Unshackled Echo ~ December 31, 2018 ~ The First Step

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

December 31, 2015.

Well, we made it through another year, and it's New Year's Eve. Tomorrow begins the new year, and in truth, other than changing the calendar and remembering to write 16 instead of 15, there won't be a lot of difference between today and tomorrow. But it is a point that we mark as a new beginning and often the new year is when many people try to break the bondage of addictions and bad habits. If that is you, then remember that it won't likely be easy. If what you want to eliminate from your life had not become at the least ingrained and at most a chain of bondage it would have been set aside naturally as soon as it became undesirable.

The first step to any recovery, whether from addiction or a habitual sin, wrong attitude or behavior, is to realize that we can't change it or stop it or control it on our own. The first step is not admitting we have a problem. The first step is realizing that we can't fix ourselves. That our habits and addictions have become our master. We don't like to admit that, but we can't find freedom without understanding that we're slaves that are in need of emancipation. How may times have we thought about changing something and then decided it's really not that bad or not worth the effort it will take to change it? How many times have we trued to stop or start something better in its place only to have failed to stay stopped or not continued doing the improved thing? That's powerlessness. We are powerless over our old behavior, and determination won't be enough. Hitting reset at the start of the year won't last long, and we'll soon find ourselves in the same place that we were on New Year's Eve. In order to find freedom, something different must be done. Seeing that we need something else, something to help do what we can't do is the first step to freedom and lasting change.


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.

Don't Get Lost

It's easy to get lost these days. Even GPS, as good as it is, can lead us astray. Wally Flynt shares on how we need to be careful where we get direction from and what direction we give ourselves and others. The message, "Don't Get Lost," is about 5 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on December 30, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

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 ~ December 29. 2018 ~ Mail Order Change

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

December 29, 2015.

As I came in from work yesterday evening, I stopped at the box to check the mail. The only thing inside was a little note from our mail carrier that read I'll bring your change tomorrow. My first thought was, "wouldn't that be nice?" I knew what the note meant. Leah mailed something yesterday and left money for postage with the package in the mail box. She left more than enough, and the carrier didn't have change, I knew it was about the nickels and dimes or pennies Leah overpaid, but I couldn't help but think of what the note said.

I'll bring your change tomorrow. This is the time of year when it's easy to start thinking about what we would like to change, to improve, to add or remove to our habits and lives. Even people who don't make resolutions often can't help but think about the change they would like to see in their lives. Wouldn't it be nice if we could order our change out of the catalog? The mail carrier could bring it to our door just in time for the new year.

The reason many people don't make resolutions is because so often they don't work. Resolving to do things differently often doesn't last long regardless of the time of year that we decide to try. Change is hard work. It takes a lot of effort and constant attention to prevent slipping up and doing something or not doing something without thinking about it. And there are things we've gotten so used to doing that they have become a part of who we are. Overcoming those traits, even acquired traits, in order to stop doing them or to make room for developing new habits sometimes takes more than determination and hard work. Sometimes it takes a miracle.

And you can't order a miracle from a catalog. No, the mail carriers will not be bringing the change we want to see in our lives. But there is One who can. God said to make our request to Him. He is our ever present source of help in times of need. He is the One who sets the captives free, breaks the chains of bondage and makes old natures transform into new ones. I'm not saying that it doesn't take any effort on our part. It takes a lot of effort to bow the knee and surrender. In fact even that takes a miracle, because it's only by His grace that we are able to want to surrender, much less do it. But if we surrender to Him, He will guide us to the change that we need. He will take us from our old self centered lives to a life worth living.

We can ask Him to remove those things from our lives which block our relationship and our service to Him and give us everything we need, including new hearts and attitudes, to be of maximum service to Him and others. If we do this every day, the old things in our life can come to be without the need to figure it our for ourselves. He will take us to and through the transformation.


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 ~ December 28, 2018 ~ Spokes On The Wheel Of Life

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

December 28, 2015.

Help us to grow closer together as we grow closer to you.

The above sentence is something I ray quite often about my relationship with my wife. We all have relationships in our lives that we are happy with but that could  always be better, that we want to be better. We also have relationships that we desperately need to be better. It's easy to get caught up in trying to do the things that will improve relationships to such an extent that all our focus is turned toward repairing or improving the relationship. I have certainly been guilty of this. It's logical. If we want a relationship to be better, we have to work for it. Even Christian book stores are filled with books on how to improve relationships.

It is vital that we clean up our side of the street, to do our part to seek forgiveness and make things right for the wrongs that we have done, big and small, old and fresh, that have damaged relationships. We also need to keep our attitude in check so that we don't keep making things worse. But after that, we really need to let it go. The answer is not in pursuing a better relationship with our spouse or parents or sibling or child or or or. The answer is in pursuing a deeper relationship with our Creator.

