Grace Stories
Everything changed when I saw the grace of God for the first time. You may already know my story, but what’s yours? Do you have a story about grace? This is the place to tell it.
Feel free to treat the comment box below as a microphone. Tell us something about what God has done for you.
Some ground rules: (1) save the memoirs for your book – please keep your story to 1000 words or less, (2) no stone throwing – feel free to name and shame bad mindsets but don’t attack people, (3) don’t hijack the platform (i.e., no advertising). We’re not here to promote any particular ministry other than the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
So, what’s your story?
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Escape to Reality 
My journey to grace has major roots in the ministry of Escape to Reality. Many things came together from different sources and I saw that the so-called balance of law and grace was a deception. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Paul Ellis and his wife and family. Just folks, you know? You’d like them.
As I’ve journeyed on, I’ve mostly left the organized church. Just couldn’t do it anymore. That part has been hard. And I admit most of my fellowship is online. So far. A few of us locally where I live have a small group of grace people. It’s a start. Three people, Ha! And we’ve only gotten together once. But I’ve never been happier in my relationship with God. Or with other believers.
Sweetheart, I know what you mean, most of my fellowship is online also, thou I go to a wonderful friendly caring church, the preaching is hillarious and when I cannot take it no more, I tend to pull away for weeks from time to time cuz too much religion is crazy for my brains. It does not affect me, or change me in my grace movement, but I just get annoyed. So What ever church you join, you know the real truth so it cannot affect you PatHux, but too much of it can be annoying; I know, its nice to fellowship thou and the songs are normally grace songs and its nice to sing with a bunch of saints. I pray that you can do that and that all your dreams comes to you and family speedily. God bless you
Peace xx
Grace is not a doctrine or teaching or ritual; Grace is a person and His Name is Jesus. And I have fallen in love with Him again. Oh, there will be much more to come; for there is much I have to tell and rejoice and hopefully help. Our Jesus is ALIVE and IN CONTROL. The Day draws near. Think of it this way: Jesus said no man (and he is man) knows the Day nor Hour of the Coming; nothing was said about the season and year. Think back to 2010 what was constantly on the news: pestilence, earthquakes, tsunamis = The Pale Horse, the First Seal. He keeps riding. Remember 2011 and the “Arab Summer” the declaration to destroy God’s people Jerusalem and Israel and wars, conflicts breaking out each day = the Red Horse, the Second Seal. He keeps riding. Now remember 2012 what has been the main news this year: no rain, fires, famine even in America for 2/3 of the Great Plains died = the Black Horse, the Third Seal. And he keeps riding. Whoa! Whoa! whoa! We shall not see the 4th; lift up ye gates for the King of Glory is coming! And Who is this King of Glory? He is the Last Man; the Avenger, the Last Chance for so many who will then die. But I always go to one of John’s books for comfort; perhaps because Jesus trusted His mother to John. Or just the John actually “got it” during the whole 3 years.
I’ll just say that, without God’s grace, I probably would not be at my top-choice college right now. I’d applied to this school and didn’t worry about the application, and I applied to many other universities and colleges (some very competitive ones in the United States!), and I worried constantly over whether or not I would be accepted into them. Guess what? The colleges and universities I worried over either wait-listed or didn’t accept me, but the one college that I’d really wanted to go to–at least, I had told God that this was my first-choice school I’d wanted to attend–accepted me! And not only did this college accept me, but it gave me such a generous financial aid package that I could not possibly turn the opportunity down.
The lessons I learned from my application process? Rest! And let the Father take care of the rest. Jesus’ blood has paid for my peace of mind, so to rest is to honor the Son’s work.
And grace is so much better than I can ever imagine.
In 2008, I was very nearly at the very end of my self when my teenagers youth pastor and our associate pastor began to teach (because they, through trials, tribulations and circumstances- came to the end of them selves) the truth of Who God is, what He did for us- and WHO we are because of Him. They began to teach what REALLY happened to US because we IN CHRIST, on the cross. That we are NEW creation in Christ, a new inner man- with a new spirit and new heart. They began to correct a lot of wrongs taught in church. And of course, my FLESH (I didn’t even know what flesh was) REBELLED!
BUT GOD! He allowed some circumstances in my life, that just brought me to the end of my self and to HIM! Amen, where I should be! An abiding believer!!!
It has been a beautiful journey these last 4+ years. The very first book that God used through this was Sidetracked In The Wilderness by Michael Wells. Gave to me by the youth pastor. Walking in Him, and He living in me- I can’t even describe the Life, the Joy and the Peace I have now….it’s Jesus!
As life-long christian….who tried to do everything I was taught- to be “christlike” “holy” and accepting to the Lord- finally came to the end of myself. I was frustrated, stressed to the point of constant anxiety, and was on medication to ease the symptoms. In the spring of 2012, thru a series of God ordained events…..the truth of who God really is came busting thru. Radical Grace was the key. It was an explosion! My foundation was rocked! I was angry at all the wasted years of unnecessary guilt and tormenting shame. How could all the teachers/leaders/pastors not tell me the truth?? It was a game-changer for me.
