Chad
started reading the Bible and following what he saw there. He began
to go deeper and deeper into the Kingdom of God. “So for me,” he
writes, “the days of proclamation without demonstration are over. I
have seen too much. I have heard too much.” (19)
Chad
shares his own story, his struggle with depression and panic attacks,
his disappointment with God. He went to counseling. He got
medications. Later he tried to go off the medications on his own and
suffered greatly, experiencing spiritual warfare.
He
went to another counselor and at one of his sessions he saw Jesus. He
surrendered to the Holy Spirit and His power. He decided to really
read the gospels. His eyes were opened to realities he had never seen
before. He began to understand more and more what it meant to follow
Jesus. What was a reality for the disciples is a reality for us
today.
God
is closer than we think and more real than we think. It is possible
to operate today the same way Jesus commanded his disciples to
operate.
Chad
listens to the Holy Spirit. He prays for healing. He gives people
words of knowledge. “Faith for the impossible is a normal state,”
he writes. (120) “Heaven is yearning for Christianity with
demonstration.” (106)
Chad
admits he doesn't have all the answers. Quite a few times over the
last ten years he has prayed for people and nothing has happened.
Faith is messy, he says. But he is willing to go where Jesus sends
him.
And
Chad admits he still battles anxiety and he is thinking of going back
to counseling to work on a couple more areas in his life. “It is
possible to struggle with the messiness of life and see the
supernatural at the same time.” (76)
People
ask Chad what they need to do to see the Kingdom manifest in their
own lives. Get to know God more intimately than anyone you've ever
known, he advises. “When we want Him more than everything else in
the world, we will see His works flow naturally from our walk with
Him.” (134)
I
was impressed with this book because Chad is a “regular” guy.
Although he is on staff at a church, he is not a theologian (by his
own admission). He still struggles with anxiety. Yet God uses him and
works through him. So, we have no excuse. God is waiting to work
through us too. In fact, Chad believes that soon there will be no
more distinction between charismatic churches and those
non-charismatic. The supernatural will be moving to traditional
churches. What is required, he says, is to stop ignoring what Jesus
told us to do. If we call ourselves “disciples,” we need to do
what he tells us.
Chad
Norris is Pastor of Life Transformation at City Church in
Simpsonville, South Carolina. Since joining the church staff in 2010,
he has served as teacher, discipler and mission team leader to Haiti.
Before joining the City Church staff, he co-founded Wayfarer. With
that ministry he served as a writer and speaker, publishing several
Bible studies. He has also served as college minister at the Church
of Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. Chad and his wife have three
children. You can find out more at www.chadnorris.com
or find him on Facebook at Facebook.com/author.chadnorris.
Chosen
Books, 192 pages.
I
received a complimentary egalley of this book from Chosen Books for
the purpose of this review.
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