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What is the next step God is inviting you to take?
God’s grace always makes the first move. It seeks us, awakens us, and draws us toward a restored relationship with God. But grace also brings us to moments when we must decide how we will respond.
In this episode of Rediscovering Faith, Pastor Evan Ryder explores the relationship between God’s seeking grace and our response through the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10.
A map can show us the correct road. A navigation system can tell us when our turn is approaching. But neither one will turn the steering wheel for us. Eventually, we must decide whether we will follow the directions.
That is where both Cornelius and Peter find themselves.
Cornelius is a Roman centurion whose heart has already been awakened by God’s prevenient grace. He prays regularly, gives generously, and desires to know God more fully. When an angel tells him to send men to Joppa to find Simon Peter, Cornelius does not know what Peter will say or how the story will end.
He only knows the next step—and he takes it.
At the same time, God is preparing Peter through a vision that challenges his assumptions about what is clean and unclean. Then the Holy Spirit tells him that three men are looking for him:
“Get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”
Peter does not yet understand the complete meaning of the vision. He does not know what will happen in Cornelius’s home. He simply knows that God is asking him to welcome the messengers and travel with them.
Cornelius must send for Peter.
Peter must go with the messengers.
Cornelius must be willing to hear the truth.
Peter must be willing to cross a boundary he would not have crossed on his own.
God is drawing both men, but neither can remain a passive observer. Grace calls each of them to respond.
This is an essential part of the Wesleyan understanding of grace. God always acts first. We cannot save ourselves, earn God’s favor, or find our way home through our own goodness. Even our ability to recognize our need for God is made possible by grace.
But God’s grace does not force us into a relationship with him.
Grace awakens us, draws us, frees us, and enables us to respond. God invites us to say yes.
Our response does not earn grace—it is made possible by grace. When we say yes to God, we are responding to the God who has already been reaching toward us.
Sometimes we imagine that responding to God must involve a dramatic spiritual experience or a complete understanding of everything he is doing. More often, God simply shows us the next turn:
Pray.
Open the Bible.
Ask the question.
Tell the truth.
Seek forgiveness.
Walk into the church.
Have the conversation.
Release the resentment.
Admit that you need help.
Trust Jesus with the part of your life you have been trying to control.
We may want God to reveal the entire journey before we take a single step. Cornelius, however, did not know what Peter would say when he sent for him. Peter did not fully understand his vision when he welcomed the messengers.
They obeyed the direction they had received. Then the next part of the map became clear.
In this Christian devotional episode, we explore:
• How prevenient grace makes our response to God possible
• Why grace does not eliminate human freedom
• What Peter and Cornelius teach us about obedience
• How God may lead us before we understand the entire plan
• Why responding to grace does not mean earning grace
• How God’s guidance sometimes challenges our assumptions and boundaries
• What to do when you know the next step but cannot see the entire road
• How God responds when we hesitate, resist, or make a wrong turn
Jeremiah 31:3 says:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
God’s everlasting love does not disappear when we miss a turn. His unfailing kindness does not vanish when we struggle to trust his direction. Grace continues reaching toward us, confronting us, awakening us, and inviting us to respond again.
Like a navigation system recalculating after a wrong turn, God’s grace continues calling us toward home. The comparison is not perfect, but it reminds us that God does not abandon us when we hesitate or wander.
Perhaps you sense God drawing you today, but you do not understand the entire journey. You may have questions about Christianity, the Bible, or what following Jesus will require. You may feel convicted about an area of your life but remain uncertain about what will happen if you surrender it to God.
You do not need to see the entire map to take the next turn.
You only need to respond to the grace God is giving you now.
As you listen, consider these questions:
How have you responded to God’s seeking grace?
How are you choosing to respond today?
What is the next turn God is asking you to take?
This episode is part of “The Journey,” a Rediscovering Faith series about following Jesus on the journey of grace. Whether you are exploring Christianity, returning to faith, discerning God’s direction, or growing as a disciple of Jesus, you are invited to trust the One who holds the map.
Take the next step. Make the next turn. Say yes to the grace that is already drawing you home.
If this episode encourages you, share it with someone who is discerning their next step with God. Follow Rediscovering Faith for biblical teaching, Christian encouragement, Wesleyan-Holiness theology, and practical guidance for following Jesus.
