Unshackled Moments ~ February 17, 2017 ~ I Can't Ignore Darth Vader's Voice

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

- Step 11

Why is this sometimes so hard? Why is the Creator of the universe so hard to hear sometimes? God is known as One who speaks to us in a still small voice. I was thinking about that this morning after reading a meditation for addicts, Just For Today.

The entry for today in that reading had to do with how we can't force anyone into doing what is right or best for them. Just because we finally got free doesn't mean we can bust everyone our of their prisons. It doesn't work that way, because of the free will issue. Jesus came to set the captives free, but He did not come to force us from our slavery against our will. He called us to come, He promised love and life worth living, but He wants relationship. He wants us, and He wants us to want Him. He allowed us the freedom and the right to say yes or no to Him, and that means that people also have the right to say yes or no to the message of life and freedom and hope and love and joy and peace, even when saying no is making them miserable and unleashing destruction and death into their life.

So we hear His call to come, to surrender our will and rights and deny self and die to self, and in so doing somehow find freedom and life. But then why, when the whole thing is about relationship do we sometimes have such a hard time making contact, feeling and being aware of His presence and hearing His voice, knowing His will? One possibility, of course, is that we aren't really listening for Him. We're like the person who responds to a spouse's request for time and conversation with sure, let's talk, but whose mind is really on other things. We miss so much, and hurt the person wanting to connect with us. The spouse gets tired of hearing the mhmms, the yeahs, and seeing the nods of understanding that are thrown out there, slightly out of place. Finally the spouse gets outrageous and says something ridiculous like, and then Donald Trump promised to step down if I would only take his place as President. To which the spouse replies, that's nice, and proves that they weren't really listening. Jesus doesn't play those games. He knows when we;re listening and desiring to hear His voice and when we aren't really paying attention.

But this morning I thought of another possibility. We sometimes forget that the God with the still, small voice is the same God who spoke and from nothingness came everything. Let there be light, and bang, there was light and everything continued until humanity had life breathed into it. This is the Word made flesh who said to the storm and and the waves of the sea, Be still, and they were still. Can we pause for a second and really think about that?

James Earl Jones was the prefect choice for the voice of Darth Vader, in my opinion. He has one of those voices. He could read a menu, and I'd pay attention. If he told or asked me to do something, my first inclination would be to do it. Maybe his voice doesn't do that to you, but I believe that we have all heard voices that are similar in characteristic to what I'm describing. Someone whose voice commands attention and obedience. There is a charisma and power in them that makes it hard not listen, not to respond, not to buy what they're selling.

And every single one of those folks who make the best inspirational speakers, sales people and con artists because of their voices sound like nothing more than the annoying buzzing of a pest compared to the One who can speak life into a body dead and gone. That's power! Doesn't it make sense that God would have to turn it down a notch or more?

Seriously, the idea of free will would be a farce if He didn't subdue Himself for us. There is no way that God could call us to come and us not immediately follow like mind-wiped automatons at the sound of His voice. That is if Kevin Smith didn't have it right and the unhindered voice of God didn't just obliterate our puny human bodies. How could we possibly not pay attention to the voice that can tell the wind to stop blowing and have it happen? How could we pretend it was love and desire rather than compulsion to listen to Him if we couldn't ignore the sound? The voice of God is one that would make the Sirens seem an easy thing to resist.

The Creator of all that is and was and will be desires us. He wants relationship with us! How awesome is that? He wants us to be aware of His presence and to have conscious contact with Him far more than we desire that. But He wants it to be real. He wants us to want Him. So He dampens the trumpet of His voice. He veils the awareness of His presence so that we are not overwhelmed and compelled by the glory of who He is. Daddy, who has so much awesome glory that the best this creation has to offer is but a pale reflection of He who made it, made it so that when we see something, like a sunset or a flower or the innocent eyes of a child, and the impulse comes to consider the Creator, we can take Him or leave Him.

None of us would do that. If we had a fraction of the power and charisma that the glory of God would demand, if our voice had the power His has, we'd make the world serve and worship is. We would rule. Ask Alexander or a rock star. If we could speak and have people jump to please and serve us, people would be jumping like frogs all day long. And it would be empty and meaningless, because it wouldn't be real. God, who created reality, refuses to settle for less than authentic relationship, love and service. So we are not compelled. We are not forced. And we have the option of choosing to surrender all of us to His love and care. Because His love for us and His respect of our free will is authentic and real, and His voice is still and small.



