Young people are seeking God
Last evening I had the privilege of attending the youth conference again. About 200 young people were gathered to worship and listen to the word of God. There was no sound, light or smoke effects at all. A young man with a guitar was leading worship, backed by a few more instruments, noting impressive. But as the worship developed and went through differing phases, I was more and more blessed by the powerful presence of God in the gathering.
These young people prayed some bold prayers for their own towns and nations. They proclaimed their visionary faith in the ultimate triumph of Jesus Christ and his kingdom. They prophesied encouraging words to individuals as well as to the entire congregation. They shared fresh visions from God and prophetic insight into his purpose.
I was blessed to see how many of them actively were taking part in what was going on. Very young teenagers and some a little bit older stood side by side praying, proclaiming, prophesying! With a flock of young people like this I can see my dreams for this nation and other nations come true! God is certainly doing a wonderful work in our day!
View Solveig's blog and my poetic blog
December 31, 2003
December 30, 2003
Youth conference
Youth conference
Last Sunday was a wonderful day. It started good when we had a different worship service in the morning. The chairs were arrange differently. The musicians were place a different place. The whole format of the gathering was different from normal procedure. We had already told the people that we wanted to do things differently this time. They all responded very well and the gathering was creative, relaxed, but the presence of God was with us! God spoke to us in an unusual way through people contributing in a rich variety. I was very blessed. I am thankful to our young pastor Morten Askeland allowing us to experiment like this. I hope it is not the last time we do it like this.
In the evening the youth conference started. About 200 young people were gathered for the opening meeting. It had all the ingredients of a great show. Light, sound, smoke filled the hall in a way you wouldn't expect in a church building! I must say that the young people are really creative and unafraid to used new tools for expressing their faith and life in God.
Even though the young people are using new technologies and modern equipments the gathering was still more traditional than the morning service in the church! It was all directed from the platform, according to the normal pattern of a Christian meeting. But beside that it was a very encouraging moment to be there with these 200 young people praising God and listening to the word of God.
Knut Osland kept their attention for about one hour as he gave them the Word of God. He challenged the young people to live a life of obedience and faith, being wholehearted in their commitment to the Lord.
View Solveig's blog and my poetic blog
Last Sunday was a wonderful day. It started good when we had a different worship service in the morning. The chairs were arrange differently. The musicians were place a different place. The whole format of the gathering was different from normal procedure. We had already told the people that we wanted to do things differently this time. They all responded very well and the gathering was creative, relaxed, but the presence of God was with us! God spoke to us in an unusual way through people contributing in a rich variety. I was very blessed. I am thankful to our young pastor Morten Askeland allowing us to experiment like this. I hope it is not the last time we do it like this.
In the evening the youth conference started. About 200 young people were gathered for the opening meeting. It had all the ingredients of a great show. Light, sound, smoke filled the hall in a way you wouldn't expect in a church building! I must say that the young people are really creative and unafraid to used new tools for expressing their faith and life in God.
Even though the young people are using new technologies and modern equipments the gathering was still more traditional than the morning service in the church! It was all directed from the platform, according to the normal pattern of a Christian meeting. But beside that it was a very encouraging moment to be there with these 200 young people praising God and listening to the word of God.
Knut Osland kept their attention for about one hour as he gave them the Word of God. He challenged the young people to live a life of obedience and faith, being wholehearted in their commitment to the Lord.
View Solveig's blog and my poetic blog
December 25, 2003
Books are precious gifts
Books are precious gifts
On Christmas Eve I had the great joy of unwrapping many presents from my wife, children, grandchildren and friends. I find unwrapping packets very exciting. I have never grown up. I am still like a curious little boy, eager to tear off the paper and explore what's inside. And I still prefer to get hard packets.
This year I had all kind of gifts to unwrap. They came in many different shapes, some hard, some soft, and some in between. But the hard gifts of books are the most precious to me! Chocolate I eat and share with others, and then it is gone. Clothes last a little longer, giving both pleasure and warmth before they are worn out. But books live forever. They may be torn and worn, but the more they are used the longer they live in fresh insight and renewed life. I love to unwrap books. I love to read. Books enlarge my life and make me a better person. They enable me to serve my fellow human beings in a better way. Books are precious gifts.
View Solveig's blog and my poetic blog
On Christmas Eve I had the great joy of unwrapping many presents from my wife, children, grandchildren and friends. I find unwrapping packets very exciting. I have never grown up. I am still like a curious little boy, eager to tear off the paper and explore what's inside. And I still prefer to get hard packets.
