Unshackled Moments ~ March 31 ~ Faith When Facing The Cross

Faith is not believing that God will make things work out the way that we want or would like. Faith is accepting and believing that God will turn any and every situation to good and will ultimately bring Him more glory and be better for us than anything we could devise ourselves. It is remembering that it is not about us but about Him, but that because of His great love for us, whatever He allows in our life will ultimately bring us closer to Him and make us more like Him if we cling to Him despite our circumstances, turn to Him rather than away when things get hard and scary, and align our will with His.

Lord, even when I face things that frighten me and look like disasters, help me follow Your example from the Garden of Gethsemane and say not my will but Yours be done. Help me to remember that Your plan is always good and better than my ideas, but that sometimes the pain of the cross must come before the victory of the resurrection.

Unshackled Moments ~ March 30 ~ Break The Chain! Ten People in Ten Minutes

There is a phenomena on social media that I have seen so often I almost don't notice it anymore, as I usually scroll on by without paying it any attention. But in the last few weeks I have been inundated with today's modern equivalent to the religious chain letter. Basically the messages are some variation of "God wants to bless you, and if you pass this on to ten people in the next ten minutes He'll do something good for you." Some actually say that God will do us a favor if we'll show we're not ashamed of Him and post, and the worst include a negative consequence for breaking the chain.

Part of me feels like what's the big deal? Why even be concerned about this or address it? In a way it's encouraging, because the folks extending the chains have a desire to be blessed by God, and that's awesome! There's an understanding that God desires to bless us, and that's a good thing. But living an Unshackled Life is about breaking chains that keep us from relationship with the Father.

Wait, how is this preventing relationship? These chains play into the deception that the enemy wants us to believe, the untruth that in order to "get in good" with God we have to earn His acceptance and blessing. There is nothing you can do to make God love you any more than He already does. You can not earn His grace or favor. It's a gift. He is a friend, closer than a brother, who already did the biggest favor for all of us by dying for us. He doesn't want you to try to earn your way to Him, because He's already done it. He wants us to realize that we can come into His presence empty handed, like with a best friend.

We give Him all of us, and He gives us Him. Yeah, it's not close to a fair trade for Him. He's worth so much more than all of me comes close to, but that's what He wants. There's no ritual, no rite, no chain post, not going to church, not praying x amount every day that makes us OK, that qualifies us for favors from God, that earns us His attention. All He wants from us is us. He wants us to surrender our hearts, not just a part but the whole of it.

And when we surrender our self and will to Him, He brings us to Him, forgives us, blesses us with adoption, with relationship with the Creator of all, with purpose, peace and joy. We have all the grace needed to have relationship with and to walk with Him. So, surrender self to Him and give Him your will, and He will bless you! This is truth! God loves you as you are, not as you should be! You don't have to jump through hoops to make Him smile! All you have to do is want Him! How amazing is that?!

If you pass this on to ten people in the next ten minutes something good may or may not happen....you might help break someone else's chains and help them see that they are free to go to Jesus without performing tasks or accomplishing any feats of service. This isn't Greek mythology or a fantasy quest. There are no feats of strength or acts of loyalty that gain us an audience or show wer're worthy of being helped. It's life, and God's already done everything necessary for us to be blessed and have relationship with Him!

Unshackled Moments ~ March 29 ~ Where Were You God?!

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Matthew 27:46

For·sak·en (fərˌsākən) ~ past participle of forsake: abandon, cast aside, desert, disavow,  discard, disclaim, disown, drop, jilt, leave, leave high and dry, leave in the lurch, leave stranded, renounce, throw over, turn one's back on, walk out on, wash one's hands of.

Why?! God where are You!? Where were You!? How could You allow.....?! It hurts to feel forsaken, to feel like God Himself has rejected us and left us hanging. It makes us angry and confused. We've all been there. Even Jesus felt it. The most agonizing part of His death for you and me was not the stripes on His back or the nails through His body into the wood. It was the first and only time He felt the Father turn His back and leave Jesus alone, to literally leave Jesus hanging.