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 ~ February 16 ~ Don't Fear The Mirror

An unexamined life is not worth living.

- Socrates

When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid? Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time? Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life? But we must be careful not to drift into worry, remorse or morbid reflection, for that would diminish our usefulness to others. After making our review we ask God's forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken.

- Alcoholics Anonymous pg: 86

Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

- Psalm 139:23-24

Perhaps you have somehow figured that there is advice that can help with recovery to be gleaned from this Unshackled Moment and you are just not ready to buy into the spiritual aspect of a spiritual program of recovery. You are a true humanist and prefer philosophy over spirituality. Well, Socrates should be convincing enough for you. Despite the natural tendency of those in addiction to distract themselves from any real or true self-examination, self-deceive and delude themselves about themselves and their lives, or slip into morbid, one-sided, exaggerated pity parties while pretending that means they aren't afraid to look at themselves, if we want to be free, we have to be willing to take an honest and unflinching look at ourselves. We can't run from self examination, nor can we simply wallow in fake acceptance of generalities like I always screw everything up.

A life that is worth living needs to be looked at. If you're ready to take a little advice from a program that has had a lot of success, the 12-Step group that inspired the many 12-step programs that exist for just about every area of bondage says in its literature that this self-examination should be done each night, as as we review our day and ask some questions that will illuminate how well we followed the spiritual program of stepping out of selfishness and living a life of service that leads to freedom. Implied in the writing is the understanding that we will never be perfect at this, hence the asking God for forgiveness, and that's OK. It also clearly demands that we come to a place where we realize our addictions are symptoms of a deeper problem, a spiritual problem which requires a spiritual solution.

You may not be an alcoholic. But if you have any kind of addiction or habitual sin, a 12-Step approach to the issue can be quite effective. Even if you don't need help with addiction or habitual sin and read the Unshackled Moments for help in being a better disciple of Christ and servant of love in love, then, even without working the steps, these questions and actions of a nightly review can be a great way to check yourself and see how you are doing obeying the command of Christ to deny self, pick up your cross and follow Him.

And maybe that's you. You're not the philosopher, not some practitioner of vague spirituality, but a Christian, and you don't want someone claiming Christian spirituality giving you advice and instruction that doesn't come from God. Well, truth is truth, whether it is discovered or stated by a philosopher or someone in any religion or spiritual practice that is vague at best or outside and against the teachings of Christ at worst. The best lies always have some truth in them, so don't be surprised when there is truth to be found in places that you might not have expected. And as a quick aside, there is a lot of spiritual truth in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous and its 12-Step spin offs that would be of great help to any Christians who want a better relationship with Jesus (I'm not saying it is all right and true). But regardless, if you want more than generic spirituality or philosophy, then there is Psalm 139.

Take a look at your heart. It is necessary. It is a sign of someone that truly desires to walk with God in God's will and way, the way that leads to life, abundant, eternal life worth living. What I prefer about this verse over the secular instruction is the progression. Socrates says look, but look at what, how, etc.? Spirituality says here is what we look at and why, but beware of morbid self-reflection, which can make things worse. Christian spirituality says to avoid that morbid selfishness by searching the heart with the Holy Spirit. Don't go in there alone or without the guidance and wisdom of the Comforter. Don't just look and acknowledge and seek forgiveness, but follow Him who can lead you out of bondage into freedom, who can forgive, heal and restore and transform you into a new creation of love with life eternal.

But make no mistake, it is true that we need to look, so we can act. If you were to attempt to learn math by working practice problems that demonstrate the different lessons and basics of mathematics and never checked the answers to see what you got right or wrong, you would seriously be wasting your time. Without looking to know when you made mistakes, you would never learn of the need to or how to correct the wrong thinking that led to the mistakes. You would not learn the truth of the right way.

Don't like math? Plant a garden and walk away without checking on it. Come back weeks later to harvest, and you will discover little to no fruit and a lot of weeds choking the life from that which was planted. It needs to be examined regularly, the weeds pulled up, the insects and parasites dealt with and the desired life fertilized and encouraged.

