A Testimony by Elias Aslaksen

A Testimony by Elias Aslaksen

You must take 7,000 steps on the way before you enter the deep. Before you enter the deep, the way across, which is the width of the shore, is strewn with many stones, and winding. You have to swim the rest of the way. Each step on the way is something new that you have to go through. In the beginning denying yourself isn’t so easy. The last thing a soul wants to do is to die to himself; sometimes it is terribly difficult. However, when you have a desire in your heart to go out into the deep, you get up after you have fallen, and you walk and walk until you have taken these 7,000 steps and entered the deep. Only then does it become really blessed to be a Christian.

When you enter the deep, you no longer bump your foot against any stone. Everything is pleasant; it is no longer difficult and bothersome. Everything is open, and you swim in blessedness. You have come to the point where you thank God the Father for all things. Then God’s Word that everything works together for good to those who fear and love God has been fulfilled in us. Then you are no longer bothered by arrogance, murmuring, and complaining; you are no longer offended—because you have entered the deep. You have partaken of a totally and completely overcoming life.

Every time you suffer defeat, every time you become bitter, every time you get offended by one person or another, you have bumped against something. Being in the deep means always being victorious in all things. Then you will never fall in any temptation; then you never fulfill the works of the flesh. Anger, murmuring, complaining, envy, etc., are works of the flesh. They are works of the flesh and they are manifest. It is committing sin, and everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. You are a slave while walking those 7,000 steps. To begin with, you are totally enslaved, but you become less and less of a slave as you advance on the way.

We love God’s law more as we advance cubit by cubit and step by step. We do not fully and completely love God’s law as long as we commit sin.

“Great peace have those who love Your law.” Ps. 119:165. The love of God is that we keep His commandments, and there is no cause for stumbling in them. 1 John 5:3, 2:10.

The swimming part that begins in the deep is salvation from the deeds of the body. The 7,000 steps before you enter the deep is salvation from the works of the flesh. Deeds of the body (sin that I did not know was sin, or things that are not godly, which I did not see and which I did not understand)—will end as I enter the deep, as God’s light shows them to me.

When we suffer defeat, we are powerless. When we enter the deep and swim in rivers of blessing, we go from strength to strength, from light to light. All the 7,000 steps lead from suffering defeat to rising again, from powerlessness to strength. Life on the shore is one kind of life, but life in the deep is another kind of life. It is very blessed in the deep.

The people we associate with can basically tell whether we have entered the deep or not. The people with whom we are living can tell us whether we have entered the deep. Unfortunately, finding a soul who has entered the deep is extremely rare. It would be reasonable to be in the deep after you have been converted for a few years—not that you felt you were there, but that others can testify that you are there. Why after only a few years’ passing? Because a few years are more than enough to enter the deep. There remains a long and blessed way after we have entered the deep.

We must make every possible effort; we must read and fight and pray to the point of perspiring in order to advance as quickly as possible into the deep. The intention is to get there in the beginning of your Christian life. Most souls never get there as long as they live. You must press into God with fervor, asking Him to be merciful to you so that you might not be among those who never enter the deep. God has not called us to sin; these are clear, unmistakable words. There is not one person who has to commit sin. When you fall in sin, you must say to yourself: “Get at it again! Soon I will be in the deep!” Then you prophesy about victory and progress, which pleases God. This is how someone who has faith acts. He says, “Just wait, just wait! Soon I will be in the deep. Thanks and praise!”

If you could just believe, you would see God’s glory. You are in the deep when you have taken 7,000 steps. You will meet much opposition, so much that is unpleasant, and you will hurt yourself. But do not grow weary; soon you will be in the deep. John 4:14. In other words, we begin to drink of living water, and so we have our thirst quenched. Our thirst is not entirely quenched right away; we must constantly drink from the fountain as we suffer defeat. The water that we drink becomes a well within us that flows forth unto eternal life in the end. This well will flow from you, and then your fellowmen can come to you and drink water that flows forth from you. What a tremendous work, what a tremendous calling, what a tremendous salvation this is! The person who has entered the deep has no need to go anywhere else to drink; the well is within him. Imagine getting the fountain of life within you. Then you have become one with Christ. Christ is the fountain of life. I can assure you that it is rewarding to press into God, seeing that there are such tremendous things to be obtained. There is only one fountain with living water, and that is Christ, and you can become one with Him so that the fountain of life flows out from you.

John 7:37-38. What are these rivers of living water? They are that you love everyone; that you are humble; that you are always thankful, always content regardless of your circumstance; that you always bless; that you are always meek, always of good courage, always glad—then you have entered the deep since you have drunk so much living water that it has become a fountain within you. V. 39. It is the Spirit of truth that forces this blessed life to the surface. There is one thing that is necessary for all of us, and that is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 5:17-22. When we have become so meek and bowed that we cannot notice that we have a will, then we are filled with the Spirit.

Let this be our motto: I am going to enter the deep as truly as God is living. It is only a question of whether you want to. Pray night and day!