Thank you for your very good letter, and for the 9 kroner that I received today.

You say that the weapons of our spiritual warfare can all be summed up in one thing: simple faithfulness to Christ. Yes, that is true. In simple faithfulness we find a deep rest, from which difficulties and evil powers must flee. This is where simplicity and wisdom are united. The world cannot combine these two things, but God can. Things that seem to be overwhelming and insurmountable are easily overcome if we always stand in humility before the Lord.

We live in quietness here. Now and then Br. Karl and I have deeper conversations. Otherwise, it seems to me that we are becoming more and more removed from it all. We are quite happy with that, as long as we can just devote ourselves to Him, the One who can satisfy our hearts and instruct us in His law.

It is a joy for me that you have kept what you received from the beginning—the faithful word that can make us wise for salvation and is able to lead us onward by the light of the Spirit to the immense treasures that are in Christ. Yet we know that over everything glorious there is a covering, so the things that are glorious will not be regarded as glorious until we are revealed with Him in glory.

God values “faithfulness in the wilderness” very highly. A soul that is showered with grace cannot do anything but be faithful, but faithfulness in temptation and in all kinds of hardship is very precious to God.

We also need to take this to heart: If we seek to please men, we cannot be servants of Christ. If we are faithful, our body becomes a sacrifice, and it suffers with Christ; but then it also shares in the promise of being glorified with Him—not only the body, but the entire person, including body, soul, and spirit.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit, which can be called the baptism of grace, will by fire permeate us with the baptism of righteousness; for whatever is baptized with grace is reserved for the fire. The fire restores that relationship of favor that God had intended for mankind. He who receives grace is held captive in grace so that the fire can then do its work. Grace itself is not the ultimate goal, but righteousness and truth. The baptism of the Spirit is the seal we receive in order to be dealt with further by the same God, who will hereafter be a consuming fire in our lives.

God can baptize us with the Spirit because He was able to fulfill His zeal upon Christ. But His zeal upon us in the Beloved has yet to be completed by the fire—the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings.

All the best, dear brother. Greetings from all of us here. Hope you have received issue number 3 of the paper.

Warm greetings.

Yours,

The next time you get subscriptions, keep 0.50 kroner for yourself. Of course, you should receive the same amount as everyone else.