November 29, 2002

Bringing in the Presence of God
I was reading this morning in the introduction to the prophetic scriptures in the Message Bible. In that introduction I found a lot of deep insight into the propetic ministry. One thing is stuck with me after this reading. The prophets bring in in the Presence of God and his immence largeness to us in such a way that we have to adjust and fit into him and allow every aspect of our lives to be in line with his rule, his will for us.

November 28, 2002

Friends working together
Today I have been together with my friends in Kristent Nettverk at Gullbotn for fellowship, prayer and planning. We have had a wonderful time together. It is such a privilege to be friends working together to advance the Kingdom of God! God has been so good to us in allowing us to develop a happy and meaningful working relationship among us. In fact it is much more than a working relationship, we are brothers, friends and partners together for a higher purpose, the Kingdom of God. We are united in the Spirit to fulfil the great commission and to see the purpose of God come true for our generation. I really appreciate all the men that God has joined me to for life! It is a great privilege to be joined to faithful men. It is a great joy to be together in the covenant community of God!

November 27, 2002

My mother died yesterday!
When I called my mother on monday morning she was not well. In fact she was so ill that she was not able to talk to me an the phone. Immediately I went by car 5 hours drive to be with her. When I arrived she was very ill, but still it was so good to be with her. I was able to spend the entire night with her in the old people's home where she had been admitted the very same day I arrived! All except one of my brothers who was not well himself were able to talk to her and take a proper fare well with her. Her last greetings to us was: We will meet in heaven! She was in great pain during the night but clear in her mind and able to talk with us. In the late morning just said: Dear Jesus, dear Jesus! And then she fell a sleep and after awhile she peacefully went to be with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
I loved my mother. She was a most wonderful mother. I am so thankful to the Lord for allowing her to become 85 years old. May her memory for always be blessed!

Here is what I wrote after one of my last visits to her:
The last few days I have been visiting my mother. She is growing old, approaching 85 years. The body is failing her more and more, and she is not well at all. But her inner being is younger than ever. In spite of her pain and diseases she said to me to night: �When I lay down to sleep, I tell myself and my God that I still like to live. I enjoy life! Is it wrong of me thinking like that at my age?� I assured her that it was right of her to like to live in spite of her circumstances.

When I looked at her, she was so beautiful; her eyes so bright and full of life. Her body has become fragile and delicate like an artwork of fine china. Her white hair is like a crown of life. Even though she has shrunk to become seven inches shorter than she used to be, she is a greater person than ever. To me, even the hunch she has developed on her back, has a strange beauty. There is a kind of an inner radiance of beauty breaking forth in the ugliest expression of her aging body.

After being with my mother I wrote this poem:

The face of an old person
To be somebody
Is to look at the face of an old person
And see the beauty of God.
The soft lines of wrinkles look like
A piece of classic art work
The hardships of life
Have left their beautiful marks
The scars and the folds
Seem to be engrafted
By a great artist
The face of an old believer
Carries the dignity of a sacred life
That dignity of faith, hope and love
Endure all tests
And last forever!

November 22, 2002

Teaching time at the Covenant School of Ministries is over
After three sessions this morning my teaching assignment at the Covenant School of Ministries has been fulfilled. It has really been a fulfilling time for me to be with these wonderful students. They are totally committed to the Lord and to his kingdom. I have been encouraged and blessed by fellowshipping with them and by their prayers and concern for me and my health. After the last session today they all gathered around me and prayed for me, blessing me in the name of the Lord and prophesying to me. It is my prayer as well that I have been able to leave with them a deposit of the Spirit that will equip them to serve the purpose of God in their generation.
In one of the breaks today I was able to show them how to blog and help them started. Their common blog is to be found at: http://csmstudents.blogspot.com
To morrow morning I am going home to my wonderful wife and I will spend most of my time the rest of this year in writing my new book.

November 21, 2002

Alpha and Omega
I have just finished a wonderful day with the students at the Covenant School of Ministries in Wales. We have been looking at different images of our corporate identity in Christ and as usually I have happily allowed myself to be sidetracked many times along the way to a fuller understanding of the eternal plan and purpose of God. At the end we were looking at Christ as the present message of God, or as the fullness of the revelation of God as the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
In fact Christ is the entire alphabet of God. He is the full expression of God. The plan and purpose of God is centered in Christ. When we know Christ we will be able to read any situation, any society, any age and the development of history itself. When we don't know Christ things don't come together, we are the left with a fragmented understanding of what is going on around us.Christ as the alphabet enables us to read and understand history.
When we have our identity in Christ we realize that each one of us are like single letters in the alphabet. One by one we are not able to express much, but when we are being put together in the right order we will be able to express Him in multiple ways. When we are being put together we give meaning to each other and are able to express ourselves in a great variety of ways according to the different measure of grace given to the people we are joined to by the Holy Spirit. There is a rich variety in the grace of God and in the spiritual gifts he is giving to each one of us. We must manage the grace well and allow the generosity of God to flow through us to bless other people. We are called to be a colourful and creative community displaying the manifold grace of God.
I can see some of this colourful and manifold grace of God in the students I am privileged to be with these days!
Maltesers
Early this morning when I arrived at the All Nation Centre in Cardiff I was given a king size bag of Maltesers. What a pleasant surprise! What a divine blessing! It was Steve that brought me that sweet greeting from the Lord to me as he had been reminded by the Lord to buy it to me! God is so good! He even cares for small things to make life sweeter and more enjoyable!

