Proverbs 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.

Do not look for this term prevenient grace in the bible, you will not find it. It is a term that has been coined in order to express the grace extended to the unbelieving in preparation of the heart to receive the gospel.

The experiences of prevenient grace are as varied as the believers who have received it. It can be as gentle as loving parents who nurtured a child in the love of the Lord and the child came to know the love of the Lord by their expression of love mingled with the Word of truth. On the other end of experience is the child who was stabbed in the chest and shot in the head and left for dead in the Everglades for days. That child was found unharmed and unmarked by any bug or wild beast and survived his human wounds. Both cases are absolutely true and equal in grace.

My experience of prevenient grace was the removal of my anger and violent nature before I went to war in Vietnam. I earnestly believe I would not have survived Vietnam with those anger issues. God used His sovereign power to change me, I had no part in that. I met God even though I had not yet believed.

I do believe that all believers, once they have come to know the Lord, should be able to look back at their life experiences, no matter how good or how bad, and see the hand of God preparing their hearts to receive the gospel of grace, that gospel of faith that leads to salvation and a new heart.

Please take the time to examine your own experience. Do you have that prevenient grace experience that prepared your heart to receive the gospel? Make it a part of your salvation story.

Perhaps some of you are just now seeing for the first time that God is preparing your heart and that the seed of faith has not yet been planted. Will you receive the Word with understanding now? I hope so.

Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

We have been talking about learning the language of faith and I have pointed out that only this new heart can receive the words of faith, so it is vital that you obtain this new heart. Without it you cannot receive the word of faith. How do we receive this change of heart?

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

The born again are born with this new heart. Nicodemus’ response is the natural quest we all must seek.

John3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

Jesus answered as plainly as He had to with Nicodemus who was very familiar with the Old Testament scriptures, prophecies and instructions. For most of us, the answer still holds some mystery.

John 3:5-6 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

In order to understand more clearly, we must return once again to the parable of the sower where those first words of faith were spoken. The gospel of faith was planted into the prepared heart.

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

It all begins with the heart that is prepared to receive.