Daddy Issues

Dalyn Woodard returns to the book of Ephesians, verses 1-4 of chapter 6,. Looking at the instruction to children and the terrible responsibility of fathers. The calling on fathers is so critical, because like it or not, the care we receive from our earthly fathers effects how we see our Heavenly Father. But what kind of Father is God, really? The message,  "Daddy Issues" is about 47 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, November 29, 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. Part 8, Count It All Joy, can be found here. Part 9. Power Prayer, can be found here. Part 10, Walking In Unity, can be found here. Part 11, Grow Up, can be found here. Part 12, Trading Up, can be found here. Part 13, Daddy Knows Best, can be found here. Part 14, Turn On The Light, can be found here. Part 15, Living Under The Influence, can be found here. Part 16, Spirit Filled Marriage: Part 1 Wise Husbands, can be found here, and Part 17, Spirit Filled Marriage: Part 2 Wise Wives 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 ~ November 29, 2017 ~ Cheerful Giving

Yesterday was #GivingTuesday. Did you miss it? I did. Did you even know about it in advance? I did, but only a day. Giving Tuesday doesn't receive nearly the press and social media sharing that Black Friday and Cyber Monday do. And yes, I realize it's only 6 years old and created by the United Way to inspire donations, but it's catching on and many non-profits are using the idea to generate funds. Lest we forget Black Friday and Cyber Monday started off as, and still are, nothing more than sales gimmicks, but we act like they're bigger than Thanksgiving. Some states even give state employees the day after Thanksgiving off as a paid holiday so their workers have the same chance to catch the sales as the rest of the populace.

Giving Tuesday is a good idea, although I think the Tuesday before Thanksgiving might be a better day than the Tuesday after. There are many service organizations that need funds, and giving of our money is one way we can be of service. Whatever we make an hour, if we give that much in money, we have lain an hour of our life we can't get back on the altar as a gift offering, we have set aside our selfishness for another's benefit. We have poured ourselves out on behalf of someone in need. Sometimes going down to the local shelter or food bank and giving a helping hand may not be feasible for us, and they may have all the volunteers they need anyway, but they also need to have the food, pay the bills, etc. If the adults in my small Texas county would each give the $3.25 average cost of a single cup of coffee from Starbucks or Duncan Donuts once a month, my county would be giving nearly a hundred thousand dollars a month for an individual sacrifice that would hardly be noticed by those giving. We don't need to make some huge sacrifice to make a difference. Five dollars a month from enough people can keep a ministry or service group going.

If you missed Giving Tuesday, don't worry. You'll have plenty of chances to give before the year is up. This is the time of year when more groups and ministries ask for funds than you can shake a stick at. You can't go shopping without bells greeting you at the doors of the stores, almost every day there are letters in the mail with address labels or Christmas cards from different groups asking for help, and then there are emails and phone calls and.... Believe me, we'll all have the chance to give. And if we are followers of Christ, we know it's better to give than receive and Jesus gave everything He had for us. We know we need to give, to be of service, to care for the needy and help spread the truth of hope and God's love for us. That said, it can be so hard to do.

First, we're still selfish. One cup of coffee a month may help keep a ministry or service group afloat, but it is still a cup of coffee I have to do without. And there's the overload of choices. I can't give to everyone, not even a cup of coffee. If I give to one group, how do I say no to another? Sometimes not knowing the best place to give can cause us not to give at all. It's like not knowing where to start on cleaning a room causing us to sit down and do nothing. And then, of course, there are the ones we despise, who have abused the generosity of others. Service groups where 90% of the donations go into the pockets of a few people in the organization and preachers taking somebody's last few dollars telling them it's a command from God, or a way to gain God's gifts so that they can wear custom suits and live in million dollar mansions. It's sickening, and it's evil. But it's not an excuse for us to be selfish and refuse to give. There are things we can do to help us be of service financially with the right heart and without wasting our time. Remember that a gift of cash is a gift of time, unless you don't have to spend time to get your money.

Give thoughtfully, especially if that last reason people don't give burns you up. If you're giving enough to feel it as a sacrifice or giving regularly, it becomes critical to know who, what, where, why and how. If you can  only afford to give a few dollars, you want that five dollars to go where it is most needed or will do the most good. Think about it, and pray about it. Don't give impulsively, If you're giving to be of service to God and others, then letting the Holy Spirit guide your giving is part of that. Check to see where the money is going. Charity Navigator is just one place you can check on different charities and causes and see where the best place to give would be. We have a tendency to plan or at least think out the important things in our life, and since giving is an important part of being of service to God and others, it should receive the same consideration and thought that any important purchase would receive. It's not about the amount but the purpose.

Give to serve and enthusiastically without expecting. Don't give to get praise. Don't give like your dollar is a spiritual lottery ticket. Don't give out of fear that if you don't God is going to get you, be mad at you, reject you or deny you His love and favor. Give because you realize that giving of ourselves is an expression of compassionate, serving love in action and a way to put the needs of others above our own desires as Jesus did when He gave up Himself to meet our needs. Jesus didn't go to the cross because He feared Daddy would be mad if He didn't, He did it for the anticipated joy of relationship with us that became possible because of His giving. We can rest assured that we can't out give God. When we give of ourselves as Jesus did, out of love, under the guidance of the Spirit, we become more like Jesus, and remembering that being of maximum service to Daddy and others is our true primary purpose brings us closer to Him. Giving a dollar may not mean that paying your bills gets any easier, and it certainly doesn't mean that you'll get ten back from God. It's not a spiritual pyramid scheme. But there are spiritual blessings that come from denying self, whether that giving is spending an hour listening with compassion to someone who is hurting, or helping someone get to and from the store or a meeting who has no transportation, or giving a dollar or any other way we can give of ourselves for the benefit of someone else.