He must be our deepest love. Our relationship with Him must be the one we desire most to improve and repair, by the power of His grace. But wait. Relationship with others are important, we shouldn't ignore them, right? Right. I am not saying to isolate and say well this relationship isn't good enough but it doesn't matter because I'm pursuing God. We all connect and interact with others. That is how God made us. Each relationship in our lives is like a spoke on a wheel. There's a spoke for our father. One for our mother. One for our partner. One for each sibling. One for each child. One a piece for friends. There is even a spoke for our relationship with ourself. Individual make ups will vary, and some have more spokes on the wheel of life than others. But we all have these spokes.

The problem comes when we treat God as though He is just another entity with whom we have relationship, another spoke on the wheel. He's not. He is the wheel within the wheel that stays fixed and unmoving as the spokes rotate around Him and travel in toward Him, connecting to Him. As the spokes reach the center, they come together. The closer to the center, the closer the spokes are in relation to the others.

When we keep God at the center, where He set Himself, and pursue that relationship above and before all others, we move toward Him, toward the center. We can pray for our other spokes, that their relationship with our Heavenly Daddy will also improve and that they will grow closer to God. Sometimes we can encourage and help them to grow closer to Him. Sometimes the situation is bad enough that  we can't yet participate in the relationship. The spokes have to much distance between them for interaction. But if we keep moving to the center and praying for the others to do the same, we can rest assured that we will meet in harmony at the muddle. In the meantime, as we al get closer to the One who made the wheel and all the spokes in the first place, we will find the relationships improving and we grow closer to one another.

We surrender all, even our relationships to our Lord. We allow Him to do the work that  needs done in our lives to make us more like Him and who He wants us to be. We leave the work in the lives of others to Him and prayer (with the exception of children that are still young enough that we are to be faithful to train them and raise them up to pursue Him and know Him). The rest will repair itself. It may not happen as quickly as we like, and may not occur in the ways we would expect or plan if we were in charge, but it will happen.

So let us rejoice in the relationships that we have that are right and good, while praying for all involved to grow closer to God. Let us surrender the ones that aren't right to the Father so that they don't become something we pursue more than Him and pray and wait and continue to pursue Him above all else. One day we will wake up and find ourselves more tightly knit together.

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 ~ December 27 ~ Pump Up The Volume

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

December 27, 2015.

When I started down Recovery Road I learned early on in the journey the importance of gratitude in order to maintain the proper spiritual condition needed to continue to stay free. The scriptures are filled with instruction and encouragement to have a grateful heart. In everything give thanks and enter His gates with thanksgiving are just a couple that come quickly to mind. I have experienced the truth that a grateful heart is a force that frees the soul.

A few years ago, after a motorcycle accident, X-rays showed spots on my lymph nodes around my lungs that looked like cancer. I prepared for the biopsy surgery by spending time making sure I stayed in a good place spiritually. Still there was an understanding that my life might be coming to an end. I began working on my bucket list. I wanted to make the time I had left with my wife and family count, however long that might be. I came across a bucket list idea that consisted of writing down five things grateful for every day for a year. I loved the idea and began implementing it immediately. It was an awesome experience, so much so that when the year ended I continued the practice. I shared the little gratitude list in my Facebook page each  night.

I've missed a few days here and there over the past three years, but the "Five things I am grateful for today: posting has become a consistent part of my life. Recently I began to wonder if it really made a difference. I can be grateful without having to publish a few things I am grateful for, right? Well, right....and wrong.  Over the last couple of weeks that I have taken a break from the gratitude list the volume of my praise and the level of gratefulness throughout my day has dropped. I wish I could say that wasn't the case. Over the past years of maintaining this practice I found myself going through my days looking for things that should end up on the list that evening. I spent little moments throughout every day noticing things to be grateful for and giving God praise and thanks for them.

Many times I  forgot something that I intended to make the list as I reviewed my day, but at the moment they happened I had those moments of thanksgiving and gratefulness. Within a few days of knowing that I would not be writing my list down in the evening I stopped searching for things to put down. I realize now that I began to go through my day without noticing many of the things that just a little while ago would have filled me with wonder at the blessings of my life.

As we approach the end of the year, many will be reviewing the past 12 months. Yes, we need to look at areas of our life we need or want to improve, but if you inventory the year, I would encourage special encouragement to look for the blessings and things that happened this year to be grateful for. Then as we start a new year and many start trying to improve and incorporate new and better habits I would say that increasing gratitude and praise on a daily basis should be high on the list.

Maybe taking the time to write down one or a few things you're grateful for every day might work, whether it is published on social media or kept in a private journal for personal review or texted to a friend, just something more tangible than a mental note. Maybe something entirely different would work better for you. I would simply look for a way to turn up the gratefulness keep the praise flowing throughout the day. There's no need to wait four days either. A thankful heart doesn't need to be ruled by a calendar, but give whatever you come up with enough time, perhaps at least 30 days, to begin to make a difference before doing any evaluation. Make being grateful an action verb and a regular practice. I will begin posting my gratitude list again this evening. Maybe I will see yours.


