I am a very privileged man. God has been so good to me. Not only do I have the privilege of private praying but also the joy of praying together with my wife, friends and co-workers. Every Tuesday morning the leaders of the covenant community meet for prayer. After the prayer-meeting we enjoy a wonderful breakfast together, prepared by Solveig, the best wife in the world. This has gone on for many years and I think it is one of the main keys to the growth and fruitfulness we have seen during these years. Some time ago a daily prayer-meeting was introduced. We only spend 30 minutes together in prayer in this daily prayer-meeting, but I find it very stimulating.
Month: January 2007
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Teaching at the Bible School on Isaiah
Today I have the joy of being with the students at Bergen Bibelskole looking at Isaiah and the prophetic ministry. To me the book of Isaiah is the greatest of all the books in the Bible. I love to read the book over and over again. The prophet Isaiah is a great poet. He is using so many vivid metaphores and pictures to communicate his timeless message of the holiness of God.
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Brothers, friends, co-workers, fellow soldiers and saints
This morning I had the joy of listening to Noralv Askeland sharing the word of God at the gathering of the covenant community. He was ministering from Philemon 1-7. He started with this definition of church: people living together under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. He continued to describe the different names Pauls is using in these verses of people living under the Lordship of Christ.
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A new look
Today I have given my blog a new look. I hope my friends like the change. I have been blogging since July 2002. There has been a few changes since my first blog at Blogger or Blogspot, and since I shifted to Typepad. Constant change is here to stay. I expect more changes to take place in days to come.
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Alan Hirsch on Missional Church
Last week Alan Hirsch was visiting Bergen. I had the privilege of attending a full day seminar as well as having a dinner with this servant of God with Jewish background from Australia. He shared some good insight on the missional church with us.
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The Sun and the Light
For more than two month it has been raining in Bergen every day. Yesterday it was announced in the news to be the 73 day of raining. Many days it has been pouring down all day, some days it has been showers of rain and a few days, in fact very few, we have seen the sun in between the showers of water.
Yesterday this happened again. I had just finishing cleaning and tidying the house, putting away some Christmas decorations when bright beams of sunshine lightened up the kitchen and the living room. I was so happy, it was so nice, even if this sharp light revealed some more spots of dust some places that needed to be washed away. But I enjoyed the sunshine and to look out of the window and see the beautiful glittering like diamonds on the branches of the trees. The sight was so different when the sun was shining. The sun was out for half an hour before it set and went down behind the mountains.
I was thinking of the real light, Jesus Christ, the son of God. He is the Light of the world and he has cleansed my heart and washed away all the dirty stains and spots, hallelujah. He brightens my day, every day, he lightens my path and guide me by His Word. He fills my heart with sunshine.
Raining or sunshine outside, in fact it matters so little. He makes my day, every day a good day when living in His light.
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Celebrating restoration
When we stepped out of the plane at Geiteryggen airport at Skien the ground was covered with white snow. What a surprise!
The weekend together with the covenant community in Skien became a wonderful celebration of restoration. Saturday evening we enjoyed a lavishing love-feast in the best meaning of the word. Sunday morning we were looking at what the word of God says about restoration. Restoration is one of the red treads through the entire history of the people of God. God is a God that never gives up. He is always working towards fulfillment of his eternal purpose. He is always restoring us back to his ultimate intention. He who began a good work in us is determined to fulfill it!
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Alan Hirsch vitja Bergen
Torsdag 4. januar fekk eg den gleda å vera på seminar med Alan Hirsch, ein Guds tenar frå Australia med jødisk bakgrunn. Han har arbeidt med å starta ei rørsle av misjonerande forsamlingar som kan mangfaldiggjerast og spreiast på same måten som dei første kristne gjorde det, og slik kristne i Kina har gjort det dei siste 60 åra.
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Life goes on
For several weeks there has been no new entry on my blog. This has been unusual, and it will not become the new trend. Most of this time of absence on the blog has been due to lack of online connectivity. It has been a wonderful time with children and grandchildren, and a time of reading, prayer and reflection, as well as of cutting down big trees.