Endurance

Dalyn Woodard continues the series, "Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews," with a look at what we do with hardship, difficulty and suffering. What happens when the healing doesn't come or the miracle doesn't happen in the way and the when we want? The message, "Endurance," is about 59 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on August 7, 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. The twenty-fourth message, "Why Did Jesus Have To Die?" here. The twenty-fifth message, "Most Excellent Forgiver," here,. The twenty-sixth message, "Faith Is A Group Activity," here, and the twenty-seventh message, :"Love Judges," 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 - August 2, 2019 - Cookies And Coffee

“Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings."
- Step 7

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
- Romans 12:1-2

Step 7 and Romans 12:1-2 go together like cookies and coffee. It's not that you can't eat cookies without coffee, but it's just easier and better and coffee. So often when I hear people discussing Step 7, I hear things like, "I'm really trying to work on my character defects." This isn't really any different from those who may or may not utilize the steps but who are attempting to live well spiritually. They will often strive to be more qualified spiritually, to eliminate negative aspects of themselves, their habits and natures while increasing positive things such as selflessness and love, especially if life becomes hard, in hopes of receiving more spiritual benefits. It makes perfect sense. If you struggle with self or sin or character defects or however you want to describe the natural tendency to go our own way and do our own thing without concern for God's will or care for others, it seems perfectly logical to try harder, double down on the determination, and refuse to give up.

The only problem is that as logical as it seems, it doesn't work. I cannot control my self or change my nature by myself and in my own power any more than I can control my drinking, drugging, etc. In fact, it's really even more difficult. Sure, I can try, try, try and put on a mask of goodness and selflessness and go awhile. But life quickly becomes miserable, and I soon discover that regardless of my will and determination I can 't live up the standard of love.

Then where's the hope? The hope is in realizing that Step 7 is Steps 1-3 together, only applied to dealing specifically with self (the root of the problem) rather than whatever unmanageable bondage was making us too insane to work on the real issue. Step 7 says now that I have done enough work and been sober, clean, have abstained from my bondage long enough to begin to be able to think a little realize that self is the issue, I can't manage it, there is One who can and wants to restore me to a life of right thinking and love, so I'll ask Him and let Him.

This is why I love Romans 12:1-2. It's a reminder that I don't do the work of Step 7. I don't have to fight against, struggle with or suppress my selfish and sin. My part is simply to present myself to God in submission, and the mercy of God will even help me do that part! He renews my mind. Not to make this feel like school, but the Greek word translated as bodies in verse 1 means whole self or old nature (often referred to as our flesh as opposed to our new nature of Spirit in Christ).

"My Creator, I am now willing that You should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that You now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to You and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do Your bidding."
- Step 7 prayer

Present your whole self and old nature to God as a living sacrifice, ready for God to have all of me good and bad. Cookies and coffee. A sacrifice is where something or someone dies so that something or someone else can live. Even if it is only my free time that dies so that something more important to me can have life, that's the simple way to look at sacrifice. Here, my old nature, my selfishness and self-centeredness need to die so that my new nature, selflessness, goodness and love can live. I need to be rid of every single defect of character in the way.

But let's be encouraged by and remember that a sacrifice can be presented or present itself, but it is sacrificed by another, unless you're throwing yourself on a grenade or something like that. Jesus gave Himself as sacrifice for us, but He didn't crucify Himself. We don't have to figure out how to sacrifice our selfishness or defeat our defects! We simply present ourselves and submit to His Spirit, that Power higher than all things able and mighty and quick to deliver, our refuge and strength who is able to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He's the one who does the sacrificing. He does the defeating and the work and makes us new and able to love and do what's right and deny self. He transforms us and makes us a new person.

