Unshackled Moments ~ November 30, 2018 ~ Kiss The Waves

I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.

- Charles Spurgeon

I saw this quote today, and I love it. This is where I want to be on a regular basis. Sometimes I feel this, but other times I curse the current, complain and question why God is allowing the waves to toss me to and fro.  In recovery we often express a similar sentiment with the statement that acceptance is the answer to discontentment and frustration over lack of control. Paul shared in his Spirit inspired writings that he had learned to be content in all things, the hard and bad times as well as the good. Taking that contentment a bit further he even came to a place where he could rejoice in his infirmities, struggles and difficulties from both within and without.

Sometimes kissing those waves is difficult. Other times it is impossible for us without the aid of grace. I believe that one of the keys to success in this is in Paul's statement on contentment. He said he had learned it. We tend to think that this should come naturally because we believe in God or something. It isn't natural for us. In the spiritual nature versus nurture aspect of our new life, this is definitely nurture. It is a learned response. It becomes more natural as we practice turning toward God and holding onto His love for us rather than fighting the waves and wind buffeting us.

Acceptance may indeed be the answer as long as we are accepting the right thing. Life is hard and can be so overwhelming. Simply accepting that it is what it is can help or it can lead to hopelessness. But accepting that there is good even in the bad if it drives us closer to Daddy can lead to peace and contentment even in the most difficult of situations.What we most need to accept is the truth that Daddy loves and cares for us, that there is a place of safety and security in the storm, though the winds continue to howl.

Kissing the waves is coming to the place in our spirit where we can be grateful that we have a Rock to cling to. No matter what craziness and confusion is threatening us we can let the wind blow as hard as it can and let the tempest roar till its had enough and the world give all the hurt it can as we trust the Lord of love and stand upon the solid rock of who the Great I Am is and His  love 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.

In The Presence Of Enemies

Most of us are familiar with the 23rd Psalm and the assurance that the Lord is our shepherd and we don't have to fear as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death and that we have a table in the presence of our enemies. Dalyn Woodard shares on what it really means to have the Lord make a feasting table for us and how we are to respond to being surrounded by opposition. The message, "In The Presence Of Enemies," is about 54 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on November 28, 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 Moments ~ November 28, 2018 ~ Always A Child

I saw where someone on social media mentioned a desire to just be a kid again, to be able to live a life with less stress, worries and responsibilities. I don't think this is a unique wish. It's not that children don't have any responsibilities or stress. They do. I certainly did, and some have far more than most adults, which is a true shame. But ultimately most children know that even their responsibilities are someone else's and that they are being cared for. That's the way it is supposed to be anyway. Our parents care for us, make sure our needs are met and pick up the slack where we are unable or fall short. They help us.

I know it's not like that for everyone, but instinctively we know that it should be. That's why there are things like child protective services to remove children from situations where that has failed to the point where a child is in danger. Children are not supposed to do it all themselves or survive without the protection and care of an adult, much less having that adult actually be a threat. Just as true is the fact that we were never meant and should not have to carry the responsibilities and stress of life. We try, because we think that's what it means to be grown. We try because we don't see any other option. That's just the way the world is, even though something deep within us screams that it isn't supposed to be this way. So we groan and shoulder our load while dreaming of youth when it didn't feel as heavy.

But we're not grown. We are children. No matter how old or mature we become, we are still God's children, and we always need our Daddy. We tend to think of being a kid at heart means frolicking our days away in fun and living selfishly. But what if we look at it another way? What if being a kid at heart means nothing more than knowing we have a Daddy who loves us as we are, not as we should be, and who cares for us? Knowing that we have a safe place in Him. Knowing that while we have some responsibilities, it all falls ultimately on His shoulders and that He is there to help us and guide us. We don't have to worry, because we don't have to take care of everything. It's in His hands.

So, if you're feeling crushed under the weight of life, I would encourage you to remember that you don't have to carry that weight, were never meant to carry that weight. Remember that you are still a child and turn to Daddy to help you. He loves you and is an ever present help in times of need, and no matter what you're going through, He's got this and will work it so that it brings out the best for you and in an draws you closer to 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 Moments ~ November 27, 2018 ~ Warm And Toasty

We have come to the time of year when it gets harder and harder for me to get out of bed in the morning. It's not Seasonal Affective Disorder or anything like that. It's also nothing new. I remember feeling the same way as a child, and not just because I didn't want to go to school.  No, it's all about the temperature.

I go to bed and get all warm and snuggled into the covers, and by morning I dread getting out and feeling that cold air. I hate the cold. It makes me hurt. Going from comfortable  and warm and resting to cold and miserable with the flip of a blanket is horrible. But it doesn't usually last too long. I get dressed for the cold and start moving. Before too long I have adjusted and gotten used to the cold, or at least it's not as bad as that transition from warmth to no thank you I'll stay in bed and hibernate until March.