November 20, 2002

Our visit to Darjeeling
On the way to Darjeeling Per Arne Gjerde joined us at the airport of New Dehli. It was good to see him and welcome him as we were going to Darjeeling. I have been to Darjeeling once before (in 1971) and I was longing to go back to that beautiful place. When we arrived at the airport in Bagdogra, my friend Henry was waiting for us. He arranged our stay in the Darjeeling district. However we discovered that he had not planned to take us to Darjeeling at all, but only to Kalimpong. I had never been to Kalimpong before so that was ok with me.
We arrived late in the evening after a long journey climbing the mountains on narrow and curvy roads. Henry took us to some of his friends, leaders of communities of believers in that region. We had a very meaningful time with them during our stay in Kalimpong and we were able to share with them on the purpose of God for a prophetic community of people closely knitted together, working together in close and warm relationships. The Spirit of God was moving among us and we saw a wonderful release of the prophetic spirit among them as we minister to them through the laying on of hands and prophesying to them. Nearly all of them prophecy during the following day. I am really looking forward to hear good news of further development in all the communities of believers they represented.
In Kalimpong we decided that we wanted to go to Darjeeling anyway and that we had the time to do it. The trip to Darjeeling with the Sumo was a wonderful experience as we had a very good driver that carefully took us to our destination. The scenery on the way was just breathtaking, awesome and majestic. We were bursting out in praise to the Creator for his marvelous works over and over again as we went along to Darjeeling, climbing to the heights of more than 7000 feet..
Early in the morning we were taken to Tiger Hill at the heights of 9000 feet to watch the sunrise. It was just magnificent to see the rays of light touch the Himalayan mountain range covered with snow. Again we were praising God for his majestic work of creation. Actually, he is my Father, and he made all the beautiful nature us to enjoy it to the full!
When we should go to the airport of Bagdogra the following day, we came to know that a taxi-driver had been killed in Kalimpong the previous evening and now there was a strike on and no care were allowed to leave the town! If we had been in Kalimpong as planned we would have been stuck there, not being able to reach our flight for New Dehli. In his goodness, God not only saved us from all that hassle but he gave us this wonderful trip to Darjeeling which we enjoyed to the full because of the manifold beautiful scenery, but also because we were able to do some shopping. We bought a lot of genuine Darjeeling Tea and also presents for all our grandchildren. God is so good to us!
Covenant School of ministries
This morning I was introduced to the students of Covenant School of Ministries at the All Nations Centre in Cardiff. There are thirteen excellent students at the moment and I enjoyed every minute with them. They are mature and zealous, a bright bunch of wonderful mainly young people. It is a privilege to be able to share my heart with them and to interact with them inside and outside class.
God put on my heart to share about the eternal purpose of God from Genesis 1 as our destiny is found in our origins. Today we have been looking into the triune relational nature of God as the source of the creation and as the goal of history. We have a good time looking at people being created in the relational image of God, created for community and togetherness to reflect the glory of God in this visible world.
I am so grateful to the Lord for allowing me to be with such quality people as these students. It is a tremendous privilege to be able to share some of the insight God has given me with these servants of the Lord. I am blessed by being with them.
Going to Wales
Yesterday I arrived in Cardiff in Wales and was warmly welcomed by my longstanding friend Dr. Roger Aubrey, the Principal of Covenant School of Ministries, School of the Word, Cardiff.. We spent the after noon and evening together and shared a wonderful dinner with his precious family. Diana prepared a delicious meal and we had a good time of fellowship. I find Roger's company very satisfying and fulfilling for we are able to share our hearts with one another and sharpen one another in the Word. I am always encouraged and sharpened in my spirit when I have been with my friend Roger.

November 18, 2002

A strange miracle!
An Indian lady, Madhu, approached me once on my visit to Jaipur when I met with the covenant community there. She told me that she had been praying for me ever since I brought some prophetic word to her on my last visit one year ago. Everything God told her through that prophetic word had come through in her life and she was so encouraged and strengthened by the grace and goodness of God.
Madhu and her husband Rajinder have been used by God to bring the peace and joy of salvation to many people during last year. They are totally committed to their Lord, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. It was such a joy to see them taking actively part and contributing in different ways when the people of God were gathered together. Madhu was reading from her Bible and sharing with others what God had spoken to her through his Word.
What I didn�t know at that time was that Madhu used to be among the 70% illiterate women in the state of Rajasthan. Zephry told me that after she came to know Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour, she asked him to help her to learn to read the Bible. By a miracle she was able to read the Bible! But she was not able to read other books yet! I was watching her read from the Bible but I didn�t know I was watching a miracle! Whenever she opens the Bible a miracle takes place! This illiterate woman is able to read! When one love God and puts one�s trust in him, nothing seems to be impossible!