I am Righteous. My behavior or “good works” has NOTHING to do with it. Sin is not the problem, identity crisis was. The freedom that comes with the TRUTH of who I am and who the Father really is, brings comfort and freedom like nothing else. So, the fight that is stirring in America regarding this “hyper-grace, false security” is not a surprise. The battle Jesus faced with the Pharisees is a clue to the ferociousness of religious people and their fight to “be obedient and keep the law” as the way to become holy and christ-like. They will tear you up with misunderstood scriptures to protect man’s traditions. Scripture whipping by zealots will become more and more public. I am educating myself now to defend the true Gospel. No one can argue against my testimony. 30 years I did it their way (unending bible study, prayer, confession, prayer, rebuking the devil….etc) which did not end the torturous amount of daily guilt and sense of failure and disapproval of God. I desperately wanted His approval and delight in me. I could NOT have tried harder to meet the standards I was trained in. Yes, my stubbornness worked for me, as I did not give up, but got up after every “failure” and repented with tears and promises to “do better”.. I can testify with 100% accuracy…..religion and the “responsibility” of keeping all the commandments in the bible DOES NOT bring lasting change and transformation. Nothing can convince me otherwise as the pain of all these years has fueled an unquenchable fire in my belly. I will not shut up testifying of God’s goodness and passion for me. He is wildly in love with me. This statement always brings a smile to my face. Finally, I have Good News..
Wow I’m the same way at this moment brother man the way you were.
Thank you for sharing that I relate alot
Look man, all I have to say is that if it was not for God who led one of my daughter’s into steering me in the direction to encounter radical grace, the kind of grace Paul in the bible was persecuted for; I don’t think I would have had long to live. Grace has saved me grace has healed me, grace has allowed the joy inside me to so manifest; some think I am a drunkard lol. I only have 250 words, not enough to explain the amount of near death experience I encountered while being saved; including certain people that tried to destroy me, through satan of course. and even when I was unsaved. I would have to write a dessitation for that. Yet Cuz God saw I would beleive the gospel and so for me, grace started with me before I was born; from a baby to a child from a youth to a teenager and onwards. Just so I could be saved. So I want to thank all those that helped me on my journey, Christ Jesus, Jospeh Prince, Andrew Wommack, Eddie Long, Bill Winston, Jimmy Swaggot and two others including you Paul. You all helped make the journey sweeter. I truly thank the Holy Ghost, he is nothing but amazing. Grace has given me unique confidence and when it erodes, I go back to the word to get it re-instated. Grace has given me bible hope, peace, love. I feel like I won the lottery everytime I read or hear grace. We must continue to work to believe, that is our only work and the Holy Ghost does the rest.
God bless you all – such wonderful testimonies up here xxx
Almost overnight, everything changed… Everything I have been taught about God, the church and myself and have been practiced with zeal and zest as a teenager to adulthood received a new paradigm in a most profound way.
At approximately 1:25pm on Monday November 29th, 2011 as I was praying walking back and forth in my living room in Lansdowne Virginia, I had an open vision and saw three young women who were unknown to me in the vision sent to declare a message that has radically transformed my life 360 degree and that of many others.
One of the ladies begun to speak whiles they all look at me with urgency in their eyes. She said; “we have heard that you are preaching Christ in your Church” (Faith Harvest Chapel) Prior to this vision for almost like two months I was very tired and weary of the form of religion I have embraced over the years for no reason and embark on a personal search in my heart for the Bible to become alive to me and to know who Jesus really is in a very personal way. I started reading the gospels back and forth daily from Mathew to John gospels at a sitting spending many hours in the presence of God. The first scale drop off from my eyes and I felt the loving embrace of a personal God who so dearly love me and the world with a high octane, extravagant, loyal love. Was so blown away, that nobody taught me about this personal God and hardly did I heard all the great and favourite speakers I see on TV and have authored many books talks about Him.
Armed with this revelation, I started a new sermon series dubbed; “The Jesus I never knew” and to my surprise I saw lives transformed by just unveiling Jesus…guilt, condemnation, shame, insignificance were out of the window and a new sense of self, built and established in Christ was discovered.
To continue from where we left of on my vision: The lady continued…”I know God will take you around the world (ministerial purpose)…but the only thing that will transform people is Grace” The moment she made mention of grace I saw the Lord Jesus Christ and instantly things came into normal, still walking around praying. I realized I have had an encounter.
