I remember....

I remember teaching and living by faith when I first came to know Jesus. There was never any doubt, for me or Ruthie, that faith moved the hand of God. We experienced Gods love and provision and saw it manifest in the lives of people around us. I remember hearing "Name it and claim it" and "Blab it and grab it" from "religious" people. People who insisted that God's will was for us to withhold our faith, or to belief that God would eventually meet our needs solely on our religious track record. Penance and lack were the only real avenues to God. God was testing us, allowing sickness and lack to cause us to "suffer" for Him. All the while singing "Amazing Grace." Preaching each Sunday that, somehow, suffering would cause us to love Him more. Some still hold to this position, some still prea

ch that very same message and their church's are emptying.

Coming to the amazing truth of God's grace and realizing the outcome of that grace, Gods unmerited forgiveness and love, brings with it the same (type of) response. "Oh, you're one of those 'grace' people (used to be 'one of those faith people') who preach Grace." "Don't you know your giving people a 'license to sin'?" To which, my usual response is, "I never needed a license to sin." "Where can I pick one up?" "Does that license protect me from punishment or the outcome of sin better than the cross of Jesus Christ?" "How much is this license?" "Was it purchased for me or do I get one at the DMV?" "Does this license sit at the right hand of the Father?" "Does it make intersession for me?" "Does it remove my sin as far as the east is from the west?" "Does it cause the authorities to remember my sins no more?" "Is it stamped in the blood of my Savior?" "No?" "Then I don't need it, I'm imperfect and forgiven through Jesus by the grace of God."

That, for some anyway, usually shakes there thinking enough to get an opportunity for God to reveal all that is associated with grace, and then, we usually hug each other.