Give cheerfully and voluntarily. The Lord loves a cheerful giver. That doesn't mean that if we don't give or don't give cheerfully He won't love us. He loves us as we are, not as we should be. He loved us while we were ruled by self and sinners. So it's not about earning His love. It's just that it makes Him happy when we give for the joy of helping someone else. He loves that. It likes the joy any Daddy has when his child does something good the way he does it. If someone or a group is pressuring you to give or trying to make giving a condition of being helped and loved by God, don't give to them. If you can't have time to think it over and pray about it, then say no, but don't use thinking and praying as an excuse to put it off until it's never done. Give because you want to and because it's right, not because someone makes you afraid or shames you if you don't. But if the Holy Spirit challenges you to give, give, even if you can't do it cheerfully. It is better to surrender our will to His in obedience than to want it. For the joy to come, Jesus went to the cross, but that's not the feeling He had in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the garden, He wanted an out, any other way. It was after He said not My will but Yours be done that He rose up, powered by the Spirit to obey and make the sacrifice that the joy came, even as the giving hurt enough to kill Him. Sometimes our joy and cheerfulness won't come until after the cross of denying ourselves and doing what the Spirit has put on our heart. Don't wait to be cheerful to give if the Spirit puts giving on your heart, but when you can give cheerfully, without expecting or demanding praise or return, it is an act of unselfishness that brings even more joy and makes us that much more like Jesus, regardless of the form of giving, time, skills, material things, or money.

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 ~ November 28, 2017 ~ An Every Day Thing

Some things you have to do every day. Eating seven apples on Saturday night instead of one a day just isn't going to get the job done.

- Jim Rohn

How we start, end and go through each day with a desire to draw closer to Daddy, seeking to improve our awareness of His presence and love for us (conscious contact with Him) through prayer and meditation, and surrendering our will and lives for the day to His care (daily denying self, taking up our cross and following Jesus) is far more critical to our spiritual condition and relationship with Daddy than how great our church services or recovery meetings are. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not saying that meetings, recovery oriented or worship, aren't important and needed. They are.

Fellowship with others is an awesome way to receive from the relationships and experiences of others. God uses people to be His light, His instruments to minister. So gatherings of people who share a common solution are a great place to find the encouragement, wisdom and help we may need and to be an instrument of love, encouragement, wisdom and help to others. There is something about joining together in worship that helps us yield our hearts and spirits to the Holy Spirit and the hearing of the word causes our faith to grow and renews our mind. But as needed and important as fellowship is, it is not the most important thing.

Those of us who have been the captives that Jesus came to set free, who have found the freedom that is only ours by grace and through relationship with God, have a daily reprieve contingent upon the maintenance of our spiritual condition. It is not our normal state or reaction to life to put God first, to seek relationship and closeness to Him above all else, to surrender to His will over our own. The more we do it, the more normal and natural it feels to do it, but it is not our default.

Ask someone who right now or in a few weeks as the New Year rolls in, is struggling to get back into the eating habits they blew off for the holiday how hard it is to get back on track as compared to staying on the healthy path. Or ask someone who runs or works out daily if it's harder to get up and hit the road or gym after missing several days. Even if one didn't struggle with motivation, a marathon runner or weight lifter will tell you that you aren't going to get good results with sporadic or weekly training. Before I gave up on my knee ever holding up to such foolishness, I wanted to run a marathon, The training was all inclusive. It was diet and training and resting. It wasn't about just eating right or just running or any one thing. It all mattered, and every day mattered. Yes, once a week more was needed. There was a daily run for five days that just kept you going and maintained, a long run once a week that stretched and pushed and produced growth and then rest the next day to recover. It is good to stretch and push and be challenged and instructed spiritually by others, and rest is so important to us that God rested to set an example for us and entering into His rest for us is one of our greatest hopes. But it is that daily relationship and time spent with Him that gives us our strength and endurance and matters most.

Daniel knew this even in the Old Testament where His daily prayer time with God became so important to Him that He faced the lions rather than give it up. We are taught to pray and ask for our daily bread, the daily meeting of our needs, which makes no sense unless we are praying daily. It doesn't take long after putting our relationship with God on the back burner and going on with our lives as though we are in control before our old default kicks in and we are taking our will back, moving without waiting for the guidance and direction of the Spirit and trying to live on our will and strength. If we who have been set free live like this long enough we usually book our flight back to Egypt. What I mean by that is we return to the slavery and chains of the past that we have been set free of. I can't tell you how many people I have met who will tell you that they got comfortable and stopped doing the spiritual work, especially the surrendering and seeking to improve conscious contact parts and ended up relapsing. I'm not talking of those new to recovery. This is folks who more than five years of freedom, some more than ten or even twenty. Their lives went from being victorious displays of His power and love and grace on our behalf to do for us what we can't do for ourselves to cautionary tales. Some died before they found recovery again. It wasn't an instant of temptation. It wasn't a sneak attack of the Satan that succeeded. It wasn't even a momentary lapse in judgement.

It was that we have a daily reprieve, we have daily access to the grace we need, that is accessed by our daily turning to, surrender to, Him and giving the Spirit control of our lives. It is our daily spiritual relationship that gives us the power we need, that produces a life worth living, that makes us an effective instrument of His, that makes us different. We are transformed into the likeness of Christ, able to love God and love others and have the joy and peace that comes from the Spirit through daily relationship not sporadic teaching or fellowship.

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 ~ November 27, 2017 ~ 'Tis The Season, God Help Us

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

- Hebrews 4:16

'Tis the season to stress out, fa la la....The more often we hear songs about peace on earth the less peace we may seem to feel. We have passed Thanksgiving, so now comes the real pressure. There is less than a month until Christmas, and we're not ready, not even close. And I am not simply writing about not having the shopping done, the gifts wrapped, decorations up, or trips and food all planned out. although I doubt any of us are ready in that respect either. We are simply not ready. Not spiritually, emotionally, mentally or even physically.

