Articles and devotional

The way of blessing in your life.

From the daily devotional:
“Et er nødvendigt”
(One thing is needful)
By Hans Erik Nissen.

“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Josua 1:8

Your life depend on your relationship to the Word.
This is the most important thing at all, because man does not live on bread alone.
If you live in close contact with the Word of God, the blessing will flow like a river of peace into your life.

The Word must go into you.
You have to be filled with it; and it takes place when you read it diligently.
You must carefully pay heed to it, and adapt your life to it.

God’s Word shall not depart from your mouth.
The Devil uses all means to silence you.
At a time, when many follow their own thoughts and consider God’s commands outdated, it takes courage to take them in one’s mouth, either at school, in the office or in the workshop.
But venture to do it!
It is the way of blessing in your life.

When you preach God’s word to others, you also preach it to yourself.
If you are a person of truth, you are bound by your own words.
You bind yourself on the basis of the Word.

To be filled with the Word, you have to become absorbed in your Bible constantly.
Most people get most out of not reading too long passages, but instead a short text two or three times.
Then it becomes easier to think about what one read.
In this way you give God’s word time to penetrate.
Let the Word become like a calm spring rain into the heart.

It is also useful to learn single Bible verses by heart.
Then God’s Spirit can make them alive to you, when you need them.

God promises you rich blessings when his word is a part of you yourself.
It will go well with you in all your dealings, and blessing will follow you.
God does not lie.
You can rely on what he has said.
It holds all your life, yes, into eternity.
Don’t let it depart from your mouth!
Meditate about it day and night!

Translated by Gert Gravgaard.

GOD WILL VISIT US.
Luke 7: 16 (11-17).
By Nils Dybdal-Holthe.


(The people said) "A great prophet has arisen among us, and God has visited his people." And Zechariah said before John the Baptist was born: "God has visited and redeemed his people" (Luke 1: 68).

The verse i Luke 7 is taken from the passage in the Bible where Jesus raised a widow's son i Nain. This passage tells us an interesting thing about Jesus, namely that he is the Lord of life and death. He is called a great prophet here. And a great prophet can do great things.
Here Jesus raised a boy from death. The people were amazed, and they were both afraid and they glorified God. They saw it was God. No man was able to do such a work. And they said:
God has visited his people!
In the NIV it is translated: God has come to help his people. This is an important truth.
a) The verse tells us that we are God's people, his property, so to speak. All men are created by God, and therefore we are all his work. He has a right to us, he loves all of us, and he wants to save all people.
b) This verse tells us also that he has visited us. But this is not a few and short visits. He comes to us always, and he comes to help us; because we need help in many ways and in every minute of our life.
But Jesus came and will come some day in a very special way. Let us follow him and see him coming to us now:

1) First, he came to this world at Christmas. Jesus was born in a manger in a stable because there was no room for him in the inn. He was born as a small child just like everybody else. He looked like a human being; and he was a man.

But he was also God. Because God was there! It was a nice child lying among cows and lambs in the stable.

He looked poor and mean, just like ordinary people, perhaps worse - as there was no room for him in the inn. Nevertheless, he was a King! And he came to rule over us. He has the right to do so. But he will rule over us in a special way, by helping us and saving people.

When Jesus was a little child, his parents went to Jerusalem to present him to God and give an offering for him. An old man, called Simeon, saw him and said, inspired by God: My eyes have seen your salvation. He meant that Jesus was the Saviour of God for all the world.

And he came to this world at Christmas. In this child God himself visited the world.

2) Secondly, we read of another important day in the Bible, namely on Good Friday. This is a very important day in Christianity. Just as your date of birth is important to you: on that day you were born into this world and got life. You were created, so to speak. Without it you wouldn't be here.

And this is the case with Good Friday, too. On that day Jesus Christ died on a cross on Golgotha. This is the teaching of the Bible. Without this day there wouldn't be any Christianity! Because it was on this day the Christian religion was born.

What happened on Good Friday?

The answer is: God himself visited the world! And he did it in a special way when Jesus died. For in that moment God took away all sin in the world. The Judgment of the world took place and God condemned all sin.

It was dark in Jerusalem on that day, because the Prince of Darkness was judged, Satan himself. And when Jesus cried in despair and pain: It is finished, salvation and reconciliation with God was done.

This is said very clearly in II Cor 5: 19: "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ." And St. Peter says in his first epistle ch. 1: 18-19 that we were not redeemed by silver and gold which are valuable but perishable things. But we were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. And Christ was the lamb of God who took away the sins of the world (John 1: 29).

At that moment on the cross God visited the world, and he came to help us, as some translations read.

3) Thirdly, God will visit you today! At this very moment he wants to speak to you and come near to you in order to help you. His help is to save you from sin by forgiving it. If you think it is difficult to understand just try it. Let God visit you.

He asks you of only one thing. He will beg you to confess your sins to him, regret them, and not trying to hide them or explain them away. If you do so God cannot save you. If a drowning person refuse to receive any help, he cannot be rescued. It is the same here. You have to admit and confess that you are a sinner before God and ask him to forgive you. When you do that he will cleanse you from every sin you might have done. The Spirit of God will give you assurance of your salvation. In that moment God visits you. He gives you the best help any man can have: forgiveness of sin.

Do you have it? Have you asked God to forgive you and received salvation by grace?

4) A fourth day is the Ascension of Christ, when Jesus was taken up to heaven. What is the meaning of that day?

The answer is simple: he left the responsibility of mission to us. We Christians are God's representatives in this world. We are his ambassadors to proclaim his gospel all over the world. The Kingdom of God reaches as far as we Christians can go. God will visit every people and every single man in the whole world. But he needs you and me to bring this message to them. Mission is to go with the gospel to new tribes and nations. In ii Cor. 5: 20 Paul says, "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us".

5) The last day God will visit us is when Jesus comes back to take us to heaven. He will find every true believer in every country. But not everyone in the world will be ready to meet Christ in the sky. Only those who are cleansed in the blood of Christ are ready.

Would you be ready if he came today?
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