This year I had all kind of gifts to unwrap. They came in many different shapes, some hard, some soft, and some in between. But the hard gifts of books are the most precious to me! Chocolate I eat and share with others, and then it is gone. Clothes last a little longer, giving both pleasure and warmth before they are worn out. But books live forever. They may be torn and worn, but the more they are used the longer they live in fresh insight and renewed life. I love to unwrap books. I love to read. Books enlarge my life and make me a better person. They enable me to serve my fellow human beings in a better way. Books are precious gifts.
View Solveig's blog and my poetic blog
December 24, 2003
Wonderful Christmas eve
Wonderful Christmas eve
We are just home from the annual Christmas service at church. It was a very good gathering with all the necessary traditional Christmas ingredients, with carols and reading from Luke 2. I read one of my own Christmas poems and that was very well received. I am amazed at the big crowd of non-Christians that gather together with us for an evening like this.
Now I am home. I have just lit the fire in our log fire place. The Christmas tree is filled with lights and glitter, decorated by Solveig only a few days ago. The smell of the traditional Christmas dinner is filling the living room as well. Only in a short time now and we will enjoy our "pinnekj�t" - the dried lamb's rib cooked in a big pan on birch twigs. It is delicious! We only eat it for Christmas eve.
After the dinner we will open the presents. I am so happy that we have this Norwegian tradition of opening the presents on Christmas eve, and not on Christmas day which is tomorrow! It is always a great joy to look at the others when they open their presents and it is exciting to receive presents as well! On Christmas eve we are all like children.
View Solveig's blog and my poetic blog
We are just home from the annual Christmas service at church. It was a very good gathering with all the necessary traditional Christmas ingredients, with carols and reading from Luke 2. I read one of my own Christmas poems and that was very well received. I am amazed at the big crowd of non-Christians that gather together with us for an evening like this.
Now I am home. I have just lit the fire in our log fire place. The Christmas tree is filled with lights and glitter, decorated by Solveig only a few days ago. The smell of the traditional Christmas dinner is filling the living room as well. Only in a short time now and we will enjoy our "pinnekj�t" - the dried lamb's rib cooked in a big pan on birch twigs. It is delicious! We only eat it for Christmas eve.
After the dinner we will open the presents. I am so happy that we have this Norwegian tradition of opening the presents on Christmas eve, and not on Christmas day which is tomorrow! It is always a great joy to look at the others when they open their presents and it is exciting to receive presents as well! On Christmas eve we are all like children.
View Solveig's blog and my poetic blog
December 23, 2003
The God-revealer has arrived
The God-revealer has arrived!
In my NT reading I have come to the Gospel of John. This morning I had the joy of reading and meditation on the prologue of the fourth gospel. These words are powerful in their simplicity. "The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. The Word was God, in readiness for God from day one." Everything was created through him. He called Life into existence, and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering Life
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn�t even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn�t want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.
The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
John pointed him out and called, �This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.�
We all live off his generous bounty,
gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding�
all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
No one has ever seen God,
not so much as a glimpse.
This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
who exists at the very heart of the Father,
has made him plain as day.
From The Message : The Bible in contemporary language
View Solveig's blog and my poetic blog
In my NT reading I have come to the Gospel of John. This morning I had the joy of reading and meditation on the prologue of the fourth gospel. These words are powerful in their simplicity. "The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. The Word was God, in readiness for God from day one." Everything was created through him. He called Life into existence, and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering Life
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn�t even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn�t want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.
The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
John pointed him out and called, �This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.�
We all live off his generous bounty,
gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding�
all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
No one has ever seen God,
not so much as a glimpse.
This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
who exists at the very heart of the Father,
has made him plain as day.
From The Message : The Bible in contemporary language
View Solveig's blog and my poetic blog
December 22, 2003
To be somebody
To be somebody
I am re-launching my poetic blog on being somebody! Hopefully this will be an encouragement to kindred spirits!
View Solveig's blog and my poetic blog
I am re-launching my poetic blog on being somebody! Hopefully this will be an encouragement to kindred spirits!
View Solveig's blog and my poetic blog
I have helped Solveig to start a blog!
I have helped Solveig to start a blog!
I feel quite proud at the moment as I have helped Solveig to start her own blog! She has been writing some nice entries for awhile now, but only a few days ago she started to blog. I am sure many people will be very blessed by what she will be writing. I recommend her blog to everyone!