For some it could be the first Christmas in recovery and the idea of spending that time with family and friends all making merry and putting on the chemical cheer without imbibing seems impossible, and yet there is no way to avoid the situations. For some Christmas and relationship stress always leads to renewed struggle to stay sober, no matter how many years in recovery. For some it may not be the holiday but the time growing near that causes them to feel the urge to try for that easy way to pay for everything and roll the dice that nearly lost it all before being lain aside for God's will. Or maybe this time of year brings out the issues with approval addiction more than any other as the list of all the things that must be done, made, bought gets longer and longer and the ability to get it all done close enough to perfect to please everyone is just not going to happen. How can someone with an eating disorder face the Christmas season with anything approaching joy and without feelings of guilt, shame and condemnation, or at the very least without having every waking moment becoming a fight of desperation?

I could go on, but you know what's stressing you. You also know how you normally handle it. We all have our defaults. We may buckle down, become more and more determined to do it, make it, succeed until we become so driven and focused we miss everything  good and run over all those folks we're supposed to be showing love to. Or maybe we try to distract ourselves with pleasure or entertainment or social activities or...., Or maybe we give in to the desperation, depression and despair, leaving us paralyzed and unable to function. Or perhaps, tired of the fight, we simply give in and jump feet first into the failure we fear. After all, if we can't stop it, why submit ourselves to the dread of impending doom?

The truth is that admitting we can't do it all, may not even be able to do much or any of it at times is not failure. It is not a sign of being weak. It is a sign of health. We were never designed to do it all alone. God designed us for relationship and reliance upon Him and to have relationship with and to serve one another. In order for that to happen, we must help when we can and accept help when we need it, and we must be quick to turn to Daddy when the tsunami that is life looms over us. Oh that we could learn to be like cars. Cars, no matter how fantastic their gas mileage is, don't try to hide that they can't power themselves. They have a gauge easily visible and will even ding to get our attention when fuel levels dwindle. It doesn't mean the car is bad, poorly made or weak that it needs more juice. it wasn't designed to run without gas, and pretending the gauge isn't right will simply lead to being stranded on the side of the road.

Well, we were not designed to run on our own power. We were designed to be fueled by the Spirit. We were made to work well only when guided by and powered by God and when helping and receiving help from others. The scripture I opened with says that we can run to Daddy for help in times of need. It doesn't say if we have a time of need. It doesn't say if by some freaky chance there is a moment we need help. We all need help. We all need that grace. The times of need are frequent. We never mature enough or get strong enough spiritually to be able to do this thing on our own. This season, let us be quick to turn to Daddy and run to Him for the grace to make it through all the obstacles to victory and peace that we face. Let us remember that people are His hands and feet and shoulders to lean on and accept help from the people He sends us. And in those times when we have a breather from our own fight or when we need to get our focus off self, let us be quick to offer a compassionate heart and a loving hand to be of service to another in need.

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 Life Audio Ministry - The Blessing Between Thanksgiving And Hope

Dalyn Woodard shares on recovering from Thanksgiving and the struggle we have with the idea that we have or have not been blessed and loved by God. What does it mean to be blessed? The message, "The Blessing Between Thanksgiving And Hope" is about 11 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, November 26, 2017. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

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 Echo ~ November 25, 2017 ~ Perks Of Being His

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

January 21, 2015 as Perks Of Being His.

It’s hard sometimes to be grateful for anything that happens to us in the darkness of the dungeon of our difficult times. But this morning God graced me with a memory from my time in the pit and gave me a little object lesson.

A year or so before the Texas State Parole Board sent me home in time for the holidays, I caught a break that quite possibly kept that eventual parole possible. A prison guard escorted me and my co-workers in the kitchen back to our block after we dished out chow for our fellow inmates. When we stopped to be searched before the door to our cage could be opened, I noticed the guard on the keys eyeing me in a strange way.

I had never had any problems with this particular officer, but my stomach still did it's best contortionist impression. I knew something was up. Woodard, step out, he said.

I stepped back out of line and stood with my hands behind my back as he let the others into the day room. I felt like I was deflating as my chest tightened and I fought the urge to crumble. Hopelessness set in when the guard said, I guess you weren't expectin' to be on the shakedown list today, with a look that said he was thinking the exact same thing that I was. What I was thinking was how could I have been so stupid?

The second he said shakedown I knew what happened. I had been drinking a little, preparing to pull my shift in the chow hall when the guard who escorted us to and from work showed up a little earlier than usual. I screwed the lid back on the all-purpose cleaner bottle I'd rinsed out and used to keep my drink in and stashed it quickly behind my bunk. If no one entered my rack, there would be no problem, but I wouldn't have called it hidden. Busted,

The guard took me over to the cat walk and pulled out my bottle. He showed it to my escort joking about how it'd basically been right out in the open. My boss looked at me like he wanted to smack me in the head. He reminded me of my mother a little at that moment, and then to my surprise he acted like a parent. P. asked E. to let him handle things, he said I was one of his workers and he'd appreciate it. E. looked at me, shook his head, said something about how I'd never given him any problems so why not? He handed the bottle to P., who then escorted me towards the holding area for disciplinary cases.

He asked me what I had been thinking leaving the bottle out like that, and in true alcoholic fashion I blamed him. If he hadn't shown up early I'd have had time to hide it better and wouldn't have gotten caught. He looked at me like I was an idiot, and today I understand why. At the time though I believed  my answer true and solid. He talked to me for a few minutes, the gist of the conversation being that if I ever got caught like that again he'd personally make my life unbearable. He poured the contents of the bottle into the toilet and wrote me a warning contraband case for the empty bottle. No alcohol mentioned anywhere in the paperwork. Then he sent me back to my cell. I never heard anything else about it.

