The day in Sri Lanka I had a very pleasant surprise when my friend Cushan came to see me at the hotel. Rohan, a friend of him from Kandy had phoned him to invite him to come for some seminar. Cushan wanted to come and asked, "Who is the speaker?" Rohan answered, "I don't remember his name, but it is he who taught George covenant!" Then Cushan realized it was me he was talking about. When I came to teach in a seminar first time 18 years ago and the following two visits, covenant was one of my main subjects.
Month: November 2008
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Arriving in Sri Lanka
Yesterday we arrived in Sri Lanka after all night travel by train to Chennai to catch a flight to Colombo. At the airport of Colombo Betty and Robert Erlandsen was waiting for us with our friend Christo whom we met long time during previous visits to the beautiful garden island.
During our stay here we will meet with several friends from previous visits as well as having some gatherings with leaders among the covenant community. Our last visit to Sri Lanka was in 1995, so we have a lot of catching up work to do.
It is always a great joy to meet friends from the past and to discover that their journey with the Lord has taken them on a similar route as one self and that they are still on fire for Jesus. It is a great joy to see that the Lord is able to keep us and to take us forward in his purposes. I am really happy that we can spend time with our friends that have been faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ during hard times.
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Heaven is rejoicing
On our last visit to a village church in India we saw 8 people with Hindu background commit their lives to Jesus Christ the Lord and Saviour of the world. We were taken to this village by our friend Venkateswara. The believers had just started to sing and for one hour they were singing and praying as more and more people came together.
Solveig gave a wonderful testimony and then I was able to give the people the good news of the Kingdom of God and the everlasting love of the Father. People listened attentively and receptively. At my invitation all the people indicated that they wanted to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. When I asked for those who accepted Christ for their first time to come forward 8 people came! We were able to lead them to Jesus and the local pastor will do the follow up work.
There was great joy in the village, but even greater joy in heaven! Heaven is rejoicing when one single sinner repent and turn to Jesus for salvation. This night we saw 8 people turn to Christ and there was great rejoicing in heaven and the car as we returned to our hotel late at night.
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Being a cistern or a spring
Sunday morning we had a very good time with the covenant community in Jaipur. I have never seen so many people gathered at the Rotary Club any time before, even though it took quite some time for the all the people to arrive at the gathering. But it is a great joy to meet with the covenant friends. I am always encouraged by all the stories of how God is helping in so many different ways in the every day life of his people. This Sunday God also spoke some wonderful truths to us as well. He spoke of transforming the desert to a fruitful place and changing the cistern into a spring of living waters.
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The art of seeing
Today we have been learning together the art of seeing. We have been together all morning and we have had a wonderful time of dialog and practical teaching. The Spirit of God taught us to be alert to receive from God the blessings he is pouring out from his open heaven. God longs to bless his people. He wants us to be refreshed every day, but so often we don't see his finger or even his hand at work in our life and in our circumstances. We walk through life as if were blind to the workings of the Spirit of God. All too often we are deaf to the voice of God and we don't understand the music of the Spirit, therefore we don't obey him nor do we dance to his rhythm of life.
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Revelatory dialog
Today we have had a wonderful time of revelatory dialog with the leaders of the covenant community and the students at Jaipur Covenant School. We have spent the whole morning in Isaiah 6 and God presented himself among us. The Holy Spirit opened our hearts to see wonderful things in the Scripture. As we dialoged together God enligthened our hearts and minds to perceive spiritual realities. I am so grateful to God for the privilege to serve him in this exiting way. He brings me great joy and refreshment as he lets his Word become alive to my heart. There is no nourishment that can be compared with the spiritual nourishment of God's word!
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Arriving in India – again!
We arrived in New Dehli at 0115 after midnight. It took us some time to get our luggage and then reach the domestic airport where we had to wait for our flight for Jaipur with Jet Airways at 0545 in the morning. When we arrived in Jaipur to be welcomed by our dear friend Zephry we were quit sleepy and tired, but very happy to be back in India and to be with our friend.
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Interpreting dreams
At the early prayer meeting with the leaders of the covenant community in Bergen today we had a very good time of prayer and prophetic ministry.At the end of the gathering a very good believer came to share a dream with us as the leaders of this community. I was full of expectations as I was told that this believer would come and share a dream with us. However as the dream was told my heart sank. The dream was rather grotesque, and I wondered if it could be a message from God at all. After sharing the dream the person gave the interpretation of the dream.
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The art of listening
In the prophetic scriptures I find many exhortations concerning the art of listening. One of the main complaints God has against his people is that they are not listening. This morning I read this exhortation to listen to God: "Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say" (Isaiah 28:23). The Lord is saying that we need to listen carefully to hear his voice and pay attention to understand what he is saying. There is no point in ever hearing, but never understanding what God wants us to do. There is no point in ever seeing, but never perceiving what God's will is.
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Love and authority
This morning I was reading the book of the prophet Isaiah and I came across a verse on love and authority that spoke to my heart. "In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it – one from the house of David – one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness." (Isaiah 16:5). Only in love a throne is established and only in love true spiritual authority can be exercised! Only a faithful man can have true spiritual authority and his authority will be used to bring justice and to speed the cause of righteousness. Since God is love, spiritual authority must be an expression of love.