I feel quite proud at the moment as I have helped Solveig to start her own blog! She has been writing some nice entries for awhile now, but only a few days ago she started to blog. I am sure many people will be very blessed by what she will be writing. I recommend her blog to everyone!
December 21, 2003
Let thousand flowers blossom
Let thousand flowers blossom!
Let tens of thousand different plants flourish!
Let hundreds of thousand seeds sprout, and grow to become a vast forest!
Let the followers of Christ become numerous as the sand on the seashore and stars in the winter-sky.
Let the believers excell in expressing love in practical and down to earth deeds.
Let the covenant community explode with creativity!
Let the church of Christ come to fulness!
Let tens of thousand different plants flourish!
Let hundreds of thousand seeds sprout, and grow to become a vast forest!
Let the followers of Christ become numerous as the sand on the seashore and stars in the winter-sky.
Let the believers excell in expressing love in practical and down to earth deeds.
Let the covenant community explode with creativity!
Let the church of Christ come to fulness!
December 19, 2003
A new generation of Christians
A new generation of Christians
God has been speaking to us of raising up a new generation of young believers who will turn our nation to Christ and disciple our entire nation. This generation will be strong in the Word and in the Spirit. They will know why they believe what they believe according to the Word of God. Likewise they will be at home in the Holy Spirit. They will have the manifestations of the Spirit among them as they serve the community. They will live in a fresh anointing, knowing the power of God and the Word of God. Therefore they will have a secure foundation for their life and they will be powerfully used by God. They will not be uniformed but display the colourful variety of the grace of God in all their dealings. Their community will not be a narrow one, but a liberating environment with a vast variety of expressions of God�s life among them. They will be a creative community with a great variety of gifts and talents. They will be like a garden in early spring, filled with young plants springing up everywhere. They will be young people of fresh initiative and daring exploits for the Lord.
God has been speaking to us of raising up a new generation of young believers who will turn our nation to Christ and disciple our entire nation. This generation will be strong in the Word and in the Spirit. They will know why they believe what they believe according to the Word of God. Likewise they will be at home in the Holy Spirit. They will have the manifestations of the Spirit among them as they serve the community. They will live in a fresh anointing, knowing the power of God and the Word of God. Therefore they will have a secure foundation for their life and they will be powerfully used by God. They will not be uniformed but display the colourful variety of the grace of God in all their dealings. Their community will not be a narrow one, but a liberating environment with a vast variety of expressions of God�s life among them. They will be a creative community with a great variety of gifts and talents. They will be like a garden in early spring, filled with young plants springing up everywhere. They will be young people of fresh initiative and daring exploits for the Lord.
More praying with young leaders
More praying with young leaders
Yesterday the young leaders organizing the New Year Festival had announced a day of prayer and fasting to prepare for the up coming gathering of young people to celebrate the new year. It was my privilege to pray with them last evening.
I am really impressed with these young leaders. They are committed to their call to serve the Lord in their generation. As they were gathering they were sharing with one another what God had been speaking to them through their time in his presence before they came together. I was very blessed as they were quoting the Scriptures and explaining the insight God had been giving them. The hand of the Lord is clearly upon them!
Again we experienced the presence of God and the Holy Spirit moved powerfully in prophetic prayers and the operation of spiritual gifts. I am convinced that the festival will be a milestone or a boundary-breaking experience to many of the young people.
Yesterday the young leaders organizing the New Year Festival had announced a day of prayer and fasting to prepare for the up coming gathering of young people to celebrate the new year. It was my privilege to pray with them last evening.
I am really impressed with these young leaders. They are committed to their call to serve the Lord in their generation. As they were gathering they were sharing with one another what God had been speaking to them through their time in his presence before they came together. I was very blessed as they were quoting the Scriptures and explaining the insight God had been giving them. The hand of the Lord is clearly upon them!
Again we experienced the presence of God and the Holy Spirit moved powerfully in prophetic prayers and the operation of spiritual gifts. I am convinced that the festival will be a milestone or a boundary-breaking experience to many of the young people.
December 17, 2003
People are being saved
People are being saved
The last week has been so busy that I have found no time to blog. But good news are coming in from several places of people coming to Christ for salvation. My elder son, Karl Enok, phoned me yesterday and told the good news that he had been able to lead a person to Christ in the church in Troms�. They will see many people turn to Christ in that city!
A team from the Bergen Bible-school has prayed with several young people for salvation at some evangelistic outreach they have done at some high schools. Now they are involved in the follow up work.
This busy week has been very encouraging. God is certainly at work in this nation of Norway!
