Father, I can’t but you can.  I won’t but you will.  I must not but you bid me forward. I am struggling with my simplicity, my position as a man, a handful of dirt within the hand of God.  But you breathed Your Breath of Life into that dirt so I am something misunderstood by most, feared by the supernatural and disregarded by the proud. It is not my place to inquire of God, Why?  My humble request is that you help me get over my basic instinctual desire for failure when confronted with those tasks beyond self.  These objectives must be seen as not of my own forming and that realization they have never been limited by association with my mortal context.

Lord, bring the workers, please. The harvest is ripe and the fields stand ready for picking.  The vines is full and bending toward the ground weighted down by the bounty of your provision.  What then of me as man, am I to call the workers or to simply begin working, picking, reaping, gathering the crop for transport?  I know that I am not alone in the fields Lord, give me sight granted Elisha that I might never fall pray to similar thinking.  Let me never make those errors associated with my simplicity, let me think beyond my own reason and see the complex realities of Your understanding.  I very much just want folks to understand the gravity of this time.  I know that You have a plan to awaken them upon that I must rely.

We seem so lost, destitute and focused on the occurrences of this world.  Am I mistaken in that review?  Do they see eternity or has the siren of man’s calling darkened their agenda to what may be dimly seen here?  What then of our treasures laid up for us in heaven that may never rust, be stolen or decay?  Shouldn’t our focus be consistent with that message of planting, harvesting and storing up those permanent things instead of all that is frail and measured by mortality?  Father, let me stop being a poor representative of Your Grand Intent.  Give me the Words, the Wisdom, the Love and Power sufficient to this tasking for without it I am foiled.

Do through me what I cannot do in self.  I stand here willing and ready to do the work.  I know, I know, all in due time Son.  Sorry for pestering Lord, Forgive me.  In Jesus’ Name.

I have been trying to be cute, smart, adept, convincing and often overwhelming in my suggestive fortitude to get people to answer God’s Call for their lives.  The Lord has admonished me for maybe being a bit more like John the Baptist than the gentle pastor down the street, but I have been struggling with His direction to keep going.  You see when you are at the end of a mission, a business endeavor or project there comes a time when the commitment, the point or objective must either be met or forfeit.  Everyone I speak with sees the signs of the times in which we find ourselves and agree that this is that denouement after the climax of man kind that we are counting down to Christ’s return for the Church.  That means this is the time of the ripe fields that were planted by those who came before us.  It is now time for the workers of the harvest (US) to take to the fields and bring the crops into the storehouse.  Is it any coincidence that the United States is abbreviated US?

I don’t wish to offend, but I will if your upset at me will get you to respond to the Holy Spirit.  I want to be a kind, gentle, long suffering man to represent those characteristics within me that are Spirit fruitful.  However,  I am also supposed to be filled with the Spirit of Power.  When people went to see John the Baptist you think they told him to slow his roll, customize the message for their sensibilities or to perhaps “be gentle and pipe down a bit”.  Make straight your path for the Kingdom of God is at hand!  That ends with exclamation because we can imagine him saying that in his most forceful persona.  Why then if he was heralding the coming Lamb of God should I be any less forceful in pronouncing the return of the Lion.

I can’t be what people would have me be and fulfill God’s Plan for my life, because he is asking me for an entire new level of commitment then we have been disinclined to accept.  I truly love you and wish to make you happy but if so doing requires that I quench the Holy Spirit and displease God who do you think should lose out in that comparison?  I will heed God’s direction and share His message of Love, Kindness, Goodness and the Gospel of Peace.  That is always and has always been my guiding principle, but when the room is on fire or perhaps many souls will spend eternity in a lake of fire if I don’t shout, “Get Back”, then don’t you think it is time to stand up and shout with all my strength.

Don’t be sold out to the world because it will incessantly call you, be souled out to God for those yet to be saved.  In Jesus’ Name.

I followed with all my heart hoping that I pleased you and that others followed my lead.  I answered a call and found my way to the skinny path, hoping that my Family, Friends, Colleagues or questioners would find the journey rewarding.  I gave away my stuff and served your children because it was a pleasure to let them know how much You love them and how much I felt honored to be their Brother.  I followed You and truly thought that they would do the same, especially when I told them how much joy you’ve brought to my previously meager history.  I thought that it was my job to be a shining example of hope to all and help them get over their pains with love and caution, kindness and encouragement, but all these things that I have done were those things of my work in progress.

It is You who saves, not me.  It is You who leads not me.  It is You who sites examples, set up models or indicates direction, again not something within my purview.  My Words were poor example, my actions paltry reminder and my thoughts immediately and easily dismissed. It is not me to whom they look for example, understanding or direction, it is to you.  It is not to my words that they respond or meditate for wisdom and hope, but to every Word that proceeds from Your Mouth.  When did I lose track and begin to believe that somehow I was making any difference.  It is only through me as vehicle through which any of Your requirements are met or delivered.  I have always been happy being a pair of needle nosed pliers, how come I somehow ended up trying to be wrench?