MY IGNORANCE LEAD ME INTO DOUBT…the vision contradicts with my beliefs system. How can grace be the only thing which has to transform people and then have to see Jesus too? If it’s Jesus it has to be Jesus alone and if it has to be grace it has to be grace alone and not grace and Jesus. I knew then if change can take place in a man’s life it has to be Jesus. So why grace and Jesus. I was totally left in despair and anguish and all the excitement I had already had about a personal and loving God was conflicting with this vision.
Don’t be surprised I was a Pastor for thirteen years and didn’t know anything about grace except the amazing grace song….I got saved by grace through faith and that faith was not of my own but the wooing of Christ in my heart, independent of my works to earn righteousness?……A new covenant of grace ratified in the finish work of Christ through the perfect sacrifice of Christ? …A shift from a covenant built on the basis works, dos and don’ts to its already done and the clause of the covenant is through faith and many profound insight and refreshing revelations of who I am in God and His feelings towards me that I have never in my entire life as a Christian heard or known were tangible before me like something I could hold, feel and embraced all they long. I have been born again, again!
Jesus is grace personified and the embodiment of grace is the truth which did set me free and set me on the mountain to receive into overflow the abundant riches of Christ through divine purpose to unveil to the nations the loveliness of God by the exerting influence of the power of His grace to transform, restore, heal, bless and prosper all who will receive the abundant life in His Son, Jesus Christ.
16 And[a] of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son,[b] who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
John 1:16-18 (NKJV)
For the next four months …December 2010 through March 2011, the Lord begun to pour His love into my heart to such dimension that, nothing in this life that I could compare to the magnificence of His presence. Should the President of the United States of America or the Queen of England have called me on my phone and would have seen their number on my call ID, it wouldn’t have made a difference.
EFFORTLESSLY…I heard the Lord talk to me with such clarity and intimately I begun to speak like a winner filled with peace, comfort, joy, faith and prosperity; freed from guilt, insignificance, failure mentality, condemnation, uncertainty for the future, a bitter heart and a host of self effort baggage I had carried over the years and freed to loved people unconditionally, stayed in His presence for days lying on the floor only to get up to get my kids ready for school and pick them up from the bus stop and continue to pursue His presence and embrace His grace.
This journey has been glorious ever since! Halleluiah!!!
I wish my messages will center on pure grace. I have startwd this project. I am learning relationship between pure grace and tithing , healing , night vigils , sowing of seed , operation of spiritual gifts etc. It sounds strange but interesting as I preach pure grace. I thank God for pure grace. It is affecting my ministration positively. Please help me achieve these by praying for me and by prayers. Thank you
I first really heard of Grace at age 59 some 8 years ago now. My “religious” background was “you walk by faith” “good works” and I ran from that for 36 years since the day I had truly accepted Jesus and believed. Before I ran, I was even a children’s missionary, even a Christian school teacher. But then the ugliness of “religion” drove me into the world and the world I stay for over 30 years. I was asked to read a book, “How People Grow” by Cloud and Townsend. Early on, the left page first paragraph about the 3rd sentence down I read, “…we walk in Grace”. Whoa! I never heard of this. And the journey began. I suddenly realized that from Genesis 1 until Moses goes to Egypt GRACE abounded through Abraham; I learned Grace walked this earth and on this earth He rested. I saw the true Cross, discerned the true full meaning of Communion, which I now remember daily. I finally learned what an old friend once said to me: Always remember, I can’t, but He can and He always will. For all there is of you is hidden in that cleft that God passed by, and in Him I am presented through Jesus Christ His righteousness before the Throne of God, the Father. At long ever so long, peace, laughter, true joy and such blessed rest within the blazing tornado of the fall of America.
I’ve been a Christian for 31 years. I was blown away by Pure Grace at 59, just 2 years ago… I can tell you I’ve just finished the best year of my life by far. God’s just slinging the blessings my way, even when I’m “wayward” in this way or that. He’s not seeing my sins, which are many small and medium I’d say. No murders, rapes, bank robberies, etc. 🙂 Let me know if you’d talk to me. If not, bless you and I’m so very happy for you, my friend, that you have found the Pearl of Great Price. I have too. Life is better than I ever thought it would be. I can’t believe it much of the time. I’m not used to it yet. It’s almost like in moved to a new beautiful city but away from what I’m familiar with. I’m living in this new city, but I just can’t get used to how different it is and how infinitely wonderful it is. I still have to renew my mind daily, hourly or even more frequently because I’m so engrained with the Old Covenant.
Paul – thank you so much for your emails, blogposts, books, etc. It has been almost two years since my eyes were opened to Jesus and the message of the gospel of grace. Two years ago My wife began going to a bible study and for a couple of months I would argue with her when she would tell me what she was learning…I would say things to her like, God does not change, he is the God of the old testament and the new, he is ANGRY!!!
We both grew up Church of Christ, and I dealt with a lot of legalism in my core beliefs. For the previous 10 years, I had stopped attending the Church of Christ, and was fairly sure of my salvation, but I did not understand how much God loved me or Righteousness.
