Unshackled Echo ~ March 31, 2018 ~ The Good Kind Of Selfishness

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

February 25, 2015.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 

- Philippians 2:5-8

There is an idea that has slipped into Christianity that may have  started with a kernel of truth but has been twisted into a tool to hinder our progress and thwart what we could be used to do by God. The idea behind this lie, this snare to keep us in bondage even as we attempt to walk with God, is that there is a type of selfishness that is both good and necessary in order for us to walk with God and serve Him.

We know that selfishness and living for ourselves is the opposite of denying self, taking up our cross and saying not my will but Yours be done as we follow Jesus, and yet, I have actually read devotions and heard sermons where the admitted conflict between ridding ourselves of selfishness and being selfish about our relationship with God is rationalized away.

Some seem to think that the selfishness needed to walk with God is different than the selfishness of self-indulgence that put us in bondage and is a necessary selfishness. I call nonsense. There is no selfishness that isn't self indulgence. The idea that I have to be selfish in order to make sure I have my relationship with God right before I can concern myself with others or be of service is a lie specifically designed to help me hold back a part of myself rather than completely and utterly surrender to God.

I will give one example of what I mean. I have been told that I have to be selfish with my prayer time and put it before service to others or I won't be able to minister well. Sounds good doesn't it? It sounds like the truth behind get the plank out of your eye before you go digging in your brother's. Except it isn't true or the same. People who make this claim have used the example of the prayer life of Jesus to try to prove their argument. So I will use Jesus to show how it is actually self-denial to pray like Jesus, not selfishness. Jesus got up early, while it was still dark, and went to be alone with the Father and pray. He didn't sleep in. He didn't put His physical need for rest above His spiritual need. He denied Himself. He also didn't tell the hungry crowd to go home and get something to eat because He was pretty wiped Himself and needed to spend some time in prayer before the evening service. He multiplied the fish and bread, fed the masses and continued to minister and serve.

In Mark 7 Jesus showed how the spirit of the law is twisted for selfish tradition. He tells the Pharisees who claimed that the service due their parents that was instead given to God was in fact breaking the commandment to honor parents and a sin, regardless of the idea that it was honoring God. That's because it didn't honor God to dishonor others.

Whenever we hold back the love that we should be giving to someone else for ourselves in order to stay spiritually fit and remain free from areas of bondage that we have been delivered from, we actually accomplish the opposite. When we deny self and love others even to the point of death, we're doing what Jesus did.

Now, please don't start beating yourself half to death with the truth stick. You're not going to be able to do the last sentence of the above paragraph. I can't even come close. There is a God and neither I nor you are Him. If we could live this selflessly we wouldn't have needed Jesus in the first place. The idea, the goal is to grow in this, to have progressively more of Jesus and selflessness and less of me and selfishness. There are going to be times when that person needs to talk and I'm going to say I can't and justify it with the truth that I simply am not up to dealing with it right now rather than stepping out to serve and trusting God for the grace and strength to walk on the water of my weariness. It's happened before, and it will happen again. But let me and you call it what it is. It isn't honoring God by taking care of me so that I can minister and serve better later. It's selfishness, and rather than calling it honor so that I can be comfortable with it, I need to remember that it is something that will keep me on parole rather than free. The bars of bondage may be gone, but the threat of reincarceration  remains. The more self I hold onto the greater the threat of the enemy issuing a warrant to return my shackles.

Jesus said to die is to live, so we might  want to get this idea that we need to preserve ours life out of our system. Besides, we're too late. Colossions 3, Galatians 2, Romans 6 and other scriptures tell us that if we are in Christ we are already dead to our self and to sin. Any life we have is now only found in the extent that we allow Jesus to live in and reign over us. So selfishness, even in "Service to God," is slow motion suicide and trying to breathe life into a corpse, not the freeing life we need and are called to.

Abba, I thank You that You will not withhold Your love from me when I fall short of the ideal of selflessness. I am grateful for the grace and mercy to still hear from You and be of service to You and have relationship with You even though I am still spiritually sick, selfish and far from perfect. Help me to remember that my selfishness and failures never surprise You or tempt You to give up on me, that what You have begun You will complete. But keep me broken and honest enough to see selfishness for what it is. Daddy, right now, I am willing to give You all of me, the good and the bad. I ask You to remove from me demand of selfishness and sin that stands in the way of my usefulness to You and to others this day. Give me Your strength and grace as I climb the hill to my daily cross and respond to Your call on my life today. May I do Your will over mine this day and always. Amen.

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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 ~ March 30, 2018 ~ The Cup That Never Runs Dry

There are many things and many ways we attempt to fill our lives and meet our own needs. We are born with an innate need for relationship with our Creator. Some describe this need as a God-shaped hole in our life. Before meeting that need in the only one who can truly fill it, we try to meet it in other ways. Sometimes, even after entering into relationship with God, we try to satisfy our longings in other ways.

Some of us try to satisfy our souls, quiet our fears and insecurities, enhance the good and numb or distract from the bad with chemicals such as alcohol and drugs. Some look to people, to approval and praise, to relationships or sex. Some look to comfort in food, or material things. Some seek a rush through gambling, risk taking or porn. Some may use a combination of these things or something else entirely. The truth is that many of the things that we try to use as the solution to our distress and emptiness are not always in and of themselves bad things. Some are good in their right purpose and usage, some are good in moderation, and, yes, there are some that are never anything but destructive. But all become destructive when used improperly and when we place them in our lives as a substitute for relationship with Daddy.

