How I first learned about Grace

I learned about grace 2 years ago. There are many other people who had the same experience. I hope this blesses and encourages you.

I was struggling really badly financially. God had led in a seemingly unwise and impractical direction and I had been resisting for more than a year. Instead, I did everything I thought I should do. I never conciously decided to "work" for my wealth. It just kinda kicked in. I kept tithing, I gave, fasted, prayed, served more diligently at church, sought counsel fro leaders and trusted friends, faithfully attended church, got on a budget, etc.

A year poorer, sader, tired-er, worn out-er, and later I cried out to God basically saying, "I've been doing all these things! What do you demand?!" From that moment, I felt something in my heart that I could only translate as "All that work is the problem. Finances are actually free." God didn't say those words. It was just a feeling. At the time I didn't know it was called "grace", but my heart started sniffing around for it.

In true untrusting fashion, I told God that if this "free" feeling I had had any validity, my pastor would have to preach on it. And would you guess what! My pastor at the time, who didn't teach grace, said something that made my heart leap: "We don't need to be on a treadmill of performance with God when he blesses us freely. Someone in here is going to get a hold of this and turn this world upside down!" Little did I know, he was talking about me.

I was a huge fan of Andrew Wommack so I searched his website for any teaching about what I called "free blessing", and I found "The Power of the Gospel". After hearing the first teaching, it took me an hour to pick my jaw up off the floor. "Oh my God oh my god on my god" was all I could say. The next day, I asked a friend if he had any books on grace. He gave me "Destined to Reign". The rest is history (and drama, suspense, and victory:). I only wish it hadn't taken me another year to learn about Bertie Brits and Major Ian Thomas, who are my favorite teachers.

One word to the wise: Flee mixture teaching as fast as your legs can carry you. If God has already tried speaking to you about it, let this be confirmation. Run like hell!! Forget about the relationships. You'll make new and better ones. Forget about what your leaders will think. Remember, they are just church leaders, not police officers. You can do whatever you feel led to do. Don't wait for your mind to catch up, just follow peace. If this is confirmation, RUN!