It may not be fun to look honestly at our actions and motives, but in the end, the life we have afterwards is so much better. But remember that this is not a one time look. It needs to be regular and frequent examination.



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 ~ February 15, 2017 ~ Possible Impossibilities

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”

- Mark 10:27

I'll be open and rigorously honest. I want to go back to bed. I don't want to be writing this, or anything else, right now. I am sick, and my brain is not working well. I feel as though I am thinking like the sloth moves in Zootopia. But at the same time, I do want to be writing this, or at least something, because it is my desire to both keep my commitments and to be of service to you, Dear Reader. And, I need to get this done so that you can read it, and also so that I can get ready for tonight. And in the continuing theme of openness and honesty, I don't want to prepare, and I the idea of standing and preaching makes me want to curl in a ball and cry at the moment. The idea of canceling also turns my stomach, because I am grateful for the opportunity to minister and don't want to fall short of doing what I was called to do, fail in the commitments I have made, etc.

When these feelings associated with being sick began to overwhelm me this morning, I had the above verse from Mark flow through my head. With God, all things are possible. Awesome! But we take that verse out of context and misuse it almost as much as we do with the Philippians 4:13, the one that says I can do all things through Christ. That last one is not about us being able to rise above and overcome any and every circumstance, but rather being able to stay faithful and endure in both good and bad, even to the point of death. And the former is also not about God parting every Red Sea, opening every closed door, etc. to make what we feel we need or want to do possible.

I love and have used the quote from Through The Looking Glass about believing six impossible things before breakfast. I get some impossible miracles that I believe every day. For example, I woke up clean and sober, not hungover, this morning and will go through the day without that changing. I have done so for almost seven years now. And that is a miracle. That is something that was not and is not possible by me or through my own desire, strength, determination, will, ability, etc. But it is something that is very possible by, though and with God, as evidenced by the very fact that it happened.

But things are not always what they seem, and those who only watched the movie with Johnny Depp may be surprised to know that Alice didn't actually say the lines about the six impossible things, nor did her father teach that to her. The book has the line, but it's different.

Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said: “one can’t believe impossible things.” 

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

So what? What does it matter who said it? Not much, as it's fiction and fantasy anyway, but if you love the story, doesn't that little change affect things? I mean, in the book Alice is struggling to believe, not quite able to push through the barriers of false logic, despite all that she has seen and experienced throughout a book and a half. But in the movie, Alice is unstoppable, unhindered and the one encouraging everyone else to believe the impossible is possible. It makes a difference in the story, just as misusing and misunderstanding what Jesus said about the impossible in Mark makes a difference in our story.

The immediate and most central context of this scripture is all about our ability to enter into the Kingdom of God, about making the spiritual leap from broken to restored, from captive to free, from lost to found, from orphan to child of God, from struggling alone to walking in relationship with our Daddy. And its that context that comes before any other use of that verse. It's also that context we most often ignore. We try to save ourselves. We try to walk with God and obey Him in our strength and will. We try to be loving, we try to be forgiving, we try to manufacture our own faith, we try to be good enough, we try to change ourselves. We can't. With us, it is impossible, No matter what, on my own, sooner or later I will drink or drug. If that somehow proved to be false it would only be because I found something equally as destructive and addictive to do instead. It is not possible for me to free myself from the bondage of self and all the slavery and destruction that goes with that.

It is not possible for me to ever do right enough, to be good enough, to make myself loving enough, to make myself obey God enough to be His, to escape or cancel out the judgment I deserve. There is no place for self-righteousness in Christian spirituality, because our righteousness is about as clean and pure as filthy rags. But with God, those things are possible. Who Jesus sets free is free indeed. We can deny self and walk in submission to His will because He gives us the power to do that. He gave us the ability to become His children, to deny self, to love, to forgive, to obey, to serve, to become something and someone new and flawless.

And it's not a stretch of that to conclude that if God can do those things that are possible for Him but impossible for us, He can also enable us to do those things that are impossible for us but possible for Him that are needed for fulfilling His will. Huh? Let me try to illustrate my point.

