Unshackled Moments ~ January 31, 2017 ~ An Honest Life

Friday evening I spent some time with some people discussing recovery and the issue of people pleasing. As a child I was completely devastated and mostly controlled by the desire to please people. The opinions of others, or my perceptions of what others thought and felt, determined what I did more times than not, and often even controlled how and what I thought. Even when I realized I could never be good enough, normal enough, or something enough to be accepted, fit in, and have people like me for me and went the opposite route, the opinion of others still pulled my strings because much of what I did came out of motivations like you think I'm bad now when I'm trying to be good? I'll show you bad! And of course the See all that I am doing that you don't like or are disgusted by? See how this shows that I don't need you or care what you think? Both of which are caring desperately what others think.

Worry about what others think is not a war that is completely over for me and from time to time I find myself ambushed by remnants I thought had been destroyed. Suddenly I'll find myself not saying or doing something because of how someone may react and what it might make them think, feel or say about me. Or I'll stop and check my motives for saying or doing something and see that I am presenting an image, trying to impress or manipulate others to think what I'd like them to about me. Wow, look how smart, caring, kind, whatever, that guy is... But thankfully it doesn't happen often, and it's not even close to what it used to be like.

Before I continue, I do want to make one thing clear. It's not bad to consider others. We should. I should care about whether something I say or do might hurt you, cause you to stumble, make you doubt the love of God for you or drive you away or keep you from relationship with Him. In fact, when it comes to others, that is very important. Everything I do should  be to show you God's glory, great love for you, power to free and restore you, and the life worth living that surrender to His will provides. I fail at that regularly, because I still get in the way. But that is the goal. So it's not a screw you, I don't care what you think or how what I do makes you feel attitude that I am advocating at all. But there is a huge difference between wanting to show you Jesus and let His love shine to you through me and wanting and needing to be liked and accepted by people so that I won't feel rejected or marginalized or despised.

During the discussion Friday, I realized that I didn't overcome this desire to please others. The bondage to the opinions of others stopped as God set me free of other things. I didn't sit down and decide that I needed to be less concerned with and less motivated by needing approval from people. Freedom came as a byproduct of relationship and the spiritual principles that help facilitate and maintain that relationship. I learned a lot from this. Had I sought to free myself from the bondage of people pleasing, it would have been a struggle and fight. But by seeking relationship with Jesus first, before and above my relationship with people, if happened naturally.

This freedom came about because of two main truths, ideas, practices. First is submission and surrender to God. When my primary desire is to please Him and be of maximum service to Him, then my service to others and my interaction with others becomes God focused more so than self or people focused. If I am determined to obey God by grace and do His will, then it is His pleasure I seek. How someone else may think or feel about me at that point naturally becomes less important. There is no but God, if I do that they will think I'm foolish hindrance to me when my love for Him is more important than my cares about what people think.

The second thing to destroy the hold of other's opinions is the principle of rigorous honesty. You can not be honest and truthful with yourself about why you're doing something without seeing that you're trying to impress people, or earn the approval of others or, worse, earn God's affection, approval and or love. When you're motives are wrong then rigorous honesty with yourself will show that, and surrender to Him will cause you to seek to be changed, either your behavior or motives. Being honest with others makes it impossible to pretend to be something or someone that you are not. And being honest with God causes us to acknowledge our shortcomings in this (and other areas) and admit that we need help and grace because we can't purify our motives or stop the natural instinct to seek the approval of people rather than seek to please God on our own.

While living a life of rigorous honestly will help and improve most relationships, it isn't always an easy process to establish. Setting boundaries in a few areas can make it easier to maintain the freedom that comes both from serving Christ rather than being a slave to the approval of others and from freedom from addictions, habitual sin and secret sin. Those living in a constant battle with shame and bondage learn to be dishonest, often especially with themselves, in self defense.

It is critical to have honesty in all our relationships, from the casual encounter to the interactions with those closest to us. Authenticity in relationships is critical both to the health of the relationship and to continued freedom. This is not an excuse to be cruel or unloving. It's not about turning off our filter and being harsh with truth. Sometimes it's about letting God transform truth. There is someone that I have to interact with from time to time who really annoys me. It is such a fight to be patient and kind. Most times if I do not check myself first, rigorous honesty would demand that I be honest about not wanting to be around or help this person. Previous patterns of dishonesty would have me pretending or faking niceness in an effort to seem like a good guy, while inside I loathed the situation. Neither are acceptable or loving. But what I can do, what I must do, is pray before these interactions for patience and for God to change my heart and give me the compassion and love of Christ for this individual. When I am nice and listen to what they are saying and or serve them in some way, it is not me pretending to be kind or acting as though I like someone I don't. It is the grace of God enabling me to truly care for and loving this person.

This is one example of why it is important to be aware of my motives and to be honest with myself about my own emotions. We need to set that boundary that demands that we be honest with ourselves about how we feel. It is OK to feel, and denying the truth or trying to push away emotions that we do not desire is not healthy nor helpful. I can not be honest and authentic in my relationship with the above person if I am not able to first admit the truth of how I feel about the relationship and that I, in and of myself, would much rather eliminate the relationship rather than change my heart. The correct response is not to try to change my own heart and force myself to enjoy or care for someone that I don't. The correct response is to be honest with myself and God about how I feel, accept it and own it, and ask God to fill me with His love instead of attempting to manufacture my own compassion.

We must have boundaries in respect to accountability. We need to have at least one  person we are totally and completely transparent with regarding our struggles, fears, doubts, hopes and more. We must be emotionally open and honest with someone who can give us another perspective about how we feel about and see things, who can call us on living for self when we allow our feelings to get in the way of our submission, who can encourage us when we are living and loving as we should, and who can be good and trusted listeners when we are struggling with something.

And we can not allow ourselves to shift blame or make excuses when we fall short. Part of living honestly is accepting our part in what's wrong with our spiritual walk/life, our relationships and interactions with others and our mistakes in not walking within God's will and love for Him and others and instead living to  please ourselves, gratify our own desires or find a quick and easy fix for the fears, pain and stress of life.

When we hold ourselves to living within the boundaries of honesty with ourselves about our emotions, feelings and motivations, authenticity in our relationships and interactions with others, accountability and open to and with another person and quickness to acknowledge our shortcomings and accept responsibility, living an honest life becomes more and more easy and natural. It also eliminates the bondage of trying to please people and gain the approval of others.



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

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Moments ~ January 30, 2017 ~ The Early Days

Quitting any addiction or habitual sin isn't easy. During the wilderness between slavery and the promised land is a journey fraught with struggles, fears and dangers. Yesterday we looked at some truths about early recovery that can help turn the beginning of the journey into a successful trip. Here are a few more things that can help while we seek God and wait for the time when relationship takes over and sets us free from the obsession.

The hard question for many is now what? What am I going to do with myself now that I am not doing __________? Getting free from the bondage and drain on your life very likely will unleash enrgy, creativity and passion that has been kept at bay and damped by the thing or activity, the guilt and shame, the constant fight to feed the beast and other aspects of addiction. Finding a good and or healthy outlet for this newly released energy and creativity can be both helpful and rewarding.

Remember that addiction and habitual sin is not really about that issue. It is a way of self-medicating, escape, distraction and relief from pain and fear. The more quickly we address the issues at the root, the more relief we find from the impulse to escape, distract, numb, etc. Don't be afraid to explore the truth of our needs with an eye always on the One who can and will meet those needs, if we let Him.

Alone can be a very dangerous place to be, especially in the beginning. This can mean both solitude and getting stuck alone inside our heads. The truth is that we are not alone, even in solitude. God is always with us, but feeling alone can be something we haven't really learned to deal with. We won't always feel God's presence. This is especially true when we are self focused, as is often the case when in pain or trying to figure out how not to do what we've always done.