So why do we do it? For one thing, they work. At least to a point, and at least for a while. No alcoholic became such because alcohol did nothing for them. It changed the way we felt. It made us feel better or numbed us. It loosened us up and quieted our fears. It did many things that we saw or experienced as positives. At first. Only later, when it ceased to work or when the negative consequences outweighed the positive and still we could not stop did we discover our bondage. After losing everything and then trying yet again to regain what was lost through the same process that caused the deficit, the gambling addict learns he is a slave. You get the idea. No matter how well our little-g gods work for us and satisfy us, they do so at a great cost. And the satisfaction always comes to a bitter end tainted with misery and shame. But we are driven to continue to seek, because something within us knows that there is something out there that satisfies and leads to contentment.

There is. Jesus is the cup that doesn't run dry. He is the answer to our thirst, and those who drink from Him find their need quenched. Jesus described Himself as the living water which will permanently end our thirst. When we find our satisfaction in Him, our satisfaction is no longer fleeting. What an awesome joy! Jesus never runs out. He is always enough. If we become dissatisfied again, we will find upon reflection that we once again turned to people or something other than Jesus to meet our needs, to bring satisfaction and security. Those who put their trust in Him are never brought to shame, meaning that their trust is never misplaced. Jesus can and will always provide what we need to have a life worth living, and the positive results of relationship with Him always outweigh any perceived negatives. We don't have to keep trying things or returning to things that do not work or lead to destruction and death. There is a solution to the emptiness within that does not fail. It is in relationship with Daddy, empowered, comforted and transformed by the Spirit through the work of Jesus on our behalf. We can always count on it, and we can always go deeper in to the presence and relationship with God when we feel dissatisfied. We do not need anything else. More of Jesus is always the direction that will lead to life worth living.

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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.

Favored And Accepted

Dalyn Woodard completes the look at the ministry and anointing of Jesus with the sixth part of Luke 4:17-21. With the last part of His statement, Jesus sums up what the Spirit anointed Him to do and cuts the reading from Isaiah mid-sentence. Why did Jesus stop with the acceptable year of the Lord, and what does it mean for us? The message, "Favored And Accepted," wraps up this year's Lenten series, is about 29 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, March 28, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

The Ash Wednesday message, "It's All About The Heart," can be found here. The first message from this passage in Luke, "Good News For The Poor," can be found here. The second message, "Healing The Broken Heart," can be found here. The third message, "The Illusion Of Free Will," can be found here. The fourth message, "Blind But Now I See," can be found here, and the fifth message, "Freedom From Oppression," 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 ~ March 28, 2018 ~ Getting Level

Our home is level. That may not seem like a big deal, or it may sound like something which should be true pretty much all the time, but it is a big deal for Leah and I. Our house has needed to be leveled since, well, since we moved in. And over the last three years it has only gotten worse, until  recently it became a major issue. I spent the last few days leveling the house. I am very happy to announce that the house is now level.

But it wasn't easy. For one thing, I had never leveled a house by myself before. Leah did help at the end, because you have to have two people when using a water level. Please don't think that she wasn't willing to help more than that, she was, but I didn't want her crawling around under the house dragging concrete blocks. So I got the house level North to South, then East to West, and rechecked to make sure we were still on North to South. We were...or so I thought.

The thing was, everything looked right, but the back door still would not open easily, and once opened, it was nearly impossible to close. I couldn't figure it out. I explained the situation to my Dad, who helped me finish the job. The problem was that I had not checked everything. I know I was level the width of the house. I only checked the length down the middle and from corner to corner. Logic dictated that if I the house was level North to South, and down the middle of East to West then all areas of East to West should be level or the North to South wouldn't be level. It still makes perfect sense to me. But I was wrong, The house had sagged in the middle, which I didn't think possible with the metal beams it is sitting on. So while I was level lengthwise on the corners and down the middle, I wasn't level on the sides. Dad helped me with the water level, and I drug blocks and jacked the house up where it had sagged, added blocks and shims, and praise God, the door opens and closes now.

The point of this is that I couldn't see it. I didn't think those beams would sag. So If I was level at the ends, it didn't occur to me that the middle wouldn't be. It didn't make any sense to me, but I admitted I didn't know and gladly agreed to check the entire length when Dad suggested it. And he was right. It wasn't level somewhere. I thought I had fixed the problem, and I had gotten it close, but there was still more to do that I couldn't see to do or do myself.

This is a prime example of why we need to talk to someone for advice and accountability. The Holy Spirit can show us when we're not level spiritually, but sometimes we just can't see the solution or how we can still be off. Sometimes we need an outside perspective, especially from someone who has more experience than we do. No matter how long we've been in relationship with God, there are times when we can't see past our emotions, opinions, our logic and our experience to see the truth and the solution clearly until someone points it out to us.

Today, let us be quick to humble ourselves when we have done what we know to do and still have an issue with our spiritual level. Let us use wisdom about who to seek advice from, but once we have chosen someone with a good relationship with God to seek counsel from, let us listen with a prayerful spirit and an open mind, even when it may not make sense to us at first.

Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance...

- Proverbs 1:5

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 ~ March 27, 2018 ~ The Amazing Find

A woman's husband died, and she hired a man to clean out their old barn that was full of her husband’s junk. That is what she told the hired man. Clear out that old junk. He agreed and showed up a few days later to begin the work. The barn had some tools that the woman wanted to keep and sale, some wood, which the hired man could have as part of his pay, and untold numbers of unfinished woodworking projects, boxes of old garage sale treasures that were never unpacked, boxes of old woodworking magazines, piles of old spark plugs, gallon jugs of used motor oil, and various other remnants of vehicle and tractor maintenance.

As the man begin to clear out the trash and set aside the things the woman had wanted to keep and sell, he found something covered in a tarp in the back. Under the tarp he discovered the remains of a '65 Corvette Stingray. He immediately called the woman to the barn, showed her the car and asked what she wanted him to do with it. Get rid of it, she said. It's junk. It's worth a lot, he told her. No, it's junk. The man could see why she felt that way. The car was ugly. Almost all the paint was gone and rust damage was evident. There was some body damage as well. The mice had definitely been at the car, and the leather was trashed. There probably wasn't a bit of wiring or hose that hadn't been chewed through. The woman told him that the engine was no good and that the car was beat up badly before it finally quit running entirely. She had wanted it gone for years, but her husband had not been able to bring himself to dispose of his first car.

