Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
6 19 2024

Audio Version

When anxiety comes rushing in…when the pressures of finances…mortgage payments…college…relationship inequalities…forget retirement at this juncture…Fear comes in like a flood, along with the uncertainty of tomorrow’s security.  It always affects how we interact with those close to us. 
Our spouses, our children.  We lose our patience and grace for everything.  We are not ourselves!
We snap back with questions or indictments, often without cause. 
You can forget trying to control your tone!   We feel almost ill or nauseous over the pressures bearing down on us.  Honestly, we fall into the glut of discouragement, and if we allow ourselves to wallow in it … an ever-deepening depression.  It’s almost enough to make a grown person cry. 
It drains us of our strength and we find ourselves tired and complacent…
at a time you need to be on your game!

You can wallow there.  You can stay there till you rot, and things will only get worse.  Or you can turn to where your Hope comes from.    I guarantee you will have to press through the flesh.  Push through feeling sorry for yourself and the thoughts and emotions that declare, this should not be happening.  Yes, you are in a war, and not just any war.  You’re in a spiritual battle to Trust God.  To lean on God.   To have faith.  To know that at its worst this too will pass.  Hebrews 13:5 declares  “And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

Deuteronomy 31:6 has similar phrasing: “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Biblasia

We make choices every day of who we will follow of what we will allow to thrash around in our thoughts.  There’s a big difference between letting a bird stop for a moment on your head vs allowing them to build a nest.  The same goes for these impaling thoughts that have come in like a flood.  They can immediately knock you off your emotional feet.  They can make your mind reel under the fear of their assault but at some point, you MUST DECIDE, to NOT allow that nest…that stronghold…that fortress to be built!  Are you listening? 

YOU MUST DECIDE, when enough is enough.  Ok maybe you can’t stop the avalanche of what is happening…maybe the worst does happen… OK…that is NOT what we prayed for…It is NOT what we believed God for.  James 1 vs 2 says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously”.
So do we just ignore the facts? Does that mean God said no?  Does it mean He doesn’t care and He is going to leave you there…busted, broken, inside out, and all by yourself? 

God’s providence means he is always at work in our lives, even when he doesn’t seem to be.
Genesis 50:20 says, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”  I know you must be like me in this.  How many times have I been in a spot and asked the question why.  Why me?  Why this?  Why now? 
And sometimes, at least for me, the why Lord is that nothing is happening.  I seem to be at this wall of….nothing.  Nothing is happening.  No voice from God.  No leading or light for a way out.  My efforts seem to be for naught.  My frustration is at an all time high and my doubt has become the shroud of depression not even wanting to think about what will happen if I can’t make this happen YESTERDAY.  Lord, I am in this desperate place and I can’t get A to connect with B.  And Nothing!

That is not true.  You have God’s voice in God’s word. Psalm 103:19 (NKJV) “The Lord has established His throne in heaven, And His kingdom rules over all.”  Well you say…Not in this case!  That’s another lie straight from hell!    CHOOSE MY FRIEND WHO YOU WILL SERVE.  CHOOSE THE THOUGHTS THAT YOU WILL ALLOW TO CONTROL YOU AND DIRECT YOU!

But Joshua says he will follow Yahweh. Joshua says, “choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

What did he say in Deut 31:6
“Be strong and of a good courage; fear not, NOR BE AFRAID OF THEM, for the LORD thy God is he that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee nor forsake thee”  Who is them?

Is it the situation you’re upside down in?  Is it the thoughts you can’t control?  What enemy is he referring to?   HE said, DON’T BE AFRAID OF THEM!  Why?  “For the LORD thy God is he that doth go with thee;
He will not fail thee nor forsake thee”   

You are at a crossroads.  AGAIN.  What is it going to be?  Will you believe this obstruction before you? (I’m not saying it isn’t real or that God is going to send you a lightning bolt in some form to deliver you from it either.  I am say you are at a crossroads.  You are at a place where you must choose who you will follow.  What you will believe. 
If you don’t, then you will stay in the quicksand of your thoughts dragging you down deeper. 
He said I won’t leave you or desert you!   Even if you have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Ps 23  Whether you made a mistake.  Or this terrible thing happened to you.  Whatever the cause.  He said, it won’t be like  it seems.   I have got you.  I have a plan for you that you cannot see. 
So I am asking you to lean on your faith…To hold onto the hope of my promises.  To see beyond what’s in front of you… to instead…Believe in me more deeply.  Faith is the essence of things hoped…
the evidence of things not seen.

In the natural, your flesh is screaming for attention.  You are working harder…pushing further…trying to bridge the gap…you are believing in divine intervention….you have friends praying with you for an answer.  Now you must rest in the peace of WHATEVER HAPPENS you are not alone.  WHATEVER happens, God has a plan for you!  You MUST take every thought captive.  Go back to his word as many times as it takes to take authority in the Spirit realm.  You are in a Spiritual fight.  KNOW THAT. 
It requires a different set of weapons in Ephesians 6 .

2 Corinthians 10:5
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the authority of Jesus Christ”. 
So, whose are you?  Are you of this world’s or are you just a sojourner in this world? 
Or are you a born again…redeemed…forgiven…son of the most high God?  You’re not gong to Find Jesus in the midst of your trial.  You will find him in how He has revealed himself to us and the world.  Through his sacrifice at the cross.   Repent for the mistakes you’ve made.  Lay your future and its’ direction at the foot of the cross.  Submit to the providence and sovereignty of almighty God and … REST. 
Be at Peace where you are.  You will find it because you have gone to where he is.  Secondly, because you have god’s promises again and again that like those three Hebrew boys… right before they threw them into the fire stoked 7 times hotter.  They said, “That even if our God doesn’t deliver us today.  He is still our God!”  And he met them in the that fire and delivered them through it…Not out of it.  He was with them.  He will be with you. He IS with you! But you must choose to do what we have spoken of today and fight in the spirit not in the flesh.

If you haven’t noticed today.  I have just spoken of the battle I am in right now and I could use your prayers to fight the fight of faith.  Let’s agree together to Trust God. We are not alone! We have community and We have Gods promises!

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