Courts of Heaven - Session 1: Father, Friend and Judge

so we're gonna talk about the courts of heaven talk about some strategies for functioning in the courts I've been teaching on this for about nine years some of you may have just discovered it I've actually been teaching it for nine years and began to get the revelation of it back about that long ago and began to walk through the process of teaching it and what's happened is that it's become much more much more clear in my own heart my own line so here's all I could say just say thank God that she didn't have to listen to me nine years ago do you think if you think I'm bad now you ought to heard me nine years ago and so so just because now we have we haven't really you know brought down the word I feel like it can be presented people in such a way that everybody can get a hold of it I mean that all actuality when I began to first teach on that nine years ago I was much more mystical with it than I am now because I have learned how to practically bring this down whether every every one of us regardless of our spiritual gifting we've got regardless of our prophetic level we can actually step into the courts of heaven by faith and function there see because there are some people that are teaching on the courts of heaven and they almost like it is it's his private personal knowledge that you've got to have and I'm gonna tell you if you listen to any of that that's a bunch of baloney anything that Jesus taught that a child can't apply there's something wrong with it I promise you that's true that it's simple and yet profound and if somebody teaches you or leads you to believe you're gonna have some special knowledge or gift to do this then that's completely out of character with God he doesn't eliminate or lead anybody out okay so we all have the opportunity to step into the courts of heaven and function and I tell people if I can do it anybody can do it and I think that's one of the reasons that God has allowed me to be a voice in this is because I am a normal person I know that's debatable but good but I can tell you for sure that I a normal person I have a wife listen here's why I'm normal I have a wife that keeps me normal okay and I have six children with with with in-laws and grandchildren there's no way for you to get super-spiritual with all that you mean you listen that will keep you normal that will keep in fact most people I find at all you know somewhere they don't have anything in their life to keep them tethered to reality that what I just described will keep you tethered to reality okay so we're gonna we're gonna move to this time okay so I'm gonna start here tonight very at the basics and that doesn't mean it's gonna be things you've already heard but I want to start in the basics because I want to bring us along today and tomorrow and then even probably Sunday morning I want to bring us along to be able to to get us to where to get us to work you know we can all grab hold of this and move through it okay first of all let me just explain you my my journey in prayer began in 1980 I've been this I was telling pastor today we came into the things of the Spirit when I was 12 years old in the early seventies that was twelve years old with a bit about 1970 and then we'll go into the whole story we were Church of Christ anybody know who Church Christ is now I can talk about it because I was one listen listen Church got no music only the New Testament you know whatever and so that's what I was I was Church of Christ and my dad we were all transcribe my dad got so hungry for God make a long story short that the Lord just started revealing himself to him and and he told my mother after after about a month of reading the Bible three nights a week and sleeping one with all night long for two nights and asleep on and all that loan for two nights of sleep one after doing that for about a month he told my mother he said I'm gonna find me a Pentecostal Church and my mother thought he had gone completely off his rocker literally that's what she thought she thought he's gone bonkers and so long story short we did we did we didn't realize it but her about that time the whole charismatic renewal thing and the Jesus Movement and all that was happening we didn't lived in a little bitty town in Texas called a place called grows back and we didn't have a clue what was going out on outside that town but God was invading the whole culture you know I mean oh we're not looking for another church outpouring we're looking for a cultural output that literally begins to reshape culture and that's what God is bringing I promise you that's what God is bringing in this day and then it's error a time it is a cultural outpouring that shall began to reclaim nations that's what we're believing God for okay and the court of heaven is a part of that so so we came into the things of spirit so from 12 years old on I was in the things of the Spirit me and my wife got married right out of high school we were 18 years old and she was not a church-going girl because her family didn't go to church I started dating her and made her a church-going girl and so she got saved and and born-again when we started dating and at 16 and then we got married at 18 right on high school literally and somebody says why did you get married so young well dumb along with any sense number two honesty reason we got married so young is that we went to church and so we wanted to have sex and not go to hell [Laughter] [Music] why does an 18 year old get married it's not rocket scientist okay so we got married at 18 long story short god I'm just gonna cut through some things I won't tell you this we got married 18 I had no desire to have anything to do with ministry from 12 to 16 I did but when I met Mary at 16 in high school I just thought this is the love of my life and I lost all sense of I want to be in ministry