We may have felt alone or bored during addiction, but probably never allowed those feelings last for long. In addition to whatever else we were escaping, numbing or distracting from, we also distracted, escaped and numbed the issues that come with being alone and being bored. When we find ourselves with nothing else to do, it's easier to reach for that instant gratification and escape. Finding a strategy to make a good use of free time can be quite helpful. I highly recommend doing something of service as something that can both kill time and set off boredom and be fulfilling as well.

And since being alone in our heads can be such a frightening and uncomfortable situation before we have learned to deal both with that and also deal with the situations that we have been running from, it's a very good idea to have support. This can be a friend, a counselor, a minister, a mentor, etc. Find someone you can talk to or hang out with when the crazy gets too loud. Also this person can help hold you accountable both in staying away from the addiction and in pursuing the relationship with God that will, in time, remove the obsession.

While being alone can be frightening and dangerous, sometimes it is much better than the alternative. The will be a time when you are recovered and spiritually fit enough to be a light and a demonstration of God's love, power and way of life to the people and in the places where you were once a slave. But until that time that He has made us strong, going unarmed into the enemy camp is suicide. It isn't always easy to tell people that we have considered friends that we can't hang out, at least for now, but better to be alone than be drug back into bondage. New friends, at least one, who can encourage and aid your pursuit of relationship with God are essential to growing spiritually.

Keep in mind, recovery is a process. Our bondage didn't happen overnight and didn't last only a day. We have Stockholm syndrome. We have gotten used to, comfortable with and morbidly infatuated with our captor. Breaking free of that without desire to return will also likely not happen overnight. I say likely, because God is able to perform such an instantaneous miraculous freeing of an addict. But just as He led Israel from Egypt to the Red Sea instead of an instant transport to the Promise Land, He usually takes us slowly to freedom so that we can learn to trust Him and depend on Him for our need and protection.

Pray. Pray some more. When you finished praying, pray again. Don't just pray for God to remove the addiction. Pray for a change of heart. Pray for a deeper relationship with Jesus. Pray to get to know Him. Pray with thanksgiving and gratitude as much as with your pleas for aid. Prayer, talking to and listening to God, helps us discover more the depths of His love and care for us and turns our attention from self to the source of life.

Finally, write. It may sound crazy, and it may seem like advice from a writer more than general advice to and for everyone, but seriously it helps. It occupies time. It helps us get the toxic feelings and thoughts out, helps us sort or thinking and follow it to its logical conclusion. It can help us realize how insane or foolish actually is at times. Looking back on past writing can be one of the fastest ways we can see the truth of progress and that this feeling of hopelessness at  the moment is not new nor anything we haven't made it through before.  Write our the feelings, fears, anger, doubt, confusion, hopes, dreams, prayers. Talk to God with ink. Be honest. If you feel angry with God, express it. He's a big God, and He can take it. Besides, He already knows. You may be surprised to be inspired to continue writing until you see clear direction about what to do next or you actually feel better. It works, and not just for writers.



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

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Echo ~ January 28, 2017 ~ Called To Do Not To Don't

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

June 4, 2013 as Called To Do Not To Don't.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

~ Ephesians 2:8-10

We don't come into relationship with God whole. Christians, like everyone else on the planet, are a broken and wounded people, at least at the start. That's why we need God. Before being exposed to the healing and restoration that comes from being in relationship with the Master Healer, we're a mess. For many it takes realizing that we have to find an answer to the hurt and destruction in our lives now or die that causes us to seek God with the desperation of the drowning.

The first two of the three verses above make it clear that salvation, relationship with God and His favor are gifts of His grace. They're not rewards for anything we've done or based on any goodness that we have. None of us came to God by filling out an application, having Him look at how we lived our lives and getting hired for the work of the kingdom based on being good enough or qualified in any way to do that work. We have never been good enough to please God, and on our own, never can be. We can't earn it. We'll never deserve what we have received. Period. The end.

But it's not the end. Because while we can't do good works to get relationship with God, He, by grace, made that relationship possible anyway, And the reason that He created us anew in Christ, as His masterpieces (New Living Translation) was so that we could do the good things that He planned for us long ago.

God planned for us to do good things! He remade us into His workmanship or masterpiece so that we could do good, not so that we could repay Him for His gift. It wasn't so that we could then be good enough to continue to receive His blessings and favor or have a right to be in the relationship. Rather so that we could help Him do for others what He has done for us, usually through someone else. 

We look at our lives and our past and see our shortcomings and defects. We see all the ways we messed up. And it's easy to feel like we'll be OK if we can stop living the way we used to or the way secular society does. It's easy to see why the world so often sees Christianity in a negative light. We present our faith in a negative, do nothing way. How often do we say things like "I'm a Christian. I don't do that." How often do we attempt to show to others and ourselves that we are walking with God by what we don't do? I'm a Christian; I don't wear clothes like that. I'm a Christian; I don't listen to or watch..... I'm a Christian; I don't say things like that, etc.

Now I'm not suggesting that we aren't called to holiness. We are. But we are to be known by what we do, not by what we don't do. Jesus said that you can tell what kind of tree you're looking at by the fruit it bears, not by the fruit that it doesn't bear. They are supposed to know that we are Christians, that we have found relationship with God, by our love for each other and for them.

If we dress a certain way, only listen to Christian music or watch "family" appropriate shows or however else we make out the outside of the cup for others to see, we may get the attention of the lost and the hurting. And it is good to be modest, to fill our eyes and ears with Godly material, to guard our tongue from cursing and gossip, etc. It keeps us from hurting our relationship, and it may be the first thing someone sees about us that sets us apart. But if that is all they see, they will only see religion. A suit and tie or long skirt and high neckline may set you apart from the world, but the love of God in your eyes and the smile of Christ on your face is what will show the possibility of hope and healing to the broken and hurting. 

We were created by God to have relationship with Him. And those who have entered into that relationship have been remade so that we can love those who naturally we would not. We are called to be the good Samaritan. The I don't do that attitude of religion is what kept the Pharisee and the priest on the other side of the road and separated from the dying man. But the Samaritan showed love and cared for the wounded. By doing so he fulfilled the work of God.

Yes, we are called to separate ourselves holy unto God. If we're walking with God it should be apparent that the way we live our lives is different from the way those who aren't walking with Him are living. But we are called into relationship to do good, not to stop doing bad. What should scream different to the world is what we do, how we love, and how the compassion of Christ flows through us to them. They need to see that a lot more than they need to see all the things they do that we don't. 

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

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Moments ~ January 27, 2017 ~ Die Happy

I know that many try to bust loose and escape their chains with the new year, and that is why I have focused on early recovery so much this month. We are nearing the end of January and many who resolved to change have failed. Some have stumbled but realized that they do want freedom and have continued to pursue it. Some have given up and gone back to the misery and destruction, perhaps even convincing themselves they would rather die happy than live miserable. Some may have not turned back and are feeling some success but wondering how long they can keep this up. Some may have discovered it (see yesterday's Moment What Is IT?) and feel like they'll never have to worry about going back to that area of bondage ever again.

There are also those who may be reading this that are not addicts. Their bondage may be general sin rather than a habitual sin that they can't step away from long, although I think that if we get rigorously honest with ourselves and examine our heart, the general sins that most of us trip over would be seen as habitual if we looked at the root rather than the manifestation. What? You do something that you know or realize is wrong. Once more you have walked in the flesh rather than the Spirit and at that moment looked like the dead you rather than the Christ-like new you. You pick yourself up and change direction, meaning you determine once more to walk with God, surrender your will to His and do what's right (in religious speak this is called repenting). You don't commit that act again or not for so long that, if you do, it would seriously be pushing things to call it habitual. But some time relatively soon after, you stumble in an entirely different circumstance, and on the surface the two actions don't seem to be at all related. But if you look at the heart of the thing, the motivation that caused it, you'll find that it is the same root of unjust anger, or greed or lust or........ So we find that we have one or more areas of self that we tend to struggle in the most and habitually after all. But regardless, some aren't looking to overcome any one thing as much as just wanting to surrender and walk more and more free with Jesus. Less of self and more of Jesus. Well, Dear Reader, no matter which of these some categories describe you, or even if I missed you, there may be something in today's Moment that will help you. But this will be mostly directed at those who are trying to find freedom from a particular addiction or habitual sin and have not yet experienced long-term recovery in the area yet.

