Several years ago I was chosen for jury duty. The case was an armed robbery of a convenience store. The young man on trial was one who supposedly was the lookout for this robbery. The deciding factor for us as the jury, was his actions, movements and countenance as he was caught on the surveillance camera. He was definitely guilty even though he claimed that he didn’t know that the man he was with was going to rob the store when they went in. The problem was that the camera showed a different story. We placed young man on probation for the sake of his young wife and children so he could have another chance and not go to prison.
All this activity took place in a courtroom where a verdict was rendered. There was no yelling, screaming or physical wrestling. That would have been completely out of order in these proceedings. Everything that was done was about presenting evidence, making a request, answering accusations and other legal processes. The result was a verdict rendered that was consistent with the petitions that were being offered. Justice was served.
I am convinced that prayer is an activity that takes place in the courtroom of heaven. There are petitions, accusations, arguments and evidence presented in the courts of heaven just as there are in the courts on earth. And just as there is protocol in a natural courtroom, there is protocol in the courtroom of heaven. As a member of that jury, it would have been even legal and against the protocol of the courtroom if I were to have pulled out a sword and began to shout out my opinion about the case. Everyone would have thought I was crazy and I probably would’ve been arrested because I had not observed the protocol of the court. In the same way, heaven’s courts also have a spiritual protocol that should be observed.
I believe, through Scripture, that the place of the initial conflict is in a courtroom and not on a battlefield. The first place of intercession should be in the courtroom of heaven. It is there that we must first win our verdicts before going out to win on the battlefield.
The problem is that most Christians believe that when they pray they are on a battlefield. They rush into a conflict without securing a verdict from heaven. This is a critical mistake that has caused us to experience defeat, chaos, backlash from Satanic forces and even destruction in our lives. We rush into places of prayer only to see things get worse rather than better. This is because we stir things up on a battlefield without first having established a legal precedent to be there. I have heard people say that the worsened situation is a sign that something is moving. It’s moving all right, just in the wrong direction. Imagine if military leaders applied this wisdom. When experiencing defeat at the hands of the enemy, we just keep on fighting, keep sending our soldiers onto the battlefield to sacrifice their lives in a war we are hoping to win. It is a ridiculous strategy.
Many times it seems prayer and what is called spiritual warfare, is approached with the mindset of Gen. George Custer, who led his troops into a massacre by native Americans. As a result of his ignorance, arrogance and disregard for proper military strategy, a large part of the United States cavalry was ambushed and destroyed at Little Big Horn. As sad an event as this is in American history, Christians repeated over and over in their own prayer lives. They keep rushing in and yelling at the devil, making decrees and offering up prayers to do more to stir up the mic forces than dismantle them. All this happens because no legal precedent has been gained from the throne of God. As a result no answer comes from heaven and we experience casualties rather than victories. What absurdity! Isn’t there a better way to do this with the right results? I say yes! The answer is to move off the battlefield and into the courtroom of heaven.
In Revelation 19:11 we see how Jesus himself approaches this.
Revelation 19:11 – now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
The first thing we must see is that heaven is open. This means that there is Revelation and things that we need to discern in the heavenly realm. Prayer and warfare should not be a shot in the dark. We should be able to pinpoint the things that need to be dealt with and touch them with accuracy. We must be able to pray within the will of God. We can find a needle in the haystack when heaven is open and Revelation is flowing. John the apostle said if we ask anything according to his will then we have the petition that we are asking of him – one John 5:14 – 15. One of the critical steps to effective prayer is understanding the will of God and praying in agreement with that will. I will deal more extensively about how this is done in a later chapter.