Father, take from this burden of being sufficient through my own understanding, works or willingness.  I am here as conduit, that’s it, that’s all of it and frankly that is more than enough for me.  Lord don’t ever let me get ahead of you again.  I know that I typically have a tendency to lag behind that is why I have done so poorly in this new self appointed position of leader.  Don’t let me be me when I need to do nothing other than simply and steadily exalt You.

You know me and that is probably my only hopeful excuse.  But being oneself is not acceptable reason for taking on tasks intended for the King alone.  Forgive me.  In Jesus’ Name

Lord, the ends rarely justify the means.  My objectives do not allow me to hurt, malign, disapprove, castigate or treat someone discourteously for the sake of getting my point across.  Yet, I still do it and some times it provides positive effect, because you turn to good what I did poorly because I love you and walk according to your purpose.  I understand that and I am humbled by its meaning.  I just humbly request that you teach me a better way than the frail method of delivery upon which I so frequently rely.  The people are priceless and I am juggling the rare importance of the moment with the battle axe method that I presently demonstrate my love.

Must I require that the swallow the entire pizza at once each time that they ask me for assistance.  No, but yet that is what I most often see in my behavioral or active reflection.  Lord, I am not going to ask you to remove me from my assigned duties because I am pleased to be used and additionally know that you knew beforehand exactly how bad I would be at this direction.  I will continue to apologize and consider myself a poor student, listener or vessel until someday I fully comprehend and follow the guidance you consistently provide.  How did I manage to get through so many years of life being such a clumsy example of slow comprehension and limited bandwidth?

Father going forward, I hope that I begin to develop some delivery skills that are more closely aligned with you kindness, love and gentility, because I fear I am about as gentle as a grisly bear at a salmon eating contest.  Shall I remain silent and find my place in the crowd?  I never had that much wisdom, besides I know that I am on the road you’ve directed, however poorly I navigate its borders.  I am just amazed that You tolerate me and allow me to continue.  I have to assume that you see some eventual progress coming my way that is not currently visible.  I am so glad you love me, because if you didn’t I would really have a hard time finding it elsewhere especially my own critical heart.  Forgive me.  In Jesus’ Name.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.  Matthew 10:37-39

Almost there, but remember it is not a destination, nor a prize but a launch pad to the everlasting.  I frequently recall your dreams, even those of your childhood and want you to remember how positive you were that you would go to the moon, be a movie star or build giant roller coasters that went very fast.  You were filled with love my son, my daughter and I had placed within your heart the desire for the impossible.  Time to believe once again, because you are going to need to have faith in order to achieve that which lays before you.

Are we fulfilled by a simple life?  Perhaps, but we all know that there is something missing even in the simplest contented life.  We were designed for this time in history with the foundation, Spirit and talents to herald God’s return.  Yes, I miss the idea of comfort, simplicity, orderly struggle to complete the tasks of life.  That opportunity was meant for some but not for us.

I am sorry that the requirements of life are making a standard American dream unrealistic.  However, I have heard each of us singing to God about His Will for our lives and proclaiming, “I surrender all”.  Was that mere conversation, theatrics or half-hearted commitment? What now that the day approaches that will reveal the purpose of your creation?  We are free to turn away and sit this one out, but can we?  Isn’t this the moment we were made for, hoped for and prayed about all those yearning evenings spent alone with God?

Where will you be when your Brothers and Sisters do the impossible through Christ?  Will you be standing next to them arm in arm, shield to shield in prayerful determination?  Or will you be sitting this last quarter out, having decided to make your last best efforts about perfecting your life here?  I cannot.  I was never made for the sideline but to take the field heralding the coming King, in victory.  Yes, it may cost me all, most likely so, but in losing all I will have gained much more than I’ve lost.

Think of Paul friends, lived his saved life in service of the Kingdom and then lost his head for bringing the Gospel to the World.  Could you do it to achieve what he did for Christ?  What about John the Baptist who proclaimed and baptized Jesus, then lost his head after giving all in power and persistence.  What if in order to achieve that impossible thing it costs you not only your happy life but perhaps a greater price?

That is what we fear isn’t it?  Giving it all for Christ.  Or are we holding on to our worldly achievements?  Isn’t that surrender?  And we are unwilling to surrender our contentment how then will we ever be able to give it all for him?  Look I want what God wants for each of us.

I want to feel that moment of purposeful fulfillment when I know that I know my raison d’etre, my meaning for life, but I will never find it serving my worldly existence.  Yes, I may fool myself and believe that God just designed me for great things, set me up in the most important time in history and filled me with the Power of His Holy Spirit just so I could be a good Dad, Husband, Plant Worker and animal lover.  It just doesn’t make sense.  Certainly it has allure and pleases my desire to live a good life, but that has nothing to do with his will but instead my own.  I wish it were an easy word that I have to share with you, but it is an honest, true and fulfilling Word.  And for that it is Time.