The man offered to finish the job without pay and add an addition $5,000, emptying his savings to purchase the car from the woman. She told him he was crazy, but she took his money. Several years later, after much work, the man finished restoring the car, at one point before he completed the work turning down over $50,000 for it. He wouldn't sell the car. He had found his treasure. The junk the woman that wasn't worth what he paid ended up being worth far more than she could have imagined.

The car wasn't worth anything to anyone who couldn't see beyond the damage and the wear and the rust. It wasn't worth anything to anyone who didn't have the ability and the resources to restore it. But the man never saw the junk under the tarp. He saw a neglected treasure, worth all he had and all his effort. We can easily see the truth of a story like that. Even folks like me, who have no idea how to work on cars dream of a find of this nature. Oh, to come across a forgotten classic that can be ours for a song. I would learn mechanics. Or maybe turn it into a project car with my stepson. He's an awesome mechanic. The point is that we wouldn't see junk, regardless of how bad the vehicle looked. We could imagine it fully restored and roaring down the highway.

Yet, we can't see ourselves in the same light at times. We look back over our past and see all our mistakes, all the dents and damage from our screw ups and the maliciousness of others. We see the wear of the years and the beasts that have tried to eat us up. We see our lives as worthless junk, and then we wonder, how could Jesus love me? How could He forgive me after all I've done? I don't deserve His love and forgiveness. What if I try to walk with Him and fail? Will He be as disgusted with me as I am and cast me aside to the junk pile?

No. Because Jesus never sees us as junk. No matter our condition when we turn to Him, He is like the man who only sees how amazing and beautiful and awesome the car will be after the restoration is done. He has the ability and the resources to make us all we were ever created to be, a treasure, and the more of a mess He finds us in, the more our restoration speaks to His power and glory and what He can do. Jesus delights in you. He is thrilled at the treasure He has found that others may not recognize. He paid everything to make you His, and then by the Spirit begins the transformation and restoration process when we submit to His hand and give ourselves over to His love and care. You are not junk, no matter how beat up and trashed out you may be. He can restore you. His heart leaps with joy at the thought of being able to make you a glorious example of the best of creation. That's why He came, and that is the joy which gave Him the determination and strength to endure the cross.

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 ~ March 26, 2018 ~ Treasures Not Seconds

As part of my recent birthday haul. I ordered a grab bag of ten seconds from the Missouri Meerschaum Company. Now for those unfamiliar with Missouri Meerschaum, I didn't order a random assortment of small units of time. These are corn cob pipes. Missouri Meerschaum makes the best corn cob pipes, and while they don't look as artistic or sophisticated as an

Konstantin Shekita: Pierced Lattice Freehand, they are great little smokers at an affordable price. I have one that is still going after several years. Since I don't have two grand to spend on a  hand carved Japanese work of art, and wouldn't buy one if I did, it's nice to have a pipe that I can smoke when I'm outside working or feeding the dogs or fishing or...that I won't feel like crying if I accidentally break it.

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my order, and one of the first things I did this morning was to take a peak at the package tracking. It should arrive tomorrow (actually, since I am writing on Friday for Monday, it should already have arrived as you read this). As I mentioned at the beginning, these are seconds, which are items with definite defects which prevent the manufacturer from selling them to their first-line customers, but they are supposed to be smokable. I read the reviews, and it seems to be a true grab bag, with some getting an awesome selection, and others, not so much, but people have said that 8-10 in each bag were of good enough quality to use. That's all I'm counting on, but I'm hoping to get lucky and get

a Wizard Cobbit Corn Cob Pipe, or really anything from the Cobbit collection. Now, it may seem odd, especially to first time readers, for a preacher to be writing about the pipes he's ordered and is waiting on in a devotional. But there is a Godly point and purpose to this.

I spent a little time this morning thinking about the concept of seconds and wondering what kind of shape these will be in. It's exciting and scary at the same time, because I spent all of my birthday money on a grab bag. They are all supposed to be usable, but I don't know what I'll get, and it's not like they're going to throw in a beautiful hand carved briar, and even the cobs they send are not up to the company's rigid quality standards.

Personally, I feel like a second some days. I have definite defects which cause me to be appraised at far below my Creator's standards. With my flaws and past, I don't even rise to the level of society's standards, or my own for that matter. If I were for sell, I wouldn't want to buy me. But God did! All of us are seconds. We have all come short of the standard of quality and perfection. Yet, we have been purchased with a great price. Daddy wanted us to be His so much that He redeemed us, bought us from our captivity and slavery, and we weren't part of a bargain grab bag.

God knew exactly what He was getting with each and every one of us. Every flaw we have is better known to Him than to us. He knows all the ways we have fallen short of the standard, as well as the ways we will fall short in the future. And yet, He desired us above all else and considers us a great treasure. He wasn't bargain hunting. Daddy sent His Son to pay the price for us. The Son willingly came and gave His very life in place of ours to set us free to have relationship and to close the gap between us and God. The Spirit anointed the Son with the power to do what we were always supposed to do but couldn't, to live the standard of perfect love, but didn't use that power to spare Jesus the suffering and death of the cross.

The reason the angels rejoice when any one of us comes into relationship with Daddy, is that we are not worthless. We are not defective. We are not seconds, no matter how we may feel or seem to ourselves and others. Daddy is checking our tracking constantly with eager anticipation of the moment we will say yes to the Spirit calling us to come and turn to toward Him through the acceptance of the price Jesus paid. We are the Master Artist's workmanship, the creation that is designed to best reflect His awesome glory. And while we have been broken and damaged by the curse of this world, He who created us is eager to restore us to the beautiful, whole, work of art we were always meant to be. He paid a great price to make us His own, but we are not merely His possessions, He has adopted us as His children. How awesome is that?!