or anything and I just didn't want to do it any while anymore and the reason I did was because I thought ministry would cramp my style now the problem was I didn't know I I didn't know I didn't have any style I just thought I did seriously I mean I got I got to bell-bottom jeans on and the leisure suits and the listen I you look at my hair nice too old your hair you know you ought to see my hair but my hair was brown and Kiki it was uncontrollable and it was the it was the era at the time when you wore long hair so whenever it turned white about 26 years old it straightened out seriously so I was I was very grateful to God for it turning white so early because it just took all the pink out of it so so anyway we got married 18 we got married at 18 and and so we're be bumping off for a couple of years and the Lord began to deal with me about ministry and I didn't want it I didn't want to be dealt with and so I I had to go to the grocery store about when I'm about 20 years old now to pick up some bread and milk I get in my car to go to the grocery store there's a reason I'm telling you this I get in my car to go to the grocery store and as I'm going to the grocery store all of a sudden without warning and I want to tell you without invitation people tell me the Holy Spirit is a gentleman he is not I did not invite him into my car he actually upstairs I'm driving up on my 1973 Monte Carlo with dual glass pack mufflers so that when you stepped on the gas everybody knew you were there see some of y'all are shaking your head you know what I'm talking about yeah it was light from the way yes absolutely in maroon inside and so so and so so so I'm going down this rock road about two minute drive to the grocery store to the convenience store I'm gonna pick up some bread and milk because we now have a very Ryan which is 38 years old now and he was an infant a very small infant and we needed his stuff for the house so I'm going us without without invitation without warning God enters my car now you gotta realize I know the Lord I've been I've been stasis that was twelve he enters my car and I hear these I hear these words I hear that they're almost audible they're not audible but they're so strong they seem to be audible and I hear these words the time is drawing nigh for you to do my work now you can tell what version of the Bible I read so he said that the time is drawing nigh for you to do my work and I know it was God I knew it was God and I said back to him why now Lord because I had I had a house to pay for we had a house and a car and a new baby you know all the responsibilities and so I said back to him why now Lord and without hesitation stronger than the first word he said because now you have to trust me and I didn't even fully know what that meant but I knew it was God and this was my thought I don't have to I'm thinking who's gonna make me nobody knows this is going on but let me just say this within two weeks God had so dealt with my heart nothing bad happened okay but he is so dealt with my heart that I was now actually asking him to let me do the thing I didn't want to do before how many you know he works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure so long story short by his we begin to move again prepare for ministry but here's what I want you to hear simultaneous to that encounter when God was saying the time is drawing nigh for you tomorrow it wasn't a call I knew I was called a long time ago it was God executing his call on my life simultaneous that I knew that God was calling me to pray I that a part of my call was to learn to pray I knew that now here was no I mean you know in Acts chapter five I do tell you all sorts of stories the scripture says that the Apostle said look out seven men who can do all this work we will give ourselves to prayer in the Ministry of the word and the Lord said to me he said if you don't pray you don't have a ministry in the word see the last thing we need is a bunch of preachers preaching out of their intellect we need we need people we need men and women of God who can speak out of the Spirit of the Lord and that doesn't happen except they have a prayer life I promise you that's true so here's what happened I knew God was calling me to pray here was a problem I knew nobody around me that had a prayer life we said prayers at church we blessed our meals when we ate all this kind of thing but I didn't know anybody that had a prayer life so I didn't know where to go to learn to pray but so I decided I'm gonna go into my bedroom I'm gonna shut the door and I am going to dedicate myself to an hour of Prayer a day and I don't know where I got that from but I just knew that that's what I needed to do so I remember when I would go into my bedroom I would shut the door we usually be in the afternoon after I got home from work I would shut the door and and I would begin to pray and I would think surely it's been 45 minutes and I would look at my watch and it's been like seven I'm telling you learning to pray was one of if not the hardest thing I ever had to do because because why because my flesh didn't like it but the devil didn't like it so there was all sorts of things that were pushing against me trying to deter me and stuff but somehow or another I look back now and realized it was the grace of God somehow or another out of the grace of God I was able to persevere and and I began to experience the presence of God as I would pray as I would pray so I did that for decades I'm not just talking for a month so I'm talking about decades this is 1980 I dedicated myself to prayer I would pray most of the time every day for at least an hour and sometimes more than that I could tell you other stories but the bottom line I dedicated myself and I learned to pray I learned to pray that there's no question about it I learned to pray that I still practiced I can start praying and