There are a lot of false starts and stumbles for many at the start of recovery. It often takes people longer than a year of journey to walk a year of continuous freedom. The Israelites took 40 years to make a journey that should have taken a little less than two weeks. At the beginning of the journey, a year free of what has ruled our life can seem so far away that the weight of what we're facing can become overwhelming. Here are a few quick things to understand so that you're not surprised, blindsided and knocked back in the wrong direction.

There's a reason for most cliches, and one day at a time is no exception. There's a great old hymn declaring that we should be looking at one day at a time with Jesus and from Jesus. In the rooms of recovery this reminder is often spoken and written. Scripture tells us that today is the day of salvation. Don't look at having to stop doing whatever forever or for the next 40 years or so. Don't even worry about never doing that again. When I first got clean, I couldn't imagine the rest of my life without a drink or drug. When I tried I became overwhelmed and defeated. I just knew I would fail eventually, so why fight if I was only going to lose? What's the point? I might as well just save myself the misery and give in now. But it's not about not relapsing and not sinning for the rest of our lives. It's about not doing it right now. It's about walking with God today. We are going to need His grace to do today as it is. You can't fight a lifetime of battles in this moment, but you can walk this moment in the power of the Spirit and walk free from the bondage of the curse. Don't look at tomorrow or next week or next year or that horribly heavy rest of your life. The good news is that it can get better. It's easy for me to now imagine reaching my death years from now without ever taking a drink or drug. But with other areas of sin, I still need to just worry about walking with God now and let tomorrow worry about itself.

Motivations matter. Jesus made that very clear in His teaching, and what is happening inside is more of an issue than what happens without. In the begging we are fighting the symptom, not the disease. It may not seem like it, because we have to stop the flow of the water and that destruction before we can really examine and fix the problem causing the leak. The addiction isn't the problem. It's the answer. What we are in bondage to now is what we used to solve or escape something else. The Israelites went to Egypt to escape famine and ended up living as slaves for around 400 years. I started drinking at 12 to escape certain pain rather than turning to the God of comfort. I'm not saying that knowing your triggers is the solution, but the truth is that beginning the journey away from all the false solutions to deal with the issues, emotions, pain and fear that we have been hiding from is going to open us up to feeling and facing things that we haven't in a long time, if ever. The reflex action is to reach for that addiction, that false solution. Temptation is going to come at those moments.

We can help ease the torment and escape temptation by honestly questioning our motives. Why am I wanting to do this again? Why am I tempted to try my way, which I have proved doesn't work, over God's will for me? What is it I am trying to escape or distract myself from or fix with this selfishness? And is there a Godly answer to the fear and discomfort that I am feeling that will keep me traveling under the shelter of His will? Is it when I am stressed that I seek this escape most or when I am feeling insecure or..... Avoiding triggers will not work forever, but knowing that when I am tired I am inclined toward the quick and easy false fix can help me see that I need to learn to find my rest in relationship with Jesus. It's not about avoiding triggers as much as it is learning to face and deal with and respond to them in the right way through relationship with Jesus by grace.

And along those lines, remember that we resist the devil but we flee temptation. Once again, I am not saying that avoiding triggers is the answer. But don't be stupid or play games with yourself. I can walk inside any bar and grill with a friend and eat lunch without a problem....today. But I am a recovered alcoholic, and that wasn't always true. I remember going to a Mexican restaurant with friends during my early days and being driven to distraction by the light making a margarita on a passing waitress' tray glow. I mean it lit up like a neon sign. Had I been alone I would have ordered one. When you're already craving the chains, don't walk into the dungeon. Even if it's been a recent struggle, be cautious. If you fight temptation, you will lose. If you flee it, especially by running to the refuge of relationship with our Protection and Champion, there will be a way of escape.

It's going to get worse before it gets better. It's going to get uncomfortable. Quitting anything that has been habitually used to escape, quiet fear, numb pain and distract from the stress and pressure of reality is going to force us to deal with those things. Until we find our freedom and the solution to those issues in relationship with Jesus, we will have to endure facing them without whatever we have used for so long as a quick fix and stop gap. That's not fun, and that's not even dealing with the issue of physical withdrawal symptoms that are involved with some areas of bondage. Don't be surprised. Even "non-chemical" addictions, like shopping and gambling, are actually chemical. It's just that our brains are producing the chemicals. Some have experienced physical withdrawal symptoms from quitting activities that had nothing to do with adding outside chemicals to the body. The good news is that these issues are relatively short term. Your body will adjust. Keep walking.

Forgive yourself. Do it every day if you have to, even every hour. Many know God has forgiven them, but they can't forgive themselves. Shame and self-condemnation are guards in the prison of addiction and habitual sin. Beating yourself up doesn't help you determine to do right (as one may think) as much as it drives you from God to the wrong answer. Instead of letting God make us new and clean, we hide and make poor excuses for clothes out of the leaves around us. Practice extending the same grace of God toward yourself that He does.

Tied in with this is to stop hiding in shame. That which is hidden in the dark will be brought to light. It is much better to do it ourselves in a safe and Godly way than to let shame make us hide and bring defeat until it is exposed in a negative way, whatever it is. There are some fallen ministers who could attest to this from painful experience. Find someone to talk to that you can reveal your hidden shame to. For those who work the steps, this would be Step 5, but even if the steps are not the path of your journey with Jesus, we are told to confess our sins one to another and to pray for each other that we can be healed (James 5:16). We need one another for accountability, advice, prayer support, encouragement, and transparency.


Focus on the solution rather than the problem. And the most important element in that idea is to keep looking to Jesus, the source and completion of our all ability to believe, hope and do. He is the solution. And don't trust willpower, which always eventually fails.

Remember that most areas of habitual sin and addiction stem from or are aspects of our natural instincts and desires gone awry. Don't curse the desire. Our instincts and drives toward pleasure, comfort, safety, etc. are all created by and given to us by God. Fire can be the most wonderful and useful tool. Used correctly and at the right time, it can save your life. Or, it can be a destructive force that ruins lives and kills. It's not the fire that's the issue. It's how, what, when, why and where it's brought to life. Now, I am not saying that there will be a proper time and place or way for you to use heroin. What I am saying is that the drive that we were responding to when we turned to the heroin or whatever it was, that need we had, is not evil. That need came from God and there is a way to meet that need within His will that will bring joy, peace and contentment in that area.

Oh, and one last thing. for  those who related at the start of this to the idea of rather dying happy than living miserable, I completely understand. Not only did I use that excuse more than once to quit fighting for freedom, it's a concept I still feel very much today. The only real difference is that I stopped believing the lie that the short term instant relief that made me feel worse after would actually make me happy and that the short term struggle in life without a false answer would make me more miserable than giving in to destruction. I'd still rather die happy. In fact, I truly intend to. The only real difference is that Jesus is my joy and not the junk I sold myself to. I fully intend to die happy, and you can too.



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

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Moments ~ January 26, 2017 ~ What is IT?