I want to do better, to be rid of self, to love more and better, and be of maximum service to God and others. I want to have a deeper conscious connection with my Creator and live awake spiritually. So, I present myself to Him and submit to His work, allowing Him to rid me of everything which stands in the way, and in so doing, my life becomes a living sacrifice and an act of spiritual worship. I find that amazing! Walking through Walmart can become an act of spiritual worship rather than a fight, and that jerk who's blocking the isle can receive a smile and patience and the love of God from me as I remain under the control of the Spirit instead of becoming stressed out as I struggle with the impulse to knock their cart out of the way or cuss them out or just make sure they realize how they put me out and don't they know who I think I am?

This makes it more natural to stay in the will of God and to even know what that will is. It's not just less of a struggle to do the next right thing, it's obvious what the next thing is more often. Cookies and coffee. Let's stop fighting ourselves and surrender to the love and will of God who renews our mind, transforms us and makes us new. There is no easier, softer way to be rid of self.


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 - August 1, 2019 - Confessions Of A Nitpicker

Nitpick: to engage in fussy or pedantic fault-finding.
Pedant: a person who is excessively concerned with minor details and rules or with displaying academic learning.

Hello, my name is Dalyn, and I'm a nitpick. I really am. Not all the time, but yes, I am, depending on how you define it. It's not about displaying academic learning. I'm not showing off, and I don't like to consider myself fussy. I prefer the term fastidious, very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail. I guess the most important question to me is whether or not the fastidious fault-finding I engage in because I am excessively concerned with is over minor issues. They are usually little things, I readily admit, and I will also concede that sometimes they are probably minor aspects. But they never feel minor to me.

My areas are of nitpickery are almost always about language and how an idea is expressed or what it really means. You see, I'm one of those old-fashioned people who believe that words matter. I don't believe that you can always simply interchange home and house. Dorothy didn't say there's no place like house for a reason. She left her house lying on the witch to find her way back home. And ET didn't say phone house. Words matter. And no, I didn't make up nitpickery, even though it isn't a well-established word, it is a word and is defined as the high crime of excessive, minute, and unusually unwarranted criticism, for all you Scrabble players out there. And by this, I am a nitpick, because I engage in nitpickery, at least I am sure it feels that way to those hearing me tear apart a meme because of the way it expresses its nugget of philosophy or motivation.

But personally, I think nitpickers are important. Nitpick was first used in 1962, and nitpicker came first, from the idea that nitpickers search for faults the way they might pick nits, or lice eggs, from someone's hair. If you're on the sidelines it may appear that a nitpicker is fussing over something small. Lice won't kill you. But if you're the person with the lice, having someone help rid you of the nits is huge and important. I know from experience, and I am grateful for the nitpickers who helped me. So, I would like to share an example of why I believe words matter to life and why I nitpick about them. Perhaps my sharing this can help someone rid themselves of an infestation that is eating away at them.

There's a saying that goes like this, "When someone reminds you of your past, just tell them Jesus dropped the charges." I understand what this is trying to say, and I love the idea behind it. The pain of the past is something that can be hard to find freedom from, and the forgiveness of Jesus is the answer. I would also like to point out, for the record, I love, and I mean love, the song "Jesus Dropped The Charges" by the O'neal Twins. That's some classic gospel music right there. "I was guilty of all the charges, doomed and disgraced, but Jesus with His special love saved me by His grace." I love the song, and don't like the saying above.

What? Aren't they the same? No. And this is why I admit I am a nitpicker. I may simply prove it to the world. I may have already lost most readers, since this may seem unimportant and minor and it's a long blog entry in a world with the attention span of goldfish. But if you've ever been hurt by the concept of God's forgiveness, then perhaps my words can help remove some of those nits of confusion and hurt. Hurt by God's forgiveness? What on earth are you talking about?

The difference in the saying and the song is minor in detail, but not in importance. In the song, the person who has been released from the charges they know they were guilty of is rejoicing about the great grace of God towards them. As they should. But that the charges were dropped is not the whole story. Further into the song we hear, "Jesus dropped the charges, now I'm free down in my soul... at Calvary I heard Him say, 'case dismissed, case dismissed, saved by grace'." Hallelujah! I've been there, and it is indeed something to dance and shout about.