Well, after a few months, something dramatic happened. My wife of 8 years began to completely change…the wife I knew that was constantly in fear, anxious about everything, always worried, allergic to cats, etc. completely changed. Did I mention her allergies were healed? Randomly a stray cat showed up during this time, and to my surprise my wife would let the cat in and tell the cat she loved it and was not allergic to it…I kept waiting for the severe allergy attacks to come, but they never did. My wife stopped talking to me about all she was learning and believing-because of my sharp rebukes and arguments, but I came to the point that I wanted to know what this mumbo jumbo was she was into, because whatever it was, it was working. So, one day her bible study teacher dropped off some CD’s for her on the kitchen counter. As I was leaving for work I casually picked them up and started listening to them. It was the “Beloved” CD’s by Joseph Prince. I listened to those 4 CD’s over and over for about 2 weeks. I cried a lot, had goose bumps a lot, and I completely believed. I remember walking into the house and shouting to my wife in excitement and proclaiming the good news!! (I would guess in the past two years I have listened to about 1,000+ hours of Joseph Prince sermons, haha)
Jesus has changed my life. For 31 years I was completely focused on myself, and I did not know the extent of my misery until I heard and believed the Gospel. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere finally makes sense. I know this is harsh, but if someone told me today that I had to go back to relying on myself and my self-effort, I would go to the top of a building and jump off. Jesus is so good, and oh how wonderful that He is in the business of saving.
Earlier this year I heard someone mention your name, and I found your website…and read almost all of your old posts. I get so excited everytime I see an email from you! I loved your book the Gospel in ten words, and we just got a copy of your new book last week. I can’t wait to read it!!! You are such a blessing, keep proclaiming the good news!!!
Blessings,
Cody L. Clayton, CPA
I grew up in the southern US, so I went to church regularly like almost everyone else here. I’ve always known Jesus loved me, and I loved the stories about God and miracles since I was little. However, my family are Methodists, so there was always the underlying pressure to do more, be more, give more, you owe so much so pay it back, He’s amazing but you are just a terrible person, etc. As I got older, it really pushed me away. The last straw for me was when, as a 14 year old, my cat died. I went to youth group upset, and instead of comfort or love, my pastor told me that there is no way animals will be in heaven, since God doesn’t care enough about them. It broke my heart as a child who grew up on a farm, especially when I have never felt the power of God more than when I see a calf born, or when chicks hatch. It was the last time I went to church.
When I was in high school, I had a best friend who was the daughter of a pastor. She gave me a Bible and brought me back to loving God, but she also turned out to be a competitive, vindictive, selfish person, and our friendship ended in confusion. If she loved God as much as she said, why did she treat me and others so terribly?
Luckily, even though that friendship ended, my love for Jesus did not. Throughout college I prayed and talked to God and read that Bible and I still remember it as the times I felt closest to Him. When I started dating the man who was now my husband, I became confused again. He had been treated so poorly by people in our hometown (we have gone to school together since preschool) that claim to be Christians that he had a terrible view of how amazing God is. It has been the only thing in our relationship that isn’t what I want: he doesn’t know the Good News.
This fact threw me into a deep depression 3 months before our wedding. I was so scared that by marrying him, I would not be saved anymore because he was not. We had also been living together for a couple of years, and I was also convinced that God was mad about that as well. I must have tried to “resave” myself a thousand times those months. It got so bad I went on medicine for depression, but I swear that it is this blog that saved me. I was doing a LOT of asking Google questions (Does God Punish Me, Am I Saved For Life), and thankfully Paul wrote on many topics I was worrying about. The first one I read was about why Paul doesn’t preach repentance, and it seriously changed my life. That topic had confused me since I was a child. I would always thing, “What if right before I die, like 2 minutes before, I sinned? And I didn’t confess it in time? Am I doomed?” How silly, now that I know!
I married my husband, if you are curious. I am positive it was the right decision. He doesn’t know the Good News yet. My only fear now is for him, not for me. I have never felt so safe, loved, and secure. Hell used to be my biggest fear, which is so crazy from someone who considered themselves a lifelong Jesus follower. I don’t fear it now for myself, just for the man I love. I pray every day God will give me the words and the actions to help my husband see how Good the News is. I would love it if you prayed for me too.
