From the Pentecost Conference in Hønefoss, 1923

Elias Aslaksen:

Romans 13:11-14; 2 Corinthians 10:3-6. “Let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”

We are to put off the works of darkness, but put on not the works of light, but the armor of light, because this is war.

I view life very seriously, more serious than ever before. Before I was simple enough to believe that we would enter into God’s kingdom arm in arm. All of us in this flock would walk arm in arm into God’s kingdom. But now I understand that this is not nearly so. We do not at all walk into God’s kingdom arm in arm. We walk just as unlikely as a flock into Gods’ kingdom as the world mockingly says about the priests that they lead souls into heaven one parish at a time. We only go in together with one here and one there. For that matter, there is vanity and backbiting. There were several who, in the beginning, had begun on the right way. They put off vanity. They did it because they were upright, wanting to be God-fearing. However, we see that little by little they have gone back to the old ways. Not suddenly; not with everything at once—because that wouldn’t even meet with favor in the world—but very slowly, little by little, they have taken back one thing after another, and now they are exactly where they were before.

Being defeated and falling is not what hinders a soul from making progress in God. We see that it counts the least. Being defeated and falling is part of the first years. It is the person’s attitude of mind that matters. When your mind is to serve God at any cost, God will give you the victory—little by little.

“Being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.” 2 Cor. 10:6.

Perfect obedience is not the end of our faith; it is not something we shall reach when we are near death. Perfect obedience is the beginning of the way, the beginning of our life with God in order to live the rest of our life in obedience. Only through perfect obedience can the life in God develop fully in me.

I understand there are several souls here who have been apprehended of Christ. However, all of them will encounter obstacles on the way when it concerns pressing into God. I believe that the greatest hindrance is your human reasoning. It is in God’s kingdom as it is in the natural realm. You think so many things. When a sister comes to the house of another sister, she usually says, “This is how I do it, but how do you usually do it? I think it should be done like this.” Even if the result is the same (for example, the food is just as good) one still thinks it has to be done my way. Reject your human reasoning. In the natural you can use your reasoning as much as you like, but when it concerns God’s kingdom, you have to reject your reasoning and lay hold of life by faith.

Rejoice in the light that God has revealed to you, and do not seek to brood yourself to new light. Act again and again, over and over again according to the light you have received; do it joyfully, from the heart, until God gives you new light. Do it years on end if that should prove to be necessary. However, God will not stall that long between each new light, if you are faithful.

There is a word over which I have rejoiced for years, and over which I am rejoicing until now. It is written in Deuteronomy 29:29: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”