Part One - A Look At Prevenient Grace

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.” - Paul, Ephesians 2:8-9

Free For All is the name of a new book I wrote which was released in December 2019. The subtitle is 4 Things God’s Amazing Grace Can Do For You. It is listed as an Amazon Best Seller and has a five star rating on Amazon as well. In this book, I explore John Wesley’s understanding of grace and the four different ways we can experience God’s grace. Wesley was fond of saying that God’s grace is truly “free for all”, thus the title.

The following is an excerpt from my book, Free For All where in chapter two we explore what Wesley called “prevenient grace”. Prevenient Grace is the grace of God that goes before us. Before we even know or believe there is a God that loves us. You see, God’s prevenient grace is active in our lives even before we are born….

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my Mother’s womb. - Psalm 139:13

To illustrate God’s prevenient grace, you will find what I call the SCUBA story in this chapter of the book where I explore God’s prevenient grace and the fact that it goes before us and surrounds us. For those who have eyes to see, God’s grace is active in our lives and in his creation even before we believe in it or acknowledge that it is there. In chapter two I write:

“Several years ago, I went SCUBA diving with my sons. Although this was not the first time we’d dived together, and it certainly would not be our last, this particular trip was special because it was the trip in which Joshua, my younger son, would earn his certification as a SCUBA diver. His elder brother, Harden, and I were already certified, and we accompanied Joshua on his “open-water” dive, which is part of the certification process. We were in the Bahamas at a place called Shark Junction. We dove to about fifty-five feet, where we were immediately surrounded by hundreds of sharks. - all kinds, but mostly Caribbean Reef Sharks.

Now, Josh was about ten at the time, and the boy has never known fear. During the dive, I stayed right behind him. Although I managed to stay just out of his sight so that he didn’t, think I was hovering, I was there every second, watching him closely, making sure he was always within my reach. When one particularly large shark swam past him, he reached out his hand to touch the sharks sandpaper textured skin, and I quickly pulled back on his tank (which was strapped to his back) to keep him away from the unpredictable nature and the huge jaws of the shark.”

Obviously, I pulled him out of harms way to protect him from a danger he didn’t seem particularly aware … Plus, his Mom would have killed me if I’d brought him back with only one hand. LOL.

I think this story is a perfect picture of God’s prevenient grace; the Lord’s hand is always on us, even when we don’t realize He is even there!

As you look back on your life, can you see instances where God protected you even when you were not aware of His presence? Do you believe God created you for a purpose and is constantly pursuing you? Do you agree that God’s prevenient grace has gone before you?

God’s grace is truly free for all who believe and chose to see and receive it!

Next month we will examine the second kind of grace we all can experience - God’s Justifying Grace!

Blessings

THE VIEWS OF SUBMITTED EDITORIALS MAY NOT BE THE EXPRESS VIEWS OF THE ALABAMA GAZETTE.