Think on These Things: A Collection……

© 2014 Norman Grubb . All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/06/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-1108-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-1109-4 (e)

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

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CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

I. To All Believers… It’s As Simple As This

II. The Obedience Of Faith

III. What Is Flesh?

IV. Paul’s Key To The Liberated Life Roman’s Six To Eight

V. Suffering… It’s Secret

VI. Intercession In Action

VII. Perfect God-Perfect Human

Final Word

Book List

FOREWORD

When asked to write this Foreword, I was honored, intimidated, scared, and unsure about what to write until DeeDee told me I could just write about any memories I have of Norman. Somehow, that unlocked a flood of thoughts, and the opening for what I wanted to say came to me in one line—how, when, and where we met for the first time. Here are some musings from the flood!

I met Norman when I was 25 years old in Louisville, KY at one of the early annual Family Gatherings held each September for people who were in various stages of learning about their oneness with God through Jesus Christ. Norman called it union. He was not what we might commonly think of as a dynamic speaker, that is, someone who is full of energy whose goal is to rev people up for a cause, or generate more sales for their products. No, he was quite the opposite. He appeared mild mannered and was slow to start speaking when in front of a crowd, uncomfortably slow for those of us not used to his ways. His British accent, lack of enunciation, and the rapid cadence of his speech all made him difficult for me to understand. But, and this is a huge but, once he started and began sharing what he knew, something inside me resonated so deeply there were no words to describe it… no intellectual understanding or comprehension… just a sense that my innermost self was being fed, watered, and lifted up into the heavenlies for the first time. I couldn’t understand anything he said, and because of that, I had no questions to ask. However, that weekend was a major turning point in my life. For the first time since I became a Christian at age 16, I came to know where my true home was… within, where God dwelt.

As the years passed, there were many occasions to be with Norman and see firsthand what he was like. He was an avid correspondent and personally wrote many thousands of letters in response to people reaching out for answers to life’s questions, relationship problems, work dilemmas, and theological issues. While he travelled around the world to share his insights and the Lord he knew so intimately, he carried his trusty old typewriter and was up at 4 A.M. to answer the constant stream of letters that followed him wherever he went. There was no subject he wouldn’t tackle and even when his response to someone was ‘corrective’ in tone, he left no doubt that he loved the person to whom it was written even if he’d never met them face to face.

Norman was an avid reader. Nothing was off limits and he taught that truth is where you find it. This included all forms of communication… movies, TV, books—spiritual and otherwise; conversations with Christians and non-Christians—any and everybody. He loved science and nature because he saw God the Person and the Creator everywhere… behind and in and through all that there is. This opened my eyes far more than I can even begin to describe. He was so sure and confident that the One who indwelt us was able to keep us and show us the way no matter what the circumstances or what we sounded like or looked like. What relief I found in taking God at His word and I began to live life without the fear of being separated from Him… ever!

I remember sitting in a living room once at one of the family reunions. There were at least 10 to 15 of us sitting around talking theology and truths, but mostly discussing sin. Norman was dozing in a chair in the midst as we bantered back and forth about sin and what it was or wasn’t when someone made a strong declaration about it and Norman’s head shot up and he entered right into the conversation with a strong rebuttal, then after a few minutes of listening, he went back to dozing. It was pretty amazing!

A fun story involves Norman staying with some single guys on a road trip to CA. He had to share a room with his host and in the middle of the night Norman needed to get up to use the bathroom. Since the room was unfamiliar and very dark, he kept bumping into things all the while saying, Thank You, Jesus, Praise You, Lord. Now who does that?! Not me, that’s for sure.

Norman Grubb was an incredibly intelligent and educated, but humble man. This is not to say he didn’t have a temper which showed on occasion. He was just totally comfortable being himself no matter where he was or who he was with. He reacted in the moment and then it was done. He didn’t engage in much small talk, which made some people uncomfortable (me included, at least at first) because he was too driven to see others come to know the One he knew so well. Norman lifted people up on the inside and taught them to trust the Spirit within all the while pouring himself out to give this gift to any who would listen.

Norman’s gift to me, aside from all the insights and truths he shared, came from seeing his easiness with God… the intimacy they shared. It was comfortable and relaxed. It was the direct opposite of having a God on your shoulder judging every thought, word, or deed and coming up lacking… needing to change… be better… striving for a closer walk… and the rest of the things so many teach today and have taught for centuries. Thanks to Norman and a few other beloved friends who walked as he walked and knew what he knew, I, too, am friends with God, beloved by Him, and one with Him in the most intimate and natural way.