within moments the presence of God will be there now I didn't understand why then but here's what I've discovered of this is this will help you the reason that happens anytime you hear or see our sin when someone starts to pray and God's presence comes it's because I guarantee you they have built an altar in their life because watch this altars open heaven see remember ice our Jacob came to Bethel what happened at the heavens open why did they help heavens open because his grandfather Abraham had built it all through the very same place see altars are places of sacrifice built in the earth open portals in heaven and so anytime somebody starts to pray and the presence of God shows up I will I will tell you it's because these people they don't just say furs they actually have a prayer life they have actually created an altar in the spirit that in the earth that that opens something in the heavily round that allows heaven that come into earth I promise you that's true and you have to be willing to do that because oh I see why am I telling you all this because of this the court of heaven the court of heaven is not a method of praying it is a spiritual dimension that is important that you get to see many people are trying to turn the court of heaven into a formula or a method of prayer in the dog and get results because the court of heaven is not a method we employ the court of heaven is a spiritual dimension we step into and when we step into that place and begin to function there things begin to shift and answers began to come it's really important that we know that and I can tell you some other things about that but that's important so I began to develop this this life of prayer that I still function in to this day but I believe God progressively is wanting to bring the body of Christ back to and into a place of Prayer a place where we see what I tell people that and always differ for everybody I tell people I don't have devotionals if you have a devotee view devotional time that's what I don't have devotional times I have times of intercession when I get up in I pray in the morning I'm there for one reason to intercede I'm not there to have a devotional and I'm not I'm not falter but what reason I'm saying that is because sometimes we've watered things down so far that we don't understand the intensity of the realms we're supposed to be stepping into you and that's important that we understand that so so I as I began to pray I just I still just that I want to step into a dimension of the Spirit where things start to shift and things start to move so with that backdrop just kind of giving you a little bit of history let me let me just struck this way when G and some of you have heard me teach this with Jesus when Jesus began to teach on prayer in the Book of Luke and other it's recorded in other Gospels but especially in Luke where's recorded he put prayer in three dimensions and this is really important he put prayer in three dimensions see in Luke 11:1 the disciples said to Jesus Lord teach us to pray like John the Baptist taught his disciples to pray remember that and Jesus in response to that said when you pray say our Father which art in heaven now all of us know that we call it the you know we would call that the Lord's Prayer and or the model prayer or whatever but the bottom line is this is the way Jesus started when you pray say our Father which art in heaven so the first thing that Jesus taught them is that when you pray you must approach God as father now resultant is in context you must approach God his father because if you don't know how to approach God his father you can never step into the courts of heaven because because knowing God as father and approaching his father is foundational to all praying in fact you will never go any deeper in prayer that you're rebel of God his father allows you you never go any deeper only by knowing God his father as the as the loving benevolent forgiving accepting God that he is asked father you'll never go any deeper in prayer that your revelation of God his father allows you to in fact one of the main things if not the main saying Jesus came to do in the earth was to reveal to people that God is their father I mean when you start reading when you read the parables and the stories he said what was he he was always revealing how benevolent how kind how good how loving God is in opposed to the way they saw him religiously that's what he that's what there's one a major thing that he's hid he that has seen me that's what seeing the father so you can never go any deeper in prayer than your revelation of the Father allows you see this is why Paul said in revelant or Romans 8:15 he said that he would send the spirit of adoption the Holy Spirit into our hearts whereby we cry out Abba Father in other words the Spirit comes and brings a revelation to us of God his father that allows us to cry out in prayer then we began to reach out to him as father because we have a revelation of who he is as a Befana so you have to have that spirit of adoption that begins to work in you to unveil for you God his father and break off every religious view that you have of God that is polluting the very nature of who he is as father because that's what religion does it pollutes who he is as father so God wants to listen we can teach on this all night long and actually be on very good ground because you can't move into the courts or any other realm of prayer until you know God as father and have that revelation and I would just tell you that is an ongoing process see why do we need to know God is our Heavenly Father because all of us have an insufficient view of who God is as father and that comes out of the we were fathered you can't help it you can't help it and I don't care if you had the greatest father in the earth he was still insufficient he doesn't he did not have the ability to