This is about the time when I finally got it, way back in 2009. I had walked into the rooms of recovery during the last week of October, and after a few false starts managed to string together 30 days of continuous sobriety, which I promptly blew the next day. Between Christmas 2008 and 2009 some things changed, mostly in my heart and attitude, and something horrible happened in early February, as I worked on my second straight month of continuous sobriety, that hurt me, scared me and made me desperate. I either needed this spiritual program to work or I was going to relapse for good. I needed God or I was just going to use until I died, preferably sooner rather than later. I had been out of prison less than four months and was already standing on the cliff asking God for wings because I knew I was going over the edge.

God heard my cry and saw the honesty of my desire. I found relief in the midst of the worst pressure I had experienced since my release, when nothing was going right and when I faced some old pain and memories for the first time without the aid of numbing agents, I stayed sober. For 15 months, longer than any stretch since turning 13, I did not drink or drug. I did go back out one more time, and that's why it was 15 months and not 8 years, but as I approach the seventh year mark coming in May I still remember that moment in 2009 as when I got it.

Maybe what I got will help you too. Some struggle with early sobriety. I knew a man who took 5 years of sober and not yo-yo action before he finally strung together a solid year, but once he got it...he never looked back. He didn't have the one more fall I did. He helped me a lot during my early days, and he died clean and sober. I have known others who relapsed repeatedly. One dear friend of mine called herself the Relapse Queen until she finally found what she needed to break the pattern of standing up only to fall back down. I also know people who called out to God, set down their chains and walked away from Egypt and have never gone back. Not one relapse or slip or..... But even those have mentioned to me times of struggle when defeat seemed close, when they had to remember it before they turned and headed back to bondage.

So what is it? First let me tell you what it is not. It is not more determination or somehow attaining more or greater will power. It is also not knowledge. What I mean by that is that it is not understanding your bondage better, understanding your addiction or understanding why you keep stumbling into sin. Knowledge of what your triggers are will not keep you safe nor set you free. It is not about hating the bondage, choosing life or hating evil or anything like that. There is nothing within you or your own power that can truly change yourself, overcome your nature or walk free from sin.

In fact everything about those ideas and more thoughts I didn't share are all tied to the first part of it. It is true that pride goes before a fall, and it is pride that makes us continue to fight when there is no way we can win. It's pride that makes us say things like if I could just avoid this or if I could just stay strong or continue to promise that this time will be different despite the consistency of failure. It is pride and foolishness to keep thinking that we are responsible for freeing ourselves from our bondage, addictions and sin. Jesus came to set the captives free. He didn't come to inspire the captives to set themselves free.

If you are struggling with repeated failure to avoid habitual sin, doing what you hate and not doing what you know is right, if you keep relapsing with addiction(s), if you walk away from your Egypt only to turn back, over and over, long before you get to the miracle of the Red Sea, then part of the problem may be pride. It is true that the truth will make you free, and the truth is the you do not have the power to overcome sin, but there is One who is greater than you. His name is Jesus, and He freely offers what you do not have and need so desperately. Give up already. Surrender. Stop fighting. Let go of your pride and the need to overcome and let Him do it.

But what if He doesn't? Oh maybe you are like me, or at least what I was like before I got it. I had a jacked up view of God, and in order to stop trying to set myself free I had to get it, a glimpse of the truth about God and His love, specifically His love for me. I believed in God. I believed there was a God who was Creator of all, powerful and mighty. I believed in Jesus as the Eternal Son, Perfect Sacrifice and Risen Savior. I believed in the power of the Holy Spirit. Create a checklist from the creeds of Christian faith, and I could probably check yes on them all. I believed God loved you. What I couldn't grasp was that He loved and cared for me. I believed He could set me free, He could do anything, but I didn't believe He really wanted to or would.

I prayed for God to save me from myself, and when He didn't seem to answer those prayers and I failed again to be faithful and walk with Him, I took that as proof that I was worthless even to God and that the God of daily new mercies had written me off. Shame, which says that you haven't made mistakes but that you are the mistake, causes this hesitancy with approaching God with any sort of understanding that He cares for us and will help us. Shame is a set up to prevent us from seeking the only source of a cure for the very things causing the shame. The it that we need is to hold onto the truth. This is truth. God loves you. This is not cliche. This is not trivial or glib. This is not to every other reader but you. God loves you. He loves you just as you are and not as you should be. And He loves you enough not to leave you as you are. He has promised that you can come to Him. He said all, all means all... all who are weary and heavy laden can come to Him and exchange their weight for His. It's the great exchange as Martin Luther called it. The unfair trade of all your crap for the treasures that come with His rightness, the treasures of joy, peace, love, purpose, life worth living, oh, and did I mention love? In my experience there is nothing heavier or more exhausting than carrying around and living with shame. It is the truth that you are not your shame and your shame is not greater than God's love for you.

I've lived too long with pain. I won't know who I am without it.

- Ender

Precious pain, our dear friend. That sounds stupid and crazy and seriously messed up right? Well, that's because it is. But still there is a part of us, especially those of us who have been in bondage to habitual sin and addictions, that believes that pain is a part of us. It is who we are.

The scars remind me that the past is real. I tear my heart open just to feel.

- Papa Roach

I hurt myself today to see if I still feel.

- Nine Inch Nails

Pain is what we feel we deserve because of the shame, the false pride that says I should be able to do the impossible, overcome sin and evil on my own, or God won't love me. Pain is the only thing that we trust, because feelings of hope dying and fleeting joy seem less real and more painful than pain. Our pain and misery has been with us like a shadow for so long we have lost sight of the truth that it is not who we are, it is not truly inseparable from us and we have become comfortable with it. We like our pain. We need our pain. It needs to get to the point where you can see all that for the lie that it is or where you hurt so badly that you have gone beyond what has become acceptable, where it hurts so much that the time has come to get better or die. That's the pain that will kill pride and cause us to admit defeat. It's that kind of pain that can make us crawl to God through the obstacle of shame and cry out for the mercy that we know we don't deserve.

It's never fun discovering it. It breaks us. Our pride is shattered and we have to look our shame in the eye and it hurts. It's like Pharaoh making the Hebrew slaves make the same number of bricks but without providing straw. What they had before was misery, but they had adjusted to it, gotten somewhat comfortable with it. And while they cried out to God for deliverance they weren't really ready. When deliverance came, they feared it, doubted it and hesitated. Then the load increased, their situation became even more impossible, and the pain nearly crushed them. Everything changed. Suddenly they became ready to face the desert and the wilderness and the journey to the land of promise.

So while it may sound like a curse, I assure you it's a blessing. I pray you find it. I pray that you come to that place where pride is crushed and all hope in yourself and your abilities is finally dashed. I pray that shame no longer hold you back and that when you look to the heavens you can see a God who sees your shame and the cause for it even better than you do and loves you totally and completely and desires your presence and relationship. And I pray it hurts. I pray it hurts so much that you no longer feel comfortable in your misery and that you can no longer find that place of being comfortably numb and where the only escape is God or death. I pray that because that's a wonderful place to look back on and realize that's when you got it, that's when you cried out for Jesus to have mercy and found His loving heart change your life and set you free.



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

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Happy Joy

Dalyn Woodard continues with Part 4 of the series on joy, but takes a step back from Philippians. Before going any further into the different aspects of joy in the midst of all that Paul endured, the need arose to clarify some of the misconceptions about joy and happiness. Happiness is an emotion that does not encompass all that joy is, but happiness is a flavor of joy. We should not pursue happiness as the goal or prize, but neither should we devalue it. The message,  "Happy Joy" is about 30 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, January 25, 2017. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. If you missed any previous messages in this serious, Part 1, "Pursuit Of Happiness," can be found here, Part 2, "Joy From Loneliness" can be found here, and Part 3, "Suffer Well" can be found here. May God bless and keep you.

