The Million Dollar Question
This is by far the most popular question I get…
“How can I get a revelation of grace like you have, Sandra?”
In my case, I did not even know what I was missing. I didn’t know that I didn’t know what grace was. I really wasn’t even stopping long enough to notice that the way I was living the Christian life wasn’t actually producing results. I knew I was anxious and I knew I was frustrated but I thought I was simply supposed to try harder to live the Christian life and if I did, I would eventually get it right.
But for some people they are hearing the message of grace but still feeling like they’re not receiving that transformational revelation like they hear other people talking about. I can certainly understand why this would be frustrating.
I absolutely do not pretend to have all the answers to this question but I would like to offer some thoughts that I’m praying will leave you hopeful.
I encourage you to make every day of your life about simply enjoying your relationship with Jesus as opposed to trying to feel some feeling, having some experience or getting a revelation. The Holy Spirit will be the One to bring any revelation that He knows you need into your life so I encourage you not to get anxious about this, fearing that it will never happen for you.
You can definitely pray though. It certainly doesn’t have to be this prayer but might go something like, “Help me, God, to come to the end of my own human efforts so I can understand and embrace this Grace life, in Jesus name I pray. Amen!”
I recommend you only listen to messages and read books that are filled with the Good News of the new covenant of God’s grace. Grace is the Gospel. Here are a couple of ways you will know that you are taking in the Good News.
Is what you’re hearing and reading bringing peace to your heart or fear?
Is what you’re hearing and reading pointing you to Jesus or yourself?
Is what you’re hearing and reading reminding you that you are 100% qualified and validated because of Jesus or giving you the message that you need to do something else in order to measure up?
In addition, I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to help you see Jesus in the Scriptures whenever you read the Bible. You’ll be surprised the difference it makes when you ask the Spirit for enlightenment!
Now, this next point is what I believe and what I’ve seen happen with every person prior to them coming into a personal grace revelation. I believe that each person comes to the end of themselves in some way, shape or form before they come into a revelation of God‘s grace but this looks quite different for each person and is not a work or a self-effort. In fact, it’s the opposite.
Here’s what my friend Christy Rose wrote about what she thinks it looks like for a person to come to the end of themselves. I thought this was fantastic.
“I see coming to the end of yourself as surrendering all your own efforts in making yourself right before God, in making yourself more loved, more favored, more righteous, more anything and surrendering your own efforts and your own opinion, your own judgement, your own thoughts of how to fix yourself for Jesus having done it all for you.”
If a person is living their Christian life under the old covenant of law, trying to fix themselves in their own strength they will either stay frustrated or they will run out of self-effort energy and give up which is exactly what God is waiting for. The day I said to God, “I can’t do this anymore God, I cannot live the Christian life, I need serious help,” that’s exactly what He was waiting to hear. That was me coming to the end of myself.
In my case my inner and in some ways my outer life was completely falling apart from the mental, emotional and physical stress I had been living under for so long, but in my husband, Steve’s case, his life was not falling apart although he definitely had some inward tension going on. Let me explain.
For Steve, what brought him into a grace revelation was that as he was reading a book full of the Good News – Unmerited Favor by Joseph Prince – he began to see that he had adopted a wrong belief system about many things. The veil of the old covenant fell from His eyes and he began to see the truth as he kept reading. Again, this book pointed Him away from himself and to Jesus! One thing he learned that blew him away was that he had been ushered into a brand new covenant by Jesus Himself! Neither of us knew this. It was what was true about us all along but we spent decades living under that do good/get good, do bad/get bad system.
That week the veil of the old covenant of law fell from Steve’s eyes and he truly saw Grace for the first time in his life!
