Unshackled Moments ~ August 31, 2017 ~ First Things First

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will and the power to carry that out.

- Step 11

We treat the men and women of scripture like heroes and call them saints, as though they are higher and better and closer to God than we. Or we flip the coin and tear them apart, pointing out their flaws, weaknesses and shortcomings to encourage ourselves to remember and believe that God can love and use even us. We either speak of Peter walking on water or harp on him denying Christ. David repeatedly slays the giant or commits adultery and murder in our memory. Noah faithfully obeyed and built the ark or he was a sloppy drunk.

Whether we regard them as heroes or messes, there is one thing they all have in common, which was what made them able to be used of God, despite their flaws. They had a passion for God. They sought Him, desired Him, and having relationship with Him was their foremost drive, even though they forgot and strayed or messed up at times.

If we want to be effective servants and demonstrations of God's love, power and way of life to draw others to Him and bring Him glory, Step 11 is more than just a maintenance step to keep up from screwing up or returning to our bondage. It is evidence of a heart that is longing and burning for God. We seek to improve our conscious contact, our awareness of Him, His presence and His love for us. We push to go deeper into relationship and to know Him more. Not just so that we will have victory in our lives, but so that we too can be mighty and effective tools and demonstrations of His love in service to others. If we want to be used by God, like the heroes of faith of the past, the answer is not in making ourselves more spiritual but in seeking God and our relationship with Him above and before all else.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

Unshackled Moments ~ August 30, 2017 ~ No Faking

I recently entered a couple of drawings for bundles of free ebooks. One batch by Christian fiction authors, and the second by secular. Of course, the drawings were not free. The cost of entering was to be placed on the email list of the different authors represented by the prize packages. I didn't win. I didn't really expect to, but I have gotten some free ebooks as authors introduced themselves and gave away older books to help promote their new releases.

This morning I read one of my devotional emails and clicked on the next email in line when done. As it opened, I knew I had opened one of the author emails, which I don't normally do during morning devotions and ministry time. I glimpsed the start of the email even as I moved to click on through to the next and stopped to read the rest. I am now trying to decide if I will unsubscribe from this particular author or not. On one hand, to reject someone because they rubbed you the wrong way is not a great example of walking in grace. On the other hand, I only get the emails in hopes of receiving free and discounted books, so it's not rejecting relationship as much as rejecting wasting my reading time, and possibly money, on an author I doubt I'll enjoy. I didn't remember if this was one of the secular or Christian authors, but it really doesn't matter.

Still, whatever I decide after I have given it a little time to think about it and get some input from the Spirit, I am grateful that I got on the list, because it reminded me of something important. Motivation matters, but perception matters almost as much. I need to be careful how I respond to my own self-centeredness because it could push people away. If we fake it till we make it, most people will only see a fake. Let me explain what happened and see if I can make what I am trying to get across more clear.

The first thing that rubbed me wrong was that the email was addressed to My Wonderful Fan. Being called wonderful doesn't distract me from the fact that an author I have never read or heard of outside of this contest just assumed I was a fan. Yes, I got on the silly mailing list, but that doesn't mean I'm a fan. I was barely curious. I'm just a sucker for free books, which the publishing company's advertising department was counting on. None of the other authors did that. There was a lot of thank you for joining my mailing list, if you are unfamiliar with my work here's a link.....

Then the body of the email began....
First, I would like to say that if you or any of your loved ones have been affected by Hurricane Harvey, I am very sorry. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
That said, I am writing you about the fifth book in my new series, [omitted]. You can pick up your copy right now for just 99 cents! It is also available to read for free with Kindle Unlimited.

OK, the truth is that I have no idea how this person really feels or their motives. Yes, I know that their motives are to sell the new book, that's a given, but I can't speak to the motives regarding what was said about/to those affected by Harvey, which is not me despite how hard the wind is blowing right now. We're getting some rain and wind gusts, but 175 miles north of Houston we're safe and sound and were never in any danger of it being otherwise. There may be some trees coming down due to the saturated ground, and those living closer to some of the rivers face flooding. But other than having to deal with multiple days dripping drizzle and grey sunless skies I'm not affected by Harvey. I have family and friends that are though, and I don't think it would have mattered if I didn't. I think this would have bothered me regardless. I can't speak to tone or motives, but I know how I perceived this, first impression, how it struck me.

It was two words that messed it up for me. That said.... To me it came across like lots of people are affected by this or concerned for folks that are, so I better show some concern. Now that that's out of the way let me get to what I really care about. When it comes to business relationships I don't care if you do or don't care about Harvey. I don't care if you do or don't care about me. I do care if you pretend to care just to manipulate or try to sell me. If this had started with Hey, my new book is only 99 cents today! I would have thought no ill and just checked out the book to see if I wanted it. But here something was brought up to connect emotionally with people and show your care and concern before tarnishing it with using That said, making it seem a throw away unimportant thing to mention Harvey at all. I know I am nitpicking word choice, but the person is an author after all. Word choice matters, and yes, I realize I make mistakes in this area myself.

And that's the point. I know I make the same mistakes. Sometimes I make poor word choices with writing and choosing titles. But other times I make the mistake that it felt to me that this author made. I am not worried about someone. I am not being caring. I am listening only so I know when to talk. I know I am supposed to care, so I am trying to act as though I do, but really my concern and attention is on my own agenda. I hate admitting such self-centeredness. I pray that I continue to progress in relationship with God until my life is filled constantly with true compassion and concern for others rather than myself. Love God and love others. It's what we're called to and what I want to do. But sometimes I fall short. Sometimes I get stuck in self, and when I do, what others are feeling and going through is less important to me than what I am.

That's when we get tempted to fake it till we make it. I am supposed to love others. I know it's the right thing to do. I want to appear like I am doing that, even when I don't, because I want to choose God's will and obedience, and I don't want to act unloving and push anyone away from Jesus or fail to serve as He would have me when I am not where I need to be spiritually. So it is tempting to put on the caring mask and go through the motions, even when my mind and heart are really somewhere else. But the truth is people can tell when you're pretending to care, and it hurts more than just having someone just be honest about being concerned about something else.

The fake it till you make it mentality in service and compassion is backwards. This is exactly what Jesus spoke of when He told the Pharisees that they made the outside look good but within were dead. He called them whitewashed tombs. Man looks on the outside but God looks at the heart. And it is the heart that matters. It's good when we can recognize that even if we are not where we should be that we should obey, serve and not be selfish. It's good to choose to obey, even when we don't really want to or feel it. Sometimes love is a choice. Love God and love others. But when we are having to choose it over our own emotions and selfishness, let's do something different than pretending. Let's not fake it till we make it. Instead, let us ask the Spirit to change out hearts and renew a right Spirit within us. Let's throw away the masks and the pretending and let God move our hearts and spirits back into position. Let us let Daddy do whatever He needs to do so that we truly feel the love of Christ for those we encounter instead of staying stuck in our self. When Jesus is loving through us, we don't have to worry about people perceiving our pretense and being pushed away instead of drawn to Daddy.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

Unshackled Moments ~ August 29, 2017 ~ Take A Time Out

Nothing pays off like restraint of tongue and pen. We must avoid quick-tempered criticism and furious, power-driven arguments. The same goes for sulking or silent scorn. These are emotional booby traps baited with pride and vengefulness. Our first job is to sidestep the traps. When we are tempted by the bait, we should train ourselves to step back and think. For we can neither think nor act to good purpose until the habit of self-restraint has become automatic.

- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

I keep coming back to this advice, because I have found it to be trustworthy, true and wise. I add of keyboard to the the restraining list because texts and social media make it easy to blast away and hit that send button before thinking. These really are about checking yourself to watch what you say, even if you're saying it in writing. But there is more to the spirit behind this than not blasting someone with our words.

Those who can't control their credit card spending have been given some advice along these lines. The advice is to take the credit cards and put them in something water tight, fill it with water and then stick the whole thing in the freezer, locking the cards in a block of ice. The idea is that they are still there and active in case of emergency but if it's not really an ICE situation that having to wait for the ice to melt or be chipped away to free the cards will slow you down enough that the impulse is checked and you have to think through the purchase. Of course, this doesn't help if you let your browser remember your card info and don't need the cards to go Internet shopping, but the idea is to force a pause, to slow down the response to the impulse until you can think a little more clearly.

It works better than just trying to say no. I remember when I was white knuckling it and trying to stay sober from hour to hour and day to day that I used a similar strategy to keep me going until the miracle that freed me from the obsession to drink and drug happened. I could drink and drug as much as I wanted, satisfy the urges and satiate the craving that drove me to distraction....tomorrow. I wouldn't drink and drug right now, but if I still felt the same tomorrow, then I would do it. The deal I made myself with that is if the feeling faded and I had relief I would restart the clock. The thing is that the really bad, I can't take this, I gotta do something, I'm coming out of my skin impulse to use rarely lasted more than 10 minutes. Sure, it was there in the back of my mind, but the drive I couldn't take never stayed so intense if I didn't give in fairly quickly. It ebbed and flowed like hunger. If I don't eat when I feel like I'm starving, I come to a point where I don't feel hungry anymore. Sure, it will come back, and so did the obsession, but the point is it faded so that I didn't hurt as bad. When it did, the clock stopped. When it returned, I would start the clock back up. I'm not giving in now, but I can do it all I want tomorrow.

Understanding human nature and the tendency we have to get caught up in the heat of the moment is not something new. Some of the passages in the Old Testament that are hardest to take and make little sense in the light of a loving God are because God understands us better than we do. A great example of this can be found in Deuteronomy 21: 10-14. Verse 10 starts off this little section of how the Israelite soldiers where to conduct themselves after winning a battle. God says if you win and you're looting and taking the spoils and you see a woman you want, you can't just take her and force her. OK. So far so good. He then says take her home, shave her head, take her captive clothing away from her and dress her in something else, allow her to mourn and wait 30 days. Then if you still want her, you can force her to be your wife. Um wait. What? God is advocating rape and setting up conditions under which it is acceptable? That's not a loving God!

But God isn't really doing that at all. In that ancient warfare, raping was a part of pillaging the world over. After facing death, sex was a reminder of being alive, and rape was an extension of that power the men felt after slicing and hacking their way through who knew how many men. In order to kill the enemy in such close hand to hand quarters they had to be devalued and dehumanized. They were less than. They were dogs, not men, so that when the light faded from the eyes of the enemy a foot away it didn't also take the will to fight from the soul of the victor. But when you spend hours and days in hand to hand combat with men that you have determined not to treat as human or worthy of consideration, you're also not going to treat those they were protecting and left behind as human. Unfortunately rape was a part of war, and even though there is less face to face fighting and hand to hand killing, it is still far too common a side effect of modern warfare as well.

God knew the way we tick though. He didn't just say no, don't do it. Not because it's OK, but because in the heat of the moment, running high on adrenaline and power no is harder to obey than not now. God understood that if the soldier paused, took a time out, it would be enough. A month of seeing her in normal slave clothing or the everyday clothing of your own people instead of the exotic and different clothing of the enemy, made her less different. It emphasized the similarities with Israelite women. Shaving her head made her less attractive as the stubble returned. Any attraction became less and less about attraction or romance and more obviously was about power and using and abusing her, which is less likely when the adrenaline of battle is gone and life has returned to normal. You spend a month feeding her and taking care of her and watching her mourn her family, it's a lot harder to see her as less than human. So, now that you see her as a human and someone who has the same feelings of brokenness and loss as you, when she isn't as exotic or all that different and you're not so high, you don't want to take her and force yourself upon her, do you? Well, don't profit from her or abuse her any by selling her. Give her enough to journey where she wants to go and re;ease her. But if you do still want her, you can't rape her and throw her away. You have to make her your wife, so while you're waiting 30 days and not going on impulse take the time to think about if you really want her enough to take care of her for the rest of her life and treat her as your wife, According to Jewish priests and sages, the vast majority of these captured women were released in a month.

By saying wait a month until the passion fueling you has had time to subside God wasn't saying rape is OK. He knew thought would return and the insanity impulse would fade. Thousands of women were spared the normal and usual for the times resulting rape that came as being a spoil of war because God knew pausing is easier than stopping cold. But if we pause the passion it's also easier to let it die untouched.

This is true with our words and our anger, if we don't respond to that hurtful or stupid social media post right that second we usually forget about it. It is less of a big deal or not worth hunting up to comment on later. If we don't give in to temptation, impulse, passion and emotions that are reactions without thought or guidance in that moment we have a greater chance of waiting to see what the will of God is in and for the situation.

Take a time out. Let a little time take the edge off the emotions driving us when we are all worked up. Pumped full of adrenaline and endorphins is not the time to begin choosing and deciding. We pause, wait for an intuitive thought from the Spirit and a calmer mind. We act rather than react. We respond to the situation rather than having our impulses and selfish, sinful human nature control us by knee jerking our way through the day. When the emotions get stirred, the passions rise high, the impulses and cravings start to overwhelm don't try to say no in the face of that which you can't control, kill and stop, but take that time out, wait and hold out before doing anything for a second, a minute, an hour, until your mind begins to clear a little, and the blood pounding no longer drums out the voice of the Spirit offering wisdom and guidance and the power to do the right thing. Break the momentum of the impulse and see the tide turn.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

Unshackled Moments ~ August 28, 2017 ~ What In The Name Of God?

What in the name of the Empire...? This phrase has been in my life quite a bit the last few days, thanks to Timothy Zahn. I am currently rereading Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy #1 Heir To The Empire. and the phrase shows up in it a lot. As in what in the Empire does he think he's doing? It's a throw away phrase of frustration and or confusion, and the way it is used it seems that Zahn is using it more as an equivalent to what in the name of God....? than anything else.

Where it struck me the strongest that this was the case came when one of the characters muttered to herself, what in the Empire am I going to do now? I thought what in the name of God am I going to do now?, even though that's not what it said and I had to correct myself. Even when it is obvious from the context that the phrase is used more as our what in the hell? or what the hell? my mind began to wander from the book and story and think on these phrases that Zahn used the Empire as a one word fits all substitute. Both what in the name of God and what the hell are used to intensify the question what? (or sometimes in the latter, why not?) Instead of just moaning what I am going to do?, it shows the fear, confusion, frustration, etc., the intensity of the situation, to add in the name of God or the hell to the question. For this reason, that it is used as an intensifier, it is seen by some that this is a curse or using the name of God in vain.