Getting close to Daddy is a lot like that nice warm bed. When we take our will back and begin doing our own thing it can be bracing, even painful. But the longer we stay out of His will, the more we adjust and get used to it. We get comfortable and start thinking we're OK. Until the damage hits.The thing is you may adjust to it and dress for it, but freezing temperatures are cold. Period. If it stops feeling cold, that's not a good thing. That means you're in trouble.

We're not bears. Life doesn't let most of us hibernate until March or fly south for the winter like geese. Most days we have to face the cold, get out of bed and get moving so we don't feel like we're freezing. Heaters help. But spiritually, we can stay in bed. Or at least we can stay wrapped in the warmth of the Spirit. When we feel that chill that lets us know we've wondered out of the warmth and safety of refuge, let us not try to get used to it or dress for it or manufacture heat. Let us be quick to return to the warmth of Daddy's love and will 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.

Unshackled Echo ~ November 26, 2018 ~ Vision Correction

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 29, 2015.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

I Samuel 16:7

Self examination is important. We need to check ourselves regularly to see where we are in our relationship with God and to make sure that we are on the path that leads us closer to Him. But it's important to remember that we need to ask the Spirit to show us our life through God's eyes and not our own. When we see our self through our own eyes it's hard to see rightly. It's easy to see only our failures and short comings and see unworthiness. Or adversely to see success and progress through our pride and miss how much we still need a savior. But God does not look at our life as we do. He looks at the inside, at the heart. He knows us and our motives better than we do. If we see our lives through His eyes will see His calling and guiding hand. We will see our acceptance as well as what needs to be changes, We will neither be quick to reject and berate our self nor slip into false security that comes from pride.

Abba, help me to see myself through Your eyes today. 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.

Didn't Ask To Be Born

Have you ever had that thought when life gets hard that you didn't ask to be born? Dalyn Woodard shares on how we sometimes feel we don't deserve any of the bad that happens and that we don't deserve to die, while at other times we may feel we deserve everything we get and worse. The truth is it doesn't matter what we deserve because the One who did choose to be born also chose to die in our place so that we no longer have to be concerned with what we do or don't deserve. The message, "Didn't Ask To Be Born" is about 13 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, November 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 ~ November 24, 2018 ~ Stuck Between The Water And The War

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 28, 2015.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses: “Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon, facing it by the sea. Pharaoh will say of the Israelites: They are wandering around the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in. I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh.” So the Israelites did this. 

Exodus 14: 1-4

Most of us know the story of Moses and The Red Sea.The children of Israel found themselves trapped between the water and the pursuing Egyptian army that was bent on their destruction and bondage. But how many times do we forget that they didn't wander into that position but were specifically led there by God. God told them to go where they would be pressed on all sides. And let us not forget that their deliverance was not an instant thing.

If you're like me, when you think of this story you often see Moses stretch out his staff, the waters part and the people start through the wall of water. But it didn't happen like that. Moses did his thing with the staff, in obedience, and then the wind blew the water apart overnight. It wasn't until the next day that the waters were parted and the land between was a dry path.

Abba, help me to realize that when I am guided by You I will be led to places and situations that look hopeless so that my deliverance may bear witness of You. Let me also remember that that deliverance may not be as quick or instant as I would like but will always be on time. 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 Echo ~ November 23, 2018 ~ Goldilocks Growth

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 27, 2015.

I am so grateful for the idea of progress not perfection. It's a reminder that God is changing us from glory to glory. None of become perfect the instant we become children of God. None of us will reach perfection on this side of eternity, but the goal is deeper relationship, to be a little more submitted and surrendered to our Heavenly Daddy as time goes on. If I am continuing to run the race, then hopefully I will be closer to the finish today than I was yesterday.

But even understanding that idea of pressing on toward the goal rather than being perfect now I sometimes feel the progress too slow. Sometimes it feels like the more progress I make the farther I have to go. I can so easily get discouraged when I realize how much I fall short of God's holiness. It's during these times that I more than ever need to remember that I am not responsible to make the changes in myself from what I was to what God wants me to be. It's my responsibility to surrender to The Potter's Hands, but I am only clay. I need to remain moldable to the only one capable of bringing about any change in my life. If I stay surrendered to Him and stay out of His way as He does the work, then He will transform me into His perfect ideal for the unique child of God that I am. But it will happen in His time and His schedule. I must not stiffen my neck and drag my feet to slow the process, but I also can not rush ahead of Him and succeed  either.

Abba, help me to hold on to the promise that You are faithful to complete the work that You have begun in me. Let me not get frustrated and impatient and try to force the process. Let me stay where You want me and need me, so that I will grow at the pace that You know is best for me and Your glory, not too fast or slow but just right. 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 Echo ~ November 22, 2018 ~ A Better Goal

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 26, 2015.

