So, were looking at how we how we engage God and with similar two pathways one about relationship with God which brings us into a deeper intimacy and understanding of who God is, who we are from the perspective of God. And we have seen that as a result of entering into a relationship with God then we engage heaven and heaven engages us and we become a gateway for heaven and God’s presence to come into the world. So were a gateway through our spirit, soul, body to the world around us. We have legal access and right to the judicial system the kingdom of God. A kingdom is where a king rules and the king rules with a set of governmental perspectives. And the kingdom of God is no different and therefore we need to understand how to keep our gates open, how to open them and keep them doing that. We have been looking at using the court system of heaven to enable us to do it. We are a spirit, soul, and body and God’s desire is that when he’s living within our spirit, he would fill us and flow through us and we have that sort of flow of the Spirit of God basically encompassing, coming around us. But there’s a whole load of things that are in the way and we’ve seen that if we’re going to have a flow from the inside out, rather than outside in, then we have to deal with the things that sit outside our spirit gates which can block the flow of God. Also, those things can sit in our soul and bring guilt and shame. They have memories of our past, lies, hurts, pains, doubts and fears. And there are lots of issues within us that we need to be set be set free from. There are also connections between soul and spirit that come from the outside in, in which we are looking to draw life for independence and selfish living. Whereas God wants us to live in relationship with him and not be independent. So, we looked at our gateways and we are looking at the court system. Today we are going to look at the court of accusation and how that court system works to set us free from the things that control our lives. Now our enemy is not equal with God. The devil is not equal with God, he is just a created being who fell, but he is a legalist, and he has to be given permission or a legal right to be able to operate in the world and in our lives.
Adam and Eve gave him that initial right and the only true authority that exists in the universe is God’s and what he has given to us as his sons. But we gave that away and we can continue to give that authority away in our lives if we choose to. So, to remove the enemy from our gateways and how the enemy effects the inside of us, then we need to remove any legal rights that he has. So, we are looking at engaging a court. Now a court, some of you been in court, some of you have seen court, you seen court on TV and various things. A court has various parts and we saw last week who makes up the court. Well, the judge of this court is God. The advocate or lawyer is Jesus. The accused is us. And the accuser are familiar spirits, another words the enemy. And there are witnesses, seven spirits of God, angels, witness that.
Now Zechariah 3:1 is a scripture we are using to indicate what happens in a court in heaven. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuke you Satan, now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments standing before the angel and he spoke and said to those who were standing before him saying removed the filthy garments from him, again he said to him see I’ve taking your iniquity away and clothed you with festal robes. Now we just actually had baptisms which is actually an outworking of that where all the stuff of the past gets washed away, cleansed and it’s like all the filthy garments that we’ve worn, everything, guilt, shame, condemnation, everything of the past actually gets dealt with and washed away. Then you can begin to live in position of righteousness that God gives you also some New Testament things about prayer which are quite interesting from a court perspective.
So, Luke 18:1 now he was telling them a parable, Jesus taught in parables, some parables were a story with a point and there was one or two points in the story which were the key. And other parables were more like a story which had many points and the different things within those points were important. So, in this story he was telling a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart. So, the point of this parable, the story that Jesus told was that all times, so this is something needs to be done all the time, they ought to pray and not lose heart. And then he puts the perspective in this. In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man and there was a widow in that city and she kept coming to him saying give me legal protection from my opponent. For while he was unwilling for a while, he was unwilling and afterwards he said to himself even though I do not fear God or respect man yet because this widow bothers me I will give her legal protection otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out. Now in a sense, this is a picture of praying at all times and not losing heart. Not that God is like that judge, but he is like a judge, but just not like unrighteous one. And then it goes on in the next verse, verse six, the Lord said hear what the unrighteous judge said. Now will not God bring about justice for his elect who cry out to him day and night. And will he delay long over them, I tell you that he will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the son of man comes will he find faith on the earth. So, in this perspective of prayer and the court system of prayer, because it is talking about a judge and having justice and having prayer that brings about justice, then there’s an issue of whether we believe it or not. So, will God find people operating this system from where he looks. Well, that’s a question that we will have to ask whether we are using prayer in that way. So, Jesus very much puts prayer into a judicial system in this parable. And it you look at this in no way does the woman try to deal with the adversary. She only deals with the judge. What she is looking for is a verdict from the judge rendered in her favor. So, when we talk about prayer often, we think about, we’ll are we asking God to do something for us. And a lot of prayer is about a shopping list, God, can you do this, will you do that, can you bless so and so, will you do this, will you provide this for me, there’s lots of things that prayer is usually seen as, often it’s help. And a lot of people who never pray in their lives, actually call out for help when something goes wrong. And you know God is such a gracious loving God that he often will help. Even though they may never have prayed to him before. And they may never pray to him afterwards but actually God responds to people calling out to him. But in this instance God is wanting us to understand that this process is a legal process that we can operate in. Another version says God will grant you victory speedily. So, if we want to see victory, we need to engage this verdict in a court. Often prayer has been seen in the conduct of warfare, fighting against the enemy and you have spiritual warfare. You have a whole load of teaching on spiritual warfare, what you do to deal with other spirits and things like that. Well, I don’t believe that’s what Jesus taught. And it’s a teaching that the church has adopted. But actually, Jesus taught that prayer was in the context of the judicial process.
