Don't Lose Your Rest

We all struggle with times of unbelief and disobedience. Dalyn Woodard continues the series, "Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews," with a look at the truth that there are serious consequences to sin that can be avoided by being soft of heart and responding to the Spirit today. The message, "Don't Lose Your Rest," is about an hour and 6 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on February 27, 2019. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

You can hear the first message in the Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews series, "It's All About Jesus," here, the second message, "A Most Excellent Word," here. The third message, "Jesus Is Enough," here. The fourth message, "More Excellent Than Angels," here. The fifth message, "Defeating The Dangerous Drift," here. The sixth message, "The Most Excellent Man," here. The seventh message, "The Most Excellent Help," here, and the eighth message, "Consider Jesus," 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 Echo ~ February 27, 2019 ~ Conflict Of Masters

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

- Romans 7: 18-19

Even a man who, inspired by the Holy Spirit, would pen much of the New Testament scriptures understood bondage. Why? Not because he studied it but rather because he lived it. We all have our areas. Every human being lives in various degrees of bondage to various masters. Sometimes one master is so much stronger than another that we don't even realize the lesser master is there at first, and sometimes what seems to be the stronger master is actually one we chose ourselves to try to silence the first and deeper master.

What on earth? Let me give an example. I used drugs and alcohol for a short while, and then they used me. I became a slave to oblivion. I was such a slave that I didn't even try to quit for more years than I care to admit, even though I was slowly losing and destroying everything I cared about, including my ability to care.

Finally I felt a moment of clarity. I need these chains lifted. I couldn't get them off and could have no life with them on. I surrendered to a different master who promised to make me a son rather than a slave. I took steps to learn to submit to God, to be honest with myself and to learn to kill the selfishness within me. In the process I became awake, alive, spiritually and found freedom, for the most part.

For the most part? I rode that spiritual high many in recovery refer to as a pink cloud for a while, and then it hit me that while I was walking free from the obsession to drink and drug, I was not free. Not totally. Another master rose to claim his pound of flesh. Jesus said that we can't serve two masters, and I am not disputing that. What I am saying is that we can only serve one master at a time, but that we can be under the supervision of many little slave drivers, who just happen to be tools and subject to one. As the spiritual high I felt lessened and the emotions I hadn't let myself feel for years as an addict and alcoholic came flooding in, I found myself to be an unstable bottle of nitro, ever ready to explode at the smallest disturbance.

Anger ruled me as much as any drug ever did. I might go through a day or two or part of a day without an assignment and therefore have the illusion that I wasn't a slave because I wasn't in the fields. But let something not go my way or frighten me or trample on what I perceived as my rights, and without thought or hesitation I submitted totally and completely to rage. Anger made me its...well, anything it wanted at the time.

Afterwards I feel embarrassed and ashamed. I hate the anger that rises in me at times. Spent, exhausted, feeling used, I know that Jesus is right about two masters. When I submit to the Boss Man Rage I can't think about serving God, much less do it. There is no point in that moment where the light of Christ can be seen in anything I am thinking, saying or doing. Sometimes I am ashamed to say it runs its course, the job is done, and then, with the whip gone and no longer being driven, I acknowledge that I have returned to a former master and will, as Paul puts it, determine would be more what we would say, not to do so again. Other times, my true Master pours out enough grace for me to have a flash of clarity even as I work under the whip of another. God is there with power, love, grace and mercy if at that moment of understanding I cry out to Him for help, if I submit once again to His will. Sometimes in an instant, sometimes more slowly, the feeling of the whip on my soul fades, the fires of rage die down, and once again I find myself under the grace of my Creator.

I can not serve two masters. Once I am in submission to One I can not submit to the other at the same time, because their instructions are not comparable. One is calling to sow seed, tend the crop and harvest the fruit while the others are demanding it be cut down or burned out. But the will is a tricky and fickle thing. Most times I long to serve God, love the benefits of being in His service. But in those moments when a switch is flipped and I bow to another, it's not against my will. I want to be angry at that moment. I feed on it. It gives me pleasure even as it gives me pain. It makes me feel powerful and right.

Afterwards I may feel disgust and shame before that moment of asking for forgiveness and returning to that place of knowing that I am loved of God and clean before my Lord. But at the moment, in the moment, when I am in the grips of that which before and after I claim to hate and to be determined not to do, I am not in hate. I am loving my sin, eating it up like a dog returning to its vomit. But when not under the whip of rage, I know that living angry is not the life I want.

So why have I not found freedom from this master as I have the alcohol and drugs? There are reasons this master continues to call and reclaim his former property, but ultimately it boils down to while my spirit is new and free, it is housed in a mind and body still living under the curse of the fallen. Anger, and other masters that are enemies of the will of God in my life, know that as long as I am on this side of eternity and in this fleshly body they have a chance to pull my puppet strings. So they attempt to steal back that which was purchased from them on the cross.

We often see the statement Jesus made about serving two masters as a criticism of those who claim to desire relationship with God but also want what the world has to offer. After all, the context of the verse is about chasing wealth. But I also see it as a key to freedom and a promise. I can not serve multiple masters at the same time. That means when I am completely submitted to God, while I may hear the call to service from the other, I don't go there. I may feel the whip for a second, but in staying in the service to my Lord, it doesn't sting as much, I don't have to react, and He is there to pour out His grace so that I don't have to answer my former master.

