effected by the unbelieving world around us. Our level of surrender sometimes ebbs and flows like the tide. One moment we're singing with our hearts that we have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back. Jesus take the wheel, we sing. The next we are screaming by our actions that it's our car and no one is going to sit in the driver's seat but us.

As we go through the next several weeks of the Lenten season, let us keep an eye on what comes out of our mouths when we are not thinking about what is coming out of our mouths. Where does it say we are in our walk and surrender? We don't want to deceive ourselves. We don't want to say that we believe and yet it have no effect on our heart. Let us ask for the grace to more and more often and fully surrender our heart to Him and let what overflows from our mouth be evidence of the answer to that prayer.

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.

t of despair.

The Ruined Wedding Dress

Dalyn Woodard shares an Ash Wednesday Lenten message dealing with how we should approach the Lenten season, the horror of our sin, the grace that makes us new and the call to repentance. The message, "The Ruined Wedding Dress" is about 39 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, February 10, 2016. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

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

Is God Faithful?

Dalyn Woodard continues the  study on Romans and finishes Romans 10 addressing the question of whether or not we can really trust God to care for us. The message, "Is God Faithful?" is about 50 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, February 3, 2016. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

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

Unshackled Moments ~ February 10 ~ Beauty From Ashes

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. 

- Isaiah 61:1-3

Today is the first day of the Lenten Season, Ash Wednesday. Not all Christians observe Lent, and even fewer  participate in the traditions of Ash Wednesday. But regardless let us take advantage of the reminder to have God search us and know our hearts and if there be in wickedness in us to forgive us and to lead in the way everlasting. It's important to take time and examine our lives and hearts, to test the our own spirits for the truth of God. But Ash Wednesday is a time to see our sin for what it is (death and destruction) and to be honest with ourselves about the areas where we need to do a better job of giving God control of our lives. Once that is done, it's time to get the focus of our self and back where it belongs.

Our sin and our best efforts brought failure, destruction and death. Nothing we can do can ever change that. And even been made new and clean by the grace of God we have continually dirtied up our clean slates, failed to maintain the righteousness bestowed on us and failed to even want to totally lay self will on the altar, never mind actually being able to do that. To stop in that place of powerlessness and examination of where we are and where we've been is hopelessness and despair. But we were never supposed to stay in that place. Once we understand that we need help, that we have failed and will continue to help, the Lord has always said come, look not at yourself but at Me. I have come to heal your brokenness, to set you free, to give you new life that can't be taken away, to make something beautiful out of the ashes of death and destruction of our lives.

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.

t of despair.