Unshackled Moments ~ November 30 ~ Making Room

The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”

- Luke 10:41-42

'Tis the season of distractions and have to get dones. We have a list of things to do, so much that we'll probably fail to complete it. This is an every day, all year situation, but even more so as Christmas approaches. There are events and gatherings to prepare for or just be able to get to. There are decorations to put up, gifts to buy, food to prepare. And all the work that goes in before getting started on those things are even possible. There are also deeds of service and charity that increase this time of year. Traveling and work conflict and both demand our time and attention. None of these things are wrong or bad or need to be neglected.

But Jesus wants us to come sit with Him and spend time with Him. Martha was busy and worried about many tasks, all of which were probably necessary. There was a house full of guests, one of whom was THE LORD. They needed to be fed and cared for. Social dictates demanded a certain level of hospitality, never mind the actual physical needs. Martha was concerned about her responsibilities, and blowing off responsibilities is never a spiritual calling. But while we are to be responsible, that is not the priority of life. The need to do and have to do lists should always take a back seat to the need to spend time with the Savior. Our life is found in relationship with Him, and we maintain that life by maintaining our time at His feet being like the Mary we don't usually hear about this time of year.

Mary had the right idea. This needs to be done, but Jesus is more important. I'll get to the other, but I need to be with Him first. Don't let the distractions of what needs to be done crowd Christ out of your schedule. Make room for Him in the inn of your heart and minds. He is not an after thought. He gets the throne of our lives. He's not waiting out in the barn.

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.

Great Expectations ~ First Sunday of Advent

Dalyn Woodard shares an Advent message on the first Sunday of Advent. hope, expectation and waiting do not have to have the negative connotations that we sometimes attribute to them. They can be a source of great joy and peace.The message, "Great Expectations" is about 21 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Sunday, November 29, 2015. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

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.

Groaning For Glory

Dalyn Woodard returns to the  study on Romans and shares on the groans for glory. How the very creation, we as believers and the Holy Spirit await the coming redemption and the implication of that wait. The message, "Groaning For Glory" is about 49 minutes long and was recorded at Nacogdoches Christian Fellowship on Wednesday, November 18, 2015. It's our prayer that you are blessed and ministered to as you listen. May God bless and keep you.

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.

Unshackled Moments ~ November 29 ~ Coming Attractions

"The birth of Christ is the central event in the history of the earth -- the very thing the whole story has been about."

- C.S. Lewis

Did you know that there's a new Star Wars movie about to come out? I bet most of my dear readers know. Even people what are not fans of the film franchise and do not plan to see it have heard about it and seen the trailers. For those of us who are fans, well we're excited as a child on Christmas Eve. My wife and I bought tickets early and will be driving about four hours so we can see it opening day with her son. Half of the commercials on TV these days seem to in some way reference the upcoming movie or the series in some way. The trailers being viewed by such large numbers shut down servers the day they were released online.

What's that got to do with my walk with God? The Star Wars Advent Season began months ago, long before the first trailers. In fact, it began for most people shortly after the closing credits scrolled by on the screening of the last film, and began in earnest expectation when Disney bought the rights to Star Wars from George Lucas. Star Wars Advent? The word advent simply means "coming." But Advent, when capitalized and standing alone has long come to mean only one coming....the coming of our Lord Jesus and the celebration of Christmas.

That's what's so great about this time of year.  Advent is like a preview of coming attractions. It's a celebration of what's coming and Who came to make it possible. The start of Advent is a celebration of waiting with hope and expectation.  It  really started in the Garden Of Eden. At the very moment Adam and Eve realized their world literally was coming undone and going to hell came the promise of One who would come to reverse the curse and bruise the head of the serpent. Since then, as the world has seen the sadness caused by the fall, there has been a promise that things can and will be better. The Old Testament is full of prophecies pointing to the birth of Christ, the sacrifice He would make and the restoration with the Father He would provide.

Since His birth, we remember that He came, but the reason that we celebrate that He came, that He was born, is because He died and rose. And the reason we celebrate that He died and rose is because He did it for us, to make a way for us to be restore to the Father. Advent may be focused on the birth of Christ, but it's all a preview, the event that stirs the excitement and speculation and eager anticipation of the main event to come, His triumphant return and an eternal celebration of love, peace, and joy unhindered by pain, sorrow or sin.