I know this is true, because while those moments do come when I fail to stay in Daddy's field doing what He asked me to do and go to the place of bondage, they are lesser in frequency and in severity than before. I return to my former place less and less.As I continue to walk in grace there may come a day when the call to anger has no more power over me than the unexplained craving of a drink or drug that may come. I dismiss the latter now without much thought or concern because its power in my life is broken. It doesn't scare me or bother me. I simply remind myself that I am in service to another now and go on with my day. No matter how suddenly anger shows there will be grace to ignore its call. But I also know that there will be another who will begin to demand attention.

No matter how many areas of slavery may rise and call saying, you served me before, now serve me again, no matter how much my natural tendency may be to go that way and answer that call, to bow beneath that whip, no matter if it's a little master or a big one, the solution is the same. The freedom is found in service to the One who is greater than the greatest of that which would rule me. The solution in submission to Love rather than the whip. The answer lies is remembering  that I am not my own but have been bought with a great price from my own will and the will of everything and everyone who would sow death rather than life in me and through me.

We can only serve one master at a time. Let us so fully listen to His voice and submit to His authority that the call of the old is drowned out and lessened, And the great truth and promise is this. There will come a day, when we see Jesus face to face, and never again will any call  of any other master, not chemicals, not wrath nor lust nor greed nor selfishness nor any other power reach our ears. And on that day the war will be over, and we will  be totally and truly free.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 12, 2016.

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 ~ February 26, 2019 ~ Indescribable

A baby is born and before the age is reached where there is any chance of memory sickness is discovered. At the roots of the sickness is an allergy, so the doctors test to see what all the poor infant is allergic to. Among the allergies that are causing a reaction to the formula the mother was feeding is also a severe allergy to peanuts. Thankfully the parents know and can watch out for foods containing peanuts. This child grows to adulthood without ever eating peanuts in any form.

Now, imagine that you become friends with this unfortunate soul. Could you describe what it's like to eat a peanut butter sandwich or have fresh, hot from the oven, peanut butter cookies with a glass of milk? No matter how good your descriptive powers, what you said would fall short of the reality of personal experience. That is also the problem that we run into when trying to share our spiritual experiences to someone who has never tasted the goodness of God.

Sometimes words only do a disservice, no matter how grand they are, and fall short. Today, let us pray for the grace to live out the principles of spiritual freedom in such a way that draws others to follow us to the free banquet table of the King. Lord, may Your grace make it possible for us to live so faithfully, consistently and  fully for You that Your peace, joy and love become such a part of our lives that Your truth,, power,, glory and love is undeniable, even if indescribable.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 11, 2016.

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 ~ February 25, 2019 ~ When It Still Hurts

Life can be hard. It can be unfair. We find relationship with God, and no matter that we know better, we often have a sense that everything should be coming up roses from then on. We suffered and went through miserable because we didn't have relationship with our Creator. Shouldn't relationship with Him  mean an end to suffering then? Shouldn't the healing always come? Shouldn't the pain instantly end, or end at all? Shouldn't all our wounds be healed and our scars fade? Why must life still hurt? Why shouldn't everything get better.

Well, it will, eventually. Every wound will heal, every pain be soothed and suffering will end. Just not on this side of eternity. Sometimes the healing comes. Sometimes the suffering is removed. But sometimes we go through hell so that we can help others who are going through hell and have not yet learned that  we can lean on God in the Valley of Shadows. As we are refined in the fires and learn to run to God, we find the path to peace in the midst of every circumstance. We can then show others that our circumstances don't have to control our lives. We can help others because we have been there, because there was no instant fix but rather something better. Even when we made our bed in hell God is with us. So today, let us take our time in days of trouble as an avenue to sympathize with and help others who don't know that hope can live in the presence of pain.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 9, 2016.

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.

Consider Jesus

Life can be hard, and it can be easy to find ourselves disillusioned and discouraged and tempted to try something other than subjecting ourselves to God's will as the answer. Dalyn Woodard continues the series, "Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews," with a look at strategies for facing times of temptation. The message, "Consider Jesus," is about 56 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on February 24, 2019. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

You can hear the first message in the Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews series, "It's All About Jesus," here, the second message, "A Most Excellent Word," here. The third message, "Jesus Is Enough," here. The fourth message, "More Excellent Than Angels," here. The fifth message, "Defeating The Dangerous Drift," here. The sixth message, "The Most Excellent Man," here, and the seventh message, "The Most Excellent Help," 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 Echo ~ February 23, 2019 ~ Best Bestie

If we want freedom from our bondage, we must stay in contact with the One who can make us free and keep us free. Step Eleven tells us that on a regular basis we need to seek to improve our conscious contact with God through prayer and meditation. On one hand such a statement can be intimidating or sound deeply spiritual. But really all it is saying is that we spend time with God. We talk to Him, and we listen to Him.