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 ~ December 26. 2018 ~ Love

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

December 26, 2015.

Advent has ended, Christ is come. Let all the world rejoice. But we don't rejoice. Not everyone, and certainly not all the time. In everything, every moment and situation we do not find the time or the ability to have a grateful heart or to rejoice in the Lord. There is a Christmas song, probably more than one that mentions that this is the time of year that we remember Love has come. And it is. The last week of Advent, the week I took vacation from writing, has love as its theme.

Perhaps there is a part of all us that hears about that love and feels unimpressed and unmoved by the idea of it all. Love is an overused word in the English language. I loved Christmas dinner and all the amazing food my mother cooked. For that matter, I love my mother and my father. I love my nieces and nephews that were running around the house and the ones who weren't there. I love my wife. She is my treasure. I love my new Batman T-shirt and my boots. I love the Texas Tech Red Raiders, and I love that they are going to play LSU in their bowl game next week. I love Christmas music and staying up late to watch Christmas movies.

I could go on and on. We love all kinds of things with all kinds of love. When I write those words, I assume most people don't think that I have the same type of feeling for Christmas dinner as I do for my wife. We mean different things depending on the context when we say the word love. For that matter, there are meany times when we use the word to illicit a response or find a way to manipulate someone else when it isn't felt at all. So we can sometimes get a little ambivalent about love.

Really, I think we sometimes don't understand what it means when we say or hear that God loves us. Actually, I would say most times. We don't have proper context to assign it meaning. We know it should be a greater type of love than that for a wife or family member, but we act more like God loves us more like a football fan loves their team when they are winning but won't stand by them when they have a bad season.

For love Christ came. The Father loved the world to such a great extent that He sent His Son. The Son came and died for love. The Greeks understood that love is a complicated idea. I love cherries and my wife, but that love is not even remotely the same idea. So they had different words for the different ideas. The love that brought Christ to Bethlehem and took Him to the cross is called agape in the Greek. It means the highest form of love. Whatever the highest most pure form of love is, that's the way God loves us.

The problem is that we don't even comprehend that. We can strive to love with pure love, but we fall so short. We don't love God perfectly.  Nor do we love anyone or anything perfectly, purely or without pollutants. So how can we understand something we have no experience to associate meaning by? We can understand certain concepts and ideas though, even when we never quite know the reality of the concept ourselves. There is an amazing and deep love that a person can have for someone who does not return it. Perhaps years go by while one person rejects all other options and waits patiently for the other to notice and return the love. Getting nothing in return they give their heart completely. In fiction eventually the feeling would be mutual and the two would become a couple, because we can't stand the idea that such love not be rewarded and victorious. But all too often it's not. That's how God loves us. Like the lover anticipating the happily ever after with a bride to be that most times forgets He exists.

And there's the love that makes a mother willing to die for her child or a soldier fall on a grenade to protect his brothers. Yeah, God loves us that way too. The cross shows that. However we attribute the greatest idea of the purest love, that what we can find in Jesus. As we put Christmas behind us and turn our eyes toward a new year, let us go forward with an awareness of great love. Hold the definition, highest love, close to heart so that we can keep in mind our best understanding of what it means when we say that God loves us. Then, let us pray to return His love in the same form.



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.

What Christmas Is All About

Life can be hard, and so can the holidays. Things may not be the way we'd like. Darlene Woodard shares on the love that makes things right, even when everything else is wrong. The message, "What Christmas Is All About" is about 4 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on December 23, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

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 ~ December 24, 2018 ~ That's The Power Of Love

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

December 20, 2016.

There is nothing more able to inspire and empower change as love. When we find freedom from our bondage through a relationship with God we discover something amazing.  First, God is love. We've heard it so often it is cliche, but it is also true. Second, Love cares for us. Love loves us. Not only does God have the power to set us free from the things we can't free ourselves from and restore us to a right and sound mind, but He wants to, because He loves us.

No, it doesn't make sense, especially when we are dragging ourselves out of the gutter we chose to crawl into, half dead or more, unable to offer anything and begging for help. He looks at us not with contempt or disgust but with love, and He doesn't look away. So, Love loves us and fills us with love.

We are filled with love for ourselves, but not in a selfish, conceited, prideful way, rather in a I am loved and valued by God so I will love and value myself as He does and stop destroying myself kind of way. He fills us with love for others. We ask Him to when we ask to be prepared and changed and freed to be of maximum service. It takes love to truly serve and give of ourselves.

As we work the steps to freedom we learn to walk in the power of God rather than our own strength, to live by love rather than selfishness. We love God, so we stay surrendered to His will. We love ourselves, so we use God's power to stop our self destruction. We  love others, so we serve and clean up our side of the street, because of love and by the power of love, in order to show the glory, power and way of life of Love. And somewhere in the midst of all of that, before we are halfway through, we find a life worth living,  a life we can love. And then we can stay free and shine that rescuing love into the lives of 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.

