Previeniant Grace

I always hear people saying they do not understand prevenient grace. It is simply the grace of God that moves before us. It is where God is at work preparing hearts and circumstances to come together for God's glory.
In the past few weeks I have had the pleasure of seeing and spending time with my cousin James. He came to see my father while he was in the hospital. During those stays at the hospital we had the chance to spend time talking. To tell the truth, James is a little older than I, so we never really connected as children, yet over the past few weeks we have connected. So, James and I spent time talking. He was also able to see me trying to prepare for the men’s retreat while taking care of my dad’s needs. We spent time talking about Genesis, and stories, and reading. We spoke about his job in which he travels, and which gives him the time to read in the evenings.
As we spoke I talked to him about one thing that gives me comfort whenever I start to consider that it is all “on me”. When crunch time comes and circumstances seem to be aligning to defeat the message I have in mind; I must remember God’s prevenient Grace. As I prepare lessons and sermons, I try to remember that God is at work in people’s lives. God is at work preparing hearts for a message. While I am preparing one message, God enables people to receive the message that they need. What is really interesting is that it happens all the time. When I first started preaching, this was not that long ago, I really got wound up. I worried that the message was all up to me, when in fact that is not true.
I am rereading a book by one of my professors in seminary, George Hunter. He has written several books, but one that interests me is “How to Reach Secular People”. In it he places the following question forward. “How do we effectively communicate the message of reconciliation and life to the secular un-churched people who have no Christian background, memory, or vocabulary, the millions who do not know what we are talking about?” This is a vital question. It is an intimidating question. He then makes this critical note after asking the question. “No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. (1Cor. 12:3b) We are rediscovering that if we will love “the Lord of the harvest” with our minds, as well as with our hearts, the Holy Spirit will often communicate through our best efforts.
George is touching on prevenient grace—that God moves before us. It is God who prepares hearts. George is also writing about being real. When I consider the size of the task, and I am being “real” I know I cannot do it by myself. I must rely on God to show up. So in moments of discouragement, in times of difficulty in preparing a message, I just need to remember that God is already moving. So then I lift my head and look for where God is moving and I become filled with encouragement.