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

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Moments ~ January 25, 2017 ~ Measuring Up

We have all heard the scripture that says judge not lest you be judged. I've heard atheists quote that. Seriously, it is almost used more to protect the wounded from the attack of judgment than it is to remind us in love of what Jesus said and meant. Can you think of a time when you heard that verse quoted and the person saying it wasn't judging someone for judging? It would be funny if it weren't so heartbreakingly sad. I bet if you asked 100 people on the street, they would all be familiar with the verse and many would think that it is prohibiting judgment of what is right and wrong. But then, sadly a lot of people also believe that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife.

We obviously instinctively believe we understand this verse, so we fail to look any deeper. But have we missed something? Do we understand what the verse is saying? A logical but twisted offshoot of the popular interpretation of this verse can be found in in many prison tattoos as unrepentant, at least pretending not to be sorry for their life and the things that they've done, men proudly strut through cell blocks sporting ink that declares Only God Can Judge Me. But in the attitude is some vague sense of a philosophy that  seems to say that God understands why I am the way I am and if you only knew you'd understand too. But no. God does indeed understand, better than we do, what happened to us, in us and around us, but that doesn't mean that everyone or anyone gets a pass because life is hard. God doesn't grade on the curve. It's pass fail, and only perfect passes, no excuses and no exceptions.

Hey, I'm starting to get uncomfortable. What's this have to do with recovery? I don't blame you for being uncomfortable. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about the judgment of God if I don't also remember His mercy and His great love. In the beginning of God's love story about Him and humanity He declared that two people joined together in marriage would become unified, one. That is not just metaphor, but truly something awesome, wonderful and special that happens as our souls are intertwined and union is made spiritually even as our bodies are joined sexually. And one of the three most common ways our relationship with Jesus is described is that of bride  and groom. The relationship was consummated on the cross as Jesus spread His arms to embrace us, His bride, and gave everything He is for us, holding nothing back. When we accept that love and return His embrace, we become His, and He ours. We become one with Jesus.

Now when God judges us, and He will judge each and every one of us, He see the perfect love of Jesus that fulfilled the law instead of our failure to love Him and love others as we should. We are one with Jesus, so the rich rightness of Jesus is more than enough to cover our moral and spiritual bankruptcy, We don't have to be afraid of God's judgment, but if we ever even think of standing on our own merits, we should fear it greatly, because to be judged by every person in the world is nothing compared to being judged by God.

The thing is, this verse telling us not to judge was not, and was never intended to be, a verse that declared that no one should look at anything as wrong. It was not about judging, despite the word used, as much as it was about understanding the truth of our own situation, the truth about who God is, and not being hypocrites. It's not logical to think that the verse ever meant not to judge if something was good or bad when it is immediately followed b the plankeye parable. What's the plankeye parable? That's where Jesus tells us not to be so focused on the splinter in someone else's eye that we miss the plank or beam in our own eye. We are told to first remove the plank from our own life so that we can then see to remove the splinter from our brother's eye.

This is often used like a shield in the same way as the judging verse, as in don't pretend you're perfect, when you become perfect you can talk to me about my issues. And that's not quite it either. And this is important, because this is where it becomes practical and about recovery, recovery from being the hopeless defendant standing before a righteous judge, recovery from being one of the sick, broken and slave to the curse to being healed, restored and set free, recovery from a slave to sin and addiction to a free child of God.

Judgment is looking at the standard. We see the failure to meet the standard in others and pounce. It's easy to do. In some cases it as easy as breathing. You could, for example, take either Hillary Clinton or President Trump because you could take them both, and see that they have become the targets of many because they are in the public eye and because they step up to declare themselves leaders of others. It became a national past time to bash one or both of them, because they obviously fail to measure up in some area or another. That's a large example, but what about that that person we come across in some situation and we decide that they're not making progress or not making progress as quickly as they should. We determine they're not growing in their relationship with God, or they're not growing in such a way that would make their life so much better and make them less miserable. Or what about that person who comes into our presence reeking of the bondage that rules their life as we look at them and declare ourselves grateful that we are no longer in bondage as they are.

Our judgment of others, our scathing contempt for those who fail, our haughty evaluation of another's journey and our self righteous elevation of our recovery over the one still failing all come from the same place, an innate fear of the truth we know deep down. There is a standard. Deny it, try to philosophize it away, try to justify and excuse all we want, there is a right and wrong. There is prefect love and there is evil and there is in all of us at least enough evil to prevent us from loving perfectly. None of us are meeting the standard, even today, regardless of what spiritual progress may have been made. No matter how much cleaner we are than the next guy, we will never be clean enough.

When we remember the standard, we know, if we are honest with ourselves, that we have not met the standard, we never have and we never will because we can't. So we justify and excuse and shift the blame. But if you only knew what I'd been through, if you only understood that it's their fault. We try to make ourselves feel better or superior by comparing ourselves to someone else, or we hate and attack what we see in ourselves, a failure to meet the standard. I hate that I can't measure up, but I don't want to hate myself, so I'll hate you and stone you to death instead.

But if we remember the great love and perfectness of our groom is what saves us from judgment and not anything that we are able to do, when we recognize the truth that we too deserve to be declared unworthy and unrighteous but have been cleansed and raised up by grace and made fit to be a bride, then we can love others with that same grace, mercy and love. It doesn't mean we don't say something is right that is clearly wrong, it means that we remember that we have been forgiven and what made it possible for us to stand before the judge unashamed and unafraid and that we share that with those who need it rather than attacking and trying to kill the crippled and weak. It means we love and pray for them and then, by grace and with love, when the opportunity arises, take them to meet the groom so that they can be made clean and whole and free as well. It means we remember and admit that we are as much fallen short as they are but have found the solution. It's not hypocritical judgment to say I was a slave, much the same that you're a slave, but I found freedom, let me show you the solution because what you are doing to try to distract yourself from not being enough is never going to work.



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

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Moments ~ January 23, 2017 ~ Tourniquet

There are things that help with sobriety in the same way way that a tourniquet helps keep one from bleeding to death when we've suffered a horrendous cut. Behavior modification techniques have their place, and are even quite important at times. Much like the tourniquet, something must be done to stop the immediate loss before a lasting solution can be put in place.

You can't properly stitch up a wound where it can fully heal if you don't stop the patient from bleeding out beforehand. Fear of consequences, accountability, peer and or mentor support, groups and encouragement, avoiding triggers, old places, people and things, avoiding certain stress, preventing being hungry, angry, lonely or tired, etc., are all things  that can help us abstain from those things we are in bondage too, for a while, hopefully long enough to get the real and lasting help that we need.

But if you tie of a limb with a tourniquet and leave it, the limb will die. If you only use a tourniquet to stop the bleeding and don't do something to close and treat the wound itself, you have only provided a stop measure and not dealt with the real danger and problem.

Our addictions are born out of fear and pain. The things we use that end up using us originally promise to take away or distract us from our fears and hurt. Eventually they do little but adding to our misery. At first though, they work well. They keep our emotional pain in check. or provide relief and comfort or at least distract us so that we don't have to acknowledge and deal with the hurt and fear. But once we are in the grips of what we wrongly put our hope in and have lost control of, we need something else before we die. What once was hope to help has left us bleeding out.

A tourniquet may help in the short term, but no support system, no techniques or behavior modification can work long or as the only measure taken. Like a tourniquet, using only this triage treatments will eventually worsen the situation and leave us dying. The wound must be addressed and treated. The original hurts and fears that led us to try the false treatments that led to addictions in the first place. The addictions and bondage are symptoms, not the true issue. No matter what evil has been done to us or that we have done, our wounds need to be treated by a doctor, not just our symptoms. The Great Physician loves us and wants to do more than give us a survival aid. He wants to give us true healing, restoration and freedom. The soul sickness that stems from separation between us and our Creator and the needs and fears that this deficiency cause are  the roots wounds that must be healed if we are to be truly and lastingly freed.



