The flat wheat field

Sunday afternoon we had a wonderful time with Familiekirken. About sixty people were gathered together to worship God, to listen to his word and to fellowship. John Arve has a gift in making people feel at home and relax in a gathering. Obviously he has a big heart for the people and they feel secure with him. In the same way Gunn Bj�rg is gifted in bringing the people into the presence of God while she is leading them in praise and worship. They need to be very confident in the grace of God upon their lives as they serve God together. They are a unique couple totally sold out to God and committed to serve his purpose in their generation.

During the service God gave me several prophetic visions to share with the church to help them fulfil their calling in God. I will only share one of them here as I have never seen anything like it before:

I saw a large wheat field, but it was not a nice sight. Most of the wheat in the field was flat. Heavy rain and storm had devastated the field. The straws were broken and the heads of wheat were laying flat on the ground in danger of rotting. It was a very sad sight as the whole harvest seemed to be destroyed. However as I looked at the flat wheat field I became aware of something happening. A gentle wind started to blow in the same direction as the straws were laying in the field. It was like the gentle, mild and warm wind was caressing the straws and the heads of wheat drying them after the heavy rain. Then it was like the gentle wind became playful and was blowing on them in circles causing the heads of wheat to carefully rise from the ground. Then the gentle wind was increasing in force and was blowing on the straws in the opposite direction of the straws causing them to stand tall and beautiful with the heads of wheat swaying the gentle but strong wind. I have never heard of any such thing happening in the natural, this was a supernatural intervention of the Lord of the harvest in this area. The Lord showed me that a lot of people had been hardly beaten and broken down by legalistic religiosity in this area and the plentiful harvest was in danger of being destroyed. However the gentle wind of the Spirit is moving among these people and a wonderful work of restoration is taking place. God is going to use his people to bring healing to broken lives and bring the saving power of Jesus Christ to the hurting people of this area.

Visiting my birth-place
I was moved to tears Saturday morning as I was standing in front of people from my place of birth sharing with them what God had been doing in my life the 40 years since I left Ganddal to serve the Lord. I was reminded that it was a miracle that I still was alive as the doctors told my parents that I would never grow up. Not only did I grow up, I was completely healed and have been in good health for 40 years. The Lord also blessed me with a wonderful wife, six special children and 9 great grandchildren with the tenth on its way! God has been so good to me!
I had been invited by John Arve Lunde the pastor of Familiekirken to come and share the word of God with them at the Saturday Bible School they were running. To my surprise I met some old friends from my time in Stavanger and some who remembered me from Sarons Dal, Kvinesdal. Nearly sixty people from many different churches attended this Saturday Bible School and I enjoyed every minute of the time with them.
Later Solveig and I were able to spend some time with John Arve and his wife Gunn Bj�rg in their lovely home in Ganddal. They are a wonderful couple with a genuine desire to serve God and his people. It was so good to listen to their story of how God had been leading them to start this new church Familiekirken. I am convinced that they will succeed in their endeavour to reach non-believers and make them part of a covenant community of God�s people.

Cross cultural relationships
Today we are taking farewell with our dear friends from India that have been visiting us for the last ten days. Brenda, Zephry and Joel are such rare good quality people. It is a great privilege to have such people in our home. We have thoroughly enjoyed their stay with us. We have had a lot of fun together as well as some serious discussions on deep subjects.

Our life has become richer by getting to know these dear friends. Their skin colour is slightly different, their English accent are Indian while ours are Norwegian. Their culture and taste are different. They are even younger than us. But none of these things matter at all. We are like brothers and sisters, like kindred spirits and covenant friends. That is why we love each other�s company.

Poor are those people with no cross cultural relationships.

Look and listen carefully!
I was reading in The Message Bible this morning in Ezekiel 40 where the prophet of God is telling the story how he was touched by God and brought in divine vision to Jerusalem. There a messenger of God spoke to him: �Son of man, look and listen carefully. Pay close attention to everything I�m going to show you. That�s why you�ve been brought here. And then tell Israel everything you see.�
Almost everywhere I read in the Bible the Lord is pressing in on me the same message of being alert and present in the world to be able to see what God is doing and to hear the words that proceed from his mouth. It is so important for us to look for the finger of God and listen carefully to his voice in everyday situations.
Last Sunday night I attended a meeting in R�de. The choruses we were singing had been written on a flip-over. When I read the words before we started to sing everything seemed to be alright. But when we started to sing the songs we soon realised that a few lines were missing in some of the songs. Then the Lord spoke to me about the situation in the church: Everything seems to be in order but there is something missing in the church. I will bring in some new people to fill in what is missing and make the church whole and complete.

