Unshackled Echo ~ July 8, 2019 ~ Feeling Discouraged

There is a fine line between wallowing in self pity and venting, acknowledging the truth of how we feel and releasing it rather than stuffing it down and pretending that everything is OK when it's not. Selfishness and self centeredness is the root of all our problems, and the pity party is one event that we always need to refuse to attend. Because of that we may feel like we need to keep a large distance from that fine line. We deny ourselves the freedom to complain or express that we are not OK lest we slip into self pity.

We're like someone who is afraid of sharks refusing to stand on the beach. We feel guilty for complaining. After all, we are supposed to give thanks in all things at all times. But denying the truth of where we are emotionally and mentally is not healthy. Sometimes what we need to give thanks for is that God loves us and cares about our hurts and our discouragement. He knows even better than we how we feel and why. We are not sinning by being honest with Him and with ourselves about it. If we spend a little time in Psalms we will see many times where David expressed his concern over the times of struggle and how long adverse situations lasted. He quickly acknowledged his dismay and discouragement, and yet, he was called a man after God's own heart.

David wasn't afraid to say God, it doesn't look like You're helping me. If doesn't feel like I am going to survive this struggle. It doesn't feel like things are getting any better. In fact, it feels like they're getting worse by the minute. Yet, I will choose to remember that no matter how it feels I know that You are good and care for me.

If you are struggling through a time of difficulty and discouragement don't put on a mask and try to pretend that it's all good. Don't fall for the lie that being discouraged is a failure or lack off faith. Have enough faith to believe that God loves us, even when we want to give up. When we are honest about our fears and our weaknesses we make ourselves open for the God of all comfort to help us, to care for us and to give us the grace to keep going past our own endurance. It is when we try to pretend, to push away the truth of how we feel, that we are forced to try to keep going on our own strength. That never works well, and we end up even more discouraged.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

July 8, 2016.

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

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

Unshackled Echo ~ July 6, 2019 ~ Losing Glasses And God

Something happened to me last night that is embarrassing to admit. I took my glasses off to put my final dose off drops in my eyes, started talking to Leah, took my Melatonin and began hunting for my glasses. I put them on the bed to take my drops. I remembered doing it. They weren't there. I couldn't believe they were gone. I knew I hadn't taken them off anywhere else, but it had been that kind of day.

Leah's stylus had gone missing yesterday morning, and it had taken much effort and time, including remaking the bed three times and searching the chest in front of the bed and going through everything in the night stand and by the bed and, and, and... Leah found it later, and I am still not sure how it got to where it ended up. Leah had a pretty good idea, but it definitely wasn't obvious enough of a theory to make us search there. Light coming through the blinds caught her attention, and she happened to spot the stylus on the carpet. I think it was the grace of God, as I doubt either of us would have searched that part of the room any time soon.

Perhaps it was The Strange Case of the Missing Stylus that freaked me out about the missing glasses. Maybe it was something else, like being nervous about the MRI I have this morning. I don't know, but freak out I did. What had happened? I knew I had taken them off and set them down on the bed. Leah helped me look for them for about 15 or 20 seconds before busting out laughing. "They're on your face," she told me, seriously nearly crying from laughing so hard.

I almost laughed. I almost cried. I walked into the kitchen to set up the coffee maker for the morning and felt my cheeks warm. I had indeed been wearing my glasses, even as I searched for them and grew frustrated over not being able to find them. I felt stupid and foolish. It was kind of funny, but also a little frightening. I'm not sure why I didn't realize that I was wearing them. I took them off to see if they were so dirty or my eyes were in one of their bad phases causing the glasses to be ineffective to the point that I couldn't tell the difference between having them on or off. There was a lot of difference. I could see quite a bit better with my glasses on. I should have realized I was wearing them just by  how well I could see, never mind the weight and physical feel of them.

Not only had I not realized that I had them on or how much they were helping me see, but I had worked myself into a near frenzy trying to figure out what had happened to them and where they were, since they we not where I had left them. No, they were not where I had taken them off, because I had already put them back on. So I felt foolish, but it made me think about how often I do the same thing spiritually. I had never searched for glasses while wearing them before, but I have done the spiritual equivalent.

