Janelle:

^{Romans 8 v 15} For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

¹⁶ The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

¹⁷ And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

¹⁸ For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

¹⁹ For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

²⁰ For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

²¹ Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

This mornings opening was about hope. And hope is something that I can struggle with, when I am faced with myself  and how difficult it is for me to see things correctly. If I can look at the world through eyes of hope, my perspective will be drastically different then my normal, default view of life. How much better, to look with hope and faith, then to be weighed down with my own analysis of the things that come my way. I especially love the verse about not having received from God a spirit of bondage and anything that is bondage needs to be cast from us. He has given us a spirit of adoption. He has taken us out of the family we were born to, and made us his sons. It's beautiful and I need to remember it all the time. 

Dan: 

I was thinking about how all the choices that we make through our days and weeks, months and years, make us the people we are. The little choices, to either be honest, or lie, to be kind or self seeking, adds to the person we are becoming through our lives. It can be overwhelming, but it if we are led by the Spirit, we'll be the person God wants us to be. 

A couple thoughts.

Janelle:
Well after a week hiatus, I am back. I have been thinking about a couple of things. The first being what Amy said on Monday about we have to see the goodness of the Lord not only in the rainy, plentiful season, but also in the dry times. "He rains down goodness the whole year." It's not just the blessings that are good, but the dry times too. Also I was thinking about what Josiah said about learning to trust. It's so hard to trust in every area. We sometimes feel like it's possible for certain things, but just not everything. But it's it possible and really required for us to trust the Lord in everything.

Dan: These are thoughts for a possible opening.
This story of a Marathon runner who takes wrong turn at end of race.

http://tv.gawker.com/#!5724891/japanese-runner-makes-wrong-turn-at-the-end-of-a-marathon

Psalms 119:32  I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.

God is the one that has to give us strength to keep after him. 

The farther we get into God the less traffic and trails there are. There is only one that has gone before (Jesus)

We have to rely on Him to be our direction and compass.

We can't stop and waste the calling we have on our lives and all the work.

Robert Scott in 1912 lead an expedition to be the first to reach the South pole, although he was bested by a Norwegian expedition lead by Roald Amundsen that got there 2 weeks before. 

Scott and his crew were frozen, exhausted, diappointed, and suffering from scurvy as they began their return trip. By February 17, one crew member, Seaman Edgar Evan died. Other members of the expedition began to die, and they set up their last camp on March 11, 1912 only 11 miles from One Ton Depot, where they could have gotten supplies. A raging blizzard kept them from the depot, and the remaining crew died at this camp. They were found dead in ther sleeping bags by a rescue party on November 12, 1912.

We know that we have help as long as we go to the source of our help. Even that runner had help he just didn't look at the race official.  Isa 30:21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left.

Ps 145:18 The LORD is near to all them that call on him, to all that call on him in truth.

Smorgasbord

Janelle:
Several things have been running through my mind throughout the week, but I've been too stickin' busy to get on here and type them out. The relevant bits are, "what do you have in your pocket?" - which is a question about what we have that the Lord has spoken to us specifically that we carry around with us. It's really important to remember when the Lord has moved majorly in our lives so we can look back and be encouraged when we are in a dryer spell. Next up, "When we are cut by each other, do we bleed Christ?" In other words, when we are offended, what do we answer, and when we are reproved, what do we do with it. I have still been struggling with the confrontation I had last week and something my sister said really rang true. "It is right that I should be examined and questioned." It is true. I should be open to be read and examined by all men, like the scripture says.
Anyway, no deep thoughts tonight because I am too tired!

Dan:

Forgiveness

Janelle:
Forgiveness was brought up for opening and I was thinking about it the rest of the day. It's so important to really let things go, every time they come up. In our own strength, we can't forget the offences against us, but we can choose to be offended or not. And if we don't give room to the offence, we won't have to forgive it.
But many times, we have to forgive the same thing in our minds over and over again. And the day that we decide to not forgive, is the day we will find ourselves in bondage. Oshea said that forgiveness and thankfulness go hand in hand and I really think that is true as well. If we are focused on the blessings and the great things in life, we"ll  be less likely to hold to all the unfair, meanness of life.

Dan:
Matthew 6V14 "14For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

Often times we expect and even demand forgiveness from others, but are reticent to giving it ourselves. Forgiveness isn't a right it's a choice we make and a gift we receive. It's as much a gift to the giver as to the receiver. 

What I will Answer

Janelle:
So I was confronted about something, and you know how it is when someone is critical of any of your actions. I immediately defend myself. I hold a trial of all that I have done and thought, and lay all my evidence before the jury (me) and the Judge (me again) and point out to the prosecution in minute detail all the why's and wherefores and "how dare you come against me in any case." But because of the life I have chosen to lead and the call that I believe in, I have to stop. To open my heart and to ask God what He is wanting to say to me. And not only that but asking how I should answer.


Hab 2V1 "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

2And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

3For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry."

It really goes along quite nicely with what I was thinking about before. That being the watchman, and the vision. I was also thinking about the scripture about make the vision plane and "your call and election sure". It sounds so beautiful and poetic, but how to make it real and an every day occurrence? I make the vision plane, when I live it. When I, standing on my watch, take the correction, though I don't like it and my response it "Lord, make me what you want me to be. Make my actions to be what please you and where I need to pull up my pants and get with the program, show me, so I am not left out of this election."  So when I am reproved, it's time to remember the vision. To reiterate in my life once again, that I am here to be perfected. So that means all the stuff that God doesn't like needs to be brought to my attention. That also means a lot of stuff being brought to my attention... Yuck. But it's that or not be a Son of God. 

Dan: Prayer

Prayer is a tool that the Lord gives  us to use. It is also a tool the Holy Spirit employs when he intercedes for us. The more we use it and are in right relationship, the more we will be asking for the right things and know how to pray for each other. John 16:24 " Ask in my name, according to my will, and he'll most certainly give it to you. Your joy will be a river overflowing its banks!"

Dan:
Having the Mind of God. It is very important to have the mind of God, because of the depravity of the world, you would lose hope for society and for man kind. Without God, there are no depths that man will not go. (Couple having a baby and not telling the gender until the child is old enough to decide what it want's to be.)

Janelle:
Having the Lords View: If you aren't looking with the eyes of the Lord, you judge everything incorrectly. And miss the signs of the Lord speaking to you, because you aren't looking for them, or trying to see circumstances with his eyes. You have to have love in your response or you don't have anything.

Janelle -
The Lord brings us into a narrow way, not because He is sadistic and likes to see us suffer, but because without it we wouldn't seek Him for our strength.We are strengthened in that narrow place. II Corin. 4V8 "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12So then death worketh in us, but life in you." Though we are troubled, and worked over by the things that come at us during the day, we have the ability to go through it and not despair because of the Lord. 

Dan - 
Worship & Praise. We have to nurture a love for worship because that's what we are called to do. Give our lives as a worship to God. If we are called to worship, we should practice it and actually enjoy doing it. Why would we want to do something for eternity that we don't like it. Revelation 4:11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

June 1, 2012
Janelle:
Psalm 127V1 - " Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Unless the Lord enables us to watch, nothing we do will be effective to keep our temples, or cities. (Our bodies.) 

1 Thes 5V6 "Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." Sober - nocturnal. In other words be the watchman who is watching through the night. Waiting for the Lord to move. 

Dan:

Praying without ceasing. The reality of praying without ceasing is more about having the open relationship throughout the day and having the ears to hear all day. Because you can't be literally praying through the day, but you can be in the right spirit and connected to the Lord. You pray thought the day, but not literally without ceasing.