Several times the last few months I have had the joy of having a dialog with young people from the Scripture. I have found it very rewarding spending time with young people in this way and we have all been blessed by the truths of the Word of God that have come alive to us during the dialog.
Category: Prophetic meditations
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Meditate on Christ
Christian believers have through all
times found inner strength by being still before the Lord and by meditating on
the words of Christ. In returning to God and waiting for Him will we be
refreshed and renewed in our inner being. In quietness and confidence we will
find new strength. -
Let the Word be fleshed out in a day-by-day life of holiness
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–>Prophets of old and new were commanded:
Eat this book! (Ezekiel. 2:8-3:3; Jeremiah. 15:16; Revelation. 10:9-10). “Get
this book into your gut. Get the words of the Scripture moving through your
blood-stream. Chew on these words, swallow them, digest them, and let them turn
into muscle and gristle and bone. Let the Word be fleshed out in a day-by-day
life of holiness.”They all lived in a time like ours, in
which there is a tremendous pressure to live by very different texts than the
one given us by God in the Bible. The diet of the Word of God for these
prophets issued in sentences of awful strength, images of blazing clarity, and
a prophetic life of courageous suffering, enabled them to keep focus and to
overcome their severe trials.As believers in the Western world today,
we are in danger of succumbing to the widespread setting-aside of the Word of
God in the Bible, and replacing them with the post-modern text of our own
experience – our needs and wants and feelings. The texts of our busy and hectic
age are constantly pressing in on us through colourful and loud advertisements,
tabloid headlines in heavy types and all kinds of pictures of war, terrorism,
hunger, and natural catastrophes from around the world.The simple texts of my new book "Releasing Jesus"
find their roots in the Bible and will hopefully challenge us to listen to
another reality than that of the culture around us. The challenge today is more
than ever to calm down to be able to hear the voice of God. Only by receiving
the Word of God into our heart we will get a foothold in life, which will help
us not to be overwhelmed and be rendered passive by all the powerful
impressions of the post-modern culture. -
A prophetic journey to Cuba
At the moment I am visiting grandchildren in England on my way to Cuba. Early Sunday morning I will fly to Havanna in Cuba together with my friend and fellow servant of God, Tony Ling. In Cuba we will join with Keri Jones and Roger Aubrey. We will be participating in opening the first Bible College on Cuba since the revolution! The exciting thing is that is all the result of a prophetic word.
Therefore I am on a prophetic journey to Cuba, to see the fulfilment of former prophetic words, and to see the people of God move ahead according to the purpose of God. I expect the Spirit of God to move powerfully during the week we are together with the covenant community in Cuba.
If I am able to connect to Indernet I will be giving reports during the journey, otherwise I will report when I am back in Norway September 8. -
Our covenant
• We covenant to live every part of our lives in obedience to God.
• We covenant to serve God and his purpose in whatever way he calls us.
• We covenant to encourage, help, challenge, correct and serve each other so that we each can live for and serve God better.
• We covenant to follow the vision and teaching of the apostolic leadership of the work.
• We covenant to honesty, integrity, loyalty and love in our relationships with each other.
• We covenant to deal with disagreements and conflicts that arise between us in a godly and honest way.
• We covenant to support the work of God in the giving of our time, our effort, our gifts and our finance.
• We covenant to being open to be discipled by others and willing to disciple others.
• We covenant to see the common vision fulfilled whatever the cost and however long it takes.
Covenant alongside vision is the key to arrive at our purpose, for our vision is to see the Triune Covenant God dwell in fullness among his covenant people! -
Our vision
• We see a covenant church that is a strong and healthy Kingdom community of those who are being changed as they follow Jesus in every area of their lives, and who covenant together and work with a common sense of vision and purpose.
• We see a covenant church where God is worshipped passionately and freely, and where the presence and power of God are experienced in big as well as small gatherings.
• We see a covenant church that is a community governed in its beliefs and practices by the Word of God and the Spirit of God, and not by human customs, traditions or personalities.
• We see a covenant community where its members are fully committed to one another and to God’s purpose for his world.
• We see a covenant community that is full of life and faith, where the people are free, happy, vibrant and enjoying the goodness of God in their everyday life.
• We see a covenant community in which there are real and close friendships, warm relationships, and openness to all people from whatever background.
• We see a covenant church that is not built around meetings or a building, but is centred on Christ and on relationships of the Spirit, and a shared community life as we meet from home to home and in big gatherings.