I have been called to serve God and others through this ministry, among other things. I write the Unshackled Moments five days a week and preach, teach, share on audio at least once a week. Today I am sick and my desire to do these things is in civil war, with a part of me wanting to do it, and the rest of me wanting to wait until I feel better. I struggled to think. I couldn't come up with anything to share that might help me or anyone else. Then my mind went on the tangent about this verse because I tried to encourage myself with it. Obviously, it was a good encouragement, because here I am writing, when an hour ago that felt impossible. But that's one of the amazing things about grace and relying on someone else's strength rather than my own.

But I can't assume anything about tonight because of that. If the part of me that doesn't feel like preparing and preaching were to come out on top, I could easily convince myself that the impossible God is doing is allowing me temporary freedom and release from the commitment. It's not possible for me to blow off tonight and be comfortable with that, but grace could enable me to relax and rest if God told me to let tonight go. He could make that possible. But not because I don't feel like doing it. Rather that possibility is only the case if it is God's will for me to cancel a second Wednesday night message.

On the other hand, it is not possible for me to make my brain work better. It is not possible for me to heal myself and be fine the rest of the day and tonight. But God can do those impossible things. He can make it possible for me to function well enough to accomplish what I need to despite being sick. I can't do that. Or He can make me recover and heal me so that I am no longer sick and it's not an issue. I certainly can't do that impossible thing. But whether either of those happens is not up to me being determined to keep my commitments. It isn't about my will or how much faith I am able to stir up and manufacture. It doesn't matter what I do or don't believe about being able to do all things or all things being possible with God. It's about His will. If God wants me to preach tonight, then as long as I surrender to His will everything that needs to happen to make that possible will happen. But if God's will is for me to rest, than it won't be God making it possible if I try to power through being sick and preach anyway.

God can do what is impossible for us. All things that are possible are possible for God. But that doesn't mean that all, as in every possibility, is possible. God can't create a rock that is too heavy to be lifted and then lift it. He can't exist and not exist simultaneously. He can't violate His will and do something that isn't right or that doesn't further the accomplishing of His will. So, if God wants me to rest, than it's not possible for Him to enable me to refuse to do that. And if He wants me to endure and keep my commitment, then it is not possible for Him to give me peace about failing to obey.

God can restore you to Himself. He can make it possible for you to have relationship with Him, something impossible for you. He can enable you and give you the power to walk free of self and sin and bondage, and stay free. Another thing that is not possible for you to do. He can make it possible for you to love like Jesus loves and serve and obey, to do anything and everything that is His will for you to do. No matter what door seems closed, no matter what feels, looks or is impossible for us, it is possible for Him if it is good and right and in His will. But He can not and will not empower us, enable us or excuse us rising up in our will above His to do what we want or feel/think is right. It's not possible.

This isn't about copping out and giving up and saying I guess it wasn't in God's will if we don't feel like enduring or fighting through obstacles. But it is about not thinking God's power can be used by us, against Him, to do what we want or think should be done. None of the promises of God were ever meant to, nor are they able to, bend God to our will, but rather they encourage us in the truth that when we surrender to His will, there is nothing that can stand against that, even the, to us, impossible becomes possible.


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 ~ February 14, 2017 ~ The Reality Of Love

Yesterday I used a Magic Eye 3-D image to illustrate how a thought came into focus for me. But while the Magic Eye image wasn't the real theme or point of what I wrote, I couldn't quite let it go. I have been thinking about those images since. The Magic Eye 3-D images became a big thing here in the states in the mid to late 90's, and the pictures separated everyone into two groups. Those who could see the 3-D image below the 2-D pattern and those who couldn't.

I remember seeing crowds of people standing around poster size Magic Eye images at a mall, and there was no male or female, black or white, rich or poor. Seriously, there were mixes of every race, cost and style of dress, age group, sex, and although not obvious from looks alone, most likely many different religions and spiritual beliefs as well. None of that mattered. Slowly two groups formed. One laughing and smiling and chatting with each other, people who normally wouldn't associate were discussing the wonder of what they could see. The other group looking dejected and suspicious or frustrated and angry. From time to time one of the people who could see would try to help one of us who couldn't.