to to picture who God is would you agree with that and some some had very abusive fathers neglecting father there's abandoning fathers and what we see we're not carefully seen we portrayed that upon God so what what does God do he comes by the spirit of adoption and he begins to heal the wounds that were inflicted upon us because of insufficient fathering and if we don't and if we don't have that if we don't have that do we never can step into divisions of prayer and and and began to move with who God is as our Father so you gotta have to even do this let me just touch this we'll move on God had to do this with Abraham what do you know he said get away from your father's house why did he tell you to do that well there are a lot of reasons but one of the reasons was he said Abraham I want I'm gonna have to team two to demolish to diminish to remove from you your idea of what a father is because I'm gonna turn you into a father of Nations see what would these hankies and look your picture of fatherhood is tainted by who your father was and how he operated whether he was good or battering different doesn't matter the bottom line is I need to get you away from your father's house so that I can really reveal to you who I am with the father so that you out of that can father Nations see we all have to go through this process and by the way I think it's an ongoing lifelong process because God continues to reveal himself as father so watch this one sweet what we know him as father then what can we do we can step before it we can say our Father which art in heaven hallowed be your name why can you say hallowed be your name because you know who he is you know who he is okay so so Jesus is first our first teaching was how to approach God asked father in prayer because that's what they asked you he just a break oh he said okay when you pray say our Father which art in heaven that's really really important we have to open our hearts a Holy Spirit come and just remove any wrong perspectives we have of God as father then you're gonna leave us that you're gonna abandon us that you're gonna forsake us but you're not gonna forgive us that you're gonna punish us see though these are wrong news and if we get really honest the religious structures we've been in or the family structures we came for caused us to think that way and God has to undo those things he has to literally demolish them through the spirit of adoption so that we can approach him now in the right way so Jesus starts that way because that's the foundation and then he says in Luke 11 verses 5 through 8 he said he's still teaching on prayer he says and which of you having a friend and he begins to talk about a friend who comes to another friend at midnight to get something for his journey he's on a journey and he doesn't have anything so this friend that he comes to gets up and goes to another friend and this is really this really nice stuff he goes to another friend and he beats on the door and says get up and give me something for my friend who's coming his journey and the friend says leave me alone I'm in bed with my children he said but because he won't quit he said even though he's even though he's a friend even though he won't do it because he's a friend just simply because he won't stop watch he won't stop and the guy was to go back to sleep he will get up and give you as much as you want to watch in the it is also expected that but what's in the midst of this Jesus pictures prayer that's coming before a friend this is a completely different realm we come before God his father and begin to ask but now jesus said and which of you having a friend in other words prayer is not just approaching God as a father it's also approaching God as a friend do you know how many know you approach a friend different than you do a father I mean it's just different you you approach you've got a person or a being a person if you'll that's your father different than you would approaching God as a friend now let me just say this because we could talk all again all day long about this because we could go into a whole life stuff but but when Jesus taught about approaching God his father remember later in Luke 11 he talks about which of you if you have a child asked for a piece of bread you know would he give him a stone if he asks for an egg would he give him a serpent you know all that kind of thing he said he said he's if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will the Heavenly Father give good things to those that ask him and those things that he's mentioning our personal needs so I just want to point this out to you when you approach God as father you are appealing to him for your own stuff and you need to ask for your own stuff the eggs the bread you know you know whatever it made the fish he said he said which of you you know if you come before God you're asking for your own stuff it's appropriate listen don't get so spiritual I don't ask for myself anymore well I didn't I've been doing this as 1980 and believe me I still ask for me and I have every intention of keeping on asking for me because I got stuff for me and my family and all sorts of things I have I asked for my stuff because that's what you do before a father you come before him and he asks for your stuff now watch when Jesus talked about approaching him as a friend notice it's a friend standing between two friends one who has a need and the other one that has a sufficiency so this friend he cannot meet this friend's name gets up and goes to the one that can so what you asked God as father for your own stuff but you approach him as friend for the stuff of others in other words when you approach him his friend were standing in a position of intercession see what what Abraham was the friend of God called the friend of God remember what did he do he stood between God and suddenly glory as the friend of God