Philippians 1:6 "I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 2:12,13 "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure." In the verses above, Paul lays a foundation for prevenient grace. Prevenient grace teaches us that God is at work in us long before we are aware of him, and in fact, we could not respond to God apart from his grace. Notice this quote concerning prevenient grace from the United Methodist Book of Discipline. We acknowledge God's prevenient grace, the divine love that surrounds all humanity and precedes any and all of our conscious impulses. This grace prompts our first wish to please God, our first glimmer of understanding concerning God's will, and our 'first slight transient conviction' of having sinned against God. God's grace also awakens in us an earnest longing for deliverance from sin and death and moves us toward repentance and faith. Prevenient grace not only relates to our initial awakening to God or conversion, but it provides an essential understanding for any practice of spiritual disciplines in the life of a Christian. The understanding is this: even in spiritual disciplines that we undertake, all spiritual benefit or progress is a direct result of the grace of God in our lives and is not a result of our own effort. What, then, is the place of spiritual disciplines or practices in the life of the Christian? Spiritual practices are simply open windows through which the light of God's grace and the gentle wind of the Holy Spirit can enter our lives. When I undertake a spiritual practice, I am opening my life to God's working. It is God who accomplishes any spiritual benefit in me; I just opened my life to him. A fitting illustration may be this. Imagine you received a gift certificate for a home-cleaning service from a friend. You call the cleaning service and schedule an appointment. The cleaning people arrive and you let them into your home and then leave for an hour or two. When you return, your home is marvelously clean and in order. What was your part in the effort? Did you clean the house? No. Did you pay for the cleaners to come? No. You simply opened the door and gave the cleaners access to your home. That is our role in our spiritual lives. We simply open the door. But we make efforts to open the door and we look for opportunities to open the door and let God into our lives. Below are some "doors" you can try to let God's grace shine into your life. Inward and Personal Disciplines Spend time in solitude each day. Read a book for inner growth. Read the Gospel of Matthew through twice. Begin to keep a journal of prayer concerns, questions, reading. Focus on thanksgiving, rather than on asking, in prayer. Give myself a gift of three hours to do something I always say I don't have time to do. Find a way to go to bed earlier or sleep in so I get enough rest. Make a list of people with whom I need to be reconciled. Pray for them and let Jesus guide me in my thinking and feeling toward them. Take control of my life by ______________. Take one hour to inventory my priorities and plan how I will reorder them. Attend worship each Sunday and sing every hymn and participate in every reading and prayer. Give up a grudge or a re-living of a past event. Forgive someone who has hurt me. Dance my prayers to a favorite tape or CD. Read this article about the historical research into the suffering that was crucifixion. http://www.centuryone.com/crucifixion2.html Experience "Bitter Journey: The Way of the Cross" http://www.beliefnet.com/story/21/story_2151_1.html a multimedia expression of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Other promptings: _________________________________________________ Outward and Social Disciplines Take on some loving task: __________________________ Plan to visit a "shut-in" neighbor or church member . Write a letter of affirmation once a week to a person who has touched my life. Volunteer to help with Habitat for Humanity. Bring an offering to church each Sunday. Listen and respond to Christ's call to a ministry of service: __________________________________________________ Phone, email, or sit at church with someone I want to know better. Begin to recycle waste from my home and work place. Give blood and recall the cross. Say "NO" to something that is a waste of money and time. Pray to God to help me resist racial prejudice and to give me courage in opposing it. Decide to become a member of the church and speak to the/a pastor or youth director. Rebuke the spirit of criticism and my own tongue out of control. Think of a person who is considered an "outcast" at your school or neighborhood (or even church) and do something nice for them. Maybe spend some time with them. Sit with someone new at lunch. Make a new friend. Pray daily for the suffering children in Afghanistan. Other outward and social promptings: ________________________________________