Unshackled Moments ~ July 13, 2017 ~ You Can Talk Like That To God

Rigorous honesty. So much of spiritual freedom comes down to honesty. In the text on how the 12 Step programs work we are told that even people with grave emotional and mental disorders have the potential to find recovery if they are capable of being honest with themselves. It is truth that makes us free, but it's not just about speaking truth but in knowing the truth. And this isn't a general truth, but a specific one. Two plus two equals four, and this is truth. It won't ever be different, even if you change the names. Call two avocados if you like. Then maybe you have avocados plus avocados make guacamole. The point is that this many plus thin many make that many, and it always will. We were able to land on the moon and carry a world of information around in our pockets all because 1+0=1 and that never changes. But that truth won't make us free.

Jesus is the truth that makes us free. He is the way, the truth and the life we need and seek, the only way to Daddy.The truth that we need to be able to see, understand and live according to is that there is a God, we're not Him and we can't live good enough to earn His favor, but He loves us anyway, despite us, and He gave Himself to make a way for us to have relationship with Him and sent His spirit to enable us to love as He loves and do what is right and best instead of always messing up and living selfishly. But He must have control of our will and life, must increase while we decrease, in order for us to experience true freedom that means we have a choice.

But in addition to that, there is another kind of truth that helps us get to that place of surrender and close, conscious contact or relationship with our Heavenly Daddy. Yes, we have to have the capacity to be honest with ourselves, to be able to look within and see the truth that we have lived selfishly and self centeredly and have tried to run our lives and the lives of others in order to provide for our own needs of security, comfort, pleasure and acceptance because there was a vacuum within that we couldn't seem to fill, no matter what  or how we tried, until we put what belonged there in place, which is relationship with our Creator. He is our Daddy, and we are His children. So a big part of our honesty is simply acknowledging the truth that we have acted like spoiled toddlers, throwing fits and acting like foolish brats because we didn't get out way or understand what we were going through. Like a child refusing to speak to or hug his mother after receiving a shot to make him better when he's sick, we ran from Daddy and refused to listen to His way, guidance and instruction because we suffered in some way or another and didn't understand.

We all have something like this in our history. Some of us have a lot of these somethings. Our siblings, read other people, especially religious folks, cut us to pieces, beat us nearly to death and left us on the street wondering what happened and why. Or one of those many horrible events like the death of a child or a natural disaster or something bad happening to someone who doesn't deserve it or, or, or, one of those things that make you say if God is all loving and all powerful then why didn't He keep this from happening to me, to them, to us? There is some way in which each of us, if we have lived long enough to experience any kind of hurt and misery that cut deep enough to wound our soul, have been afraid of and angry at Daddy. And we'll never have the relationship we need with Him while refusing to be honest about that and acknowledge that truth.

He already knows it all anyway, better than we do, but we need to tell Him. We need to get honest with ourselves and our Lord about why we hate the idea of total surrender to Him. How can I surrender to a God I don't believe loves me? And how can I believe He really loves me while I am so angry at Him and blaming Him for such and such injury and suffering I have experienced? We instinctively pull back from this kind of honesty, because we know it isn't true. It's honest in it's how we feel, but something deep inside knows it's not reality.  We pull back from expressing the truth of our heart because we fear His anger in return, like God is some petty human who'll be all like How dare you speak to Me in that manner, I'll show you suffering and give you a reason to cry. You just thought you had it rough before. We refuse to express our feelings because we have empowered ourselves and identified ourselves for so long by our feelings that we don't know who we are or how to live free of our anger, our victimhood, our martyrdom, our whatever that is making us miserable but at the same time is comfortably familiar....the hell you know verses the fear of change into the unknown. And last but not least, we fear looking foolish.

We are like the teen girl who isn't allowed to do something because her mom actually wants what's best for her. No, you can't hitchhike across the country by yourself, not now at 15 and not at 45 if I have anything to say about it. Then comes the reaction to not getting her way and the teen screams that her mother just doesn't understand, she's old enough to make her own decisions, her mom is ruining her life and finally, the horrible foolishness, the girl screams, I hate you!, and runs from the room in tears. At some point embarrassment will kick in. She doesn't hate her mom, not really, but sometimes our feelings in the moment don't line up with reality. And eventually, she'll see the wisdom in her mother's refusal to allow her to have her way. And then will come the I'm sorry that I acted as I did, that I didn't see or believe that you loved me, and that I said I hated you. I don't. I love you.

