It is about life-style

NORSK
In many ways holiness is a life-style, and life-style is a result of habits. Many will claim that it takes three weeks to develop a habit, and three months to get a life-style.

This thesis is one of the keys in the discipleship-program of Dr. Charles Lake, a program we also use in the Salvation Army in several countries. Lake applies this principle to daily Bible-reading and prayer. It takes three weeks before this becomes a habit, followed by another three weeks before you miss the exercise. However, after three months it has become a life-style. Particularly in the first phase this takes discipline, and therefore you need someone to be accountable to.

I have seen how this principle can function in my own life and in the lives of others. If there is an area where it is important to keep two thoughts in the head at the same time, it must be when the subject is discipline. Holiness is the working by God, and a result of his grace and love. Apart from receiving in faith, there is nothing I can do to save myself or to live a holy life. Salvation and sanctification is in Jesus, and in him alone. However, the principles that are valid in our physical life, are often the principles that will work also in the spiritual life.

My physical existence is a result of the love of my parents. In the same way as I cannot ‘save myself’, I could not “create myself”. From the moment I was born again, a development started I which I became more and more responsible steward of my own life. It was all about learning good habits, like e.g. to eat healthy food, get enough sleep, have good routines for personal hygiene and learn as much as I could about the world in which I am a citizen. If I do not manage to develop one good habit, I would still remain a world-citizen, even though it is not likely that I would have lived to my present age if I completely neglected my body and my life.

Thus, holiness is depending upon what I want and upon discipline to develop which makes it possible to live a good life in the holiness I have in Jesus Christ. In other words, I have part in the holy life, but what I do with this life is very much for me to choose. It can be good to have a mentor who can encourage me like e.g. Paul encouraged Timothy:

But you, man of God (1)
1 Tim 6:11

‘Manna’ for today:

I want holiness to be my life-style

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(1) Maybe the ‘formation’ of Timothy will be the focus for the next period?

It is about habits

NORSK
I am close to the end of the series from the “Well of holiness”. Perhaps you will not notice that I slowly move to other themes. For more than three months I have focused on different aspects of holiness, and I have also used impulses from themes that relate to holiness. 

Since holiness in principle is part of everything that has to with Christian living, it should not surprise anybody that the different themes often touch the same base.

Yet another couple of days the reflection will be about holiness. With Jesus as role-model, it will be useful to see what kind of habits he had. My habits strongly contribute to my formation, and I also believe that they influenced Jesus:

“Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been raised. On the Sabbath he went to the synagogue as he normally did.”
Luke 4:16

I believe Jesus built a strong foundation due to the habit of going to the synagogue, the place of worship and reading of the Scriptures. What we normally do becomes so normal that it almost happens by itself. Thus it is important the habits I develop are the good ones. Mary and Joseph must have given Jesus a good upbringing including the formation of good habits. I believe we can encourage one another to form such habits even as seniors. 

Tomorrow I will write more about this. Today I praise God because Jesus did what he normally did, and it was just on the spot where he normally went that he under the anointing of the Spirit proclaimed who he is (1).

‘Manna’ for today:

Holiness is about formation of good habits

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* Children praying before they go to Sunday School - Magna took the pic last Sunday in Georgia
(1) See: ‘It is about an important part of the package’

It is about an important confession

NORSK
If it is correct that the holiness and fruit are captured in one word: Love, why should it be important with confession?

This is an important question for me, primarily because I will much rather have life than doctrine. At the same time the spreading of spiritual life depends on the fact that I know something about how the spiritual matters are connected. I believe that is the background for John’s statement:

“By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God”
1 John 4:2

Why was it important for John to remind his readers about this confession if all is about believing in Jesus and loving one another? And why is it important for me to write about holiness?

The answer is simple:

If it is not possible for me to accept that Jesus fully and truly God and fully and truly man, I clearly limit what is possible for God:
How can I believe that he can work through his body in our present time if he is not able to reveal himself in Jesus Christ?

Already in the first century after Christ, this teaching was challenged. However, even today the connection between the faith in Jesus as man and God is a precondition for believing that the Spirit of God in Jesus’ body will be able to be in the body God has chosen to use today.

Thus, what I confess about Jesus is important for the spreading of his life. What I confess and teach will either limit or nourish life. The same applies to the subject of holiness.