I screwed up. He covered for his own and let it go. I still don't really know why, other than grace. At the time I had little gratitude. Of course I felt glad that I wasn't in trouble, but I  felt too angry at losing my liquor to appreciate it. I actually believed he should  have let me keep it somehow if he was going to let me off the hook at all. Today I am grateful for the mercy he showed, but that's not the point.

What is the point? The point is that this prison guard, who proudly wore the symbol of his pagan beliefs every day, gave me an example of God's grace and love. I've screwed up. We all have. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The accuser stands before the Father, the Judge, and screams, guilty! And from the side Jesus steps in and says, this one is mine, I've taken care of it.

No it's not exactly the same. Jesus didn't hide anything or break any rules to cover for us. Instead He shed His blood and died for us. He doesn't threaten us with a promise to let us have it next time. He gives us His grace and power to access so that we can become someone different, someone better, than the offender He covered, and if we fall short again, when we fall short again, He forgives.

But we are His. He takes us and makes us clean. He takes our failures, mistakes and rebellion on Himself so that we don't have to pay the debt that we owe. When the accuser tries to hold our sins against us, He's right there saying His blood has covered it all. But Jesus does more than that. He does something that human grace can never do. He gives is the power to change. He sets us free, not only from the law and the accuser, but from ourselves. Our very nature makes it impossible for us to please God and walk according to His ways. But the transformation that comes from being one of His makes us righteous and able to walk with Him, to not only be but to act like a child of God.

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 Echo ~ November 24, 2107 ~ Fear

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

January 8, 2015 as I Will Not Be Afraid ~ Long.

Fear. "This short word somehow touches about every aspect of our lives. It is an evil and corroding thread; the fabric of our existence was shot through with it. It set in motion trains of circumstances which brought us misfortune we felt we didn't deserve. But did not we, ourselves, set the ball rolling? Sometimes we think fear ought to be classed with stealing. It seems to cause more trouble." 

- p. 67 Alcoholics Anonymous

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7

After selfishness and self-centeredness, fear may be one of the most damaging and dangerous enemies we have. Fear that God didn't really have their best interest at heart and was holding out on them spurred Adam and Eve into the decision to listen to lies and look to the fruit for their answers rather than God. Those same two fears, and under both for me was the fear that God didn't, couldn't. really and truly love me the way He loves "good" people, drove me to the same choices the first couple made, only my "fruit" was alcohol and drugs and sex and approval of others and...

Well, the list goes on. We may put ourselves into bondage with different things, but dig deep enough, and it's all the same wormy fruit. Fear is part of the human condition in the fallen world we live in. There's not anything that can be done to completely eradicate it from our lives. 

Sooner or later, something or someone will cause the spirit of fear to rise up within us and scream for our attention. It's like sour milk. If you drink milk on a regular basis, sooner or later, you're going to get a mouthful that you wish you hadn't. If you doubt that, ask 10 people what sour milk is like. If you don't get answers about the awfulness of it from all 10, you have most likely found one or two people who haven't drunk milk since infancy and simply don't remember. But how it affects us depends on what happens next. The natural human reaction to spoiled milk is to spit it out, and quickly. If we ignore that instinct we may find ourselves with a wonderful case of food poison that will insure that we never ignore that instinct again.

Sadly, the opposite is true with fear. It seems our natural instinct is to gulp it down and guzzle more. When we begin feeling the effects of the spiritual food poisoning, we look for a solution, and human nature is to wash the answer we try down with another dose of fear, fear that it won't work, fear that it will get worse, fear that blah blah. We try to push it away, cover it up, or distract ourselves from it, without doing anything to purge it from our system before it poisons us further, and perhaps even causes our death, since quite often our cure for fear is as deadly or more so than the disease itself.

But there is a better way to handle fear. Spit it out. It's not that we ever escape tasting fear, but we can learn not to swallow, not to bring it into the core of our being and let it rot there. We spit fear out by trusting God. We run to Him and His will when afraid rather than solutions we come up with ourselves or that are offered by the world. 

God created us to be able to feel fear. Fear has a purpose. Fear keeps me from driving at night without my lights on at 80 mph. Some might call this type of fear wisdom. But other fears aren't so clearly for our safety, and even they have a purpose. They determine who we are and how we live by how we react to them. We can respond by running to our Heavenly Daddy, where we find a refuge (a shelter and place of strength) and an ever present (always available) Helper, or we can turn to other sources for security and find, instead, only the fruit of destruction.

With the first choice, fear becomes a momentary feeling that pushes us closer to God and this is replaced with His peace, regardless of the circumstances. With the second, fear becomes a part of us, altering us, until our spirit is filled with and consumed by it. If worry and fear rule our lives, we can be assured that we have been spiritually food poisoned and have responded to a bite, or many bites, of fear the wrong way, because turning to God never produces an increase in fear, never makes our core, our spirit, fearful. Our Daddy gives us power, love and a sound mind, the exact opposite of fear. 

There is hope for those sick with worry and fear. Step one, step away from the fruit. Stop eating and run to your Daddy. Step two, get out of the way and let the Great Physician do the work. You can't fix your fear problem anymore than you can operate on your own eyes, Step three, well, if there is a step three or more, God will direct you to it and through it as you do the second one. 

We may have to taste fear from time to time, but we don't have to drink it, and we certainly don't have to let it be a part of who we are any longer. 

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 Echo ~ November 23, 2017 ~ Thoughts On Freedom

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

January 7, 2015 as Today's Thoughts On Freedom.

I always knew that there was something greater than me, a God who created the universe and everything in it, including me. I believed at a young age that God had a purpose and plan for my life. But fear made me doubt that God’s design for my life would give me the life I wanted. So like Jonah, I ran from God’s will for my life. 

This created a void in my life that could only be filled by a relationship with my Creator. I tried to fill this void with other things, pleasures and distractions that would provide escape from the misery and pain that reality without God in my life brought on, from the truth that my will led only to destruction. Before long, I became swallowed up and enslaved by the very things that I turned to for refuge. 