But before she could repair the relationship, she had to acknowledge the need for repair. If she hadn't expressed how she felt, she may have been able to pretend that everything was OK when it wasn't. There would be a distance between them always until the girl finally admitted how she felt about not getting her way. We're in that same place. Maybe we didn't yell at God and say we hate Him and run off. Maybe we did. But regardless, we took that anger and lived with it. When we came to the place of surrender, there was a barrier. If you want to have the closest, deepest relationship with Daddy possible, it's time for honesty. We need to be honest with how we felt, and how we still feel at times.

But I can't talk to God like that! You need to. He's a big God. He can take it, and He already knows how you feel and think anyway. But He can't comfort you and heal you while  you are pretending with Him and yourself that you feel love and trust when what you really feel is doubt and anger. I speak from experience. On more than one occasion I have gotten off somewhere alone with God and expressed the truth of my feelings and my belief of the lies that had clouded my mind, stuff like I don't understand why You love and care about the whole world except me! I know I'm not good, but I'm not as bad as ___________, so it's not fair that they get to be daddies and I don't. Why did my babies have to die? Why did you do that to me?! Oh goodness, whine, whine, self pity, wrongful blame. You've been mean and unfair towards me! I could go on. I did with God. It wasn't pretty. But I didn't get struck by lightning or squashed like a bug, or even have things get worse. In fact, time and time again, after it was over, after I spewed that toxin that I had been pretending wasn't there, tried to ignore and refused to admit I felt and believed for so long, I felt closer to Him, and I was able to really let go of it and see the truth that He loves me. Sometimes I pick it back up, but for the most part I don't blame God and get angry about the misery I have endured. When I need to, I let Him have it again. And He takes it, wraps His arms around my wounded heart and brings a little more healing. Progress, not perfection.

If we want real freedom and a relationship with God that doesn't have barriers that make us miserable we have to get honest, honest with God and ourselves. Dare to drop all our pretense and pride and bare our souls to Jesus, telling Him the truth of how we feel and what we think and let Him accept us as we are, not as we should be, and love us back to life and health.

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.

Good News, Bad News

Dalyn Woodard returns to the book of Ephesians and the topic of our identity with part 1 of a look at the before and after of who we are. The reason the gospel is such good news is because of the great need we have for it and how hopeless we are without it. The message,  "Good News, Bad News" is about 39 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, July 12, 2017. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

If you missed Part 1 of the Identity Crisis series, Who Are You, it can be found here. Part 2, Living Free, can be found here. Part 3, The Blessing Of Belonging, can be found here, and Part 4, The Fullness Of Jesus, can be found here.

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

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

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

Unshackled Moments ~ July 12, 2017 ~ From Your Current Location

Imagine if you will that someone tells you of some amazing destination, perhaps a fabulous new restaurant or an outlet store with the best deals or wherever would make your ears perk up to hear of it. They give you the address, but you don't know how to get there. With me so far? What do you do? Ask for directions? Turn on the GPS on your phone and Google the address to have the route dictated to you step by step? Or do you simply pick a direction and head off feeling sure that sooner or later you'll manage to get where you want to go if you simply drive and try long enough?

But what if as the person tells you the address, they also say it's over in the same area as such and such? And what if you know where such and such is? Does that last option of trying to find it without help sound less ridiculous now? What if the address is in a part of the city or county that you have traveled regularly? The location is in a place where you know nearly every street and are very familiar with the area? Does that change your answer? Is it a lot more tempting to try to find the place without the GPS?

So, imagine that you give it a shot and try to find the place on your own. After who knows how much wasted time, wrong turns, and going down the same streets over and over as you keep managing to wind up on blocks you've already been, you finally give up. Frustrated and perhaps a bit embarrassed you finally admit that you don't know the area as well you thought or that what you do know may be more than a visitor but it is still insufficient to get you where you need to go and that just driving around hoping and refusing to quit trying isn't going to get you there any more than not trying would. So, maybe with some reluctance, you turn on the GPS and plug in the address. Your phone does its search and then, instead of simply giving directions, it pops up a question: Do you wish to start from your current location?