While I am not saying that we should run around shouting either of these, I realized as I paused my reading and thought about it some, that these are actually very good questions to ask when overwhelmed, confused, frightened, etc., especially the first one. So, of course I'll expand on why I think that about the latter first. What on earth and what in the hell are both phrases that basically boil down to what out of all the possibilities/options am I to do here? Or likewise there are no possibilities or options for this situation and I don't know what to do. And let's face it, there are times when there don't seem to be any options, when we can't figure out any way to handle the hell of the mess we're in with anything available to us, even if we had all the resources on the planet.

But those are the times when it is a good idea to pause and remember who we are and that our resources go beyond the material to the spiritual. It's not self reliance or our strength, power, wisdom or understanding that is going to solve the situation or save us. It is the power of God. It is His Spirit and wisdom that guide us and empower us to walk through life in love.. But even that is not to put our best foot forward or to show us off. It is for His glory, so that our lives serve as a demonstration of His love, power and way of life. We reflect and represent Him. We are to be the expression of who He is and His love. In that respect we are more than His children. We are His ambassadors and representatives. That idea that we are acting or need to act in the name of God is not a bad one to remember. It's a lot like those old ,movies when someone would shout stop in the name of the law! In the name of.... I can't always figure out what I should do, or what would be the best thing to do, but if I remember that whatever I do I am supposed to be representing Daddy, and that I am only authorized to do certain things in His power, but what I am authorized to do has the full weight of His authority behind it, I can have peace and clarity. I may not always know what the will of God is in every situation, but I know that it is to act and react in a way that is loving, both to God and others, and that it is to turn to Him rather than to myself of something else for the solution. And I can eliminate many of my natural instincts when I ask myself if someone sees me do this or that to handle this, will they see God's hand in this or will they see the hand of man, me?

What in the name of God am I going to do today? What can or should I do that is going to express the love of God, the power of God, and glory of God? When the question comes like that, it is a handy little reminder of our position and calling rather than a curse. If we remember that our lives are to be examples of His love, demonstrations of His power and reflections of His glory and that we represent Christ to people who may never see Him otherwise the options get a lot less confusing and the outcome less frightening.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

Unshackled Audio Echo ~ August 26, 2017 ~ Taking Our Cross Daily

Today's Unshackled Audio Echo was previously published on

March 26, 2014 as Taking Our Cross Daily.

Dalyn Woodard delivered a message at NCF dealing dying to our selves, refusing to listen to our old natures and following Jesus. The sermon "Taking Our Cross Daily" is about 41 minutes in length.   It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you

Photo "Old Time Religion" taken by Dalyn Woodard copyright Eclectic Imagery.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

Unshackled Moments ~ August 25, 2017 ~ Dead Man Walking

There is only one rule, one spiritual law. That is love. When we love properly we don't have to worry about any other laws because they'll be covered. Jesus walked in perfect love, lived a life of perfect love, laid down His life for us out of that love, and commanded us to do what He did. So we are to love God and love others. Love God with all our heart, mind, soul, with every bit of us, perfectly giving Him all of us and returning the perfect love that He loves us with. And loving God perfectly we love and care for the people that He loves and cares for, we agree with Him that we and every one we encounter has significance and value because He says it's so, and we treat people like they matter....like they matter to God as much as we do. We don't do things to make people feel less than, to drive them or push them from Daddy, and we don't do things that make Daddy sad. We do do things that delight Daddy and that draw others to Him. We follow the example of Jesus and sacrifice our self, our comfort, safety, ease, pleasure, resources and life to bring people to Daddy, to show captives the way to freedom, to bring healing and restoration into the lives of the broken, and to bring the joy of love to the rejected and dejected, not saying or doing anything that isn't born from relationship with Daddy. Love God and love others. It's that simple. It's that impossible.

That's why we love rules so much. That's why the Pharisees had so many. Rules are easy. Well, they're a lot more easy than loving. I can discipline and control my actions and appearance through rules. If you make x amount, give God ten percent, always rounding up in His favor when you don't have the exact change, and go on. The rest is yours to do what you want with. If someone is in need and meets certain qualifications, help them. If they are unwilling to help themselves or if time after time they refuse to listen and apply the truth  or respond how they should, cut them loose. Make sure you look the part, whatever that means, and your dress is appropriate and identifies you as one who is spiritual. Your hands are clean, your food is healthy, your entertainment is controlled and made up of good, clean fun, your behavior and appearance and life is micromanaged so that no one can say there's evil in your life or activities and everyone can see that you are a good person. You volunteer, you donate, you follow the rules. To be honest, it sounds pretty difficult and miserable, but it is easier than loving God completely and treating others as though they are as significant and as valuable as you are, as though their relationship with God, their comfort, safety, ease, pleasure, resources and life are just as important to us as our own, perhaps more so.

I can determine that I will read devotions and scriptures an hour every day, but I can't always make myself want to. I can determine that I will pray and meditate for a certain amount of time and on a certain schedule, but I can't make myself want to spend time with Daddy and just be in His presence. I can determine to be kind and polite and smile at people and say nice things to them, but I can't keep myself from despising them in my heart. I can give of my resources to those in need, but I can't keep myself from examining with my judgment if I need it more or keep myself from being afraid that if I give there won't be enough...enough for me to do what I want, to have fun, or comfort, or security. If I'm honest, I could never contemplate giving to the point where my own needs are endangered. I can determine and discipline my life to act a certain way and look a certain way, but I can not make myself be a certain way. I can make myself act like I love you, but I can not make myself love you.

Suddenly love God and love others seems so much more difficult that keeping all the rules, even though I could never do that either. Jesus loved doing that, commanding the impossible. Love God. Love others. They're right up there with go and sin no more. You mean go and don't sin for the next five minutes right? Sin no more....today. Maybe, if I go straight to bed I can pull that one off. Go and sin no more. Period. You mean ever? You mean don't sin, don't be, think, feel, act or respond in any way that is short of perfect love for God and obedience to Him? Where's that list of rules again? Let me see how many of them I can manage to check off.

That's the problem. We hear the command, we know it's right, we know it's impossible, and then we set about trying to do it. We determine in our will and strength to obey God and love Him and others. We try to discipline our lives so that we can go and sin no mare. And we lose sight of the point. The point is we never could do it right, we still can't, and we need Jesus as much today as a Christian as we did yesterday as a heathen. We are still relying on Him...His work, His power, His Spirit, His grace to do for us, in us, and through us, what we could never, ever, not for one day, do on our own, namely love like He loves. And we aren't expected to suddenly start doing it. The moment we try to do it ourselves, we are forgetting that we are to put self down and rely totally and completely on Jesus. We are to live and breathe and be completely dependent upon Him.

