…men Jesus ger aldrig upp!

Jag har alltid, ända sedan jag blev frälst haft Sverige och Skandinavien på mitt hjärta. Jag älskar vårt land och tror att Gud vill och kommer att göra mycket här. Ofta får man höra saker som: Det är hårt i Sverige, det blir värre och värre, församlingarna krymper, hur skall det gå… När jag hör sådant förstår jag andemeningen i det som sägs, jag förstår och delar också våndan bakom orden. Ändå kan jag inte låta bli att för mig själv lägga till orden: … men Jesus ger aldrig upp och Hans vilja kommer att bryta igenom i Sverige. Vi kommer att se Guds rike upprättas i vårt land! 

När man ser på Sverige och våra församlingar rent mänskligt finns det givetvis anledning att bli nedslagen. 
När jag har pratat med hundratals kristna genom åren, som är nedslagna och modlösa vore det lätt för mig att bara ge upp och kasta in handduken. 
När man ser på nyheterna och hör om människors hopplösa situation, ett utbrett alkoholmissbruk, kärnfamiljens sönderfall, gatuvåld och allt vad det är vore det lätt att ge upp. 
Ändå när jag ser och hör allt detta kommer jag på mig själv med att lägga till orden … men Jesus ger aldrig upp och Hans vilja kommer att bryta igenom i Sverige. 
Vi kommer att se Guds rike upprättas i vårt land!När jag pratar med föräldrar som är förtvivlade över sina barns situation kan jag som tvåbarns pappa förstå något av den smärta de känner. 
När kristna bröder och systrar som har ett trasigt äktenskap hör av sig och ber om förbön gör det ont i mig. När jag samtalar med människor som har misslyckats, och gjort dumma val i livet, så att deras liv brutits ned kan jag känna Guds hjärta för dem. 
När jag möter så många kristna som tycker sig ha tappat sina drömmar och sin kallelse gråter jag med dem. Ändå när jag möter allt detta, kommer jag på mig själv med att lägga till orden: … men Jesus ger aldrig upp och Hans vilja kommer att bryta igenom i ditt liv. 
Du kommer att upprättas i din kallelse, dina barn kommer att få ett starkt Jesusmöte som förvandlar deras liv, ditt äktenskap kommer att upprättas och Herren kommer att hjälpa dig så att de misslyckanden du har upplevt kommer att vändas till det bästa för dig så att du kan göra en comeback med Jesus!Jag vill inte ta lätt på vare sig människors trasighet eller synd, men det är ännu viktigare för mig att inte förminska Jesus som frälsare, läkare och återlösare. Jesus är trovärdig. Hans löften håller. Vi faller igenom och misslyckas ibland. Varje dag behöver vi uppleva Guds nåd och förlåtelse i våra liv. Men Jesus varken sviker eller faller igenom. Därför finns det alltid anledning att se ljust på framtiden när vi följer Jesus. Detta gäller också din församling, ditt liv, din familj, dina vänner och din framtid!
 Var välsignad!