No matter who you are, where you have been, what you have done or what has been done to you, you are of great significance and value to God. You, yes you, are His treasure. He gave up so much to make it possible for you to become His child and so that the Spirit could begin the work within you to set you free, to give you the power to say yes to life and no to death, to provide you with a life worth living so great that it can be shared with others and to transform you into the glory of all creation. I am not a second, and neither are you. We simply need to submit to the hands of the Master and see what works of art He will make with us. That is something to rejoice about! That is the source of my contentment and joy, and it is a greater pleasure than it would be to find a dream pipe created by Konstantin Shekita at an auction and winning it for five bucks or finding the winning lottery ticket in a parking lot.


*Top image taken from smokingpipes.com - bottom image taken from Missouri Meerschaum Company.

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 Answer To The Problem

Darlene Woodard shares on how we are powerless to address the issues in our hearts and lives or to be the remedy in ourselves. Hosanna, there is a solution in the One who came to do for us what we can not do for ourselves. The message, "The Answer To The Problem," is about 4 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, March 25, 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.

Unshackled Echo ~ March 24, 2018 ~ Fear

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

February 24, 2015.

As I worked on what I planned to post as today's UM, I received a notification that a cousin had tagged me in a Facebook post. She'd posted the link to the song "Fear" by Blue October. She wrote that she'd listened to the song and thought of me, so she thought she'd share. She didn't feel certain about her reasons for sharing, and if she doesn't know, I certainly don't.

Maybe she simply saw me in the song or parts of the song, or maybe God gave her a nudge Perhaps both are true. I know I related to several parts of the song, and I felt God stir some thoughts within me. So, I set aside the writing I'd begun for another day, and well, here we are.

The song begins: All my life / Been running from a pain in me / A feeling I don't understand / Holding me down /  Rain on me / Underwater / All I am, getting harder / A heavy weight / I carry around.

Today / I don't have to fall apart / I don't have to be afraid / I don't have to let the damage consume me, / My shadow see through me

I most certainly relate to the above. It grabbed me right away that once again Justin Furstenfeld tapped into my life, mind and or emotions to find inspiration for his lyrics. I did run from a pain in my life that I could never quite escape from or cover up completely. My father told me the other day that I lost my joy and all the crazy that I embraced and bathed in as a teen and beyond came from a desperate attempt to find my joy again, anywhere and everywhere but in God, where it'd first been. I hadn't thought of it that way, but he was right. I lost my joy as a child, and the void created by that loss filled with pain and with fear. it almost killed me.

Today I don't have to fall apart or be afraid or allow the damage of the past consume me, at least not for any longer than it takes me to turn my eyes to Jesus and cry out "Son of David! Have mercy on me!" See, the only part of Blue October's song that didn't resonate with me was the solution, lines like Believe in yourself And you will walk. 

If you've got a past anything like mine, you know better by now than to believe in yourself as any type of solution. If it can be screwed up, I'll find a way to do it. If it is possible to fail and fall short, that's exactly what will happen when I put my best into it, at least that's true with the important stuff such as oh, I don't know, life. If I'd heard this song before I found freedom from addiction I'd have felt hopelessness instead of the thankfulness I felt this morning. I've known since I was about 5 that I couldn't be counted on for long.

But there is One who is always faithful, who does indeed have the power to protect and deliver from fear, to heal our pain and restore our past. His name is Jesus, and He feels our pain and fear and hurt in His gut. Remember that time you got that horrible news that made you feel like a mule kicked you in the stomach and you forgot how to breathe? That's what Jesus felt too. That's what He always feels when your tears threaten to fall. That's what it means when the Bible says Jesus was "moved with compassion."

He hurts with us and for us, but He's not afraid, because He's not weak like us. He never failed and quite simply is as incapable of failure as I am of perfection. He doesn't want us to be afraid. The messengers of God always began by saying, "Fear Not!" 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.

Abba, I thank You for the desire and willingness to heal as much of my past as I will give You. Thank you for being trustworthy. You have to the power to heal and restore, so I don't have to keep trying to do the impossible and make myself whole through my efforts. Help me to give You all of me, good and bad...past, present and future, so that I can be completely restored. Help me to remember that I can believe in You, in who You are and Your great love for me, and in the power of that belief I can walk through life without fear, regardless of how often I've failed on my own, regardless of the circumstances, no matter how dark the valley of the shadow of death becomes. Amen.

"Fear" Lyrics

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 ~ March 23, 2018 ~ Personal Access

I love pinball. I have preferred pinball to video games for years, even though they are harder to find. I used to drive miles to play a particular game. Video versions of pinball have never been satisfying as they do not have the same feel. Recently I discovered Pinball FX3, a game that I can play on my computer that sounds like a real pinball machine and even allows for bumping in game play (and tilting if overdone). I have really been enjoying the one free table that came with it.

For my birthday, Leah bought me a bundle of 10 tables to add to the game that are all Star Wars themed tables. Pinball and Star Wars, what could be better? I felt thrilled, and I have had a blast with them. Mostly. Two of the 10 tables won't load and crash the program whenever I attempt to load them up. It has been frustrating, especially considering the cost of the bundle. Each of the eight games that do work effectively cost more due to the cost became divided between eight instead of 10 games. Of course the most frustrating part is that I want to play these two tables and can't.

I have spent some time with Microsoft and XBox support trying to sort out the issue. Two of the things we have tried after dealing with support are to log into XBox with a different account on my computer and see if the games will then load and to try to play them on Leah's computer instead of mine to see if the issue is with my laptop. Neither worked. The different account on my computer made no difference. And even though I logged on to Leah's computer with my account, it wouldn't allow me to download the game at all without repurchasing it, which I am not going to do.

