2468 Will and grace.... (Which comes first?....)

September 9, 1942: Book 33

Divine love seeks to enlighten people and people don’t accept the light.... However, the human being has free will, therefore he cannot forcibly be guided into realisation; thus the grace of God flowing to a person is not used because his will resists it. Consequently, the will must come first.... God’s grace can only become effective if the human being is willing to let it take effect in him. The world is in spiritual darkness, for although God constantly wants to help people with His grace, they pay no attention to it and remain dark and unenlightened.... For this reason people must learn in different ways how little they are enlightened by God’s spirit.... They themselves must come across contradictions on the part of those they presume to possess truth and light.... They must see themselves confronted by questions the answers to which are beyond their knowledge, so that they will then take the path towards realisation of their own accord. For God’s love and care constantly guide His living creations such that they can find the truth if the will for it arises in them. The gifts of the spirit are truly the only guarantee for pure truth, and anything that does not concur with it can unhesitatingly be rejected as falsehood. Spiritual gifts must be interconnected; they must provide clear and understandable explanations about God’s activity and reign in the universe, in the earthly as well as in the spiritual realm.... But they must also be accepted as such, that is, their divine origin must be acknowledged if they are to effect a person as a manifestation of God’s strength. For the gifts of the spirit are gifts of grace, offered by God’s greater than great love to people to make the path of ascent easier for them.... But these gifts of grace can only be effective if the human being accepts them as such, if he does not offer resistance by rejecting them but faithfully allows their effect on him, and this requires his will. If, however, he offers resistance, that is, if he inwardly rejects them, the effect is out of the question, otherwise a person would by guided into light, i.e., into knowledge, against his will, which would curtail his freedom of will. Grace is an endowment, thus it is a gift the human being is not entitled to; nevertheless, God expects people to respect His gift of grace, he expects it to be appealed for and gratefully received if it is to take effect as grace.... Consequently, it is also right to say that God’s grace comes first; however, if the grace is ineffective people will not feel it as grace either....

Amen

This proclamation is used in the following themebook:

Themebook	Title	Download
111	Divine Grace	ePub   PDF   Kindle

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