Manna’ for today:

Jesus has come in “flesh”, and Jesus comes in “flesh”

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It is about the goal of all fruit

NORSK
Today I look at the last ingredient in Peter’s fruit-recipe. It is also the goal for all fruit, and the natural end of the spiritual chain-reaction:

“.. add to brotherly kindness … love”
2 Pet 1:7

I have written a lot about love here on the blog (1), but also today’s reminder amplifies the core of the Christian faith.  Paul mentioned love as the first characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit on his list. It was love that made God send his only begotten Son to the world to save us. Jesus said that as he himself was sent, he sends us – meaning that we are sent by and with love.

• Love adds up all fruit.
• Love adds up holiness.
• Love is the beginning and the end 
• Love includes all, not only the family of believers.
• All means that YOU are loved.
• All means that I am loved.

When I am loved, I will endure to be corrected and disciplined because I know and feel that it happens in love.

‘Manna’ for today:

Holiness and fruit are captured in one word: Love

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(1) Look under the label Love

It is about brotherly kindness

NORSK
We are four siblings who because of geographical reasons only on rare occasions are able to be together. However, there is a lot that binds us together, and I love them. 

I have also a lot of other siblings. Peter calls them my family of believers throughout the world (1), and there is a lot that binds us together as well. Some of them I meet often, and some I work with almost daily. In relation to them is Peter’s fruit-recipe important:

“.. add to godliness … brotherly kindness”
2 Pet 1:7

Once again is Paul 100% in line with Peter:

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Gal 6:10

The best example of love in the family of believers, are my two hands. Like the family of believers, my hands belong to the same body. From experience I know that my hands may hurt one another. Down through the years I have enhanced my skills as a carpenter, but even so, I still manage to miss the target when I hold a hammer in one hand and a nail in the other. Instead of starting a fight, I know that my hands will seek to one another to ease the pain. My head is telling them to do that. The head, in the spiritual body, is Christ. He does not want his own body to be disintegrated. 

‘Manna’ for today:

Brotherly kindness is a fruit that will keep the body of Christ integrated

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(1) 1 Pet 5:9

It is about a healthy godliness

NORSK I have met too many people who are struggling with an unhealthy fear of God. It is unhealthy because they fear God and his judgement even though they have had their sins forgiven and are new creatures in Christ. Some regard this fear as part of true godliness, which is an ingredient in Peter’s fruit-recipe:

“.. add to perseverance …godliness”
2 Pet 1:6

With regard to this ingredient, may be the image of the chain-reaction is more suitable. The healthy godliness is a result of a preceding process, which include the “insight” giving me assurance about the fact that I am a child of God. The question is then: Does a child fear a good and loving parent?

My immediate answer is “Yes”, but the fear is not related to the judgement or the punishment of disobedience, but to the desire to not cause disappointment. Godliness is about respect for him who loves me, and whom I want to love back with all of my heart. This is the theme of the reflection: Holiness is about respect.
 
‘Manna’ for today:

Healthy godliness is a result of a preceding process

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It is about spiritual ‘sisu’

NORSK
I do not know many Finnish words, but the first I learned was ‘sisu’. Since the childhood I have desired ‘sisu’, because that was what the Finnish athletes had. At least that was what the reporters said when I watched my favourite sports: Long-distance races in ice skating, cross-country skiing, or running on track, field and marathon.

The notion ‘sisu’ became internationally known during the winter-war, and summarises the Finnish perseverance, fighting spirit and stubbornness.

I need spiritual ‘sisu’, and according to Peter it is an ingredient in the fruit-recipe – or the chain-reaction.

“.. add to self-control … perseverance”
2 Pet 1:6

The author of the Bible version “The Message”, Eugene Peterson, has also written the book on discipleship. The title of the book does not include the word perseverance, but it explains what it is all about: “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society” – I like that definition, and I believe that it will result in fruit both in and of the life.