Have you ever heard of the story of Jesus's friend Lazarus? This is the friend of Jesus who got sick and died and then was resurrected. This was the one whose death inspired the shortest verse in the Bible. Jesus wept. This was a man four days dead and in the tomb and stinking before the miracle.

[Jesus] cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

- John 11:43-44

Did you catch that? Jesus told a dead man to get up and walk out of the grave, and the dead man came to life and walked out of the grave. Seriously, how much of that obedience came from Lazarus?What percentage of Lazarus coming back to life do you think depended on him, his desire to obey, his determination, his anything? None. He was dead. He couldn't even want to obey, much less act on it. His life, every breath, and his ability to rise up and walk from the stink in obedience to Jesus, was totally, completely, 100% reliant upon and a result of the person and power of Jesus. Not 1% of it was Lazarus. Not .01%.

When we realize we're Lazarus and that our very life is 100%a result of and reliant upon the person and power of Jesus, then He is in control, and His grace operates in our life enabling us to love God, love others,to deny self and stay in the will of Daddy. But when we start thinking that it's somehow up to us, that Jesus needs our 10% or even .01% to bring about the miracle, we get in the way, negate His grace and fail miserably. Because we can not bring our self into the mix and deny self at the same time. We can not rely on Jesus to do the work and do it ourselves. We can go and sin no more because it is Jesus in us who is living and breathing and doing and responding without sinning. When we start trying to do it, we find very quickly that we can't. We couldn't yesterday. We still can't today, and we won't be able to tomorrow. Not us. But us surrendered to Jesus, letting the Spirit completely lead, guide and direct us, can love as He loves, can serve and lay down self as He served and laid down His life, and can completely and wholly submit to the will of Daddy, like He did.

So today, let us give ourselves in surrender to Him. Let us do it over and over, as necessary. Each time we realize that we have reached out to take our will and lives back from Him or when we realize that we are throwing any of ourselves into the mix let us stop and remember that we are His and it is 100% Him that makes it possible. It's not by our might, or our strength, or our power, but by His Spirit that we can walk free, that we can love, that we can walk from the stink of who we were and that we can even live at all.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

Unshackled Moments ~ August 24, 2017 ~ Because We Are Loved

An important part of recovery and discipleship is service. In order to get and stay free of the addictions and sin that have held us captive, we must be rid of self. Selfishness and self-centeredness is the root of our problems, and there are two steps to breaking that bondage. Surrendering our will and lives to the care, direction and will of God and denying self. Jesus said that denying self is critical to following Him, and service is one of the quickest and best ways to get out of self.

Loving God and loving others is essential to spiritual growth and health. That is the heart of what we are called to do, the sum of the law. Jesus lived a life of service, and we are to follow His example. But when it comes to doing things for others, motive makes all the difference. Perhaps it might not matter to the one being served. They may never know the true why of our service for them. But people can usually tell when someone is doing something for them out of love verses out of trying to get something from them. We are to give the love of Christ to those we encounter and those we serve.

But our motives also effect whether the service will get us out of self or wrap the chains of self tighter. The question that needs to be answered is are we serving, are we doing for others, because we are loved or so we will be loved? To do things for others in order to earn approval and love is a trap that makes the bondage to self worse and keeps us stressed and miserable. If we are doing things to get someone to notice, appreciate, care for, respect, praise and love us, we are placing a burden of expectation on ourselves and on the other person that sooner or later will lead to failure. We are going to fall short of doing what it takes to gain those things from the person we are doing things for, and they are going to fall short of returning what we feel we deserve for what we have done. When we do things to gain love from another person and feel unappreciated and that the love is not being given it causes fear and anger. Anger that we are not getting back what we should, and fear that we never will.

But serving because we are loved is freeing. Doing for others without expectation or demands of returns from them takes pressure off of both of us. It's no longer about what we can get or have to gain but simply about what we can give and sharing what we have found and been given. God loves us, deeply and freely. When we understand that truth and that we didn't do anything to earn, deserve, or keep that love, it makes us want to love others the same way, without them having to earn, deserve or do something to keep it. We lavish on others with our service the grace we ourselves are so grateful for and still desperately need.

When my motivation is that I am loved, I can just be who I am, receive correction without devastation and praise without getting the big head, giving God the glory. But when my motivation is to get love, I have to build myself up and try to hide my flaws and shortcomings. That's a lot of pressure to keep the mask from tarnishing. When I know that I am loved I can give my cares and worries and anxieties to Him, but when I am trying to earn love my anxieties are worsened because they are dependent upon my performance.

Today let us do what we do and serve those we give to out of an understanding that we are loved by God, loved as we are not as we should be, rather than trying to manipulate or coerce any certain response from others.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

Power Prayer

Dalyn Woodard returns to the book of Ephesians and the topic of our identity with the second half of chapter 3. In order to love God and love others, to walk with God and go and do what we are to do because of who we are, we need the power of God in our lives. Paul's prayer in chapter three is a prayer God always answers when we pray it sincerely. The message,  "Power Prayer" is about 41 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, August 23, 2017. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

If you missed Part 1 of the Identity Crisis series, Who Are You, it can be found here. Part 2, Living Free, can be found here. Part 3, The Blessing Of Belonging, can be found here. Part 4, The Fullness Of Jesus, can be found here. Part 5, Good News, Bad News, can be found here. Part 6, But God's Amazing Grace, can be found here. Part 7, Welcome To The Family, can be found here, and Part 8, Count It All Joy, can be found here.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

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

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

Unshackled Moments ~ August 23, 2017 ~ Despising The Shame

In yesterday's Moment, Solitude And Silence, I had to state that I'm not getting on to anyone. I'm not saying shame on us for not spending more time alone with Daddy, being quiet and still so that we remember and know who He is. The Moment was all about encouragement to do something that helps us and not about shame for not doing it well or as well as we should or even could. But I felt sensitive to the possibility that it could be taken as a reason to feel shame because for a moment as I wrote it to encourage us I felt the flip side of the coin, I felt the shame.

If you are in recovery and have ever been knowingly in bondage to something, then chances are very very good that you are familiar with the evil of shame. All people feel shame at times, but to evil shame, shame that is toxic and kills us from the inside out is different. Being a Christian does not immediately and permanently do away with the build up of poisonous shame in our system, nor do we always instantly change so that we don't pump more into ourselves. Some people find Jesus and lay down their addiction at the cross, never struggling with it or being tempted by it again. Most of us don't get teleported to freedom though and victory over our bondage and the breaking of the chains is a journey that takes time and struggle. The same is true of the shame that can be a side effect of our slavery and even a slave master itself. Some may never feel the leech of shame sucking the life from their soul after finding Jesus, but many of us, even as Christians, must battle the demon regularly before finding freedom that can't be lost, before we stop feeling the weight of the chains that have been broken.

I'm sick of being ashamed. I don't mind being dejected and rejected, but I'm not going to be ashamed about it. At least pain is real. I mean, you look around and you see nothing is real, but at least the pain is real.