I knew that I would die if I did not escape the prison that I had created for myself. In desperation I turned to God for help, I admitted that there existed no victory for me in my own will, in my own strength. I surrendered to His will, way and purpose. When I did, God gave me the direction and power to escape my bondage. He set me free. I discovered more than freedom through defeat. The truth is that the will and purpose of God for me had been nothing to fear. It gave me everything that I had ever desired. 

No, I don’t mean money or glory or many of the surface trappings of what we often see as “the good life,” but rather it gave me the treasures that lie beneath those ideas. God gave me what I truly desired over and beyond what I could imagine, especially from the darkness of the dungeon that had swallowed me and held me bound. I found love, peace and joy. 

The life worth living that I thought I ran toward when I rebelled from my Creator, insisting that my way would be better became a reality only when I quit running from God and began running to Him. God’s purpose is better than anything we can do on our own. Today I will remember that while my way may appear better or more enjoyable, history has proven time and again that it never is. Today I will run to Him and make my purpose His purpose. By doing so I will find another day worth living, another day that ends in contentment, one more day filled with love, peace and joy. How much of these three treasures I find today will depend on how completely I am able to surrender this day to His will and His care. You too can enjoy victory and a life worth living today by surrendering and trading your will for His. 

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 ~ November 22, 2017 ~ Decision Driven

Today's Unshackled Audio Echo was previously published on

December 11, 2014 as A Decision Driven Life.

Dalyn Woodard shares a short message (about 11.5 min) on how to live a decision driven life and not return to the past from which we've been delivered. The principles in the message can help us resist the desire and tendency to return to the bondage of our past.

For those who may prefer to read rather than listen, the transcript of the message is below the video. It is our prayer that you are blessed by what you hear or read.

A Decision Driven Life

We are born with God-given instincts and drives that fuel our desires, and desires determine our decisions. When we are hungry, we react to the desire to get something to eat and therefore to no longer feel hungry by making a decision to eat. We can desire food and be hungry, but the desire itself can do nothing but make us miserable unless it also drives us to the point where a decision is made to do something about the discomfort we feel. This is true spiritually as well.

Those of us who are Christians all had at least one time before we surrendered to God and accepted Christ as our savior where we found ourselves desiring relationship with God, to be saved. The motivations for the desire vary. For some of us who heard more about the great love God has for us, the motivation may have been to get closer to that love and to experience and know it more. Those who heard more about the effects of sin and the judgment that comes as a result of our sin may be motivated more by fear and the idea that eternity in heaven sounds a lot better than eternity in hell. The motivation may have even been less spiritual. There are times we come to God for reasons that we are less comfortable with later, such as to fit in, to belong and be accepted by others, or to please our parents. There are other possibilities as well. But the motivation doesn’t really matter.

Surrendering to God and living a spiritual life in relationship with Him is like wearing a seatbelt. We can put our seatbelt on out of fear, fear of injury and death, fear of getting a ticket. We might buckle up to make those we love happy. I must admit I wear my seatbelt more because it makes Leah feel better. We can strap ourselves in because we believe it’s the right thing to do or because it just makes sense. But our motivation for wearing a seatbelt is far less important than the decision that is born from the desire that motivation is tied to. What really matters is when we have that wreck, when life happens, were we wearing the seatbelt or not. And when life happens, it’s less important why we first came to God than it is that we have learned to run to Him rather than away from Him. So whatever our motivation, that desire for salvation led to a decision, a decision to follow Jesus, to surrender our lives and will to God’s care, will and plan.

Our desires grow or diminish and evolve as we go through life, and our spiritual desires are no exception. What may have started as a desire to escape hell develops into a desire for a richer, deeper, more satisfying relationship with our Creator. Out of that desire can come the decision to develop a more substantial and effective prayer life, to study God’s word to get to know Him better, etc. But our desires can also take us to places outside of God’s will for us, lead us away from deeper relationship, inspire new decisions that are contrary to the decision we made to follow Christ, especially in areas where we are or used to be in bondage. Our desires get messed up due to sin. We often experience a type of spiritual Stockholm syndrome.

Addiction to drugs and alcohol led to decisions in my life that were devastating to me and those around me. I came to the place where I realized that I had to get cleaned up, locked up again or covered up by the grave. It’s not a fun place to be, and the desperation of that darkness and hopelessness in my life gave me the desire to do what I needed to do to give up control and let Him set me free from the bondage that experience told me I could not beat on my own.

Early in my recovery though, this caused a confusing conflict. Part of me still wanted to drink and use, despite the danger and the full understanding of the devastation it would cause. Even though part of me wanted relationship with God and to surrender to His will for my life, another part of me wanted to do my will, and my will was distorted. My desire for a drink or drug would build until it was stronger than my desire to do anything else, despite the consequences.

Psychology would tell those of us struggling with destructive bondage, such as drugs and alcohol, compulsive spending, sexual addictions, whatever, that we need to understand the motivations behind the desire. That we need to find other, more safe and healthy ways to meet the needs in our lives and to avoid people, places and things that trigger those harmful desires that lead to horrible decisions like voluntarily going back to our captor’s embrace. But I propose that we already did all that was necessary in that regard when we realized that we were powerless over whatever had us in bondage, and that the only hope for us is found in a loving God who has and can supply us with the power to overcome that enemy. We made a new decision based on desires to be free, a decision to surrender and do what God wants us to do.