Joy
Florida
This touched my heart because I have been in a very similar situation…….the man that I love so dearly, has not yet been shown to have a personal revelation of who our Abba really is, and of what Jesus Christ has done for us on The Cross. I too have been tormented by being in such a close relationship with a man who does not view The Lord as I do. It is absolutely heartbreaking to live through each day. So I do understand. I know you wrote this post 6 years ago….so I hope that things have turned out miraculously for you. And if it hasn’t yet manifested, I encourage you to ask The Lord to reveal His heart for your spouse, to you. The Lord loves him immensely! And it is not His will that He perishes, but that he comes to Salvation in Jesus Christ. Therefore, God sees him as a sheep without a shepherd….and he wants him to come home to Him. So know, that your prayers for His Salvation are definitely heard….and His answer to them are a sure Yes and Amen! I pray that labourers be sent forth into his life, that are established in the righteousness that Jesus Christ has given us, to harvest him for salvation. I pray that the veils be lifted off his eyes, that he sees the truth. I pray that our Abba Father reveals Himself to him, so that he knows he is loved unconditionally by the best Daddy there is. Amen! (So be it!)
In 2009 I was 25 years old. My wife and I decided that we were ready to have kids. As youth pastors living on a steady diet of performance driven religion at a large Pentecostal church we never expected anything to go wrong, after all, our actions had surely secured God’s blessings.
Fast forward 18 months and my wife and I had suffered consecutive ectopic pregnancies losing a baby and then a set of twins as well as our ability to have kids. We experienced the full force of legalism’s condemnation, we were tired, ridiculed, and burnt out physically and emotionally. I honestly wondered if there was anything more to Christianity.
As God would have it, I was asked to teach Romans Verse-by-verse at a local bible college. Slowly but surely I saw Jesus. And He was speaking Grace to me. Over the next year my heart nearly exploded with the revelation of God’s goodness.
I eventually lost my job and many friends for preaching grace.
But here in 2014, I am now the preaching pastor at a large church in Johannesburg, I travel to share the good news of God’s grace, my wife and I are at rest in Jesus like we’ve never been before, and we are the parents of a 2yr old boy, and a set of twin boys aged 5mnths. We named our eldest son Eli John (God is Gracious) and our twins Leo & Jude (Lion of Judah).
It truly is all about Jesus. Thank God for His Grace!
What a story, Adrian. Brutally painful then wonderfully beautiful. God is good and he cares deeply for us, his kids, even more than we care for our own. Thank you so much for sharing this.
I have never been more at peace. I am overcoming some unhealthy habits, it is not happening overnight but as my Faith grows I become more certain of the ability of Jesus to save me from myself. I still experience anxiety and insomnia but I have a better answer now, I rest in Jesus and relax – quite literally imaging myself sleeping in his arms until I do fall asleep. Anxiety about a tough day day coming up- no problem! Jesus has got my back and I know I have the strength and the talents to deal with whatever is thrown in my path. And LOVE! I walk around with a smile on my face for no reason, just like when I first fell in love with my husband! There is a saying that “we are all beautiful in the eyes of those who love us”. Well my whole world just got a lot more beautiful. The abundant love I feel is pouring out to people in my community and I am more generous, more forgiving, more caring. Not because I “have to” to be saved but because I am already saved and I WANT to!
I became a believer in Christ just over a year ago. I was an atheist and very anti Christian prior to that. The full story about how it came about is too long for here but it was through a professional relationship with a person who has deep faith. In a nutshell: She was a Seventh Day Adventist and I was curious about her beliefs as she strictly observed diet and Sabbath laws so we sometimes talked about what she believed. She never preached but always told me that God loves me whether I believe in Him or not.
One day after talking about God and death (she has no fear and is certain she will sleep until Jesus wakes her, it will seem like a twinkle of the eye so pretty much instant from her perspective) I said I wish I had her faith but I just can’t get it, its not within me after all these years of Atheism.A short while later I was driving home from work and Jesus spoke to me very clearly, I felt his voice tell me He is real, I can trust Him and Believe. Tears of joy ran down my face and I went home and downloaded a Bible to my eReader.
I have read the bible almost every day since and read many studies, tried some different churches (yes, even though my friend is an Adventist I realized that living under the old Laws was not what Jesus wanted for me so I did become an Adventist). Every time I read the Bible I ask God to guide me and tell me what He means. Eventually I realized that “Church” is not a building and sought a fellowship that is not focused on a building or tithes for missions or building extensions etc. I was being pointed to Grace alone.
Then I found Paul’s book a couple of weeks ago. Paul’s message of pure Grace reinforced some of the earlier revelations I’d had while reading the Gospels and explained why I had felt uneasy about some of the practices I had come to think were part of being a “good” Christian. God is good 🙂
Thanks for the stories, everyone. If you have a grace story you would like to share here, please note you can use more than the usual 250 words.
I grew up in the church. To deal with sin, I would confess everything I was doing. The one area of biggest struggle was lust. My youth pastor led me through a book on lust. I became even more aware of my problem with lust and tried harder to stop. The book did nothing, and it’s one of the most well known Christian books on lust. When I was 23 I took a job as a taxi driver at Penn State. I worked the night shift, so I checked out the girls in their revealing clothing as they went out to party. I didn’t want to. I had to stop some how.