So, prayer should be seen as receiving a verdict or judgment in your favor. Prayer in this contact is about receiving authority or authorization from a court. Then that gives you that authority to use and it’s not like God will you do something. God says we’ll present the case, then I’ll give you the authority to do something. Because we are called to be joint heirs of his kingdom so were not supposed to just be waiting on God to do everything. He calls us and gives us authority to do things in the Bible.
There are 650 different prayers and there are prayer references in 62 of the 66 books in the Bible. So, prayer is mentioned a lot, it is talked about a lot. So, it’s obviously a very significant thing. Our usual definition of prayer would be two-way communication with God. Now a lot of people’s definition of prayer would be, we’ll I’m asking God something, but they don’t actually hear anything in reply. So, God wants us to hear his voice. Jesus said my sheep will hear my voice. So, we need to expect our normal communication with God to be two-way not one way. And actually, within our spirit we have a prayer gate that facilitates this relational communication, there is a flow of life and communication with God with our spirit because we are made spirit, and God is spirit and we can connect to him spirit to spirit.
Matthew 6:9 is a very well-known prayer, and Jesus was teaching his disciples, and he said pray then in this way. Our father who is in heaven hallowed be your name. So, there it starts with the focus of the prayer in heaven and on God and all the names of God. So, it is really important to recognize and have in a sense of honor for the judge. Because when you’re coming to God you need to recognize his authority and his power. Recognize that his name gives him that authority. Now it says your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Everything has to be done in heaven first before it can come to the earth. We used to think that God did all those things in heaven rather than us. Now we realize that we have access to the realms of heaven and the spiritual realms. Therefore, we can operate in those realms and prayer and the legal court system of heaven can be seen as operating in those realms.
And then it goes on, give us this day our daily bread. Now if you took that out of context it would be well, we are trying to get our daily bread somewhere on earth. We’ll in reality it comes from heaven, it comes out of God who is our father, who loves us and wants to care for us.
And then forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. Again, that can purely be seen as an earthly thing, or we can see it in the context of the judicial process. When we forgive someone a debt and we do that focused in heaven, then actually God forgives us, and it changes our situation. So, prayer is very much directed towards heaven’s kingdom engaging earth. And that’s ultimately why we are looking at this whole thing. So, Ephesians 6:18 with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit.
What’s in the Spirit? In the spiritual realm, in heaven. We tend to sort of not interpret it that way. But actually, when it says in Revelation that John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, he was in Spirit in that realm, engaging that realm. So, he was seeing into heaven, engaging in heaven, he was invited into heaven. And so, for us to understand prayer and petition we need to know and be in the Spirit. So, we need to be in that realm, the spiritual realm. So, with this in view be alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. So, we need to understand that prayer is not something that is a one-off or occasional calling out to God for help. But is an ongoing relationship where we need to keep in view this is done in the spirit and that’s where prayer takes place and we need to also recognize that you have to persevere it is not enough just to think, we’ll I am going to do something once sometimes you have to press through in prayer.
