The Necessary Thing: Why Grace Is Essential for Spiritual Breakthrough

When YouTube Let Me Down

Six months ago, my wife and I finally moved into our new house—a project that took about 17 years to complete thanks to building during the pandemic. We loved everything about it, except for one thing: we hated the pendant light options the builders offered for our kitchen island.

So we decided to buy our own lights and have the construction company pre-wire everything. Simple enough, right?

While my wife was away on a business trip, I thought I'd surprise her by installing the pendant lights myself. Now, let me be clear—I have absolutely no business doing electrical work. My idea of car maintenance is changing the washer fluid when it runs out. But I did what everyone does when they're about to attempt something they have no business doing: I watched YouTube.

The tutorial made it look easy. Inside the electrical box, there would be a white wire and a black wire. I'd connect white to white, black to black on the fixture. Five minutes, tops.

The Extra Wire That Wasn't Extra

I climbed up with my ladder, opened the first box, and sure enough—white wire, black wire. I connected everything exactly as instructed, and the light went up perfectly. I was killing it.

Then I moved to the second light.

When I opened that box, something unexpected happened. There wasn't just one electrical wire—there were two. YouTube hadn't prepared me for this.

Now, I have this problem (and maybe some of you men can relate): when I think I know something, everyone else becomes stupid. My wife could probably nod very loudly at this statement. So I'm up on that ladder thinking, "These idiots put an extra wire in here that I don't even need."

For the next four hours, I went up and down that ladder, switching wires back and forth. Nothing worked. I tried every combination I could think of. By the end, I was so frustrated I was ready to burn the house down just to figure it out.

Finally, in desperation, I decided to connect ALL the wires—both black wires to the fixture's black wire, both white wires to the fixture's white wire.

The lights came on.

The Revelation That Changed Everything

What I thought was an "extra" wire was actually a necessary wire. Without it, there was no flow of power. I had enough information to connect the lights, but I didn't understand how the electrical system actually worked.

As I stood there looking at those beautiful, functioning lights, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart: "This is exactly what the church has done with grace."

Grace: Not a Sprinkle, But the Source

I've been in ministry for 25 years, and I've seen something troubling in the church. We've treated the doctrines of grace like that "extra" wire—something nice to sprinkle on top of all the "really important" spiritual practices.

We say we believe in grace for salvation, but when it comes to breakthrough, healing, or deeper spiritual experiences, we retreat to old covenant thinking:

• "I need to fast and pray more"

• "I have to read my Bible twice a day"

• "God can't heal me if there's sin in my life"

• "I need to get right with God first"

But here's the truth that rocked my world: Grace isn't extra. Grace is the necessary thing.

The Problem I've Witnessed

In my years in Pentecostal circles, I've seen people have genuine supernatural encounters—people who hit the ground under God's power, shake uncontrollably, weep in the altar—only to walk out to the parking lot completely unchanged.

I've seen people receive powerful prayers for healing and remain sick. I've watched families stay broken despite dramatic spiritual experiences.

Why? Because they received from the wrong covenant. They had an encounter with temporary glory instead of permanent glory.

Two Covenants, Two Different Flows

Let me make this crystal clear, because this is all about flow:

Old Covenant Flow: If I do everything right—pray enough, read my Bible enough, give enough, act holy enough, keep all sin out of my life—THEN I'll be favored, blessed, positioned for miracles. But the moment I mess up, it's all gone.

New Covenant Flow: Jesus did everything right. My blessing, righteousness, healing, and miracles flow from His finished work at Calvary, not my performance. And Jesus' work is always perfect.

When Jesus died on the cross, He enacted a new covenant commissioned by His blood. Everything good in my life is anchored in what He accomplished, not what I accomplish.

Two Steps to Breakthrough

Based on 2 Corinthians 3, I want to share two critical steps for positioning yourself to receive from God:

1. Remove the Veil

Paul warns that when people read the Old Testament without understanding Christ, "a veil lies over their hearts." I see this constantly—people going back to Old Testament passages for "deeper" revelation, reading Moses instead of reading toward Jesus.

Most Bible reading plans start with the Old Testament, so before you ever realize you're saved by grace, you're already convinced God hates your guts.

Here's what I've learned: Without a proper theology of grace, we read the Old Testament apart from Jesus Christ instead of toward Him. We put our Pentecostal experiences on an Old Testament framework, and when they fall and break, we wonder if the gifts are even real.

No, friends—your Pentecost is real. It's just set up on a bad framework.

2. Reject Condemnation

This year, the Lord taught me something revolutionary about condemnation that I have to share with you.

Condemnation is the devil's AI system.

Just like artificial intelligence takes minimal input and produces maximum output, condemnation works automatically once it gets a foothold. The enemy doesn't have to keep accusing you—you start accusing yourself.

Here's how it works: Condemnation takes the guilt you should feel AFTER doing something wrong and repositions it BEFORE doing something right.

So when you look at websites you shouldn't look at, you feel bad afterward—that's normal and healthy. But condemnation grabs that guilt and puts it in front of prayer. Now when you try to pray, condemnation says, "You can't pray—look what you did."

I learned that condemnation doesn't even need sin to operate. A few years ago, when I decided to increase my prayer time, condemnation said to me, "You're not the prayer guy—you're the Bible reading guy." It used my success in one area to prevent breakthrough in another!

The Opposite Strategy

I have a very successful businessman friend who shared something brilliant with me. When he got saved, everyone talked about finding God's will, but it sounded so complicated. So he decided to figure out what the devil wanted him to do, then do the opposite. He figured it might not be God's perfect will, but at least it was in the right direction.

I'm telling you the same thing about condemnation. When condemnation says you can't be healed, be healed. When it says you can't receive the Holy Spirit, receive it. When it says you're not worthy, declare your righteousness in Christ.

Do the exact opposite of what condemnation tells you.

Real Results

Just a couple of weeks ago, I had a Church of God pastor's wife in one of my services. She had never received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I don't know what condemnation had gotten on her, but when I preached grace and got that condemnation off her, I simply said, "Now pray in the Holy Ghost."

You know what she said? I don’t either, but she was praying in tongues!

That's what this message will do. When you connect all the wires to grace, the power flows and the lights come on.

Your Moment Is Now

Maybe you've been in services where you felt God's presence but left unchanged. Maybe you've prayed for healing, breakthrough, or baptism in the Holy Spirit, but felt blocked.

Consider this: The problem might not be your faith or worthiness. You might be trying to receive under the old covenant instead of the new.

Today, I'm challenging you to stop treating grace as extra and start treating it as essential. Hook up all the wires to grace, and watch the power flow.

Grace isn't the dessert of Christianity—it's the main course. And when you make that connection, everything changes.