Some of you may recognize the above quote. For those who don't, it's a line by the character Mark Hunter in the movie from 1990 Pump Up The Volume. Now, for those who haven't seen it, this is not a Christian movie in any sense of the word. It is full of juvenile sexual jokes and part of the point is the profane and vulgar speech. But while it is nothing but crass and crude on the surface, there is something deeper going on in the film, something that many of my generation identified with, the need to rise up against the shame and those who would make us feel it. Shame was a part of my life from before I reached my teens and part of the pain that led to my addictions came from trying to deal with that. I know I am not alone. Several of my friends killed themselves in the 80s and many more of us tried. Pump Up The Volume dealt with some of the feelings that we were trying to escape and figure out, and when he said the above, Mark Hunter was the most like Jesus than he ever was in the movie.

Now, I'm not saying that the character is an example of Christ or remotely Christ-like. I am saying in that moment he accidentally came a little closer to doing something the way Jesus did.

...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

- Hebrews 12:2

You may be familiar with this verse. I know I have used it more than once, talking about how Jesus embraced the cross, endured the suffering, and was able to do that because of the joy He knew would come from it, namely our reunion of relationship with our Creator. But I realized there is more to it than that. I have read this verse I don't know how many times, but the words never really sunk in and grabbed me before this morning. Not the for the joy...endured... I've gotten that. I think it's awesome. It's the despising the shame that never really got through.

For most of my life I have run from, tried to escape, attempted to numb and mask suffering, discomfort and hardship, but I embraced shame like a long lost friend. I wrapped myself up in shame and let it take me into the depths of hell. Even as I declared to live by the motto of Let Your Freak Flag Fly, I knew and mourned the feeling that I was defective, broken beyond repair, and that if anyone really knew what I felt and thought and was that I would be rejected and rightfully so. Maybe you can relate.

But Jesus did the opposite. He embraced the hardship and the suffering. He did not run from what He was going from. He didn't reject the cross. He did though reject the shame that comes from being beaten, exposed and hung out for the world to see. He did refuse to embrace the shame that those who were killing Him and those who were cheering them on tried to heap on Him. He took the mockery and the ridicule without agreeing with it or accepting it as deserved or true. That may be one of the top ten miracles of all time, and I never really saw it before! It's way bigger than feeding a few thousand people. Imagine being under the weight and guilt of the whole world's sin and being told how wrong you are and how worthless you are and being able to reject rather than embrace the shame of that sin and what's being done to you!

If you have been beaten and enslaved by shame there's not a lot of point in fighting it. You can't beat it back and escape that slave master any more than you can any other. I think drink and drug is much easier to beat than the tendency to embrace and endure shame. But there is hope, there is good news. The same Jesus who came to set us free and to heal and restore us, who set us free from the sin, from the way we once were, from the habits and addictions also came to set us free from shame. The power that is in us that is great enough to give us the ability to do what we could never do on our own also gives us the power to reject shame and the voice that says we deserve it.

Freedom from shame is ours because of the One in us, the only one who was ever able to embrace and endure suffering while rejecting the shame that goes with it. He did it, and He will continue to do it in us, for us and through us, if we give our shame to Him rather than wrestling it ourselves. Today let us practice acknowledging those feelings of shame but instead of either accepting them or trying to fight them, let us play hot potato and pass them quickly to Jesus who alone has the power to defeat them and transform us into someone other than who we were ashamed to be.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

Unshackled Moments ~ August 22, 2017 ~ Solitude And Silence

How long Lord? Do you ever ask that question, Dear Reader? If so, you are in good company. David asked it a lot. Jeremiah asked it. Job too. I think most, if not all, the prophets wrote down that they asked it at least once, although I haven't done that particular study and don't have time to read all the Old Testament prophets this morning to check that thought. Habakkuk certainly did. In fact, not only does the book of Habakkuk begin with the question, verse one tells us this is the oracle of Habakkuk, and verse two jumps right to it. How long, O Lord, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save. Of course verse three starts with  another oft asked question, why?

Why God? How long Lord? When are you going to help me? When is this going to get better? How long is this going to be a struggle? How long is this going to hurt? Will it always feel like a fight where I am outnumbered and outgunned? Why is this happening? Why didn't You..... Where are You? What I am going to do? How? When? Why? Where? What? Sometimes they can best be summed up with a blank question, calling out God?!?!?

There's nothing wrong with those questions. When we are hurting, discouraged, afraid, confused, or unsure, it's a whole lot better to turn to Daddy and say How? When? Why? Where? What? than it is not to. Because that means we're remembering the answer to the most important question. You may have recognized that these questions seem to go together. They do. They are five of the six questions that are considered the foundation of problem solving. Did you notice that I left one off? Maybe the order made it harder to see. The six basic questions to ask when gathering information to solve a problem are called the Five Ws And Sometimes How. Does that bring to mind the first W? It's who? Who, what, when, where, why and sometimes how is the traditional order these questions are taught.

And I have found that it is important to settle that first question first most of the times when I am a mess and have a problem that needs to be solved. Who? As in who can I turn to? Who is going to help me? Who is going to get me through this? Who can I run to? Who's your Daddy? Seriously, I wasn't trying to be funny with that last one. When we hold onto the truth that we can always turn to and run to Daddy and we remember who He is, that He is the Creator and Lord of all who has all that we need then it becomes a little less scary to ask the other questions.

For one thing, we know it's OK to ask them. A child falls and scrapes a knee, runs to Daddy and is held and comforted and cared for even as the alcohol treating the wound burns and feels like it's making everything worse. Why? Why do we have to use the alcohol? How long is this going to burn and sting? What can be done to make it better or help me endure it? These questions, and others, can be asked without fear of Daddy getting upset or pushing us away/ They are a natural reaction to the pain, but they can be asked even as the child grabs Daddy's hand and holds on tight for strength or leans into Daddy's shoulder for comfort.

But if you are anything like me, sometimes these questions get thrown out there as though there is no answer. We cry out and move on. We may say God, what, when, where, why, how, but really we're just crying and complaining. We're not expecting or waiting for an answer. No, I'm not about to get onto you or myself for this tendency. But the reason I brought up Habakkuk and the way the book begins is because it's a great example of a better way. Chapter one is string of questions and negative observances. Then it goes into chapter two this way:

I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the LORD says and how He will answer my complaint.

- Habakkuk 2:1

I will climb up to my watchtower.... is Habakkuk's way of saying I'm going to retreat into solitude and silence and wait on Daddy to answer the cry of my heart. He didn't gripe, complain or cry out and then just go on with his day and life. Some translations make it seem like He felt he would be reproved or corrected for the questions of chapter one, but still he waited for God to answer so that he would know how he should respond.  OK, this is how I feel, and these are the questions that are making me miserable and sit behind the problem that I can't solve. I'm giving them to You, Daddy, the only way I can, by asking them to You, by screaming them in my heart at You. But I'm waiting on Your answer. And even if it means I will hear O child of little faith before the answer, that's OK, because I know it will be said in love and that You will still care for me. I am going to wait in solitude and silence until I know how to react and respond to what is going on in my life the way You would have me.