I hate that question. Seriously, if I could program my GPS not to ask that stupid question I would. No, I want to start back at where I was when I was told about this place. I'm pretty sure I can get back to that spot. Or no, wait, why don't you just start your directions from almost the point of arrival? I'll try to get a little further on my own first. Goodness, please don't give me such options. It's frustrating. If I have finally admitted I need help and don't know how to get there on my own, no matter how familiar I am with the area, then just tell me where to go. Of course from my current location. I don't want to travel another single inch in the wrong direction, thank you very much.

But whether this foolishness sounds all too familiar or you're quick to turn on GPS if there's any question or doubt that you know where to go, we are all inclined to make this kind of mistake and answer the current location question wrong when we finally surrender, at least spiritually. If GOD can stand for Good Orderly Direction, then GPS can stand for God's Positioning Spirit. The Spirit tells us where to go and how to get there and gives us everything we need to be able to make the trip. The trip to where? To the place where life is worth living and we have peace and joy and love and purpose and freedom from the things that have been causing us misery, suffering and hopelessness. Into that wonderful place we've heard tell of, called the will of God. The down side of this place, at least to our self-centered, self-sufficient  egos, is that, no matter how long you've been on the journey, no matter how well you know the area, you can't get there on your own.

We forget that sometimes. We want to be able to do it ourselves. We want to be able to take detours and little excursions from the path. We begin feeling confident we know where the Spirit is leading us and stop listening. Thanks for all you've done so far, for your guidance and help, but I can take it from here. And the next thing we know, we've messed up, gotten lost or turned around and are going the wrong direction. We're hopeless to get to the place of freedom on our own. So, with some newfound humility, we turn back to God and ask for help. We turn on our GPS, and God doesn't ask that stupid question the phone does. Jesus always meets us where we are and says let's go from here.

But all too often, even as we claim to surrender and agree to allow the Spirit to guide us, we balk. We have it all wrong. Something in us just can't accept the grace to start from our current location. We either beat ourselves up, act like we've lost and forfeited everything and need to go back to the very beginning or we feel we need to fix some of the mess we've made first. Just let me get a little better, get a little closer to the will of God and freedom on my own and then I'll surrender complete control.

No. That's not it. No matter where you're at today, if you're on the road you're supposed to be on and doing the things the Spirit wants and have been for ages or you've fallen out of the will of God, returned control of your life to that old slave master of self and have had a wreck, or at least some spiritual car trouble or a flat or something serious enough to get your attention back on the need to get some help, God's guidance, His positioning Spirit is always going to lead you from where you are. And no matter how much you might have gotten off track, you don't have to backtrack and go out of the way to start over, and you don't have to get any better, any closer to where you need to be, get yourself unstuck or unlost on your own, in fact it's a really bad idea to try. Surrender today, no matter how well or poorly you've surrendered before this moment, and follow the guidance of the Spirit from your current location, and then, no matter where you are or where you've been  you'll get where you need to go.

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

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

Unshackled Moments ~ July 11, 2017 ~ Avoiding Burnout And Exhaustion

Yesterday I spent several hours working outside in the heat with my father, my brother and one of my nephews. It was satisfying. That sounds weird, but it was nice  to both be able to be of service to my father clearing some land that must be made ready for a new purpose and to be able to spend time with him and my brother at the same time, even though for a good portion of the time I was off by myself. The nephew turned out to be a nice surprise. We haven't spent a lot of time together, and it felt good to get to know him a bit better and see and benefit from his help and willingness to work hard. There was also a periodic cool breeze and some scattered cloud cover that made the circumstances more bearable.

Still, I hurt this morning. Seriously. I can barely walk, and I didn't sleep well last night. I know it could have been worse though. I could have been and still be cramping up like crazy. I could be too weak to move. I could have suffered a major heat induced migraine that lasts for a few days. I've experienced all of these before. Several years ago I suffered heat exhaustion while installing an irrigation system in a field. I collapsed, and co-workers carried me to a shade and called my boss to take me to the doctor. A few days later I was able to work again, but it was weeks before I fully recovered, and even though I did recover I have to be careful. It doesn't take as much to hurt me since that happened, and I cramp up and get heat induced headaches much more quickly and easily than I did before the heat exhaustion.