The Wonders Of His Love

Even the wonder and the beauty of a sunset can be beyond our ability to express in words. How much more the glory of the great love Daddy has for us. Dalyn Woodard shares on the love that was given to us that can change our lives forever with the coming of Christ to the world. The message, "The Wonders Of His Love" is about 15 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on December 23, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

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 ~ December 22, 2018 ~ Never Having To Say Sorry

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

December 19, 2016.

Love means never having to say you're sorry. It means wanting to. Yes, I am serious, but no, I am not talking about that kind of wanting to say we're sorry because we walked by a butterfly which then flapped it's wings and six weeks later a hurricane formed and we didn't mean to destroy peoples' lives like that. I am not talking about trying to accept responsibility and make apologies for things that caused no damage or wasn't damage done by us. And I am also not talking about treating someone so coldly or badly or keeping them at such a distance that they come to the point where they want to say their sorry.

I'm talking about love and how it changes us from selfish, self-centered people into caring children of God. When we love God we will want to please Him, and when we know that we have done wrong, we will want to acknowledge it, accept our forgiveness, make it right with anyone we hurt and move on. Loving God is going to make us want to be right with Him and clean before Him.

Loving God also means loving those God loves, and that means others. What others? Every other you come across. And saying you're sorry, making amends and making it right with those others is so important to God that He said He'd rather that we go make restoration in our relationships with people than that we come and worship and make sacrifices to Him. Before you serve me, repent to your brother. Make it right. Not because you have to, but out of love for Me, for him and for yourself. You can't serve Me right if you are pretending not to be wrong in relationships where you were wrong, if you are feuding and fighting with someone that I need you to love, and you can not be a light to Me if every time you try to shine the light of My love someone can point out how you wronged them and never even tried to make it right. Love will want those issues settled so that we can be of maximum service to God and others.

If we are walking in love, we will be quick to forgive. So, there won't be any of that manipulative, passive aggressive (or just plain aggressive) treatment of someone to make them clean their yard. Clean your own property and let their trash go. If you really want to love like Jesus did then you clean your trash (He didn't have any), any of their trash that blew or got thrown onto your property, and then you offer to clean their property for them for free. You forgive before they ever say sorry, whether out of wanting to or feeling that they should, and even if they never do.

Love is not about who says sorry and why. Love is all about wanting to do what will enable that love to shine into the darkness of others and not blocking the flame with unforgiveness, with refusing to make amends for our stuff until they acknowledge their part, and with trying to excuse, justify and shift blame. Love is able to take responsibility and admit wrong and try to restore what was damaged because love is not afraid of rejection or judgment. There is no need to fear either of those things when we know that LOVE came and made a way for us to be forever accepted by Daddy and clean before Him.

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 ~ December 21, 2018 ~ Come Let Us Adore Him

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

December 19, 2015.

Joy, to be fully realized and experienced must be accompanied by the giving of thanks or gratitude. Any moment of joy that does not include gratitude will be short lived. But when joy includes thanksgiving it can cause the joy to continue, much like a perpetual motion machine that harnesses the steam coming of an engine, pumping it back inside to further power the motor. True gratitude causes and produces joy, which in turn increases gratefulness and produces more joy. When joy is lacking, the natural instinct is often to search for pleasure and happiness. But the joy found in such a way usually does not last long or is counterfeit to begin with.

The better path to increase joy is to start with praise and thanksgiving to the One who  is our source of authentic and power filled joy. Joy that can't be stolen or broken is joy that comes from the Spirit of God into our lives when we spend time in the presence of God. And the quickest way into the throne room of the Creator King is praise and thanksgiving. Like the shepherds who believed they were entering a barn with a manger and were unaware that they knelt before a throne, what we perceive with our senses is so much less important than the spirit of worship in our hearts. Come let us adore Him, for in our worship and gratefulness of who He is and His love for us is the source of all lasting joy.



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.

Times Of Disappointment

The emphasis on joy this time of year can make us realize how little we actually have. As much as we desire and search for joy in life disappointment can crush our joy. Dalyn Woodard shares on how Jesus draws near to us in times of disappointment and heartache and how He is the source of our joy that can withstand the hard times. The message, "Times Of Disappointment," is about 36 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on December 19, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

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 ~ December 19, 2018 ~ The Lord's Joy

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on
December 17, 2015.

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

- Nehemiah 8:10

I have heard this verse so many times quoted just as it is above. This happens so much that I bet many believe that the above is Nehemiah 8:10. Occasionally you se the phrase Do not grieve, for added before it. A google search of images of Nehemiah 8:10 is dominated by the verse quoted in one of these two ways. But that's not the verse.

Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

- Nehemiah 8:10 in it's entirety.

When it's seen like this it's harder to forget that the phrase the joy of the Lord is your strength has a context to it. It's not a stand alone mantra after all. It's easy to get caught up in some idea that joy is our strength to such an extent that when we feel weak and overwhelmed we also feel justified in trying to manufacture joy. We try to force joy, to create joy out of a hope for joy. We fake it  til we make it and pretend to be  happy. Choose joy we tell ourselves and others so often that trying to walk in joy begins to feel hypocritical because it's a mask we wear rather than a true state of being. No one is really that happy we tell ourselves because we're not happy under the surface. Our joy is either fleeting or a farce.

One thing to keep in mind is the context of the verse. Nehemiah declared the joy of the Lord is the strength of whom? Was he saying this to good people under good circumstances? No. These were basically refugees. They had returned to Israel from exile as slaves and prisoners of a conquering nation. They returned to destruction and devastation that had been a direct result of sin and failure to walk with God. They were surrounded by the wreckage of the past. As they tried to rebuild they found opposition rather than help and encouragement. In fact their enemies wanted to keep them from rebuilding so badly that the men had to work with a tool in one hand and a sword in the other. Finally the walls of the city were completed and they had time to reflect and read the scriptures. Nehemiah read them the law of the Lord, and upon hearing it and understand the standard their lives were to be measured by and the great extent of their failure and short comings they were mightily grieved. They were devastated. The standard is holiness. Their lives were a mess, filled with sin. In that moment of revelation and despair Nehemiah told them to eat, drink, share with others, worship God and stop grieving. It is His joy that would be their strength to go on from that point. The word translated strength is actually stronghold, a place of refuge and safety from the enemies and the elements. It's a place to hide.

When everything is messed up, when we've messed up, when life, our circumstances, our enemies and our past all say there is no hope and no point, there is a safe place where we can flee and be protected from all of that. That place of safety is the joy of the Lord. But that place is not joy. If we forget that joy is not the answer or the hiding place  then we begin to search for joy as though it were the holy grail. Joy is the answer, look for joy. The enemy doesn't mind this at all, because it's looking for the wrong thing. In fact, he'll be all too happy to give suggestions of things and people that could provide joy and escape. In the end they only bring disappointment and bondage. No, joy is not the answer.

And it;s not joy in the Lord. Mentally or in practice making that little prepositional change makes a huge difference. While there is a call to delight ourselves, or take joy in, who the Lord is and in His love for us, even that is not our strength, our power to keep going in times of failure and hardship, in times of destruction and desolation. Our joy in Him and in our relationship with Him will fall short, because it is our joy. There is nothing of us or in us that is strong enough or consistent enough to rely on.

Nehemiah's call was not to remember or meditate on joy and find strength. His call was to first  worship God. The refuge is a result. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. - Galatians 5:22-23. We don't run on our own anything. To do so is to walk in the flesh or to be carnally minded. We run on, are fueled by and are guided by the power of the Spirit.  It is literally the Lord's joy that is our stronghold, our strength, not ours. His joy is what we can rely on, just as it is His peace that passes understanding and is there for us in the midst of storms and His love that changes how we treat others and ourselves.

Don't search for joy. Don't try to create it or maintain it. Search for the One who came at Christmas and rose on Easter. Come and worship Him. In closeness to Him we find the things we can count on. They are not ours, but His. The Lord's joy is our strength.

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 ~ December 18, 2018 ~ JOY

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on
December 16, 2015.

Sometimes it is so hard to tap into the joy of the Lord, and even harder to tap into the joy of the season. We know it's supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year with joy to the world. Yet, we want to scream for most of it and feel more frantic and frustrated than joyful. We get so wrapped up in ourselves, what we have to and need to do, what we won't be able to do, how everyone and everything around us is effecting us and effecting our ability to accomplish our to do lists, etc. There are times when taking a step back and getting the focus off self can make all the difference between being miserable and having joy. The truth that being self centered is the root of our problems does not change just because it's the Advent/Christmas season. It may even be more true. We can turn our eyes on Jesus and watch the anxieties and frustrations fade away as we give of ourselves in service to others, even if that service is no more than returning rude behavior with a smile and love. There is an acronym for joy that can help us find it: J. Jesus first, O. others second, Y. yourself last.

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 ~ December 17, 2018 ~ Unspeakable Joy

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on
December 14, 2015.

Joy, unspeakable joy

And overflowing where no tongue can tell

Joy, unspeakable joy

Rises in my soul, never lets me go

- Chris Tomlin

How do you write about a joy that you can't speak about? Written or spoken, words are words, and for something to be indescribable with the tongue it is equally elusive of definition and description with a pen or keyboard. Joy is the Advent theme that I have the most trouble with in all honesty, because it's the one that I count on most, the one I feel the ghosts of the most, and the one that I can't quite seem to catch when I need to. All too often, my circumstances rob me of my joy because I haven''t gotten down the ability to tap into the joy of the Lord with the consistency needed to guide my life.