After C. S. Lewis lost his wife to cancer, he called out to God for comfort but sensed no reply. Confused, he asked, "What can this mean? Why is He so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?"

When the unthinkable happens, when evil things happen to good  people we cry out for help to an all powerful God. And when we've cried out with everything we have, with everything we are and the innocent child still dies, the accident victim never wakes, the disease slowly but surely wins, the rape is not stopped, the drought continues and the crops wither, the flood still takes the home, we are overwhelmed by the pain and the feeling of being forsaken.

We know that we are not perfect, but if we had the power to stop it, to fix it, if we were all powerful we would never allow such a thing. So if God is good how could He let this happen? We can't imagine sitting back and letting the innocent and good people suffer and die without doing something. And neither can God. He looked across time and saw every hurt, devastation and evil that would be done to me and every evil I would do and decided to do something about it. Out of perfect and unselfish love He determined to come, to become human like me, like you, and to suffer an excruciating death and to even feel forsaken for our sake. Jesus was abandoned by everyone, including the Father, when He never came close to deserving it, because He loves us.

He made a way to fix the problem of evil that was a an unfortunate byproduct of the free will necessary for true relationship.  Jesus experienced truly being abandoned by the Father while He was on the cross so that when we feel isolated and forsaken we can run to God. He wants to heal our hurts and comfort our heart I can't explain why He doesn't always remove or repair the situations we face on this side of heaven, but I know from experience that if we go to Him rather than away, He is there to wrap His arms around us and hold us while we cry. He is there to comfort and love. We can grow closer to Him and discover His goodness and love in the aftermath of evil in a way that we can never know otherwise.

Abba, help me to run to You rather than away from You. Help me to remember that feeling abandoned doesn't mean that I have been. Jesus was abandoned so that I don't ever have to be, regardless of what it feels like. Be my comfort and my strength in face of fear and pain. Show me Your love and draw me to You, even when my anger and confusion make it hard to trust. I choose to believe that truth that You are good and that You care despite what I may sometimes feel. As I do this, heal my hurt, remove my anger and help me to see and experience the truth of Your goodness and love.

Unshackled Moments ~ March 28 ~ Be Like The Lad

“There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.

John 6:9-12

There was a lad who had a sack lunch, some bread and a couple of small fish. There wasn't much there. Perhaps it was enough food to fill the boy up, perhaps not, but it wasn't enough to be sharing and still have enough to eat. And there was a need. Five thousand men, and countless women and children were hungry and in need of food. The disciples asked Jesus what was this little lunch worth in the face of such a great need. It's a logical and understandable question. The lunch was all the boy had, and how easy it would've been for the boy to say, this can't help much so I should keep it, and at least that way I won't be hungry. I don't have enough to help so I won't do anything. But instead he gave it all to Christ. The little he had he did not hold back, and as a result, everyone got fed, and there were left overs. God loves to give, and when we give without holding back, He always does something amazing with it.

Lord, I want You to do something amazing with and in my life. Help me to be like the lad who held nothing back. Let me not feel overwhelmed by the need that I am powerless to provide for but rather to trust that no problem is beyond the solution of Your power. Amen.

Unshackled Moments ~ March 27 ~ Waiting For Power

Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.

Luke 24:49

The disciples had spent three years walking with Jesus, being taught by Him and seeing His miraculous work. They had been there, and fled, when it appeared all was lost, but had seen the power and plan of God overcome everything as Christ returned from the grave. They spent time with Jesus after the resurrection.

After the resurrection they had the greatest understanding of all the teachings of Christ that they'd ever had. The knew the prophecies regarding the Messiah had come true. They were inspired and excited to follow God and grateful for the access to the Father they had now that they'd been forgiven and the veil  had been torn. But even with the emotional boost that came from seeing and spending time with the Risen Lord and all the training and knowledge they had, they couldn't walk it on their own. Jesus told  them to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit.

