My Precious, Dearly Beloved, Friends

Here are some important exhortations to all of you:

1) Be very diligent to exercise yourself in the fear of God in all areas. By it we depart from evil—far, far from it! There can never be too much of loving and fearing God! Proclaim this powerfully!

2) Love one another unceasingly with a fervent love! It is not dangerous to be too daring in this regard! Be filled with an extreme love, never sparing with deeds or words!

3) Abhor arguments and strife like the plague—even like the flames of hell! Suffer whatever it takes to avoid that kind of thing! Consider it to be a horrible scandal! Prove that you do not belong to the sons of tumult whom God will crush. Proclaim this with deadly seriousness!

4) Everyone must be extremely diligent to enter into perfect complete in God without exception! A vital part of rest in God is the result of a living faith in scriptures such as, “As for God, His way is perfect.” Ps. 18:30. “For all are your servants.” Ps. 119:91. “He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.” Dan. 4:35. “If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?” Amos 3:6. “All things work together for good to those who love God . . . .” Rom. 8:28. “Not one of them [sparrows] falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Matt. 10:29-30.

5) Seek with all your heart, very consciously, to be thoroughly grounded in lowly thoughts about yourself! Stubbornly deny all forms of great thoughts about yourself! Be on guard against conceit and obstinacy as if they were hell itself! Then you are truly wise!!!

6) Immerse yourself completely in living for others! Vanish in it, in this perfect contrast to everything that is called self-love, to everything that is called one’s own!!! First the others! Then the others! And then the others to infinity! God cares especially well for you when you care for others! Do not forget this in season and out of season!

7) You need power to act! Seek it! Be filled with it! Otherwise you will only become a well-intentioned “yes-man” and a windbag!

Note: This greeting to the friends was written by br. Aslaksen after he suffered a mild stroke.