Many of us have at least one of those friends that we don't really keep in touch with, only visit with or communicate every few years but when we do run into each other it's as if we've never been apart. There's a great connection.  We enjoy catching up and getting to know one another. We may even know that if we ever need help we can count on that friend and vice versa. But come on, as much as we love to praise such relationships in social media, this is not good friendship. Usually when we are talking about such a friend we'll say something along the lines of how so and so used to be our best friend once upon  a time.

But we don't go years without communicating with a best friend. We visit, talk, text, at least comment on a Facebook post or Tweet regularly. Maybe not every day, but often. I talk to and with my best friend every single day. God wants to be closer to us than our best friend!

How awesome is that!? Imagine the God of the universe wants to be our best bestie! He actually loves us and desires intimacy with our hearts. He longs for relationship with us, and there is something within us that longs to know Him, to have relationship with Him. We can try to answer that desire with things and never know happiness, because nothing other than God can satisfy our innate desire for God, or we can ask Him to reveal His heart to us, seek to really get to know Him and find life. If we want is to know Him better, deeper and more intimately, we have to spend time with Him. It's that simple. We talk. We listen. We go through our day aware that we have a friend in God.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 8, 2016.

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 ~ February 22, 2019 ~ The Sacred Ache

It's hard to be satisfied sometimes. Depression, or at least melancholia, is a common by-product of discontent. Besides making us blue, discontent is dangerous, often driving us to pursue phantoms into the fog banks filled with obstacles, pit falls and threats both unforeseen and near impossible to avoid, once we enter. There's an ache that just whispers to us as we go through the motions of life that there is more. There is something else, or should be anyway.

We begin to think of what the ache means and how to make it go away. We instructively realize that it is something out of place and missing, but that's usually as much as our instincts can get it right. We think if only I had someone in my life, a partner/spouse then everything would be all right. I would be happy. If only my relationship were better everything would be all right. If only I had a job, or a better job, or got a raise or was recognized for what I contribute... If only I lived in a better...... If only....

Or we just try to fill it with things that numb us from the empty space. Sex, drugs, rock-n-roll or classical or jazz or alcohol or books or shopping or chocolate cake or whatever can distract us or make us feel different, at least for a while. But the truth is that the ache is good. It tells us that we need a savior, that we need God. And once we find relationship with out Creator, the return or echo of that ache reminds us that we are still not home, still not done. There is still work to be done, progress to made. It is a sacred ache, and there is only one balm that soothes it without negative side effects. Pursuing God, pushing closer, pressing into His presence, refusing to be satisfied with diluted and counterfeit substitutes for the only piece that fits the hole in the puzzle.

Jobs, relationships, acceptance from people, etc., are nice and nothing to throw away, but they are not the answer to the sacred ache. The truth is that job or no job, relationship or no relationship, etc. we can find freedom, a life worth living, contentment and joy, but it is found in something other than this realm with its curse. It is in the eternal sphere wrapped in the Eternal Loving God.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 7, 2016.

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 Most Excellent Help

Why does it matter that Jesus was truly human as well as God? Dalyn Woodard continues the series, "Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews," with a look at the purpose and importance of the humanity of Christ. The message, "The Most Excellent Help," is about 40 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on February 20, 2019. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

You can hear the first message in the Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews series, "It's All About Jesus," here, the second message, "A Most Excellent Word," here. The third message, "Jesus Is Enough," here. The fourth message, "More Excellent Than Angels," here. The fifth message, "Defeating The Dangerous Drift," here, and the sixth message, "The Most Excellent Man," 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 Echo ~ February 20, 2019 ~ Warriors Fall Short

Those who have read much of my writing and or listened to me preach often probably know that I enjoy and follow sports. I don't watch much in order to spare my wife, who is most certainly not a sports fan, but I keep up with the scores, news and highlights via various apps and social media. My favorite app is Onside Sports, a sports wagering app. My favorite game is not Candy Crush r Angry Birds or even Call Of Duty. It's betting on sports.

My financial situation is such that to wager real money, even pennies per game, would be irresponsible. But the app turns wagering into a game that is free to play, let's you compete against yourself and others and uses virtual units to keep track of your record, wins and losses, etc. Losing doesn't cost anything. Winning doesn't really mean anything. Yet, I take it pretty seriously, as my wife can attest. This morning as I put on my glasses I picked up my phone and headed for the coffee pot. I woke my phone up so that I could turn the volume back on, not the least concerned with what happened as I lay in bed last night. I knew. I was wrong though. As I activated the volume I saw the notification Parley Score loss.

I scrolled down through the other notifications from Facebook and Twitter until I saw what I was looking for. There were two basketball games in progress last night when I went to bed that were both on my five game parlay. Both teams that I had picked were winning and controlling their respective games in the final quarter when I turned the volume down and put the phone up for the night. What happened? I went to bed confident that I would finish the day in the green, meaning I won more than loss, and woke to see the results in the red. How had the Clippers blown that lead?

That's what I thought, but the Clippers didn't blow anything. They won. The Golden State Warriors fell in overtime and lost the game I was most sure would be a win for me. A lot of fans felt the same I am sure. A headline I read this morning asked if the Warriors were running out of gas. They had been looking like they were easily going to beat the record for most wins in a season this year, and now that looks unlikely, although not impossible. I haven't seen anything crediting Minnesota for stepping up and winning. Everything is about Golden State losing.