Then I started attending a Bible study at a friends apartment. We watched videos of Joseph Prince. Finally I realized that Jesus took care of my sins on the cross. I didn’t think about my sin. I only realized that this teaching on grace can apply to lust.
Change happened naturally. A girl would get in the cab, showing a lot. I could not lust after her. It felt like my neck was frozen in place. It suddenly became more difficult to lust. It felt great. I’m not under any rule against lust. I’m just so full of the love of God that I naturally respect a woman’s body.
In April 1995 I was going through a lot of stuff within my church family, not good stuff, a lot of condemnation and accusations towards me. I would walk a lot during that time and on one particular walk I heard my Father’s voice so sweetly and succinctly. He showed me a vision of myself of a very small child and then spoke and said, “you are like a small child, trying to dress yourself, getting your arms into the wrong sleeves, shoes on wrong feet, etc. this is what you are trying to do putting on righteousness and you can’t do it – I must clothe you,” he said. Then I began to see my Heavenly Father removing all my filthy rags and clothe me in His robe of righteousness, crown me with His crown of life and place in my hand His scepter. I was a believer and had this “passionate, hot desire for Him,” and yet He showed me very clearly that my works and passion don’t make me righteous. Also, not many days after that when walking, I received an incredible peace within that has never left me, and at the time of noticing this incredible, indescribable peace I said, “Whoa, what is this?” I was so concerned in losing it, and I heard my Lord Jesus say, “Pennee, did you do this?” and I responded, “no Sir,” and he responded, “Well you can’t maintain it, it is my gift to you.” And since those days Jesus has kept his promise and peace is always resounding in my heart. In 2001 I was introduced to John Sheasby (a grace teacher from S. Africa) and later you Paul and Joseph Prince. I am so thankful that what the Lord was showing me in my simple daily walks he continues to confirm through grace and the teaching of grace. Thank you and my prayer is that all God’s children will receive the revelation of grace and peace.
Hello all my name us Steve Im 29 and frim England. Christ Exceoted me when I 5 years old. Like all good Christians we went to Church. saddly around 7 years old I developed a sevior form of OCD which ment I would not leave the house becsuse I thought domething poisinos would kill me.Many times I thought I would die because by 1993 my my Father who I love got very much in to the End Time Judgement Day and all the Conspircies. worryingly Iv seen the same trend in me in recent years because Church got borring ETC and was looking for fresh excitment. People with this type OCD always feel they have to there brains stimulated to keep all the bad thoughts and Anxiety at bay.
The OCD changed in to Religious obsesive compultion. By the way the name given to this form of OCD is called scrupulosity. I strugled through school and College. It was a nightmare focusing on lessions as I would constantly be having Anxiety about thoughts I was having. There were many times I felt like dieing because I could not live with the fear of Hell and superation from my mum. There many times I would just cry on my own. When these thoughts got at there worst I would say sorry God countless times a minuet.
I kept going to Church but kept getting woried about what the next thing was that the Vicor would say that would condem me. When I was 15 I found that many miss understood me. I did not know what was happening untill some years latter. by age 17 Iquit Church and preaty much gave up on life. By time Iwas 18 a long and good friend of my family had startedgoing to a new church. she new I was having oroblems do she asked if I wanted to come so I what hsve I got to loose so I went. For the first time I felt love and union lime never before. People carred about me. We had many great speakers from Toronto Airport Church shearing the Heart of God. It dud not fux my state if mind right away but God was at work. saddly though that Church crumbled. They got in to universalism and began using the name Grace to exscuse every behavior and have no shame. Im no clean Chicken, Iv had my fair battle with Porn and unhealthy relstionships but I always felt bad becuse I know it is not who I am in Jesus and God had better for me. After this I left and the church fell apart. I floated around sevral Churchs and went on a wonderful trip to Romania.
My view on grace is still being worked on by God because what happened at my Church that spoke Grace sbused it to suit them so it dameged me and caused more unstableness in me. Now tbough I feel Im in a good place where Im growing again and hearing sound doctrine. We are on the streets healing the sick and telling oeoplevof Jesus when they get heald.I still struggle with God as a father and calling Jesus my lover because as you know it has a whole diffrent meaning in the natrual. God is Good though and Im greatful that my life is going to shine the light and love of Christ to others that suffer the posion of Religion. Sorry for any spelling eras,. I did try and go through but might of missed some.
I Corinthians 15:1-3: He died for our sins, He was buried, and He was raised from the dead. The apostle Paul wrote that this was of primary importance and it is. But now I see how my old body died with Him, and how He is truly living in me and doing the works He promised He would do.
Most preachers have half the gospel story correct: He died for our sins. By faith we accept that Jesus, the sinless Son of God, died for our sins. He paid our sin debt in full. That was done on the cross 2000 years ago. The Bible teaches that the moment we believe we have eternal life. We also have Christ’s righteousness and the Holy Spirit
Very few have the other half correct: Galatians 2:20– I have been crucified with Christ And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.
