We Have Reason To Rejoice

Dalyn Woodard shares on knowing that we are God's and that He will finish what He started with us. We don't have to wonder if we're saved or if we're going to make it to heaven. The message, "We Have Reason To Rejoice" is about 39 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, July 29, 2015. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

Unshackled Moments ~ July 31 ~ Turning On The Power

Last night the wind blew too hard and our power went out. As I sat in the dark with Leah I felt horrible. I'd been sick all day and as the house grew hotter my stuffy head felt worse and worse. But there was nothing that I could do. I laid there, whined some and tried not to feel too sorry for myself. I can handle stomach bugs OK but aches and sore throat and ear pain and not being able to breathe I don't do well. I couldn't make it any cooler. I ate popsicle but that didn't help. All I could do was wait it out. I felt very thankful when the power came back on an hour or so earlier than the power company estimated.

It sucks to be powerless, and last served as a reminder of what powerless really means. It means the incapacity to change the situation and make things better or right, to stop the wrongness. The difference between spiritual powerlessness and electrical powerlessness is that we don't have to wait on a company made up of fallen people with limitations much like our own to figure out and repair the problem. God has already done the work. The power is not out. The lines are not down. The switch is just off. When we turn to Him and ask for help, He flips the switch and His grace gives us the power and the strength to carry on, to see, to change and to do what's right.

Unshackled Moments ~ July 30 ~ Delayed Gratification

When a baby wants something he or she cries, and if it doesn't come immediately they cry more and more loudly. At some point during the transition from child to toddler they usually begin to learn that you don't always get what you want the second you want it and that it doesn't help to throw a fit about it every time. And yet fit throwing is common enough during the toddler stage to get it called the terrible twos. Then comes a point when we come to learn that sometimes we have to wait. Sometimes we have to wait until we sleep and dream because only in our dreams will we get that particular wish. Sometimes we need to wait until we are older and more mature. I asked my parents for a motorcycle when I was four or five, and I am pretty sure I wouldn't have gotten it even if they had had the money. Sometimes we need to learn to be responsible and show ourselves to be that. Sometimes we need to work for what we want.

Learning to accept and even appreciate delayed gratification is a sign of maturity.Today I want to put away the childish impulse to throw a fit and get mad when I don't get my way or when what I want doesn't happen quickly enough or at all. I will be thankful for the reward that is to come that will be more appreciated due to the wait, what was endured during the wait and the effort it takes to arrive at the place where what is better is mine. Lord thank you for teaching me to wait.

Unshackled Moment ~ July 29 ~ Yet I Will Praise Him

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High

Psalm 92:1

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Psalm 100:4

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Psalm 34:1

It truly s a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and I have learned from experience that having an attitude of gratitude does actually make a difference. You really can't hold onto anger or be bitter and be grateful at the same time. But being grateful is not about self deception or selective blindness. Sometimes things go wrong. Sometimes life is unfair and painful. Sometimes it feels like everything is going wrong or at least not going right.

My boss and I had one of those days at work yesterday. No one got hurt and nothing blew up, but we didn't get one thing accomplished that we needed to. It wasn't for lack of trying. Some of it just doesn't even make sense. But thinngs just weren't going together as they should. Things were breaking when they shouldn't. And so on until my boss finally called it a day and quit in frustration. We'll try again today.

At one point he said, "One of us must not be doing right. You think it's me or you?" Because we feel that way sometimes. We  reap what we sow, so when things go wrong we wonder what we've done to tick God off. While it's true that we reap what we sew, it's also true that no matter what you plant or how diligent you watch it, you're going to get weeds in the garden.;  It's part of life in a fallen world. And it's also true that while you planted your good fruit seeds the enemy comes along behind you and plantes tares in the night.

Sometimes we get lax and sit on our laurels and let things crop up in our life that lead to judgement. But sometimes things just go wrong. Life is hard sometimes even when there are things to be grateful about. Just because we can and should praise God with a thankful heart doesn't mean we're looking at the world through rose colored glasses. Sometimes we're simply getting a glimpse of what is to come.

Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls ~ Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 

Habakkuk 3:17-18

Unshackled Moments ~ July 28 ~ Learning To Fly

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

~Philipians 3:14

Sometimes life is difficult, and it feels like there is little or no help. Sometimes it feels like we're all alone trying to push our way through a hole too small in order to escape our cocoon and fly free as the new creature we've transformed into. We want the struggle to be over. But sometimes there is a reason to the struggle, even when we can't see it.

If you see a butterfly or moth struggling to free itself from a cocoon, don't help it. That's right, don't. The process of the struggle makes sure they aren't free before they're strong enough to survive and it cleans their wings so that they can fly. The struggle is a necessary part of the transformation. And the same is true for us. If God fixed everything before we had to struggle, we'd never grow and learn to press on toward the goal.

Today let us keep the faith and a thankful heart and not grow weary or bitter over the struggle. Let us push through the obstacles by the power of the Spirit so that we can learn to fly according to His will and purpose.

Unshackled Moments ~ July 27 ~ More Lessons From Toddlers

Yesterday I saw a young woman at church holding her baby. I'm not sure how old the child is, but I'm guessing he's a litle younger than my grandson and almost as cute. He smiled and waved at anybody and everybody who gave him any attention as he rested in Mommy's arms. At one point a friend of mine walked over to the woman and her child and waved and smiled. He waved and smiled back at her. She smiled even more and held out her hands offering to hold him. At which point he waved and leaned back into his mother, retreating into her safety as much as possible. He didn't get upset. He didn't stop smiling, but he made it clear he felt he was right where he belonged and had no desire to be elsewhere.

I want to be like that little one. I want to be able to offer greetings and smiles and happy interactions without fear, insecurity or judgement that brightens the day of those I come in contact with, and all the while I want to do it from the safety of my Daddy's arms. When someone invites me to step away from my Father, I want to react by retreating more closely into Him without  ceasing to kindly and lovingly interact with the world. Today I want to be a toddler who won't leave Daddy's arms for anyone or anything. That's one way to come to Jesus as a child.

Unshackled Moments ~ July 26 ~ Weary

I wake up in the morning, and I raise my weary head.

~ Jon Bon Jovi

For three days in a row now I have woken up with this line from the song "Blaze Of Gory" going through my head. The only good part about it is that I hear it in Jovi's voice rather than my own. This line is the opening of the song, and it tells a lot about the man the song is about. He has not rested. He slept, but when he  wakes up he is still weary. The song is about Billy the Kid's life on the run, and while I am sure that life was not a restful one, I had not considered the opening line of the song's meaning before.

But I did think about it once I began waking up with it. It would have been bad enough if the entire song was stuck in my head, but that first line playing repeatedly like an old wax record with a scratch stuck on repeat was too weird. I hadn't listened to that song in a long time. Why come up now? Why only that part? Why three days in a row? Why? Because I am weary. I have been sleeping, but I have not been resting at night.

I am weary. The sad thing is that I didn't realize it. Oh, I knew I woke without much energy for a while now. I knew I felt tired. But I really didn't realize that I had reached the point of wariness. In my mind, weary just feels heavier than tired. But once I realize I am weary I realize there's an answer. I have been trying to fix my exhaustion with relaxation and pleasure and breaks from work and responsibilities. But Jesus said that when we are weary it's not a vacation we need or early retirement but Him. He said. "Come to me if you are weary, and I will give you rest." True rest is found in Him. When we lay our burdens on Him, the burdens of our past, the burdens of what is to come and needs to be done along with the burdens of the present, and exchange them for God's will and directive for our life which by grace the Spirit helps us carry, we discover a yoke that is easy, and burden that is light, and rest for our souls.

Today I will push in close to Jesus as my source of rest. I am thankful for the reminder that no matter what the problem Jesus is the answer.