Markus Church

Presentation

Markus Church, this wondrous beautiful church on St. Hanshaugen in Oslo, is only 900 meters from the Government building. It is wondrous because it is as if the church from the very beginning was prepared for the function it now will get.

The ceiling is adorned with paintings of angels who say: “Pray without ceasing “, “Offer unto God the sacrifice of thanksgiving” and “Sing with joy to the Lord”. This expresses the worship! Behind the altarpiece is an artistic presentation of the four living beings from the book of Revelation, which sings “holy, holy, holy” day and night. God shall be honored!

Other angels say, “Do not fear, believe only,” “Rejoice in hope”, “God is love”. God’s mercy is emphasized! And above the entrance it is engraved in granite: “Believe in God – everything is possible for those who believe”! If you enter in here, miracles and healings can happen. Here is hope for the hopeless!

The church also has a prayer tower, and outside the entrance to the church there is a bus stop with 400 departures a day and 10 million annual passengers.

Dedicated to prayer

Markus Church was opened on April 1, 1927. When Jesus Church moved into the church in March 2014, an old church magazine was found in a corner. It was released just after the opening of the church. The theme of the magazine is, from beginning to end, about prayer!

The altar of prayer

The next article is entitled “Mother’s altar”. A mother who had a many children and was busy all day long, used to wake up one hour before the others every morning. She then went to the kitchen and knelt down by the chair. There she poured out her heart in prayer for all her loved ones and prayed for blessings over them and for the work of the day. Further, the article describes how her prayers continued to work after her death and the importance of building prayer alters.

“Abraham built an altar where he camped. This was one of the reasons God had promised he would become a blessing. We need homes where such alters are being built. It is from such places the effects will be traceable after we ourselves have passed away. Dear father and mother, do you have your own altar? “

Pioneer & Intercession Missionary

Then a powerful teaching follows concerning “The importance of prayer” where Bolette Larsen Hinderli is described as a “intercession missionary.” The church magazine wrote that “when she was a child, she had, in a vision, seen many images of idols and gentiles in need, and the Lord had spoken to her, saying, “Pray forth missionaries to proclaim my praise on earth!”.

This made a strong impression on her. And as she grew, her heart was deeply compassionate to the most neglected peoples. When she herself was a child and played with other children, she sometimes had to run behind a house where she could pour out her heart in painful cries to God: “Send missionaries to the poor gentiles!”.

As she grew, these prayer battles became stronger and stronger. Often she had to leave her rokk when she sat spinning it, and rushing out to some desolate place to spend some time alone in prayer.” Bolette was tired of these struggles in prayer and she asked the Lord why she should undergo this distress. Then the Lord showed her in a vision that she prayed for a prisoner sitting in a cell. “Pray for him and I will send him out to preach the gospel to the Gentiles”, “said the Lord”.

Then Bolette was deeply moved and cried to God,”I’ll pray for him!”. She also noticed that she prayed with confidence. Despite struggle and suffering, she experienced in her spirit that God gave her victory, so the answer to prayer would come. She remained focused on praying for this prisoner.

Often she spent a big part of the night in prayer. It happened that she woke up four in the morning and went out of town so that she undisturbed could cry to God for this prisoner whose image remained clear in her soul. It was during this time that Lars Olsen Skrefsrud fought his fierce battle in prison, and God overcame him. A little later she hears that a repented prisoner was to speak at a meeting – and when she sees him for the first time, she notices that it is the same man as she saw in the vision.

Lars Olsen Skrefsrud became a pioneer missionary of dimensions. He started a major missionary organization that worked in India, and today 150,000 people are part of the church he founded among the Santals. He learned to speak 18 languages and translated parts of the Bible to Santal. The church magazine concludes: “How strange to know that while Skrefsrud fought his hard struggle in the loneliness of prison, Bolette continued faithfully in earnest prayer in Haugesund, and then he became this mysterious worker and this great vessel for the kingdom of God”.

The church magazine found in the church is about prayer. Could it be a sign of what the church is going to be used for? Prayer for unity, bold prayers, prayer alters and prayer missionaries who pray forth missionaries sounds like a prophetic message preserved for Day&Night.