When I first started the path to recovery, my goal was simply to get clean and to sober and to stay that way. I would pray every morning and ask God to grant me another 24 hours of freedom from my addictions. At night I would give Him thanks for answering that prayer.  But as I grew spiritually I realized that sobriety was not and is not the goal. It is a side effect. The goal, the purpose of our spiritual walk is to renew and strengthen our relationship with our Heavenly Daddy.

If our goal starts out to feel better, or to get free, or to escape destruction, that's fine. But if it stays there our progress and growth will eventually come to stagnation. As we get to know God, we come to the place where all that matters is loving Him and knowing Him more and more. It's no longer about what can I get God to do for me today and how blessed according to my own definition of blessed can I be, but rather it's about what can I do to love and serve Him today. This change in goals is what will get us out of our selfishness and through the difficult times. The focus being on Him and relationship rather than on us and how He is supposed to serve us is what provides peace in turmoil, joy in the midst of sorrow, a rock on which to stand while surrounded by chaos, and love worth living and dying for in the face of opposition, rejection and persecution.

Walking with God is not always an easy path. It's not all cool, spring days with roses and rainbows and birds singing to make our journey pleasant. Sometimes it's dark and cold and the wind threatens to blow us from the path. Other times the heat is unbearable and the breeze seems to have died forever. Our walk can not stay about our circumstances and situation. If it does, there will come a time of adversity that will stop us. But if our walk is about relationship, then job or no job, family or no family, health or sickness, blessings or adversities we will be able to stand firm in faith because we haven't lost anything that we're basing our motivation on. When it's all about relationship with God, nothing else that we gain or lose can effect that, for we have become convinced that neither death nor life, blessing or curse, nor anyone or anything can separate us from relationship and the love of God which has 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.

Unshackled Echo ~ November 21, 2018 ~ Transformative Forgiveness

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 25, 2015.

Did you know that men who are not in prison can and do get raped? I'm not talking about molested, which is bad and horrible and happens all too often to children of both genders but brutally, violently beaten and raped? I didn't know that little fact. You hear about women get raped, but you rarely, if ever, hear of it happening to men, unless the word prison is added. The subject is almost a joke. but I can assure you it's not funny. Rape does a number on the victim, regardless of gender, but there is an aspect of our culture that makes it hard and confusing to be male and a rape survivor. No, I didn't know all of this, until I did. Then it took me years to tell the story through my tears for the first time.

Would it surprise you if I said that the church, or rather the broken people in the church, have done more damage to my mind and emotions over the years than those two with the gun and the twisted need for power who taught me that men can be raped? By the time I became a teen I identified more with Isaac than any other Bible character and felt like I had been shredded and left on the altar to die by God and the Christians who claimed to follow Him.

I have been seriously and severely wronged many times, in many ways. And unfortunately I have done serious wrong and damage to others. You can't try to escape your feelings through drugs and alcohol for over 25 years and not leave destruction in your wake. You can't live long ruled, consumed and controlled by anger without it damaging your life and the lives of those around you.  Sorry if you've bought into this idea of "healthy anger" being marketed to survivors of shredding and trauma to turn them into victims.

Yeah, I said that. The people encouraging us to get angry and stay angry at the serious wrongs that have been done to us are making us victims all over again. I am a survivor. I am no longer a victim. I stopped being a victim when I learned to forgive, not when I got angry. Anger made me feel less powerless. Anger made me feel in control. Anger made me feel justified to hold a grudge. Anger gave me the excuse to look out for number one and put my own needs and desires before anyone and everyone else. Anger makes us victims and keeps us as such.

When we fuel our life with anger we actually surrender our will and lives over the the people who traumatized us in the first place. They, whether they even have a clue or ever think of us at all, control our actions and reactions to other people, places and things for as long as we refuse to forgive. And you can't forgive and be angry at the same time. If you are angry about a situation or person there is unforgiveness in the mix. We can't truly surrender and submit to God's will while holding on to our anger or allow the Spirit to control our lives because the monster or monsters alive in our past still hold the reins.

I know it doesn't feel right to consider forgiving those who have truly perpetrated horror and evil upon us. I HAVE A RIGHT TO BE ANGRY! Are you a Christian? Well, yes. Then no, no I'm sorry but you don't. No matter what's been done to you, no matter how much you didn't deserve it, we don't get to hold onto anger and follow Jesus' example at the same time. We can't. Because no one has ever deserved the damage done to them less than Jesus did, and His response, our example, was to forgive. We are not our own. We belong to God, and it's His job to administer and demand justice.

Anger and unforgiveness  make it impossible to heal. They make it impossible for our experience and pain to be recycled and used to help others, because you can't recycle something while you're still using it. According to the Mayo Clinic, refusing to forgive will bring bitterness and resentment into every relationship in our lives and taint every new experience, cause us to stay so wrapped up in the past and that we have been wronged that we can't ever truly or for any length of time enjoy the present, lead to anxiety and depression and remove sense of purpose from life while making it almost impossible to connect with others.