Times like that I am very grateful that I don't wager money. The loss hurt my pride a little. It put me in the hole for the day, barely, but it didn't really cost me anything. I had gone to bed sure of the outcome, confident the Warriors would win. They didn't. Things like that happen.

Sure things fall short sometimes. Easy wins can turn into defeats when a person or team does better than anyone thought they could or a player or team does worse than they should have or just because of a fluke mishap. I'm just as bad. No matter how much knowledge and understanding I have, no matter how determined, no matter how much I practice and prepare, as I go through my days I find that I choke and lose at times when losing shouldn't even be a possibility.

I can be cruising along and suddenly without warning fail to live up to the beliefs and spiritual principles that govern my life and protect my freedom. I can think that everything is fine and then find that without even realizing it I have taken back my will, failed to submit to God's will and now find that when it came time to show His light and love I have behaved selfishly or gotten angry over something that doesn't really matter in the eternal scheme of things or ignored someone's need and the chance to be of service or......

There is only One who never fails and never falls short. No matter what else happens, God can always be counted on. When we go to sleep seeing God in control, we wake to find that He still is. He will never disappoint us. He may not, will not, always do what we want Him to in the way that we want  Him to, but the reason we can lean on Him is that He is always faithful to do and be all that we need. We can rely on His strength and power instead of our own, because His is the only power that can never be surprised, overcome or fall short.

God's faithfulness is the only sure thing we can rely on. Today, let us not cruise along on our ability, but let us remember to surrender to Him and let His power take us through the day. With Him and by His grace we don't ever have to lose.  Even the greatest warriors sometimes lose when they shouldn't. but God never fails.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 6 2016.

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 ~ February 19, 2019 ~ Autofill

This morning has been a little difficult for me. My brain just doesn't want to kick into high gear. I actually got some rest last night, which is nice, but as it drew near to time to wake my mind slipped into a dream where I was preaching. I only remember feeling the conviction of truth and promise as I said we can have peace and joy and then I woke. I couldn't remember the rest of the message. I don't often dream about preaching, and I felt like the message in the dream was for me. I wanted it. I needed it. I kept trying to go back to sleep and get back into the dream. I wanted to remember that message, but no such luck.

I couldn't get my mind going in any other direction, which made coming up with something to write for today's Unshackled Moment nigh impossible. I listened to my music and read my devotions and scripture but still no ideas came. Then my wonderful wife sent me a text saying that she loved me. I smiled and replied. I lobe you My Lady XOXO.

As soon as I hit send I saw the mistake. I cringed. I sent another text. Love not lobe lol. One of the things that I dislike about Twitter is the inability to edit a tweet after it is sent. This is because  I have been making more and more such mistakes lately. My eyes are so bad I sometimes can't really read what I am texting or posting from my phone. The letters are just too small. The phone isn't helping either. I have typed love after I and before you so many times I wouldn't even hazard a guess as to the number. The accidental lobe has been typed a few times, but nowhere near as many. And yet for some reason when I typed "I," the autofill provided the word lobe. I assumed it said love and hit it. There is no reason lobe should come up before love in that situation. It hasn't been used as many times, and it's not even a verb! Then another text came in as I fought my self-anger at making careless mistakes and not taking the time to make sure my eyes haven't betrayed me yet again. Leah assured me that she lobes me too. I laughed. Even as I felt like a foolish incompetent, my amazing wife makes it clear that she accepts me and cares for me. My spirits lifted.

Then I realized how she was acting like Daddy in that situation. My brain has its own autofill modes. I know the truth and have experienced the better and more correct way to respond to so many situations. And yet, despite doing it right a thousand times, all too often my brain starts with the wrong choice. The response doesn't fit. It isn't right by definition or by tense or by any measure and yet I automatically go that way. When this happens God doesn't look down from heaven and declare me stupid and not worth the trouble. He smiles at me and gently shows me that I know better. His grace and forgiveness deletes my mistakes. He says it's not the end of the world. Just make the correction and move on. And then reminds me that my autofill is often wrong. I need to take the time before responding and reacting to make sure that what comes up is right before committing the action. I can't rely on my autofill, but I can rely on God's ability to see when I am blind, on His ability to understand me even when I don't make sense and His grace to take me where I need to go even when I get off track. He will never stop loving us, even when we only lobe Him in return.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 5, 2016.

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 ~ February 18, 2019 ~ Discouragement

Discouragement and self pity can be hard to overcome, and the biggest reason is that they are often based on truth. This is hard. This is harder than it should be. This is not fair. This is not just. This is not going my way. The deck is stacked against me. There is nothing I can do about this. I can not win. These are statements that a mind under discouragement and feeling self pity might think, and there are many many more examples that could be included. And they can all be true, at least in isolation.