 Then the old desires woke up. We want the old bondage, maybe we don’t want all the pain and trouble it caused, but we want something tied to it. Like the Israelites desired to return to slavery in Egypt when life became uncomfortable in the desert of freedom, we actually desire to leave the road to deliverance God has lead us to and return to the life we had before. This causes questions like, “How can I pray for God to help me overcome this obsession, this desire, to engage in my area of bondage when I don’t want Him to save me, when I want to go do that thing?” “What right do I have to ask for help from God to do His will, when my will is not to do His will but to do my own?” The answer to those questions and others like them is in that first decision we made to accept Jesus and surrender to Him. That decision made us children of God, and being a child of God is what gives us the right to ask for help when we don’t want it, to ask God to fight for us when we want to surrender to the enemy.

There are times in our lives when we have to live by decision rather than desire. It’s not easy, or fun, and we can’t do it on our own strength. It feels like every part of me wants to dive into, or perhaps the illusion of control makes me ease into, these ungodly things that have ruled my life so mercilessly. I lie to myself and propose compromises that the past make clear will not work. I have seen those whose DWI issues have led them to recovery from alcohol go back to drinking after the desire to drink became so strong that they convinced themselves it would be ok as long as they only drank at home and therefore wouldn’t need to drive drunk. It may even work for a while. But sooner or later that slave boss takes the little control we give back and runs with it, making all our promises to control and not let things go to the danger zone about as effective as blowing on dice before taking our gamble. I’ve seen men struggling with sexual desires actually try to save their families and relationships from what those desires might lead to, by turning to porn as a compromise. Soon they realize that they only added to their bondage and in addition to gaining a new merciless master also find that by feeding that area they eventually still did the very things that they were hoping to avoid in the first place.

 Not everything we think and feel is real or true. And not everything we desire is what we really want. What we want deep down is often much more silent than our selfish desires that live closer to the surface. The voice of desire that held us in bondage is so often much easier to hear and to feel that we must obey, sooner or later, than the still small voice that brings freedom. Then we try to fight the desire. We are fighting ourselves. We try to tell ourselves that we don’t want to do what we want to do, and therefore, we are lying to ourselves which robs us of our will to fight. We’re going to lose sooner or later, and the desire is actually beginning to cause us to hurt and ache for whatever we are trying not to return to. We feel like failures, or worse, like deserters. We made a commitment and now we want to abandon it, to return to our sickness, even though we know we’ll feel horrible and guilty afterwards if we do. And that’s if we’re lucky and we can get back to where we need to be before our slave boss drives us to destruction.

The key is not in learning how to fight our old desires or how to replace our old desires with new and better ones, but in remembering our decision. We don’t have to be led by our desires. Our lives can be decision driven. This is not natural, but it is better. It means we stop and evaluate our options based on the decisions we have made rather than following wherever our desires, which change moment to moment, take us. Our will, our desire resurfaces to do that old thing, whatever that old thing is. We can’t fight it. The act of fighting it keeps our focus on the bondage and lessens our chances of victory. Sooner or later we will fail. We might as well go ahead and get it over with so that we don’t have to keep feeling twisted inside because of the desire. Then we get to feel twisted inside over our failure and our weakness and how incapable we are of walking with God.

Or we can acknowledge that we want to do the wrong thing. We want to. We really really want to. But we remember the decision, and because of the decision we can pray something like, “Father, I don’t want to do what’s right right now, I don’t want to surrender to Your will over this, I want to do what I’ve always done or learned to do when I feel like this. But I remember my decision to turn my will and my life over to You, and that includes my desires. I can’t fight this. I don’t want to fight this. And right now I don’t even want to honor my decision, but I won’t turn back, I won’t welch on our agreement. I am making a decision to stay on the path of my earlier decision. But that means that You’ll have to do something here, because I can’t do this on my own now any more than I could before. I need You to give me the grace and power to stay true to the decision I made to let You free me from this bondage. Help me not to do what I want to do, help me not to be governed by my desires. Help me to do Your will in this matter at this time.”

Changing the desire is less important than changing our reaction to the desire. Instead of making the desire based decision to return to our own private Egypt, we can let the desire drive us to our provider and deliverer and to make the decisions birthed from that desire be decisions to stay faithful to the first decision we made for God. Doing this gives God the opening to remove the obsession of our mind, our desires, in our areas of bondage, and in time, we can walk unshackled and free filled with awe that we ever listened to the lies our former masters tried to feed us in the guise of desire.

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 ~ November 22, 2017~ Reacting To Hurts

Today's Unshackled Audio Echo was previously published on

December 1, 2014 as Reacting To Hurts.

Dalyn Woodard shares a short message (about 10 min) on reacting to the problem of pain caused by others, especially Christians, in a way that keeps us open for God to heal us and give us victory in these areas.

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 ~ November 20, 2017 ~ Life Worth Living

Today's Unshackled Audio Echo was previously published on

December 1, 2014 as A Life Worth Living.

Dalyn Woodard wrapped up the series on spiritual freedom and recovery from bondage of all kinds with the sermon, “A Life Worth Living,” which is about 42 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.

Mercies In Disguise

Ted Maness shares on how brokenness leads to understanding blessing and brings us closer to God. The message,  "Mercies In Disguise" is about 11 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, November 19, 2017. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

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 ~ November 18, 2017 ~ Improving Contact

Today's Unshackled Audio Echo was previously published on

November 6, 2014 as Improving Contact.

