Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
2 7 2024
I want to welcome 35 new readers this morning to our Fearlessly Courageous morning devotion group. We kicked off our first Courageous Men’s group Monday night at Grace Family Church with over 110 men. I listened to these men as they shared their hearts and what had brought them. One man said, “He has never come to a group like this before. He said it took a lot of courage for me to come here because I am one who rarely opens up to anyone. I felt God was tugging at me to do this…to draw closer to him…and I was hoping I could find some other men that I could do life with. Honestly, I don’t even know what that looks like because I have been alone so long. Honestly, I am lonely. I don’t have any Christian friends. I hardly have any real friends. I follow the same grind every day, every year. Work, family responsibilities, health issues, broken relationships, and I am worn out and discouraged, I seem to sit on the fence about wanting more of God but being too busy to give that much of my time. I know there must be something better but have never figured out how to possess it
and live it out in real time. Life problems are just so overwhelming”.
He thanked me for inviting him. I asked him if he would be back. “He said, “Absolutely! I need a change and I feel that after tonight, God has opened a door for me to walk with some other men who listened and more importantly understand. I think I can find some answers here. I want to do this!
Thank you so much!”
Would you pray for these men that God would show up in a mighty way to lead them to the solid ground of a real relationship with God and other men? We all need that! We all get overloaded and overwhelmed and we need each other to navigate this world and to help us walk with God. To encourage us when we are tired and weary. says, Proverbs 27:17 says “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpens the countenance and character of his friend”. I remember those early days. I know that I too was hard-headed and stubborn in my ways but I wanted to change. I remember when I prayed that prayer and God brought some people into my life that I could relate to and who in a way, took me in. They listened to my cares and counseled me. Sometimes they just listened. (How novel was that?) I discovered I was not alone in my frustrations and I started to grow and I found the hope of Christ was bigger than my problems. I was elated to discover other men that I could walk with and talk to. I found true friends who helped me become the person I always wanted to be and the servant that God called me to be.
I asked a question to the group of men I was sitting with; Where does one go to discuss the things of God? What friends of yours sit around and talk about how we can become better husbands, fathers, and friends? Too many of us don’t even do that with our spouses.
God didn’t call us to walk alone.
Small groups, in whatever form they take, encourage people to explore the Bible and their faith together. It also encourages people to build strong relationships with one another. Small groups that meet regularly tend to form deeper relationships. Members of these groups offer each other support and encouragement on their faith journey. I talk to so many people, including so many couples and they don’t have many friends period, let alone people of faith to encourage them in daily living.
Jesus doesn’t want that for us and he showed us the example of a better way.
“The disciples were devoted to the teachings of the apostles” (Acts 2:42 GW). Early small groups of the first-century church studied what would become the Bible. It is said that It’s more important that congregations learn to study the Bible together than by themselves. I believe that we need each other to work through things we don’t understand and how to apply them practically in our lives.
Look at what Acts 2:42-47 says:
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
This biblical community exhibited these four values:
- They had a passion for God expressed in prayer and praise.
- They had a commitment to one another expressed in caring fellowship.
- They had a desire to grow expressed in biblical teaching.
- They had a heart for the lost expressed in leading others to Christ.
Our Courageous group is about all of that. We want to grow our faith and dependency on God rather than always doing it our way. We are committed to being a friend and sharing honestly what’s happening in our lives so that others can come alongside us to help us and so we might also be a friend to them. We help each other through accountability and see things through the filter of God’s word, and not succumb to the pressures and ways of the world. And we grow in our hearts to want to invite others into our circle of friends so that we might share with them what was graciously given to us. Gods will use these efforts to restore what we all have lost along the way.
Wherever you are today, find a group with Christian values and pour yourselves into them. Let that same spirit permeate your family and your inner circle. Pray for each other.
In closing, pray for these new men who are stepping into our small group that they will stay committed to connecting every Monday to grow in their faith.
Finally, since my open heart surgery, my daily devotions are only going out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I am doing rehab on those same days each week. Thanks for your prayers.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus lauren daigle
