A Look at a Book
by Tommy Prewitt

BOOK REVIEW:
Touching the Invisible
by Norman Grubb

Faith. A concept so basic to Christianity yet so difficult for so many, it seems, to understand. Norman Grubb’s testimony is that of a scripture-based faith life. The wisdom that Norman demonstrates in Touching the Invisible reveals how well he knew and actualized faith. Like all of Norman’s writings, this book is replete with the wisdom of a man who knows and understands a faith life at levels that few others ever realize.

Touching the Invisible is one of Norman Grubb’s early books. First published in 1940, this book was written approximately ten years after Norman assumed leadership of the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade (WEC). Norman makes several interesting references to the daily workings of the WEC and even devotes a chapter to maintaining unity within a Christian organization. Yet the underlying principle that guides the message of the book can be found in the first sentence of the second chapter, "The one word which has stood out pre-eminently before us these years has been faith."

My reading of this book comes at a time when my faith seems to be tried in ways that I would have never imagined. I know that God has me writing this report so that I would again be exposed to the saving grace of Norman’s teachings by reading Touching the Invisible. On page after page I find boldly true statements that reinforce to me that at times of despair, my problem is what I believe about myself. As I read this book, I underlined and marked in the margins sentences that could stand alone, clearly and succinctly guiding me out of the darkness of unbelief into the light of the knowledge that "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." Norman reminds me that when I am weak in my faith, it is because I do not live from the transforming truth of my "inward fusion with Him."

When I begin to feel sorry for myself because of my circumstance, it is because I do not complete the process of faith that Norman writes about in Chapter 3. God uses the negative in my life to bring about the positive. This is a fact. My problem arises when I fall into unbelief and view my situation with a Satan view of what is visible, tangible, and temporal instead of the Christ view of the invisible, spiritual, and eternal. If I am in right believing ("rightly abiding"), Jesus Christ, with whoa. I am joined in one spirit, thinks, sees, and speaks through me. He–is the Author and Finisher of faith through me. This is the faith that saw Jesus through the ultimate negative: Satan’s attack of Him at Calvary, out of which came the ultimate positi’ve, salvation of the world.

Touching the Invisible is relatively short and easy to read. The book contains interesting references to then-contemporary issues involving the WEC. As devoted readers of Norman Grubb know, his books contain important truths that pertain to everyone, regardless of the reader’s level of spiritual maturity. Touching the Invisible certainly continues that legacy.