I know that it's more than pleasure or happiness and that it isn't produced by, or defined by, our circumstances or emotions. In fact, it can have more effect on them they they can have on it. I have seen it. Well, I say I have seen it the way that I say that I've seen the wind. I've seen the effects of the wind.

I've seen the effects of the joy. I've seen the light remain in the eyes of a man dying of cancer. He had so much pain he could barely move, and yet there was a spark in his eye and a tone to his voice that could only be described as joy. I've seen it in the lives of others, such as my Ma Woody and my father. I've seen a true but lesser version in the lives of those who love each other well. I've even experienced this breeze of love that brings joy even in the midst of hardships. My wife has made this possible, but I still can't describe the breeze, much less the gale force winds of joy the love of God creates.

I have a hard time having faith in something that I can't even speak about or describe sometimes. And yet, while I don't feel the wind as often as I know I could, I do feel it from time to time. I know it's there. It's not a matter of seeking it out or proving it exists as much as it is a matter of learning to adjust my sails to catch it. Joy has come through the Son, ministered to us by the Spirit because of the great love of the Father. This Advent season and beyond let us ask God for the grace to adjust our sails so that we can catch the winds of His joy in every circumstance, during the roughest of storms and the calmest seas. We may never be able to describe that joy that gives us strength and doesn't depend on things feeling or being a certain way, our way, a comfortable way, but we can feel it. And when we fill our sails with it, it can take us across any and every sea, and keep us safely moving to the shores of the kingdom 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.

Where Is The Joy?

We struggle in pursuit of joy, especially during this time of year, but so many of the things and ways we try to get joy bring misery instead. Dalyn Woodard shares on what truly brings joy and a life worth living. The message, "Where Is The Joy" is about 12 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on December 16, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

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 ~ December 15, 2018 ~ Merry Christmas, War Is Over

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

December 8, 2015.

The search for peace takes on many different forms. There are so varied approaches to to the hunt, and it somewhat depends on what you're hunting for, how you are at the moment of the search defining peace. For some it's an end to fighting, whether that be between nations or spouses or children or strangers at Wal-Mart. For some it's more about not being anxious or stressed or worried. For some it's all about not being afraid of the future. So depending on what variation of peace is desired the way we look often changes.

But what if we want them all? Every variation and category, if it's peace it's wanted. Then it gets so much easier, because it becomes so obviously impossible that we know we have to look to the miraculous for it to happen. We know absolute peace of every kind and in every situation can only come from God. We could never pull that off. So what do we need to do to access that peace of God that passes all our understanding and ability to attain?

Surrender. Surrender is the key to peace. We were at war with God, determined to run a successful rebellion against the Master of All in order to be the ruler of our own life. Once we surrender to Him we not only become His children but citizens of His kingdom. The war is over. But how over depends on how much we surrender. When Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant, the U. S. Civil War officially came to an end. But for some of the individuals involved it didn't end until a later date. Some because they did not receive the good news that the war had ended, and for others because they themselves refused to surrender and held onto their anger and hate. If you are a Christian, then you have surrendered enough to have the war declared over. But we lived as rebels for so long, we have to adjust our lives and attitudes to being in a state of surrender rather than rebellion. Sometimes that means our actions are too much like the old rebellion than the new surrendered and pardoned citizen.

The more completely, and unconditionally we are able to surrender to the King who came and made a way for us to make peace with our Creator and His will for our lives, the more peace we will have. The less fighting we'll have to endure, whether that be fighting with others, fighting and struggling with and within ourselves, or fighting for security. If we simply lay down our arms and stop fighting, if we surrender, we can have peace. But there can be no lasting or true peace as long as we maintain our right to rise up and fight. For the spirit of peace to reign in our hearts, the spirit of rebellion must be dethroned so that a baby born in a barn, killed on a cross and raised from the dead can have His rightful place as King in our hearts and lives.

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 ~ December 14, 2018 ~ Christmas Cheer

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

December 7, 2015.

The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.

- Isaiah 9:2

There's a lot of talk around this time each year of Christmas cheer. The idea seems to be that we're supposed to be happy and carefree, and if we're not, if we're hurting or tired or frightened or lonely that we're just Scrooges and need to get with the program. Some of us are happy. Some do have joy and peace and actual goodwill toward their fellows, but all the manufactured jolly chipperness is enough to make some want to hide from the season. It isn't fun to feel broken and hurting and like you're dying inside. Living in the shadow of death is miserable, and it only gets worse when it seems like we're supposed to just get over it and be happy already.