What are the benefits of forgiving someone according to that same well known and secular institution? Letting go of grudges and bitterness can make way for happiness, health and peace. Forgiveness can lead to: healthier relationships, greater spiritual and psychological well-being, less anxiety, stress and hostility,  lower blood pressure,  reduced number and magnitude of symptoms of depression, stronger immune system, improved heart health and higher self-esteem.

That's what world renown medical doctors say. But what does God say? James 1:20 tells us that the anger of people does not bring about the righteousness of God. It doesn't say, except for if you've been raped or beaten or betrayed or or or or...our anger simply does not produce God's righteousness in our lives. Sorry. And Ecclesiastes 7:9 says, "Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools." Ouch that one hurt. When I was angry all the time I lived my life as a fool.  Colossians 3 tells us to put away anger and wrath. We are told not to let the sun go down on our anger. Ephesians includes malice with the anger and wrath we are to put away. I could go on. The list of verses like the ones I reference here are many.

Jesus told us to pray for those who spitefully use us. The ones who traumatize and victimize us are ones we are instructed and commanded to pray for. Anger and vengeance and righteous indignation are not fruits of, or results of, walking in and by the power of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23). Jesus forgave us all from the cross when none of us deserve it. We are to follow His example. But He doesn't make us do it for a pointless experience.

Forgiveness sets us free. It doesn't excuse what happened but rather makes it possible for God to use it for good and for His glory. Ask Joseph. He was hated by his brothers. They threw  him in a pit and left him to die but decided to sell him into slavery instead. As a slave he was falsely accused and convicted of attempted rape and thrown in an Egyptian prison. He made a deal after helping someone close to the Pharaoh that should have got him released, but he was forgotten about and didn't get out  for 17 years. His response when he finally saw his brothers who started it all? "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."

It wasn't that it was an accident or that no one really meant to hurt him. They meant evil toward Joseph. And there are those who have intended to hurt you and I, to do us evil. We can hold onto our right to be angry and stay sick victims. Or we can forgive, become survivors and be empowered by God to save many people alive through the power of the blood and the word of our testimony.

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

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

Unshackled Echo ~ November 20, 2018 ~ Staying Clean

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 24, 2015.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 

- Psalm 51:10

We come to that point when we are ready, or mostly ready to be rid of sin. We want to be the people that God has called us to be. We want right relationship with God. We want to deny self and follow Him. We've decided to surrender, no turning back and no compromise. We get closer to our Creator, and as we do so the more we realize our distance from Him. The more right our hearts become the more wrongness we see and can no longer deny.

With renewed determination and a desire to be the person we want to be, the person we were created to be, the person God wants to transform us into, we strive to rid ourselves of those character defects, those sins, that get in the way of our relationship with Good and interfere with us living rightly. Those habits and sins that we feel guilty about, that have kept us from whole heartedly serving God, that shame us...we're not going to do that anymore. Nope. From this point on we're going to do what's right in this particular area. Excited and encouraged we sprint out on the right road for a time, then we cramp up and run out of breath. We find ourselves fallen on the side of the road, temporarily out of the race. We've done it again. Whatever it was we weren't going to do, that's what we did. Why?

Because doing the wrong thing for the right reason doesn't make it right, nor does it make it work. The entire reason we need grace, why Jesus went to the cross for us, is because we can never do it for ourselves or on our own. Our desire to do what's right is good.  Our longing for closeness and intimacy with the Father is a just cause. But we can't get there on any road other than Grace Ave. While, My Efforts Dr. may look parallel and only be one street over, it's the wrong road. We'll never get to the Father that way. It's doomed to destruction, and when we take it, no matter how great the determination, no matter our motive, we will find ourselves failing.

It's not, "Hey God, watch me clean myself up!" or even "Father, I will clean myself up and do what's right for You." It's "Daddy, create in me for me a clean heart and help me to walk the way You want me to because I can't do it." It may not seem like there's a lot of difference. Both are an attempt to do the right thing, to walk with God. But one is life and the other is death. Choose life. Let God do the work and stop trying to beat sin by your own power. You can't. I can't. No one can.

Abba, forgive me for trying to walk with You on my own steam. Forgive me for my failure. Help me to remember that the battle is already won when I let You do the fighting. Help me to stay surrendered to You. 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 Echo ` November 19, 2018 ~ Get Naked

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 23, 2015.

In the beginning Adam and Eve had a unhindered relationship with God. They had no barriers between them and God or between them and each other. It's the way we seem to be born longing for our relationships to be, whether we realize it or not. Then it all went wrong, and the next thing that you know they're covering themselves with fig leaves and hiding in the bushes from God. Now the truth was that God knew what had happened and where they were. He even knew the How and Why better than they did. But He called for them to come to Him and asked them what happened so that they would have to look and acknowledge for themselves.