1 Timothy 2:1 first of all then I urge the entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men. This is language which is the judicial language, and the court uses this type of things, entreaties and petitions. So, prayer what type of communication can there be. Conversation we need to talk to God and listen to him all the time, have a relationship with him, adoration and praise, we need to tell him how much we love him and receive his love. Because he tells us just like we have in the baptism, heaven opened, the father speaking from heaven over Jesus saying this is my beloved son in who I am well pleased. And another occasion on the transfiguration He says this is my beloved son listen to him. So, in a sense we praise God, but God also speaks encouragement over us. Confession means sometimes we need to confess things we messed up. Now at the beginning the problem with Adam and eve messing things up was they didn’t confess. They actually hid from God and tried to cover up what they’ve done and then they blame each other. So, Adam blamed eve and eve blamed the snake, Satan. So, then they didn’t take responsibility for themselves and that is what we need to do. When we engage the court system we must take responsibility, we can’t pass the buck if we done something. Admit it, own it, and what will we receive, forgiveness and cleansing. Thanksgiving is another part of prayer, having a thankful attitude and a thankful heart enables us to live in the blessing of God. Now there is another word, supplication or entreaty and there are two sorts of petitions, a person’s personal request and also intercession for others. So, sometimes we can pray on behalf of other people as well as for ourselves. The definition of supplication is a reverent petition made to God or in law the request of a complainant as stated in a complaint or in equity that the court grants the aid or release. So, that’s very legal language which none of us understand. In legal language you have to read a will, for all that sort of stuff to realize it’s written in a way that it is actually hard to understand. But the reality is God writes things really clear, so when we make a petition to God were looking for a result from what we petition, a request an entreat, an earnest request for petition, a plea. A plea can be a judicial word, petition is a solemn supplication or request to a superior authority, a formal written document requesting a right or benefit from a person or group in authority. We get legal language which we can see that prayer and the words used are very legal in their framework. So, in Law a petition is a formal written application requesting a court for a specific judicial action. A petition for appeal for instance. The judicial action asked for in any such request. So, this gives us the background of why these words are used in relation to prayer. Now a lot of people ask can I just go to the court once. But often you have to use the authority you been given to enforce the verdict.
Job 23:1-2 Job was very persistent, I’m not letting up, I am standing my ground, my complaint is legitimate. He was firm in what he was doing. He wasn’t going to court, so I hope I might get a verdict. And in verse 3 to 6 it says if only I knew where to find God, I would go to his court, I would lay out my case and present my arguments. My judge would equip me for good of all charges, he had confidence although he didn’t know actually where to go, he did know about the process. Now Matthew 7:7 says keep asking and it will be given to you, keep seeking and you will find, keep knocking and it will be open to you. So, actually we need to be persistent and in that parable of the woman who was looking to the judge, she didn’t give up, she didn’t just go once. And the judge said no, I am sorry you’re not having that, she went back and went back and went back until she got the answer that she knew was right, justice. And Matthew 21:22 says whatever you ask in prayer you will receive, if you have faith. This is the key; it is no point going to God in prayer or going to the court if you don’t believe. You don’t actually believe that when you go you are going to get a verdict in your favor so it’s important that you believe and use that belief in what you do. In Mark 11:24 it says therefore I tell you whatever you ask in prayer, think about this in the court context rather than the on your hands and knees, eyes closed sort of calling out to the ceiling hoping someone is going hear. That isn’t what prayer is, prayer is going to face God as a judge and speaking to him direct; to believe you’ve received it, and it will be yours. You have to believe that this is going to be a favorable thing. John 14:30 whatever you ask in my name, this is the name of the authority of the court. I will do so, that the Father may be glorified in the son. If you ask anything in my name I will do it. Now we know that doesn’t mean anything, as in I can ask for a negative thing or I want a new car and all that sort of stuff. We may be able to put a case for a new car but actually it’s not something that is selfish. Because God may want to give us a new car, because we have a use for it in his kingdom. So, it’s important that we ask in the name and the authority of God and then in that name we have confidence that God is going act when it’s in accordance with his will and purpose. So, understanding how faith works is a key element in knowing how the kingdom of God functions. Hebrews 11:6 without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a reward of those who seek him. So we must come to God we must come to the court, if we’re going to actually see the verdict and the