I want to end this in the way Norman would wind up his talks on the last morning at our annual Family Gatherings in Louisville. He used the first two or three talks building the foundation of who God is, who we are in Christ, and what that means—union. The final talk was the pinnacle of it all… the reason the Father brings us into His life and reveals Himself and His ways to us. His reason is so we are equipped to stand in the gap for others, willing to lay our lives down in whatever way and in whatever place He leads us to do so. Norman used the word intercession.

I vividly remember the impact that Norman’s book, Rees Howell Intercessor, made upon me. It scared me and thrilled me at the same time and stirred a heart-longing to know that kind of life… that kind of giving of myself… that kind of love: a life given for others no matter the cost to me. Norman embodied this very thing and I will forever be honored and grateful to have known him, learned from him, and been shown so profoundly that the living God chose to make Himself one with us so He could complete us, and then turn our focus outward in order to love and reach others through us in whatever way He needed to do so.

My prayer for anyone reading these words is from Ephesians 1:17-19:

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.

Judy Dunn

INTRODUCTION

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things which you have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Philippians 4:8-9

During the last decade of Norman Grubb’s life, in addition to the hundreds of letters he wrote each month, Norman penned several booklets in his quest to leave the body of Christ what had become to him an ever more clear understanding of the Lord’s revealings throughout Scripture. I chose Think on These Things as the title knowing he so desperately wanted each one who believed in Jesus Christ to come into their full inheritance described in these writings. In Think on These Things you will find a collection of his last booklets, as well as several transcribed talks.

These things are grounded in what the Apostle Paul describes as a mystery. A mystery is anything that arouses our curiosity because it is unexplained… a secret… an intrigue—such as Paul describes in Colossians 1:26-29 "The mystery which has been hid from ages and generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which works in me mightily."

A mystery is something to be discovered. Thus begins a quest by each searcher beginning his quest to find the answer to the secret—an answer we know exists. This pearl of great price costs us more than we ever dreamed and, yet, we greedily pursue it. We perceive it as our pursuit, yet all the while it is the drive of the Holy Spirit within us to fulfill His objective in revealing Christ as our life.

These things—being honest, just, lovely, of good report and having virtue, and spoken of by Paul so clearly define the truths we behold in the Truth… Christ Jesus Himself. Jesus was breathtakingly honest and just… giving those to whom He spoke a startlingly new idea of themselves and God’s ways and character. Whether it was the woman at the well under condemnation from others as well as from herself, or the Pharisees who had all the external finery and oblations, but who were dead and hardened within themselves to God, His ways, and His love… Jesus confounded every understanding they had! His very presence was Truth. We read time after time in the Gospels of miracles He performed as He invaded their lives with the love God… sometimes in a physical way, and other times filling a deep internal need each one of us has to be made whole.

Norman sought for himself and to share with others the TOTAL truth and a TOTAL life… which he clearly saw revealed in Jesus Christ, and promised to be ours also in John 17. To Norman TOTAL meant a perfect God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—living in His perfect creation… we humans! This life gloriously given to us through Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension is NOT a life living as though Romans 7 (a dismal existence of sin, condemnation, trying harder and failure) is the truth about us… but a Romans 8 life with no condemnation; one of freedom and victory! It is this life of freedom for which Christ Jesus died that Norman explained so thoroughly and encouragingly in all he brought to the Body of Christ… and in all he was!

The beautiful litany contained in this Philippians passage also aptly describes the man we knew as Norman and his ‘way’ with those around him, those who came to him for counsel, and also in every situation which arose. He was the truest friend, mentor and encourager… always seeing Christ in us, and in turn causing us to see ourselves with his vision. His encouragement and praise of each one was our path to trusting ourselves. Norman never drew attention to himself, sought no ‘followers’, but always emboldened each person with the truth that they had the Answer within… Christ in you, the hope of glory!

For many of us Norman was our first encounter with unconditional love in another human being. He stretched and expanded our perceptions of God, of life and of our own humanity in every way imaginable. By example and encouragement he taught us to become people of faith… finding God and His ways by ‘seeing through’ all that life brought to us through our temptations and fears, past our weight of self-condemnation and into a living reality of the freedom for which Christ Jesus died! What Norman saw about himself, he saw about each of us and what he believed, we became emboldened to believe… first for ourselves and then for our world!

