Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
3 8 2024
I spoke about Relationships last time but somehow I didn’t feel inside that I was done. Of all the things we can take for granted this one has such eternal meaning.
But just as importantly it is critical in our walk on earth.
You can get by without your relationship with God. I didn’t say that did I?
But, some will just keep doing what they do now. Going to Church, throwing 25 bucks in the offering, singing a couple of songs, asking for more money and health and do it again next week. Ok Dennis, so beat us up today. NO That is not what I want.
I want you to acquire the breakthroughs you have always prayed for but always seem to miss or you just know there has to be more! Let me share a few things you may know but are not walking in.
The relationship that God offers us is so intimate that He calls us His children (1 John 3:1; John 15:15) and promises to give us an eternal inheritance (Romans 8:15-17). He invites us before His throne as often as we want (Ephesians 2:18), and He loves us with a love that will never fail.
That should be enough, right? And you know that right? But until that light goes on for us to embrace this golden treasure, we just walk by it like it’s some statue in Times Square that everybody sees
but few let its truth change their life.
I told you last time that one sibling said to the other, “That although we grew up together I never had a relationship with you. I don’t know if I can trust you.” How many of us could have said that or did say that about God the Holy Spirit or Jesus our Savior in the way we live?
You know, if an architect is off just a few degrees when he lays out the foundation of a building, it will be forever unstable. We all know it typically isn’t the gargantuan things that derail us it’s the little things that kill our marriage, our career, or our relationships with our kids. It is that continual piling on of self-centered gestures that we just see as normal and our right.
We lose the fact that this Divine Relationship is a birthright.
Kind of like your last name. It’s there for you. A gift for you, if you would only realize its value and embrace it as the treasure it is. It is that pearl of great price hidden in the field in Matt 13:44 when “he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it”. Jesus is that Pearl. He is that Person calling us to sell it all to own the field and to enter into a relationship with him.
Faith is so important here because it is how we have a relationship with God: “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph 2:8). Faith is how we receive the benefits of what Jesus has done for us.
He wants to comfort and support you during your greatest lows, he wants to celebrate you in your wins and victories just like a parent cheering on his kid when he is going for the goal!
Too many have never had that kind of relationship. They had a feeling once when they asked her to marry them. They got married and felt really close but even that is easily taken for granted and can be lost or grow cold.
What does it feel like to be in God’s presence?
I think it’s different for all of us. Different times. Different needs and expressions. Sometimes it’s an emotion that floods over me and overwhelms my emotions and I almost tear up or have this keen sense God just touched me. Most men don’t like that level of transparency or vulnerability. Other times it can feel like a heavy blanket…”a weight”, of His presence. Some will fall to their knees or on their face and cannot move. Others can tremble uncontrollably. It is this sense of pure love that washes over us. It fills us with humility, and gratitude and one loses the focus of everything but Jesus. His realness…His presence. It is really beyond expression.
But to me that can just be the doorway or the introduction to the Holy Spirit. We can walk back into the world and lose those sensations. What I am talking about is a RELATIONSHIP that is enduring and ever-present and honestly… you will have to fight for His presence on the throne of your heart and mind. Satan will come and try to steal it. We must learn to communicate with God. We need to be sure we surround ourselves and connect with others in His community who will teach us, grow us, and stand by us when the attacks come. The body of Christ is stronger…and safer…when we stand and live life together. In that community, we receive and give support to fulfill his callings on each of our lives. We help each other stay devoted to Christ.
The Bible is God’s thoughts, feelings, reactions, and laws. They lay out his principles, his personality, and the truth of how he feels about everything. We study to become a lawyer or doctors but can’t seem to make time to learn about the things, attitudes, feelings, and laws God has laid out to speak to us, guide us, and protect us from what looks and smells good but is a real poison to us.
If you want a real relationship with Jesus, you must acquire a deeper understanding of the Bible and learn more about Jesus and the Kingdom he established on earth for you to live and prosper in. It will take intentionality, persistence, prayer, determination, and sacrifice. It’s called Obedience. That pearl of great price will come at a price of the world’s tapestries that are hanging on the walls of our lives. They are idols of an artificial God. He is alluring, at times beautiful and enticing but he is a counterfeit and it is a Ponzi Scheme. It’s a setup and you will lose it all if you are not aware.
Yes, the heavens are telling the glory of God (Psalm 19:1). God does use great art and great poetry to awaken us. But Trust me… Run to his word if you want a relationship with Jesus. He will build it in you during your journey to discover him. Without it, we will become distorted by errors, sin, and false beliefs. Let his word be the place where God meets you, and speaks to you.
The relationship is in this communion of you and God over his word.
If you run away from his word you will never truly know this vital gift of joy, peace,
comfort, forgiveness, and courage.
It happens every day when we are hurting or discouraged…the words come flashing back to us.
“Don’t be discouraged, Don’t be dismayed, Fear not, I’ll be with you wherever you go” (Isaiah 41:10). You remember those words and call them to mind, because they are from a promise in the Bible. They will give you the spiritual willpower to say, Thank you, Lord, I will obey. I will trust you. I will lean on you and not what it appears to be before me.
When He is walking with you,
you will know you’re holding his hand in a true relationship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAiDJZ4cdfA
I have loved you Matt Henry