We have times when there are things that are overwhelming. There are times when there are things coming that we are going to need power and wisdom we don't have to face and deal with. There are times when we are going to need to love someone that we won't know how to love. Whether we are charging up before the crisis, searching for guidance, direction, strength and solution during the storms or recharging after, we need solitude and silence. We need time alone with Daddy, time when we are listening and thinking about His love, care, and promises. It's good to spend time alone talking to Daddy, but it's also important to listen to Him. What if He doesn't seem to be talking or we don't seem to be able to hear Him? Well, then we can just think about who His word says He is, what His word says He has done and will do for us, when He will be our help and strength and comfort and joy, where He will meet us, why we can always look to Him and how the distance between us and Him has been closed by the work of Jesus on our behalf.

I'm not getting on to anyone. I'm not saying shame on us for not spending more time alone with Daddy, being quiet and still so that we remember and know who He is. I am saying that even Jesus often withdrew into time alone with Daddy, and we need that. I am trying to encourage us all to do this more, especially during the times when the questions are threatening to overwhelm us. It doesn't matter where we get alone with God. I have two places that are my favorites. Anywhere I can sit alone with Daddy and my pipe and get still, and on my motorcycle, where I am cut off from everything but the motion, the wind and the Spirit. But you have your own place where you can cry without reservation or grab hold of the peace and comfort in the solitude and silence.

There is a difference between isolation and solitude. I am not advocating isolation. We need time with others, with people. We are told not to forsake the fellowship, and you can't be of service while playing the hermit. You can not edify and encourage or be edified and encouraged if you withdraw from society and your spiritual family. So, I am not talking about long periods of separation or cutting yourself off from others. I am talking about getting alone with Daddy long enough and regularly enough to be able to endure whatever mess is going on without walking away from love or forgetting that Daddy cares for us, long enough to know how to walk through the valley in such a way that will give God glory and draw others to Him, and so that we will be strengthened and filled (charged and recharged) with all we need to be victorious over our difficulties and able to serve and love others.

Don't feel bad if you think you have failed to do this as much or in the way you should. All of us could do it better. But today and in the days to come, let us remember that it's OK to ask whatever questions rise up in our hearts and cry the concerns we have, but it's a lot better when we then wait on an answer and His comfort. Let us remember that if we are going to do what He would have us do that we need His power and that we get that in the solitude and silence.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

Unshackled Moments ~ August 21, 2017 ~ A Dear John Letter

Five years ago, a man who helped me more than he ever knew to get clean and sober left this plane of existence for the next. I still miss him, and although he was never my official mentor or adviser, he was instrument of God's love and peace in my life. He didn't do any big grand things. He listened some. He talked some. He smiled and cared that I existed. He gave me a tiny bell that fell from my bike to the road some time ago and is still missed. Mainly he noticed and valued me, and that made more of a difference in my life than some of the wisest and best advice I've ever heard.

It's a simple thing really. Give a little love and show some genuine care and concern for others as you treat them as though they have value. Good old Sneaky Pete did that for me and for others, and the legacy of that continues long after him. Today, I want to encourage myself and others to simply smile at someone who needs it and care that someone is there in our lives giving us an opportunity to give and serve and be an instrument of God's peace. I also want to remember my friend, so I am going to close with something I wrote in his memory and honor the day after he died. May we all live today in such a way that if we are gone tomorrow it is our smile, our service and our caring that people will remember and miss.

A Dear John Letter

Those who do not recover are people who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault. They seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover, if they have the capacity to be honest.

I have an image in my mind of a skinny man in a hat that would fit well on most blues guitarists. His yellowed fingers fiddle with a cigarette or maybe a piece of gum as he tried to cut back. He's reclined as much as possible in a metal folding chair, and, here's what I remember most, he looks me in the eyes and smiles with his entire face as he sees me come in the door. The seat changed. Sometimes he wasn't leaning against the back of the chair.

Occasionally he wore a baseball cap that proudly told of his service to our country. Sometimes I beat him into the room and it was he who walked in. But what always remained the same, no matter what was going on in his life or with his health was the way he caught my attention, looked me in the eyes and smiled in a way that left me no doubt that he was glad to see me there.

I have been blessed to find true care and concern for me inside the rooms. There are several people who have gone above and beyond to make me feel a part of, to show me they truly care, and to help me get and stay clean and sober. But few have made me feel as cared for as John. His smile, which always made my heart feel like the clouds broke and the sun shone down on my inside, gave me more strength than realized until I heard the news that I would not be seeing it again.

John taught me the importance of the quote I opened with. I didn't always agree with him, but I knew I could trust that whatever he was telling me was what he believed was truth. He was the first man I met who talked openly of having received a two year sobriety marker and then publicly changing his sobriety date because during the first year he had been on the marijuana maintenance program to help him stay off everything else and keep the demons in his mind at bay. He spoke with me about the relief he had after he not only stopped that treatment and started working what works correctly but came clean about it. He taught me the power of honesty through example and by the freedom and strength I saw that he derived from it.

About three years ago I rode up into the parking lot of the club house on the motorcycle I had just purchased. It felt so good to be on two wheels again, and John, who was standing outside and saw me ride up noticed that. He always saw me. "Looks like you loved the ride," he said to me with that great smile. The next time I saw him he handed me a little gremlin bell. It has the American flag on one side and the words Ride Free on the other. He told me that he wanted me to stay safe while I was riding but that even more than that he wanted me to remember every time that I heard that bell jingle as I rode that I was riding free, not in the outlaw sense that I had always associated with ride free or die but truly free, free to love and be loved, free to have relationship with God, free from prison in my soul and mind as much as physically, free from the bondage of self and the chains of addiction. That little gift has given me so much, and I am grateful every time that I hear it to know that I am riding free. Want to talk about a gift that keeps on giving.

After 15 months clean and sober I relapsed. During the time that I was back out I had to take that gremlin bell off my bike. I've heard people say there's nothing worse than a mind full of program and a belly full of booze and a bloodstream toxic with chemicals, and I can attest to the truth of that statement. But I can also testify that hearing that bell was worse. Every time I heard it the hypocrisy of my life hit me full force. I had sent myself back to the worst of prisons and slavery, and I could not pretend to be free, not even on two wheels with the wind in my hair. With every jingle of the bell an alarm sounded with the message get back to where you belong, get clean and sober again or die. I took the bell off the bike, but I couldn't outrun or outride the truth.

When I returned to the program John was still there with his smile. We talked for hours. I don't think I ever expressed how much he helped me find recovery again. John's smile and the way he laughed when he spoke of his Higher Power, who he chose to call Bubba, will always be a special memory to me.

Yesterday morning I lost another friend. I am grateful that it was not drugs or alcohol that took him away. He lived the last years of his life free, and he died free. But loss is loss, and I hurt.

I know there are others who were closer to John than I and who hurt more. But I'm an addict, and it's all about me. I can't see past my own pain and fear at the moment. I'm not sure where the fear is coming from or the anger it is producing in me. I am so sorry that Leah had to suffer seeing me twist in the winds of that anger yesterday. I realized this morning that some of that anger, maybe most of it, was a product of guilt.