Those two were the last in a list of things we have tried, and I am waiting to hear back from XBox support to find out what we will try next. In the meantime, the last attempt made me think about spiritual life. The game won't play on Leah's computer, because even though it was my account, it was a different computer. The purchase protection is not allowing for multiple downloads. I suppose this is to keep me from allowing all my friends who enjoy Pinball and Star Wars to use my account to download the games for themselves without paying for their own version. Which makes sense.

Our relationship with Daddy is similar. We have free access to grace and relationship with God because of the work of Jesus, and it's available to anyone who wants it. The life worth living and freedom from bondage that we can have by the power of the Spirit is free for all who want it. But it is also personal and individual. I can't use my parent's account for my life. I can't use my wife's relationship with Daddy in place of my own. Our relationship with God is based entirely on our own access to Him and acceptance of the work done on our behalf. We can not gain spiritual relationship because of someone else's relationship or response to Daddy. So, if we want a relationship with God, we must surrender and accept for ourselves.

Our account with Daddy has been paid for by the work of Christ and is free for us. But it must be personally received by each of us. It doesn't matter if our family or friends have relationship with Him, or how good or bad that relationship is. What matters is if we ourselves have entered into a personal relationship with Him. When we don't rely on someone else's relationship with God for our spiritual life, we find something real and powerful for us personally, and we are also protected from disillusionment and distance between us and Daddy being caused by someone else's failure or shortcomings. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even hypocrisy or mistakes by other followers. But we have to have our own connection.

Today let us not worry about the accounts of others and focus on our own relationship, the foundation of our freedom. Daddy's love for us is personal and individualized. For relationship, we need to personally say yest to that love.

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.

Freedom From Oppression

Dalyn Woodard continues the look at the ministry and anointing of Jesus with the fifth part of Luke 4:17-21. While there are similarities between oppression and captivity, they are different, and Jesus responds to them differently. No matter what our situation and the ways in which we have been or are being oppressed, there is a way to liberty. The message, "Freedom From Oppression," continues this year's Lenten series, is about 29 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, March 21, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

The Ash Wednesday message, "It's All About The Heart," can be found here. The first message from this passage in Luke, "Good News For The Poor," can be found here. The second message, "Healing The Broken Heart," can be found here. The third message, "The Illusion Of Free Will," can be found here, and the fourth message, "Blind But Now I See," 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 ~ March 21, 2018 ~ Are We Religious?

It strikes me as ironic that many who consider themselves non-religious are actually far more religious than even those who claim to be religious. Even those who say, I'm not religious. I'm spiritual, have often slipped into religion. And the reason I think about such things is twofold. First, I have said that I am not religious. I often claim to hate religion. And yet I know that I am religious, and I love religion.

That doesn't make sense, does it? The reason that we can say such things and be speaking truth is because there are two different definitions of religious, the dictionary and the practical. The dictionary defines religious simply as relating to or believing in a religion. So before that can be accurately evaluated, we need to look at the dictionary definition of religion, which is: the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods; a particular system of faith and worship; a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance.

According to the dictionary, I am religious and love religion. I most certainly believe in and worship a personal God. While I don't have a lot of specific rites I follow, I do have a particular system of faith and worship. And, my relationship with God is a pursuit and an interest to which I ascribe supreme importance. By that definition, many, if not most of the people who claim not to be religious and those who claim not to believe in any one particular faith are not religious.

But I also know that the folks Jesus gave the hardest time were not the traitors and the drunks and the prostitutes and those the religious people called sinners. The religious people were  the targets of His harshest criticism. And that is because the practical definition of religion, whatever religion it might be, is what we do to get right or be right with God or the universe or even just ourselves. If I do this and don't do that, I'm OK. If I do those things and don't do these, then I'm in trouble. It's all about what we do. And with the practical definition, even people who don't believe in God at all, are quite religious. If asked if they worry about judgement, the response is usually something along the lines of I try to be loving and help people. I'm pretty good. I think I try really hard to be a moral person, so I'm OK. Or they pull out the checklist. I don't steal, kill, etc. I volunteer, give, treat others well, etc.

Then I look at this in light of my recovery. I don't believe there's anything wrong with drinking, for those who can do so without being in bondage to it. To be OK and be able to enjoy a drink from time to time, all I have to do is not lose control when I drink. But I can't do that. When I control my drinking, I don't enjoy it. When I enjoy it, I'm not in control. And once I start the craving going, I am no longer in control of if I am going to drink or how much. It's just a question of how long I can resist. Sooner or later, I will fail. Because when my drinking is about what I do or don't do, I'm doomed. But when It is about what God does, I can be free. When I stop trying to be the one doing and rely on His power and care, I find freedom. I find myself no longer obsessing about drinking, nor do I even miss it, because I have found something better that fulfills all the things that I looked to drink and other things to do for me.

And that practical example of me doing verses God doing for me what I can not do, makes me look at the idea of religion differently. I don't want to be the doer in my spiritual life any more than I do in my recovery. It works about as well. Because I can try to do good, want to do good, attempt to treat others well, live service, etc. and sooner or later I will fall far short of my own ideal. I will slip into selfishness and self seeking, because that's what I do. But when I stop trying to be the doer and rely on Him to do, it makes all the difference. My spiritual life, which effects all aspects of my life, becomes all about relationship with Daddy and all about what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do in and through me for me and for others.

