The Lord your God is giving you a place of rest. Joshua 1:13

I don’t know about you, but I feel that I don’t always get the rest I need. I can be so busy with life, that I feel like I don’t have time to rest properly. The everyday life of routine is stealing the time and energy that I can spend on resting, refreshing and receiving.

Reading about Joshua in the bible is really inspiring. He was a man that took the baton after Moses and was called to lead the Israelites into the promised land. I can guess that much of Joshua’s time probably included to plan, strategies for the crossing over Jordan and just thinking and concerning about the people he was leading. He was a man of great capacity, but at the same time, he had to be reminded of being STRONG and COURAGEOUS as the first and second chapter tells us. And I bet that Joshua could have easily been caught up in what he needed to do and he had lots of people in his life that could take up his time. YET, he took the time to listen to God and entering that place of rest and peace that God had for him.

It is very much a choice to enter the place of rest. The bible teaches a lot about that place of rest that we can enter. It is a place where we can receive from God, be open hearted to Him, refresh our soul and perpectives in the midst of busy life and rest in God’s grace for our lives.

 

    The revelation of God is whole
      and pulls our lives together.
   The signposts of God are clear
      and point out the right road.
   The life-maps of God are right,
      showing the way to joy.
   The directions of God are plain
      and easy on the eyes.
   God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold,
      with a lifetime guarantee.
   The decisions of God are accurate
      down to the nth degree. (Psalm 19:7-9 MSG)

I am a person with very bad sense of direction. I hardly know the difference between left and right and struggle big time when it comes to remembering how to get to places. People around me know it and I embrace it with JOY! But even though it can take me hours to get somewhere, I am determined that I am not going to give up AND I praise God for google.maps.com (PRAISE THE LORD!).
The bible teaches us that we are children of God, a chosen people who God calls. But even though God has called us to something, it doesn’t mean that we will get there automatically. We have to search for direction, pay attention to the road, listen to advise and diligently remember the wisdom of people who has gone before. These verses from the psalms tells us exactly this and that following the path that God leads us, will take us to the place He calls us.

Father, thankyou that I can be your child and know that you have a plan and purpose for my life. I want to choose life and what you’ve called me to do, but I also recognize that I need help, direction and guidance along the way. As I make a desicion now to find the way you have for me, I ask for your help and I cling close to you, Jesus! Amen!

Give to anyone who asks, and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. Do to others as you would like them to do to you(…)Love you enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. LUKE 6:30,35-36

We are called to become more and more like Jesus as we daily take up our cross. We are to renew our mind daily. We are to love our enemies daily. It is so challenging and inspiring the way Jesus speaks in this passage. He is saying: Love your enemies! It is a command with an exclamation-mark. Then he continues: Do good to them. FULL STOP. We are to do good to those people we don’t like and people we don’t feel like being around. He also says: Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Jesus calls us to be people who don’t expect anything back from people, but that we can do it as an act of worship to God. If we make a decision today that we won’t love out of expectation to get something back or we won’t love out of wrong motives and feelings, but because we have decided that we want to worship God even though it costs us our attitude, bad reputation, feelings and our own comfort.

God, today I want to worship you in spirit and in truth. I choose today to put my expectation to what you can do in me and through me, rather than expecting it from people. Thank you that I can depend on you, Father. Help me to love people the way you love them. Amen.

College has finally started back up and I’m am so overwhelmed by illuminations already. God has again just showed up and showed Himself so much greater than I could imagine. Today we had such a great man of God speaking in one of our lectures; Andrew Harper. He was really just speaking from a heart after serving God for so many years. It really gave me such a hunger to live than kind of life dependent on God.

There is so much capacity within you that is yet to be released. God has such a big territory for you to step into. It can be so hard though at times to trust God. To trust that He will provide, to trust that He will heal, come with a breakthrough and to trust that He will make a way. But God has something greater for you. He has promises that He will always keep and all He asks from us is that we are faithful to Him and trust that He will do His will.

Imagine if God wasn’t faithful. It’s part of one of God’s attributes and His expression of love towards us to be faithful. It is who He is.
⁸ Who is like you, LORD God Almighty?
   You, LORD, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you. (Psalm 89:8)

A great motivation for me when I’m going through a hard time and really need to trust God, is to always think generationally. When I’m struggling, I choose to think about those I’m fighting for, the next generation who is going to follow, those who I am leading etc. Maybe you haven’t thought about this before, but people around you as a leader, are counting on you to trust in God. If you wanna live a life in God’s favor, provision and adventure, you have to learn to trust God. “Trust in God with all your heart and do not lean to you own understanding”.

For myself, I’ve had quite a few of those situations lately. One example is after this amazing class today, when we talked exactly about being faithful, trusting in God and setting an example for others to follow. I was so fired up and ready to trust in God in anything, but then I got home and realized I got an unexpected bill in the mail that seemed totally impossible for me to pay. I got discouraged straight away and just went right up to my room so frustrated, but then God just reminded me of what I just learned. Trust in Him and do not lean on your own understanding of how this can be paid. If I can trust God now, find joy in the midst of the situation, then I can also encourage others to the same.

Psalm 23, that you may already know, says it SO beautiful. Pay attention to the wording in the psalm.

¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
 ² He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
 ³ he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
   for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
   through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
   for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
   they comfort me.

 ⁵ You prepare a table before me
   in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
   my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
   all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
   forever.