But the saying is from the perspective of someone reminding you of your past. A person who is throwing your past in your face usually has some pain of their own regarding your past, even if indirectly. Yes, you've been forgiven. No, you don't have to keep paying forever or bear the weight of condemnation from those who will not release you. And there are more things that are true about how you can be free, but the love of Jesus, the love of the One who forgave me and forgave you and released us from our charges, demands that we be concerned about their freedom as well as our own.

Imagine you were wronged, horribly hurt. Many don't have to imagine. The pain and damage within us scream for justice. Our hurt finds empathy in the hurt of others, and this is why we can scream in anger at injustice. Someone should pay for what happened. It's not right when they don't. A few weeks ago, social media flooded with anger over a judge basically letting a rapist go free because he said date rape isn't really rape, though the young man called it rape himself when bragging about it to his friends. Outrage exploded, as it should. We scream with the poor woman who was brutalized by this man and then brutalized again by the judge who denied her justice and treated her as worthless. It's wrong. Right? Of course it is. Justice demands satisfaction. That woman deserves justice. And you deserve justice for every wrong ever committed against you. Your pain demands it.

And the reason this is so intrinsic within us, is because we are made in the image of a just God. We understand innately the necessity of justice, at least when we are not the wrong doers. We all know life isn't fair. We also all know that it should be, because fairness is just, and life should be just. So, imagine, if you will, that I hurt you in the past and you hold it over my head. You drink the poison of resentment waiting for me to die, and since I continue to live you do the only thing you know to do, hold my past against me. I understand. I do. I've done it to others, and you're probably more than justified in doing so. I did some extreme damage to people. There are things that I have done that there is nothing I can do to make right and being or saying sorry just doesn't fix a hole through a heart. How much worse does the pain become for you if you bring it up again, and tired of it, I say, "Well, Jesus dropped the charges, so I'm free"?

This is what I meant by being hurt by God's forgiveness. It's not really being hurt by the forgiveness, but by a misunderstanding of the forgiveness I believe the saying perpetuates, which is why I don't like it. The grace that set me free came at Calvary as the O'neal Twins pointed out, and while making sure the entire truth is expressed isn't critical when rejoicing over it, It is when dealing with the victim who was wronged by the guilty who have been set free. It's not that Jesus didn't drop the charges. It's that He didn't just drop the charges.

Justice demands payment. Someone should pay for what has been done to you. I agree. So does God. That's right; God believes someone should suffer for every sin committed against you. Not just suffer but suffer to death. Isn't that really what the pain in our hearts tells us is the only thing that will satisfy the hurt? If we're honest, regarding those life-changing traumas, someone should suffer, and haven't we wished our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual rapists dead for the damage they did? Doesn't our heart scream at the injustice behind the idea that that person can simply ask for forgiveness and get the slate wiped clean? But that's a misconception.

It's more than simply asking. It's accepting what Jesus did on the cross, and the slate isn't wiped clean; it's washed clean in blood. Jesus may have dropped the charges against me, but He died to satisfy the justice the blood of your wounded life calls for. Jesus didn't just die for our sins. He died for the justice my wounds demand. I have done damage, and I have been damaged. Broken people break people. I was guilty of the charges against me, but others were just as guilty for crimes against me. My wounds demanded I see justice served on my walk to the gallows.

Jesus didn't just drop charges. God isn't letting wrong go or sin slide. He isn't grading on a curve or saying it's OK forget about the debt that is owed. Every debt is paid. Every wrong avenged. Every. Single. One. He died for my hurt. He died for yours. He paid the price that not even the death of those who hurt us would satisfy. How can I say that? Because two men hurt me over 30 years ago, and I have no way to know if they are even still alive. But if they are dead, it didn't release me, didn't stop the pain. Jesus did.

