Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
10 12 2026
What Are You Filled With? And Who Put It There?
“Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my understanding, that I might see You more clearly.”
What a prayer. Not simply asking God to give us something, fix something, or change our circumstances. But asking Him to reveal Himself to us. To open our eyes to who He is, how He moves, and what He desires to do in us.
Saturday morning, Land O Lakes campus of Grace Family Church… 7 AM, Pastor James led the first of the next seven saturdays mornings of a men’s prayer gatherings, challenging us with questions that have stayed with me. What are you filled with? Who put it there? And what filter did it pass through before you allowed it to take residence in your heart?
Think about that. How much of what fills our minds consists of thoughts we’ve never challenged? Opinions, frustrations, disappointments, fears, appetites, and the endless noise competing for our attention. Yet God calls us to something deeper. Our desires were never meant to be satisfied by simply feeling good. They were meant to lead us to Him.
David understood this. In Psalm 27:4, he said, “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD.” Psalm 16:11 reminds us that in God’s presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Not temporary excitement. Not another emotional high. But the joy of knowing Him.
Do we really want to know God, or have we become comfortable simply knowing about Him?
Or is that a difficult question to answer honestly?
There is a world of difference. We can know Scripture, attend church, sing worship songs, and serve in ministry, yet neglect the intimacy of being alone with our Father. Who are we when no one is looking? What occupies our thoughts in the darkness, when there’s no audience and no one to impress? Those are moments when the enemy would love to fill our minds with everything but God. But darkness loses its power when we invite the Light into it.
We shared communion that morning, remembering the new covenant Jesus established through His blood. Jesus said, “This do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). And Paul reminds us, “as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup” (1 Corinthians 11:26). What does that mean to you? “As Often As” Does remembering His sacrifice still ignite something within you? Does it stir a hunger to know Him more deeply, more reverently?
Where is the fire? Was there ever a fire? Are you willing to offer a sacrifice of praise to ignite the fire within you?
Then pray!
Lord, consume me. Change me. Make me more like You.
Let my life become an offering, a sweet fragrance, and a song that brings glory to Your name.
Antonio, one of our weekend worship leaders, ministered with his guitar that morning. His gift helped quiet the room and turn our attention toward God. But music is only one doorway into worship. Sometimes there’s no guitar, no song, no emotional stirring. Sometimes there’s only silence.
And sometimes our earthly fathers have distorted how we see our heavenly Father. We may struggle to believe He wants us near. We may not feel His presence. We may even believe He’s disappointed or angry with us.
But feelings are not reliable witnesses to the truth. God loved us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). We don’t have to earn an invitation into His presence. Through Jesus Christ, that invitation has already been extended. The price of the sins that keep us distant from Him… He already paid!
So why do we stay away?
Pastor James challenged us to upgrade our prayer lives. Not merely to pray longer, but differently. To move beyond hurried requests and religious phrases into genuine communion with God.
What stands in our way? Perhaps we don’t know His Word well enough to pray with confidence. Perhaps we’re uncomfortable with silence. Maybe our minds are so accustomed to stimulation that fifteen quiet minutes feel impossible. We start praying, and our thoughts bounce around like a ping-pong ball. Tomorrow’s responsibilities. Yesterday’s conversations. Problems we haven’t solved.
Sound familiar?
Yet consider Jesus. Luke 5:16 tells us, “And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.” Jesus deliberately separated Himself from the crowds, demands, and ministry opportunities to spend time with His Father.
If Jesus made that time a priority, how can we possibly believe we can live without it?
Pastor James shared Leonard Ravenhill’s statement: “No man is greater than his prayer life.” That’s sobering, isn’t it? Not his accomplishments, reputation, leadership, or knowledge of Scripture. His private…prayer life.
Wow! If that’s the grading curve, I can’t do that consistently alone… without the Holy Spirit. It is Christ in me, my hope of glory, and the Holy Spirit empowering me to overcome the battle of my flesh and the noise of this world. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD” (Zechariah 4:6). We will never succeed in our earthly strength at entering into communion with a God who is Spirit.
Prayer is not merely asking God to bless what we’ve decided to do. It is a partnership with Him. Learning to listen before we speak, surrender before we act, and seek His heart before pursuing our desires. Listen… surrender our earthly determination to fix it, do it, control it… and through it all, seek the Holy Spirit.
Pastor James introduced the ACTS model—Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication—and the Tabernacle Prayer. These aren’t formulas to manipulate God. They’re guides to slow us down, focus our hearts, and spend meaningful time with Him.
But none of it matters if we never make the appointment.
Where is your place to withdraw? A chair, a room, a quiet corner? And when is your time? Not when everything else is finished, because that moment rarely comes. Put it on your calendar. Protect it. Guard it. Be accountable for it! If sitting makes you sleepy, stand. Walk. Pray aloud. Begin with fifteen or twenty minutes.
But let me challenge you, as Pastor James challenged us. What would happen if you gave God an uninterrupted hour?
Not an hour presenting your needs or impressing Him with spiritual vocabulary. Just an hour to worship, confess, listen, read His Word, journal… and enjoy being with the One who knows you better than anyone else.
Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” He doesn’t say, be still and accomplish something.
He says, be still and know Me.
The Invitation
I wonder how many of us have spent years asking God to speak while giving Him little opportunity to be heard. (Don’t answer that.) We want His direction but resist His stillness. We want His peace but fill every quiet moment with noise. We want His presence but keep Him waiting.
And then we wonder why we feel spiritually empty. So honestly, who has been filling your bucket?
We have… or no one has…We MUST fill our bucket with the word of God and prayer!
Maybe the question isn’t whether God has more for us. Maybe it’s whether we’re willing to make room for Him.
Here’s my challenge to you, and myself. Before this day is over, choose a place. Choose a time. Make an appointment with your Father. And when you get there, don’t begin by asking for something.
Begin by telling Him you love Him.
Thank Him for who He is. Ask Him to search your heart. Open His Word. Be quiet long enough to listen. Then write down what you’re hearing... that little prompting. Don’t immediately judge it. Write it, and prayerfully examine it against Scripture…later. You may not feel anything extraordinary or hear an audible voice. But don’t confuse the absence of emotion with the absence of God.
The greatest reward of prayer isn’t getting what we came to ask for. It’s discovering that the One we came to meet is greater than anything we could have asked.
One day, every appointment on our calendars will have come and gone. Every ambition will have run its course.
But the relationship we cultivated with our Father will matter for eternity.
So what are you filled with today? And who put it there?
Because whatever fills your heart will eventually shape your life.
And wouldn’t it be something if people didn’t simply notice what we knew about Jesus, but recognized that we’d been spending time with Him? They could see it by the glow on our faces… the words of our mouths… and a newfound kindness in our hearts.
Father, open the eyes of my heart. Forgive me for allowing lesser things to occupy the place that belongs to You. Teach me to hunger for Your presence more than Your provision, to love Your voice more than the noise of this world, and to seek Your face before I seek Your hand. Help me make room for You, not merely in my schedule, but in the deepest places of my heart. Remind me that I am not approaching a distant God, but a loving Father who welcomes me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
My prayer is that these devotionals do more than give you something to think about… that they draw you closer to Jesus Christ, deepen your love for Him, and encourage you to live out your faith.
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