I've spent a lot of time outside since the temperatures began to rise and summer said I'm baaack. I have gotten very hot and tired, but haven't had the problems of the past. Yesterday was in some ways the worst, but it was also a fairly easy day. My brother, Jonathan, worked much harder than I did, and he did the vast majority of his labor up in the tops of trees. I had the easy job of burning what had been cut and feeding the fire to keep it going. Of course that meant I did have the hottest job going, even if it wasn't the most difficult. But I knew that. And I knew what the heat could do. I took steps to keep from overheating and suffering a crippling bout of heat exhaustion, or worse.

The first thing I did was drink lots of water. I drank about 4 liters of water and a 20 oz tea with lemon while working and then more water after quitting for the evening. When you are working in the heat, you have to drink. You can't wait until you're thirsty. If you wait until the need is obvious, you might have waited too long. The body sheds water in sweat. I was soaked. If the water is not replenished before the body gets too low, you're playing catch up. But if you drink regularly and often while you work, the body always has enough to cool itself without the threat of dehydration.

When I have been working on the chicken coop for Leah, I worked until the hottest hours of the day and then went inside. I would do the inside chores in the afternoon, and then as late afternoon approached and the temperature would drop, I would return to the outdoor labor for the last 2 or 3 hours of the day. I do this when I can, schedule the labor where it does the least damage, is the least draining. I learned this trick from my last boss. We would begin the day shortly after sunrise, when it was as cool as it would be during the day, work until 12 or so, then take off until around 4, skipping the hottest hours, and then work until dark. It meant the day felt choppy. It wasn't work and then done. It was work, long break, then done, but it protected us from the worst of the dangers from the heat.

Sometimes creative scheduling isn't feasible though, like yesterday. It would have been easy to say it's too hot, I can't be out in this and take off. Dad wouldn't have gotten upset. He hadn't even asked for my help. I heard the chainsaws and knew what they were doing and walked over to help take some of the load. But I don't want to use the danger and increased susceptibility as an excuse not to work. I just want to work wisely. So, in addition to drinking water I worked slow and steady. When I had to wait for the fire to burn enough and get hot enough to take more of the green limbs we needed to burn, instead of standing by the fire absorbing the heat, I backed off from the blaze and watched from the shade. This reduced my exposure to the heat from both the fire and the sun. And I took little breaks. I used the down time to my advantage, kneeling down and waiting until time to work rather than trying to be doing something constantly. It worked, and although my body aches, especially my back, from the work, I can function and the heat didn't get me.

What does this have to do with anything? Discipleship and recovery have something important in common. Service. Recovery is a call to service, and so is discipleship. Jesus called us to love God and to love others, to follow Him in doing what He did, which is to deny self and lay our lives down in service to Daddy for the benefit of others. And recovery, coming from the understanding that to have any hope of recovering from the spiritual malady that has enslaved us with the symptoms of habitual sin and addictions, requires we be rid of self. We need to be freed from the bondage to self, which is the root of all our problems. The quickest way to deny self, put down the selfishness and self-centeredness that plagues us and escape self pity is in service to others. In addition, to keep what we've been freely given,  we need to give it away. Service is crucial.

Service is also exhausting and draining. Burnout is a very real danger. The answer is not to say well then I just won't be of service. The work needs to be done. You need to do the work. The lethargy of self causes far more problems than the work. But if we're not careful, we can burn up and out and be hurt in ways that make it impossible to work until we heal and recover, and that takes longer and longer the worse the case of exhaustion.

Drink before you're thirsty. Drink regularly and often. Jesus is the living water. Fill up, and then the work takes from full cisterns rather than sucking the soil of our hearts down to desert sand. Have a regular and frequent quiet time connecting with Daddy and drinking in relationship with the Spirit. Go through the day aware of God's presence and sipping from His cup This keeps our level of living water at levels where pouring out of ourselves doesn't run us dry and dehydrate us.

Creative scheduling. Know yourself and adjust accordingly. I don't do anything ministry or service or even chores before I have my morning quiet time and write the day's Moment, if at all possible. If an emergency or something that can't wait arises I handle it, but I stick to the shade...that would be the shadow of His wings. I lean on the grace to do what needs to be done in the right attitude of love and service, especially when I feel frustrated at being deprived of the quiet time I need. If  it is necessary, He will provide shade and the breeze of the Spirit to energize us, refresh us and make us able to endure and do it. I've also learned that there are a lot of things that can wait, and not everything is even close to the emergency people want to pretend it is. Take the time to have scheduled quiet time that refreshes. Jesus gave of Himself fully and ministered to thousands. He also went off by Himself to pray and refresh His spirit.