When we are in trouble, in pain, discouraged and or feeling sorry for ourselves we often become so hyper focused on the problem and ourselves that we can't see anything else. We can not or do not expand our vision to see the way out, or to see that the problem or the threat is only a small part of the picture. We see the cross and not the empty grave beyond it. If all we see is the cross, the truth is horrible, painful, miserable, unfair and a million other overwhelming negatives. But three days later, all of that was a mere stepping stone to joy unspeakable, victory that can't be lost and all that Jesus lived for. That moment, brief in the scheme of things but surely felt like an eternity at the time, seemed like defeat but when the scene is pulled back and more than that one moment was seen the moment was opposite what it looked and felt like from close up.

Today when we are tempted because  worry or pain to look at us and the focus on the problem, let us turn our eyes off ourselves and onto Daddy. Let us remember that we can only see this moment and not the entire picture and that what looks and feels like evil and death may prove later to be the pathway that brought us closer to our Creator and actually made us more alive.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

April 4, 2016.

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.

Joy Is Not An Afterthought

Sometimes we treat joy like an afterthought Dalyn Woodard shares how you can't have any of the three characteristics of the Kingdom of God, righteousness, peace and joy, without the other two and how we can't have any of them without what Jesus did for us. The message, "Joy Is Not As Afterthought," is about 13 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on February 17, 2019. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

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

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

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

Unshackled Echo ~ February 14, 2019 ~ Remembering Dee

She was rough around the edges, tough as old leather, and her heart was pure and sweet. The photo I have of her with her granddaughter shortly before her death is one of the most precious and beautiful photos I have ever taken. Today I am remembering Dee. I'm not sure why, but she's on my mind this morning, and I am missing her more than usual.

I spent seven and a half years in a Texas prison, and got out wanting something better for my life, but completely hopeless about the future and more angry than I can describe. I was a seething cauldron of anger, and yes, fear. What now? What was I going to do? What could I do? How could I fix my life and would I ever be happy or cared about or treated like a person or.....

In about a week of getting out, while still on parole, I got drunk. It scared me. This was a violation, and I didn't want to return to prison. Also, I knew that while I felt horrible for opening that bottle of rum and hated myself for failing so quickly at freedom, what I really wanted was another drink and I could think of some drugs that would compliment the drink nicely. I stood at the edge of a cliff and seriously contemplated jumping. Instead I reached out for help. A few reached back, but none so much or so truly offered themselves in service as Dee.

It was clear from the start that I needed help and someone to take me through the steps of recovery. Dee walked up to me one day, asked me if I had found someone yet, and when I told her no, she told me to come with her. She led me to a man I had never spoken to before, told him I was looking for help, and I had my first mentor. A few weeks later, when I went a little crazy and nearly drank over my fourth step, she offered me her couch as a safe place. I finished my fourth step at her house, alone but not alone, safe, over the next few days. I rang in my first new year after prison at her house with her and her boyfriend. I even got to know Emily, who would become one of my best friends, as we sat on Dee's couch eating the magic BlueBell ice cream and complaining about how life and relationships were treating us.

Dee's willingness to help, to take a chance on losers like me in need of help and recovery and her exuberant friendship were major factors in my early recovery. When the cancer finally took her, we lost a woman who had truly been refined by the fires of hell into a treasure. As I approach my sixth year of recovery I realize how much of the principles I learned to live by I learned sitting on her couch. She let a man she didn't know well, who had just gotten out of prison and had nothing to offer anyone, into her home and life. She became a friend, and stayed one, even when I didn't listen to her advice and screwed up royally along the early days of my journey. Now, I am recovered from a hopeless state of mind and body. I have learned to forgive, myself and others. I have learned how to love and be the kind of man who gladly puts his wife first. I am a minister and share what I have been given in order that other captives may find freedom and a life worth living. The man I am today is a miracle of God, and that miracle is due in part to the kindness, caring and service of a wonderful lady many would disregard.

Today, let us not hesitate to offer caring and friendship to the outcast, the broken and the loser. You never know what a little kindness can do in the life of one person and how that may grow into help for many. Thank you Dee.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

March 31, 2016.

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 ~ February 13, 2019 ~ Handling Today's List

Fear and worry are not comparable with joy and peace. There is so much pressure in life and so many things that can turn out not to go the way we need and want. But the more we stress, worry and fret, the more we are tempted to try to force things to go our way, to slip into manipulation, to try to fix things before they get broken. We try to be our own insurance policies, despite history showing it never goes well when we try to handle things. Today, let us remember to leave every weight, worry and situation in the hands of our Creator who is more than capable to do what needs to be done. Let us be quick to obey and do what we nee to do for our part, but to always wait for direction before doing anything.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

March 30, 2016.

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 ~ February 12, 2019~ Breakfast On The Beach

Not long after the resurrection the men who had followed Jesus had returned to their lives and were simply trying to make it. They went fishing, and after working hard with the nets all night had caught nothing. Jesus shows up on the shore, calls out to them and asks them if they've caught anything. They hadn't, but upon obeying when He told them to cast the net on the other side of the boat, they made quite a haul. Jesus loves to do that by the way, come at the problem from the other side of the boat.

I'm sure that such a large catch made for a lot of work that needed to be done. They were tired. They'd been at it all night, and now, when they were exhausted and ready to quit there was a ton of work to do. The fish needed to be taken care of. They wouldn't sit forever. This was long before ice machines and freezers after all. But Jesus didn't let them jump right into what needed to be done. He didn't offer to help either or miraculously clean the fish. He said, "Brig some of the fish and let's eat breakfast."

