Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
3 5 2025
A Cloud Without Rain or a Promise without Fulfillment.
How might you describe your faith and your current walk with God? Strong and tested? A bright and shining star for Christ? Or maybe that shining light on a hill for all to see or maybe the Salt of the Earth?
I know a lot of talented, called, and even anointed Christians at certain times in their life…and many still love god, but they have lost their luster, their shine, their passion, and their drive to keep up the good fight. The truth is we all go through the desert at times and lose much of what I describe here. But how does one get back on track? What happened? Burnout? Took on too many other projects, and there wasn’t any room at the inn left.
I thought of some interesting metaphors to describe “That Person”.
A Cloud Without Rain or a Promise without Fulfillment. 2 Peter 2 :17 says: “These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever.” Honestly, I never remembered reading that scripture before. But it certainly has described where I have been at certain times of my life. You know, lacking a substantive direction for God, lacking the vibrancy of a clear purpose in my walk with Him. Have you ever appeared substantial outwardly but honestly felt half full or even had the flickering empty light starting to flash inside?
They say a person who was once saved but has fallen away from the Church… from God…may be the hardest to recover from a shipwreck of faith, in whatever form it took for them. They know all the lingo…enough of the scripture to say…I know that! Yes, I’ve heard that, but, inside, they’re saying it’s not working for me now. They don’t say it out loud because that would produce a push back from old friends, when you really don’t want to talk about it. So, you put up that front to just appear your Faithfully Ok. 1 Tim 1:19 says “…holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck.”
What does that scripture say to you? Someone lost or shipwrecked. Someone who had a great ship to sail in but, somehow, lost their anchor or lost their “Bright Morning Star” to guild them and ended up with this once sleek, triple-masked schooner now on the rocks.
Jude 1:13 says “…wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.” Sometimes, drifting can be really fun in a car. You have all this power, and you slide or drift through the corners with your pedal to the metal, and it is this huge, seldom felt thrill. But drifting has a different context here. Drifting aimlessly…like the sheep eating their way into another pasture…away from the shepherd…away from the fixed point of guidance and direction of the Christ the Good Shepard.
You have often heard me say. A man will not change until they are in enough pain!
So where does one begin to make their way back?
It will take more than an intellectual or a clever person or even a capable or reasonable one.
Only one kind of person can come home… whether it be back to God or family or…You name it.
That is a broken person.
(not a word often thought of or embraced)
Moses, at 40, was a Prince of Egypt. He had killed a man with his bare hands, but god’s call with his hand upon him, still anointed him to lead millions of his children on a 40 year trek across the desert.
Part of that was for HIS lesson in brokenness. (Numbers 12,
All the lessons that a spiritually minded person or an old. or a new elder must learn
are lessons of brokenness.
Look at Jeremiah 18:4 “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again… another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.” I pray you are listening and looking in the mirror. Maybe you’re not this Shipwrecked soul, but none of us are this perfect vessel either. 1 Corinthians 10:12, reads, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall”. That means your personal conduct, decision-making, and your spiritual walk. Being humble and vigilant is critical to avoid these inevitable shipwrecks we all must face.
SURRENDERING
Surrendering yourself into the hands of the potter is critical to reshaping you…fixing what is broken or splintered, or downright shipwrecked.
SEEKING WISDOM – GOD’S WORD
Seeking is hard to do when your vision is blurry, or you are downing. But I must point you back to the bread of life. Job 32:8 says, “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” Wow, can you see it? The Potter gives us His inspiration by his presence. His word. We know Jobs’ story so well that we forget his great suffering…He has to relearn to be quiet and listen for the wisdom of God while his wife, in his face, said, “Just curse God and Die!” Remember, my wandering friend, that God’s wisdom, His peace, and His direction are still available to the shipwrecked, wandering, or flawed Christian. Listen and let him inspire your understanding once again.
REPENTANCE – There is no other way, Home.
(Matthew 21:28-29) tells the story of “A man having two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ The son answered, ‘I will not,’ but later he changed his mind and went.”
Do you know this scripture…. Really? It is never too late to return. He said NO… He rebelled and drifted away from his father. But he changed his mind, and Dad said it was Ok to return and to obey again.
Father forgave him because he asked, and he obeyed.
We that have known so much, can at times come to a place to see, we know nothing! Nothing! Jesus promises rest to those who come to him and return to him. It includes freedom from the burden of our past. He says, take my yoke, meaning to recommit to and put yourself under the hands of the Potter. To learn from Him, He says the yoke is easy and the burden is light. Jesus says he is gentle and humble of heart. And that is who he is fashioning these broken and marred vessels to become. Like Jesus. Brokenness is the way home.
PRAYER
Jonah 2:7 “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.”
REMEMBER! PLEASE REMEMBER.
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