‘Manna’ for today:

Fruit is a result of spiritual ‘sisu’

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It is about the world of spiritual physics

NORSK
I just recently wrote about Nelson Mandela under the headline “It is about being the Captain of your soul”. There I wrote about self-control as one of the qualities of the gift of the Spirit as described by Paul (1). It confirms that Paul and Peter were not far apart:

“…ad to your insight … self-control”
2 Pet 1:6

I find it very interesting the self-control requires insight. In addition to the image of ingredients in a fruit-recipe, I want to use another image. Therefore, I move to the world of physics, and envisage a chain-reaction. That is a process which, when it has started, continue by itself. There may be several reasons why it continues, like the fact that so much energy is released that it keeps the process “warm”. If you have followed the blog lately, you will remember that I some days ago wrote that I would return to “temperature” as a factor (2), - and here it is. It is yet another example of the good circle.

If I am going to succeed in my project of self-control, it must come as reaction in a good process; a chain-reaction between my faith and the good values I choose, which leads to insight and results in self-control. It is a reaction in the world of spiritual physics.

‘Manna’ for today:

The fruit of holiness is a reaction in the world of spiritual physics.

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(1) Gal 5:22-23
(2) See the reflection: “It is about the ingredient faith”

It is about insight

NORSK
I like a good overview and a deep insight in all meanings of the words. Therefore, I prefer to look at several translations of the Bible, particularly when I only look at one verse – an even more important when my focus is on a single word. 

When I look at the ingredients of Peter’s fruit-recipe, I need to do it word by word. Today it is about the Greek word ‘gnosis’, and most English version choose ‘knowledge’ in their translation:

“add to your …virtue knowledge,”
2 Pet 1:5 

‘Gnosis’ can be translated: ‘knowledge, understanding or insight’ – therefore knowledge is 100% acceptable. Personally, I prefer ‘insight’, and I had to check the English definition of the word, and here is one: Insight = ‘penetrating mental vision or discernment; faculty of seeing into inner character or underlying truth’. 

I realise that I have English as my second language with the limited ‘insight’ that involves, but I think Peter has the spiritual insight in mind when he uses this ingredient in his recipe. And even thought knowledge may contain this nuance as well (1), I feel that ‘insight’ better explains why it is placed as the third ingredient in the recipe, or third link in the chain.

It begins with faith, and to faith I add the virtues I choose as values for my life. This choice leads to a new insight, an inner recognition of the fact that I stand in a meaningful relation both with God and my fellow men. This create a form of base on which a small seed may find enough nourishment to start to grow. The seed is the hope of fruit

‘Manna’ for today:

Insight nourishes hope for fruit

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(1) Three reflections on knowing:

• ‘It is about knowing as in …#1’
• ‘It is about knowing as in …#2’
• ‘It is about knowing as in …#3’

It is about virtue

NORSK
What kind of virtue did Peter have in mind for his “fruit-recipe”?

“add to your faith virtue”
2 Pet 1:5

The new King James version sticks close to the Greek, while NIV which often is my first choice, translates it ‘goodness’. 

I prefer virtue, but also in Norwegian, the newer translations have changed the word virtue with e.g. ‘a right life’.

I think Peter had the four classical or cardinal virtues in mind when he made his list. These are values that were cherished in his time and they have their origin in Greek philosophy: 

• Temperance
• Wisdom
• Courage
• Righteousness

All four could have made a single ingredient, but Peter collect the in the single word ‘virtue’. Down through the history of the church “faith, hope and love” were added to form the seven Christian virtues as a counterpart to the seven deadly sins. 

If I return to the Norwegian translation ‘a right life’, this can be the counterpart to a life in sin. May be that is close to what Peter had in mind? I start with faith, and continue by choosing to live a right life. To do that I need to choose which values I will build my life on. Then the four cardinal virtues in combination with the three values that remain (1) are a good choice. I make that choice, and then I am ready to continue tomorrow.

‘Manna’ for today:

It is about choosing the right values.

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(1) 1 Cor 13:13

It is about the ingredient faith

NORSK
Yesterday I wrote about the fact that I need to find recipe for my favourite Christmas cookies even though I am able to recall most of the ingredients. The order the ingredients go into the dough is important, likewise the temperature, but I will write about the temperature later. 

I do not think that it was an accident that Peter started his “fruit-recipe” with the ingredient ‘faith’ (1). Without faith everything I write is just rubbish, or ‘foolishness’ to use the word of the Bible (2).