Jesus did. Repetition until like the scene from Good Will Hunting we fall into the arms of our Savior weeping. He wants you to have justice. And even more, He wants you to have healing and restoration and freedom from the past. Only God can give mercy and justice simultaneously because He paid. He didn't just erase debt. He paid it. My charges were dropped because someone else served my sentence, and that person did it so you could receive justice. God's forgiveness isn't a slap in the face to your wounded need for justice, it is mercy for every wrong you've done, justice for every wrong done to you, and healing for the wounds those wrongs have caused for every person who will take their wounds to Jesus.

That's why I don't think it's minor. That's why I think words matter. That's why I nitpick and why forgiveness makes me rejoice instead of cry in frustration. That past that haunts you can be healed, whether you were hurt or did the hurting. There is mercy. There is justice. Someone suffered horribly and died for your hurt. Justice. Someone suffered and died for the hurt you've done. Mercy. Someone was torn apart so that you can be healed. That's the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. And when we see that justice is satisfied and healing can progress, we can stop drinking the poison. We can forgive, as we have been forgiven, not because it lets someone off the hook. Because just as I accept the work of Jesus to pay the price for my sin, I can accept the work and blood of Jesus to pay the price for the sins against me. And when I release my right to hold onto the pain and bitterness and hurt, I find freedom and the healing happens.


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.

Love Judges

Dalyn Woodard continues the series, "Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews," with a look at how God's great love for us includes warning us of the extreme danger of disobedience and choosing destruction. We are secure in His love and will never cease being His children, but God still judges sin. The consequences of suppressing the truth we've been given for our own will are devastating. The message, "Love Judges," is about an hour long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on July 31, 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. The twenty-fourth message, "Why Did Jesus Have To Die?" here. The twenty-fifth message, "Most Excellent Forgiver," here, and the twenty-sixth message, "Faith Is A Group Activity," 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.

Faith Is A Group Activity

Dalyn Woodard continues the series, "Jesus Is Most Excellent: A Study Of Hebrews," with a look at three applications to do with the understanding of who Jesus is and what He's done. The message, "Faith Is A Group Activity," is about 35 minutes long, and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on July 17, 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. The twenty-fourth message, "Why Did Jesus Have To Die?" here, and the twenty-fifth message, "Most Excellent Forgiver," 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 17, 2019 ~ Let's Make A Deal

When I was a child, I enjoyed television game shows. One of my favorites was Let's Make A Deal. I loved seeing the people in costumes and watching the traders try their luck. I always wanted to know if they got to keep the donkey when they got zonked. I would laugh as contestants twisted themselves into knots of anxiety and anticipation trying to decide if they should release what they had already been given in the hope of getting something better.

What I didn't realize watching the show was how much of that mentality would adversely affect my life for years. Now I am not blaming the game show for my issues. I'm blaming my common human character that goes into making the show popular for also making my ability to receive from God difficult. It's a difficult and sometimes scary thing to let go, but letting go is what we have to do in order to receive from God.

To get the gifts that God desires to give us, we have to let go of the things we already have, which are in the way. There's just not enough room in our lives for both. Now the truth is that there is no zonk in the kingdom of God. God's gifts and plans for our lives are always much greater than what we have or can get on our own and more satisfying and fulfilling than our own dreams for us, always, every time. There's never a chance that if we hold on to what we have the reveal will show that we made the wise decision. What we have held onto will always look like a zonk when compared to what's behind the curtain of God's will for us.

But somehow it is common for us not to remember that when the time comes to choose. The Spirit comes with a wonderful opportunity and asks if we want the joy, peace, love and every blessing that comes from relationship with God, free, it has already been earned and paid for, we just have to be willing to give up the broken and lacking that we already have. We know our lives don't quite work. We know we can never seem to do enough, to get enough, to have peace and contentment. What we have never seems to satisfy well or for long, and even when it does satisfy there's a voice in the back of our mind reminding us that sooner or later life is going to be less than satisfying. Life without relationship with God is never enough. Yet, we waiver at the point of choosing. We look to the crowd for encouragement and counsel, we become anxious with the weight of the choice, when this should be the easiest decision we ever make.