The situation begins to feel uncomfortable or I begin to grow anxious, and suddenly I begin searching for God. Where is He? Why isn't He there helping me? Why isn't my ever present help in time of need helping and providing me with refuge? Foolishly, I seek and do not find. It's not that He can't be found. It's that I already have what I'm looking for. I'm sitting in the storm cellar praying for shelter and freaking out over the wind that can't even reach me to blow my hair around. I'm already in the refuge. I'm looking for the assistance and presence of God as though it isn't there, or as if I left it somewhere else, while being in His presence and receiving His help. If He were to remove His grace the difference would be so apparent, but thankfully He doesn't go well, if you can't tell that I am helping you, I'll just stop helping.

He is there. He is working for my good. He is providing protection and shelter. He is holding me in His hands. And my forgetting that or failing to realize it does not make it any less true, any more than my forgetting I had put my glasses on and failing to realize I was wearing them didn't make them work any less to make me see. Today, let us remember that we are wearing our glasses. Let us remember that God's word is true and He is our ever present help and will never leave or forsake us, no matter what happens with our awareness of His help and presence.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

July 6, 2016 as Where Are You God?

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

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

Unshackled Echo ~ July 5, 2019 ~ Carry Out The Execution

There are mornings when I rise and determine to keep my self in check for the day. I'm going to make sure that I do not act or react in the manner of my old nature. I will not engage in those habitual sins, character defects and bad attitudes that ruled my life outside of Christ. This is the day I will walk with Christ, like Christ. I will live a life of faithful obedience and love.

Sometimes, but not often, this vow will survive till late morning, perhaps even all the way to lunch. I can not remember a time when I succeeded in such a vow, when my determination was successful. Those times that I tried and failed are reminders that I shouldn't have been making the attempt at all. I'm not saying that I shouldn't be attempting to live obedient love, that I shouldn't desire to walk with God as Jesus walked. That is indeed the calling of our lives.

The attempt that shouldn't be made is to play jailer. I have taken a ruthless, dangerous prisoner whom the Judge has sentenced to be executed, given him a stay and tried to keep him caged instead. Rather than taking my old nature, my self will, my carnal, fleshly mind and starting the day with his execution, with nailing him to the cross, I have attempted to control him and keep him caged. But I have proven repeatedly my inability to control or contain this escape artist. I go on about my day, after determining to control my self with my self, and before I even realize what is happening, he's escaped and running loose, wreaking havoc.

We can not fix ourselves with ourselves, we can not repair our broken minds with our broken minds, and we can not contain or control our self, which doesn't wish to be controlled or contained, with our self. Self must die. The execution is scheduled and must be carried out. Daily we pick up our cross. Daily we lay our self on the altar and sacrifice our will to God. Then we get up from our knees with self not caged but dead and follow Jesus. We are then in the correct position to walk with God. We are not jailers of self. We are obedient servants. We are not self disciplined and controlled, but rather we are controlled by the Spirit as we walk in the power of God's grace. Dying daily we can live free from sin, in love.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

July 5, 2016.

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

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

Why Did Jesus Have To Die?

Have you ever wondered why Jesus had to die for us to be forgiven? Dalyn Woodard continues the series, "Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews," with a look at why Jesus had to die, what His death accomplished and who receives the benefits of His death. The message, "Why Did Jesus Have To Die?," is about a 58 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on July 3, 2019. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. Video below.

You can hear the first message in the Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews series, "It's All About Jesus," here, the second message, "A Most Excellent Word," here. The third message, "Jesus Is Enough," here. The fourth message, "More Excellent Than Angels," here. The fifth message, "Defeating The Dangerous Drift," here. The sixth message, "The Most Excellent Man," here. The seventh message, "The Most Excellent Help," here. The eighth message, "Consider Jesus," here. The ninth message, "Don't Lose Your Rest," here. The tenth message, "There Remains A Rest," here. The eleventh message, "Living And Active," here. The twelfth message, "Hang On And Come Close,"  here. The thirteenth message, "We Need A Mediator," here. The fourteenth message, "Wax Build Up," here. The fifteenth message, "Growing Up Is Not Optional," here. The sixteenth message, "Don't Get Burned," here. The seventeenth message, "Blessed Assurance," here. The eighteenth message, "A Sure And Steadfast Anchor," here. The nineteenth message, "Pointing To Greater," here. The twentieth message, "Access To Draw Near," here. The twenty-first message, "Saving To The Uttermost," here. The twenty-second message, "A Better Way," here, the twenty-third message, "Curing The Guilty Conscience," here.