I believe all human beings have received a measure of faith. The Norwegian world evangelist, Aril Edvardsen, said something similar to this on several occasions: “The problem is not that people do not believe, on the contrary they are ready to believe in anything!”

It is understandable. I have had a lot of conversations with self-declared non-believers, who are ready to confess that they have a great desire to believe, but are not able to. It is a paradox that they have this desire if there is nothing that creates that desire. I believe that desire is there because we are created in the image of God. We long to come back to our origin, to our right element, to use an image Augustin used (3).

Many dare not believe because they are disappointed by religion in general, and by “Church” – in this context synonym with all organized expressions of Christianity. And I do understand them. I am not in the Salvation Army because it is a flawless organization run by flawless people. First and foremost, I believe because I have experienced that it is all about life and reproduction of life. That I have chosen to live this life in the Salvation Army is secondary.

To believe is a pilgrimage in the direction of the mystery we call ‘God’, a pilgrimage home where I belong, and it is an indescribable experience to be received as a ‘home-comer’. Of course I lose my footing when I start on such a journey, but that is momentarily. If I do not dare to start I lose myself. Even those words were not mine. I borrowed them from Søren Kierkegaard, but I have experienced that it is true. Faith is a movement, it is not an accomplishment, but it does help make an effort (1)!

‘Manna’ for today:

Fruit-production starts with the ingredient ‘faith’

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(1) For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith 2 Pet 1:5
(2) 1 Cor 1:18
(3) Augustin: ‘Like the bird in a cage longs for the air, and the fish on the shore longs for the sea, so does man long for his right element – God!’

It is about recipes

NORSK
No doubt, Christmas is just around the corner, and I really look forward to spend the rest of this year’s furlough in Norway in connection with Christmas. I hope I will be able to trace the rather worn card with the recipe for my favourite Christmas cookies, because I do not know the recipe by heart even though I have baked the cakes for more than 30 years.

The focus is of course not cookies for the Christmas season, but the fact that a recipe is important even though I can remember most of the ingredients. It also applies to growing the fruit of the Spirit, and Peter has supplied a recipe, which also comes handy when we prepare for the harvest season:

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Pet 1:5-8

 It is very interesting to observe the sequence of ingredients:

• Faith
• Virtue
• Knowledge
• Self-control
• Perseverance
• Godliness
• Brotherly kindness
• Love

Before I start baking my Christmas cookies, it is important to make sure that I have all the ingredients in the house. It is even a good idea to check if all the ingredients for Peter’s fruit-recipe are in the house, or rather in the “temple” to stick to the holiness-terminology. Because when the ingredients are in place I will according to Peter not be unfruitful. The next days I will check the quality of the ingredients – stay with me!

‘Manna’ for today:

The fruit of holiness is about the right ingredients

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The illustration is from Egner's play: 'In the Forest of Huckybucky' - the scene is from the story about recipe of the double-peppered pepper-nuts. Watch the trailer for the movie

It is about living in the light

NORSK
For three years, I worked in Securitas and learned quite a lot about security both in relation to prevention of crime, and also with regard to creating good routines for the times when something unfortunate had happened. The by far best single factor in the protection of both property and human individuals is light.

Actually, I knew this from many years of Sunday School attendance:

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
John 3:20-21

These are the words of Jesus. He even said that judgment is that the light came to the earth. Light exposes me, and when I am exposed, my first thought is to justify myself. It is one of the most evident human faculties to try the escape by blaming others. 

This tendency goes all the way back to the story of the fall. Adam blamed the woman, and even God for giving him the woman, Eve on her part blamed the serpent (1). The exposed Peter represents in many ways a counterpart. He made a full surrender under Jesus' interrogation: "Peter do you love me?" Peter’s reply: “Lord, you know all things” (2) is also a testimony of his awareness: “I know that I live in the light!” - Such an awareness grows the fruit, - the fruit of the light:

The fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth
Eph 5:9

Like goodness, which I mentioned yesterday, righteousness and truth are divine attributes.

Jesus confessed: “I am the truth” (3), and in him I have also part in God’s righteousness (4). The fruit is a consequence of living in the light.

‘Manna’ for today:

Holiness is about living in the light.

