Before us; God wooing us
2 Peter 3:9
Titus 2:11-14
John Wesley on Prevenient Grace
By Charles Guenson
It comes very early in our lives...it empowers us to respond to His call.
https://seedbed.com/john-wesley-on-prevenient-grace/
Broadly speaking, this is the grace that “goes before”—that grace which precedes human action and reflects God’s heart for his creation.
The presence of God in time and space - in all places and at all times - preparing the world for the hearing of the gospel.
While prevenient grace is an orthodox teaching held by the historic church, it becomes distinctly Wesleyan in its reach and scope. For John Wesley, prevenient grace is available to all, such that there is no “natural man” left in a purely fallen state without a measure of God’s restorative grace.
The narrative of Scripture bears witness to a God who calls and pursues persons. He called Adam in the garden while he was hiding from the shame of sin (Gen. 3:9), Abraham out of his father’s house at Haran (Gen. 12:4), and Moses while he was busy tending his flock (Exod. 3:4). Jacob and Israel were chosen to bless the earth because of a promise to Abraham, not because they were significant (Rom. 9)
GMC BOD ¶ 102
3. God’s prevenient or preventing grace refers to “the first dawning of grace in the soul mitigating the effects of original sin, even before we are aware of our need for God. It prevents the full consequences of humanity’s alienation from God and awakens conscience, giving an initial sense of God and the first inclinations toward life. Received prior to our ability to respond, preventing grace enables genuine response to the continuing work of God’s grace.