I mean, it helps. A lot.
But when people say someone has to be willing to be healed, or has to be willing to change, and so forth, that's often a coverup for "I don't have the faith to pray hard enough and long enough for this thing that I know is in God's will to manifest."
The devil takes it as "They're not going to fight me past a certain point, so all I have to do is hang on and they'll give up."
Me, I'm not giving up. Failure to obtain God's will in a matter just isn't good enough for me. I'm not going to knowingly leave anything that Jesus died to purchase for me or mine on some "undeliverable" shelf in heaven to gather dust.
How can I say this? Don't people have free will? Of course they do.
But consider the man with the legion of demons, whose story is told in Mark 5 and Luke 8. When Jesus landed on the shore of the country of the Gerasenes (Gadarenes in some versions), he was met by a wild, naked man who lived in the tombs. The demons in the man were so strong that he could break chains. He screamed and shrieked night and day. He cut himself with stones. The only reason the demons yelled at Jesus in an intelligible language was that Jesus first said, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit." Jesus initiated the man's deliverance. The man didn't ask; he was in no shape to ask; the demons were in complete control and did not want to be cast out. Once the demons had been cast out (and gone into the pigs, which rushed to the sea and were drowned--beside the point here), the man was clothed, in his right mind, and sitting calmly. Had he asked, had he expressed willingness, to be freed from demonic possession?
He had not. Jesus just did it. And for a Gentile. This man, perhaps because he was a Gentile, was not allowed to go with Jesus as a traveling disciple, though this he did ask for, once he was delivered. Instead, Jesus sent him to his own home to testify to his family and community; in other words, Jesus called him to be a home-based evangelist.
The man was healed. He did not ask. He did not express willingness. Jesus delivered him by a sovereign act. I believe Jesus did so both to help the man personally and because he knew what such an amazing report could do for the kingdom.
Whenever anyone claims, "The Holy Spirit is a gentleman and won't interfere if we don't want him to," as another explanation for unanswered prayer, I always think of Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus. I could almost say 'nuff said and be done here, but I'd rather relate the story. Acts 9 recounts it. Saul was breathing murderous threats against the disciples of Jesus. He obtained from the Jewish high priest letters of authority to haul men and women in chains to Jerusalem. We know he had already been the coat-check guy at the stoning of Stephen. Saul was about as far from wanting Jesus as anyone could be. Then, as he was on his way to carry out his horrible errand, a light flashed around him that knocked him to the ground and Jesus spoke to him from heaven. The entire core of Saul's being was changed on the spot. Had Saul been seeking this kind of experience? Not remotely! Jesus changed Saul's life by one sovereign act of radical intervention. We know this because he asked, "Who are you, Lord?" Saul had been as sure as any high-ranking Jew that he knew who God was. He realized the instant God invaded his world that he didn't have a clue.
Will God intervene in the life of someone without their permission? Yes! If we need further evidence, Proverbs 21:1 tells us that the heart of even a king is like a watercourse that God will channel as he pleases. Then how much more will God intervene if we are praying for a person according to God's known will? We need to keep asking, seeking, knocking, and thereby demonstrating to Jesus that he will find faith on the earth (Luke 18:8). Let's not shake our heads and say, "It's not going to happen if the person isn't willing." Instead, let's pray without giving up and watch our Father work.
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