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(1) The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Gen 3:12-13
(2) John 21:17
(3) John 14:6
(4) God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Cor 5:21

It is about making it your experience

NORSK
Yesterday, I wrote about pleasing the Lord, and today I follow up with:

“- find out what pleases the Lord!”
Eph 5:10

Paul is clear: “Test for yourself!”

Paul placed his exhortation in a context where he encourages his readers to live as children of light and bear the fruit of the light. He even describes what this fruit is like, and again it is one fruit with different qualities:

for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth
Eph 5:9

Paul frequently referred to “goodness” and also described “goodness” as a quality of the fruit of the Spirit (1). It is logical that the qualities are the same, because there is no controversy between living as children of light and living as children of God, for as Paul writes “you are light in the Lord” (2).

My experience is that it pleases the Lord when I represent a contrast to the darkness of this world. It was on that note I started to drink from the “Well of holiness” with the reflection “Dare to be different” three months ago.

The illustration photo was taken during my sermon last Sunday. The theme was: “Arise and shine!”. (3). If you are going shine in the light of Jesus in a dark world, you have to rise up. Test and see!

‘Manna’ for today_

Holiness is about making it your own experience.

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(1) See "It is about following in a double meaning"
(2) "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light" Eph 5:8
(3) “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you." Isa 60:1

It is about the good circle

NORSK
As a child, I used all my volume when I sang “Jesus wants me for a sunbeam” and the song taught me that it would happen by me trying to please him in every way. It was a good song to sing.

However, if the song is used in combination with e.g.: “O be careful little eyes what you see”, I am not sure that it necessarily leaves children with a correct image of God. 

The challenge is even bigger in Norwegian. In our version “the Father up above” translates well, while the next line stops with “he is looking down” and skips “in love” because love needs two extra syllables in Norwegian. Two syllables can make a lot of difference.

I am sure that the intentions of the translator were good, and the Biblical truth is still there. The point is that the base, which must be the experience and understanding of God who is boundless in love and grace, needs to be built first. It is the sequence of things that is important - a matter of concern even for Paul:

“..since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God..”
Col 1:9-10

As I grow older my understanding of how much I am loved has been steadily growing, and that experience has become the motivation for my longing to please the Lord, not just a little, but in every way. I believe that the result will be that I bear more fruit and grow in my knowledge of him. This will please both him, and me, and I find myself in “a good circle” – also called the process of holiness.

‘Manna’ for today:

Holiness is about the good circle

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It is about values worth living and dying for

NORSK
A couple of weeks back I wrote about “Faithfulness” and I used my granddad as an example. He was also very faithful when opportunity was given to testify, and he very often used the same verses and illustrations. For this reason, many of his family members still remember what he said. I can still “hear” him quoting the following verse from a Scandinavian song:

Fight for all that you hold dear
Die if necessary
Life is then worth living here
Death - no adversary. (1)

As a little boy, I thought the words were very dramatic, but after a while, I grasped the content. Unfortunately, the situation in the world, with suicide-bombing and terror, has made it problematic to write: “It is good to have values that are worth dying for”. All the same, I will stand firm on the statement: I will rather die believing that love will overcome evil, than to meet evil with evil. I have written similar things earlier (2). 

However, today it is about values worth living FOR:

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labour; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.
Phil 1:21-22

Paul longed to be with Christ in eternity. At the same time, he was motivated by the fact that to continue to live here on earth would mean “fruit from his labour” – holy fruit, in his own life and from his life through people who would receive new life in Christ. To bear fruit is a motivation for my life here on earth. It is a God given and holy motivation.

‘Manna’ for today:

Holiness is about labour that bears fruit

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(1) I apologize for the translation, but I have not been able to trace an English translation of:
Kjemp for alt hva du har kjært,
dø om så det gjelder!
Da er livet ei så svært,
døden ikke heller.
(2) Only available in "google translate": "Derfor er kjærligheten mitt 'våpen' mot terror" og "Vi er i kamp"

It is about fruit with consequences

NORSK
Internet has in many ways outdated me. Previously, it was not uncommon to receive a phone call or an sms with questions like:  
“Where in the Bible can I read about ....?” - followed by a phrase, a name or just a theme.

No one ever asked me where it is possible to read about Epenetus or Stephanas. 