I was saved at Calvary Chapel South Bay. I understood half the Gospel that night. Before receiving Christ as my Savior, I had thought I was at least as good as or better than most people. But that first night at Calvary two things stood out to me. Love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, that no man may boast. Italics mine. I had always believed that Jesus was the Son of God since I can remember, maybe at 3 years old, and I always wanted to please God. But that night I realized I didn’t love God—how do you love someone you don’t know? God was this kind of murky figure in my mind — way out there somewhere. Also by that time—I was 30—I thought that I was going to Heave because I was a good person and actually believed I was at least as good or better than the rest morally. I read in the Bible that night at Calvary — a book I had tried to read when I was 12 but seemed to me just rules and regulations and strange fables (Adam and Eve, Noah’s ark,) written by ancient men to control people and which I had put away until that first night at Calvary—that my righteousness was as filthy rags, that Jesus died for my sins, and that if believed that I would go to heaven. That totally made sense to me, and I immediately asked Jesus to be my Savior and have never been the same since.
Then a few weeks later, behavior I had been dealing with since my mid-teens returned—behavior that I now thought was condemned by the Bible. What was I to do about that? Calvary taught that if you live by the Spirit (which every believer has) you will not sin. I knew I had the Spirit. I was a totally different person as my family can attest : ) But yet , I believed I was sinning. Calvary didn’t tell us how to live by the Spirit. But I knew that Jesus died for this sin and I felt very bad that I was doing something that caused His death. So I resolved to not do it again and told God I was sorry. For the next several weeks that behavior was not a problem. And I was feeling good thinking that was over, but then it happened again. Because I believed that Jesus was my Savior, and He is, I thought that faith should result in good works as I thought James 2:14 taught. I understood that good works didn’t save us but I thought and was taught that if you have faith that should result in good works—reading my Bible , getting rid of sin in my life, praying, going to church, abstaining from certain activities ,etc. That I was taught was sanctification—becoming more like Jesus day by day. Yet, since I was saved, I have seen God perform miracle after miracle in my life. One of my former pastors says my experience is atypical and not common to most Christians. And I agree with that. But that is truly what has happened over the years and many can attest to that. I will also get these promptings in my mind to do certain things –these are strong promptings which I do obey and are confirmed by secondary sources. And at times I will ask God for things and those things happen within a few minutes of time.
Until last week, that is how I lived my Christian life. But I have not done those things perfectly and that has always bothered me because I have always been, even prior to being saved, one who did not want anything to master me. And seeing certain sins pop up over and over has never given me complete peace.
Before the 2012 election, I had this deep conviction that protesting gay marriage was not the answer for handling gay marriage. I was convinced—and I believe by God—that such behavior was pushing away the very people that God wanted to reach with the gospel. I had this deep sense that evangelical Christians were thwarting what God wanted to do. Within minutes, I got a personal email from Alan Chambers, then President of Exodus International, thanking me for a donation. That donation had been given many months ago, and I had forgotten about it totally and had never had any conversation with Alan prior to that time. I immediately sent back an email and asked him what he thought about the way evangelicals were handling this situation. He replied very quickly. He said he hadn’t thought that was the way to handle the problem for several years. Wow… that was not the response I thought I would get. But it matched what I had been so disturbed about.
Flash forward to the SCOTUS decision that made gay marriage legal. I can’t believe the hate and Biblical ignorance that has spewed in comments to various blogs or Facebook posts of high profile evangelical Christians. This is not the Jesus I know who reserved his greatest criticism for the religious establishment in his day and hung out with sinners and loved them. I have stopped reading many articles and even entire magazines because of what I see. I actually stopped going to my church in July 2014 because I just couldn’t handle what I was hearing. Much of what pastors were preaching there was right on and Biblical but to me there was and is this underlying tone against gay people and a fear that they will stop them from defending God in their sermons and also precipitate God’s judgment on our country.
