Key Brief 8: Grace, is Power not Forgiveness

When God gave me the first vision of being transformed into his image and likeness I did not understand what it was, but I knew in the spirit that this SUBSTANCE that was coming from God and filling me layer upon layer to become solidified was called Grace. I don’t know how I knew that, I just knew it. Later I was in a crisis and praying earnestly I saw a great throne, and a huge person on it–everything was YELLOW and there were so many people in front of the throne showing me the scale of the room and the person on the throne. I was confused briefly because it looked more like Jesus than the Father and was not scary or like a throne of judgment but then he spoke and said, “You have now come … to the Throne of Grace … bring people here!” The vision faded and I felt peace in my heart and he said something like, “If you have ever asked for strength, this is where you have been, even if you don’t see it.” He later said, “There is NO STRENGTH without Grace.”

I was confused, since I was taught like most people that Grace has to do with God’s forgiveness but it was not like what God was showing me. Finally the pieces came together when I read a good bible dictionary that said Grace has Four meanings in the New Testament. It means kindness, it is to give a free gift, it’s a free gift given, BUT WHEN PAUL USED IT, it meant the power or strength of God given to him to do some task. Then it all became crystal clear. I saw a SUBSTANCE, I saw a Yellow throne where people were going to get strength, and then I searched and found that Paul did not use the word ‘anointing’ in his writings to describe the flow of God’s presence, the empowerment of God, the power of God giving spiritual gifts, the power of God flowing when people use those spiritual gifts … Paul knew all these things, but he simply did not call it the ‘anointing’ … he called it Grace.

Today most Christians are hazy in their theology because they misunderstand this one word. The have no verses about the anointing flowing, being used, being the strength to minister, etc., no real grasp of this aspect of the Holy Spirit moving among us as they ought, because they read ‘grace’ as forgiveness and not as Paul meant it, which we would call the anointing.

There are eight or nine main verses where it is plain that Grace is Strength, but here are three:

1 Co 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

2 Co 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Heb 13:9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.