Speaking of taking time, don't wait until you break down and just can't take it anymore to justify taking a break. You don't have to be going 24/7. In fact, you can't keep up that kind of schedule. Even the Creator of the universe rested and told us that we need rest. Jesus not only went off by Himself to spend time with Daddy, but He took time with Lazarus, Mary, Martha, and the disciples. Take a break and get some rest. I'm not saying get lazy and selfish, but you can't give away what you don't have. You need to recharge. Spend time doing things that make you feel rested and invigorated. Spend time with family and with friends who build you up rather than drain you. Flip the script from time to time. Freely you give, so don't begrudge freely receiving.

Taking care of yourself isn't the same as being selfish. It is being responsible with God's instrument. You can't be an instrument of His love, peace, joy and such, you can't be of maximum service to Him and others if you are neglected or broken from misuse. Daily time with God, drinking in the life-giving truth, spending time in the shade and and on our knees in the breeze, taking little breaks to refresh with activities and people who charge rather than drain, and taking bigger breaks (a weekend or a few days vacation or staycation can go a long way toward keeping us going), during the worst parts is not avoiding being of service or being lazy or selfish. These things keep us hydrated, keep us able to bear the heat and protect us from dropping from exhaustion and burning out.  And then, when it really is necessary for us to go longer and harder than usual and during the danger times as well, we have more reserves to draw on and have learned to access the grace given by Jesus that enables us to endure all He calls us to endure.

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

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

Unshackled Moments ~ July 10, 2017 ~ The Secret To Lasting Freedom

It's almost been a week since the 4th of July, and the smoke from the fireworks has dissipated. Here and there there may be a few casings, some burnt out rockets and Roman candles, or maybe the left over sticks from spent sparklers. But for the most part, the day is totally done for most of us. For some of us however, life will never be the same.

Some of us  who were once in bondage to one or more addiction or another made it through the past holiday without much thought. I hope that didn't happen often though, because I pray that we never lose our gratitude and sense of wonder that comes from realizing that what once would have been a struggle of epic proportions, if even possible, is now just another day of recovery and freedom. But some may have had a hard time and barely gotten through it without relapse. Some of us didn't survive the holiday with their sobriety in tact, and sadly some of them didn't survive at all.

Gee, you're awful cherry this morning aren't you? Well, actually yes. I consider it a blessing to have woken sober for the 2,611th day in a row, and yes, I had to do the math. And I am also grateful for today's inspiration. First, holidays aren't a big deal to me anymore, and haven't been for quite a while. There is no more stress about my recovery due to an upcoming holiday than there is the anniversary of  a loved one's death or some other tragedy I used to drink and drug over. Secondly,  July 4th and New Years Eve were not big party days for me anyway, so I would have been more likely to wake up sober on the 5th of July than the 5th of August. Perhaps, you are like me in that respect. This holiday wasn't a big deal, but some days are white knuckle rafting through emotional rapids that seem determined to drown you or force you over the falls. We've all been there. Maybe you are trying to pick up the pieces of a broken recovery raft and mourning the destruction left in the wake of yet another relapse. Perhaps you are wondering if there truly is ever freedom.

Yes. I don't mean not doing the thing I can't stop doing anymore, but where it isn't even a factor or a fight anymore freedom. Yes. And no. Yes, it stops being a struggle. It's like the cancer that has disappeared and gone into remission. It's not a factor in that respect any more. That's what freedom from the obsession is all about. That doesn't mean that from time to time the thought won't appear, like a cancer survivor waking  a thinking they need chemo before they remember with great relief that they don't. The thought is quickly dismissed and discarded without a struggle or true temptation. And that doesn't mean it can't try to rise from the dead. I've  had a handful of days in the last few years where part of me really wanted to get wasted, but it was more of an annoyance than a struggle or a fight.

