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Our Advocate In The Courtroom of Heaven

Dec 21, 2017

By Simi Adigun

“No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge of all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.” Heb 12:22-24

The topic on the courtroom of heaven is a still a controversial one in the body of Christ. I have had the opportunity to discuss the courtroom with a few believers in the Lord Jesus, some of whom agreed that there is a courtroom in heaven where we can go and make petitions, while others do not. Here are a few reasons why some reject the idea of petitioning in the courtroom of heaven:

The Bible declares that “who the Son set free is free indeed.” John 8:36
The word of God says that “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” Gal.3:13
Jesus said, “it is finished.” John 19:30
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” John 8:1

The above scriptures are some of the inscriptions of our new life in Christ Jesus from the word of God when we get the revelation of the divine exchange that took place on the cross. The cross is our foundation and our pathway to knowing who God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are in our lives. Like every other confession in scriptures, we stand on these words and apply them to our lives, situations, and circumstances as believers in the Lord Jesus. As a testimony to what God has done in my life, I can joyfully say without the authority and the power of God’s word, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and the blood that He shed for me I will not be here today. But glory to Jesus! His blood and His sacrifice set me free and delivered me, I live in victory every day because of my Advocate in the courtroom of heaven; Jesus Christ.

Challenges and difficult situations in our lives may not change automatically when we give our lives to Christ, but there is an inner peace we experience in our heart, knowing that He who has called us is faithful and He is able to overcome for us. There may still be battles we have to fight and storms we have to go through in order to claim our complete inheritance in Christ Jesus, however, we are rest assured that we are not alone; God has promised to never leave us or forsake us.

Removing Legal Rights

Legal rights are the powers, liberties or authority a person has to do what they do. Our Adversary (satan or his demons) can have legal rights in our lives in three different areas, these areas are sin, transgressions or iniquities. When God introduced Himself to Moses in Exodus 34, He called Himself the God that forgives sin, transgressions, and iniquities, that is one of His names. In other words, there is nothing that can keep us from His mercy, if we repent and ask for forgiveness in the name of Jesus. The sins and transgressions we commit can be forgiven and the “boss” of them all the iniquities passed down from generation to generation can also be forgiven if we repent for ourselves and also on behalf of those who committed the sin in our bloodline, opening the door for the enemy to build a stronghold in our genetics. In the courtroom of heaven, we approach God as though we are the ones who committed the crime and gave the enemy the rights to pollute our bloodline. As I ponder on this topic, my thoughts drifted to the life of Daniel when he prayed for the nation of Israel, he did not say “my ancestors and my leaders did all these terrible things.” On the contrary, he said, “we have.“To the Lord, our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him; neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.” Dan.8:9-10. Nehemiah in prayer and intercession did not isolate himself from the sin committed by his nation. He said, “..both I and my Father’s house have sinned..” Neh. 1:6.

In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus did not say “these people committed the crime,” He did not grumble or complain, He carried our sins as though they were His own on the cross.  He stands as our Advocate in the courtroom of heaven, according to Hebrews 12:22-24, and He is still interceding on our behalf today because we still need prayers, though we are born again Christians, Spirit-filled and set free. Why then do we need prayer? The more I draw closer to the Lord, the more I get new revelations from Him, more understanding of situations or circumstances that I have observed as patterns passed down from generation to generation. The revelation God has given me in my life is because I ask Him questions, I ask “Papa why is this is that way? What happened to bring about this situation?” Then finally, I ask Him “what can be done about it, Papa?” The worst battles are iniquity battles, you cannot see them with your physical eyes, you will not even know they exist unless you know your family history very well, and another way to know they are present, is by word of knowledge from the Lord. It can either be spoken directly to you or indirectly through dreams, visions or other means by which He talks to us. Iniquities are atrocities committed by our ancestors before we were born, they hide in the bloodline and give our adversary (satan and his demons) legal rights of oppression. The good news is that there is a spiritual medication to get rid of iniquities, according to Isaiah 49: 24-25, “Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior? Who can demand that a tyrant let his captives go?” But the Lord says, “The captives of warriors will be released, and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved. For I will fight those who fight you, and I will save your children.” In the New Testament, Heb.7:25 calls Jesus our Advocate who is able to deliver us to the uttermost.

