Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
2 12 2025
I’d like to be transparent today. My Mom received her wings on Tuesday at 12:16 pm and went on to be with her Lord Jesus… Hard? Emotional? Turn your stomach? Rejoicing? Thankful? …You bet all the above. I have to say that it is probably the worst day that I have had in decades, but honestly, through the hurt and the goodbyes, I am more rejoicing because she is finally with Jesus. The body that has been a millstone around her neck is new and reborn. I can see her dancing with my dad. 99 years, 5 months and 6 days. What a life. What a legacy.
My wife told me to remember what Pastor Dale Brooks told me years ago. “Just keep your eyes on the Lord and stay strong in the power of his might.”
So Monday, I went out to dinner with my wife and daughter, got lost in her life and upcoming mission trips, and came home and spent some more time with the Lord. He said, to reflect on the fruit she left… to remember all she taught you. Her life was rich, and our mom deposited some great seeds into our lives. Take a look and bless the Lord for them.
And doesn’t the horizon the next morning always look better than
the darkness from the day before?
I always pray about what the Lord wants me to share with you, and some days, it’s a real struggle to try to be relevant to pass on something that will be uplifting and encouraging to you. Some days you just don’t feel like you have anything to give. I know that each of us has those days, weeks, or seasons. And one thing that I have always tried to be sensitive to is to not just share out of my own experiences but instead to try and talk to you through the eyes of God’s spirit while running my words, through the filter of his Spirit and not my natural filter of decades of living. Today is such a day.
In times of trouble, comes the test for our testimony. Paul said you will know them by their fruit. So sometimes it behooves us to not just look in the mirror but to look at our fruit. I think there’s a big difference between falling … and falling at the feet of Jesus. I think there’s a big difference between having failed at a certain project or endeavor and holding fast to the many blessings in our lives.
When was the last time you counted your blessings?
When was the last time the praise you offered was truly a sacrifice?
When was the last time you thought of the value of having your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? I’ve often told people to start writing important victories and blessings in the front of their Bible so that when they go through the trials of life, they can look back to the wonderful victories and blessings that Jesus has given them. Then, I remembered the song and started singing it out loud to myself.
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
I sang that song to a sleeping mom yesterday. Do you remember the melody? As I am typing these words, I am singing this old song with tears in my eyes. The third stanza says:
His word shall not fail you – He promised:
Believe him, and all will be well:
Then go to the world, that is dying,
his perfect Salvation, to tell!
A brother called this morning with some serious issues that he is facing. I redirected him to take a look at the so many blessings he has in his life. Scripture says that out of the heart, the mouth speaketh. In my heart, I have stored up the riches of my father Jehovah. Strangely, how the Lord would bring someone to me who needs the same type of uplifting that I need today.
To count, my blessings instead of sheep
Jesus told us to “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20).
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19–21).
The treasures that God has for us are spoken of in his teaching from the Sermon on the Mount. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal”
Satan cannot steal your peace if you are single-minded. When you “Turn your eyes upon Jesus”! We give it away in our frenzy of the moment. In our fear of the circumstances. In our inability to see what the real outcome will be! Living without peace is an easy road to sin, especially anger and despair. While we may not be able to change the exterior events that threaten our serenity, we can change how we respond. We can choose to look at the world through a lens of gratitude versus a lens of scarcity and fear.
Honestly, attitudes of gratitude the world sings of can be shallow but commercial-ready. But there is a realm of the spirit that is much deeper and eternally powerful. When was the last time you recalled the cloud of witnesses who have gone through trials of their own and who are now interceding for us around the world? And so the Epistle to the Hebrews urges us: “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Did you know there are intercessors in prayer from around the world that are praying for you? Do you remember that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father to make intercession for you?
Romans 8:34 says that Jesus “is at the right hand of God and is ALSO interceding for us.”
In 1 John 2:1, we read that Jesus is our “advocate with the Father,”
and from Hebrews 7:25 we learn that Jesus “ALWAYS lives to intercede” for us.
Isn’t it time to find the encouragement and solace
we need in God’s word?
He promises to sustain, comfort, and even reward those who remain steadfast in their faith and trust in God. They should inspire us to endure…through the doubt, uncertainty, and fear!
My mom was a champion of her faith in Jesus. Though her body abandoned her in the last years she did not abandon her faith. It only sunk deeper roots in her testimony and her legacy.
In James 1 2-8 “it says: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, 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”.
“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange was happening to you”.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
The first stanza of our song goes”
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
Refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
I had a Following Jesus class scheduled for Tuesday night at 7pm which I kept. I think my mom would have wanted that. It was my sacrifice of praise to accompany her on her journey home. It really gave me a joy to share with them again.
I covet your prayers today for my family. My mom, Adele, was so weak in the hospital last week, but she was still singing the name of Jesus to the nurses who loved her. Mom is with our Lord tonight. Please pray for me and all who are facing the giants this week that we all will be encouraged and persevere in our faith by “turning our eyes upon Jesus”.
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Turn your eyes upon Jesus lauren daigle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L57ox0iQU7A
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