And so the years of human existence have come and gone, and even today, thousands of years later we haven't learned any better. We still hide parts of our hearts and minds and lives from God, and when we do respond to His call and go into His presence we clothe ourselves to hide our sin and shame. It doesn't work. Fig leaves rip, tear and itch. They just make a lousy covering. Only God can cover us in His righteousness and make us acceptable before Him. But the thing is that the covering that God provides is custom made to fit us perfectly. It doesn't fit right when we try to put it on over our fig leaves. We have to strip away our own efforts to cover ourselves and stand naked before the One who already sees us as we are anyway. When we stand naked before God, no longer hiding but willing to let Him have us, dirty and wretched as we are, we discover that He  clothes us in His grace and righteousness. We went to Him dirty and stand before Him clean. But we have to let go of the filthy fig leaves that we trued to clothe ourselves with and get naked before God before we can put on the grace suit that He made.

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.

Remembering The One Who Draws Us

What does it mean to remember Jesus? Dalyn Woodard shares on how Advent reminds us to remember who Jesus is and that He is here with us and will be here today and tomorrow. The message, "Remembering The One Who Draws Us" is about 10 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, November 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 ~ November 17, 2018 ~ Fan The Flames

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 19, 2015.

In the desperation of needing to be free, my relationship with God became a priority. The priority is a more accurate statement. I prayed regularly and often, I read, I listened to others, messages and music that kept my attention on God and contact with Him. The things of the Spirit and my relationship with God were constantly on my mind, and everything I did during the day went through my God and relationship filter. It’s the closest to pray without ceasing that I have ever personally experienced.

Then things got better. I felt better. God set me free from my addictions. I found a life worth living. The promises of God began to come true for me. And the desperation faded away. Life, routine and responsibilities began pulling on my mind for attention, and little by little, without even realizing it, things went from filtering everything through my attention on God filter to trying to fit God and my time with Him into my schedule. This is natural, and not just with our relationship with God. When we first fall in love with another person, every moment is spent with that person or thinking of them. We can’t do anything long without our minds going to them and our feelings about them. But with time and security can come comfort with doing and thinking about more and more that has little or nothing to do with that relationship. But we can choose to think more about that love, and when we do, we discover the flames of relationship rekindle and come alive.

This keeps our earthly relationships new and alive, and it’s the same with the relationship with our Creator. If things have begun to feel a little less and like the fire has died down some, we can fan the flames. Turn our eyes back to relationship. Stop trying to find a way to make God fit into our busy schedule but rather make our schedule fit into our relationship with God. The more our mind turns to Him and our relationship with Him, regardless of where we are or what we’re doing, the higher and hotter the flames of love within us will burn.

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

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

Unshackled Echo ~ November 16 ~ Need A Fix? Fix The Need

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 18, 2015.

"Need a fix? Fix the need," is a saying heard in the rooms of drug recovery. It's an understanding that drugs were never the problem but rather an attempt to fix the real problem chemically. Regardless of who we are and what we've been through we all are born with a piece missing from a complete and joyful life worth living. That hole causes symptoms of misery, anxiousness, discontent, fear, etc that we try to fix. Some of us used drugs, or alcohol, or sex, or food, or relationships with other people, or use work, or shopping, or gambling, or _________________ (fill in the blank), or use a combination, but sooner or later our solutions start working less and less and cause more and more destruction and misery.

The pain from this causes us to look for another solution. Those of us blessed enough to find that the answer is relationship with God, that only He fits the hole perfectly and completely and without the side effects our solutions of selfishness caused, find freedom. But what we don't find is an instant cure to all our problems and issues. We are reborn free and new, but not yet perfect, and therefore our relationship with God is growing and not yet perfect. That means we still feel need from the vacuum in the places of that hole that we have not yet let God fill. So we feel the need, desire or temptation to try our old solutions again (even though we know that they lead to death and don't work long-term) or try something else. For whatever reason the temptation is to fill it with something other than God, but that never works. When we feel the itch, when we start jonesing for something old or new to provide instant relief over true freedom, we don't need to satiate the desire. We need to fix the need. The need is the absence of relationship with God. The cure is not in self indulgence of any kind but in running to Him, in being in His presence, in conscious contact with our Creator.

Lord, help me to respond to the pull of self to change the way I feel with more of You instead of more of me. Help me to fix the need rather than scratch the itch/ 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.

Why Pray For Others?

If God knows what we need before we ask and cares for us, why do we need to pray? More specifically, why do we need to pray for others if He loves them and knows their needs. Dalyn Woodard shares that intercessory prayer is not about getting enough numbers or praying well enough for God to move on behalf of those we care about. And there is much more to praying for others than God told us to. The message, "Why Pray For Others?," is about 49 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on November 14, 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 moments ~ November 14, 2018 ~ It's Too Much

I can't take it anymore. I just can't handle this. Can anyone relate? I bet so. We all have those days, maybe even months and years when the heaviness of life overwhelms. It's all just too much. We can't catch our breath before the next gut punch makes things even worse. There are those times when the struggles in life and the impossible circumstances feel like they're beating us beyond what we can hope to manage. We can't figure out how to fix it. We're no longer waiting for the next shoe to drop because we're too busy dodging a full out shoe thunderstorm. We run around knowing the sky is falling, trying to control and manage the uncontrollable, but we can't seem to catch a break. Maybe, like me, in times like these prayer becomes something like, "Lord, how am I supposed to handle this?"

