Free At Last!

Preface

As I began to finalize a different, earlier manuscript on tithing and earthly blessings, I started losing my convictions on what I had previously written and taught on the subject. At the time, my walking with the Lord of late had been like Jacob’s: I felt the need to be changed inside out. I truly loved the Lord, but I had been hurt and disappointed with the promises I thought to be true.
I was questioning the Lord on some of His promises in Scripture, and I didn’t understand why I experienced all these troubles. I begged Him to show me the truth or take me. I was fed up with my life, and the depression and pain all over my body were destroying me slowly. I was being selfish, and every time I thought of my wife and family, I would repent for a while and then go at it again. I insisted that I didn’t want to live this uneven, meaningless life. I had a few crazy fights with the Lord, just like Jacob. I said, I’m not letting go of You until You bless me!
As a Christian brought up in one of the major denominations, I had been taught a certain doctrine in which tithing is an obligation, along with some other rules, in order to keep salvation and prosper in life. I never questioned it, because I came to understand or accept it as it was taught in the seminary and in church. I also started teaching it myself, years later, after being ordained a minister.
My goal in writing this book is to take you through my own Christian life story based on my convictions and doctrine, and then through some of the frustrations and disappointments that prompted my discovering of the truth. You see, I’ve always had many questions about those Scriptures that seem to be contradicting in some parts of the New Testament, but nobody ever gave me a satisfactory answer. The purported experts would sort of make the Scriptures fit together somehow, but as time went by, that was not good enough for me. I’m the type of person who needs to know how the water got inside the coconut.
So I found the truth by persevering through my disappointments in life. This was my approach: There’s got to be an answer for some of this stuff, and I’ve got to find it. I just kept on searching for answers and seeking God’s will for my life. I would ask, Lord, what is it You want from me that I don’t understand?
Jesus once said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
I thought, That’s precisely what I need—to be set free from all these duties I cannot keep up with. They are wearing me down and making me miserable!
Thank God that He is good and merciful and understands us even when we lose heart—when we can’t make sense of what we are going through.
On one occasion, an anointing came down on me while I was preaching about disappointments in life. Over the course of the following three weeks, I started to understand what the Holy Spirit was revealing to me. He changed my heart. He bestowed on me a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. I am completely renewed inside. I can say that all the trials I’ve been through were worth it, even if perhaps the only purpose for my going through them was to be able to tell you how I was set free.
It is my wish that this book will minister to you in some way. I don’t understand why it took me all those years to come to the revelation described in this book, when all along I have read the applicable Scriptures a hundred times and never got it. But then, thanks be to God that I finally got it—many believers are still in the bondage of good works and law and are not sure of their salvation! They perceive that they’re saved, but only in part, because “the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” So they affirm this with all the conviction they can muster, although not really sure what it means. As I kept questioning God about faith, works and persevering to “the end”, I did not expect nor was I anticipating coming to an understanding of the prophesied end times to be so essential for the solution and answer to my doctrine dilemma.

I thank God for Jesus Christ: “Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:7–8).
Now you have some insight into what I’ve been taught and somehow never understood. It all seemed to be controversial doctrine in the New Testament, until I was awakened by the Holy Spirit in a revelation of truth. I found out that my legalism and good works weren’t accepted by Christ. I repented, and the Holy Spirit started to change me from the inside out. What a great feeling. I am free, at last, from all duties of self-sufficiency, of religion and its works—but most of all I know that God is not mad at me! I finally got it. I am free at last!
Pastor Joe Marques
Florida, USA