And the reason I can go that route is because Jesus has done something beyond amazing in my opinion. He didn't look to see if I would be a good fit for Him, a good match, or even 100% faithful. He knows me better than I know myself, knows full well the broken, mess I was, and pursued me to the point of taking my death and judgment upon Himself to win my love and to set me free to be able to love Him. That is so not what anyone would describe as a wise way to pick a bride. Daddy never demanded that I rise to His level. He loved me first and sent Jesus to make a way for me to come. The Spirit makes His abode in me, to transform me into what I was created to be, to bring me love, peace, joy, freedom and life worth living, to fill me with the power to do what I could never do on my own. It is the foundation and the surety of my recovery, but it is so much more than that. It is a real and personal relationship that supersedes all my qualifications and ability and every circumstance of life, good and bad. What God has done for me, is also true for you, if  you want it. That's why I don't worry so much about the question of if I or anyone  else is or isn't religious, but all I want to know is where am I in relationship with my Creator, and my hope for you is that it will be about relationship as well.

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 ~ March 20, 2018 ~ Yard Of The Month

Sunday I turned 47, and I feel every day of it, and then some, most of the time. I enjoyed my birthday and felt grateful for another year. That is an awesome result of what has happened to me in recovery and in relationship with Daddy. I no longer curse the day of my birth nor regret the gift of life. And another result is that relationships with my family are much better than they were when I lived in active addiction and alcoholism. That probably isn't a surprise to anyone in recovery or who has family members or friends who have recovered from the bondage of addiction.

Leah and I went over to my parent's house to enjoy a meal (my Mom made me a huge bowl of her fabulous potato salad and Leah made me a delicious homemade cherry pie) with my parents, my brother and sister-in-law and one of my nieces. After the meal we played a game called Yard Of The Month. YOTM is a seriously fun game created by my brother-in-law that everyone Leah and I have played it with have really enjoyed. It always brings a lot of laughing and fellowship. If you happen to come across the kickstarter for the game when it is launched, this is a game that needs to be in stores.

But like many games, YOTM doesn't work well when played with an attitude of love and grace. You can be nice to people, but sooner or later that isn't going to work out well for you. The point of the game is to win, and you can't win if you don't cause someone else to lose. At one point I remarked about my niece that she was the best Christian at the table, because even in the game, she sacrificed her well being for others, especially for my Dad. Instead of helping and saving herself, she often rescued others from the damage and negative results of the game play. She played a very gracious game. She also lost. I won, by the way, and I was not self sacrificing. I played somewhat viciously.

No, I don't regret first knocking my brother out and then my Dad. Nor do I regret sneakily making myself look like less of a threat while my wife and sister-in-law battled between themselves until I could swoop down and declare victory. We all had a blast. And I am not about to say that games should be played like life, with sacrificial love. There's no grace in baseball....and that is true of most sports and games. You can't win unless someone loses. While we do need to be loving in our attitude toward one another, it doesn't mean I don't love my wife, nor does it make her feel less valued or loved, when I smash her gnome in YOTM. It's a game.

But it's easy to fall into that game mentality in life. If I live in the mode of Jesus, loving and giving up self for God and others, how can I win? How can I come out ahead? How can I secure my own situation while putting others ahead of me? If I do that, won't I end up in life like my sweet niece who watched her garden be destroyed by others, even those she helped (including me), who did not return her selfless generosity but took advantage of it to further their own play?

Well, it all depends on what you really want and how you define winning. If winning is only coming out on top in business, in getting material things or approval or whatever, then perhaps to live like Christ is to lose at life. But when we lose we win, because those who sacrifice their life, find a better life, a life worth living. When I hit the goal of the game, the game ended, and I had won. But our life does not end when the breathing stops, and the one who dies with the most toys is not actually the winner. Winning is finding our completeness, our joy, peace, and contentment in this realm and the eternity to come. It is in relationship with Daddy, not in the stuff or accolades we collect.

We don't have to make others lose to win. We can shine the light of love and sacrifice, knowing that even if it makes us appear weak and people take advantage, if we lose the whole world, we will continue to have and enjoy something that can not be taken away. Our intimacy with Daddy is what makes life worth living. It is what fulfills us and brings us to the place where we have and are everything we know inside we were always meant to have and be. I may not be a winner by the world's standards. I am not highly praised or rich or successful by the world;s standards. But I no longer despair of life. I have a life worth living, that I enjoy, even when it is difficult and there is suffering, characterized by serenity, joy and love. When everything is said and done, if I lose my health, my wealth, and my standing, I will still have the game changing piece that was missing from the start. I have found the treasure that isn't dependent upon people, places or things on this planet, and that makes all the difference. And my having it doesn't mean that no one else can have it. It's not limited. There are enough pieces for you and everyone to have the treasure that I have found. The freedom and life that satisfies and is found in Christ.

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 ~ March 19, 2018 ~ What A Friend

Isn't it awesome the Jesus is a friend to sinners? That means He is my friend, and He either is your friend as well or can be. We are all sinners, or if you prefer, imperfect morally and spiritually. Being a sinner doesn't make you worse than anyone else when everyone is in the same category. We could just as easily say that Jesus is a friend of human beings. It amounts to the same thing.

Instead of bristling and becoming defiant at the idea of being called a sinner, we have the option of being grateful that someone who is more able than us to do what is right would be our friend. I know that it's not our natural bent to act that way. Even us who know we aren't perfect often look down on those who seem worse than us. We reject and walk away. I'm done. You're too messed up. You're too much trouble. You're not worth it, and you can't or won't change, so just don't come near me. And yet, the best of us is closer on the scales of perfection to the worst than they are to Him. Getting a 59 on a test may seem a lot better, smarter, whatever, than the person who scores a 3, but it's still a failing grade. Jesus came and did what we were always supposed to do and couldn't, and He made a 100. Yet He doesn't look down on us. He declares that He will be our friend.

Now here is a beautiful benefit of that friendship. I am a selfish, imperfect person, but still if I see a friend struggling to carry a load, I will try to help. That's what friends do. We forget that simple truth sometimes, and do not apply it to Jesus. We get worn out and beaten down from the pain of our struggles. And more often than not, it is because we insist on carrying a load that we were never intended to carry alone. It's not that Jesus is far from us and refusing or unable to help. It's that we don't move over and let Him grab the burden.