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

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

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

Unshackled Echo ~ July 3, 2019 ~ Happy God

...according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

- I Timothy 1:11

I read the above verse this morning. It follows a string of offenses that are contrary to the doctrine of God and a statement that the law is not for the righteous or good but for those who are unrighteous. I took a look at the Greek to see exactly what the terms of offenses had been in the original text, and saw something I had never noticed before that completely took me by surprise.

The word that caught me off guard was not in the list of offenses but in verse 11. That word translated as blessed in basically every translation of the Bible is, in the literal Greek, a word that actually means happy. The glorious gospel of our happy God. What an awesome thought! What a novel idea!

I don't know about most people, but when I read blessed God I always thought of the usual definition of blessed, as in sacred and holy. It never occurred to me before that in this particular place it was more the way I would use the word blessed when I look at my beautiful wife, realize how happy I am to be with her and exclaim that I am a blessed man. It's not because she did anything. She may just be sitting there reading, not even thinking about me, but she said yes when I asked her to marry me, and that makes me happy, blessed.

Sometimes we think about wanting to make God happy by pleasing Him. Sometimes we think about making Him unhappy when we step outside of His will. It's all too easy to imagine and picture an angry God full of righteous wrath. But have we ever considered the image of a happy God? Can you see a God who is full of joy and happy because He has a relationship with us and not because of anything we do or don't do other than saying yes? The good news, or gospel, is that God asked us all to be in relationship with Him and sent His Son to make that possible. He is happy because we said yes!

We are told that the joy of the Lord is our strength. It's the Lord's joy, not ours, that makes us strong and helps us endure. We may be aware of that without ever stopping to think about what that really means, In order for the joy of Jesus, the Lord's joy. to give us strength, the Lord must be joyful, happy. Jesus is full of joy, and He shares the heart of the Father. That means Daddy is happy. Daddy is full of joy. We have a happy God. He is happy because we said yes. So let us never fear to approach Him and spend time in His presence. Let us get as close to Him as possible so that we can share His happiness.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

July 3, 2016.

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

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

Unshackled Echo ~ July 2, 2019 ~ Unanswered Prayers

There is an old county song released by Garth Brooks called Unanswered Prayers. It's a good song, in my opinion. It's catchy and sentimental and has just enough truth to make it enjoyable while it makes you think. That combination makes for a good song, but catchy with a touch of truth isn't really good enough to live by for long. Now I am not getting on ol' Garth, the two co-writers or the song in general when I say that.

For those that don't know, the song is about a man meeting his high school flame at a football game years later, remembering how much he'd wanted her and prayed God would bring them together for life and then looking at his wife and thanking God for unanswered prayers. One of my favorite lines is when he is so grateful for who he is married to and that he is not married to the former flame and says, "I guess the Lord knows what He's doing after all." "Some of God's greatest gifts," the song goes on to remind us, "are unanswered prayers."

I think the appeal of the song, and the reason it came to mind this morning while I meditated on the concept of faith, is that we often respond to God a lot like the man in the song. The truest aspect of the song is not the spirituality and the philosophy but the view point and thoughts of the character. No matter how often God proves Himself mighty and faithful and worthy of our trust, no matter how deeply we believe that He cares for us and is our hope and refuge, when we get in a tight spot or when God leads us in a different direction than we wanted or expected, or when He locks a door we prayed for Him to open, there is often that aspect within us, that little voice that doubts God's love that says does He really care? Does He know what He's doing to me and with me?

Later, we often see the benefit of what God was doing. His hand, protection, care, wisdom and blessing are more clearly seen in retrospect. Then we exclaim with gratitude and, yes, the hint of surprise, now I see what God was doing! Now I see the evidence of His hand and presence! And in a way, what we're saying is I guess the Lord knows what He's doing after all.