result released. Hebrews 11:1 faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. So, we must believe, before we act. For by it men of old gained approval. So, faith brings us approval before the court, it brings us approval before the judge because guess what God isn’t looking at us and our lives and all our unworthiness or worthiness, we think we might, but he is looking at what Jesus did on the cross. He is looking at the blood, that has already been shed and poured out, he is looking at his covenant which is agreed for us to be blessed so, we can be a blessing. He looks at the commission he gave man to fill the earth and bring his dominion and rule. So, he looks at his promises, he looks at his revelation and if we have faith, it gives us approval or access to those things. So, by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. In other words, everything that we see physically comes out of an unseen spiritual realm everything comes out that invisible spiritual realm including our verdicts from the court, our prayer. It is engaging an unseen spiritual realm which is seen and experienced in our spirit when were in the Spirit. So, you can make a petition, a request, a supplication and entreaty to the court, this maybe for justice, you may have an injustice in your life you may have had things stolen or robbed from. It may be for freedom from bondage or an addiction it may be for a legal divorce or separation from a behavior or stronghold or mindset a sin. But you must base your case on something absolute reliable and dependable you can’t go to court in sort of a vague hope that it might be okay. You need to know the reliability of the judge and the blood of Jesus and the judicial system which is in place. So, we prepare a case based on God’s presets statutes and laws. Everything we do whether it’s in the court of accusation any other higher court in the realms of heaven and there are lots of different courts that we have seen. It is based on who God is it’s not based on what we do or what we think, it is based on who God is. So, his precepts are the very nature of who he is, a righteous judge but also a loving father, his statutes are the protocols and principles of the kingdom. Righteousness and justice those are the foundations of God’s kingdom. Laws of the revelation of the truth as revealed in his heart and word and his promises that gives us something to stand on. Because he’s truth, his word is true and we can use the truth of his precepts, statutes and laws to prepare our case. So, we base the case on various truths, God’s promises. God has made promises to us actually they will highlight the injustices that have occurred in our lives because his promises will be in comparison to what is going on in our earthly life and we need to have them matched up together. Your scroll, your blueprints, your mandate, the call that God’s got on your life, the book that he prepared for you to live before you were ever in this world. When you existed in his heart in eternity you have a scroll, you can use that truth to base your case on what God has spoken to you prophetically concerning your life. You have prophetic words that have been spoken. Use those words as a foundation to build a case. Use the dreams and visions you been given about your to build your case and where those things aren’t in place that’s injustice from God’s perspective. So, you can use that to get a verdict, to bring those things into being. So, often we have these things that Gods spoken, and we are disappointed that they have not been fulfilled. This is how we can get them fulfilled by coming to the judge and getting the authority to see them outworked. So, what promises has God made to you? You need to know the promises of God. If you do not know what God has promised you, how can you know what belongs to you and what your rights are. In God’s kingdom we use all those things to build our case. Now let’s look at an example, let’s say were looking at the case of sickness versus health. So, we look at that situation in our life, let’s say there is some situation where we need to come into healing and health. Use the scriptures about health. God is our healer that’s one of his names Jehovah Rafa the Lord who heals thee. Use Scripture against sickness build up a case, by his stripes we are healed, he bore our sicknesses and took our infirmities. There’s hundreds and hundreds of scriptures about healing and health. So, present the truth as a case to the judge, ask him to judge the sickness because the sickness does not belong in you. So, ask him to judge it. Your word says it is unjust that I should be sick, but by your stripes I am healed. Use the word of God in your case. So, you build up your case, you simply present it to the judge with a favorable verdict. You can demand justice be done. Now what is justice in a situation where there is sickness, justice is healing, health, that’s justice. That is your right to come into everything that God has promised you and healing and health are his promises. So, living in health and wholeness is a result of presenting that case. You also may need to remove what the enemies’ legal rights are to bring sickness, because there may be things that the enemies has on you. So, you present your case and God says yes but you have to deal with this and that. And we will look at that side of things. You can build a case for anything that is revealed by God through his word or directly to you. Poverty, financial difficulties, freedom, healing, breakthroughs from addiction any sort of break through you can receive. God has given you promises, and you build a case around it. It is not a formula, we