Yes, I said one of us. I am one who could not see. It was about 6 years after the Magic Eye craze hit the United States that I finally saw one of the 3-D scenes for the first time. I tried for a few years whenever I came across one, but I finally gave up. I tried everything the directions said to do and all the tips I heard the people who claimed to see the images suggested. Nothing worked. I couldn't see them. I alternated between believing that something was wrong with me and that it was all a prank. I believed the latter fairly often and wondered how long it would be before the creators of the Magic Eye books and posters would announce to the world that it'd been had. There was no 3-D image in the pictures, and those who claimed to see it were either staring so long they began to see what wasn't there and deceived themselves or were lying to fit into the special group, the ones who all claimed to see.

The night it finally happened to me, I was drunk and getting a tattoo. I took a bathroom break between the outline and coloring of the piece, and the tattoo shop had one of the posters on the wall at what would be eye level for folks sitting on the toilet. I stared at it, but I wasn't trying to see anything in it. It was just there. I had long ago given up on the possibility of seeing it. But as I stared through the image, not really seeing the surface pattern of images I suddenly realized I was staring at a sea turtle. That grabbed my attention, and I saw an entire underwater sea scene, hammerhead shark included. It was awesome. I just accidentally saw it. I learned that night not to ficus on the 2-D images on the surface, but to look through them, beyond them. If I didn't get distracted by the repeating patterns of colors and shapes that were obvious, something came to life.

It wasn't a hoax. It wasn't a bunch of people lying about what they experienced to fit in. It wasn't self deception. And I wasn't excluded anymore. And when I think of that night and how I have always been able to see the images since then, I realize that it not being a hoax, liars, self-deception or me not being able to be a part was as much true with God and His love as it was for some computer generated 3-D images.

I was raised in the church. My father is a pastor, making me one of the infamous preacher's kids your mother warned you about. And I believed in God and that He loved everyone. I believed John 3:16, until I could no longer see past the surface of my life with all of its hurts and fears and emptiness and confusion and rejection. Then I found it all  too easy to believe that the God I still believed in hated me, or at least was apathetic when it came to me. He didn't care about me at best, and at worst, He hated me and wanted me to suffer. I began to wonder about and question everything I had been told.

Was the idea of a real and personal relationship with our Creator true or a cruel hoax? Did people really experience spiritual transformation, life and relationship or were they either delusional and self-deceived or faking it in hopes of making it or fitting in to the good people club? And if it wasn't bogus, why couldn't I see and experience the love of God for me? Was I somehow excluded and rejected?

Then, after years of searching and studying and trying this spiritual path, practice, philosophy and that one, I gave up. I quit trying.  I let the fires of anger harden my heart and just tried to keep from being too miserable for whatever time was left of my life. Then I came to the point where I knew I had to get clean and sober or just go ahead and try to kill myself once more. I set off on a spiritual journey of recovery, full of doubt at first, because what no one trying to help me could quite seem to understand was that God hated me. He wasn't going to help me. Except He did.

They told me over and over that God could and would help me, free me and restore me, if He were sought. They told me that I would one day wake spiritually if I got out of my own way, stopped being selfish and self-centered and finally, really, surrender my life and will to the care of God. I doubted, but I tried it. I sat and looked at life without trying to figure it out or make anything from the patterns of pain and fear. And one day my unfocused gaze saw through the mess on the surface, and I saw God. No, I didn't see a burning bush or an old man with a beard or anything like that. I just saw that there was really something there, below what I could perceive, that had always been there and always would be. What I saw was life and evidence of God's love for me.

Things didn't suddenly become wonderful. Everything didn't come up roses. Life still sucked in some ways. But God did things in my life, not the least of which included freeing me of the obsession to drink and drug, that I had never been able to do for myself. I found a life worth living. It wasn't imagined. It was right there all along, and no matter where I looked from that point on, in each corner and in the middle, the image that had always been there, even when I couldn't see it, remained. Below the surface, through the mess, changing everything, was and is the very real heart and love of God.

It is real. It isn't a hoax, and you are not excluded any more than I was. No matter what you've done or has been done to you, no matter what you have or haven't thought, believed or tried. Regardless of anything and everything, the heart of God beats with love for you. He desires for you to see through the surface images and patterns and see Him and His love as much as you do, more. He wants that so much that He came to make it possible and to set in motion everything needed to set you free long before you even suspected you were captive. Don't focus on the things on the surface, don't try to make the patterns come together and make sense. The life is beyond that. The life is in seeking and seeing Him in every dot that makes up the mess of our lives and beyond the surface of our perception. He is real. He is there. His heart beats with love for me and for you.