and he asked God to be merciful to saw that with art and God had creed if there were ten righteous we won't go into all that but here's the issue Abraham stood as a friend he wasn't asking for himself he was approaching God as a friend in behalf of another and there is a place in God where that we can come before him as our friend and asked for another it's quite interesting that Jesus said this friend that he was asking for was on a journey in other words this friend was asking for for someone to have something released to them that would let them get to their destiny remember remember the story when God came into my car and I told you he's not a gentleman he wasn't invited well let me tell you something I didn't invite him but there was a group of women that prayed with a pastor's wife every Tuesday night and I didn't know this until way after the fact they told me we would be in prayer in the pastor's house with the pastor's wife and suddenly travail would come up on us for you and we would begin to travail in intercede that the call of God on Robert Henderson that God would get a hold of him and remove him from everything that was distracting him so here's the issue I didn't invite God into that car but they did they is the Friends of God stood between me and God watch and pray me into my destiny I would not be standing here today if it was not those women that were both a friend of God and my friend that cared about me they pray me into my destiny they released something in heaven for my journey so that's what we do is friends that we can literally have a part it's seeing people come into the destiny and journey that God's called into that's approaching daughter's friend that's just one little piece of it so you approach God is the father for y'all you approach him as friend for the needs of others crystal so Jesus covers those two aspects in Luke 11 and then it's like he leaves them to practice this okay until Luke 18 seven chapters later in Luke 18 Jesus brings the subject back up and he says to them that he speaks the parable to them that men ought always to pray and not to lose heart or not to turn coward and he begins to tell his story he said there was in a certain city a widow who came before an unjust judge and said avenge me of my adversary or get justice for me from my adversary and he would not for a while but because his woman kept coming back all the time presenting her case because that's what you do before a judge she kept coming back presenting her case presenting her case presenting your case finally the judge says even though I'm not gonna get anything out of this because he's an unjust judge because he takes bribes he's and even though I don't fear God and I don't regard man I only render judgments not because it's the just thing to do but because of what I can get out of it even though this Widow has no power to give me anything because she is constantly coming presenting her case to me I'm gonna give her what she wants less by her continual coming she wears me out and gee and Jesus said hear what the unjust judge says and shall not God avenge his own elect to crack him day and night yes I say he will avenge them speedily now Jesus was not saying that God is an unjust judge you have to convince no he was saying if this Widow could get a verdict from an unjust judge to a a constant persistent press tation of her case how much more can we come before God the righteous judge and see him render a verdict in our behalf so watch what is Jesus doing he's giving us the third dimension of Prayer it's approaching God is judge this is the third dimension so so the first dimension is we learn to approach God his father and we never outgrow that Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane What did he say I have a father but then we also have to know how to approach him as friend but there is a third dimension of Prayer it's approaching God as judge now I'm just gonna give this to you so you'll know how it's all connected each one of these rounds that he taught us to to to come before you mass it opens up a spiritual dimension you have to get this if you get what the court of heaven is it opens up the spiritual dimension see we think when we pray that God's presence comes that's not true you know blasphemy or when we worship God's present no that's not true see if you read the Bible I I believe I believe you if you read the Bible when we pray when we worship it's nothing God comes to us is that we come to where God yes we step into a spiritual realm that's why the Bible says we enter the holiest of holies we go somewhere not God we go somewhere not gonna see what did Jesus say he said that where I am there you may be also in other words you come to where I am I don't come to where you that's why it says in Hebrews chapter 12 22 through 24 he says but you have come to Mount Zion he is describing a spiritual dimension we step into so whenever I sense the presence of God when I sensed the closest of God it's not because he came to me is because of my spiritual activity and my realm of faith I have stepped into a round where he is and I'm learning I'm still learning to think this way why is it important because when you approach God his father watch you step into the secret place Matthew 6:6 Jesus is very clear he says he said that that we that we can that we shouldn't let anybody know we're doing watch he said he said when you pray he said your father who sees in secret going to your room and shut the door now that what he's saying there is isolates yourself come before me that's something you do watch that's something you do in the natural coming to your room and shut the door and your father who sees in secret what's the secret place is not the room you're in the secret place in the spiritual dimension you step into because you've isolated yourself in seeking God you so so he says he said