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

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Echo ~ January 21, 2017 ~ We Have A Home

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

June 3, 2013 as We Have A Home.

"The disease of self runs through my blood

It's a cancer fatal to my soul

Every attempt on my behalf has failed

To bring this sickness under control"

~ "I Wanna Be In The Light" DC Talk

Gautama Buddha said, “Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” There are some ideas that grow out of this statement that I agree with, and some that I don't. But I do know that God's mercies are new every morning. I also know that I need that truth, because every day my old man tries to resurrect itself. My self will does not like to be dead. I know that I am not alone in this.

The scriptures make it clear that Christ died once for all and for all time. That sacrifice and His victory over the grave was sufficient to cover all our failures and selfishness for all time. When God forgave us, He only did it once. When we are adopted as His children, it is a one time deal. We are His children. Once we belong to Him, we never belong to ourselves, or this world or Satan ever again. He is faithful to complete the work that He has begun, and Jesus thanked the Father that no one could take us from His hands, not even us. We are a new creation in Christ.

But while that work is complete and eternal for those who have been adopted by the Father through faith in the Son and His death and resurrection,  the manifestation of that truth in this realm is still a work in process. Jesus told us to take up our cross daily and follow Him. Paul wrote about dying daily. We are adopted children of God and that doesn't change, but do we act like it? Do we go through our day with the assurance and power that comes with being children of the most powerful being there is? Or do we slink through our day in fear that our "true" nature as orphans may come to light,  running the streets as though we were still parentless and lie, cheat, steal and fight to get what we need, or think we need, when the table of plenty waits for us to take what we need, for free and without price or struggle.

Until we see Him and are made perfect as He is perfect, our self will attempt to live anew. Our old nature, refusing to realize it is dead, will try to take back control of our lives. When self rises up and we begin to live like those who have never experienced grace, doing things we know aren't right, slipping into old behavior, as living like we're spiritually dead is sometimes referred to, we need to recognize it. It is a time and an indicator that we are not totally surrendered to God at the moment.

It doesn't mean we aren't His children. It doesn't mean we have failed Him and will be cast aside, orphaned once more. It simply means that we forgot who we are for a minute and still need Him. An orphan who is blessed by being adopted takes time to adjust to the idea that he or she is no longer homeless and alone. It takes time to trust that it isn't going to change and doesn't depend on their performance and whether they behave well enough. We too sometimes forget that we are His children and start feeling, thinking and living like the orphans we no longer are. We still need our savior.

Instead of beating yourself up and allowing condemnation to set in when you begin to take your will and life back from a place of surrender to God,  remember that what you really want is to be like your new Father. Then quickly be thankful that your behavior doesn't effect your adoption, so you don't have to make up for your mistakes. You just have to remember who you are in Christ and go back inside to get off the streets. There is no need to clean up first. There's a nice big bath tub in the house. Run into the arms of your Father like you belong there, and by doing so acknowledge and remind yourself of your new identity and die once more to self.

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

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Moments ~ January 20, 2017 ~ Sweet Victory Or Survival?

In recovery it is easy to get stuck in a war, which, even if we win, can leave us weary and longing for peace. It's a battle to us, and we work and dedicate ourselves to a spiritual program of recovery to acquire tools with which to use to maintain our sobriety. Ever heard that one? Tools, really? Are we saying that our recovery is broken, even though we are still sober, and needs to be fixed? Or are we implying that there are going to be tough times in which recovery is a battle and that we have to remain ever vigilant against the enemy?

The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink.

- from Chapter 2 of Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book)

Lost our power of choice in drink...or drugs, or gambling, or overeating, or overspending, or porn, or, or, or. Powerless. Defeated. Without defense. Does this not ring more loudly of an impending battle than a repair job? And what are the tools of battle? Weapons.

And please don't think that this paradigm is not in the mind of the follower of Jesus, a part of everyday Christian spirituality.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

- Ephesians 6:12

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

- 2 Corinthians 10:4-6

That is some serious war metaphor, and I am not for one minute implying or saying that it isn't true. There are times in recovery and in our relationship with Jesus that we are going to have to do battle, when we are going to have to use the tools or weapons of our spirituality, that God gives us because His power is mighty, to break down, pull down, raze and destroy those areas in our life that interfere with our relationship with God, which threaten our freedom and seek to reestablish the rein of self in servitude to our addictions and sin. We are going to need the sword of truth to defeat the lies in our heads that bring defeat and despair if they are not dealt with. We are going to have to battle those voices that tell us that one more time won't hurt or is a good idea, that we are worthless and don't deserve freedom and victory and therefore should just put our chains back on, and even the thing that exalts itself above the truth of God and says that this will be a battle that is never won and we will have to fight forever, or at least as long as we live.

We are going to have to fight from time to time, but that is not really what we are called to. We are pilgrims more than warriors. Pilgrims who from time to time must defend themselves, sure, but we are not forever marching into battle. We don't have to sleep ready to wake in an instant and start fighting. We can rest. We don't have to stay keyed up, pumped full of adrenaline, vigilant and ever mindful of the enemy. I sometimes believe we have embraced the soldier and war metaphor far more than it was ever intended.

Were we really called to fight? Jesus said die and follow. Die to self not fight against self. Follow me, journey where I lead. It's a walk with Jesus. There are far more times when Christian spirituality is called a walk than there are when it is called a fight. Even in secular recovery it is called the road to recovery and not the battlefield of recovery.

The truth is that the war is over. The battle has been won. The struggle against self, against sin, against addictions, and anything and everything else that would rise up against the relationship we have with God has been settled on the cross. We may have occasional skirmishes with pockets of resistance that don't accept their defeat, remnants of our fallen foe, but the outcome is settled. We were not called in or drafted into a battle for freedom. This isn't Braveheart, and the Savior doesn't need our help, doesn't need us to rally and set ourselves to fight or die for the freedom and life that He has promised us. No need to play the inspirational score nor give the stirring speech to encourage us to rush to engage the enemy. He stretched out His arms and said it's finished. It's complete. It's done.

Please understand that there will be times when it is indeed a struggle and a fight to keep the will surrendered and walk with God, when the siren of self rises up and calls us to reclaim the reign of our life and return to our captivity.  I'm not saying to go through your spiritual life unarmed and unprepared. God gave us those mighty weapons of spiritual warfare for a reason. We do at times fight against darkness and evil and the things that would bring death and destruction and interference into our relationship and journey with Jesus. But that is not the normal, everyday life worth living that is life so abundant that we can give it away.

When we walk with the Lord, in the light of His truth and will, we don't need to worry about the enemy and our defenses. Our pilgrimage is protected by a Mighty Warrior who has complete power and authority over every danger we may encounter. We don't have to worry about our addiction doing push ups and getting stronger waiting to rise up and attack us again. We don't have to fear that we will be fighting the same fight over and over and over and over perpetually. We are not stuck in a loop of freedom, then struggling not to return to bondage, then freedom, struggle...... We are on a journey from captivity and slavery to the Promised Land. And while we may not yet have reached the place where there is nothing but peace, joy and love, where sorrow and suffering and struggle are no more, we are no longer slaves to self and sin and addiction. We have been set free, bought and redeemed in a battle on a hill called Golgotha.

Keep your eyes on Jesus. Walk with Him. Follow Him on the journey from the cursed land to the place where the curse is no more, and don't worry so much about the enemy. If we do what we are meant to do, which is focus on the Victor, respond to His call to stay on the path He has cleared, love Him enough to stay close to Him, and love others, helping to meet their needs, treat their wounds, break their chains and bring them onto the road to journey with you, no weapon of the enemy will be able to defeat you, because you will never be without defense. That defense is not your weapons or your tools or your knowledge or your spirituality. That defense is your King and Champion, Jesus.