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 ~ Febraury 13, 2017 ~ Praying Without Ceasing

I believe that to pray without ceasing means to think good thoughts without ceasing. I believe that the art of meditation is letting God speak to me. Each day I shall endeavor to find time to be still and listen. I believe that by making my life an open door to the Infinite, limitless power will flow into my life, giving me energy, ideas, wisdom and guidance to multiply my capacity to build and serve.

- Wilferd A. Peterson

A friend of mine shared the above quote on Facebook yesterday, and I liked it. I came close to clicking the heart rather than the thumbs up, especially when considering the beautiful scene in the photograph posted with the quote. I didn't though. And I couldn't quite figure out why until I lay in bed this morning, dozing but awake more than not. I didn't want to get up, even though I wasn't really sleeping, but I wasn't wasting time, as I lay there with my mind unfocused, not really thinking of anything in particular but also not trying to guide or control my thoughts. This, for me, is the mental equivalent of staring with eyes unfocused at a Magic Eye 3-D image until suddenly the image pops into focus and becomes clear.

I had gone to bed last night wondering without understanding. What I mean by that, is as soon as I read the quote and liked it, I moved on, but something nagged me from the back of my mind. Why didn't I love it? I loved the image. Is this really a big deal? No. It wasn't worth wasting time thinking about, but my subconscious shewed on it, asked silently for understanding through yesterday and last night. I know, because this morning the clear thought popped into my mind, and once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it or let it go. I understood why I couldn't love this quote. I couldn't completely agree, or at least I saw it somewhat differently.

I am not arguing with Mr. Peterson. I do agree with him on some of this. I love the idea that the art of mediation is letting God speak to me. I love the idea of opening myself up to the Infinite. It could easily send me off on a wonderful tangent about how amazing it is that Infinite Love would wrap Itself in flesh and take on finiteness to make it possible to have relationship with me and with you and that the Infinite Spirit of our Creator would make His home in our brokenness and restore and transform us from the inside out. God is able to give us all power needed to build and serve in whatever capacity will be most what He and those He brings into our lives need. And that is our purpose, to love God and love others and to be of maximum service to both. God's power within us enables us to fulfill our purpose and become all that we were created to be.

But I disagreed with the idea that to pray without ceasing is to think good thoughts without ceasing. I'm splitting hairs, and it could also depend upon one's definition of a good thought. If truth is always a good thought and turning to God rather than running from Him is always good, then this could almost be true. Because that would make screaming silently into the night of being overwhelmed and hopeless and angry and confused and in need of help from Daddy a good thought. That would make crying in the night because of our pain and asking for relief or death a good thought. It's honest and true, and we're taking it to the right place. But not all prayers are good thoughts, as we would most commonly define good. Sometimes we are angry and or afraid and we are spewing venom from our soul in God's direction until we can get enough out to begin to calm enough to feel His arms around us, saying He loves us, giving us comfort and drawing us to Him.

He's like a father holding a teen girl whose heart is broken. She's crying into his shoulder about how horrible it is, how this boy she thought cared betrayed her and humiliated her and how much she hates him. And he destroyed her in public, causing her to be gawked at and ridiculed by strangers and so-called friends, and how she can't bear the thought of going back to school and seeing them and how she hopes they all die for making her feel this way. He doesn't rebuke her for ranting like a sociopath. He doesn't try to redirect her thinking to a good and more positive route. He just holds her and lets her get it out. Then he reassures her of his love and helps her to face what she has to face the next day at school. Sometimes prayer is like that. It's messy and wrong in that it is coming out of our pain and fear and anger and the core of our messed up, brokenness. But if we are pouring out our mess on Daddy's shoulder, it's a good and right response to the pain and mess of our life.

It's not that saying we should be thinking good thoughts without ceasing was that far off.  It's just that's what was off enough to send my subconscious searching. And the clear image that appeared this morning shortly before I climbed out of bead and began writing this is that praying without ceasing is awareness of God's presence.

