The Editor’s Note
Those of you who are acquainted with The Intercessor know it is a magazine that addresses those who are already believers in Christ. Salvation through Christ is our springboard to launch off into a spiritually advanced message. Our goal is to further you past just knowing you are saved, into a maturity of knowing Christ-in-you/ as-you. In Hebrews 6:1, the Apostle Paul states to the Church, “let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity.” He urges the Church to move off of milk and on to solid food! Many of today’s churches seem stuck on reiterating a basic salvation message. Many also preach of the cleansing power of Christ’s shed blood, without expounding on the tremendous significance of His body death and resurrection.
But, Paul urges us to go on to maturity. Though, of course, never moving away from our elementary teachings, we move beyond them to a more clear understanding of Christ’s resurrected life in us.
This issue of The Intercessor is all about maturing in one’s understanding, as God reveals it. We begin with the “Foreword to The Spontaneous You,” by Norman Grubb. The Spontaneous You was Norman’s seventh book published in 1966. In the foreword, Norman first states the three main questions he personally set out to answer for himself: What is life? How do we live it? Why do we live it? He then walks us through his previous writings and the main purpose of each one. Every new book he wrote was meant to share clarifications on what was revealed to him. As he says, “Each has been an attempt at going a little further into sharing with others what have become pearls of great price to me.” He explains that The Spontaneous You digs down to the foundations of life, and as he quotes from the book of Acts, expounds the way of God more perfectly.
This issue’s “Q & A” section deals directly with the question of changes in Norman’s message over the years. We would be more apt to say his message matured. The question is answered by someone close to Norman who reveals that his message changed slightly as he made new discoveries and that he “became clearer with his insight…as he matured…”
“Bible Bedrock” features James 1:2-8, “Count it all joy…” This excerpt from God Unlimited provides us with the mature way to look at difficulties we encounter. It presents us the choice we can make to change our believing about temptations and trials, and see them as from God—an opportunity for faith.
Next, in “Paul’s Key to the Liberated Life: Romans Six to Eight,” Norman takes us “into deep waters” as he dives into the Apostle Paul’s theology in applied daily living. Norman, who was led to dedicate a good part of his life studying these three chapters of the Bible, knew there was truth within these texts that others were missing. Thank God he was faithful to search it out and share this “deeper reality” that Paul maintains we must learn about the full meaning of Christ’s death for us.
As many Christians are left searching for more answers on how to live a victorious life, so was our next writer of “A Letter From a Prisoner: Finding Freedom Within.” His zeal is contagious as he describes his excitement and wonder upon first coming across an Intercessor magazine in the County Jail. He found the answers he was looking for, and it doesn’t sound like he is keeping them to himself! Praise God.