• We see a covenant church that is influencing and impacting its surrounding community and that doesn’t retreat into a safe Christian ghetto.
• We see a covenant community that is committed to what God is doing right across the nations of the world and is in real relationship with apostolic and other ministries to advance God’s kingdom throughout the world.
• We see a covenant community that has a credible voice to speak into all the issues which face our society, and that is actively demonstrating a positive and godly example to that society.
• We see a covenant community that is growing and reproducing itself across the whole region, nation and the world.
• We see a covenant community where everyone is learning to play their part and to do so gladly with faith, commitment and integrity.
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Dream and vision as motivation
Those who are carrying a dream are rich for they own the future. Those who have lost their dream own nothing, even if they have a bank full of money. What would life be without dreams and visions?
Scientific research shows that human beings cannot live without hope. It became very visible in the concentrations camps during the war. The prisoners who didn’t have a hope, a dream or a vision of a future quickly deteriorated, but those who dreamed about the life after imprisonment had a strength that enabled them to endure great sufferings and hardships. -
God’s dream for humanity
God doesn’t
sleep or dream like we humans do, but still the entire Bible is all about God’s
great dream for humanity. Now we are using dream in the sense of longing, wish,
vision, plan or intention for days ahead. For us dreams and visions are about a
better reality than the one we live in. For God, who knows the end from the
beginning and is outside time and space, the dream or his vision is the
motivating, creative love at work throughout history. God’s dream is his
eternal purpose, what he has determined from eternity, the mystery of his will,
that which is governing everything he does and is centered on Christ, God’s
eternal Son (Eph 1:9-11; 3:5-11). This dream has been hidden from the beginning of time but now in the last days it has been made known
by the Holy Spirit to apostles and prophets and eventually all the covenant
community. -
God speaks through dreams and visions
Throughout the Bible we find that God reveals himself to people through dreams and visions. In fact, dreams and visions are used interchangeable in the Bible. The classic passage about this is Job 33:15–16, where we read this: “He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds. He whispers in their ears and terrifies them with warnings.” And how often God spoke through dreams and visions! Daniel had dreams and visions in the night (Dan.2:19; 7:2,7,13). The apostle Paul also had a dream which he calls a vision in the night (Ap.gj.16,9; 18,9). As we go back through the Old Testament we find that God constantly spoke like this. Through these visions and dreams God told people to do certain things, or warned them of things which He was going to do, and the result was that they realised that God is. It was God, who gave them the vision or the dream or the warning or the prophecy, or whatever it was, and therefore they were revelations, they were proofs of the being of God.
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Covenant leadership attributes
Covenant
leaders are humble and self-effacing because they understand that the way of
the cross is the only way that will produce lasting fruits.Covenant
leaders are competent both technically and relationally. They understand that
otherwise they will fail. They major on their strengths and Spirit-given
ministry to excel in the anointing as well as working hard to develop their
relationally skills.Fruitful
covenant leaders stimulate creativity, cause people to dream and empower them
to realise their full potential in Christ. They love to encourage people to
take initiative, and to liberate them to creative expressions of covenant life.Covenant leaders
are prepared to take calculated risks to be able to lead the people of God
forward and defeat the enemy. They are not afraid of men or traditions. They
are pioneers in the Spirit and love to blaze a new trail and break up new
ground.Covenant
leaders are trustworthy and trust building. They understand they need trust and
confidence of the people to be able to lead the covenant community according to
the divine pattern and eternal purpose of God.Covenant
leaders must have courage and calm in the face of adversity and be able to
impart peace to the community in the midst of a storm. They must be men of
faith and vision who envision the covenant community to rise above the
circumstances to attain their destiny in God.Covenant
leaders inspire the team of ministry gift with them, and they are constantly
recruiting new members to the leadership team. They understand that to develop
a covenant community you must constantly develop new leaders.Covenant
leaders are inclusive and empowering in their entire framework of ministry in
the covenant community. They understand that one man alone can never achieve
his destiny or fulfil the purpose of God. They appreciate the contribution of
others and believe in the God-given abilities of others to do what they have
been called to do.Covenant
leaders are patient and persevering in their ministry. Their understanding of
covenant enables them to long term commitment. They don’t easily give up, but
they trust in the power of the Word and the Spirit to produce what God wants in
the end.Covenant
leaders have respect for and consideration of others. They have learnt to
listen to both advice and critique. They love to honour people because they see
in them the glory of their God.