I haven't made a meeting in about two months, and part of the result of that absence is being isolated from my recovery friends and what is going on in their lives. Basically if it isn't posted on Facebook, I don't know about it. One of my dearest friends of the last three and a half years became sick, entered a VA Hospice and died in three weeks, and I never knew anything was wrong. I wasn't there for him. I feel that I have failed the friendship test, but I also know that John wouldn't and didn't hold my absence against me. If he thought of me at all, which is unlikely considering what he was going through and the fact that it really isn't all about me, he would have only hoped that I was doing well. That's all he ever wanted for me.

I also feel guilty because I owe him photos. He hired me to take some photos of him, and I enjoyed the day very much. I got some images of my friend that I love and kept for my portfolio. He loved them as well, and paid me in advance for another session. He was supposed to call me when he was ready for those pictures to be taken, and I was really looking forward to it. The call never came. And now it never will. But I can make amends for that one. First by providing the 8 x 10 print that his sister wants to use for the funeral and then by finding someone in recovery that needs or wants some photos and giving them services the value of what John paid me.

Part of the anger came from self-pity rather than guilt. The news of John's death came days away from the birthday of a special Angel I lost years ago. I have lost over 50 people to the grave in my 41 years. Sometimes the weight of that loss hits me and I grow fearful that I will lose everyone I care about. Fear and resentment rear their ugly heads once again. The anger spews from their mouths into my soul and burns everything around me.

On top of that there are spiritual questions and feelings of condemnation. I know that they don't come from God, but I haven't shaken them yet. I need to pray on that one, and probably get some counsel from my spiritual adviser.

Mainly I am just sad, and 27 months clean and sober is not long enough, evidently, for me to get used to or comfortable with feeling my own emotions. I don't like being sad. And like a child who throws a fit when he doesn't get his own way, I still get angry sometimes when I can't escape feeling and facing the emotions and situations that I don't want to feel or face.

John always encouraged me to feel what I feel and to be honest about it, especially to myself. I try to live by that today, but sometimes it takes me a while to process enough to even be able to understand what I am feeling. As crazy as it sounds, I didn't even realize how angry I was yesterday until Leah pointed out how I was acting. John taught me that just because I know my thinking is screwed up and or crazy doesn't mean it doesn't effect me in real ways. I have to acknowledge my thoughts and emotions and be honest about them, even as I fight not to let them control me and struggle to give them to God. And John reminded me often to "screw guilt." Guilt is a wasted emotion for the forgiven to feel. I must acknowledge my mistakes, learn from them, make amends when I can, but there is nothing to be gained and no progress to be made from beating myself up. If John taught me anything else it was the importance of being able to acknowledge and laugh at my own insanity.

So I will pray. I will cry. I will mourn the loss of my friend, and I will laugh at myself and the memories of my time with John. I will honor his memory by trying to be for others what he was for me. I will listen for the jingle of a little gremlin bell and let it remind me of a good and faithful friend and the fact that I am free. I will hear it, be grateful and smile.

Goodbye my friend. Thank you for all that you did for me and all that you taught me. Thank you for your smile.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

The Fifth Element

Dalyn Woodard shares about the essential need to have life and uses the story of Balaam from Numbers 22 to illustrate the three aspects of grace. The message,  "The Fifth Element" is about 48 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, August 20, 2017. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

The video for the closing song is below.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

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

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

Unshackled Audio Echo ~August 19, 2017 ~ facing Difficulty

Today's Unshackled Audio Echo was previously published on

March 20, 2014 as Facing Difficulty.

Wednesday evening, March 19, 2014, Dalyn Woodard delivered a message at NCF dealing with facing hardship and difficulty in life and how we need to follow the example of Jesus who did not try to escape the cross but won the victory by faithfully walking through the hard times. The sermon "Facing Difficulty" is about 27 minutes in length.   It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Photo "Old Time Religion" taken by Dalyn Woodard copyright Eclectic Imagery.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

Unshackled Moments ~ August 18, 2017 ~ Our Thermostat Can't Be Trusted

We've had a fairly mild summer, for which I am grateful. It's been quite hot the last couple of weeks. but I certainly don't have to think hard to remember summers when it got far hotter much earlier, was much drier and the August temperatures were more hellish than the ones we've had in East Texas this year. We haven't even had a burn ban, and that is rare. Still, cooler than usual is not cool. It may be a mild summer, but it's still summer, and that means air conditioning is necessary.

Now I am not one of those who doesn't know how people survived summers before AC. I am aware. I have been there. Texas prisons are not AC and cable filled luxury retreats. They are buildings made of steel and concrete, and the only areas with AC are the offices, medical, and places where visitors will be. So the living areas are hot boxes. Even with fans, the heat can be unbearable and the temperatures regularly are hotter inside than out mid day. And yes, people die from it. Texas just recently lost a law suit over the death of inmates due to heat inside the prisons. I spent eight summers in that heat, and I have not forgotten it in the nine summers since my release. I know how it feels to not have AC and not be able to adjust or escape the rising temperatures caused by the closer summer sun.

I am quite grateful for our AC. I do not take it for granted, especially since with her health issues, Leah can not take the heat. I would be miserable but adjust if the AC stopped. Leah would be in trouble. I have a clear understanding of how precious that cool air is and how important it is. At night we turn the thermostat down a little lower and get it nice and cool, which makes it easier to sleep.

There is a problem with our unit though. It isn't much of a problem at the moment, but I wonder if it will be next year if the summer is not as mild. It runs fine on the cooler setting for a while, but at some point during the night, every night, the thermostat gets tricked or something. The reading says it's cooler in the room than it is. Of course, that means that while the fan kicks on from time to time to circulate the air, the AC doesn't run. It's still cool in the room in the morning, but it's warmer than it should be and much warmer than the 66-69 degrees it reads. We never set the temperature that low, but it starts reading it that cool, which is why the AC doesn't kick on. It's not frozen up, or anything like that. There's an easy but temporary fix. When the room feels warmer than the reading shows, we turn the unit off for about ten seconds, then turn it back on.

Immediately the fan turns on, and the temperature reading begins to climb slowly from wherever it was reading in the 60s, one degree at a time higher and higher until it gets into the mid to upper 70s, at which point the AC kicks on and works great again for a while. I don't mind having to reset it a few times a day, but it does mean that we do not have AC all night long. At some point it becomes fan only or it warms enough that I have to get up and reset it in the middle of the night. If the nights were warmer that getting up to reset it would probably happen more often.

I am not complaining. I wouldn't mind fixing the issue, but it's not that big of a deal to reset it when it begins to feel warm. It's a whole lot better than not having AC. But as I reset it once more this morning after getting up so that I wouldn't have to worry about the air getting warmer than 78 degrees, it occurred to me that I am a lot like the little Ac unit in our window.

I was created and designed to be able to be sensitive to the Spirit and respond according to what the Spirit directs. And I am not so much talking about the old man's creation that has been marred and messed up by the curse. I am referring to the new creation, the second birth of the spirit making me a new creation. Our new nature is connected to and sensitive to the Spirit. But something is a little off with my thermostat. Sin, the cares of life, self-centered will and other things effect it. In the morning, upon waking I get connected with God and determine to let His will guide and direct my thoughts, actions and reactions throughout the day. I deny self and turn my life over to His will and care. Great. That is what I'm supposed to do.