I do not know what He is going to ask of each of us, but shouldn’t we be ready to give it all when asked?  What if?  I pray for good courage for all of you, in Jesus’ Name.

https://www.oneplace.com/ministries/love-worth-finding/listen/making-jesus-known-734244.html Be imbued with Power to be witnesses of what you’ve seen and experienced.
Lord Jesus I love you.  The weight of your yoke is indeed light, the joy that I am given for free, sufficiently bears the burden.  The Peace that is returned when I lay down my burdens allows me to be useful in a world with chaotic penchant.  Who would have ever believed that injected with your wisdom my thoughts considered useful, helpful or worth reflection.  You have made my Mother proud in her ability to raise a child to maturity.  She knows it’s you but is overjoyed nonetheless.

We approach that inevitable time when the value of our moments approaches priceless.  There is so much to say, but the moments few that the words must be carefully chosen to match the gravity and impact of these precious days.  I much prefer to wait upon your words for I know they will match that requirement without my effort or clumsiness.  Thank you again for using me as a platform, it is good to be needed and purposeful.

They are exhausted Lord, not just of the energy to get things done but they are done running from the idea of your Sovereignty.  That exhaustion has provided a window, an opportunity that must be embraced, valued and consumed in good purpose.  Let me whisper of your Love that they Listen, ask them of their future that they reflect and show them the directions that they might meet you this very night.  Let them see me following you with joy, faith and reasoned footsteps that they might find interest and rise up to investigate.  Let them hear your clarion call and know the moments short, finding it paramount to commit their hearts to you into eternity.  Now that they are motionless may You capture their entire attention that they find salvation’s Light.

These are the days of doubters and believers.  These are the times of the two sides.  Let the division begin that we might find ourselves among family, joined together in your Glory, knit as one forever.  I hunger for You.  I thirst for Your Leadership and ruling hand upon this Your Eternal Kingdom.  I pray that I be granted to discernment offering my prayers to Father God through You my High Priest.  May I understand the mystery of provision that all good things come from heaven above and be glad.

Father, call them to you.  Lead them to the Cross.  Let them hear Your Words from mouth, hands and walk.  Let me do the work of harvest that the storehouse if full upon your return.  In Your Mighty Name I pray, Lord Jesus Christ the King of All.

If you want me to know, I don’t.  If you want me to do something about it, I cannot.  If you are looking to me for anything other than love, prayer and encouragement, I got nothing.  If you expect me to somehow be filled with answers, guidance, prayers, good feeling, good tidings and cash, guess what you are most likely and most often setting yourself up for disappointment.  I was an empty cup and continue to be an empty cup without the pure water of God’s Holy Gospel and Spirit. Oh how sweet, cool, fulfilling and refreshing.  I cannot give that to you either, but my friend this is your lucky day, because I know how you can get that right now.

Here’s the ticket.  Humble yourself and pray to God that He forgive you of your sins and have Jesus come into your life, filling you with His Everlasting Spirit, cleansing you of unrighteousness, permanently sealing you for eternity spent with a Holy God and setting you firmly on the path to sanctification and glorification.  Oh and here’s the greatest part, you get the Holy Spirit here on earth, to empower, teach, guide, prompt, counsel, convict and grow you to the point where you are ready to spend eternity with a Holy and Righteous Lord.  You did that, Hooray for the Lord and joy to you.  The angels are rejoicing at that news.

What’s next?  Well don’t expect it all to be peaches and pralines, for now some of the tough part begins.  But now you have the hope of Christ living within you to overcome anything that may come your way.  First you’re going to feel a bit odd, not they dressed me in funny clothes and sent me to my first day of school across town odd, but sort of like that.  The Lord is going to begin cleansing you of past pain and unrighteous behavior, setting you free of sin.  He will need to be a participant in this process, because he is going to be asking for the keys to those rooms that you keep hidden and dark, with a big sign that says, “Keep out, Especially You”.  The Lord wants to set you free of the hold of sin and the pain of wickedness done in the dark.  Trust me it’s refreshing and uplifting.  Then the real fun begins, the Lord begins to make of you a new person, the person he meant you to be to fulfill your specific purpose for His plan for humanity.  Yes, that means no more loneliness, no more lack of purpose in your life or feeling like you just don’t matter, because you do.