Answering emails
To day I have spent all morning in front of my computer screen responding to emails and explaining many theological positions as well as sending greetings and encouragements to dear friends. At the end I wrote a new poem on being somebody. I recommend you to click on To Be Somebody.

A vision of Tistedal
When I visited the Methodist church in Tistedal at the weekend God gave me a vision explaining the spiritual situation at that place. I saw a beautiful apple tree with plenty of red apples. The apples were ripe for harvest. It was a plentiful harvest and the delicious red apples were easy to pluck down and bring into the storehouse. Only one sad thing I became aware of. Many apples had fallen down and were rotting on the ground. No one had cared to harvest them! Because of the love of the Lord he is now intervening to send workers to bring in the plentiful harvest of red apples. Tistedal is an apple tree full of beautiful and ripe apples. The harvest is plentiful! People at all ages are ready for the gospel of the Kingdom, ready for the saving Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Oh Lord, open the eyes of your people! Let them see the people ready to be brought into your Kingdom! Give your people to know your heart for the sinners and outsiders! Fill your people with your love, let your love motivate them in their interaction with none believers. Grant your people boldness in proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour!

A strange experience
The morning service in the Methodist church was a strange experience. I was like going back to childhood. It seemed so remote from reality. It struck me that there was no expression of joy. Not one psalm or song was directed towards God. It was very strange to me. However they seemed to receive the word that Solveig and I brought with open hearts. They responded well to the alter call following our messages.
The people were very friendly and getting well along with one another. When the service was over they seemed to be happier and more relaxed than during the meeting. There are some real saints among them with a wonderful heart for God but the form of the service seemed to inhibit them instead of releasing them into joyful function. There was so much life and love among the people so I wonder why the service had a form that did not allow that to be expressed. It is my prayer that the leaders will be brave and wise in bringing the necessary changes to release the power of God among them!

Meeting again after 27 years
Yesterday we arrived in Tistedal at the Swedish border under the sign of covenant in the sky. Then I was reminded of a prophetic word I received awhile ago that actually was being fulfilled at my visit to the Methodist church. I had been invited by Ray whom I met 30 years ago and have not seen in 27 years. I was so good to meet him and his wife again after all these years. I was blessed by their love for the Lord and their heart for the people of God.

Last night I was asked to share with the church what God has been doing for us in Bergen. They were very open and we had a good time of questions and dialog on the situation at Kristent Fellesskap in Bergen.

This morning we have been together for three long teaching sessions and a good time of dialog again with a nice lunch and good break as well. The hunger for God to move and the willingness to change is obvious as the alternative is rather frightening! May God grant them the clarity of vision and the strength to carry it through to fulfilment!

A daily blog is difficult!
I realise that is more difficult that I thought to send my daily blog. Monday morning we left the home where we stayed in Wales at 06.30 to meet up with the rest of the Norwegian to go to London in a minibus. We arrived just in time for the flight to Oslo. In Oslo we had to run to catch the flight to Bergen. When we came home I had to leave immediately to some shopping before I had to go to the airport to meet Joel, Brenda and Zephry, our friends from India, arriving from Gatwick. Their plane was late and by the time I had taken them home and shared a meal it was time for bed.
Tuesday morning I attended the early morning-prayer-meeting with the leadership in Kristent Fellesskap Bergen at 06.00. After prayer I had to go home to bring Zephry to the Bible School for teaching while I went to Gullbotn for a time of more prayer and planning with my co-workers in Kristent Nettverk. The evening was spent in more planning with Zephry and Brenda.
Wednesday morning I was off to another early morning-prayer-meeting, this time with pastors from various churches in town, before I had to rush to the Bible School for five teaching sessions. When I had finished my teaching I had to hurry home to fetch Solveig and my Indian friends to go to Karm�y for a meeting, arriving just in time. After the meeting we hurried home and were not in the house before 01.00 in the middle of the night.
Yesterday I took Zephry to the Bible School while I was seeing some people and preparing to make a comment and summary of the three first chapters of Ed Silvoso�s book �Anointed for Business�. Then I met with the Pastoral Network of Bergen to give my comment and insight of these chapters. When that time with the pastors were over we (Solveig, Zephry, Brenda, Joel and me) left to go by car over the mountains to the eastern part of Norway. When we arrived at Haugen Hotel in Geilo I was too tired to blog.
After breakfast today I am taking my Indian friends to Stokke while we are continuing our journey all the way to Tistedal in �stfold where we are going to be with the Methodist Church for the weekend.
I am not giving up my intention of daily blogs. I am determined to become better in utilising my time!