have to be open to the Spirit’s leading, direction while we are doing this because he will give us insight into our particular situation that will help us. Intimacy and relationship are a key. This is done in relationship; it is great because we have a relationship with the Judge as our father and we have relationship with the advocate Jesus our brother. So, we got a good deal here because as I said before the court is rigged in our favor so we can build a history in the courts. We can get used to using the court system to get a verdict rather than, we’ll I am going to pray, so I am sort of going to hope something happens. We can go to court; we can get a favorable verdict. So, what you do when you receive a firm favorable verdict? If you receive a verdict and you don’t do anything you might as well not have it. The verdict as a written legal document gives us our authorization. So, we show those papers and legal documents to the enemy, to our accuser, we actually show him the verdict. Now when we do that, they know that they have no more legal right to attack you, but it doesn’t mean they won’t try or try and fool you that they, then you must know and believe and enforce the verdict in your own life. All heaven will now be ordered to back you up, so there is legions of angels. Remember Jesus said 12 legions of Angels, it is like , the angelic realm are ministering spirits sent by God for those who are inheritors of salvation. The whole angelic realm is at our disposal to see the verdict enforced. But if we don’t use them or interact with them, well then, it’s like having a police force that you don’t call, you never dial 999 and you never get any help. So, we need to use this in our lives, so in this we must stay positive and focus and enforce the authority that you have. Proverbs 6:31 when a thief is found he must repay sevenfold, he must give all the substance of his house. So, you are going to get something which is a verdict. You have a right against your enemy to demand restitution and that’s a sevenfold repaying. How do I get sevenfold certain things back, well you can also release that into your family into your community, it’s like it is a powerful thing when you have this available. So, you can demand your enemy to restore to you sevenfold and give you access to the substance of his house. That means your family heritage, the booty and spoils of war, the plunder that he may have taken from you. You have access to those things to restore them to your family your spheres of influence your workplace. You can use this to bring God’s kingdom of blessing from heaven to earth through your life as a gateway if you understand and know your authority. So, the verdict becomes our armor and our weapon. Ephesians 6:14 stand firm so when we have a verdict you have to stand firm, do not waiver or be double minded, because a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. He doesn’t stand firm, it’s like one minute he is thinking this, the next he is thinking that, because he doesn’t know the authority that he has been given. Stand firm therefore having girded your loins with truth and the verdict is the truth we use. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness, shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, in addition to all taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. The word being your verdict, what God is spoken. So, the shield of faith, our agreement and acceptance of the verdict can be used against every future accusation, anything the enemy throws at you. You have the faith that no can touch me, so you have the sword of the Spirit, the verdict the word of God we use offensively to deal with the enemy don’t just accept anything the enemy says use the truth of the word to remind him of his place under our feet. That truth will destroy every lie and deception if you use it to use it you need to know it. The helmet of salvation, the verdict of not guilty is truth to protect our mind. Because the mind is often the battlefield where all these things go on. You know remember tom and Jerry, one with a halo and the other with a pitchfork on the other side of the shoulder. And it was just like these bad things, no don’t do these bad things and there is this battle going on in the mind for a choice, and a verdict. So, we need to have the verdict of what God says. So, we don’t have that going on in our head. That we know the truth and we say get lost, when any thoughts come that try and get us to go down the wrong path. Now the breastplate, the armor of righteousness is the verdict that cleanses us and protects our heart from all false accusations. If you know you’ve been cleansed and the enemy tries to tell you that your guilty, condemned, or feeling shame then you know it is a lie. Because you been cleansed and have already been given robes of righteousness not based on what we done or what we deserve but based on what Jesus did on the cross, so we could be free, the belt of truth the revelation of the verdict enables us to live in faith.
Good news of peace on our feet to enable us to walk out that verdict, to walk the reality of nothing missing, nothing broken, wholeness which is God’s plan and purpose for our life. So, this revelation about courts is up to us. We can come into the benefit of what prayer really is, so we can face our accuser, you don’t have to hide in the bushes and cover up. You can face the accusation without fear because you know you can get a not guilty verdict . We can come before them in court, we can convene the court, we can stand before the judge, we can make a case. So convene the local accusation, do it in the spiritual realm around you.