I received your good letter dated March 5th. Thank you very much. I hear that you have already shared in the sufferings for His name’s sake. In Morgenbladet, dated March 5th, there was an article submitted from Kristiansand about speaking in tongues—a dentist spoke in tongues at the meeting house in Kristiansand, etc. It is good not to draw back, dear brother, for after a short time of suffering—if need be—we must enter into an eternal weight of glory.

I can comfort you with the same comfort with which you comforted me. Jer. 1, from verse 17. Just believe—the gates of hell shall not prevail.

Regarding what you wrote about feeling that the Spirit was weeping within you—I have felt the same thing. Br. Klingsaid has also experienced that. To whom does the Spirit lament, you ask? To the prophet, of course: for the Lord reveals all His secret counsels to His servants, the prophets. All sufferings can be regarded as the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ—that is to say, when a person has the teachings and the life that lead to godliness. However, despite that, we can only understand in part and prophesy in part, also when it concerns suffering. To understand the deepest cause of suffering, we must realize that no one ascends to heaven except the One who descends from heaven—Jesus Christ, who is in heaven. He descended in order to fill all in all. In order to become all in all, He had to be made to be sin. In order to bring everything back into harmony with God, He had to deny Himself and be obedient to the point of death. He sanctified Himself in truth so that we can be holy in truth. Christ’s mission here on earth was to go all the way from being sin to being holy in truth. The most intense sufferings take place during this process. These sufferings are mentioned in Phil. 3. We must be formed to be like Christ in His death. This is a personal suffering that every one of us must endure by ourselves because it is part of our preparation. This can be called suffering with Him. But when a person is mocked for His name’s sake, then he is suffering directly for His name’s sake; but this suffering will lead to increased suffering with Him, so that the body of sin is done away with to a greater degree. There is also a suffering in the Spirit; the Spirit is weeping. The Spirit of Christ was brought forth through the destruction of the body of sin, because that’s where He was made perfect, as it’s written. In other words, He was made perfect. Now that same Spirit forms us in the same way that it formed Christ, or as it was formed in Christ. It cannot deny itself. This Spirit of Christ is sustained by the body of sin being destroyed: My food is to do the will of the Father. When someone you pray for is not in the right frame of mind, (because the Spirit brings forth the prayer) it weeps; for it is not receiving the nourishment it needs in order to grow.

Paul wanted them to know how great a conflict he had for them and those in Laodicea. He had reminded them for three years with tears. The Spirit weeps through its servants, to whom it can share its secret pain. In this world we have to be on intimate terms with a person in order for them to communicate with tears their innermost sorrows to us. What infinite grace, then, that the Spirit reveals its pain to us. What proof of devotion that the Spirit of truth would reveal to us its deepest sorrow, with weeping. This suffering is suffering with Christ in its most holy form, since it is the fellowship in the sufferings of the Spirit. If I suffer in the flesh in order for my flesh to be destroyed, so that His life might be revealed in my mortal flesh, this is suffering for my own salvation as an individual; but suffering with Him, when the Spirit is weeping, is suffering as a servant of Christ. That is to say, I can suffer as an individual—for myself; and as a servant—for others. (Isa. 33:7.)

Now I have explained this, as God has given me understanding; and God, who in His great grace has allowed you to understand the truth, will allow you to examine and judge this.

The Spirit works in one for the word of wisdom, He works in another the speaking of tongues, in a third the word of knowledge, etc. 1 Cor. 12, from verse 7.

Now I can share with you that yesterday Br. Ellefsen was here with us at a meeting and received the gift to interpret tongues. I spoke several times in tongues, and Ellefsen interpreted. He was so greatly strengthened in his faith that his prayers became very powerful. Br. Berg sensed the power over himself. Yesterday, a woman was baptized with the Holy Spirit and rejoiced and cried out with all her might. The day before yesterday, a young girl who was about 18 years old, I suppose, received the Spirit. She spoke in tongues* and praised God with all her heart. God works and breaks people down, more than we can imagine.

Greet all the friends in the growing congregation with Psalm 112 and Psalm 133.

March 8:

* She spoke in tongues at the meeting house this evening. I have just come from there.

Greetings to everyone at home. May God’s Spirit also be too strong for Mother to resist.

Personal greetings to you with this one verse: Joel 2:16.

Your brother, always bound in Christ,

Greetings to Helga.