But that is a decent lead into to the no part of the yes and no. It will always be a factor. We don't have to live in fear, but we do have to be aware of our spiritual condition less we miss the warning signs that the spiritual malady is beginning to come out of remission. As with physical cancer, repeat bouts with the illness are more and more dangerous, destructive and deadly. That's not the only reason that our recovery remains a factor though. Even if we never come out of remission, we are still never what we were before. We have become survivors and been transformed into a new being, and as such we have a responsibility to help and encourage others who are still sick and suffering, while being sure to remember that it is God who has set us free and not anything we did ourselves. But yes, there is freedom available, true freedom from the chains that bind you and hold you captive and keep you enslaved.

Maybe you're still struggling and that freedom seems a fairy tale. You've done all the things that are supposed to work. There's meetings, more meetings than you can count. You're reading your recovery literature and Bible religiously. You pray more, and if you forget to pray, you stop whatever you're doing and pray twice, once for the prayer you missed and once for forgiveness for forgetting to pray in the first place. You maintain quiet time in the mornings and a evenings, call a trusted friend and mentor often and regularly, and confess every temptation and near defeat. You check for the trigger monster living under the bed, in the closet and around ever corner.

And it's worked, at least you haven't used or drank or spent foolishly or eaten the whole thing or whatever. You haven't put the cuffs back on. Yet. But maybe the fight is getting too old and you are getting too tired. Or perhaps what seemed to work before just isn't working now, and you know you can't go on much longer on will power, determination and desire. Maybe you already let go and let the rapids carry you to relapse and the depression, shame and guilt are suffocating you and you feel hopeless. It is what it is. This is just who I am and how it's going to be. Recovery is just the illusion of freedom while fighting interspersed with relapse and recapture, then more and harder fighting to get free again and repair the damage done, until there's nothing left to repair because everything we care about is destroyed or we die.

But the reason I am cheerful this morning is because I know that it doesn't have to be that way. I have and continue to have freedom, and I have seen it in the lives of others. And sometimes those of us who have found it inadvertently make it harder on those who are still fighting the current. We see the struggle and give advice that helped us hold on until the miracle occurred. I had a dear friend who swore by Bluebell ice cream in the early days of recovery and fighting the cravings, and we spent much time in her living room watching crime shows and eating ice cream. And I didn't go back out while we did that. Some will swear that the secret is never getting hungry, angry, lonely or tired. Some will tell you that it's changing all the people and places and avoiding triggers. The secret is that while some of that and other tips may help short term, they're not the answer. None of it is. Not even what worked for me. Not even what did or will work for you. Taking your foot off the gas will only cause you to slow down as long as you are not on a steep hill when you do it. Sooner or later the tricks and coping mechanisms you use to fight your temptations and addictions will fail to work.

But that's good news. It means you can stop the fighting that you're so tired of.  You can quit forcing yourself to stay dry and live free instead, whatever dry is for you. As long as we are fighting the temptation ourselves, trying to manage and manipulate our life to keep the monster at bay we'll never be free, and we'll eventually lose. It's only when we give up the idea that we can control the beast within or keep it caged that we can begin the road to real freedom.

When we get desperate for freedom from habitual sin and addiction, we'll try anything. We'll take any tool offered and try to fix our broken minds, bodies and souls. We'll ask anyone and everyone who claims to have struggled as we have to tell us what they did so that we can do it too. We want to know what we can do that will work, the secret that if we just keep doing it and never give up, will make us stop and stay stopped, even on the steep hills of life. But none of the tricks will work every time, and since it's in our nature to longingly look back at the delights of Egypt while ignoring the scars from the slave master's lash, sooner or later, we just won't use the tools we've been given.

That is not a reason to give up hope. That's a reason to give up the fight for control. The path to freedom takes us to a different destination than changing or controlling behavior and desires. It takes us to transformation. It's not a detour around the pitfalls. It's a cocoon that means death followed by new life so that we are flying instead of crawling and holes in the road aren't a threat. But don't think that means we have to wrap ourselves in the silk and figure out what's wrong with us way down deep inside and fix it. You can't fix yourself any more than you can set yourself and keep yourself free.

There is work involved and steps we have to take. And yes, there are things that it helps to know about why were held in that particular area of slavery, because our addictions are symptoms. They are a secondary illness, not the primary. And yes, part of spiritual health involves boundaries and accountability and giving away what we've been given and being of service and prayer. As long as these are signs of spiritual health done out of love, they will be a blessing in our lives and a hedge of protection against coming out of remission. But if they become tools to  make us or keep us free, they will begin to weaken and possibly break down.