Dalyn Woodard continued the series on spiritual freedom and recovery from bondage of all kinds. The sermon, “Improving Contact,” focuses on Step Eleven of the Twelve Steps and the Biblical principles behind it and is about 38 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 ~ November 17, 2017 ~ Carry This Message

Having had a spiritual experience as the result of this course of action, we tried to carry this message to others, especially alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

- Step 12 (Original wording)

In the second publishing of the book Alcoholics Anonymous, the wording of Step 12 was changed so that it read to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice.... Just as other programs for other issues borrowed the 12 Step program and adapted it, most also have the revised wording on the twelfth step. Narcotics Anonymous carries the message to addicts, Gamblers Anonymous carries the message to other compulsive gamblers, Overeaters Anonymous to other compulsive eaters, Sex Addicts Anonymous to other sex addicts... you get the idea. The only exception that I know of is the version found in the Christian Twelve Steps, which goes the opposite way. It reads, having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

There is nothing wrong with any of these groups' versions of the twelfth step, but I love and prefer the original wording. The message that we are carrying is recovery from a hopeless state of mind and body and an awakened spiritual life worth living that is found in surrender to and relationship with our Creator. We are trying to practice the spiritual principles that led to freedom in all our affairs. And we find a new life and freedom from much more than our main issue(s) of alcohol, drugs, spending, eating, sex, whatever issue or combination of issues you happen to be seeking freedom from. When we find relationship with God that transforms us and sets us free from addictions and habitual sins and gives us the power through surrender to Him to be of maximum service to our fellows, loving God and loving others, our very lives become a light in the darkness.

I like that. One reason is that our actions carry the message that living unselfishly in service to Daddy and our fellows brings joy, peace and love. If we practice the principles of letting the Spirit power and control us, of giving Daddy us so that He can block and remove our old selfish nature and replace it with a new and loving nature, admitting when we fall short of love and hurt others and try to correct our wrong without excuse or shifting blame, and seek to improve that relationship through a conscious awareness of God with us, we can carry the message of hope, that there is an answer to what ails us, whatever that may be, that there is a life worth living to be found, without even saying a word. If the acceptance and love of Christ are seen in our actions in all our affairs, it will draw others to us, and as we give God the glory for who He is, in thanksgiving for His great mercy and love and for all that He has done for us, those who want what we have will see that it is not us, but Him who has the answers.

We are called to love and serve others as Christ did. That means all others. Our friends and family, our enemies, those we are comfortable with and those we wouldn't associate with without the love of Jesus controlling and changing our hearts. So I like the idea that we carry the message of the life of hope and freedom we've found to others, whoever those others happen to be. Go and tell the world by the love in our eyes, the service and compassion of our actions, and yes, with out words to those that God brings into our path. We are not called to isolation. We are not called to love and serve and shine a light in the lives of only those who are like us, whether that likeness be in shared bondage, shared affinities, shared gender, shared race, shared whatever. But the reason I don't prefer the Christian Twelfth Step is that while it includes that idea of others that had been dropped or never included by most 12 Step programs, it ignores the especially part. It is not true that only a person who has gone through similar to what we have can help us. But it is true that there is a bond, a connection and an understanding in shared suffering. A person who has lost a child can tell a grieving parent, I know what you are going through and what you are feeling and have that be true. There is no knee jerk response of you don't know what I'm going through! You've never lost anyone, much less a child! An addict can tell another addict that they've been in the same place, done the same things, felt the same withdrawals and fears and powerlessness and found freedom. A person who has been abused and victimized can share empathy with a victim and point him or her to the One who heals. The areas of our hurt and need in which we have found freedom, healing and hope are naturally the ones where we find ourselves most drawn to help others.

I want to carry the message of a life worth living to all, but especially those who have lived through the same shades of hell as I, who have been the same sort of slaves and share similar scars. But the good news is that whether you look at the 12 Steps as a way to find freedom and victory over one issue of bondage, a solitary addiction or compulsion, a variety of chains or simply as a way of discipleship and freedom from the slavery to sin, they are designed to lead us to surrender and relationship with Daddy, and that will effect every area of our lives. We will have a spiritual awakening. Our life will be transformed. When we let the Spirit's guidance and direction and the love of Jesus work in and through us we won't have to be worried about who the others are. We can be of service to and an instrument of love in the lives of those who suffer as we did and of those with whom we have nothing more in common than humanity and everyone in between. We don't have to confine ourselves to only helping or reaching out to any particular group, nor do we have to ignore those like us in search of a broader audience for our message.

But we do need to remember that our lives are the message. That people will listen to our actions, our body language, and our facial expressions far earlier and with more attention than they will ever listen to our words. People will want what we have if we show that we have something desirable. They will believe that Jesus loves them if we love them like Christ. But if we say God bless you, be at peace while refusing to love, accept and serve as Jesus did, we will not only fail to draw others to Him, we will push them further away and cause them more pain. Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted and to set the captive free, not to beat the wounded and condemn. That is the good news. That is our hope. It is what He did for us and the truth that He loves us as we are, not as we should be, but also enough not to leave us the mess we are that is everything. We need to practice, by grace, the submission to the Spirit that leads to freedom, love and service in all our affairs, in every situation and at every time so we will be an instrument of love, peace and joy and a light of hope and freedom to others. When we will lift Him up in our attitude and actions, others will be drawn to Him. And...we will fail. We will fall short. We are being transformed, not have been transformed. We are becoming like Jesus, not have already attained that likeness. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection. While we need to be aware that we are always on display as a disciple and child of God and walk accordingly, we also need to remember that we don't have to earn His love or help, that His mercies are new every morning and that He is quick to forgive and longs to restore us to right relationship with Him. And finally, remember that while we are called and responsible to carry the message, we are not responsible for nor in control of anyone receiving that message or how they respond to it.

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.

Spirit Filled Marriage: Part 2 Wise Wives

Dalyn Woodard returns to the book of Ephesians, verses 22-33 of chapter 5,. Looking at the longest passage of New Testament scripture on marriage and the instruction to the wife who is giving the Spirit control of her life and marriage. This controversial and often misused passage of scripture is really more about the wife's relationship with Jesus than with her husband. The message,  "Spirit Filled Marriage: Part 2 Wise Wives" is about 55 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, November 15, 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. Part 8, Count It All Joy, can be found here. Part 9. Power Prayer, can be found here. Part 10, Walking In Unity, can be found here. Part 11, Grow Up, can be found here. Part 12, Trading Up, can be found here. Part 13, Daddy Knows Best, can be found here. Part 14, Turn On The Light, can be found here. Part 15, Living Under The Influence, can be found here, and Part 16, Spirit Filled Marriage: Part 1 Wise Husbands, 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 ~ November 15, 2017 ~ The God Problem, Part 3

Today, in the final Moment on the subject of the trouble we in recovery have with looking to God for freedom, I will be addressing the issue that I still struggle with the most. The first of the Moments on The God Problem, from Monday, dealt anger towards God getting in the way of relationship and surrender. This once was my biggest issue, but it's one that rarely is a blip on the radar for me any more. The God Problem, Part 2, from yesterday, looked at religion and the failings of the church as hindrances to relationship and surrender that lead to freedom, and it is something I see a whole lot of people struggle with, both those in recovery and the non-addicts. But the area I still get hit with the most, even though I know better, is the idea that God doesn't want the best for me.

