Our part is then: how do we apply this? You remember in the Old Testament they had to apply the blood. It wasn’t enough that the blood was shed; the blood had to be applied (to the door). So, always, we have to apply what God has done. In other words, there’s a faith action people must take, to apply the work of Christ to their life. So, when you are working with people, there is a part you play; and a part they play. They have a part in their own freedom.
For example, when you consider salvation - Jesus died on the cross for people to be saved, for every person to be saved. So legally, every person can be saved; but for salvation to manifest in their life, there’s something they must do - they must repent and believe. So, there’s always something people must do, to position themselves for God to work. Our role is to work with people to bring them to a place where they apply what Jesus has done to their life - first to get free; second to stay free. They need to apply what God has done for them. It requires faith. So, there’s always the foundation you must lay in a person’s life for them to be free.
I found the most common reasons people are not freed, or don’t stay free, is that the roots have never been pulled out of their life, or the person hasn’t cooperated in the process. So, we will now look then at the foundations for freedom; and we looked at what Jesus has done. However, every person also has a part to play. They have something that they must do.
I will give you a list of the things that people must do. Number 1, a person must recognise and take responsibility for their life and their failures. It’s very common for people to want to blame someone. It’s common for people to want to make excuses; but a core part of a person getting set free, is taking responsibility for their own sin, and their own failure.
For example, in Proverbs 28:13 – “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” So, if we conceal our responsibility for our life - usually people do that by blaming someone else, or minimising it, or just denying there’s a problem. So, if we deny or minimise or blame someone else, this is frustrating the work of God to set them free. If you’re working with someone, and they won’t own up and take responsibility, you can’t go any further. If a person doesn’t recognise what their part in this is, they won’t actually get free. I find this very common; the biggest challenge is to help people see the truth, because often people cover it or bury it or pretend it isn’t as bad as it seems.
I had one woman I was praying for recently, and she was struggling because she could not get pregnant. She wanted a family, and I talked with her and listened to her story. I said to her: “You have a family already. You have 4 children, but you took the life of each of your children. The children are in heaven now. They’re real people. They have a name. What you have done, is created the problem you have now, where you can’t conceive.” So, it was quite difficult for her to come to face the reality, that her inability to have children now, is because she’d had 4 abortions.
I said: “If we’re going to pray for you to be healed and have children, you have to face the reason why you’re in this condition. You have 4 children in heaven, whose lives were cut short by your hand; and Jesus knows them all. You need to come to Him, He has forgiven you, you need to reach out to Him and receive that forgiveness. Then, we can pray for you, that the results of the sin can be healed.” She preferred to be healed without dealing with the reason why she was like this. So, I said “You need to come to forgiveness, first of all, and to acknowledge the children you have, and what you did.” So, God touched her very deeply, and she named each of her children. So, the first challenge in working with people is to find out what the roots of the problem, and bring people to the place of recognising and being responsible.