Luke 14:16-19 (NASB)
16 But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;
17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’
18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’
19 “Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’
Even His children can have a love of the world that pushes Jesus away. Jesus never compels us into repentance. The Holy Spirit’s voice can be overpowered by the things of this world. It isn’t that these things are bad, but they are put into the wrong priority.
Even our prayer life can be overcome by the things that we want God to do for us. And we end up petitioning Him for the things that are not His will, but ours.
How do we avoid that?
1. Daily time in the scriptures. Meditating on His words, not just reading.
2. Listening to God first, rather than talking to Him.
3. Opening our hearts to true repentance.
Psalm 119:57-60 (NASB)
57The LORD is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words.
58 I sought Your favor with all my heart; Be gracious to me according to Your word.
59 I considered my ways And turned my feet to Your testimonies.
60 I hastened and did not delay To keep Your commandments.
Jesus, help me to carefully consider my ways, and if I need to repent, turn my feet towards You. Amen.
Always praying for the glory of God,
Calm Sea Prayer Thoughts 
My reading to day was in Mark 1. Verse 14 says that Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God, saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
I really want to know what repentance looks like. Partly because I think it will settle everything. I won’t have to strive to please God anymore if I truly repent. Working in engineering my whole life tends to make me reduce things to simple formulas that work without me putting a whole lot of thought into the solution. But I also know that God is not impressed with formulas which end up by-passing relationship with Him.
Believing, on the other hand seems to be the result of repenting from un-belief. If I believe in Christ I am looking to Him all the time, for everything. I am seeking Him in scripture and prayer, and meditation.
So here i am Lord, opening my heart to true repentance. I considered my ways and turned my feet to your testimonies. Ps 119:59
Thank you Chris for giving such wisdom to ponder.
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