That's because it's not in any of those things either. Doing religious things religiously won't work or help. Doing those same things out of love will transform out lives. It does no good to pray because we are supposed to or someone says we should. Reading to ward off evil and temptation, no matter what we're reading, is just seeing words. Boundaries will only work as long as we can keep them, and that isn't ever as long as we need to.

We don't need more control. We need to surrender control.  We don't need a method or religion, we need to be changed through relationship. We have to admit that our beliefs, our rituals, our routines, our tricks and tools have all failed or are in danger of failing. And that we are children in need of Daddy to pick us up, care for us and do for us what we can not now, nor will ever be able to, do on our own. Freedom is available, and you don't have to fight for it. The battle is already won. But you do have to say yes to the One who offers it. Then, it's not your control or your power or your anything any longer. It's His power. You may be on the battlefield, but the Lord is doing the fighting. Before long the mass of enemies that never got tired of fighting you, because they knew they would always win sooner or later, because they outnumber you 10,000 to 1, because they are mightier and better armed than you, those same former foes are running for the hills for good. If you keep trying to figure out how to fight and win the battle you will lose. But when you give up control to the One who loves you and is mighty and able to save, victory is assured and freedom is more than a fairy tale. It is the new reality.

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 Audion Echo ~ July 8, 2017 ~ Critical Thinking

Today's Unshackled Audio Echo was previously published on

February 27, 2014 as Critical Thinking.

Wednesday evening, January 8, 2014 Dalyn Woodard delivered a message at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on dealing with a critical spirit. The sermon, "Critical Thinking" is about 21 minutes in length. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Photo "Old Time Religion" taken by Dalyn Woodard copyright Eclectic Imagery.

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

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

Unshackled Moments ~ July 7, 2017 ~ Are Your Hands Full?

Yesterday I admitted a way I struggled Wednesday evening and how, even though the situation may have been uniquely mine, the things I learned, or rather was reminded of, because of the experience were for many, if not all, of us. I shared the first of these in yesterday's Moment, It's All Worship, and today I will share the second lesson from my struggle. In case you don't have time to read the rest, it basically boils down to you can't receive with your hands full.

It seems pretty simple and basic doesn't it? That's why I said this is more of a reminder than a new lesson. As I mentioned in my message Wednesday night, we don't so much need a new revelation or understanding as much as we need to have the Holy Spirit reveal to us and bring to mind what we already know so that we know it in practice as well as intellectually. There are two things that it's hard to receive with our hands full. Help and anything else.

I'll start with the anything else. Have you ever had your hands full and had someone try to give you something? It's frustrating isn't it? What is most likely to happen? If you're anything like me, the first thing that happens is an evaluation. Is this really something I want or need enough to make it worth whatever I am about to have to go through in order to receive it? So, if the answer is yes, that doesn't make it easier. It only leads to more questions. Can it wait? Can you give it to me later or can I come get it later? Yes? Awesome. Problem solved, except that I don't yet have whatever was being given. I have to wait until my hands aren't full. But what if I can't wait or if it's something that has to be received then or never? Well, once again, if you're like me, Dear Reader, the question becomes one of contortion and strength. I begin shifting things in my hands so that I have a few fingers free to try to hold whatever it is with a few fingers until I can set something down, which is a struggle and sometimes leads to having to pick things back up after dropping them. Or I shift my load to one hand, perhaps bracing it against my body, once again hoping that I don't lose my grip and drop something. Or, if that's not going to work, I have to give in to the need to set something down so that I can receive whatever is being given.

And this can even be help. Sometimes it's difficult to even get help with our load when our hands are full. This happens with Leah and I fairly often. Sometimes when Leah gets off work she stops for groceries on the way home. The vast majority of the time I carry the groceries in for her, as in every time that I know that she has them and she gives me a chance. As soon as I know she's home, I go out to get the groceries. A lot of times I get there in time to give her a kiss as she exits the van, I open the back, grab the bags and carry them inside. She lets me. But on those occasions that I don't hear her pull up and don't get to her as quickly, she rarely waits or comes on inside and just tells me there's groceries in the van. Nope. I get out to the van, or, worse at times, to the front door as she is trying to get up our nightmare front steps and into the house with a burden that I seriously don't want or need her to bear. At these times I rush to her and try to take her load, but it's difficult.

