I received your very good letter today. It was a great joy for me to see your testimony in Christ, that you love Him without guile in all simplicity. You’ve made a precious choice, dear brother. May the peace of God always be with you richly. God will make you more than a conqueror in Jesus Christ. I’m glad that you are finding your comfort in the Word and that you are getting victory over the devil and his ways. The devil can only be manifested through human beings. He is not revealed in the air or the clouds. The devil has no business with us. “One Word of God can bind him!” Luther writes. Light dispels darkness, truth drives falsehood away, righteousness overcomes unrighteousness, etc.

We have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, that cannot be grasped with hands. For a lie can no more refute the truth than the father of lies, the devil, can overcome us, because we dwell in a kingdom that consists of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. “If you would believe you would see the glory of God?” It is a question of faith. We who believe enter into rest. “What is this rest?” you may ask. Rest is total surrender to God. It is to lie perfectly still in His hands like clay in the hands of a potter. Christ has the keys of hell and of death; we have nothing to be afraid of.

“To receive salvation there is nothing you need do.
No, only hear the Word and fully rest upon it too.
No pained regretful feeling can to your heart bring healing,
For the Word says, it’s by Jesus’ stripes we’re healed.”

It is God who works in us both to will and to do. We have this exceedingly great power in earthen vessels, that the glory might be God’s and not ours. The life within us is Christ; we are nothing. He must increase; we must decrease.

You referred to 1 John 3:9: “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” Yes, that is precious. We become like Joseph and say, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” We cannot, because His love (His seed) has been poured out in our hearts. We can’t cross someone we love. Read David’s first psalm.

I have absolutely nothing against your letter. On the contrary, I rejoiced to see your zeal and determination. As you perhaps know, I end up being at odds with almost everyone. This is because to them the Word comes across like a sword, not as spirit and life. All things are naked and open before the eyes of Him to whom we have to give account, so we don’t need to pretend or play the hypocrite. By this time a great many people should have become teachers in Christ, but they have turned aside from the way of truth. They are dead; all they have left is a name that they are alive. Such people are a real plague—avoid them. What the heart is full of, the mouth speaks. If our hearts are full of God, we speak godly things; if they are full of the world, we speak of the world. There is no “middle ground.” Either we serve God or we serve the world. To do both is impossible. We can’t fool God. He is razor sharp. His eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are completely for Him.

Therefore, let us purify our hearts in obedience to the truth unto a sincere love of the brethren so that we can love one another with a pure heart fervently. In Job 32, from verse 1, you will see that it is not always those who are old who are wise or the aged who understand what is right, but that it is the Spirit of the Lord in a man that gives him understanding. I’m thankful to God for His good Holy Spirit. He teaches me and fashions me in truth. He gives me understanding of spiritual things, and for this reason no one is able to overpower me. I don’t have this in myself, but again I say that it is the Spirit of God that is in me. Therefore, dear brother, if you seek wisdom, always obey the Spirit of God. This will mean chastisement, to be sure; but bear in mind that chastisement brings wisdom, tribulation produces patience, etc. God is a master craftsman in dealing with us. Is this false doctrine??? No, we can do nothing against the truth, but in the truth.

God’s Word is my one and only desire. I love God’s Word so much that I’m often completely oblivious to everything else for long periods. If this is boasting, then let it be boasting, because it is the truth, and Christ is the truth. It is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” That is lawful. Through the Word of God I don’t just understand the Scriptures, I also understand what can make me truly happy. No one but Jesus can make us happy. That’s also why it’s written that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He was made to be sin for us so that He might destroy sin.

“Although they take our life
Goods, honor, children, wife,
Let go, let go, for they
Cannot take more away.
God’s Kingdom, ours forever.”2

This is total surrender.

Just as you have now received Christ Jesus, so walk in Him. I can’t emphasize strongly enough that you must never look back again. Let us set a straight course: forward and homeward. Let us not lose courage in tribulations and chastisement, for we know what glory they bring. “Gold is tested in the fire, and acceptable men are purified in the furnace of humiliation.” All the way down—not just part of the way. “The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself,” we read. This is the way, the truth, and the life. He has given us an example worthy of following. This is the narrow way—can you see it??? Here the mind of the flesh must be brought to silence in sufferings and death. Will you follow Him here? If we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified with Him. What matters now is to have thoroughly counted the cost, so that, having laid a foundation, we don’t give up and become a laughingstock because we began to build without the means to finish. Through all this, joy in God is our strength. What a mystery—hidden from the wise and prudent, but revealed to babes!

People say that little Kristian is very much like me. He’s a Smith through and through, they say. His mannerisms are just like mine, I hear people say. He’s a strong little guy. He can stand up on my lap or when holding onto a chair, but he needs a little support. Pauline is very fond of him, and so am I, naturally. He has quite a laugh when he really gets going.

Soon there won’t be any more military supplies left in Horten. The torpedo boats have been towed to Melsomvik (I was there on a trip with four others). The Ellida was loaded with gunpowder at the Oscarsborg Fortress. The Kong Sverre was loaded with provisions and everything down to needle and thread—ready for departure. I am assigned to the Sarpen. We have about 34 torpedo boats. Don’t say much about this; everything is happening quietly right now. It wouldn’t take much to capture Horten now, particularly down at the docks and the repair workshops.

Hearty greetings from your brother,

Now we have moved. We now have an extraordinarily nice and comfortable home with three rooms and a kitchen. They are putting in running water and sinks in both houses. We have never had so much space before.