He is our friend. When He sees us struggling, which is every time we struggle, He is right there with the Spirit, saying let Me Help carry that and be your comfort. We don't have to do it ourselves. In fact it is foolish and damaging for us to continue to try. We have over-sized egos and under-sized strength. God know that, but He's not condemning us for it. He's constantly calling us to come close for our refuge, strength and comfort.

A friend is someone we are in relationship with, a relationship that is ongoing, continual, and beneficial. Jesus is more than our savior. He is our friend. Yes, I am pounding on that idea, because it so important. It seems we so often have an attitude that says, I know I need a savior, so thank You Jesus for Your salvation and forgiveness. I got it from here. But we don't have it. The weight will cripple and crush us. His burden is light for us, because He has done all, every bit, of the heavy lifting. Heavy? More like the impossible for us lifting. He is not only the alpha, the beginning of our faith, but He is the sustainer, and He is the omega, the finisher of our faith.

When we remember that He is our friend, and not our benefactor. we can let go of what of the weight that is breaking us down and causing us to stumble. We can more easily find our rest in Him, because we can remember that we are not His volunteer project. We are His friends, and He cares for 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.

Our Father's Perfect Love

Wally Flynt shares on the upcoming Easter, the new life of spring, and the difference between earthly fathers and our Heavenly Father. The message, "Our Father's Perfect Love," is about 7 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, March 18, 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.

Unshackled Echo ~ March 17, 2018 ~ Some Things Never Change

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

February 23, 2015.

Did you know that God sometimes changes His mind? But what about God the same yesterday, today and forever? That is true. Who God is doesn't change. His nature doesn't change.  His eternal purpose and plan doesn't change. But the details of the plan? The steps between A and Z? Yes, sometimes He changes His mind about the details.

Not long after God delivered the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt, Moses, God's chosen leader of the people, moved outside of the will of God. God changed His mind. The man chosen to lead the Israelites from slavery to the promised land would never physically step foot into the promise land. His blessing was given to another, Joshua, Still God consoled the grieving leader. He took Moses to the mountain top and gave him the first look at the promise. And He did something else. He showed Moses the face of love. Moses received a glimpse of God that made him glow. He may not have walked the land of promise, but he received the promise before the rest, the promise to see God, to know God and have relationship with God. The Israelites reaching the promised land was nothing more than a step towards what Moses got being available for all of us.

Not long after Moses messed up, the Israelites decided to start worshiping a golden idol they'd made. They shocked God with the sheer audacity and ingratitude. He decided to wipe them out and start over on the Master Plan with Moses and his children. But Moses interceded on behalf of the foolish former slaves. God changed His mind and let them live. God showed mercy due to intercession.

Let's look at one last example as the Word that was with God and was God made flesh in the Messiah Jesus tried to take a break. He needed to rest rather than minister. A Greek woman enters the scene begging for help for her daughter from Jesus. He basically told her No. She pushed. She showed she new the truth of His goodness, and she wouldn't settle for being told there was no way for her, a gentile, to approach the God of the Jews. Jesus, enjoying her faith and understanding, to the perception of those who heard the "No," changed His mind, said "Yes" and delivered the daughter.

God changes His mind, but never His nature. The nature of God is goodness and love. Sometimes He shows mercy. Sometimes He brings life to the barrenness of our lives. Sometimes He takes away the Garden and the Land of Promise. But what He never takes away or denies is His great love. He never holds back His goodness. God will sit with us, wrap Himself around us and weep with us as we grieve and mourn. He feels our pain in the core of His being. Then, when He's felt our hurt, He'll wipe our tears away, look at us with eyes full of love, forgiveness and empathy, say "I love you so much," and give us what we need. There may be blessings on this plane that are withheld. He may or may not give us what we want. But if we go to Jesus as the broken, unclean people we are, we always, always, always find what  we need. We always find ourselves receiving the promise, the big one, the one all the little promises serve to point the way to, the promise of acceptance from and relationship with the Holy Creator.

Daddy, I thank You for Your love for me. I thank You for the glimpse of the Promise during times when it feels like the blessing is withheld. Help me fill the holes in my life with Your love and to come to You with all my scrapes and bruises and with all of my broken heart whenever I fall short of walking in Your truth and promise. Help me to remember that one of the best names for Jesus is Son of Compassion because You not only hear us when we cry but You feel our tears to Your very core. Thank You for Your great compassion that took You to the cross for me. Amen.  

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 ~ March 16, 2018 ~ Mistake Filled Perfection

Nobody's perfect. Not even Jesus. Before you get the kindling to burn me at the stake for heresy, Jesus was, is and always will be perfectly righteous, the perfect exemplification of love. Jesus perfectly chose Daddy's will over His own each and every instance of His life. He walked in love with every step He took. He perfectly submitted to the direction of the Holy Spirit. He is and was holy and perfectly fulfilled the law of God, and He did it without cheating. He limited Himself, although He was God with His man suit on, and the perfection with which He obeyed, He accomplished through the power of the Spirit, the same Spirit which is in us and through whom we can also walk free. Jesus did not sin. Ever. He was and is perfect.

But I am not contradicting myself or scripture when I say that Jesus was not perfect. Not like perfectionists strive for perfection anyway. Not in the way that we sometimes start thinking He was and that we should be. Jesus turned the dimmer switch down on His ability and knowledge when He took on flesh, although He never ceased to be God. He didn't open His eyes after He was born and say to Joseph,  it's OK  you didn't get a room. The barn is fine, and by the way Mother, I am a little hungry and cold. Could you wrap me warmer and feed me? He cried. Forget the lyrics to Away In A Manger. Jesus screamed like every baby.