It's so difficult for us to accept and get past the idea that we don't know what's best for us. That we really can't make the right and best decisions for our lives. That God's plan is better than our plan, our dreams and our desires. We get trapped into the idea that faith is believing that God will give us what we want, or at least what we believe we need. And then if He doesn't, we question His love and whether or not we can really and truly and completely trust Him. Rather than listening and looking for the direction God wants to take us in, we try to manufacture more faith, because we start believing the lie that if we believe enough we can somehow force or obligate God to give us what we want.

Joni Eareckson Tada, is an amazing minister of God and writer. She inspires and helps many people have a better relationship with God, especially women. She's also been a quadriplegic and wheel chair bound since she was a teen after breaking her neck in 1967. I am sure there were many prayers by her and for her for her physical healing. Sometimes God does indeed heal physically. But healing our hearts and souls, giving us the best chance for the deepest most intimate relationship with Him, and our greatest ability to be of service for the healing and restoration of others, of living lives of light that show the world His love and power and grace are higher on God's list of priorities than physical healing, or any other obvious or natural solution to a problem we face. The joy Joni has, the love she has experienced and the relationship she has with God despite not receiving physical healing, I dare say, are greater miracles and have shone a greater light on the heart and glory of God than her getting up and walking out of that hospital nearly 50 years ago ever would have.

It's hard to believe sometimes. It's hard not to be disappointed when the answer we hope for isn't the answer God gives, when the door that makes sense as best from our point of view is not the one God wants to open, when the healing doesn't come, but the truth is that the Lord does indeed know what He's doing. He does love us and care for us, even when He doesn't do it the way we would. Faith is not believing that God will do what we want or think would be the best solution to the problems and difficulties we face. Faith is believing and trusting that God will do what is right and best on an eternal level.

Someday, Joni is going to walk the streets of gold with Jesus, whole and completely healed. And someday we are going to be completely whole and perfect as He is perfect as well, And on that side of eternity, we are going to be able to see the tapestry of our lives from His perspective, and we will see perfectly the beauty, love and wisdom of His choices in and for our lives. One thing that is always true, no matter how He answers of doesn't answer our prayers, is that God loves us, He is good, and He will always do what is best and right for us, whether we can see that at the time or understand it or not.  Believing that, and walking in assurance of that truth is what constitutes faith.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

July 2, 2016.

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

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

Unshackled Echo ~ July 1, 2019 ~ Sometimes The Detour Is Better

I do not overwhelm myself with life’s problems, and how much more work needs to be done. I let myself be comforted in knowing that my life is now in the hands of my Higher Power, a master craftsman who is shaping each part of my life into a unique work of art.

- from July 1 entry Daily Reflections

I read these words this morning from today's Daily Reflections entry, much later than I usually do, much later than I had planned to, much later than I wanted to. As I write this, it's almost 11:30 Am, and I am at least a couple of hours behind schedule. It's been one of those mornings. It's been a wonderful morning. If those last two sentences seem contradictory, they are in a way.

This has been the kind of morning that I usually find myself irritable and frustrated, the kind of morning that starts the day off all kinds of wrong, and I have to struggle to reset the day and my attitude. First, I slept poorly and woke far too early. But I didn't get up. I felt groggy and miserable. I rolled back over and went back to a restless sleep. Way too quickly after that, my alarm went off. Leah had risen early, also unable to rest this morning but smart enough to just go ahead and get up. So, I wasn't worried about her being late and after hitting the snooze button twice, I simply turned the alarm off. Five minutes and an hour after the time my alarm was set, I forced myself out of bed. I could barely walk and couldn't see worth a flip. This was the worst my eyes have been in the morning in weeks.

Then I couldn't find my glasses. They weren't where I always set them at night so that I can find them easily by feel. Already over an hour behind on the day and blind, I gave up and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the start of the day and my morning devotions. I looked again for my glasses after putting on my comfy PJs to lounge in and finally found them. I kissed Leah good morning and sat down at the computer to read. The next couple of hours were spent trying to pray, doing the various reading of Scripture and devotions that I do in the mornings and with interruptions, lots and lots of interruptions. Any and every time I began to get to that place where I like to go spiritually to spend some time with God and set my attitude and tone for the day, interruption. I felt yanked back into the harshness of the day. I couldn't get settled. I couldn't find peace. On top of the frustration of wanting to enter my quiet place in the awareness of the presence of God sat the feeling of being behind, of running late, and the fight within myself not to rush through this important time in my day so that I could get on with all the things that needed to get done today.

