Some people drive a deep and wide wedge between them as though they are discrete experiences. Some speak of "The Second Blessing" and so forth. Ordo Salutis, or "Order of Salvation," is a term that refers to a significant body of literature that has developed over the centuries on this topic. Some of it is almost polemical!
The reason many think of Divine Acceptance and Divine Empowerment as discrete experiences is a good one. It is that they that they do not want to leave the impression that the first is contingent upon the second. They want us to remember that divine a acceptance always comes first, both logically and chonologically, This is a good point and we should keep it in mind.
Yet, sharply separating them into discrete experience runs a risk of underemphasizing something important. This is that in and of itself, and not as something different, the experience of being accepted is also the experience of being empowered. Perhaps It is not Divine Acceptance and then Divine Empowerment. Perhaps it is Divine Acceptance as Divine Empowerment.
Before the campus became a smoke-free zone, I once took a seminar from a theologically informed clinicical psychologist who began each session by slowly drinking a cup of coffee, packing his pipe and puffing it several times. One morning, he wrote on the board Acceptance + Confrontation = Growth."
Over the years since then, I have changed it to Acceptance + Acceptance + Accepance + Acceptance + Acceptance = Growth." In other words, we need to hear how valuable we are to God and others despite everything that tempts us to think otherwise at least five times as often as we need to be reminded that we can do better.
Few things drain moral power more quickly and completely than unrelieved guilt. Experiencing forgiveness releases us to live more like we would like to live. It liberates. It unchains. It frees. Those who feel forgiven also feel empowered. The opposite is also true. Those who feel empowered also feel forgiven. It is difficult even to imagine a morally powerful person who feels chained to unrelieved guilt.
The practical implication of thinking of it in this way is important. It is that emphasizing Divine Acceptancce is not necessarily a way of relieving people of their ethical opportuinities and obligations. It might be the best way of empowering people to realize them. Cheap grace is dangerous. Expensive grace is deadly.
Many who do not believe in God understand this more accurately than many who do. This is why they often say things like “Don’t drive forward while gazing at the rearview mirror!” Many of those who do not believe in God also know something else that Christians should know as well. This is that being forgiving is even more empowering than being forgiven.
So, yes, it does make sense to distinguish divine forgiveness and divine empowerment. But separating them into discrete experieces is not the only option.