By the Greatest part of all of this is that you get to have a relationship with Jesus.  That’s right you get to know and spend time with the Creator of this and every planet.  He loves you I hope you know and that is why He made this all possible, so that He could be near you for the rest of time.  That’s right this is an eternal relationship.  Right now, He is calling me to prayer for you and for the other great things or difficulties that others are experiencing.  So I have to go, but remember if you need me, I can offer prayer, love and encouragement, for the rest you have the new benefit of going to Him.  “He will provide for all of your needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus”.  Wow, who can beat that.  In Jesus Name I pray for your blessed moment of salvation this day.  Be at Peace.

The hurricane was a modifying factor driving rain, and wind, lightning, force and fire to clarify my reason and torture the truth to the surface of understanding.  You see, I hide truth within me, carefully compartmentalized that I might obfuscate, conceal or stash it away from my consciousness to be used as excuse for misunderstanding or disobedience.  I am after all accountable for direction handed down to me especially when it came from on High.

What did it provide me this clarifying episode, forcing me from hiding, driving me from my hobby hole where the false security of kings resides?  Dashed my perception, destroyed my efficacy, adequacy and illusory self adaptation.  I was lain bare not only for public viewing but unfortunately naked to self realization.  Fallen on my knees but still holding myself aloft avoiding the glorious humility of destruction.  It was lost, this plan, this failed plan of my own doing.  Thankfully God had once again loved me enough to overwhelm me in the wrestling match I repeatedly picked with him, instead of popping my hip or worse yet casting me down to my own deserved ignorance.

A chance arose.  The opportunity for awareness.  Awareness of a new temperature, a new form and seal.  Sealed with the promise of something beyond my current capacity.  The capacity limited by my own constraints and imagination.  My imagination was surpassed in God’s divine authority and direction.  Choosing not only direction but timing, attitude, progression, provision and reason.  The reasons for it still unveiling.  Lain clear for all to see that they are not of my own making.  That my creative talents failed years prior and now I am a man made solely for the purpose and pleasure of Almighty God. Praise Him for the hurricane, to set me free from my own imaginary prison.

Pray for me Ap Chaterjee

To the God who honors bended knee

Who made every house, hawk and tree

And lives here inside of me

He came to set all men free

Gave his life unreservedly

Just to walk with you and me

That all men might live to be free

What then of you and me

When we fail to see what he’d have us be?

Me choosing whom I ought to be

Refraining from wisdom’s treasury

Again I say to pray for me

Imprisoned with the facts you see

Disguising truth distractedly

To hide among the hill and tree

For better deals purportedly

Of gods and gold and filigree

Fools passion and false pandery

Don’t lie and say it’s good for me

Can’t walk away so easily

From the promise of eternity

My lie is clear as it will be

I’ve left the path where God will be

So pray for me Ap Chaterjee

To know the place that right for me

And I pray for thee as did for me

That You’ll be there with me

On bended knee

How did sin change when you became a Christian?  The answer is, it didn’t, you did.  How then do we view sin now that the relationship has changed?  Should we ignore it?  Make light of it?  Do we have to set up special precautionary measures designed to keep us from sin?  Should we be overly concerned about it such that it rules our existence attempting to cache and avoid sin?  Should we have little preoccupation with sin in the Church, maybe even refraining from teaching on sin awareness and such?  Do we view sin as a problem for other people, that we are somehow immune to its effects, temptations and marring influences?

The consideration or view that “my sin is my problem” is wholly imperfect.  My sin is the world’s problem and the worlds’ my own.  We either get there together or we don’t get there.  This trip is not about me but all mankind, for it was for all men that Christ died.  If I take the central view that if I have my salvation all is determined then I have perhaps enacted my greatest sin of all, not loving those who have yet to answer the call to salvation.  It is for them that I continue to die to self each day not simply for self-edification.  The concept of serving self is a worldly, fleshly perspective and when I see those vestiges of self focus show up I am generally embarked on the broad avenue or a lonely path without God’s direction.

I remain focused upon my sin so that I may repent and then learn from which I hole I must refrain from further foot fall.  It is not about committing and committing and committing the same sin in perpetuity for what then has Christ died and resurrected?  Sanctification is the prerogative of each maturing Christian, we must choose to turn from that which is unrighteous and how may I turn from and opportunity that I have yet to determine or discern is unpleasing to God?  Knowing God’s Word gives us a path to place our feet without snare and though we are prone to tread in the same mud, often times up to our knees and repeatedly, it is the hope of God’s indwelling guidance that directs us to the next step in our maturation for Christ.

Pay attention to your sin, pay attention to the sins of your family, friends and colleagues that you might avoid their impact upon your own life and at the appropriate moment give them the milk or meat of God’s divine intervention to help them avoid the same snare once again.  This is the training ground.  When did anyone ever graduate the training ground without learning the lessons intended by the Plan.  I believe in God’s faithful hand and His promise to complete the work he once began in each of us, but that doesn’t mean that I am unwitting participant.  I love my teacher and try my best to follow his lead and learn from his counseling hand.  Trust God, Know Jesus and Follow the Holy Spirit as guide.