The main thing I want to point out in Revelation 19:11 is that Jesus, who is faithful and true, judges in righteousness and makes war. Notice the order of this wording. This is very important. Jesus judges, then makes war. When the Bible speaks of judging, it is speaking of judicial activity. There is a decision and a verdict being rendered concerning a situation, petition and/or request. That activity is being judged and there is a legal precedent that is being established concerning it. Out of that judicial activity which is flowing from the courts of heaven, war is made. We must learn to only make war based on judgments, decisions and verdicts that are received out of the courts of heaven. To try to make war without a verdict and judgment from the court of heaven is to suffer defeat and even Satanic backlash because we have no legal footing to be there or be engaging in such activity. On the other hand, if we can get legal renderings concerning a situation in place, then we can march onto the battlefield and win every time. The problem has been that we have tried to win on the battlefield without legal verdicts from heaven backing us up. We must learn how to get these verdicts and judgments in place so answers can come to our prayers and the kingdom cause of Christ can land on the earth.
Jesus and the courts of heaven
Jesus set prayer in a courtroom setting. In Scripture we see references made to warfare and the battlefield. Yet in Jesus’s teaching on prayer in Matthew six and Luke 11, Jesus never placed prayer on a battlefield. He spoke of prayer as flowing from the relationship to a father. He spoke of prayer as a friend approaching a friend. Yet when dealing with the question of how to pray, Jesus never said we were on a battlefield. He did however placed prayer in a courtroom or judicial setting. In Luke 18:1 – eight, Jesus speaks of a widow who is seeking justice from a courtroom.
Luke 18:1 – then he spoke a parable to them, then men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying; there was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, get justice for me from my adversary. And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. Then the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge his own elect to cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on your earth?
Clearly Jesus is declaring that when we pray, we are entering a courtroom. If this widow would get an answer in a verdict from an unjust judge to her persistent activity in a court, how much more shall we gain answers as the elect of God before the righteous judge of all. I think it is very interesting that Jesus spoke this parable so people would not give up on prayer. We must realize that a lack of results does not mean we need to put more effort into something. More effort without additional wisdom usually produces tiredness, fatigue and wariness. What we need is not more effort necessarily, but to learn secrets. Striving produces frustration while the revelation of secrets produces fruit. The mindset that we have had in the church is flawed. What we are doing is not producing results, but we think that if we can just keep doing it long enough, loud enough or hard enough, and somehow, magically, something different will happen.
Before I entered the ministry, I worked at a meatpacking plant where there were many illegal workers. This was before the government began to crack down on this practice. I was in the maintenance crew and was responsible for helping to keep the machines running and production at its maximum. The problem was that some of these workers didn’t care what they damaged in the process of doing their job. For instance, one day as a piece of equipment was being moved from one place to another, it had to go through a door. As they were pushing this machinery through the door, it became jammed and what it move. Instead of going around on the other side in seeing why it was stuck, they just called for more people to comment push harder. The result was they broke it free, but damage other things that were in the way. Their philosophy was the same as many in the church. By check and see why something is not working and stuck, when you can just use more effort? More effort is not always the answer. Many times the answer is the discovering of secrets through revelation that actually brings about a breakthrough with less effort and produces greater results. If we had done the same thing for years and it has an improved, but in fact it is become even worse, maybe we should investigate. Someone once define this as the definition of insanity. They said insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting something different to happen. We do not need more effort in striving, we need to discover secrets that unlock new dimensions that produce new results.
This is why Jesus was speaking this parable. He was unlocking a secret that prayer is activity in the courtroom. When the widow wanted justice, she went to the courtroom and not the battlefield. She realized she didn’t need the march onto a battlefield and yell at her adversary. She simply needed a verdict from the court. In fact she didn’t even address her adversary. This parable never mentions her even speaking to them. She spoke only to the judge. When this widow On with her pleas before the unjust judge, he finally gave in and granted her request and she received a just verdict in her situation. She understood that if the judge rendered a legal verdict, any power of the adversary was demolished and she won. Once this was in place her adversary had to bow the knee to the rendering of the court.
This is so for us as well. Any adversary in the spirit realm that is resisting God’s kingdom purpose for us will bow the knee to verdicts from the court of heaven. We have no need to yell, scream or even curse are full. All we need is a legal precedent based on a verdict from heaven in a fight is over. We then simply put into place the verdict that has been set down. This is where degrees cone, but only after legality has been established. I will get into this more in a later chapter.
