Grace and Faith

Julian Adams said at the conference this weekend that there is a link between a growing understanding of grace and the faith that we have to see God move today. It's the first time I've ever thought about it, but I think that is so true. It was at a conference called Rendezvous in France last summer that I felt like I really got my hands around grace, and what it means for me, and that it is by nothing that I have done but all by what Jesus achieved on the cross... (aside, I love how we always have more to learn about God! We think we've got it and then BAM a whole new revelation)... it really transformed my whole thinking since last summer.

Oddly coincidental, that same conference was where for the first time I thought I'd go for healing prayer for my lower back pain, which had been crippling on occasions for the previous 2 years. I think it was postural, I'm not sure, but by the end of a day sitting down I had to lie on the floor just to straighten it out. I had gone to the physiotherapist and they had given me exercises but these didn't seem effective in the long term...

So when Terry Virgo offered to pray for lower back pain for anyone present I decided, having seen several friends healed of this problem, that this would be my turn. After waiting a while and seeing many french people healed, Julian came to pray with me and held my legs out. My right one was shorter than my left. We started praying, and I felt a change on the left side of my lower back like muscles were adjusting, and felt the legs align together to be the same length. Praise God I was healed. Since this time I have never suffered from regular back pain...

So this weekend, when hearing about the link between understanding grace and raising faith I decided this has proved true so far in my life. I want to keep reminding myself afresh of the grace of God and what it has achieved in my life, and know that the same power that raised Christ from the grave is available for us today when we seek Him for healing. This was demonstrated by some fantastic healings at the conference this weekend, but I intend to get some more recent stories for this blog as the weeks go by... watch this space!!