Her hands are so full of bag straps and everything is twisted and grabbed together and wrapped around her wrists that even releasing it to me is hard to do. There has been more than once where she has simply needed me to move back out of the way, because it was easier for her to finish carrying everything into the house than to hand it over. Sometimes the solution is to set everything down on the ground and let me pick it up rather than taking it from her hands. The point is that once we've got a burden in our hands it's not always such an easy thing to release all or part of it to someone else, even when we want to.

And this is what happened to me Wednesday evening as the worship service began. By worship service I mean the entire church service, from the gathering together before the opening prayer until we leave. I wanted desperately to enter into awareness of His presence and be where I needed to be mentally, emotionally, and especially spiritually in order to preach. But as we prayed together  I had to fight to keep my mind from going elsewhere. We were interceding as a group on behalf of people in extreme need, and my mind selfishly kept going to my mental notes and concerns about the sermon. I fought to focus where I should, and without it ever ceasing to be a fight, the prayer came to an end and the music began. We sang songs of worship and praise, and it's about my favorite part of the service as I simultaneously give and receive to and from Daddy. Music can take me right into the Holy of Holies. I often keep instrumental music on when I pray, because it just helps me.

But not Wednesday evening, at least not at first. I wanted to give worship to God, because I needed my heart to be right in order to serve. I wanted to receive from Him, because I knew that was the only way that my heart would be made right and that I would be able to give and serve as He would have me do. I wanted to express my love for Him and receive awareness of His love for me, because that's what relationship with our Daddy is all about. And I just couldn't quite get there. I noticed that some of the worshipers in the sanctuary with me had raised their hands palms up to give without holding back and to receive whatever love and blessing the Spirit wished to give them.

My hands however were full,. My fists were clenched with anxiety (read fear), frustration (read anger) and the desire to control things. And this doesn't just happen in church. Remember, it's all worship, our entire lives are to be lived in service to Daddy. Step 3 says it like this: made a decision to turn our will and lives over to the care of God, as we understood Him. Give up our will and life, surrender. Romans 12:1 says the same thing in a different way:Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Our lives are not our lives; they're His. And we live them as sacrifices of worship in service out of love for Daddy and love for others.

And in that spirit, as we go about our day, we need to receive from Daddy, because we need His provision to accomplish love and service, we need His power to overcome the bondage of self. But we reach out to receive, and our hands are full. Full of fear and anger. Full of resentments, regrets and worry. And then what? We struggle with trying to juggle what we're holding onto and still receive, or we have to wait and tell God by our actions to try later but we can't take what He's offering at the moment, thanks anyway, or we have to begin the process of putting everything down at the foot of the cross so that He can carry what needs to be carried, He can dispose of the rest, and we can receive the blessings and love and provision that He has for us. He doesn't want us to carry that stuff. He certainly doesn't need us to. It makes our life difficult and miserable. It zaps our strength, drains our joy, disturbs our peace and dims the light of love by blocking our ability to reflect Him, like clouds between the earth and the moon.

It isn't always easy to let go, but it is critical that are hands aren't full of anything that isn't from Him. So, today, won't you join me in opening our hands and hearts to give and receive from Daddy? Lord, we release our worries and ask You to take or dispose of them so that we can walk in and be an instrument of Your peace. We release our regrets and shame and self condemnation over the past and receive again the understanding of Your mercy and forgiveness so that we can walk boldly in Your presence and be quick to offer forgiveness to others. We release our anger over past hurts, over not getting what we want, the way we wanted it, when we wanted it, and over not being able to manage and control our lives and the will and lives of others, and instead receive the joy from knowing that even the scars we bear are being used to bring us closer to You and deeper into relationship with You and to help demonstrate to others You power, Your compassion, and most of all, Your faithful love. We release our fear and receive the surety that You are with us and for us, that Your are our refuge and strength so that we can confidently and courageously face and endure whatever comes this day and can help others to see that they can trust in You as well.

Bless us and keep us and shine Your face upon us, that we may bless others, show them the way to You and reflect Your love upon them.

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.