door dear who shut the door focus on God began to pray and the father who sees in secret the one who is there in your transacting with he who sees in secret will reward you openly what what you do in that secret place in the spirit dimension actually releases things in the natural how do you get there by approach he got his father your father who sees in secret will reward you openly so whenever I get up in the morning or whatever I pray when I pray listen I got it this morning and I was praying and I mean sometimes it's anybody has a prayer life they'll tell you this I mean it's always good but this morning it was like it was really good and I don't have any explanation for it I don't know after all these years of doing this going I guess 38 years I still don't understand but this morning all of a sudden I mean it was so quick I just stepped into a place in God and I knew I was standing in the secret place and I was there to do business with God his father so that he who sees in secret can reward me openly in other words something that's going on on a spirit dimension is going to have natural manifestations so that's that's what happens when you approach God his father when you approach him is friend you can step into the counsel of the and this is this is what this one gets deep because the Bible says in Jeremiah 28:15 I think it is he says who stood in the counsel of the Lord who has heard his word who has marked his word see what's the counsel of the Lord it is a place in the spirit watch this where decisions are made they can shape nations you can stand in the council this is where Abraham when Abraham in Genesis 18 stood before God remember or when Abraham stood before God concerning Solomon tomorrow where was he he was in the council or he and God together were making decisions concerning Sodom and Gomorrah so there's a lot there's several things that can happen in the council but let me just leave this one here there then when you step into the council Lord into that atmosphere you begin to realize okay I'm in the council I'm standing here as the friend of God and as a result God and I together can make decisions sometimes even about nations you can definitely make said God will say what do you want to do or he puts us in the in a place in his Council where that what we are doing actually allows his purpose to be done in other people's lives all the way up to nations and I'm just gonna touch that because this is a very deep place of prayer that the Friends of God moved into it's that spiritual dimension you come before God as the father step into the secret place you come before his friend and God can grant you access into the counsel of God and listen I used to think the counsel of God and the court of heaven might be the same thing but I know they're not now they're not you see why because you can see as I get to the court you'll understand in the counsel of God anytime you see someone in the council whether it's Abraham it's it's a Elijah it's Isaiah any of these in there suddenly anytime you see them in the counsel God you never see an adversary there it's only them and God and the heavenly hosts see in the courts you have an adversary in the counts it's you and God together making decisions about something so what you have to know how to discern where you are in the spirit so that you know what to do when you're there because if you don't know where you are in the spirit then you don't know what to do and you don't get the results that you need that we need to get so we approach God his father step into the secret place we approach God as friend and God opens up and allows us to step into a spiritual dimension called the counsel of the Lord okay so those two the reason I went through all that is because of the third one when we approach God as a judge we step into a spiritual dimension called the court of heaven see in other words if you don't understand what Jesus was teaching but it doesn't make sense why because judges rule court systems that's what judges do they're in charge of court systems and in Daniel 7 verse 10 the Bible is very clear in this scripture that the court was seated the court of heaven that Daniel was seeing in Daniel 7 9 and 10 the court was seated and the books were opened so there is a very real Court in the spirit realm that we get to step into and actually be a part of and we'll get it more into that tomorrow we can step into this place in the spirit and begin to present our requests make our petitions that allows the court to render decisions in our behalf you say how do you know that well let me just show you the scripture Daniel chapter 7 let me just show you this real quickly Daniel chapter 7 verse 25 and 20 let me just read 25 through 27 is this and he shall speak pompous words against the Most High that's the Antichrist or let's just call it the Antichrist spirit because it's in the world today how many you know the antichrists spirits are the world today and it's fighting against us how many know the Antichrist spirit is is the thing that's driving the one-world government who idea it's all anti God that's that's why we're having what we're having in our nation in the nation it's an antichrist spirit watch them Daniel saw this and others - this way back here watch he said he shall speak pompous words against the Most High shall persecute the Saints of the Most High and shall intend to change times and laws then the Saints shall be given into his hands for time and times and half a times so in other words they're gonna be defeated but watch what happens verse 26 but the court shall be seated it shall come the session the court in heaven and they those that are part of the court shall take away his Dominion to consume and destroy forever then the Kingdom and Dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms of the whole heaven shall be given to the people