Jesus shed His blood to get our lives right. Oh, today Lord I put you first in my life. I seek first those things of right living, the things of your kingdom. I seek to honour you in all I do and I thank you Lord today I reign in life. I thank you Lord, I bring every mistake, every place where I've substituted something for you, I bring it to the cross. Lord, I am guilty as charged but I thank you today I am forgiven by the blood. I thank you today I reign in life. Your life flows through me, I have the victory.
See, you can pray very powerfully if you will start to take what God has done for you, and start to bring it in your prayer life and apply it. It's only applied through confession. You have to speak something if you want the things of God to work in your life, see? It grieves me, because I see a lot of people struggle, and I watch them go through suffering after suffering after suffering, and yet when you talk to them it's almost like there's a blindness. They can't see it's the things in their heart have stopped them going forward, and only a revelation of that can change it.
Then the last couple of things - side. Jesus was wounded in His side. The Bible says in John 19, Verse 34, the soldiers pierced His side. They just - when they thought He was dead, this was the last thing they did. They took a spear, pushed it right up His side into His heart. Blood and water came out - last place the blood was shed, and He shed that blood for our transgressions, every place that you and I wilfully have sinned against God, wilfully have done it, it comes out of the heart. Out of the heart flows the issues of your life, and where our heart has wilfully chosen to do something, the blood was shed not just to cleanse us, but to give us a new heart, a right heart, a heart to please God. Oh Lord, today in my heart I've wilfully gone against you in this way. Lord, I am so sorry. I decree it's a sin, I declare and agree with your word what you say about it, but Lord I bring it to the cross where the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me, forgives me. Today I thank you; you're renewing my heart, a right spirit within me.
See? We need to be established in God, because your heart is what condemns you. When it comes to praying, the hardest place it is to stand before God, is in your personal life, when you come to pray and then you get reminded of all the things you've done wrong, and so the moment you start to be reminded of all the things you've done wrong, you will either take God's remedy and apply the blood to come out of it, or you'll yield and withdraw from God, and draw away from Him, because you're depleted.
That's what lots of people do. They just got overwhelmed and condemned in the heart. If you can't deal with condemnation in the heart, the devil will just have a hey day with you. You see God has established a plan whereby you and I can be right before Him. It's called the blood of Jesus, and we get right with Him by believing what the blood has done. If our heart condemns us, God is bigger! If your heart knows something you did wrong, God is bigger! If you have failed, and there's something the devil's reminding you of, then God is bigger! The work of the blood of Jesus is bigger! You don't need to live with your head down, condemned by what you've failed to do, didn't do, someone pointed out you did. Rather, take that thing and say, I bring it to the cross! You're right Lord, I didn't do that. Thank you devil for pointing that out, I did do that but I thank you that the blood has covered that thing now! I refuse to be condemned. I refuse to hold myself down. Why? Because there's no condemnation to me in Jesus Christ! I stand up, cleansed by the blood, confident before God!
This is the place most people struggle. It's the one place the devil will beat on you more than ever. If you can't break through that, you'll never have the victorious life - you'll struggle never being good enough. We are made good and right before God by the blood of Jesus Christ, not by our works. The devil can shift you back to your works, get you focussing on your failures, you've lost the battle. The only way I can enjoy the power of God flowing in my life is to know I am righteous before Him! By what Jesus did for me I firmly hold it! How do I hold it? By my heart believing and my mouth confessing! You've got to learn to speak. I listen to people pray. I can tell when they're praying they're not near God, nowhere near God. Why are they not near God? Because of condemnation, because of this issue here. The very last thing - they put the thing through His side, blood came out and that blood covers what's gone on in your heart, covers your wilful transgressions. So now I can come boldly into His presence!