The last week has been so busy that I have found no time to blog. But good news are coming in from several places of people coming to Christ for salvation. My elder son, Karl Enok, phoned me yesterday and told the good news that he had been able to lead a person to Christ in the church in Troms�. They will see many people turn to Christ in that city!
A team from the Bergen Bible-school has prayed with several young people for salvation at some evangelistic outreach they have done at some high schools. Now they are involved in the follow up work.
This busy week has been very encouraging. God is certainly at work in this nation of Norway!
December 10, 2003
The pastors in Bergen are celebrating Christmas
The Pastors in Bergen are celebrating Christmas
33 pastors and wives came together for a big Christmas meal at Gullbotn yesterday. Solveig had prepared a wonderful Christmas-table. Her artistic talents had really been released through her beautifully looking and most delicious dishes. We all enjoyed the traditional Norwegian Christmas food and one another's company.
Reidar Paulsen gave a directional speech which we all responded to in faith and with expectation for the future. Prophetic words were given and we had a good time in prayer for one another.
33 pastors and wives came together for a big Christmas meal at Gullbotn yesterday. Solveig had prepared a wonderful Christmas-table. Her artistic talents had really been released through her beautifully looking and most delicious dishes. We all enjoyed the traditional Norwegian Christmas food and one another's company.
Reidar Paulsen gave a directional speech which we all responded to in faith and with expectation for the future. Prophetic words were given and we had a good time in prayer for one another.
December 09, 2003
Young leaders are seeking God
Young leaders are seeking God
It was a great experience and privilege to join with a good number of young Christian leaders to seek GOD for guidance. These young men and women are really hungry for God and they have a burden to see the new generation to come to know the Lord.
As we were praying the Lord spoke very clearly to us to focus on two things that go together: The Word of God and the Holy Spirit. As leaders of young people we must give them the Word of God and help them to nourish themselves in the Word and become strong in the Spirit! If we succeed in raising up a new generation that loves the Word of God and are at home in the Holy Spirit, that generation will turn this nation to God!
I was impressed when the young leaders decided to meet another time before Christmas for fasting and prayer. When people in Norway normally eat and drink as never before during the year, these young leaders will abstain from food and personal pleasure to seek God. When things like this happens, there is a great future for this nation!
It was a great experience and privilege to join with a good number of young Christian leaders to seek GOD for guidance. These young men and women are really hungry for God and they have a burden to see the new generation to come to know the Lord.
As we were praying the Lord spoke very clearly to us to focus on two things that go together: The Word of God and the Holy Spirit. As leaders of young people we must give them the Word of God and help them to nourish themselves in the Word and become strong in the Spirit! If we succeed in raising up a new generation that loves the Word of God and are at home in the Holy Spirit, that generation will turn this nation to God!
I was impressed when the young leaders decided to meet another time before Christmas for fasting and prayer. When people in Norway normally eat and drink as never before during the year, these young leaders will abstain from food and personal pleasure to seek God. When things like this happens, there is a great future for this nation!
December 08, 2003
The nations - gifts before us
The nations - gifts before us
Look, the Lord, God Almighty, has placed the nations of the world as gifts before us! Now, is the time for unwrapping! The nations of the world are open for a new visitation from heaven. They are waiting for a new incarnation. They wonder if the miracle of Christmas could ever happen again?
There is a wonderful openness to the spiritual realities in the new generation in every nation in the world. This is the day of opportunity for all who know God to make him known to the nations that are looking for a greater reality than materialism and political idealism.
The wonder of Christmas is not a nice story tale or a romanticised distortion of an historic event. The wonder of Christmas can be seen in the covenant community serving the society in which it lives.
The wonder of Christmas can be experienced as reality when we unwrap the society in which we live of all its external glitters and lay down our lives to meet the deep needs behind the successful external surface.
Look, the Lord, God Almighty, has placed the nations of the world as gifts before us! Now, is the time for unwrapping! The nations of the world are open for a new visitation from heaven. They are waiting for a new incarnation. They wonder if the miracle of Christmas could ever happen again?
There is a wonderful openness to the spiritual realities in the new generation in every nation in the world. This is the day of opportunity for all who know God to make him known to the nations that are looking for a greater reality than materialism and political idealism.
The wonder of Christmas is not a nice story tale or a romanticised distortion of an historic event. The wonder of Christmas can be seen in the covenant community serving the society in which it lives.
The wonder of Christmas can be experienced as reality when we unwrap the society in which we live of all its external glitters and lay down our lives to meet the deep needs behind the successful external surface.