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

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Suffer Well

Dalyn Woodard shares Part 3 of the series on Philippians and its major theme of joy. Suffering is unfortunately a part of the human condition. So how do we suffer in such a way that makes it purposeful rather than pointless? Is there a reason to have joy in spite of suffering, not because of it or because it is relieved, but because of what can be accomplished through it? The message,  "Suffer Well" is about 1 hour and 12 minutes long and was recorded January 19, 2017. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. If you missed any previous messages in this serious, Part 1, "Pursuit Of Happiness," can be found here, and Part 2, :Joy From Loneliness" can be found here. May God bless and keep you.

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

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Moments ~ January 19, 2017 ~ Just To See You Smile

It is easy for those of us who have been broken and had our lives become hurricanes of destruction to find ourselves in bondage to shame. Although it is true, saying that shame is a wasted emotion so let it go and forget about it doesn't really help much. Shame tells us that we can never be of value, can never do anything worthwhile, that if people only new the ugliness we hide inside we would be worse than outcasts. We are mutations, not normal. There is something horribly wrong with us because of what we have done and or what has been done to us, and, no matter what we do, we can never change the truth about who we are, and who we are is not good.

But shame is a lie. Wait a minute. You just don't know how dirty I feel, how wrong and messed up. You don't understand what I've done and what I've been through. I would have felt cleaner crawling through a sewer. If you only knew the truth of my heart you would feel guilty and ashamed too!  Perhaps I would feel guilty if I were in your place. Lord knows I've been guilty of much myself. There are people who proudly proclaim and advocate for the death penalty for some of the things that I have done, and had I been born in ancient Israel and lived the same way I would have been stoned to death before turning 15. I know a little about guilt.

But guilt can be appropriate and good. Shame is not. Shame is guilt gone wild and aimed at the wrong target. Shames is self centered, Guilt is about the wrong. I have done this wrong thing. This situation, activity, behavior, thinking, is wrong. I am guilty of doing something. Guilt shows us that we are in debt to right, that we have fallen short of right and good and failed to walk in love for God and others. Guilt says something must be done to make this right, to restore the damage that doing wrong has caused and to pay reparations.

Shame though is a different story. Shame is not about the sin. Shame is about me and about you. Guilt says this sin is bad. Shame says I am bad. Shame says that because I did this or this was done to me I have no worth, I am trash, I am ugly and dirty and don't have a right to anything good or beautiful or to have a useful purpose and a life worth living. I shouldn't go out in the light because I am not worthy. I should hide who I am because I am the despicable evil who deserved to have this awful thing done to me and who has done disgusting and destructive things. And most important for me to never forget is these ugly things I've done are who I am, how I define my identity and assign my value.

Guilt shows us we need a Savior. We know we can not make this right, so we see the need for someone greater than us who can, someone who can pay our debt and buy us back from the indentured servitude to death that we owe. Guilt drives us to God. We need to be made clean. He can do it. We need to be set free. He can do that. We need to be healed of our brokenness, and that's one of the reasons He came to us.

When I was a boy, I fell into a cactus that grew around the trunk of my grandmother's oak tree. It was a horrible, evil plant. I think all of my cousins got into it a time or two, but I fell completely on it. My clothes and body were completely covered in these tiny and painful needles. It hurt, and I couldn't get them off. Everything I tried only seemed to make things worse. I ran to my parents for help. They stripped me down and disposed of my clothes. It would never be possible to completely free them of the needles. I needed new clothes. Then they got a bright light so even the tiniest needles could be seen and used tweezers to slowly pull the needles from my body. I had them everywhere. It seemed I was covered from head to toe. It took time, and sometimes it hurt, but they got it. I was cactus free and happy and clothed anew.

It never occurred to me to not go to them for help. I didn't think I didn't deserve their help because had gone where I shouldn't. I didn't worry that I should stay away from them in fear of transferring the cactus needles to them. I never once identified as a cactus because I was covered in needles. In other words, while I was guilty of playing too closely to the cactus, I was not ashamed that I had fallen into it and been covered in needles as a result.

Sin in the same. We get off track. We go where we should not go and do what we should not do, and before we know it, we are in pain and covered head to toe, it even pierces us and makes its way far beneath the surface. We have fallen and there has been a consequence. This is guilt, and there is an answer. We can run to our Daddy. We don't have to be afraid that he will reject us because of what has covered us. He will simply take us in, shine a light and begin the process of removing everything that is sticking to us and in us that was not a part of His original plan for us. It may take a while, and it might even be a little scary and painful at times, but it's so worth it. Because when He is through, we will be free, even below the surface, of the pain and harmful destructive barbs of sin. In addition to the restoration, there is complete and total forgiveness for the things we did. The damages and debt have been paid. We owe nothing. Realizing that Daddy loves us, that we are being transformed from covered in and pierced by sin to righteous and new and that all damages and debts have been paid frees us from guilt. Not because of some positive thinking or philosophy, but because guilt has been satisfied; justice has been served. It's just that someone else picked up our tab.

Shame though tells us we are now cacti. The sin that covered and pierced us in now who we are. We dare not go into Daddy's house. We may mess it up. We dare not ask Him for help. We are not worthy of it. We should not be forgiven and cleansed and restored because we deserve the pain for getting into the cactus or for allowing ourselves to be pushed into it. And we better not get too close to anyone else either, or they will get stuck and hurt by the protruding needles. Shame makes us hide from God and isolate from others. Shame is Satan's way of trying to prevent restoration of relationship with us and to prevent us from being happy, joyous and free. It is evil, and it is all based on the lie that says there is no help for us.

If you are filled with guilt, the answer is in relationship with Jesus. It's not about religion or being good from here on out and somehow balancing the scales of the past. It's about getting married to a Groom who loves you and is more than happy to pay off your debt so that you can enjoy your life together. If you've met this Jesus, who went above and beyond to seek you out and marry you, then let go of your pride already. Pride? Yes, pride. The pride that says I pay my own way. I don't let anyone else pay my debts and I don't take charity. Stop trying to pick up the check. You can't afford it, and besides, Jesus already paid it while you weren't looking. There's no reason to pay twice, and there's no reason to hold onto guilt that has already been satisfied.

Shame though needs to be rebuked and the lie rejected. The Groom says you are worth of every drop of blood, sweat and tears it took to pay off what you owed and that He did it gladly, with joy. The Groom says that you are a treasure that was worth giving up all He had in order to attain and retain. The Groom says you are beautiful and lovely. The Groom says shame is full of....lies. So the question for today is who are you going to believe? The liar who has only made you feel worthless and hopeless and overwhelmed or the Love that will give everything and anything just to have you with Him and to see you smile?



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

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Moments ~ January 18, 2017 ~ Relapse Isn't Faliure

You may wonder if you read the title of today's moment correctly. I assure you, Dear Reader, that you did. Relapse isn't failure. For that matter, neither is sin. Blasphemy! Not hardly, and the sooner we get a grasp on this truth the easier it will be to walk with God in freedom. Freedom to fail and sin? No. Freedom not to.

Well, I've relapsed before, and it feels like failure. I agree. I can't tell you how often I have gone back to old behaviors, old addictions, old sin in a very short time after determining that I wasn't going to do those things and was going to walk with and stay surrendered to God. It feels like an epic fail. But it's not, and we seriously need to remember that.

I'm not saying that relapse is a good thing or a good idea. The last time I relapsed, almost seven years ago, I nearly died. And I have buried friends who went back to their addictions, one who died the same night he wanted just one last shot. Another close friend was in the ground two weeks after returning to his Egypt. There's a reason God took the Israelites through the Red Sea, to make it that much harder for them to return to the land of their slavery. He doesn't put such barriers between us and the chains of the past, but we have something the children of Israel didn't have, which is the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to give us the grace to resist the siren's call to return to the place of our bondage and our destruction.