No matter how close we are to God, no matter how much we have learned and understand about spiritual truth, no matter how grateful and excited we are about God's grace, we still can't walk with God, do what's right or walk in freedom on our own power. Each day we need to wait on the power of the Spirit. It's by His power that we can overcome, walk free and live in right relationship with our Creator. That's why we need to start each day by seeking God. That's why we need to begin anew every day with the understanding that we need His help to manage and control our lives. His power is what makes us clean and gives us the ability to live in a manner worthy of the calling to walk with Jesus.

Abba, help me to always remember that know matter how much I learn and grow in relationship  with You that it will never be me that is able to please You, but rather my surrender and submission to Your power within me. Help me to start each day in Your power so that I can live it throughout the day and end the day as close or closer to You than it began. Amen.

The Judas In All Of Us

Dalyn Woodard shares his thoughts on the "Villain of Villains," Judas, and what we can learn from him and the ways we often act like him. The message, "The Judas In All Of Us," is about 35 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, March 25, 2015. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Unshackled Moments ~ March 26 ~ The Riding Tip

I've ridden motorcycles for years. I love to ride. After spending 7.5 years in prison, one of the things that I did as quickly as possible upon my release was to buy another motorcycle. It felt great to be back on the road with the wind on my face and two wheels underneath me. It seemed to all come back. They say you never forget how to ride a bike, and I took that to mean motorcycles as well as bicycles.

After riding for a couple of years without a license I decided to get legal. Even though I had had a motorcycle license for years before my incarceration, because of the way that the laws had changed I had to take a training course to get my license. I passed the course easily, and nothing changed with my riding other than I was finally legal. Still, despite all the riding I did and the refresher course, something felt off.

For some reason for the past 5 years or so I have felt uncomfortable on curves in a way that I don't remember ever feeling insecure in the years I rode before my almost decade long break from the road. I chalked the feeling up to having a bike that didn't handle as well as my old one, a windshield that acts a bit like a sail, and actually caring whether or not I live or die now. After my wreck a couple of years ago, the feeling grew worse. I once loved snaking back roads, but I had learned to dread them.

Yesterday, as I road home from work, I met another rider on a curve. He was flying and  had his bike leaned over to the point where the pegs nearly scraped the pavement. We waved at each other as we met and continued on our way. A casual encounter that lasted only a second or two changed everything for me. I noticed his body position in the middle of that vicious curve. Suddenly I realized that I had been riding through those curves out of position, and that caused me to be and feel slightly off-balance. I rode in a position that logically seemed safer, but in reality was more dangerous and caused me to have to go much slower in curves in order to stay in my lane and on the road.

On the next curve, I shifted my body into the position that I had seen the other rider in. As I did, it felt so right. I thought, "How did I forget this? How come I never regained this habit in all these years I have been riding again?" I felt stable and secure. I entered the curve and felt the bike hug the road like my old bike did. I accelerated out of the curve and nearly shouted for joy. It felt so good to be back. The ride home was much more enjoyable and yet safer from that moment on. I felt a peace in turns that I haven't had in what seems like forever.

I once knew this little trick of body position to make curves safer, but when I stopped riding for a while I lost the habit. When I returned to riding I knew something wasn't right, but I was unable to diagnose the problem or remember on my own. The teaching I heard didn't help. The safety course didn't change anything. A brief encounter with another rider who was doing it right wordlessly corrected 5 years of incorrect body position and brought to remembrance truth I once knew but had forgotten.

We can be like that rider I met in the curve. We need to worry less about saying the right thing and instead just make sure that we go through our day in the correct spiritual position. We can inspire and help someone just by meeting them on the road of life. We might never know. But staying in position with God could help someone get back where they need to be, help them get to a place of security in God and, maybe, even save their life.

Abba, help me to stay in position with You. I never know when just passing by someone might be the encounter they need to help see the way to life and freedom in You. Amen.