The answer, if we can get still enough to hear it, is that we are not supposed to handle it. We were never intended to be able to control, carry or correct the problems of life. The struggles and difficulties of life are the result of broken relationship with our Creator. It's called a curse, because that's what it feels like. It's not a curse because God is mad. It's not a curse because He's getting even with us for Adam's sin, our sin, the rebellion of creation or whatever else it may seem like. It's a curse because it is the opposite of the blessing that life was intended to be. It's not punishment though. It's the natural result of cause and effect. If you're in a shelter while it's raining and you step outside, you get wet. If the light is turned off, the room gets dark.


The curse was not God saying because  you messed up, I'm mad and I'm going to make bad things happen. The curse is God saying because the world has moved out of my shelter, it is no longer safe from storms. Because the light of relationship has been turned off, there will be darkness. But was God angry? No. Was He sitting back saying now they'll get what they deserve for rejecting me? No. From before the choices were made that plunged the wold into darkness, before the choices were made by us and others that made our lives so difficult, He said I am putting into motion a plan to make things right. I will make a way for you all, for every single person who wants it, to come back to the shelter and experience the light of My Love.

We were never intended to handle this. We were never intended to manage the chaos of the curse. The problem is that we keep trying to. The answer is to accept the work that has been done and trust the One who is making things right. The problems will not all go away. Life will still be hard at times, and the rain will fall. The perfection of the plan will not be totally revealed on this side of eternity. But the good news is that we don't have to carry the weight of it. We can run to Daddy. He will carry it for us. And we can trust in the truth that He cares for us and will use even the hardships caused by the curse to make us more like Him, to bring us into deeper relationship with Him, to show His love, power and provision to us and others. We can know that the difficulties in life are temporary and the blessings of relationship with Jesus are eternal.When we see Him as He is and know Him better than we now know ourselves, we will know that whatever short difficulties we had to endure in this lifetime to get there were worth it. We will see that even in the times when the enemy surrounded and tormented us we were never alone and the treasure of our souls, the essence of who we are and what matters most on the eternal scale of things was never once in jeopardy once we became His children through the work of Christ. Don't allow the difficulties of life to deceive you into thinking that God doesn't care. He does. Let them instead be what drives us deeper into relationship and teaches us to stop trying to carry the impossible weight of life but rather rely more and more on 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 Moments ~ November 13, 2018 ~ Don't Cross The Barrier

I recently saw an old  episode of IRT: Deadliest Roads that revealed a spiritual truth that I thought I would share. The concept of the show is Ice Road truckers who are used to traveling the dangerous northern ice road are out of their element in other countries driving rigs on the most deadly and dangerous roads in the world. On the episode I saw the drivers where in India on a road called The Ledge, a one lane cliff-side path with a rock wall on one side and a sheer thousand-foot drop on the other.

One driver was in the city heading out to begin the trek up the cliff road when a railway crossing beam began to lower in front of him. Forced to stop and wait with traffic, the driver became more impatient and upset. The reason? There was no train. They were at the crossing long enough for him to get out of his truck and gripe, but there was no hint of a train other than the bar across the road. I knew there must be something up though, because a group of motorcyclists had massed at the crossing and were waiting patiently. That gave me the first hint that something was up. Bikes can easily go around railroad barriers and are quick. I must admit if I can't see a train I am llikely to go through the crossing when on the motorcycle.

Suddenly one horn sounded and the train was there The train flew threw the intersection. There was almost no warning, and it was going very fast. There is no way it could have stopped if someone was in the intersection.There was less than five seconds between the train's appearance and its arrival at the crossing. That's when it hit me.

Sometimes I get that warning from the Spirit. The guard comes down. Don't proceed. The problem isn't with the warning. The problem is when I think I know better. I loot and don't see the problem and the threat. But the Spirit knows what's coming and what I can't see. We need to be like the bikers that respect the warning even if the danger isn't apparent. Sooner or later if we trust our own judgment and ignore the warnings we will be caught on the tracks with nowhere to go when the danger rushes down on us.

God is not trying to frustrate us or ruin our day. The Spirit gives us guidance and direction to protect us and bring us into life. We can never see the entire picture, and I have learned that things go better when I  follow His lead.


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

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

Unshackled Echo ~ November 12, 2018 ~ Rejected Of God

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 17, 2015.