Since gay marriage was legalized, I have seen such ugly behavior in this country not befitting Christians. Last Saturday, I asked God to show me the truth. I told him I was tired of the spin coming from both the liberal and conservative politicians and the conservative Christians, who truly believe they are defending Him. I said wherever that truth lands, I’m willing to abide by it. Immediately, two words popped in my head: grace and 1John1:9. I googled those together, and the site, Escape to Reality, came up maybe four entries down from the top. I clicked on the site, and I started reading some of his articles and blog posts. It didn’t take long before I understood the second half of the gospel I mentioned near the beginning. The site is owned by Paul Ellis, of whom before being directed to his site by the Holy Spirit, I had never heard about or read about. But it soon became obvious to me that I had not been living this life according to this Galatians verse or to many others in Romans, Ephesians, 1st John, etc. I had been living and submit that most Christians are living by their flesh. The verse clearly says that we are to live this life by faith in Jesus, not by faith in our works for Him. Moreover, the sins that we commit are not us, the regenerate man. We are not our sins. John clearly says in 1 John 5:18 The one born of God does not continue to sin. In Romans 7 and 8 Paul explains that the sin still living in him is warring against his mind and making him a captive of his members. Paul Ellis does an outstanding job in his blogs explaining various scriptures, and because I have read the Bible so long, the scriptures I’m quoting are from my memory. There are many more—such as carrying your cross, denying yourself, losing your life to find it, etc. It is so clear to me now that such verses show that we are literally to allow Christ who is in us to live through us, the new man. And when we now sin, it is not us, but sin living in us, trying to make us think it is us, resulting in our up and down performance and causing us to feel defeated and condemned. The proper response to these sins is to realize they aren’t us but are duping us into thinking we are doing these things and need to repent and try harder. The miracles and promptings I have experienced are from Christ living in and through me. I now see that clearly. As we begin to realize that this foreign enemy– sin– has been using our body and invading our mind, we will want to experience freedom from that abuse. Jesus said you will know the truth and it will set you free. I can’t properly explain how this has impacted me, but like many who are commenting on Paul’s site, I do feel like have been born again again. I will not go back to living the way I have.
Grace vs the law and after reading “Are you religious?” I fit the bill. Trying to impress God and not trusting him. Putting rules on grace like read the bible everyday pray everyday confession and it’s like wow. Most of my fellowship is online on facebook or at church up the street, but Christ lives in us not in a building. I been trying to keep the law.
Hi my names Simon I’ve been a Christian 35 years I became a Christian in a legalistic cultish church when I was 6
My whole life I struggled with tHe God died for our sins but we have to repent daily issue cause God is holy and we are not I was full of guilt and shame as result I tried to make myself rightoeus by praying 4 to 5 hours a day even that didn’t stop the sin and guilt .
Then one day about 6 months ago I was watching a video on sin consciousness and the preacher read 1 Cor 15:56 it says the power of sin is the law
And he spoke about how God does not charge us with sin because Christ paid for our sins .
I was stunned and like some of the other stories on here mad at the people who had taught me wrong and I was mad at myself for not seeing it before now
My whole life and belief have changed sins I had struggled with stopped instantly I saw the word through the eyes of grace for the first time and most of all I found the love of a God who wants relationship with me
never again will I go back to the law I have found out what my lord has done and given me and finally I’m free .
I’m so glad for this site one cause the author is a kiwi and so am I and also because I can see other people have had similar experiences
I have finally found the peace I have sought for all my life it was right there waiting for me in the grace of Christ
God bless
Escape To Reality picked up where others in grace could only reach my surface. The greatest temptation is to say I am saved by works. But grace is always triumphant. I used to think it was about my sin and my faith. But leaning and relying on grace…getting to the point where I don’t view it as a threat…well I’m beginning to explore that world. And I’m sure of this. Even if we are faithless, even if we don’t see the promises fulfilled to perfection, God is faithful!
Paul thank God for your encouraging posts reminding me of what I had forgot. God does keep his promises.
I love telling my Grace story. See I will soon be cured of schizophrenia, and Jesus’ Love shows me everyday that even if I do receive “healing” I’m already healed by what He did at the cross. See basically thank you for your Blog. You’ve helped me in more ways than you’ll probably ever know unless I meet you in person and we have 30 minutes to talk.
I am very thankful to the only one God (Jesus). My parents they have been Christian for few years. I accepted Jesus just because of my mother. I never read bible. I hardly pray, I hardly go to church. I had no discipline in my life and no spiritual believe. Now I have accepted Jesus as my Saviour. I have accepted all the wrong things I have done in my life and made a promise to live a new healthy life. I think he has given me a new life to live as a new with good character, spiritual believe and discipline in my life. I think we all need these in our life which teach us the proper way to live a life which is essential in our life to be happy. I now everyday pray and give thanks to his mercy on me.i will live the way he wants me to live. Amen
I grew up in Christianity. Family, church and school. I remember being on my Dad’s shoulders at a Petra concert and giving my heart to God. Music seemed my passion of expression and I would sing with love that made my Mom noticed that her son was in love with God.
Although it was like all the ingredients were to make the “Christian” life flourish, I acted foolish and believed lies about God that made me confused and angry. Fear spoke so much into my life that an almost paranoid and unstable life overwhelmed me. This, though, is how I know what happened at a Petra concert on my Dad’s shoulders was indestructible and greater than he who is in the world. A confession to a brother, like in the book of James, happened one night and we prayed. The prayer of faith healed me and again I was soon expressing my love in song. I am so grateful that this life He gives us is indestructible. Brother Paul and all my fellow brothers and sisters, what an awesome life we share and I am so glad to be in this true family with you.
Thank you for sharing your story, Jared. I too have fond memories of Petra concerts!