November 17, 2002

Why is Hinduism collapsing?
An Indian friend of mine sent me a email informing me of a provoking article by Vishal Mangalwadi on Hinduism collapsing. Vishal Mangalwadi is an Indian of great stature and spiritual insight. If you are interested in India and what is going on in that great nation you must visit his site at http://www.VishalMangalwadi.com
At last I am back to the Web!
Two full weeks have passed since last time I was able to send a blog. The days have been so fulfilling and exciting as we have been going places, seen so many beautiful spots and met with so many extraordinary people. These two weeks have been such a rich experience but I have have not seen any Internet connection around and therefore I have not been able to send any blog.
But today we are back home in Norway! We have been with my son and his lovely family for a delicious Norwegian dinner and enjoyed fellowship with our wonderful grandchildren.
I am planning to share some of our experiences from the last two weeks in India the coming days as the Lord will remind me of his goodness.

November 03, 2002

Living Christian Fellowship
Today we were invited to join the covenant community to worship at the Rotary Club hall in Jaipur. At least 130 beautiful people were together to celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ and his salvation. It was a time of great joy of singing and dancing in the presence of God as a bunch of young people led us in worship. A lady visiting for the first time was overwhelmed by the expressions of joy. She had never seen such joy before! She told me herself and I appreciated her testimony very much.
During the time of worship people brought several encouraging prophecies and visions. It was about multitudes of people turning to God, that people in bondage would be set free, that God would let his light shine through his people and dispel the darkness, that the house of God was a house of bread for the hungry to come and eat freely.
After the worship many people came forward to tell of the goodness the God towards them during last week. Some had been protected in the midst of traffic accidents, some had been healed from various diseases and some had seen people set free from demon oppression. A little girl, at the age of eight I guess, blessed me a lot as she was so radiant of joy and thankfulness as she gave thanks to the Lord for his help at school. She was so beautiful in her happy gratitude, just to see and hear her was a great blessing.
There was a simple message delivered from the Prophet Zechariah on the servant of the Lord, the Branch, building the temple of God and branching out from among them. That there would be the double anointing of a royal priesthood that would enable them to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom in great power demonstrations and give instruction from God to the people. Signs and wonders would follow them and people would come from many people groups ask to be taught the way of God.
All this would happen to them as they would put their minds to a life of responsive obedience to the voice of God, and as they invited people to their homes to share their peace and prosperity with them.
After this message a lot of people asked for prayer and we heard several testimonies of people being constantly healed from different kinds of pains in their bodies.
At the end of the gathering I had a great surprise! Brenda had brought a big birthday cake and everyone was invited to a pre-celebration of my upcoming birthday just before Christmas. This was totally unexpected! The people even collected a love-offering for Solveig and myself! What a blessed surprise! These people were really rich in love! I have never seen anything like it before!

November 02, 2002

God is good!
God has been so good to us during our visit in India so far. We are in good health in each and every way, and God has led us to meet a lot of good people. Here in Jaipur we have met with many servants of God that are doing a tremendous work for the Lord in this great nation of India. We have heard some exciting and some heartbreaking stories of what is taking place here.
Yesterday we were taken to a carpet factory. It was very fascinating to see the long and complicated process of hand knitting carpet making. What a skill these people have!
Last night Zephry and Brenda took us out for a pre birthday celebration at the Sheraton Rajputana Hotel. We are so blessed in their company irrespective of the surroundings! We had a memorable evening together and I came home with two books of poems by the great Indian poet Tagore! What a blessing!
Manish
The other day Solveig and I had a nice evening at Pizza Hut in Jaipur. This was our second visit here in a few days. We were served by Manish on both occasions, and it was a most pleasant experience. He was so friendly and happy and he made us feel happy as well. His big smile and his bright eyes captured our attention. He was open, light, easy to relate to and clever to communicate, but he was not �pushy� nor overdoing his efforts to us, he was not exaggerating in any way.
Manish had studied commerce but had not been able to find any other job than being a waiter at Pizza Hut. He was highly educated but without a job in accordance with his education. This fate he is sharing with thousand other young men and women in modern India.
Manish was a devotee of Shiva, one of the main Hindu gods, but he didn�t seem to have much faith that his god would help him out of limitations he was experiencing in India. I was happy to share with him that nothing is impossible to the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing is impossible to the one who trust in Him, as He is the only true and living God!