Dark seasons in life

We all go through dark seasons in life. It´s just how life is, and I can guarantee that I have had my share of dark moments the last few years. Sometimes the pain and hopelessness was overwhelming. But I encountered God in this pain, the God who became a man of sorrows for me and who have shared all my sufferings. He knows how it feels, and He comforted me and brought me out of, and is still bringing me out of my personal darkness. When I behold His stripes, the wounds of His love for me, I get healed, because His love is greater than my pain, when I encounter His compassion, I experience wave after wave of His healing love. He is truly wonderful and awesome beyond words!
Many times in these seasons of life we look at ourselves: if only I were... if only I could... why did I... why can´t I.
Or we look to other people: If they... If I was like him or her... how could they...
Or we look to the circumstances.
The list goes on.
Religion always wants to play with our minds to burden us down with guilt and condemnation.
Religion is cold and hard, always placing demands on us that is too heavy to carry for a broken heart.
That´s not how Jesus speaks. He wants us to lift our eyes and look to Him, trust Him and let Him minister to our hurts and pains. He always sets us free from our struggle with ourselves.
Life is like this, and of course I believe in a God and savior that does miracles and who wants to help us, but sometimes... it seems like He´s showing up to late. We don´t understand why all this is happening, and I can´t give you a good answer to the question why.
But I know one thing, that Jesus is trustworthy and He promised to never leave us, nor forsake us, meaning that He is with us always, and when He´s with us, even though it may feel like we´re walking through the valley of death, He´s still there leading us through our time of darkness.
We will come out on the other side.
I don´t believe He is the cause of our sufferings, but I know that life can be really tough sometimes.
Because we walk in a dark season, the pain and suffering tends to steal our focus, and we don´t see the blessings hidden in the darkness.
What kind of blessings is that?
Well, in tough times things happen in our hearts. We learn compassion with suffering people, our hearts are exposed and we learn what real trust in God is, because in these seasons, prayer becomes real, and the religious superficiality of faith is stripped away and we learn the way of humility and brokenness, which is good because God gives His grace to the humble!
We learn to appreciate our friends, understanding that we were not created to live independent of other people, we become grateful for the people God has placed in our life, and knowing that there is someone praying for us, when we don´t have the strength to pray ourselves can make all the difference.
When we loose our pride, our walls of protection, built by our fears and insecurity, comes down and we become real and authentic people because we no longer have the strength or need to look good in front of God and in front of people.
When that happens we finally allow God and people too see us and love us the way we really are, and that´s always where real relationships can start!
Through our hurts and wounds God will bring comfort and healing to the hurting people around us!
He makes all things work together for our good, and even the most dark moments in your life can be used by God as a source of encouragement and life to our world if we give them to him. That´s good news!
He is not the one causing dark seasons in our life, but He´s redeeming them, using them to change us into His image!
We will have times of darkness and sufferings sometimes, but Jesus is our healer and restorer. He is our best friend and together with Him we will always come out on the other end changed, we may limp like Jacob did (I surely do), but we have been changed by His grace, remember that Jacob was changed into Israel through a very dark time of his life, and then our places of suffering is turned into gates through which His love flows into this world.
No, God doesn´t promise us a life free from suffering, but He walks with us through the suffering, and in the dark night of the soul it all seems so meaningless sometimes, but when we look back and see how God has been with us through it all our hearts are filled with thanksgiving and praise. Why? Because God is with us, and He loves us through it all!
Don´t give up, God will strengthen you, deliver you and save you!
Dark seasons come and go, because our circumstances are temporal, but our God is an everlasting God that never changes, and He is on our side to help us and deliver us!
Remember: God is with you, He´s bringing you through and it´s going to be alright!

It´s all about Jesus Christ!

Tonight me and my wife celebrated Jesus Christ by taking the Lord´s supper, praying and reading the Bible together as we usually do in the evenings. Not because we have to, but because we want to. Not because we´re very spiritual, but because we´re very ordinary and therefore need His grace to carry us everyday. We have found that for us, it´s a good way to end the day, focusing on the Person that´s more important for us than anything or anyone else!
When we prayed and talked tonight, we found ourselves repeating one sentence over and over again, and that sentence was: "It´s all about Jesus!"
It´s a really simple statement but it´s really profound. Why?
Because He´s everything!
He´s everything that the Father loves.
He´s the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
He´s the Lion of Judah.
He´s the Alfa and Omega.
He´s the risen Lord.
He is our High Priest and intercessor.
He is the healer and the restorer of our soul.
He´s the one that justifies us and ever lives to make intercession for us.
He´s our wisdom, righteoussness, sanctification and redeemer.
He´s the Lover of our soul.
He´s the head and we are the body.
He´s the author and perfector of our faith.
he´s the one that baptises us in the Holy Spirit.
He´s our redemption.
He´s the way, the truth and the life.
He´s the one building his church.
He´s our life
I could go on and on talking about Jesus Christ and how glorious and perfect He is.
By the power of His indwelling life we can live the Christian life. Only by being in him and by His indwelling in us, can we live the life He´s called us to live. One pastor friend use to tell the congregation when introducing me: "Today, Christ in Martin will minister to you..."
I like that way of looking at ministry, because without Him we have nothing, and can do nothing.
But with when He´s doing it, all things are possible!

Sometimes we tend to forget that and by doing so, we make the life with Christ a set of principles to live by, turning the New Testament into a Law book, and we exchange a living and loving relationship with almighty God for dead works and boring rituals.
When we forget that we become self centered and look to our own works to find life and purpose, but we never will.
When we forget that we turn freedom into lawlessness.
When we forget that we end up with dead religion unable to save, heal or restore anyone, because only He´s able to do that!
So let´s remember: It´s all about Jesus Christ!

Grace and peace be with you...

Restarting my blog

It's been a few year since I used this blog, but now it's time to start again. On this blog You can read about my thoughts and reflections on our life in Christ, find news concerning our ministry as well as finding our schedule.
This means that I've stopped usling my old webpage and that it no longer exist, and that's because I find this blog to be a much better way to communicate to the people interested in our ministry, missions and teachings.
The blog will be ritten in english. Keep you're eyes open for new entries, news and announcements,
Grace and peace to all of you!