Sometimes God blesses us with work to do. It is a blessing to have a great catch, but the work is still multiplied. It is tempting to feel the need to get right on it. It has to be done. But Jesus wants us to step back and have breakfast. Now, I'm not talking bacon and eggs here. I'm saying that no matter how much work there is to be done, we need to take a minute and spend some time on the beach in our spirit chilling and eating with our Savior. When we do this, we can rise refreshed better able to do what He has called us to do.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

March 29, 2016.

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 ~ February 11, 2019 ~ Legacy

Have you ever heard of Billy Graham? A lot of people have. He is probably one of the most famous preachers of the last 100 years or more. He co-authored a book I finished reading this weekend, and as I went to mark it as read in my Goodreads account I saw something interesting about him.

I normally use the Goodreads app, but this morning I used the computer. The set up and how it looks are different, and one of the things more easily seen is the about the author section.

About Billy Graham

husband to Ruth Bell Graham, father of Ruth Graham, Gigi Graham Tchividjian, & Anne Graham Lotz, Nelson, & Franklin Graham 

 Dr. Billy Graham has authored more than 150 books.

A lot of times when you glance at or read the about someone who is a writer or musician or whatever it is about them. Where and when they were born or live or both, how many books they've written or sold or awards won, something making them look big, important, qualified. At times it almost feels like the publicist is saying see how great this person is? You'd be stupid not to buy the book or CD or....

I'm not a fan of Graham's, and I haven't read a lot of his books. I do not know if this thing I have pointed out is even known by or approved by him. But I think that it is great. So often we strive to be known, to be seen and esteemed. But how much better would it be if we all sought our recognition to be about relationships. It seems to me to be a mark of someone who has been of service if the relationship is more important than what made someone well known.

If God is willing, one day I will be old like Graham. Even if I don't make it that far, people will sum up my life in a few short words or paragraphs when I die. The same will happen to you, Dear Reader. What will they say? What do you want them to say? I don't mind my past remaining known and it would be almost impossible to talk about my life in any truthful or real way without mentioning addiction, alcoholism and prison. And if I make it another 30 years, I hope that it will be possible to say that I served in the ministry, preached and wrote for over a quarter of a century. It would even be cool if sometime between now and then I do a few things worthy of bragging about.

But what I'd really like to lead with, what I hope that someone who knows me will think when they think who is or was Dalyn Woodard is not preacher or prisoner, but...Husband to Leah, friend and help to captives, a source of hope for the broken. Wouldn't it be great if our greatest pride and greatest accomplishments came out of relationships with others? If we were known best for positively effecting the lives of people....family, friends and foes? What if we were more excited about being of service to God and others than making a name for our selves or being seen as great? Wouldn't at least our little section of the world be a little more bright and beautiful?

Today, let us remember that self-seeking, even in the areas of status, reputation and approval is not the path or the goal, that a life of freedom worth living is found in sacrificing of self and service to God and our fellows. We can't all be Mother Theresa, but if we can try today and ever day to make someone else's life a little better and little brighter. What a great life. What a great legacy. 

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

March 28, 2016.

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.

Thorns

It's easy to look at the thorns in our flesh and wonder why God allows them to remain. Wally Flynt shares how God not only allows some thorns and uses them for our good, but if we stop and think about how many of the thorns He has removed we will be astonished. The Lord is with us. The message, "Thorns," is about 4 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on February 10, 2019. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

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

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

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

Unshackled Echo ~ February 9, 2019 ~ The F Word

 "When you release the wrongdoer from the wrong, you cut a malignant tumor out of your inner life. You set a prisoner free, but you discover that the real prisoner was yourself."

 ~ Lewis B. Smedes in his book, Forgive and Forget

Forgiveness. It's easy to say. Hard to do, especially when it really matters. When we need forgiveness we seem to instinctively know that it is a choice. "Please, just forgive me!" But when we've been truly and deeply wronged, the word itself feels profane.

For the victim, the idea of forced forgiveness can victimize them all over again. The idea of forgiving abuse, neglect and violation that killed a part of us inside just feels wrong. It goes against every natural emotional response we have as human beings. The area of forgiveness is one of the easiest places to see the truth behind the verse that says God's ways are not our ways.

But forgiveness is one of the most necessary ingredients for spiritual health. Without God's forgiveness none of us could ever have relationship with Him or walk a life free from the wreckage of the past. And it may seem obvious but without relationship with our Creator and freedom from our past, regardless of how that past compares to others, you can not be spiritually healthy. And our forgiveness of others is also a very necessary ingredient.

Colossians 3:13 says "bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do." (NKJV) Quite simply, forgiveness is a command. We are told to do it. Why? Why is the F word so important that God in the post-law, grace-filled era would command us to do it? The next verse in Colossians goes on to say above everything else, love. And the next verse says to let the God of peace rule our hearts.

Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God with everything we are and the next greatest is to love others. He told the disciples that He had a new commandment, one harder than the Old Testament commands if we try to do it on our own power, love one another, even as He loved us, But the order to love comes with help from the Holy Spirit who will love with us and for us when we surrender our lives and will to God. It is not us that does what is right, even reacting to the unloving acts of others with love, but Christ in me and in you that responds in a Godly way. It also comes with a promise that to love fills us with joy.

But seeing that we are commanded to forgive doesn't make it easy or explain why God would tell us to do something that is obviously near impossible for us most times. There are several reasons. As the paragraph above shows, as believers we are to love. That's what Christianity is supposed to be about, loving like Christ loved. You can't love someone you can't forgive. You can't serve with gladness and lay down your life for someone who owes you a debt without first forgiving the debt. Also, you can't have the peace of God ruling your heart if you are still stirring the pot of resentment. Anger can produce a lot of things in our lives, but peace is not one of them.

And perhaps the most important reason is actually because we can't do it. The Aramaic word for forgive means to "untie." The easiest and quickest way to rid ourselves of hurt and negative results caused by someone else is to no longer be tied to that person. Why should I give someone who hurt me a quarter of a century ago the power to control how I feel today? Forgiveness cuts the strings that bind me to that negative situation. But knowing that doesn't make it easy to forgive the unforgiveable. And that's why it is so important that we choose to forgive.

Forgiveness, like all acts of obedience, is a choice. When we have surrendered our lives to His and choose to obey His will over our own, we can have faith that His grace is sufficient to give us the power to do what we, on our own, can not do. Forgiveness of others heals us, gets the pain and poison out of my life, But we can't do it. Victory over our unforgiveness, the ability to forgive what humanly is impossible to forgive, testifies of God's love and power,

:"Wow," someone says. "I how did you forgive the drunk driver who killed your child?" Or, "How did you forgive that person who abused you for years?" "How did you forgive your rapist?" Or, insert your own hell here. And the answer might be something like this, "Oh, I never could before I found the freedom that comes in relationship with God and in surrender to His will. He made it clear that it is His will I forgive, so I made a choice to obey, and when I couldn't do it, I asked Him to make it possible. I accepted His forgiveness for myself and for this other person." He gave me the ability to do what I could not do, and I've never been so happy and free as when I finally forgave my....."

Forgiveness is a choice. Forgiveness of those big hurts and violations, the ones causing us the most damage, is impossible for us, but with God, all things are possible. Forgiveness is rarely a one time decision. We give our will to God, and then we take it back. We surrender, and then we refuse to. We make the choice to obey and forgive, and then we remember the pain and demand what is owed us. When it comes back, we must surrender again, obey again, forgive again. Lather, rinse, repeat until it stops coming up.

Forgiveness does not say that what happened was right or OK. Forgiveness said that you were owed a debt and you are releasing the debtor from what is owed. You are not releasing them because the debt was illegitimate. The debt is valid. The sin was great. The damage was done. Forgiving the debt does nothing to change what the debt was or was not. It simply declared that it is no longer owed. And when you can stop living your life like a bill collector emotionally chasing after the tornadoes that destroyed part of your life, you will find a freedom to heal and rebuild. People can see your life and say, "Wow, it doesn't look like this place was ever burned to the ground or destroyed by tornadoes!" And then you can assure them that it was, but God restored you and can do the same for the wreckage in their life as well.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

May 31, 2013.

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 ~ February 8, 2019 ~ Selfless

This past weekend my wife and watched the movie Selfless. It's a good movie, rated PG-3 and not entirely family friendly but there's no nudity and the language is mild compared to rated R films. The story is interesting and well done. While I would not recommend it to the very young or those who don't have a good grasp on reality, if you enjoy films like The Matrix (for the story idea not the special effects), and The 13th Floor it's a good one.

An elderly man with money is dying and undergoes a new procedure that allows him to transfer his self into a new, younger and healthy body. Of course, something's not quite right with either the procedure or the black market company that made it happen. Will the post procedure pills designed to help mesh his mind with the new body and prevent rejection work? The movie made me think of some interesting concepts and correlations that I can't discuss in a public forum or with someone who hasn't seen the film. I hate spoilers. But I did start thinking of something that is because of the movie but enough off script that it won't give things away.

We were all old and dying, no matter how young we were. We were without a future or hope. Everything that we had done or gained simply was not enough. God provided us with a new chance, a fresh start. No, not a new body with the old self, but something better. We received a new self. Someday on the other side of eternity  we will be given a new and perfect body to go with the new person God made. The differences between who we are and who we were vary from glaring and so distinct that people who knew us ask about the change and are shocked to sadly, not much difference at all. The process is done, once and for all, the things that make us who we are are new and different. But in order for that new person to have the most impact and smoothly transition and progress from fresh and new to ready for the perfect body that waits the old self must be purged and removed.

This purging of the old self is done simply by surrendering to the process. The closer we get to our Creator and the more we surrender to the Spirit, the stronger the new self becomes, the more the old self fades and the higher the quality of life with peace, joy and love at the center of its characteristics. As long as the old self is allowed to remain and reemerge there is conflict and misery to some extent. The new can never be all it was created to be while wrestling with the old rather than just being. Now, on this side of eternity, we will always have some struggle with the old and will never be able to purge it completely, but we can surrender and daily exercise self mortification with the help of the Holy Spirit so that the amount that old self interferes with the new self and the ability of others to see and recognize the old over the new becomes less and less. Then, we become a walking, talking example of the renewal process and a testament to the great God who preforms. Our lives can be so much better the more we surrender, the more we are selfless.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

February 8, 2016.