The good news is that holiday cheer is not a commandment of God. You don't have to put on a smile and pretend everything is OK to please God. In fact, that is the last thing He wants. Jesus didn't come to cheer us up. He came to shine a light on our darkest shadows. Light doesn't make shadows feel better. Light destroys shadows. The greater the light the less shadow there are, and if you have enough light coming from every direction no shadows remain. He didn't come to teach us how to mask our sorrow or give us rehab so that we can function in our brokenness. He came to heal our brokenness and comfort us.

If anxiety increases for you this time of year because it feels like you have to perform, to act the part on some stage fulll of Christmas cheer, be encouraged and be at peace. You don't have to be anxious. You don't have to fret. You don't have to act. Just cry out to Jesus and seek His light. Let Him have access to your shadows.. He loves us as we are, not as we should be. So much of our fear and worry and stress can be replaced by peace that doesn't depend on circumstances when we simply follow the light to Him and bask in the warmth of His love rather than try to manufacture cheer.

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.

An Instrument Of Peace

Life can be so chaotic and stressful that we all long for peace. Dalyn Woodard shares on how we can be a part of God's plan to bring peace to others and to the world and receive peace for ourselves. The message, "An Instrument  Of Peace," is about 36 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on December 12, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

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 ~ December 12, 2018 ~ O Uncomfortable Night

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

December 5, 2015.

Sometimes things simply do not go our way. It seems like nothing goes right. As Christmas approaches it can feel overwhelming as the perfect gift for that loved one gets harder and harder to find and the supply of money and time melt away like snow in East Texas refusing to stick.  The store is sold out of the secret ingredient that makes your dish special, and there isn't an unbroken pie crust to be bought in town. You're so blasted with work and doing those "have to" things, that you haven't had a chance to go shopping, and if a miracle doesn't take place soon, your wife is going to end up getting a Christmas present from a gas station. But just because things aren't falling into place doesn't mean that God is not with you or that you are out of line with His will.

I imagine Joseph must have thought that first Christmas was a lot more stressing than blessing. Here's a man, don't really know how old he is, but he's grown, finally getting the wife he's hoped for and the chance to continue his line with a son. Now the girl turns up pregnant with a story about an angel. It's too much to take. It's unbelievable. But he loves her, so he's going to put her away quietly. Then he has a dream, and the angel tells him Mary's story is true, go through with the wedding, raise that boy. So he goes ahead and marries the girl, but waits on the honeymoon until after the birth of the child. But I would bet he still had his doubts from time to time until that little boy grew to be so righteous that he made the nicest kids in the neighborhood look like whiny brats. So here is Joseph, finally married with all the responsibility and a baby on the way, and suddenly he has to travel?

Can you almost imagine Joseph getting the notice of the census demand to return to his hometown and asking Really? Now" She's due any day. What else could go wrong!? Never ask that question. What else could go wrong? There could be no place to stay in a small town when everyone has to return at the same time. Bethlehem gets a lot of grief over having no room in the inn... the inn, as to give the impression that in the little town of Bethlehem there was only one inn. Try getting a hotel room in Nacogdoches on the weekend of the SFA Homecoming game without booking it a year in advance. It's not easy, and there are quite a few hotels here. Now, surely if the inn keeper had known that Mary carried the Messiah he would have kicked someone out and made room, but really, would the Word that took on flesh to live a life of service and give His life for the world put someone out so He could have a bed? I don't think so. I think Jesus would have felt grateful for the barn and given God the Father thanks and praise.

But Joseph probably wasn't all that happy. Now they're in the barn, miles from home and family and friends that would normally be right by Mary's side to help aren't there. This is a special child and the conditions for His birth surely couldn't seem ideal, and Joseph was a carpenter, not even a shepherd. It's hard to imagine that he had a lot of experience helping with births. Oh God, how are we going to make it through this? How am I going to get it all done? Help me not make a mistake that ruins everything, please. 

But Jesus came, And the angels rejoiced, and the shepherds dropped in. Mary survived and so did the baby. The night became one that the whole world would celebrate and call holy, as though everything went perfectly. But for Joseph it was a hectic evening where he couldn't provide for his wife the way he would want. It was cold, dirty, and the best he could do for a delivery room was a cattle stall that he had to clean out himself. God was there. The night was blessed. It was indeed a holy and special night. But it most certainly was not a comfortable night, a convenient night or a perfect night.

The story of how Jesus entered the word brings us hope, hope that we can have relationship with the Father and that Jesus is coming again as the triumphant King, but it also gives us hope that God can bless the most messed up, out of control circumstances and situations and use them for His glory. Life doesn't have to go as planned, or our way, or perfectly, or comfortably, or conveniently in order to go wonderfully and blessed. So today and this season, as the things happen that always seem to that increase the stress and diminish the appearance of blessings on the season, remember that the most blessed and wonderful day of Christ's birth didn't go so smoothly either. Don't give  up hope. Rejoice! For God is with us.

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 ~ December 11, 2018 ~ Christmas Magic

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

December 3, 2015.

