You Are Chosen!
Knowing, brothers and sisters, beloved by God, His choice of you; for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sakes. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word during great affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. -1 Thessalonians 1:4–7 4
”...knowing, brothers and sisters, beloved by God, His choice of you;”
Ring the bells! Shoot off the bottle rockets! Fall on our face and weep with joy! Celebrate in whatever manner you want because we are beloved by God himself! Amid my pain, suffering, affliction, abandonment, loneliness, and sorrow, the One who uses the earth as a footstool sees me, hears me, loves me and chooses me!
”for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sakes.”
What kind of man am I proving to be among those I am serving? Am I bringing a truncated gospel of only the word? Or even worse, am I depending upon my stuff, my materials, my books, my education, my curriculum, my methods, my training ability? Many years ago, I had just finished five days of DMM training in Nigeria with our new and emerging Nigerian Movement team. I was back in my little guest room spending time with the Trinity before my next meetings that day. I said to Jesus, “I think that those days went well…what do you think?” He said to me, “You did a great job Norris.” But when he said that I did not feel pleasure in his voice. I asked him, “What do you mean?” He said, “You are a great trainer and facilitator Norris, and you did a great job and got through all your material. But you never asked me what I wanted to do.” I began to weep before the Lord. I had done just what I was training others not to do. Movements are a work of God, and he alone knows what to do in every place. I knew my stuff and I was able to present and train and get through my material just like I had done many times before. And I never took the time to ask him what he wanted to say because I was sure I knew what was needed. I committed that day to never let that happen again. I will never again present without the power of the Holy Spirit with full conviction that he knows what to say and do in every moment and in every place.
“You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word during great affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit,”
Most of the places I have had the honor of serving have been in locations where great affliction is the norm. In every one of these places, it has only been the joy and presence of the Holy Spirit that has made an impact. After doing a DBS on John 6:43–45 in 2006, I discovered what God’s job is and what my job is. “Everyone who hears and learns from God (not Norris) comes to Jesus.” At that time, I scrapped all definitions of evangelism that I had learned. For me it is a simple sentence…Norris, set the table for God to speak! In every setting and in every moment, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit want to speak. This has ushered in the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit like nothing else I have ever been able to witness as a missionary. The weight of results and pressure of performance has dissipated and being able to listen and hang out with the Trinity every moment has become a peaceful reality.
“so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.”
Our teams, who are leading movements around the world, are ordinary folks who have become examples to other ordinary folks in the places they live and the places they go. The greatest missionaries I know are unknown people to most of the world. I have a distaste for expert-driven Christianity. It may sell books and pack conferences, but it does not start movements. My conviction is that all of Jesus is available to every human. All of our training should be done in a way that everyone in the room can go and do it, so they can be examples to all in the places they live and have their being. If they cannot go and do, we are creating dependency on us or giving them training and examples they cannot replicate. We will not see the gospel of the Kingdom move across nations unless the gospel is taken out of the hands of experts and given back to the ordinary folks, just like we read about here in Thessalonians and the rest of the New Testament.
Questions for Reflection
Sit with the Trinity, they’re always hangin’ around. Ask them, is there anything I am depending on besides you to start and sustain movements of your Kingdom?
Jesus, what do you want me to know right now? What do you want me to do?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Norris Williams joined Novo in 1997. Norris discovered his identity as a teenager in 1973. Fearless freedom and confidence mark his journey, as well as liberating a passion for identity discovery in others. Navigating with a clear understanding of strategy and tactics, he serves and coaches by facilitating discovery of false identities while inspiring courage to prune away suckers, releasing delicious fruits of true identity. Norris’s path of serving men and women includes successful business owners to displaced refugees; CEO’s to juvenile delinquents; farmers to professional athletes, and more. He serves people across the US, Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe. Norris has been married to his girlfriend Laurie since 1980 and together they operate a small organic cherry orchard in central Washington State. They have 4 married children and 10 grandchildren.