Taking away the Adversary’s (satan and his demons) legal rights is one of the main reasons why we need to go into the courtroom of heaven.  From my experience as a counselor, there are some situations that do not just go away by quoting scriptures, fasting, binding and casting out. They may go may go away for a little bit and then resurface again, even though the person going through the experience is living a life of holiness by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. The question now is, “why does this particular sin, sickness or unforeseen challenges and obstacles keep coming back to attack, violate or terrorize a born-again Christian?” The answer to this can only be revealed by the Holy Spirit of God and God wants to give us the answer to what is causing us grief.

Sometimes, if there is a particular sin in the bloodline (iniquity passed down), this may give the enemy legal grounds to build a case against that person’s bloodline(genetics) in the courtroom of heaven, which may be preventing the individual from experiencing the freedom that Christ gave us as part of our inheritance. That legal case needs to be dealt with first through repentance and forgiveness not only for the individual but for the parents, or ancestors that allowed the sin to come into the bloodline before full deliverance can be experienced. Repentance before God destroys the power of the enemy over our lives for that particular sin that was committed by us or by our ancestors. The sin, iniquity or transgression could have opened the door in our lives to a difficult situation like barrenness, divorce, family annihilation, sicknesses and so on, and we have done everything we know we know how to do, but no relief. As a child of God and a believer in Jesus Christ, who is Our Advocate, my advice will be to take the problem or situation as a petition into the courtroom of heaven, before our Father who is also the Judge of heaven and earth. It is a lie of the devil when we think that God wants to punish us for something we did or that our parents or ancestors did. The God I serve the “I AM the I AM” does not operate like that. His desire is to free us, liberate us and for us to fulfill our destiny in Him. He is a loving God, He is abundant in goodness and truth, and the best part is that Our Advocate Himself, the Lord Jesus is in the courtroom of heaven, 1John 2:1, He is waiting to fight for our cause so that His work on the cross will be perfected in our lives.

There are times I go into the courtroom, and I don’t have anything written down or planned that I want to say because I am confronted with the situation for the first time. This could be on behalf of another person, but the Holy Spirit is leading the prayer in that direction. What I do is to follow the Holy Spirit, as He takes over the wheels, guiding my words and showing me exactly what needed to be done in the courtroom. The Holy Spirit my Helper when I do not know how to pray, I ask Him to help me in prayer, and intercession as I lay my petition before the Judge of heaven and earth. I enter in with the worship of who God is, I enter in through the blood of the Lamb of God: Jesus my Advocate. I call on my Advocate, the Lord Jesus, I reverence His blood as I enter the courtroom, I am aware that only by His blood can I stand before the Father. I repent and ask for forgiveness for all sins, transgressions, and iniquities for that particular situation, for myself(or on behalf of the person I am praying for) and those of my ancestors(or the ancestors of the person I am petitioning for) and anyone that has brought the sin into the bloodline. I now ask the Judge of heaven and earth, what I desire and the freedom I seek for myself or the person I am praying for in the name of Jesus according to His word in Isaiah 49:24-25 and Psalm 149:6-9. I also break all demonic covenants and vows, that was made with the demonic spirit and break all demonic altars and close their portals from flowing any further into my life or into the life of the person I am interceding for. Afterward, I make the declaration of God’s word and promises for that particular situation according to His word and ask the Lord to build a new foundation and His altar just as He commanded Gideon in Judges 6:26.

Do I need to go into the courtroom of heaven for every situation when I am praying for myself, family or others? Personally, I would say “No.” The courtroom of heaven is just another level of prayer and intercession especially in circumstances that we have done everything we could think possible, but there are still no changes in the situation. I believe that all of us as Christ followers can step into the throne room of our heavenly Father, who is the Judge of heaven and earth under the covering of the blood of Jesus and petition for ourselves, children and our bloodline.

As an intercessor, I am always learning at the feet of our Heavenly Father, and I have found out that God gives me revelation in layers, which is good for me otherwise, I will not be able to handle all the information at once. I will forever be grateful to Our Advocate, who took the shame of the cross for the legal captives of the mighty and the prey of the terrible to be delivered and set free (Isa.49:24-25), in order for the Kingdom purpose and the will of the Father to be done in our lives.

If you would like to be able to Ask Jesus questions like we do in many of our blogs and have Him answer back to you personally, we can show you how.  Please see our foundational teaching on 4 Keys to Hearing God's Voice.  If you already know how to have these conversations, join the discussion and share what Jesus is saying to you!