As little children, we would dream of Christmas morn and all the gifts and toys we knew we'd find.

- David Meece

The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.

- Clement Clarke Moore

The Christmas season is a time filled with wishes and dreams. Christmas is a fabled time of magic where dreams come true. But the reality often falls very short of the fable. Dreams often don't come true this time of year, or any other for that matter. Sometimes we do get what we wish for only to discover that it doesn't fill the need or satisfy the soul. Family and friends return to their homes and visits end. The food is eaten and gone. Gifts lose their newness, break or even work just as they should and last a lifetime and still don't provide true joy, inner peace or the love that we so desperately need.

Magic is defined as the power of apparently influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces. So, in one sense the idea of Christmas magic is very real. In another, it is not. A supernatural force, actually The Supernatural Force, the Creator of all, has eternally altered the course of events. But there's nothing as simple as "apparently." Creation has been altered, really and truly altered. And the alteration is continuing its process toward full and complete restoration to what it was all supposed to be. There is a magic of Christmas available to us all this time of year and every day throughout the year.  The magic is the supernatural power of God that started with the birth of Christ and finished with His death and resurrection that altered the course of our lives so that we can access the very throne of the Father, receive the power to become His children and have the Spirit of Christmas, which is the Spirit of Grace and Adoption known as the Holy Spirit, come and make His home within us and give us the power to do what we could never do before, walk with God and have relationship with Him. When our dreams are to have peace, joy and love in our lives despite what's going on in our lives and the world, when we dream of, wish for, long for a closer relationship with God and the time when we will spend eternity with Him, we can know that those Christmas dreams will come true. Not only will they come true someday, sometime in the future, but we can receive glimpses and tastes of them now. A tasty treat of the eternity to come that is better than all the sugar plums, gifts and toys of childhood dreams.

So today let us open our hearts and our lives to the truth of Christmas magic, the gift of grace wrapped in love that came with the birth of Jesus.

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 ~ December 10, 2018 ~ The Naughty List

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

December 2, 2015.

You better watch out 

You better not cry 

Better not pout 

I'm telling you why 

Santa Claus is coming to town.

So begins what has to be a terrifying song for those who have any self awareness combined with a belief in Santa. There's one good reason to outgrow belief. The truth is that the idea of good ol' Saint Nick isn't so great if we really stop and think about it. It that's what Christmas were truly about we'd all be in big trouble wouldn't we? The next verse tells us about that list that Santa has to check twice for some reason. I never knew why. Maybe he does it because he just wants to find someone to put on the good side.

As I write this, I am wearing a T-shirt that reads IF YOU'RE NAUGHTY I WON'T TELL SANTA. I'm no snitch, but really, who are we kidding? Unless you lower the standard of good to much lower than the perfect standard of holiness there's no one good, no not one. Not on our own anyway. Even grading on a serious bell curve won't help. That's what's so depressing about the idea behind Santa. The Santa story expresses what we all know to be true, that we should be good. But nothing in the song or in any of the Santa stories tells us how to manage that. We can't do it.

So the time of year when Santa is coming would be about as much to look forward to as the Boogeyman being on his way, if it were true. Here comes yet another person to point out where we don't and can't measure up, if we're honest. Be good for goodness sake. But we can't. Not if good is to be perfectly loving and caring and kind and.......We just hope that we might be a little more good than we are bad, as though being 51% good is enough. And if we try to say it is, let's get a second opinion from one out of the many that each of us has damaged or hurt in some way while living during the 49% not good time.

But thankfully we're not eagerly awaiting the coming of Santa but Jesus. Jesus didn't say be good for goodness sake. Jesus said be perfect, even as God the Father is perfect. He said you have to be good, and realize that good is pure holiness, because anything less isn't really good. But He didn't say do that or get a lump of coal, achieve perfection or wish you had when the consequences arrive. Instead He said this is the standard, but since we can't do it, He'll pay off our shortcomings with His very life. Then comes the Spirit to give us the grace and the power to do what we can never do on our own, walk righteously.

We can look forward to the coming of the King, because it's not about a list of who's been good or bad but who is His. He gives us the power to belong to God as one of His children and to walk in goodness. He doesn't set the standard and leave us on our own to reach it or maintain it. That's wonderful news, since none of us can. We can rejoice in hope this Christmas and every day because the great gift of grace promised and fulfilled in the birth of Christ sets us free from the weight of the Naughty List. O Come O Come Emanuel and set us free.

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 Spirit Of Christmas Will Crush You - Second Week Of Advent 2018

Dalyn Woodard shares on lighting the candle of peace for Advent. What do we think of when we think about peace and peace on earth? What did it mean for us when the angel declared peace on earth, good will toward men? Do we look to the Spirit of Christmas for peace? The message, "The Spirit Of Christmas Will Crush You - Second Week Of Advent 2018" is about 22 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, December 9, 2018. 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.