I don't know about you, Dear Reader, but it never lasts as it should. I never have a day, not one single day, where at some point I don't have to be reset. As I go through the day I'll notice that without even realizing it I have gotten off, my reading says I'm in God's will like my AC says it in the 60s, when in truth I have slipped into self or fear or anger or.... like in truth it's closer to 80 degrees than 60. My AC unit can't be trusted to know what the temperature is. I, or Leah, have to make the determination that it isn't reading right and activate a reset.

In the same way, I can not be trusted to accurately evaluate if I am reading where I am at spiritually correctly. I need to the Holy Spirit to let me know when my thermostat starts to get off and do a reset. That is what is so important about a spot check. I can't just review my day at night and see how off I was and do repairs. It's much better to regularly check with Spirit to make sure we're running right as we go about the day. The more we look to the Spirit for these evaluations, mini personal inventories to see where we are and how we are doing, the more we ask is this, where I am and what I am doing right now, the will of God?, and the more promptly we respond to the Spirit's adjusting of our soul and will, the less out of whack the temperature will get. When I realize the temperature reading is wrong before the room actually gets warm enough that the unit should've turned on, I can reset before things ever get to the point where the unit should have kicked on but didn't. Sometimes I miss that but still do the reset before the temperature reaches a bad or uncomfortable place.

If we check with the Spirit often and are quick to respond, then we can get all the tiny adjustments and resets through the day that we need to so that when we get off direction by a degree or two we can be guided back, reset, before we get outside of God's will. Even if we miss that point, the adjustment can be made before we get so far off that things get bad, damage is done and it becomes obvious that we are way off. But if all we do is throw up a prayer in the morning as we rush into our day and not think about or check in with the Spirit throughout the day, if we trust in our thermostat and our ability to judge and guide ourselves in what is loving and right, when we get to the end of the day and look back, we will see that the day was much hotter, much worse than we suspected as we went through it.

Today, let us not trust ourselves to know what is right and if we are walking in it. Let us often look to the Spirit to see if we are in God's will and walking in love, and let us be quick to adjust and allow Him to reset our spirit to His settings and the truth before our misreadings cause us to sin and hurt ourselves or others.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.

Unshackled Moments ~ August 17, 2017 ~ National Bacon Lover's Day

Did you know that August 20 is National Bacon Lover's Day? Neither did I. And to be rigorously honest, I don't really care all that much. I love bacon every day, but not enough to declare a holiday or anything. For me, August 20 is 13 days till Texas Tech Football kicks off and a few days before the birthday of someone very special and lost to me years ago and the day before the anniversary of one of my good friend's death five years ago. So no, I doubt I'll be thinking much about bacon three days from now. That said, I fell for it, the tease, and that's how I know about Bacon Lover's Day.

I was looking through my devotions, sending dragons out on quests in EverWing, listening to some music and generally trying to clear my mind enough to start thinking about what to share in today's Moment when up along the right side of my computer screen Windows notified me that an email had come in from a restaurant with the subject line National Bacon Lover's Day. Like I said, I fell for it. I clicked the notification to open the email, hoping for a decent coupon off a meal with some bacon. I may not celebrate a special day for bacon, but if you give it to me at a good price I'll be more than happy to eat it. Nope. No coupon. Just advertisements about what they offer, which I am already aware of or I wouldn't have signed up to get special offers from them. Anyway, I scrolled on through the image laden email hoping to see if they mentioned exactly which day was BLD. No, they didn't even share that information. I had to Google it, because by that point I was curious if it was a real thing, and, if so, what day it was. Then I saw it. Toward the bottom.

A photo of a slice of strawberry cake. Six pink pieces of cake joined by five even more pink spreads of frosting and topped with one more. I have to admit it looked a little tasty, even though I am not big on strawberry cake. That was until I got distracted from the temptation. To the left of the photo above the dessert's description were the words Homemade 12-Layer Cakes. The first sentence of the description promised 12 layers made from scratch in their very own bakery.

Oh my. Do you see the problem Dear Reader? I thought to myself I'll never get a desert from that place on principle. Because this is the way that my crazy brain works. Two issues jumped out and slapped me to attention. First, and the most glaringly obvious issue, to paraphrase another crazy person, that's not a cock-a-doodle 12-layer cake! What they pictured and I described is a 6-layer cake. Frosting does not count as a layer.

Now that you see and understand my insanity, can you guess issue two? That's right, the cake may be made from scratch, but it is not, I repeat, not, homemade. By definition made in a business' bakery is not made in a home and therefore is not homemade. The question is are they stupid enough to think they are being truthful and not sending out misleading manipulation or do they feel that I, their valued customer, am stupid enough to believe their obvious lies. Seriously, my first instinct is to never ever buy dessert there because the people paid to come up with the ad should know better, and I don't want to encourage either stupidity or lying as there is far more than enough of both in our society.

That's when the Spirit sighed and said, seriously? First, you nit picking pharisee, you know exactly what they meant. They even showed a photo so there could be no confusion. They are counting both cake and frosting as layers, and when they say homemade, they mean from scratch. Stop saying but it's wrong and listen. You celebrate grace, preach grace, claim to live in and by grace, but you are not being gracious to the people who came up with, approved and sent out that advertisement. You are judging them by the letter of the law. This is the definition of a multi-layer cake, and this is what homemade means, and what you did is not that so you are rejected forever. Seriously? Where is the love of Jesus in that? Aren't you glad that God doesn't look at your life like that since you have been way more wrong and told far more serious and malicious lies? Of course it's more than an ad and it really is the same. People are involved in every aspect of what you are judging, from the creation of the advertisement to the cooking and serving of the cake. You'd punish everyone associated with the restaurant and condemn them all for the actions of a few, controlled by harsh legalistic standards in your heart even as grace pours out of your mouth. Can't you see that's far worse than calling a from scratch cake made in a business kitchen homemade?

Ouch. Then it occurred to me that this kind of silliness is why there is so much division in the church. Instead of looking for the similarities we focus on the differences and demand that we are right, whichever side of whatever argument we fall on. Instead of saying wow, we both like cake! We're all over here arguing over semantics and definitions and how many layers it has and if it is homemade or not. It's the same piece of cake, but one person looks at it and counts 12-layers while another sees only six. Who cares? It's cake. It's about eating it. But no, we'd rather argue and demand the rules be followed, and if someone is either choosing to ignore the definitions and characteristics of truth or they are too stupid to see that it is clearly not homemade and only a 6-layer cake, then they should be ignored, cast aside and treated as less than.

Now the world doesn't see the cake or cake lovers. They see foolishness and fighting and self-righteous pride. Jesus is far more important than cake. And no, we don't agree on everything, and we may not be able to look at the same image of God wrapped in flesh and describe it the same. But it doesn't always matter who's right. If you are hungry for strawberry cake, do you really care if it is called 12- or 6-layer cake? No, you only care if it is good. And if you have a God-shaped hole in your heart, have come to realize that you can't be enough, do enough to manage and control your life, set yourself free and bring purpose and contentment to your existence, you don't care about what kind of frosting is on the cake of Christianity or the divisions that divide us, do you? No. It is only a matter of if Jesus loves us and is He good. The answer by the way is yes.

This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.