The five prerequisites for becoming a vessel to house the Living Water that dislodges the stake of trauma and dissolves the pain of the past are:

• repent of false refuges and renounce their associated idols
• ask for Jesus’ prayer help and mediation as you approach the tests—the sifting and winnowing of the threshing floor. Some tests will assess if you’ve really left those false refuges behind. Just as Jesus prayed for Peter when he was about to face a sifting to the ‘point of overthrow’, so we desperately need His help to push through to real healing. The chaff of unbelief needs to be blown away.
• renounce all ungodly covenants that God brings to light—with Death, with the underworld, with Kronos time, with Belial or another other spirit the Holy Spirit names.
• ask for a replacement cornerstone with a new inscription on it.
• Ask for a new covering—a cloud of glory—and its associated rest.

Don’t think of this as a day’s work. It’s an ongoing, transformative process that takes time. We want it to be done and dusted in an instant, or if we’re particularly patient in a fortnight. However, it’s about faithfulness and learning to redeem the time.

There are also other considerations we might need to take into account.

• Repenting of dishonour towards anyone. This includes ourselves, if we’ve accepted the dishonour heaped on us and come to believe ourselves unworthy of God’s calling. It also includes fallen angels. Scripture warns against insulting, abusing, reviling, slandering or cursing even the satan, and outlines the devastating consequences of doing so in the epistle of Jude as well as the second chapter of Peter’s second letter.
• Apologising to God for any accusation—subtle or unsubtle—that calls into question His faithfulness is really wise. So too is apologising to Him for not even asking, let alone being grateful, for the times He’s stood in harm’s way for us.

Repentance, like forgiveness, is—humanly speaking—impossible.  So is renunciation. Willpower might occasionally work, but only by God’s grace. Unless He strengthens our will to repent and renounce, we soon discover how shabby and ineffective our words are. But wonderfully for us, Jesus is willing to empower our words so we can indeed master the sin crouching at the door.

However we have to be genuine. Not much good, saying, ‘I repent of all my false refuges in Jesus’ name.’ Too vague to be sincere. Repentance needs to be specific. ‘I repent of comforting myself when I’m troubled with a bottle of wine, instead of seeking You as my true refuge. I turn from wine as a source of solace and I ask Jesus, my mediator, to empower these words to achieve a true restoration to You, gracious Father. I ask this in His name and through the power of His blood.’

Unless Jesus is our mediator, all our efforts are in vain.

This is Grace Drops and I’m Anne Hamilton. May your eyes be fixed on Jesus,  our mediator.

More on the spirit of Belial can be found in the paperback, Dealing with Belial: Spirit of Armies and Abuse, Strategies for the Threshold #8.

More on the spirit of Kronos (another face of abuse) can be found in the paperback, Dealing with Kronos: Spirit of Abuse and Time, Strategies for the Threshold #9.

More on the most of the pre-conditions can be found in the paperback God’s Pottery: The Sea of Names and the Pierced Inheritance.