When we were babies our parents carried us everywhere. We were carried in their arms, in slings, in strollers, and yes, in carriers. There came a time as we grew that we learned to crawl. Our parents still carried us a lot as was necessary. I have never seen a baby crawling behind his mother down the aisle of a grocery store next to his walking older sister. The idea is ludicrous, but at that age a child can sure scoot around the house. Then they reach that next stage. My grandson Baiden is in that stage of walking, almost truly running, and he will wear you out trying to keep up with him at times. At other times though he's the one exhausted. Toddlers simply have no idea what it means to pace themselves. It's all out or done.

Baiden has reached that point where sometimes he wants to be carried only to hear his Dad or Mom telling him that he is a big boy now and needs to walk. Of course sometimes they still carry him. He's not quite two yet. But other times they make him walk whether he wants to or not. It's important that he use his legs, learn to balance better, grow stronger, etc. The only way to grow in strength and ability to walk is to walk.

There will come a time when Baiden will grow to the point where it will be rare indeed for him to be carried by his parents. There will likely be times of joy in relationship as Justin carries Baiden on his shoulder, perhaps even when Baiden is as old as 5 or 6. I pray that it doesn't happen often or with anything majorly serious, but it's possible that Baiden may need to be carried at some point after an injury. My father has carried at least two of his grown sons in his arms, because we needed to be moved and couldn't walk.

But at no point in this process with Baiden going from being carried all the time to almost never is the insistence that he walk a rejection.  Neither Justin nor Brooke, or any of us his grandparents for that matter, rejecting him when we refuse to carry him. He's getting to that age when relationship is growing precious. Babies are amazing, but toddlers can really interact.

My point in all this rambling is simply this. Many of us have times when we feel we have been rejected by or forsaken by God. But Jesus has promised to never leave or forsake us. I feel forsaken, but Jesus said I'm not. Sometimes what we feel as rejection from God is God letting us, helping us grow. Justin and Brooke aren't rejecting Baiden by making him walk, but you'd never know that by listening to him fuss at first about not getting carried as he wants. But when he sees he isn't going to get his way, he surrenders to the adult, reaches out, takes a hand, and walks. Before long he's smiling and often trying to swing from the hand of love helping him walk.

Abba, thank you for knowing better than I when I need to be carried and when despite how I feel I am strong enough to walk. Thank you for making me walk, even though some of those times I want to be carried. I know it makes me stronger and teaches me to trust You. Help me not to feel rejected when You refuse to carry me, but let me instead simply take Your hand and walk beside You, swinging from Your loving arms. 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 Echo ~ November 10, 2018 ~ Self Pity Pitfall

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 16, 2015.

Self pity can be so miserably comforting and enjoyable. It's also dangerous and as addictive as any drug. Really? Really? As dangerous as a drug that makes people hurt others, lie, steal and worse? Yes. Self pity is dangerous and deadly to our relationship with God. We can not walk with God and wallow in self pity at the same time. It's not possible. So when we sink into the mire of self we separate ourselves from our source of power and life.

What that means is that if we stay in such a place too long, those of us who have been freed from bondage will (not may but will) return to it "like a dog returning to its vomit (Proverbs 26:11)." But I've never been an addict or engaged in any seriously destructive sin, so how is it dangerous for me? Don't kid yourself. Praise God that you haven't been where some have gone, but all sin is destructive. And some of the sins of the "not so bad variety" or more deadly spiritually to us than the ones that lead to jails and living under bridges because of their subtleness and the slow death they bring into our lives without setting of warning alarms in our minds. Only the Holy Spirit can wake us up to the fact that the seemingly "little" sin is actually an ice berg with a dangerous unseen portion below the surface about to take us down. If we stay in self pity, we will turn onto the path of destruction, whether that's a slow path with hidden dangers or the fast path.

But why? First, we stop following Jesus. I'm not talking about losing salvation or anything like that. I'm saying that while we are savoring the meal of self pity we are not dining at the Lord's table. Jesus said if you want to follow Him you must deny self. Indulging in self pity is the very opposite of denying self. You can't do both at the same time. And when we don't walk with Jesus we lose access to the grace that gives us the ability to walk free from sin, not because Jesus withholds it but because we cut ourselves off  from it. If you are in a room without windows and the door is shut and you turn off the light switch the room will become pitch black. You will not have the ability to see. The power is still there. There is nothing wrong with the light. But you have cut off access to it by turning the switch to the off position. Self pity is a quick way to turn our spiritual switch to the off position.

Thankfully, turning it back on is as simple as realizing you are in the dark and crying out to God. Turn Your attention back to Him, to His great love for us, to what He wants and service to others, and you will see the light come back on. We don't have the power to light the room, that's the electricity of the Spirit, but our choice of turning to or from relationship with God is the switch that we control. To turn it off is to allow death and destruction access to our life. Every time. To turn it on brings a life worth living that overflows into the lives of those around us.