The psalm starts of with saying “the Lord is my shepherd”. If you choose to let God be your shepherd, to make Him Lord over your life, let Him have the control, then HE will make you lay down in green pastures and HE will lead you, HE will refresh, HE will guide, HE will comfort etc. Can you see how many good blessings and promises God has for you if you trust Him and let Him be your shepherd and Lord? How amazing is that.

It is so fascinating how God has, in detail, planned out everything for your life.”You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” (Psalm 139:16) How amazing is that, hey?
God is not surprised by you, your actions, what you are doing at the moment. And with that He is not disappointed either, He is joyful when He looks at you and rejoices over your being.

God has definitely has place for YOU. You are not a nobody, you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. God does not overlook anyone, everyone matters and are important to Him.

As I was reading in Numbers 1-2 today, it stood out to me how God really puts people in a certain place for a reason. When Israel had left Egypt and was wandering in the wilderness, God spoke to Moses about listing all the tribes and putting them in a certain spot when they camped. For example; the Levites were in charge of guarding the Tabernacle at all times, set it up and take it down. Compared to all the other tribes who were actually going out in war and doing other stuff God said to them, the Levites had to guard all the time. But God assigns us to different positions for a reason and I can just imagine if some of the people from the different tribes had tried to do someone elses task, it would have caused confusion, conflict, non-effectiveness and disunity.

In church life it is so easy to always wanting to do what we’re not doing right now. But I’ve realized one thing this last year; that it is properly exactly why God put me where I’m at, so that I can sort out my attitude. Heheh.. It’s not about me, I’m not that big a deal.

Be planted in the House of God and you shall flourish. God has a great significant plan for your life.

Jeg lever i en annen tid enn før. Jeg lever i fremtiden. Og akkurat nå ble jeg ganske fascinert av hvordan det går an også. Det gikk plutselig opp for meg. Tenk at jeg som bor i Australia opplever dette klokkeslettet 8 timer før Norge. Ganske vilt egentlig. Det er også vilt at det går an å fly over datolinja og hoppe over en dato. Ei dame fortalte meg en gang at de hadde flydd fra et sted på en tirsdag – flydd over datolinja – og når de landet så var det torsdag. Hvor ble onsdagen av?
FASCINERENDE!

Dette innlegget handler derimot ikke om datolinjer og tidssoner, men det er for å ære min kjære PAPPA; Roar Andreas Tufteland! For siden Australia ligger litt foran i tid, så feirer vi farsdagen også litt på forskudd. Så her feires farsdagen med bart.

Pappa har alltid vært et forbilde for meg. Når jeg var ”ung og dum” virker jeg ofte veldig utakknemlig og gretten for alt, men det er vel sånn man er når man er tenåring. Da var det også lett å ta for gitt at jeg faktisk har en så god pappa og bare det at jeg har en jordisk pappa i det hele tatt.  Men alt pappa er og har gjort har satt spor i meg, selv om jeg ikke alltid har vært like flink til å sette pris på det. Pappa har mange gode kvaliteter. BARE DET AT HAN ER VERDENS STERKESTE PAPPA, sier jo litt i seg selv. (Det var jo alltid en diskusjon på barneskolen: ”Min pappa er sterkere enn din pappa”).

Noe som jeg beundrer hos pappa er at han ALLTID bruker tid med Gud. HVER eneste morgen så lenge jeg kan huske at jeg har kunne se så har pappa gått rundt i stua med løfta hender, sittet i sofaen med bibelen i fanget eller bare mumlet noen bønner for seg selv. Pappa har også et veldig tjener sinn og hjelper gjerne med det han kan. RETT OG SLETT en HANDY-MAN!

Pappa har også veldig god sans of humor. Mange vil nok si at dette er tørr humor, men jeg synes hvertfall det er morsomt. (Mr.Bean, hahahahahah).

Mye kan være sagt om Pappa. Kjenner du han ikke, så vil jeg anbefale deg å bli kjent med han. Med dette vil jeg gratulere deg med australsk FARSDAG kjære pappa. Du fortjener en fantastisk god dag J J

All you need is love..
En liten inspirasjon:
Bibelen sier: “Det hjertet flyter over av, det taler munnen”.
Ofte kan det vaere lett aa tenke at det bare gjelder noen faa ting i livet. Men det gjelder faktisk i alt du gjor. Hvis man kommer til punkter i livet eller situasjoner som gjor at man plutselig sier ting og gjor ting som man egentlig ikke mener, saa er det nok mest sannsynelig fordi det er slike ting som ligger nede i hjertet vaart.
Verden er fylt med mange logner som vi blir fylt med hver dag.
- Fyll deg med sannheter idag.
- Si det ut hoyt.
Gud elsker deg. Gud har en framtid for deg. Gud kan bruke deg til aa forandre omstendighetene rundt deg.
DU kan bety en forskjell.. Men alt begynner med et valg!

Have you ever made an excuse in your life? I would guess that the answer is properly yes. We all make excuses. I often make excuses about cleaning my room; that I’m too tired, that I don’t have time or just blame someone else (that excuse usually don’t work when it’s about my own room, HAHA). Well, sometimes we just have to do it because our mother tells us to.

Dear Lauren. This poem is just for you. In english, not norwegian.

You’re a pearl, as a ballerina you swirl.
I like your hair, you know people everywhere.
Lauren, the joy you give make others want to live.
I like that you live near by, so that I just can wave over the park and say: HI.

God bless you dear friend.