I cried out to God for grace. I hoped for an answer to prayer that would be something along the lines of time slowing down so that I wouldn't get further behind and for the interruptions to miraculously cease. Instead I heard the Holy Spirit say, "Chill." Yes, God talks to me, and yes, sometimes He  tells me to chill. Sometimes He tells me to shut up and listen. He speaks so that we can hear, and while these words might not work for you, they are sometimes just what I need to hear to get me out of self and quiet enough to hear the rest of what He wants to tell me.

In II Kings there is a story of Elijah facing an army of enemies. His servant is freaking out, and Elijah calmly asks the Lord to open the eyes of the servant. God grants the request, and the servant sees the hand of God at work and angels all around. Things looked a lot different from God's perspective then from what  the servant had been seeing. It felt a little like that for me as I stopped fretting long enough for the Holy Spirit to open my eyes.

One of the main and most frequent interruptions was actually an answer to prayer, a chance to minister and be of service. What better time than when I had already begun immersing myself in the Word? I was better able to check my reactions and let the Spirit guide my words because I was already trying so hard to access that place of awareness of the Spirit. Thank you Lord.

 Another came when I opened the door for it. I had missed a text this morning due to my ringer being off.  I noticed it when I grabbed my phone to have it handy in case Leah, who had already left, needed to reach me. It had been over an hour and a half since the text had come through, so I felt obligated to respond then instead of waiting until I finished devotions. Suddenly a conversation started. Every few minutes, as I tried to read, my phone would go off. It was a trivial conversation on the surface and breaking my train of thought. I started to send a text asking if we could talk more once I had completed my morning time, when, just a few moments after realizing the other interruption was a chance for service and not an intrusion, the Spirit stopped me. It occurred to me that this trivial conversation was exactly the kind of thing I had been hoping to have happen and praying for years to happen. It wasn't an intrusion or an interruption. It was a blessing and an answer to prayer.

Some of Jesus' most awesome encounters with people during His physical ministry on earth came when He as busy going other places and was stopped, interrupted, called to deviate from the day's agenda. Heading somewhere He would hear the cry of, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" He would stop and someone's life would be changed. Maybe He was five minutes or an hour later getting where He needed to go, where the Father had told Him to go, but He was also doing the work of the Father, giving love and being of service to the people Daddy had sent Him to help. The agenda can wait. The plans can change. The Spirit knows better how the time is to be spent, even when the agenda is set in service to God.

I had been struggling to enter into an awareness of the presence of God, and then getting frustrated by an interruption I had started (that I had instigated, which frustrated me more than the interruption I think), until God showed me that the very thing I was fretting over was evidence of His presence and the restoration work He's being doing. I nearly wept with joy and gratitude. I suddenly realized my agenda, my plans didn't matter. There was nothing that still couldn't get done by grace, or, if it wasn't done, it wouldn't matter on the eternal scale of things. I had found that awareness of the presence of God in my life and my morning I had been seeking. It wasn't because I finally found the freedom to engage my routine. It was precisely because the routine had been shattered.

God is a Master Artist. and He's making something beautiful that we can see, feel and be a part of if we are willing to let our plans, our routines, our agendas be shattered. We don't have to be overwhelmed by what we feel needs to be done. What truly needs to be done will be done.  God never fails to meet our needs, and therefore will never lead us away from what needs to be done. But sometimes what we feel desperately needs to be done now can wait or doesn't actually need to be done at all. A few minutes after I finally reached this understanding in my spirit, I read the devotion with the above quote. It's always nice to receive a confirmation of what the Spirit is saying to you, and since we are called to freely give what we have freely received, I knew today's Moment  would be my sharing this.

Today, let us relax our grips on the to-do list, on our plans and on our agendas. Let us be open to be flexible to what the Spirit wants to do in our lives and through our lives. And let us pray that we can see the horizon through the eyes of the spirit rather than the material so that we can always be aware of the hand of God at work and not be overwhelmed by all the things that seem to be in the way or coming against us. Most of all, let us never forget that we live our lives in the presence of God, whether we are aware of it or not, with or without conscious contact He is there, and let us be ever grateful for that truth.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

June 29, 2016.

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

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