It's easy to get caught up in Christmas with the anticipation of the coming attractions of gifts, family, friends and food. But those things don't last, and even at their best don't fully satisfy the soul. We can all get swept up in the coming of something big, like Star Wars or the next block buster movie. But how often do the films fall short of the hype? The expectation becomes too high a standard to achieve. The trailer shows the best, funniest, most exciting parts of a two hour film in a minute and a half, so instead of the movie feeling greater than the coming attractions it is a bit of a let down. But Advent is the perfect Coming Attraction to which none other can compare. As miraculous and amazing an event that the birth of Jesus was, it will not outshine His return! It made the main event possible, so The Birth needs to be remembered with celebration and joy, but it is not the end of the story. It's Part I of the climatic turning point.

When we remember He came, why He came, and that He is coming again to take us with Him to the main event, which the entirety of time and creation has been preparing for, it's a time to be more excited than a Star Wars fan who has tickets for opening day. We who are Christians have tickets for the greatest banquet party that will ever happen to enjoy as we watch the unfolding of the most awesome sight ever, the creation of a new heaven and earth! Not a Christian? Well, tickets are still available! And they're free! That's reason to celebrate. But hurry and get yours today, because the reason those of us with tickets are so excited is because the wait is almost over. Jesus is coming soon!

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.

Unshackled Moments ~ November 28 ~ Freedom From Discontent

Don't compare your inside with other people's outside.

As we wrap up the month of Thanksgiving and enter the Advent and Christmas season it's easy to fall into the bondage of discontent. Some of us spent so much energy trying to manufacture gratefulness during the past month that falling into old habits of self-centeredness and envy almost feels like a release and relief. It's a time of preoccupation with wish lists and idealism. I wish I could afford to get my loved ones....I wish I could have.....All I want is this ideal and perfect holiday that makes me feel safe and warm and wonderful and....Look at them, their family is what I wish I had, they have the things I can't....and  on and on it goes.  Many parents spent the first day after giving thanks for what they have fighting each other over gifts to buy their children that won't last till spring. Some people have their entire sense of self worth and value wrapped up in what they receive from others or what they are able to give. The Christmas season can make the rat race feel like a leisurely stroll.

This idealized standard of special and miraculous perfection full of peace, love, family, friends and every wish fulfilled can make us crazy and sick. There's a valid reason for the increase in suicides at this time of year. But this bondage is part of why we celebrate the season. No, we're not celebrating the insanity that we, in our humanness, have turned Christmas into. We're celebrating the One who came to set the captives free, even the captives to envy and discontent and the pressure to live up to some fantastical standard or someone else's life. We don't have to surrender to that particular prison.

One key to freedom in this area is to stop comparing ourselves and our lives to the lives of others. We need to not measure what we feel about what we have or don't have by looking at what others have, or seem to have.  It's impossible to be content while measuring ourselves against the appearances of others. If they seem to have more or better we burn with discontent and envy. If we feel we're on the upside of things we can slip into pride, haughtiness and the need to stay on top.

But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 

- James 3:14–16

The second key is to rejoice and celebrate with others over their blessings. Rather than being bitter about someone else receiving a blessing that you wish you had, rejoice for them. In order to do this, we have to actively engage ourselves in love and deny the instinct to focus on our self. Love and deny self. It sounds a lot like what Jesus said we had to do to follow Him, doesn't it?

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 

-Romans 12:15

Finally we need to remember that our value and worth is not based on what we have, not even in the people we have or don't have in our life. Our worth and the value of our life is established by the great love of God for us and in our relationship with Him. Our ability to be content is rooted in our fellowship with our Creator, and not on our worldly relationships or possessions. We can celebrate this time of year and escape getting caught up in the lack trap by keeping our heart on the eternal and our riches that we have in Him. He came and died to be with us. That's our joy.

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.

Unshackled Moments ~ November 27 ~ Kingdoms Toppled

Christmas time is here, at least for my family. Sometime after the turkey on Thursday and sunrise on Friday the Christmas season officially begins, and it has nothing to do with Black Friday sales or Cyber Monday sales. It begins after Thanksgiving, but as early as possible to enjoy each and every day possible with the tree and Christmas shows and music and family and more food and...But, even though I started a little early this year with the music, it's not about all that any more than it's about the sales and the gifts. The Christmas season, which officially kicks off in a couple of days on the First Advent Sunday, is a time to remember that Joy has come into the world and into our lives. Why are we joyful? Because the Lord has come!