Do you see how it was different for each of us, yet both of us came to a place where we eventually said, “Wait a minute, what I’m doing is not working and it hasn’t been for a very long time and how in the world did I miss this all these years and oh my gosh, I’ve been robbed and wow, I feel like I’ve been Born Again all over again.” These are some of the statements we hear a person making when that veil is coming off and they are seeing Jesus as the person of grace and seeing that Jesus finished the work and seeing that It’s all about Jesus and seeing Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
I’ve been wanting to share Becky’s story for months but there was never that right moment, until now.
Before I start, please know that I know that all of this is because of Jesus, not me! My passion is to live to #MakeJesusFamous
December 30, 2019:
Becky from Lake Mary, Florida (via Instagram) said: I just ordered your book! So pumped to read it!
March 5, 2020:
I just started your book this morning. Just finished the first chapter. Oh my gosh, I’m stunned. I do suffer from anxiety. You described me to a T with the lists and obsessing over ingredients in products. You should see my planner. Just reading the first chapter – I literally feel lighter somehow and it moved me to tears. Why the torment when Jesus is – RIGHT HERE!
Many times over the next month Becky continued to message me about how the phrase from my book “Eyes on Jesus” was changing her life. She was learning that although she had dealt with lots of anxiety in the past, she felt peace anytime something happened that would potentially cause her to worry and she allowed God to re-direct her focus back to Jesus.
I believe Becky coming to the realization that she was not keeping her eyes on Jesus but instead was focusing on herself and her circumstances was her coming to the end of herself moment.
Listen to what she says below. I transcribed this from an audio message she left me.
April 17, 2020:
“Hi Sandra, I just wanted to let you know that I am on the very last part of your book and it’s just been such an awesome eye opener. I mean, from the first page and a half it literally changed my life. Like, I know that you’ve been living this so you get this but I’m like just bursting with this amazement. I had suffered from anxiety for a long time and it’s a horrible battle and just from the first time, eyes on Jesus, I lost the frustration, refocused and it’s been about a month and a half and I have to tell you I have such peace now. It’s crazy, I can’t even explain it. It’s like, how did we not all see this before. And there’s things happening with this virus and I got furloughed and I have to tell you, I have no stress, I am not worried. There were a couple of times when I started to stress and I said, nope, eyes on Jesus. I felt enveloped in God’s hand and it’s just been incredible. Reading your book has changed my life, my perspective, changed the way I read the Bible, the way I talk to people. It’s just been such a revelation. I’m practically speechless.
Becky was so excited to show me a picture of this “Eyes on Jesus” rock her sister made for me. She’s sending it to me. I love it!!
So, my friend, if you are one of the ones who has the question, when is this going to happen to me? I encourage you to simply hang out with Jesus and trust God that He is no respecter of persons. If He did it for me and He did it for Becky, He can and He will do it for you!
If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!
Sandra McCollom
My name is Pearl Holdstock from South Africa I wrote to you 2018 when I received a child from God after dealing with infertility for 9 years. When I was pregnant I every now and then the enemy would introduce feelings of fear that I would lose my child. One night I wake up and God just deposited your name into my heart that how I came to your blog. I started reading each one every night and the peace of God filled my heart and changed the way I viewed God. That year I gave birth to a healthy… Read more »
Wow – Thank God! Thank You, Pearl, for taking the time to share with me how you’ve been able to personally embrace the Father’s unconditional love and how believing God’s good opinion about you has produced miraculous results in your life. ???????? God Bless you, your son, your three week old daughter, Shekinah-glory, and your husband!
To say you have inspired me today to keep sharing the Good News would be a huge understatement. I’m so glad we get to spend eternity together with Jesus because He’s the ONE who made it all possible. ❤️
Awesome post Sandra! That was definitely worth more than a million dollars!???? ❤️
Thanks, Christy! This blog post wouldn’t be what it is without you having given me your thoughts on what coming to the end of ourself looks like. I love what you said and feel it’s very powerful and a critically important part of this post. Thank you so much for contributing. ❤️❤️❤️
I need help! ????????♂️????. First time reading your blog post in a really long time. Cheers