Perhaps just as well, for I had certainly not made it on the fly. Nevertheless, behind the names I find food for the thought: They are examples of a first fruit - with remarkable consequences:

Greet my dear Epenetus, who is a first fruit of Christ in Asia.
Romans 16:5

You know about the household of Stephanas, that they are the first fruits of Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the ministry for the saints.
1 Corinthians 16:15

There is not a lot of information about them, but it is clear that the first fruit led to more fruit. It is not unlikely that Epenetus had left Asia to do mission in Rome - may be he even was one of the 'founders'?

The family of Stephanas does not seem to have travelled far but “devoted themselves to the ministry”, probably in their home province of Achaia where Corinth is an important city even today. The household is mentioned as an example for the church in Corinth.

Today 'manna':

Holiness is about fruit leading to more fruit.

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It is about the first fruit

NORSK
It may seem a little strange to focus on the first fruit after having reflected on the fruit of the Spirit for nearly four weeks. 

When I ask the question: “What is the first fruit?” I only rarely get the ‘correct’ answer. It is a surprise, because the first fruit is the foundation of all fruit bearing, and therefore I can learn something very important by just knowing what it is:

And it’s not only the creation. We ourselves who have the Spirit as the first fruit of the harvest also groan inside as we wait to be adopted and for our bodies to be set free.
Rom 8:23

The fine thing with this “first fruit” is that it is impossible to produce the Holy Spirit. By accepting that as a truth, the standard is set with regard to all the other qualities of the fruit of the Spirit. When it is impossible to produce the source, how can I even think that it is possible for me to produce the product of the source? Such product will only be fake.

That the third person in the Godhead, the Holy Spirit himself, is the first fruit, tells me what is needed to bear fruit. It is the Holy Spirit in me, and I in him that is the only possibility, but that is a great possibility!!!

‘Manna’ for today:

The first fruit sets the standard for growth of fruit

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It is about burning passion

NORSK
When I started training to become an officer in October 1974, the concept of 'passion' connected to the suffering of Christ was new to me. In my mother tongue, we refer to the Calvary story as the “Narrative of Christ’s suffering”. 

The word passion broadened my understanding, because passion describes more than suffering. It describes something that is so important that everything else become subordinate – even if the cost means suffering and death.

I am still reflecting on the subject of holiness and fruit. The pursuit of holiness and fruit was definitely a passion for Paul, and he is literally boundless in his passion:

Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.
Rom 1:13

There should be many more hindrances for Paul before he finally arrived in Rome. The Holy Spirit warned him against all the suffering that awaited him in Jerusalem (1), but I believe Paul saw that the way to Rome went through Jerusalem. He was passionate to see fruit in Rome, and ready pay the price at any cost.

Several facts suggest that Paul was passionate by nature. His persecution of the Christians before he met Christ on the road to Damascus, confirms this. However, it is beyond doubt that his experience of transformation was the motivation of the ‘new’ passion. Paul’s human nature would have given up under all suffering he had to endure (2).

I know disciples, whose human nature would not be associated with “passion”, but who by the Holy Spirit have been transformed into passionate “fire-torches”.

‘Manna’ for today:

Holiness and fruit bearing presuppose passion

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(1) Acts 19:21 and Acts 21:10-13
(2) 2 Cor 11:23-19

It is about hardship and adversity

NORSK
When Magna last week shared thoughts about her role-models during a holiness-seminar in Ukraine, it was interesting to notice that a common factor was how they live their lives in situations of hardship and adversity. It is in such times that the fruit becomes visible.

The verse I quoted yesterday was about being planted at the right place to be able to bear fruit in the right time. Jeremiah elaborated on this theme, and added some thoughts on the rough times:

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
Jer 17:7-8

When I know where my roots are, I do not need to worry about the rough times.

“The famous preacher D.L. Moody was once asked:
- Moody, do you believe that you have strength and courage to face death for Jesus’ name’s sake?
D.L. Moody, who had led many people to faith in Jesus Christ, had the habit of answering practical and simple, replied:
- No, I do not have this strength today, because today I do not need it. However, if the day should come that I am called to die for my Saviour, I know that he also will give me the strength that I need.
Then he quoted Deuteronomy 33:25 - 'As your days, so shall your strength be'.”

‘Manna’ for today:

It is about knowing that the fruit will come when I need it

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