Harmony and unity

Harmony and unity
What a blessed week I have had in England and Wales! We experienced the truth of Psalm 133:

133 A song for the ascent to Jerusalem. A psalm of David.
How wonderful it is, how pleasant,
when brothers live together in harmony!
For harmony is as precious as the fragrant anointing oil
that was poured over Aaron�s head,
that ran down his beard
and onto the border of his robe.
Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon
that falls on the mountains of Zion.
And the LORD has pronounced his blessing,
even life forevermore. (NLT)

How refreshing it is to be together in covenant love!
How encouraging it is to see people prefer one another!
How strengthening it is to hear the reports from foreign countries!
How confirming it is to hear the prophetic word proclaimed!
How sweet the embrace of covenant friends!
How good it is to laugh together in pure fun!
How wonderful, how pleasant, to be in harmony!
How safe it is to receive apostolic instructions!
How great to have the opportunity to give of our money!
How effective the laying on of hands in the godly company!
How transforming to be in the presence of God!

A prophet of God in my arms

Today I held a prophet in my arms.
I sung to him and he fell asleep.
He slept so safely
and peacefully at my chest.
When I looked at him I could see
the beauty of heaven on his face.

I did not know that I held a prophet in my arms I only thought I was singing for my little grandson called Jai Ruben. I did not know that a servant of God rested at my chest I thought I only did a favour to my daughter looking after her son. That in it self was a great miracle as my parents was told by the doctors that I would not grow up. Not only did I grow up, I got married, I got children, and now I was holding one of my grandsons on my lap. That was a miracle of God! His healing power made me whole forty years ago and my heart was filled with thankfulness to God for his goodness towards me, giving me grandchildren. Then I heard the voice of God telling me that I did not only hold a grandson in my arms but that a prophet of the Lord was finding rest at my heart.

What a joy!
What a privilege!
What an honour!
What a favour of God!
God has entrusted me with a treasure of heaven.
A prophet of God was sleeping in my arms!
He will be a prophet of joy and overflowing life.
He will be anointed with great power
- to bring healing and hope,
- to lead people into the glorious freedom in the Kingdom of God.
He will be a prophet of liberation and restoration
Therefore joy will be his hallmark.

Thank you God, for your kindness!
Thank you Lord, for your faithfulness towards me!
You are a wonderful good God to serve!

Without borders

The first day of the leader�s conference called without borders is over. It has been a very fulfilling experience to be together with men and women from all over the world with the same vision of the glorious unchanging King and his unshakable Kingdom. Everything that has been shared has been full of life in the Holy Spirit and every servant of God has been overflowing of the blessing of revelation and spiritual insight. The presence of God has been evident among us as well as the joy of covenant love among the community of God�s people.

At the very beginning the Lord spoke to me about throwing away all the crutches as God is wanting to teach us to walk without them, - in the Spirit. Yeah, not only walk but run faster than we can run � by the Spirit. So easily we lean on our own resources and human wisdom instead of being led by the Spirit. So easily we trust our own strength and mind only to limit ourselves to the natural instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to bring us into the supernatural realm of resurrection life. The only way forward is by learning to obey God in a new way through the Spirit! The key to a fulfilling life is to be quick to respond to the Holy Spirit in every situation. AMEN! So help me God!