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 Most Excellent Man

Jesus came and lived the life that we were always supposed to live but didn't and couldn't. Dalyn Woodard continues the series, "Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews," with a look at how that truth means more than Jesus didn't sin. Jesus is the fulfillment of how humanity was intended to live, and because He died, we can live. The message, "The Most Excellent Man," is about 43 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on February 6, 2019. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen.

You can hear the first message in the Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews series, "It's All About Jesus," here, the second message, "A Most Excellent Word," here. The third message, "Jesus Is Enough," here. The fourth message, "More Excellent Than Angels," here, and the fifth message, "Defeating The Dangerous Drift," 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 Echo ~ February 6, 2019 ~ Positively Delusional

We can train ourselves to be positive, to think positively, to see the best in any and every situation to the point where we don't see what isn't good, positive, hopeful, etc. Sound good? It might, because we have been called to worship at the altar of positive thinking for some time now. It is good to see the best that we can in situations and people, to be able to find the silver lining in the little black rain cloud, to be able to give thanks and be grateful in the midst of all circumstances. That last one is even a spiritual mandate. But it's not good to look at the bright side of life to such an extent that we lose touch with reality. Being positively delusional is not the answer to the stress and anxiety of life or to the sadness and pain that comes with distance in our relationship with our Creator.

Earlier this week my wife and I returned home from a visit with her family in the Austin area. About halfway home we reached a typical small Teas town and the speed limit dropped to 45 MPH. I slowed and we continued on our way, enjoying our time and conversation with one another. I saw the police officer on the right facing our direction and a feeling of gratitude washed over me. I am not the man that I used to be. The sight of an officer paroling doesn't cause panic, because I don't have the heavy foot I once did and I never have the illegal contraband on me or in the vehicle I once had when under the grips of addiction. Also, the only influence I drive under these days is that of the Holy Spirit. So I don't worry when I see a cop, and it's something that I feel grateful for.

But as I passed the officer, he pulled out onto the road behind me. There was a time when this would have freaked me out quite badly, but now it was a momentary what on earth? and then relaxing because I knew I was clean, legal and obeying the law. I even had my seat belt on. We stopped at a red light, and I simply kept talking with Leah, not thinking about the officer behind me. But when the light turned green and we both began to move forward again, His lights began to flash. He had targeted me after all. I pulled into a nearby parking lot, retrieving my wallet and license in the process and stopped with my hands in clear view, the car in park and the window rolled down. A few seconds later Leah and I learned that we had both failed to notice that we were driving through a school zone. I thought I was good, within the law and with no need to worry about being pulled over. But instead of driving two miles an hour under the speed limit, I had been eight miles and hour over and in a school zone.

Ok, I'll have to do something to make it right, either pay the ticket or take defensive driving. I'll have to trust God to take care of us as we just effectively spent money we really didn't have to spend. Either way I handle things, that failure to notice the situation correctly cost us close to $200. But I knew that it was OK. I stayed calm. There was never any fear, and I didn't get angry. I could still see the hand of God on my life making things right. The officer was very professional and handled the situation well. He thanked me for my courtesy and cooperation and I told him to stay safe out there as he walked back to his patrol car. I had made a mistake and been in the wrong. It wasn't major and things would be OK. That's positive.

But what if I had insisted that everything was good, that I had no reason to be pulled over to the point where I refuse to stop because I just knew his lights were not meant for me? Suddenly a minor incident would turn into a major one. That would not have been good no matter what spin my positive thinking put on it. Now that may seem a bit extreme, but while we may never do such a thing as go that far with an officer flashing his lights, we do it all too often with God.

It's good to focus on His love, grace and that we are forgiven. It's good to remember that He loves us as we are and not as we should be. When we mess up, we should have confidence that we are forgiven, He still loves and has not and will not reject us or turn His back on us for our mistake. We need to have full confidence that we can quickly turn back to Him and that like the Prodigal Father He will welcome us home, clean us up and rejoice over our return to relationship. But we need to understand we messed up, that we got off track.

We have to accept our mistake, to see where we got it wrong and accept that we were outside His will, even if we hadn't originally seen the spiritual zoning change. If we positive think our way out of the reality of that, it doesn't keep us from feeling condemnation. It prevents us from seeing truth and make the changes that need to be made. We will not be more careful in the future to watch for the warning signs of the zone changes in unfamiliar places. We will trust our own righteousness and not lean on His. Positive is good, but it's not good to say I'm OK and you're OK when we're not. Condemnation is removed and prevented by grace not by denial or refusing to see reality.

Today let us be positive about His love and grace but not delusional about it. Let us be quick to acknowledge His authority and trust His view of things over our judgement of things and let Him pull us over and correct us and return us to right quickly before we get too far off track.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

February 6, 2016.

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.