I don't know if that's how I would really say it, and maybe you wouldn't say it that way either, but can you relate to this fear and struggle, the fear that if we completely and totally surrender our will and lives over to God and say honestly not my will but Yours be done that He will then have us do something that we really don't want to do and life will be miserable servitude? Sometimes when we have dreams and desires, we can't imagine that giving them up to serve God will make us happier and be more fulfilling. Other times we struggle with giving God control because we really don't trust Him. What if what He wants isn't what we want? What if it hurts? What if it means we don't get to do or have or be what we want? Is what He has for us really better?

I remember when, as a teen, a minister's wife prayed for me and said during the prayer that I was called, ordained was the word she used, to be a minister for the Lord. At the time I don't think there was anything that I wanted less. If someone had asked me if I had to choose working in a sewer until I died or being a preacher, I'd have chosen the sewer. And in a way I did. I looked her in the eyes, said no, and walked out of the church service. I ran from God and the call on my life, and although I didn't end up in a whale like Jonah, I dug a grave for myself and climbed in, waiting to die. The chains of addiction became tighter and heavier as I looked for things to change the way I felt, tried to fill the God-shaped hole in my soul and looked for an escape from the misery of life.

What's ironic about this is that when I came to the place of surrender and finally found freedom from the drink and drugs, I had forgotten all about that evening where I said no to ministry. I didn't wake up one day and say yes to the call or try to repent of running. I simply began trying to give away what I had been given. I felt more and more like ministry is where I needed to be and service in that area gave me more satisfaction and contentment and purpose than I expected. I became a full-time minister, and one night after preaching I thought, who would have ever believed that I would become a preacher and enjoy it? The Holy Spirit said, I did, and I remembered the prayer I'd said no to. I spent years running from God, so long that I forgot what I was running from. And it turned out that what I thought would be the worst thing for me, what I would hate most to do, is indeed what I enjoy most, even more than the photography I loved and made my career before.

What God calls us to do may, usually will, take us out of our comfort zone. It might seem scary and overwhelming. but it will actually turn out to be so suited to us and satisfying we will be surprised that we ever drug our heels against His leading. If that is true, and I believe it is, then why would I still struggle with it? I don't struggle with the ministry aspect. But there are still times when I wonder, God, why did you take this away or deny me that? Despite the historical proof that living for myself and pursuing pleasure and comfort and security through living according to my will, through looking out for myself, through selfishly approaching life and relationships with a what's in it for me? attitude always led to emptiness, misery, hopelessness and despair, I still sometimes fear that giving up what I will and want for His will and desires for me will somehow shortchange me. I still at times hurt over things and wonder if my life would be better if some things I wanted hadn't been denied me, like fatherhood.

But what I have found is that where I can compare and contrast, I have not ever had a time where I chose His will over mine that there wasn't more joy, peace, love, satisfaction and contentment for me in His will than in mine. I never lost or gave up anything that He didn't give me something better in its place. There are other areas that I can't be objective about or compare. I can't check what God has given me against the joy of being able to walk a daughter down the aisle or teach a son how to drive. I never got to do those things, so I don't know. But one day, I believe, I will see and understand and see that God's will, even in that area, was actually better for me.

There is something within us that wants to be our own god. We want to make our own way, have our own will in everything. We want what we want, and we want it now. When it comes time to surrender our will and life over to the care of God, we balk or we do it half way, or we struggle to do it at the very least. It goes against our nature to trust God's plan to be more satisfying and enjoyable for us than our own. No matter how often our will leads to misery and destruction. It can and does get easier, but I won't say that I know this struggle is ever done. Maybe it is for some. But until I experience total freedom from that fight I won't say it happens. I suspect it may not, since we are called to die to ourselves daily and follow Jesus. Dying is hard. It can be painful. I suspect that we can expect at least some discomfort with the idea of total surrender and submission from time to time, if not every day that we do it.

But I can and will say this. I have seen in the lives of others and experienced in my own life the truth that Daddy loves us truly and greatly. He loves us as we are, not as we should be, and He loves us enough not to leave us as we are. Sometimes the last thing I want to do is get out of bed in the morning, but my day is better when I go on and get up than when I stay in bed too long. And sometimes the last thing I want to do is say no to me and yes to Him. But when I do, my day is better. My life is worth living. Even when it is hard or hurts, there is a peace I still don't quite understand, a joy that doesn't die in the midst of suffering and a love that gives me a reason to go on. I never had those in the hard times of my own will. I didn't have them in the best times of my own will. What I have found is that when I and others have continued to say Your will be done, not mine and surrendered lives over to His care, life has been better. This God problem, the idea that our way may be or feel better, can be overcome through honest experimentation. I didn't say done away with. I said overcome. If you honestly give God control and walk by His power in His way, you will discover that it is the easier, softer way to joy and satisfaction. There will be days when it's still hard to get out of bed and say yes, but when we deny ourselves at that moment, go on and get up and give Him us, there is strength, freedom, joy, peace, love and a live worth living full of contentment in surrender to and relationship with the Daddy in Heaven who loves you.

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.