The cover photograph is by my dear friend, Ole Henrik Skjelstad, of Norway. Ole Henrik has presented us with a tremendous visual image of the soaring heights, truths and depths contained in Norman Grubb’s writings. At the base of this deep chasm (the divide between law and grace) is a winding river (Christ, the River of Life) with mountains (self-effort or rest) rising upward in opposite directions. This self-effort drives us to try harder to live ‘the Christian life’; our rest comes in discovering we were never meant to and finding Christ AS our life . . . and that it is He living it by the power of His Holy Spirit! The higher mountains to the right are partially hidden by clouds (our Spirit-sight is obscured until the veil is removed) and plant life grows on both where it appears impossible… (as do we through our trials and sufferings). I know there are many more truths to be seen here so let your imagination soar!

To All Believers . . . It’s as Simple as This holds the simple, basic truths of the Gospel so many times missed because we are mired in the gospel of ‘try-harder-self-effort’.

The Obedience of Faith is a transcript from a talk given in response to a question about our personal responsibility. Do we have the ‘responsibility’ to obey as believers?

What is Flesh? gives a detailed look at the term flesh that the Bible uses and which is so often misunderstood. In this Norman shows how our flesh comes into its right use and manifests Spirit.

Paul’s Key to the Liberated Life—Romans Six to Eight is a thorough look at three chapters in Romans, often misunderstood when Romans 7 is thought to be the ongoing life for the Christian, rather than a temporary stage of growth that leads to our complete and radical freedom found in Romans 7:25-8:1,2.

Suffering . . . Its Secret reveals the glory to be found in our sufferings as we discover God in every event of our lives.

Intercession in Action is a list of five significant commissions God presented to Norman to accomplish in his lifetime. God searched for man of faith, and in Norman Grubb He found that man! Each challenge required a ‘death’ in Norman as he looked to nothing but God to bring forth all that He had spoken.

Perfect God-Perfect Human answers the age-old question with which every Christian struggles… what about me? How can I get myself to line up with the Scriptures? Norman shares with his audience that man’s only role is as a receiver of God’s life and this freeing discovery of our true function settles our human self into its proper place of honor!

In each of these we find different facets of light brilliantly shining from the gleaming gem we knew as Norman… and with a wink . . . Christ in His Norman Grubb form!

Biography

Norman Percy Grubb was born August 2, 1895 to an Anglican clergyman and his wife. He was in his teens when he came to know Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. After serving in World War I he went to Cambridge University and while there he joined a Bible study and prayer group called Cambridge InterCollegiate Christian Union (C.I.C.C.U.). Their passion was to present the gospel and atoning blood of Jesus Christ to their fellow students. With only one semester to go the Lord impressed upon Norman that he was to leave and join the mission work of C.T. Studd in the heart of Africa, the Belgian Congo. As he was sharing his call with his fellow CICCU-ites the Lord gave Norman the vision to begin groups like theirs in other universities and colleges. Thus was born Inter-Varsity Fellowship (I.V.F.), also known as Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (I.V.C.F), which today is worldwide.

Norman married Pauline Studd in 1919 and they immediately sailed for Africa to join her father, C.T. Studd, in his Heart of Africa Mission, which later became the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade (WEC). As a young missionary in the Congo, God brought Norman to a screeching halt. He writes in The Key to Everything, and also in Once Caught, No Escape, his auto-biography, that shortly after arriving in the Congo to join C.T. Studd’s mission he found himself an utter failure when it came to loving the Africans, the people for whom he had given up everything to serve and bring Jesus Christ. Another crushing question he had—was he just giving the Africans another code of ethics by which to live?

In his despair the Holy Spirit brought Norman two Scriptures which redirected the rest of his life. In I John 4:8 the Spirit illuminated "God IS love . . . not God has love that He would give Norman to use, but that He IS love and would be that in him. Norman saw love was a Person, not an attribute! Secondly, there was Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Norman saw it wasn’t his love; it wasn’t his life; it wasn’t his faith! Christianity was not to be a set of rules, but was a Life… the living, resurrected, ascended Christ who had returned in the Person of His Holy Spirit and now living as each believer.

Norman and Pauline had four children Noel, Paul, Priscilla and Daniel. Their firstborn, Noel, died on his first birthday in the Congo. They returned to England to lead the mission in 1931 shortly before C.T.’s Homegoing. Norman and Pauline remained at the London headquarters until 1957 when he was called to head the work in the United States.

Norman’s years with WEC took him all over the world where he had working relationships with