Approaching PC World

When we were in England in June my wife bought me a digital camera. I have been taking hundreds of photos in the three months since I received it. Just before we went to England I had an accident with my camera. The zoom and the lens were broken. Therefore I brought it with me to get it repaired. I took insurance on the camera to cover all kinds of accidents and things that could happen to it.
We started to phone PC World where we bought it and took our insurance last night. It was very difficult to get through the automatic answering options to get a real person to talk to. When we actually got a real person in the other end, he or she was not the right person to talk to because we had come to the wrong department. It took us many calls and a long time to get the right number to call and when we phoned that number we were too late as the office was closed. The first thing in the morning was to phone again, we arrived to the right department, seemingly spoke with the right people with no use for their computers were not working. We were told to phone back in one hour, which we did only to get the same answer. The third time their computers were still not working but at least the took our name and phone number and promised to phone back. We could not sit home waiting for the phone call so we went to town with our grandchildren and had a wonderful time with them. When we returned home a message from PC World waited in the answering machine. We had to take another phone call going through the automatic questions, pushing the right button to get stuck in a queue so long that we had to give up in order to have some food. After the meal we tried again and this time we got through after a while. At last the computers were working and we were registered properly before we were given a new telephone number to call. When we called that number we were to late for the office were closed for the day, we will have to call back tomorrow. Hopefully we will get the help we desperately need tomorrow!

I am so happy that approaching God is much easier than approaching PC World. With God we have direct access when we come in the name of Jesus Christ at any time. With God we don�t need to go through any screening process and we are not sent from department to department. God is always the right person to talk to whatever the matter is. Prayer is so easy and rewarding not frustrating like getting through at PC World!

We are leaving for England

In few minutes we are leaving for England. We will visit our grandchildren for two days and then we will attend an international conference for Christian leaders. I hope I will be able to connect to the Internet so I can continue to blog. If it turns out to be difficult I will be back in Norway next week.
I have had some very encouraging statistics from my blog pages. Many of my readers spend a lot of time on my pages. They come from different part of the world but the Europeans seem to dominate at the moment. I have plans for making my pages even more interesting and am looking to God to help me realise my dreams for my internet involvement.

A special comfort

I was comforted a special way today. We have been blessed with the best car in the world (to my knowledge), Subaru Legacy Outback. But I had a problem as I couldn�t find the middle seat belt in the seats behind. Next week I knew I needed all three seat belts in the back seat. Therefore I phoned my Subaru dealer in Trondheim, Tyholt Bil, where I bought the wonderful car, and spoke with the kind and nice sales-representative I dealt with when I bought my Subaru. I explained my problem and he gave me many suggestions and I was running out to the car to check it to no help. I could find no seat belt for the middle seat. After been out to look in the car for six times with no result and the former owner had been consulted the salesman finally got a bright idea. He went into one of his new cars for sale to look for the middle seat belt. Then he found it and easily he could explain it to me. Both of us had been looking down for a two point connection belt but my car had a three point connection belt that was easily seen when we look up. My comfort was that the salesman for such a long time was as helpless as me! But I was very happy that he came up with the solution in the end.

Discovering the truth together

Today I have spent the whole day again at Bergen Bible School trying to help the students to understand the Bible. We have been looking at how Jesus and the apostles interpreted the Old Testament. We have had some good dialogue on some intriguing questions. I enjoy being with these students as I try to ask them questions that will help them to reach their own conclusions. I don�t like to give or receive ready made answers as it is more exciting with wondering and discovering the truth together.

Weekend with Mark DuPont

Another weekend is over. I was a good weekend with some joint meetings with several churches in town. Mark DuPont was the main speaker. He is a prophet of God with an international ministry. He has been coming to Norway for many years and for nearly ten years he has visited Bergen regularly twice a year. He is loved by many people in many of the churches comprising the one church of God in Bergen.
His burden is to see the presence and holiness of God manifested among the covenant community as it is brought to maturity. It is more important to know the ways of God rather than only know his works. This time he also emphasised that we are being tested by the word of God, as he is forming our character preparing us for everything he has promised. Diamonds are formed under tremendous pressure but coal is formed by the same material under less pressure. Coal will burn out but diamonds will be shaped to reflect light and beauty. In the same way we are being formed into the likeness of our Lord to reflect his glory through a beautiful life.