December 06, 2003
Prophetic gathering
Prophetic gathering
Friday afternoon I met with two other prophets to pray and seek the Lord together. We had a wonderful time sharing with one another from the Word of God what God had been speaking to us personally about. I was really encouraged through this sharing of the fresh insight from our devotional reading of the Bible. Living in the Word of God is the best way of being fresh and sharp in our walk with God.
Personally I am reading in Isaiah at the moment. I felt God spoke to me to spend time with the prophets. I have already read through all the prophets in the Bible and have started my second round. I find reading the prophets very stimulating to spirit and I am being stirred in my heart. These are some verses from the New Living Translation that have touched my heart recently:
The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know what to say to all these weary ones. Morning by morning he awakens me and opens my understanding to his will. (Is 50:4)
Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God. But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon lie down in great torment. (Is 50:10-11)
Friday afternoon I met with two other prophets to pray and seek the Lord together. We had a wonderful time sharing with one another from the Word of God what God had been speaking to us personally about. I was really encouraged through this sharing of the fresh insight from our devotional reading of the Bible. Living in the Word of God is the best way of being fresh and sharp in our walk with God.
Personally I am reading in Isaiah at the moment. I felt God spoke to me to spend time with the prophets. I have already read through all the prophets in the Bible and have started my second round. I find reading the prophets very stimulating to spirit and I am being stirred in my heart. These are some verses from the New Living Translation that have touched my heart recently:
The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know what to say to all these weary ones. Morning by morning he awakens me and opens my understanding to his will. (Is 50:4)
Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God. But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon lie down in great torment. (Is 50:10-11)
December 05, 2003
A growing church in Nordhordland
A growing church in Nordhordland
Last night Solveig and myself had the great privilege of being with the growing church in Nordhordland (north of Bergen). The church was officially launched one year ago and Magnar Askeland and Morten Gundersen were set in as elders. From that time there has been a wonderful growth and a tremendous development has taken place.
For years there has been a group of believers in that place that we had been working towards. They were part of the church Christian Fellowship in Bergen, and they saw a very slow but steady growth. When they started to talk of being a church in their own right in their locality and being planted out as a new church, things started to happen!
They are now a thriving fellowship and a growing church in their region. Once they were planted out, a new sense of responsibility and local belonging released the expanding faith among the people! I was so happy to see so many new faces that I had never seen before! I was filled with joy to see the growth that had taken place, not only numerical but also in character and stature.
God is so good! By his grace we are enabled to be a part of this growing company of God's people. They are really emerging as a church for their locality for a time like this!
Last night Solveig and myself had the great privilege of being with the growing church in Nordhordland (north of Bergen). The church was officially launched one year ago and Magnar Askeland and Morten Gundersen were set in as elders. From that time there has been a wonderful growth and a tremendous development has taken place.
For years there has been a group of believers in that place that we had been working towards. They were part of the church Christian Fellowship in Bergen, and they saw a very slow but steady growth. When they started to talk of being a church in their own right in their locality and being planted out as a new church, things started to happen!
They are now a thriving fellowship and a growing church in their region. Once they were planted out, a new sense of responsibility and local belonging released the expanding faith among the people! I was so happy to see so many new faces that I had never seen before! I was filled with joy to see the growth that had taken place, not only numerical but also in character and stature.
God is so good! By his grace we are enabled to be a part of this growing company of God's people. They are really emerging as a church for their locality for a time like this!
December 02, 2003
To be somebody
To be somebody
is not a matter of right or wrong
it is not a matter of having the political correct opinions
or the classical orthodox doctrine
To be somebody
is a matter of being kind
- of caring for others
- of loving in words and deeds
To be somebody
is all about forgiving
- those who persecute you
and being generous
- towards those who are different
To be somebody
is not a matter of theology
it is all about living a good life
- trusting the Son of man
who set aside the privileges of deity
and became one of us to bring us to God
ministering life to us by dying our death
When you do a favour
to those who don't deserve it
then you are really somebody
is not a matter of right or wrong
it is not a matter of having the political correct opinions
or the classical orthodox doctrine
To be somebody
is a matter of being kind
- of caring for others
- of loving in words and deeds
To be somebody
is all about forgiving
- those who persecute you
and being generous
- towards those who are different
To be somebody
is not a matter of theology
it is all about living a good life
- trusting the Son of man
who set aside the privileges of deity
and became one of us to bring us to God
ministering life to us by dying our death
When you do a favour
to those who don't deserve it
then you are really somebody
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