It's not so much about what we are thinking, as in if the thoughts are good or bad, positive or negative. Sometimes I get mad at God, and I tell Him. I'm like a toddler throwing a fit when I don't get my way or don't understand why I can't have what I want. As I express my frustration with my Daddy, I inevitably begin to see my foolishness and arrogance. I submit to His care, love and authority. But that doesn't mean sometimes I don't spew some stupidity like You don't love me because You won't give me what I want. You let so and so have such and such, but not me, because You don't care about me. He's a big God. He can take it. He knows this is a silly as a seven-year-old saying he hates his mom because he can't have some cake right at that moment. Someday we'll know and understand all the whys of we got some things others didn't and vice versa, and we'll see just how awesome and constant His love and care for us is and was.

And that's what it's really about. Praying without ceasing is understanding and being unceasingly aware of the fact that Daddy is there with us. It's turning to Him when we are angry and afraid, even if we aren't thinking good thoughts, or rational thoughts even. It's turning to Him and saying look Daddy! When we see or experience something beautiful, good or amazing. Look Daddy! That's such a pretty flower! It's turning to Him when someone we encounter needs help. I don't know how to fix or even help with the mess you're in, but my Daddy's awesome and can meet any and every need! It's Daddy, hold my hand while  I walk this beam so that I can  keep my balance. It's Daddy, thank You for helping me respond and do things Your way instead of mine today. It's Daddy, sometimes I feel scared and alone, but not, because I know that even when I can't see You, You're here with me. It's not about controlling our thoughts. It's simply remembering in each moment that there isn't a place or time that we are separated from Him or His love for us. Even in the Valley of the Shadow, He is with us. To be aware of that truth and to allow the understanding of His presence to affect how we react and respond to each and every moment is to pray without ceasing.



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.

What A Friend We Have In Jesus

Dalyn Woodard on how to change the way we associate things in order to renew the specialness of our prayer, communion and spiritual relationship with Jesus. The message,  "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" is about 15 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, February 12, 2017. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

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 11, 2017 ~ Label Lies

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

June 10, 2013 as Label Lies.

I came across an ad campaign, called "Labels Lie," that does a heart wrenchingly amazing job of showing how devastating the lies we believe about ourselves can be and how they can destroy our lives. Some of the images brought tears to my eyes as I felt the pain they evoked. I'm not sure which hurt more, realizing that I have believed some of these things about myself and wielded the Sword of Lies against myself, or realizing that, knowing how hurtful and destructive the cuts from that sword can be, I have turned that blade on others.

The images in the ad campaign are easily the types of visions we'd have if stopped long enough to truly picture a physical manifestation of what happens spiritually and emotionally when we tear someone down with our words.  One of my mother's favorite verses on the subject of how we speak to and of others is Ephesians 4:29, "Don't use foul or abusive language, let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them." (NLT) Mom would use this verse as a scalpel to slice away the teen tendency to, even jokingly, use cut downs in our church youth group meetings. Someone would say something not so nice about another and before another heartbeat passed her words would ring out, "4:29, that's not acceptable." It mattered to her how we talked because my Mom understands that words matter and knows the damage that labels can do. It something that Jesus understands as well, and we all need to. 

These images reveal our deepest wounds, our failures, our fears, our brokenness. They are heartbreaking, and because they contradict what God says about who we are they are also lies. Jesus was described repeatedly as having compassion. God loves us as we are, and not as we should be. Jesus loves us broken and wounded and full of fear and failure and doubt. He doesn't see our mistakes and call us trash. He sees our mess and promises to wash it away, all the while declaring that we are not the mistakes we've made. Those are events. Who we are is something different. We are His children, His beloved. He precious treasure that inspired Him to give all that He had in order to attain.

  The good news of the gospel is that God knows all the things about ourselves that we try to hide and wish we could change about ourselves and, as outrageous as it may seem, loves us anyway. If we want to change the way we feel about ourselves, we need to be honest about two things. First, we need to truthfully acknowledge how we see and define ourselves. Then we need to hear and believe what God says about us. These labels are lies about who we are. God sees us, all of us, as beautiful and loved. Not because He can't see the real me and the real you. Not because we can ever hide those dark and shameful things from Him, but because He sees deeper. God is love, and love sees the truth that we are who He created us to be, regardless of the corruption that followed that creation.