So, no, I am not advocating or belittling relapse in any way. Nor am I saying that it is OK to sin. It's not. But you will. So will I. Today. You may never return to bondage that you have been set free from, but you will miss the mark, you will fall short of the holiness of God, you will sin. It's not a question of if you will sin. The questions are when, how bad will it hurt and how long will it take before you reject the slop and run home to Daddy?

But remember the illustration of the Prodigal? The son sinned, rebelled, decided to live for himself and went out into the world to do his thing, his way. Finally, he saw that his way wasn't working and was making him miserable. He was going to die if he didn't find a way of escape. He decided it would be better to be a servant in his father's house than to stay in the helpless and hopeless situation he was in, because even the servants had a better life than he did. But when he returned to his father's house, his father was waiting for him, hoping for his return and saw him long before he arrived. The father ran to the son, welcomed him home, cleaned him up and celebrated. The son was not treated poorly to emphasize the foolishness of his mistake or to drive the lesson home. He didn't have to take the station of servant and earn back his right to be treated as a son. He didn't have to prove his sincerity or show that he had learned his lesson. His father rejoiced, called him son and provided for his needs.

That's the story Jesus told us to illustrate the love of the Father for His wayward children, for those who not only fall short, but for those who intentionally choose their own way over the Father's. And that's what is happening when we sin, and even when we relapse. Somewhere along the line, we are putting our self back in control, we are choosing our self will and instincts over the will of God for us. We looked to our way, will, power and strength to protect us and meet our needs rather than relying on God's grace to keep us free and enable us to walk rightly.

It's not about failure. Failure is when we do not do what is expected or required of us. We are going to fall short, sin, whenever we run on our will and power and strength instead of God's Spirit. But will our mistake be purposeless or purposeful? When we look at walking with God in terms of our success or failure, we lose sight of the truth. If you walk with God rightly today and don't sin, not even once, you haven't been successful. Sorry, but you haven't. You have been surrendered, not successful. You didn't keep yourself from messing up, from sinning or from living for self and failing to love God and others as you should. Not being surrendered always results in not loving God and others as we should, in living for self, in sin, and eventually (if allowed to continue) very serious, destructive sin and or relapse, But what do you think of when you look at that lack of surrender as failure?

Stop and really think about it for a second. Did you fail? Did you refuse to or were you unable to do what was expected of or required of you? You think so? You think God expected you to never take back your will and stay surrendered? Do you think you surprised him when you sinned, when you looked longingly back on the days of slavery or even when you returned? If your god expects you to be perfect, to never fall short or is surprised when you do, you have the wrong god.

Oh, and that is true for the required portion of the definition of failure as well. If your god requires your perfection, you're so screwed and you're worshiping, following and believing in a cruel and evil god. Seriously. I'm not joking. Is that what you see in the story of the returning rebellious, selfish son, a father standing there, pointing a finger, looking disapproving and angry, shouting about how the son should have known better, should've listened and simply obeyed, how he was a disappointment and an epic failure as a son?

Because when we put the requirement of performance on ourselves, that's the god we are making. Failure means we didn't live up to the required standard. We're all failures. None of us have lived up to the standard of perfection, and we never, ever, will. So messing up doesn't make us any more of a failure than before. We've never measured up. We don't have a God who looks at us and demands that we get it together, become stronger and more determined and fight harder to live up to the standard. We serve a God who welcomes us home, who rejoices and celebrates and throws a party when we realize we need him, who calls us His children when we know we don't even deserve to be His servants, who knew we could never reach the standard so He sacrificed Himself to take our punishment for failure and make it possible, by making His home in our hearts and giving us His power, to walk rightly and deny self. That's the God who loves me and loves you. That is not a God who is waiting for or expecting us to be something that we are not. That is a God who is working on transforming us Himself into what we were always meant to be.

If we stay surrendered and live by the power of the Spirit, we won't mess up. If we live on our own abilities, strength, power, etc. we will screw up, and since we won't ever be able to surrender 100% of our life 100% of the time on this side of eternity, screw ups are going to happen. The more surrendered we are, the less big, less destructive, less long lasting the mistake will be, but even little things lead to big things if they are accepted as OK and if they are purposeless.

Purposeless sin, keep in mind that sin simply means to miss the mark, to fall short of the goal, is sin that serves no good purpose. If we simply realize we stumbled, get back up and continue on our merry way, what good has come out of that, other than that we got up? If I am waking through my bedroom and trip over my boots and simply go on with whatever I was doing before I tripped, I can be pretty sure that I am going to trip over those same boots again. If I look to see why I tripped, recognize the boots are in the way of the path, move them, then I don't have to worry about tripping over them again.

We can give mistakes purpose by not ignoring them and going on as though it didn't happen. There is therefore now no condemnation, but that doesn't mean there is no lesson to be learned. Why? Why did I take my will back? Why did I decide that what was working wasn't the way to continue and instead try again to do what never worked, walk with God on my own? Or why did I begin longing for my Egypt again? What is it in me that felt empty or what need was I afraid wouldn't be met that made me try to meet the need myself rather than wait on God? When I relapse and or fall short of loving God and others as I should (sin), it shows me that something that I am doing to get free or stay free isn't working and, therefore, isn't God's will. Something I believe about God or freedom or life isn't truth, because truth will make me free. If I look closely with a searching and honest heart I can judge me spiritual  beliefs and practices based on whether or not they work and whether or not they bring closer to God or make me feel more distant and isolated from Him. If something I believe about God isn't bringing me closer to Him or giving me more freedom and making me more like Jesus, it's time to reject that belief or practice. Spiritual life is not in finding a system of self control and slapping a "God" sticker on it. If it's real, it's about relationship and will be experienced rather than simply believed in or hoped on.

God's mercies are new every morning and He is quick and faithful to forgive. He chooses not to remember our sin, and it as far from His memory as the East is from the West. That means God doesn't see your sin as failure, but as a chance to allow us to see where we are in error in our belief, lacking in surrender and need to be even closer to Him. He uses our mistakes to draw us in to deeper relationship with Him. His grace is deeper than all our sin; nothing can separate us from His love. There is deep joy to be found in looking up from our pig pen and realizing that Daddy still loves us, totally and completely, and is reaching out to hug us just as we are, covered in mud, spoiled slop and pig feces. He will clean us up Himself, we don't have to do it, but He will rejoice over us and embrace us upon our return before anything else. Our mistakes can serve the purpose of demonstrating how great His love is for us, making it easier to respond to that love by truer and more surrender of our life into His care, because it's easier to trust yourself to the care of a God that you can see loves you as you are, not as you should be and who loves you enough not to leave you as you are.

Our mistakes can keep us humble. We don't forget that it is only by God's grace that we stand. We don't forget that we are broken people in need of transformation, restoration and help. We have empathy and love for others when they fall short, rather than sit in condemnation and self righteous judgment. Our mistakes can  remind us to pray for, love and be compassionate towards others who are struggling. I will never look at someone who just relapsed and say something stupid like if you had just wanted to stay clean and sober enough you would have thought it through before you did that or you should have know better. I may say something else stupid, because I mess up, but I won't say anything like that, because I have relapsed and I remember. It's not about working hard enough. It's not about wanting it enough. It's not about remembering the past or playing the movie through. Freedom comes from relationship with Jesus and surrender to Daddy. It's not about us. And making it about us leads to mistakes, sin, relapse, etc., but it's not failure, it's a call to come to the altar. Daddy's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was bought for us with the precious blood of Jesus. So you messed up? Again. Look at it. Own it. That didn't work did it? Those boots doing belong there. Run home and rely even more on the Spirit to do what only God can do and rejoice over the awesome and precious love our wonderful Savior has for us, regardless of our performance.



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

If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.