I want us to notice specifically Luke 18:8 – I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.
I have watched in witness that when I moved off the battlefield and into the courtroom of heaven, answers came for me that I had prayed years for. All my warring, crying, yelling and conditioning had not brought answers from heaven. But, when I began to learn how to navigate the courts of heaven what had never happened before, happened immediately and quickly. My adversaries were silenced and I was avenged speedily.
As with most families, my family does not live in a perfect world. I hope yours does, but mine doesn’t. Mary and I have raised six children. I said often that while they were growing up, we were never bored! We were confused at times, but never bored! There was definitely plenty of activity and life in her home. We have watched all of the children transition into great adults. They all love God, fear him and honor Mary and I greatly.
This has not been without. So wrong choices as they struggle to discover their identities. In fact, one of our daughters went through a very short period of rebellious activity. That period was long enough however to end with her being pregnant without being married. I love what a prophet friend of mine says. He declares, it is not a sin to be pregnant without being married. This statement usually stuns people. After all, how could any legitimate man or woman of God say such a thing? He then continues, the Senate was the fornication that led to the pregnancy. The baby in the warm is not a sin. I love it. Not because of any justification in our own personal circumstance, but because it strikes at the malicious judgment that is so often in the church concerning such situations. God is a God of forgiveness and mercy. Whether it was our daughter or someone else’s, there is forgiveness and redemption for whoever will repent for the activity that brought on the pregnancy outside of marriage. After the repentance then there is a joyous next dictation of the child that would be born into the earth completely blessed by our loving God who is our father. This is what has happened in our family. Our grandson is a joy to our lives in the whole clan. We cannot imagine life without him.
One of the first places where I saw activity in the courts of heaven bring a verdict was concerning this grandson. The biological father in the situation decided after five years that he wanted to be back in this child’s life. There had been no support of any kind from him up until then. The character of the father was not one which we felt would be a good influence on our grandson. He had a criminal record, several DUIs, plus a couple of assault convictions. It was not a good situation. Yet here he was, wanting visitation rights and the right to take our grandson out of state for extended visitations with his family. Our daughter was greatly perplexed and worried about what the natural courts would do.
It came time for the case to go before a judge. The attorney for my daughter was guarded because he didn’t know which way the judge would go. We lived in Colorado Springs and it is a military town. Cases such as these go before the courts regularly because of people who are in the military. They get divorced in one party will be transferred to other regions around the world. It is not uncommon for the courts to allow visitation rights, so a child can be taken out of state and be with the other parent. This is what my daughter thought would happen and this was of great concern to her. But she didn’t know her dad(me) had discovered a higher court that could be appealed to.
On the day of the earthly court date, I wanted to the courts of heaven, silence the accuser practices we will get to that later) and petition the court of heaven for a verdict and judgment in our daughter and ultimately our grandson’s favor. I had some other prophetic people helping me sense what was going on. I very clearly heard and discerned that the court of heaven had rendered the verdict we were looking for.
My daughter went to the earthly court later that morning. As the judge listened to the evidence, he prepared to render his judgment. He then spoke to the biological father and said these words, young man, here’s what we are going to do. Whatever the mother wants us to do is what we are going to do. Are you fine with this? My daughter, her attorney and the biological father were flabbergasted. My daughter’s attorney actually took her outside and asked her if she realized what it just happened. He said that this never happens and he was beside himself at the turn of events.
The reason for this activity and verdict was because a higher court, the court of heaven had already rendered a verdict in earthly court simply played it out. I have watched this happen in several actual court cases. I’ve also seen results like this over and over as we have asked heaven to render verdicts to set kingdom purposes in place. This principle and awareness is a very powerful thing. The more we learn to present our case in the courts of heaven, the more we get legal precedents in a place that allows us victory on the battlefield every time. Without it we lose and suffer the consequences. Let’s learn to go to court!