 My wife and I love to ride the motorcycle down little farm to market roads and look at the houses. Quite often we'll see an old house in disrepair, falling apart. One of us will comment about how it's a shame the house is in the shape it is in. We can see the ghost of beauty it once had, but now it is ugly and would be dangerous to live in. It simply needs to be condemned. But a carpenter could look at that house and see exactly what needs to be done to restore it and improve it. 

We're like those old houses. The winds of time and lack of care have let us broken, leaky and falling apart. But the Master Carpenter doesn't see that as the end of who we are. He doesn't condemn us. He has the knowledge, skill and power to fully and completely restore us to what we were created to be. We are not the peeling paint, leaky roofs and dry rot.

We are His workmanship, His masterpieces. And no matter how much mold has grown up and become a part of our make up, no matter how many termites have eaten away at who we are, He can restore us. He declares us His beautiful masterpieces and to believe any other label is to believe a lie. Any labels that contradict how God describes us, wound us and destroy a part of us. That's why we must be careful with the words we use, both in reference to ourselves and to others. We have to be honest, and if we don't see our own peeling paint we can't seek a new paint job from the Creator. But while we need to admit our need and allow God to come in to those broken and damaged areas of our lives, we shouldn't allow ourselves to be defined by these hurtful images and lies. And we shouldn't define others by them.

Jesus didn't come calling us losers and worthless. He came to tattoo the label of loved on us. Jesus' love for us came with radical acceptance and unconditional love. He embraced us, the wounded and the broken. Sure, as He heals, restores and saves us, declaring us forgiven and clean, He gently calls us to follow Him and sin no more. But when He tells us to leave our life of sin He is not doing it as a condition of His love, or as if He is having second thoughts about the work He did in us. He's not saying don't take this gift for granted or I'll take it back. It's not even a command for us to get our act together and shape up. It's a declaration that it is now possible for us to live differently than we have in the past! He's giving us the permission and promising the power to be different than we were because of our encounter with Him! No one wants to live a life of brokenness and emptiness when they've just encountered the very wholeness and fullness of love. Jesus is saying, it's OK, I see who you are, what you've done, and all the mistakes you've made. I know the truth of how you feel about yourself in the deepest depths, when the lights are out and the distractions have faded away. And I love you anyway. I love you so much that I will give you Myself so that those things that you have always been powerless to change can be changed. Today, because of Me, you don't have to hate yourself, and you don't have to fall short. You don't have to stay broken and a mess. "Go and sin no more," isn't a phrase Jesus wielded to make sure we get beat up when we fall short of the ideal, for His mercies are new every morning and His grace is sufficient. It is an invitation to leave our hurt and broken identity behind and to see ourselves as God does.

Repentance and new life in Christ isn't pretending we don't have wounds and that we aren't broken. It isn't about deciding from here on out to do the right thing. If we determine to live right, it won't be long until failure will heap all that condemnation right back on the walls of hearts that Christ washed clean. It's about making the choice to let the truth about who God says we are and what God says about us define us, determine our value and control how we think, feel and react. It's about seeing with our Father the masterpiece project in progress rather than the condemned wreckage we've been looking at, declaring the restored work is the truth about the person in question, not the thoughts and feelings associated with needing that restoration. We are loved unconditionally, and realizing that we are loved like that changes everything. As we begin to see that truth and understand what it means, we will find ourselves living differently, not because we have to but because we can, and we can have the courage to show that same radical grace to those around us too.

This is the dangerous truth of Christ, the beautiful good news of the gospel.  that as messy as we are, God loves us. We don't have to get cleaned up or straighten up first. He loves us. We don't have to change. He loves us. And when we catch a glimpse of ourselves through His eyes and see how beautiful He sees us as, and want to be who He says we are, we can accept that love and let Him come into us and do the restoration work. He can change those things that we never could before and never will be able to in the future. He can relabel each and every one of us. When we recognize and come to trust the truth of God's love for us and everyone else, it becomes impossible not to be changed and not to change the lives of those around us.

You are loved. Right now. No matter where you are at. No matter how far away you feel. No matter what you have done. You are loved. Don't ever forget that. What you choose to do with that love and how you respond to that love is up to you. But if you accept it, it can destroy those labels that feel so permanent and make you new.

 

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the Unshackled Moments, Unshackled Echoes 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.