the Saints of the Most High because his kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and all dominions shall serve it over a billion so watch what happens the Saints are defeated one decision from the court of heaven brings them into Dominion they went from a defeated place to a place of Dominion because of one decision from the court of heaven one decision from the court of heaven can change everything in your life one decision one verdict rendered in your behalf in the court of heaven can change everything everything so how many would think we need to learn how to step into this third dimension the prayer of approaching God is judge that know how to operate and present cases in the court of heaven because if you can do that I promise you everything can change in your life breakthroughs that have seems so elusive you'll begin to have these foreseen become a reality those things you have prayed for forever for years and year that you know is in agreement with God's Word but it's never happened why because there's something legal resisting you in the spirit when you learn how to step into this third dimension of prayer then you will render the court the right to give you a decision that will set things in divine order that's what happens this is why Jesus what so Jesus that they'll practice the other two grounds of Prayer if you will for seven chapters never how long that was but then he comes and he begins to reveal to them as third dimension of Prayer because watch what happens with the third dimension it is the key to getting unanswered prayers answer to see because see people think well why is it my prayers being answered I'm praying according to God's will I'm doing everything I know to do and yet it's not answering I promise you the reason something legal is resisting you in the spirit world if you don't understand that did you gonna keep you're gonna keep approaching on his father you're gonna keep approaching him his friend you're not gonna get what you're looking why because you need to know how to step before him as a judge and bring a case into his court that grants him the legal rights he's looking for to be able to see your breakthroughs come okay so let me explain its how this how this works so this Widow and Luke 18 comes in Jesus the weight comes before the unjust judge and says avenge me of my adversary okay the word adversary is the Greek word anti D Coast amti di kos and it means one who brings a lawsuit you don't have to stretch it you don't twist it it's just what it means it is a word that speaks of a legal opponent that is bringing a lawsuit so the reason this woman is appealing to the judge is because there is a lawsuit that our adversary has brought it is taking something away from her that she feels is rightfully hers so she is saying to this judge I need a verdict in my behalf I need this lawsuit dismissed I need you know a decision that will reverse whatever I need something happens I need something from you that will nullify the case that my adversary is bringing so this is what Jesus says he says he says that she said avenge me of my effort to get justice for me from my adversary now this word is important because if first Peter 5:8 Peter said be be vigilant be sober for your adversary everybody say adversary your adversary the devil tells us who he is your adversary the devil listen that word adversary is the same Greek word ante because it's the one who brings a lawsuit Peter said you have a legal opponent he is the devil and he's walking about as a roaring lion yea gathering evidence against you so that he can discover a legal right to devour you I promise you the reason people get devoured the reason their prayers are not answered the reason why rightfully doesn't come even though your praying prayers and agree with God's Word is because there's a case against you in the spirit world because jesus said for Peter says be sober be vigilant guard don't allow the enemy to have a legal case against you because if he does he'll devour you now I tell people this all the time the devil cannot devour at will if he could we'd all be dead that's true we'd all be dead he can't he has to have a legal right you know let me just point this out before I move further in this I teach this all over the world and it's not uncommon for somebody to come up to me after I get through and Pat me on my little pointy head and say you poor simple man now they don't say that but that's the tone they're using you poor poor simple man don't you understand that when Jesus died on the cross he stripped the devil of all of his legal rights what your teaching has no it has no relevance it's not definitely correct don't you understand this you poor poor simpleton ah and here's what I say to them I said somebody should have told Apostle Peter because Apostle Peter a New Testament apostle What did he say he said you have a legal opponent that can build a case against you if you don't realize that and you stick your head in the sand and spew all your you're your own special little trite theology that's not based in reality he's gonna eat you alive because he is your legal opponent that's looking for a right to devour you that's Peter that's not me that's the Apostle Peter that said this after the cross after the resurrection after the coming of the Holy Spirit do I believe that Jesus stripped the devil absolutely but there is still some kind of a legal right he has to use a destice and Peter was teaching us how to come before the courts of heaven listen if he wasn't gonna be an issue then why would God Jesus have taught us how to approach God as judge if we weren't gonna need this we're gonna we were gonna have to know how to two-step before God his judge and remove the legal rights that the enemy could use against us to do ours so Peters instructing us in this to be on guard be to be vigil or does that mean