But amidst all the hustle and bustle do we remember what that means? Lord means someone having power, authority, influence and mastery over someone. One who rules. And The Lord that has come is the Lord of lords, or the master and ruler of rulers. We're rejoicing because the King had come. We rejoice because we are no longer free to do as we please, because our revolution failed and we must bow the knee.

Do we get that? It's hard for us to grasp at times. America's vague concept of a king is based on Disney, usually a flawed father who makes unwise decisions or in some way fails to protect his daughter from well everything, and or the monarchy of England, which at this point is ceremonial and mostly powerless. England has a Queen, but not really. She can't step out on her balcony this morning and declare a decree that all in her realm must obey no matter what.

A real king does just that. He rules. It's not a democracy. We don't get a vote. Yes, God takes into account our needs and the desires of our heart, but that's because He's a good King, not because we have a right to our say or vote on the matter. We are called to submit our will to His will. That's religious speak for we can't always get what we want, but if we try to do what God wants, we'll find that we get what we need and what we get will also be what we want. Isn't that better than the philosophy of Mick Jagger?

Anyway, we celebrate because we have been invaded by a King who now has dominion, absolute authority and power, over our lives. This Lord who has come said repeatedly that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that means it's being established in our lives. And He taught us to pray, Thy, as in the King's - God the Father's, kingdom come. We need to remember that praying that, by very definition of the the words kingdom and come, means that we are praying that our kingdom go! You can't have two kingdoms in one land. You can't have two real kings. One king must rule and everyone else, including any other "kings" must be ruled.

Let us not get confused and think this life is our own. We have the right to rule our life about as much as Herod was king of Israel. He had the title, and authority...as long as nothing he tried to do went against the authority and rule of the real ruler of the land, Caesar. And we have the right to make choices and decisions and rule our life. We are kings of our own little kingdom. But if we are Christians, that kingship is only valid as long as it is in submission to The King. Our kingdom has to go, to make room for His kingdom. We are rejoicing over our dependence, over coming under the rule of a King. It's the exact opposite of July the 4th. And life is so much better with the right King ruling over our lives, and that is why we have joy!

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.

Unshackled Moments ~ November 26 ~ Surviving Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving dear reader. Today can be a day of family, and food (and football) that is both wonderful and something that looks like  homecoming at Arkham Asylum. For some Thanksgiving is a day when once a year we stop griping and complaining and pay attention to the blessings we have received. For some it's just stress and sadness. Some dread and some love the holiday. I happen to love it. Even the Arkham moments.

This is a holiday that is supposed to be about remembering the providence of God and the helping hands of humans reaching out in love to help one another. It's not exactly about remembering to be thankful in all things and at all times.  It's not about the food, or family, or....even football. It's a remembering a time of such need and misery that it appeared that death was near and unavoidable. Things got so bad everyone involved thought they would die. Then, because of the providence of God and people helping when they had no reason other than goodness and mercy to do so, the people survived. It's not about feeling good and mushy about family or remembering how easy we have it.

It's actually about the hard times. The misery. The my life got this bad in this area and that area and I just knew I couldn't survive. I thought surely I would die. But God. But God and this person or that person helped me, and I am still here. I made it through the valley of the shadow of death. Spring is not fully here, there may be a few more cold spells and freezes (the first Thanksgivings were in February), but winter is fading, spring is coming, and I have hope.

Today let us not try to pretend that the darkness isn't there in the shadow, let us not try to manufacture wonder and gratitude at how good life is while deep inside feeling it hasn't been or isn't so grand. Let us acknowledge the truth of just how harsh the winter has been, how close to death we have come, and especially the But God. But God. We are still here. But God, there is hope for a better tomorrow. But God, we did not die and will not die yet. And let us remember that in order for God to use people to bless others, to be His hands, we need to be willing to be those hands.

Oh, one last thing, if this doesn't apply to you, and you haven't had those bleak and dark moments when you thought you would die or wished you would, then hallelujah. By all means rejoice for you have been truly and richly blessed. But those of us who have walked through, and lived in hell on earth, should have an even easier time realizing how much we have to be thankful for rather than a harder time. Doesn't the cool water feel more refreshing  and wonderful after the struggle in and with the hear? Happy Thanksgiving.

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.