Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
8 20 2025
I want to change my life. But I’m struggling with the rewrite.
When I hear that, the first thoughts that come to mind are motivators, like significant life shifts involving your health, habits, finances, or relationships. So many have tried and said, I have tried to change, tried to be different, like smoking, or anger, or sexual impurity and I fail and fail some more. What’s the use? And they give up and grow calloused to a truth that requires a level of obedience to faith in God that is too hard. Or so we say!
We’ve all been there. Some of us are still there in some regions of our lives that hang on like a pit bull protecting its master. In this case, our sins or pleasures. But Paul also struggled alongside Peter, saying, “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate” (Romans 7:15).
So Now What? It seems impossible.
If you are unsatisfied in this area or two or three, it means number one, God the Holy Spirit is at work in you. He is leading you to the “Want To” change. God’s word and HIs promises say, over and over again, that He genuinely wants your life to be better and not stuck in the revolving failures of your past.
God’s plan for you is always the best plan. “God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true” (Psalm 18:30). He loves you, and this is why He wants what is best for you, and in your spirit, you are sensing an urgency… that time is short. Because it is.
“Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone” (James 4:14).
You can’t do this alone.
I know you’re aware of that, but it’s still our problem. We think we can just do it, power through it, or trick the system. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins,
but they have already passed from death into life” (John 5:24).
Let me share a story. The king of Babylon had conquered Jerusalem and had also taken three Hebrew lads, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego. Foreign religions and egomaniac Kings often used force to change religious practices. Coming into town with great pomp and circumstance, they were ordered to bow to a golden image. OR…A fiery death. You know the story.
They were 1500 miles from home. Who would know? But they would not bow down. So let’s hear God’s truth. The Bible teaches that Satan is “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). He is “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). He is “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31).
Who thinks of God in moments like these? Save Yourself…Your family. Jesus also faced this in Matt 4 when Satan, on the pinnacle of the earth, offered The World to a hungry and weary Jesus if he would just bow down and worship Lucifer. Jesus didn’t argue, He didn’t debate, He never considered the easy way out. He said, “It is written” (Matthew 4:10). He used the Word of God. He used scripture as a weapon to stand on and to be the force to extinguish the arrows that fly by night. He said, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve” (Matthew 4:10). The first commandment says:, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). In Matthew 6 we read, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).
You know that we have to choose
But that decision occurs every day. Each of us must choose between bowing down to the things of this world that are evil and wrong, or bowing down before the true and living God.
Look, greed is an idol, and success is too. We protect them by the deposit of our time, we bow to them, over the things of God. (Daniel 3:14), said Nebuchadnezzar didn’t give God any credit at all. He said, “I built it.” And some of us say that too: At least by our actions, and our time commitments. “Look what I’ve done.” “I have built this business.” “I am a self-made man.” “I did this.”
Jesus warned, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). Those three young men could have avoided all this by bowing down. Who would know?.
Today and every day, you will be faced with answering this question. “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15), but we are a stubborn lot…just as the Israelites were… stiff-necked. Proverbs 29:1 calls them out. “He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1).
The king gave them another chance, so does Satan.
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But they answered, not in anger or contempt or with bravado. “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. … Our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18). They didn’t know that God would deliver them, but they said, “No!
We take our stand for the living God, even if it means death.”
Stand with me today and believe.
Today, please pray for me as I face my own challenges. Let us pray together for each of our trials, but let us not stand halfway up the mountain, gazing at the summit with trembling knees. Let us plant our feet firmly in God’s truth, lift our eyes to His promises, and take the next faithful step—whatever it costs, just like those three Hebrew boys. Our God is not just the God who begins the journey; He is the One who finishes it in power and glory.
The crown of life is not given to those who almost endured, almost believed, or almost obeyed. It is given to those who remain steadfast until the end. So rise, my brother, my sister—draw that line in the sand and step over it. Surrender your hesitation, silence your fear, and trust the One who will never leave you nor forsake you.
The cross was not the end of Jesus’ story, and your trial is not the end of yours. The same power that raised Him from the grave lives in you today. Take courage, declare your faith, and walk forward. The mountain will move, the valley will lift, and the crown will be yours—because He is faithful.
Hit reply. What is it we can agree on together? What is your biggest prayer need? I look to partner with you in prayer. Where two or more are gathered, He is in their midst.
Our New Discovering Jesus Class begins at 7pm—8:30 pm on Tuesday, Sept 2nd. ONLINE
Here is your link for this 5-week course. I hope you will make time to join us. Invite a friend! (Shoot me a note if you are in) (I encourage you to pick up a black following Jesus Book on the steps leading up to the altar this weekend or I can send a digtial copy on your request)
Here is your link to join us on ONLINE Tuesday the 2nd. https://meet.google.com/cfm-udos-iks
It’s ok if you’re running late from work or miss a week. Just come
Feel free to call if you have any questions or have trouble joining. Dennis 813 967 7127
I write a Devotional each week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
This is your first. I hope it will help you to grow and stay focused on Christ.
Here is a link to our library of Devotions: https://fearlesslycourageous.com/
Raise a Hallelujah In the middle of the storm.