He had to learn to talk, and I  mean learn. He got words wrong and didn't say them right at first. Not every nail he hammered with His adopted dad went in straight. He didn't cut every stone the exact right size the first time. Not every cut in wood or stone was perfect every time. He had to learn to walk. He fell down. He scraped His knee and stubbed His toes.

He had to learn how to spin that dreidel, and I bet He didn't even win every game. For all we know, James was a much better dreidel player than his half-brother Jesus. The Word had to learn to read, and He had to walk to the local synagogue to study the scrolls of the Law and the Prophets and learn the scriptures He expounded on and taught so well later. He wasn't a computer or even an encyclopedia. He had to learn, and He misspelled words and got sums wrong in the process. My point is that Jesus was human and made mistakes. Not every rock He skipped went all the way across the pond. Some of them went straight under and sank. He spilled the milk when His little hands couldn't handle the cup.

Sometimes when we make mistakes we get upset and beat ourselves up as though we have sinned and failed morally. Mistakes are part of life. They are the way we learn and grow. We make a mistake and try again, learn from it, correct it and move on. The other day a woman pulled out in front of me. I don't think for a moment that she felt suicidal or maliciously tried to cut me off. She didn't see me, for whatever reason. Maybe she just missed me when she quickly glanced down the road. Sometimes I think there is a cloaking device active on the van. Maybe she was distracted. Maybe she was in a hurry and thought she had more room, misjudged the distances and speeds involved. Whatever. She made a mistake, and I had to slam on the brakes and slung groceries forward, breaking a jar of sauerkraut in the process. It still stinks, sigh. But she didn't sin against me.

Accidents and mistakes are not sin. Making a mistake in math is not a sin, even if it means that you end up bouncing a check. There may be consequences. If you drop a plate of food, you may make a mess, but you don't need to ask Daddy to forgive you. It's not a sin. We are not perfect in that sense. Well, of course, we're not perfect in any sense, not on this side of eternity. But when Jesus told us to be perfect even as Daddy in Heaven is perfect, that's not what He meant. It's OK not to know things. It's OK to have to learn. It's OK to stumble in the process of life. You don't have to get a perfect evaluation on every task at work to be in the will of God. Burning dinner is not a sin, and neither was the time I made the mistake of confusing baking soda and baking powder while making cornbread. It wasn't edible, but it wasn't a sin.

It's what happens after we mess up that matters. Don't shift blame. Acknowledge the mistake and learn from it. Don't get angry and throw a fit, like I briefly did after I realized the mistake of not listening to that voice that said it wasn't a good idea to place two glass jars of sauerkraut in the same bag. Don't feel like it was a sin or moral failure to forget something you needed to carry to work or an on a trip. Make the adjustment and be responsible enough to make a check list, or get everything out in advance and place where you won't forget it next time. But that said, it's not even a sin to make the same mistake  twice. Aim for perfection in love and obedience to Daddy. With the rest, striving for perfection is part of doing our best, which is important.  Do  everything the best you can, as though you were doing it for Daddy, but don't think Daddy is disappointed in you if you make a mistake. Making mistakes does not lower your worth to Daddy, not even your sin does that. He loves you as you are, mistakes and all.

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

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

Blind But Now I See

Dalyn Woodard continues the look at the ministry and anointing of Jesus with the fourth part of Luke 4:17-21. In conjunction with our captivity, our exile as prisoner's of war, is life in darkness, unable to see a way out, to see a way of escape, to see truth and Daddy's love for us. Jesus came to proclaim restoration of sight through the light that came to the darkness. The message, "Blind But Now I See," continues this year's Lenten series, is about 23 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

The Ash Wednesday message, "It's All About The Heart," can be found here. The first message from this passage in Luke, "Good News For The Poor," can be found here. The second message, "Healing The Broken Heart," can be found here, and the third message, "The Illusion Of Free Will," 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 ~ March 14, 2018 ~ The Art Of Contentment

In Philippians 4:11 Paul informs us that by the time he wrote that letter to the church he had learned to be content. Not only had he found how to be content, but that contentment was possible in all situations, good and bad, even in need. This is awesome news, especially in our society where everything is telling us that we are, or should be, discontent, but that contentment is the prize.

Contentment is defined as satisfaction and happiness. But everything from advertising or entertainment says we shouldn't be content, but if we only get, find, achieve the next whatever we will find contentment. If we are told we can have contentment, it's temporary. That new phone will bring contentment, until the next version is released, at which time you really need to have it or you will be left behind. You need what everyone else has, or even something better. This sort of thing is always telling us to compare our situation and insides to others' outsides and our perceptions of what they have. It's crazy. I didn't even know I needed that until I saw someone else with it, but now I have to have it.

In recovery. we often express the belief that God wants us to be happy, joyous and free. And I have no doubt it is true. If you think about it, happy, joyous and free is like contentment with a bonus. Freely content. It is possible. But it's not found in the next new thing. It's not found in keeping up with others or looking outward at the lives, possessions, situations, etc. of others. And, it's not an automatic thing. Paul said that he learned it. So have I.

So what is the lesson? How do we learn the art of contentment? It is in relationship with our Creator. Getting close to Daddy and finding our joy and purpose and satisfaction in Him and in our relationship with Him protects us from the ups and downs of satisfaction in circumstance. Life can be great, and it can be difficult. Storms come. If we are dependent upon our situation for our contentment, we will struggle to find serenity. But when our satisfaction and hope is built on the foundation of relationship with Daddy, serenity finds us. It is a result of our inner space and not our outer circumstance. So no matter what comes, wonderful things or devastating situations, our core is safe and secure in the refuge of God's great love for us.

The art of contentment is the art of drawing near to Daddy and finding our love, peace, joy, freedom and satisfaction in that relationship and in the promise that what He has begun He will complete. Situations always change, but the eternal truth is that in Him we will find an end to suffering, sorrow, discontentment and pain, and will be transformed into a whole, perfect and unique reflection of 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.