Father, regardless of the circumstance help me to remember that You love me. Protect me from feelings of despair that lead to self pity. I want to grow closer to You, and I know I can not walk with You and wallow in self simultaneously. I want life in You and not the death that comes in self. Give me Your grace to stay out of self pity today. 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 ~ November 9, 2018 ~ Praying Without Ceasing

We are never cured. Some people  don't like to hear that. They don't like the idea of once an alcoholic, or a drug addict, or a [fill in the blank with your own area of [possibly former] bondage], always a..... And it is true that there are some who can walk away from  an addiction or habitual sin and never return  no matter what happens. They are the minority, but it can happen. But what I have seen in my own life and the lives of others is that even if we can remain victorious in one area we will fall in others. That is if we try to run on our own strength or on past spiritual experience.

We have a moment of connection with God and come to see how much He cares for us. Suddenly life gets better. Then it fades. Some call this a pink cloud. Some people run for months or even years before the pink cloud turns grey. But sooner or later, no matter how great the spiritual experience, the impact it had on life will fade. It just does. So what do we do? Do we decide that this spiritual thing, that being touched by Daddy just isn't as powerful as we once thought so why bother?

No. A hundred times no. God never intended for the result of experiencing Him to fill your cup forever. I can still remember the first time I kissed Leah. It shot through my lips straight to my heart. I knew I loved her, and I prayed that she knew it too. I also knew in that moment that the relationship wasn't one-way. She also cared about me. That was a powerful moment in our relationship.But it wasn't nearly as important to me as the kiss I gave her when she got home today. It's about relationship, It's not about a moment of connection but a lifetime of connection. That's true in my relationship with my wife, and it's true with our relationship with God. It's not about meeting Jesus  once however long ago that happened and running on the wonder of that for the rest of our lives. How sad would  that be? We are His bride. He loves us. He wants us to meet with Him and connect with Him daily.

We are never free. Never cured. It may not be the area of bondage we had before, but sin and the flesh will always  be there waiting for an opportunity. We do not get set free never to have to deal with it again. We have a 24-hour reprieve contingent upon the maintenance of our spiritual condition. The key word there is maintenance. You say spiritual experiences don't last. Well, neither do showers. No matter how well you clean up, you're going to reach a point where you need another shower. You can either say it doesn't  work, I can't stay clean and never shower again or you can shower regularly. The same is true with spiritual experience. We don't stop walking  with God because the experience fades or because we just get dirty again. We strive to improve contact with Him through prayer and meditation and rely on today's relationship instead of yesterday's moment. Consider the idea that being told to pray without ceasing is not setting us up to fail nor designed to mean that we can't go one second without praying. Rather it is about understanding that prayer, and more importantly the communication in relationship that it is about, is not a one and done or an in case of emergency thing, but it is an ongoing act of love between us and God.


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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 ~ November 8, 2018 ~ Power For The Mundane

God, I offer myself to Thee—to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!

- Third Step prayer

Our lives had become unmanageable and we found ourselves powerless. Powerless over our addictions. Powerless over our  fears. Powerless to stop doing the things that made life worse. Powerless to do the things that made life better. Powerless over the bondage of self. Powerless to walk with God. But there is One who has all power, and we, believing that He could give freedom and a life worth living, surrendered our lives and will to His care and relying on relationship with Him to provide the power to live well and free and follow the Spirit's guidance and direction.

Lack of power was our dilemma, and we found that power through relationship with God, by grace because of the work of Jesus on the cross and the work of the Spirit in our lives. But let us never forget that our freedom isn't really about us. We must not rely on the Spirit for the miracles and the big stuff and insist on handling the rest of our lives ourselves. We don't deny enough self to stay free of our addictions but hang onto  our own will in other areas. We can not serve two masters. Refusal to submit to God in the little things, the seemingly unimportant things, will eventually lead to rebellion in the big things as well. Jesus  was as submitted to the Spirit and empowered for the mundane as He was for the miraculous. It's  why He was never caught off guard by temptation, the enemy or even a bad day. How we live our day to day, the non-crisis moments, is the sermon many will see. It  speaks as loudly, if not more so, than how we handle the hard times.

Let us not forget that the Third Step pray reminds us that we ask for victory that our lives may be a demonstration of Daddy's love, power and way of life. Jesus said in Acts 1:8, "...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." We do receive power from the Spirit of God. If we walk by that power we can walk differently, we can say no to sin, we can overcome the bondage of self and the desires of our old ways. And that freedom is a blessing and benefit for us, but the ultimate purpose is so that our lives under the control of the Spirit become a witness for Jesus.

So much of our culture is a struggle to be seen and heard. We don't want to be invisible. But we would do well to be  transparent, so that when people see us, they don't see us as much as see the life of Jesus in us and what the Spirit can do to restore and transform lives. Robin Williams once said that when he got sober he realized he was still the same [expletive]. He just had fewer dents in his car. Let us not be like that.  Let us be so submitted to the Spirit that our mundane moments show the glory of God as much as the miracles.


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.