Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
1 3 2025
Why Goal Setting? I never follow through!
Have you wondered why I have first focused on spiritual goals? Maybe because many of us have had varying successes at mastering the art of gathering zeros in our bank accounts
and the frustrations of a dead-end street.
Did you pause to wonder if you’re just collecting points in a game where the scoreboard doesn’t matter? We have dived headfirst into Satan’s grand illusion, and he is having a little chuckle at our expense. You see, we’re so engrossed in amassing wealth, security, and accolades that we often forget to ask: Is this it? What does God say?
What is success to you? How would you define it … seriously?
Everything we own is God’s. Think about it. The earth and moon and stars and the universe, and all our stuff, too, is his. Not just 10% and No, I am not going to talk about tithing. He owns it all, and we just get to manage our homes, cars and lives until we die, and then someone else takes over the management of God’s stuff. Right? Don’t every one of those create friction in our lives? We spend a lifetime taking care of our stuff that, one day soon, someone else will manage. Everything we own…owns us back!
The main problem in the world is a lack of God-consciousness.
I hope to change your filter… your perspective… into seeing your goals, dreams, and aspirations through the eyes of the Spirit first. Don’t misunderstand me – You can have all the material things if you don’t give them a placement before God.
“IF” you could plan your life and be guaranteed that you would be successful, would you?
“IF” there were tools to help you be successful, would you use them?
“IF” thirty minutes a day, six days a week, was the time required to change your life, would you invest that much time?
“IF” there was an investment of time required in preparation, would you invest the time?
“IF” there was the necessity to be accountable to a specific person, would you agree?
Would you get on an airplane if you knew the pilot had no destination in mind? No flight plan, or didn’t check his fuel level? Absolutely Not!
Yet, most people go through life with no plan, no goals, no defined directions, just living life one day at a time. I know this describes too many of us. I want to help you define the Life Legacy you want to be known for and help you Put God First … you know, begin with the end in view. Eternity. Christ in us the hope of Glory. Col 1:27 And then we will work backward and filter all our other goals, work, relationships, and physical through that template.
Have you listened to yourself and others as if we are victims of our thoughts?
“I’m in a bad mood, don’t talk to me!” Is a mood something we are assigned or that we choose? “Or don’t mess with them; they have a toxic disposition”. Is that something we have, like a cold or flu?
2 Cor 10:5 says, We are attached to and responsible for all our thoughts, words, opinions, and beliefs. In return, they own us, we don’t easily give them up, and they don’t give us up either! Christ says we must demolish those worldly arguments, negative pronouncements, and declarations like: “I have always failed at this…it’s too hard. Dad told me I was a loser”… and Paul said,…NO…take every one of them captive, and be obedient to Christ! Yes, it is a battleground…We need to fight back and declare that “This heart and this mind belongs to God!” I am more than a conqueror in Jesus Christ. Rom 8:31
If God is for us, who can be against us!
How would that change your life?
God’s purpose for us is to Glorify God and EnJoy Him Forever.
You will only find rest and peace in His presence.
All the rest… are distractions.
Yet we pursue them like they were the next high or sugar fix.
God desires all humans to believe why He came and come to repentance and become members of His family as sons and daughters in His Kingdom. He wants to restore His relationship with you! He wants us to become like Jesus, love God, and love our neighbor. Romans 8:29 Matt 5: 3-12 You could call that a goal, but for God, it is just a fact.
Let the size of your greatest dream, determine the size of your God.
Go ahead and think of your greatest dream, and God can top it. We limit God by our unbelief. Let me be bold when I say this. I am bound to fail unless God bails me out. But God!
Dreaming costs nothing but offers everything one can imagine. But it will cost you time in prayer, obedience, and meditation to go through this exercise with me to discover who you are, what you think, what you believe, and what you are willing to put your shoulder into.
Joshua 24:16, 21 says:
Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods!” Other gods are anything that stops you from seeking God, gaining his wisdom to set your goals, and running the race to win them for you and God.
Consider Your New Year. The value of many of these questions may be the simple fact that they bring an issue or commitment into focus. For example, just making a goal to encourage one person, in particular, this year is more likely to help you remember to encourage that person than if you hadn’t set that goal. Determining to attend this Jan. 13th Online Event is setting a Goal! For you negative Nellie’s If you only achieved a 20% success rate in 2025 you would be up there with the most successful companies in the world.
If you’ve found these questions helpful, you might want to put them someplace — on your phone, computer, calendar, or wherever you put reminders — where you can review them frequently.
I pray these prayerfully thought-through questions will help you to “consider your ways,” to make plans and goals, and to live this new year with biblical diligence, remembering the principle that “the plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance” (Prov 21:5). But in all things, let’s also remember our dependence on our King, who said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
I would like to know who is interested in coming Jan 13th. I want you to answer the areas above about the relationship with God you are going to grow. Please work on stretching yourself, start with reasonable baby steps forward. I look forward to hearing from you.
If you have missed the last segments. Here they are.
Session 3: January 1st Become What you Believe
If you would like to pass this lesson and future devotions to someone, send them this Signup link: http://eepurl.com/gKlklD This is the link new people you invite need to subscribe to receive the latest segments on Goal Setting leading up to our Jan 13th Meeting.
Here is an invite link to Jan 13th: meet.google.com/btj-ojpw-kxx
This next link will give you the last Goal Setting Segments you may have missed.
You can print them out and save them. Click this link for the rest of this special invite.
My website to view past devotions and Goal setting segments: is https://fearlesslycourageous.com
Marvin Sapp Thank you for it all
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