Understanding the Bible

Today has been another interesting day at the Bible School. For five hours I have been teaching and dialoguing with bright students on how to understand the Bible. We have looked at some hermeneutical guidelines to come to the right conclusions. I illustrated the need for guidelines by giving them some weird interpretations of some Scripture portions. The strange thing is that there are always some students that believe these weird interpretations to be very spiritual. The same thing happened today but I was pleased to discover that lots of them didn�t get trapped by my attempt.
Before I went to work this morning I was reading in the prophet Ezekiel. Some words that the Lord spoke to him are the real keys in arriving at the right understanding of the Word:
�Son of man, get all these words that I�m giving you inside you. Listen to them obediently. Make them your own!� Ezekiel 3:10 The Message
It is all about getting the word on the inside, by listening obediently, making the word part of our own life. Then we will be able to share the message of God in a trustworthy way with our fellow men and women because we have become one with the Word in such a way that we are a message of God. When we are living out the Word in our ordinary life our life become a message of God to our neighbours and fellow workers.

The refreshing Atle

Atle came late to our gathering in the pastoral network at Gullbotn. He arrived the second day only, but what a blessing he brought with him. He was overflowing in praise and thanksgiving in his typical Pentecostal way. He is using the old Biblical expressions, Pentecostal jargon, strange sounds and a loud voice. To most of the pastors present he comes from a different planet, - expression wise, but he is so real, so genuine that the strange expressions don�t matter. His zeal for the Lord and his excitement are infectious. He came into our gathering and started to pray in such a way that we were all refreshed by his joyful and heartfelt praise and his passionate supplications. He added a great blessing to our gathering through his contributions during the day, but more than anything else he added something from God by just being himself. It is my prayer that God will make me a refreshing to all the people I meet, that I may add a different dimension of God into every gathering I am participating

The Pastoral Network

Since yesterday 18 pastors and Christian leaders from 10 different churches in the city of Bergen have been together to pray, talk and fellowship at Gullbotn. We have had a wonderful time together sharing with one another what God is doing in our lives and in the many churches we represent. Even though we differ in age, background, tradition etc. there is a warm acceptance and a real appreciation of one another. The oldest is a Lutheran pastor and the youngest is a Pentecostal pastor. The Lutheran pastor has been in ministry much longer than the Pentecostal pastor has lived all together but they are listening to one another and have the same longing for revival. We have all been united in a desire than none should be lost but that everyone should come to repentance and know the truth of the gospel in our city.
It is a remarkable thing the Lord has done among us. For many years we used to come together occasionally but now we meet to pray one morning every week. The weekly prayer gathering has been going on for two years now. We have met once a month to talk and fellowship for several more years. Now there is a sense of bonding and belonging that is unique among us. We are experience the reality of Psalm 133:

How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along!
It�s like costly anointing oil flowing down head and beard,
Flowing down Aaron�s beard, flowing down the collar of his priestly robes.
It�s like the dew on Mount Hermon flowing down the slopes of Zion.
Yes, that�s where God commands the blessing, ordains eternal life.
The Message

New church plantings

Yesterday was a most wonderful Sunday as we celebrated the planting of two new churches or rather released two flocks to concentrate their efforts to reach their local communities with the good news of the Kingdom of God.
In the morning we went to Frekhaug in Nord-Hordland celebrate a new start for the covenant community I that area. About one hundred people from all over were gathered together to participate in this event. The service went along the �normal� way of singing, preaching and praying but was followed by a steady flow of prophetic utterances at the end as elders were ordained and given new anointing to function in a greater capacity than before. All people present were excited by what took place and were filled with joyful expectancy to what the Lord will do their community.
In the afternoon we went to Sotra to celebrate another new start for the covenant community in Sotra and �ygarden. They have a different story. Here two separate flocks are becoming one united flock. A joining was taking place between an already establish church and several cell-groups that used to be part of the big church in the city of Bergen twenty minutes away. But for all of them they were being planted in new soil for greater fruitfulness. About one hundred and sixty people were gathered together to joyfully celebrate the joining and knitting together to be able to reach all the small communities in the many islands they represented. The format of the meeting was very much the same as the service in the morning but with even more excitement and prophetic unction.
What a privilege to be part of an apostolic and prophetic company seeing communities of the Kingdom of God being born and fostered to fruit yielding maturity. What a strength it is to work together in a covenant relationship not being alone anymore! What a blessing to be harnessed and yoked to other men and women, different from me, with the same vision and zeal of the Lord to see the purpose of God achieved in this world!