There is no zonk with God. There is never a time when what He's offering is not seriously better. It's always a trade up. If we were watching the spiritual version of Let's Make a Deal there would never be the tension of the one we're familiar with. The child of God walks up to the Host, and it doesn't matter what he or she tries to portray themselves as, we know it's just a costume and not who they truly are. The Host can see through the masks. He knows who they are and what they need, what will make their lives worth living. He presents the question. Do you want to keep what only sometimes makes you only a little happy and leaves you anxious and miserable or do you want to give Me that in exchange for a life worth living, full of love, joy and peace? If they hesitate for even a split second, we groan at the show. You idiot! Can't you see that no matter what is behind the curtain it's got to be so much better than that worthless junk you're holding on to? I can imagine the angels feeling that way about me every time I  hesitate to release my will, my desires and what I have managed to collect because I am for some foolish reason afraid what God wants to trade me is somehow worth less.

There simply is no question. God wants to give us every good thing on an eternal scale in exchange for the lives that never satisfy. That deal is so heavily skewed in our favor we can never understand why God would even make the offer. It's like walking up to a homeless man and offering him a dream mansion on a beautiful estate in exchange for what's left of his cardboard box. Why? But the bigger question is not why God would make the offer, but why we ever even contemplate holding on to the box? Today, before we even enter the game, let us choose to always take the gift from God, no matter what junk of our own we may have to let release. It will be worth it.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

July 17, 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 16, 2019 ~ Changing Identifiers

If you change someone's identity, you can change their world. But when you change someone's identity in your own mind and heart, you can change your own world, long before they change and even if they don't. That's what forgiveness really is. It's spiritually giving the bad guy new papers, a new identity. Resentment and refusal to forgive is like putting yourself on constant alert and in battle mode with no relief and no time away from the front lines with all the danger and stress and fear and hate. We must be constantly on the lookout for the presence of the enemy, we must be ready for their attack, we must be prepared to defend ourselves, and remembering the pain they've  already caused and that the best defense is a good offense, we must get them before they get us.

If we see that person or are reminded in any way about that person we won't forgive, it's like alarms going off within us that can't be ignored. Battle Stations! Battle Stations! Red Alert! Then we slip into whatever battle mode  our tactics call for. For some it may be defensive martyrdom and victimhood. When the world sees how horrible that person was to us, they'll become our allies, help us and condemn them. Or it may be character assassination. Tear them down and make them look bad while showing that we did nothing wrong and may have even reacted with the poise and restraint of a saint. There are myriad ways we might react and act to defend ourselves, to push our position and to defeat our enemy. But whatever tactic we've been taught, are genetically predisposed to use and have spent our lives living by, that mode is automatic and programmed. We lose control as the auto defenses go active.

That person is the enemy and must be treated as such, whatever that means to us. We can't help it. That is their identity. They are the enemy. They are the one who did this and that and the other. They are the one who hurt us. They are the one who could hurt us again if we don't protect ourselves. But what if that is not who they are to us?

What if we truly forgave? When we forgive, we give them a new identity in our eyes and heart. We give them another classification in our defense system. We no longer see them as the enemy we must protect ourselves from at all cost and kill before they can kill us. They become in our minds the wounded that need help, that need our prayers and compassion. If they weren't spiritually sick and damaged they would have never....God, help them, heal them, draw them deeper into relationship with You and change their heart, making them safe in the process, and change my heart toward them so I can trust You to be my defender and protector and I can be free to be the me that You have called me to be and no longer the soldier on the front lines still fighting a war long over and letting the pain of the past,  which You want to heal, control me.

When we change how we see them, we change the programming that controls our actions and reactions. When we determine to see our former enemies through the eyes and classifications of God, we can respond as He would respond rather than by the old patterns. The only way to find freedom from the fighting and wars of the past though is to forgive the unforgivable, give love and compassion to those who do not deserve it and refuse to continue to fight. It's what Jesus did on the cross and what we were called to do.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

July 16, 2016.

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