that means that means if you've given him a legal right to do what you need to do to take it away which involves repentance repentance well because repentance brings us into an alignment with what the blood of Jesus is saying about us again that's a whole nother issue here but also if there's issues and I'm just going to go here if there's issues in your bloodline this giving him a legal right to devour you then you're gonna have to go back and you're gonna have to repent of these things and and and get things legally set in so the any legal right he's claiming against you from your bloodline is removed now let me just could I let me just go there and that's this is where I want to kind of finish up tonight on this this is where most of us get tripped up because most of us in this room we know our own stuff I know my stuff I know my sins I know my transgressions I know the things I have to bring before God to repent us and I do that on a regular basis seeing repentance is not just something you do once repentance is a lifestyle it's it's a place when you calm is that they listen that doesn't make us listen that doesn't make us bad people that makes us human now I have to come before it me repent listen I love to repent why because God is near to those of a broken heart he's close to those of a contrite spirit I love to come in and and and and let his holy spirit bring brokenness into my life and me repent of the things I need to repent I love those places and guns because I find him to be very very close there so so I I know myself he knows your stuff what we don't know sometimes is issues connected to our bloodline issues in our bloodline that the enemy is legally using that let me let me just give you let me just give you this scenario okay I think a second samuel chapter 21 just just throw this one to you okay there is a famine in israel for three years David is trying to figure out why and so he says to God why why why is this famine persisted why are our prayers not being answered because then we know they're praying because later it says God heated their prayers because they're already praying why is this not Wyatt why are things not breaking and God says to David because Saul your predecessor 70 years 7-0 seventy years before broke covenant with the Gibeonites that Joshua had made remember when when Joshua and his children vigil came into to the land the Gibeonites strict film they tricked them and Joshua made a covenant illegal agreement with the Gibeonites well so late he committed himself to protect them but Saul generations later started killing them and the cause of that because of what was Saul did 70 years later the enemy is using that as a legal right to shut the heavens up so that it won't rain David's not guilty of it the people alive in Israel aren't guilty of it it's something that happened in past generations but the enemy is taking that as a legal right to bring a case against them to shut their business so David says what's causing this and God says Saul broke covenant with the Gibeonites so David went to the Gibeonites and said what do I have to do to get this fixed so they tell him David does it and here's what the Bible says and God heeded the prayer for the land sea all of a sudden prayers that hadn't worked started working all because David dealt with the legal right the enemy was using to deny the breakthrough from coming that's the same thing in our life the identical same thing we're praying alone we're trying to feel why won't God answer my prayers see I have a friend from from Belo Horizonte Brazil and dr. peter Wagner call me one day yeah I mean I didn't know this man then yeah he was that dr. Wagner's house who were all living in Colorado Springs I was living to Colorado Springs dr. whiting was here and this guy named Fernando Gillan was had come to see dr. Wagner from Belo Horizonte Brazil and and they're having a conversation or calls me I happened to be in town he says where are you and I said I'm at home he said can you come to my house I have someone I want you to meet so I said well sure anytime dr. wieder asked me to come to house I came to his house so I get in the car and drive out to his house and I meet this guy named Fernando deal and he says I want to talk to you about publishing some of your books they would just stop publish books at the time nothing on the court had happened he said I want this one and this one this one and I look at it when I said I said I have another book on writing that's not done yet it's called operating in the courts of heaven and his eyes got this big for not those dear that he said he said I know about the court of heaven I never met anybody knew about the courts of heaven he said I know about the courts of heaven I said you do he said yeah he said he said I was crying out to God he said I was crying out to God and and in praying and praying and praying and there was no answer and finally he said I said to God why won't you answer me and he said the moment I said that he said suddenly ministers his testimony he said I was standing before the Lord and before his throne and he said as I'm standing before his throne obviously this is in the spirit he said as I'm standing before the Lord before his throne he said an elderly man with a huge book came into the into this he said he said into the courts into the throne room with his huge book in his hand and he said I knew Fernando told me he said I knew it was the it was the sins of my bloodline and he said and God spoke from his throne and said I cannot answer your prayers until you deal with this in other words there was a case against him that was stopping God from answering the prayers because because these are issues that we have to know when I did we just say this when we repent of issues in a bloodline we are not trying to change the eternal destiny of our ancestors you can't do that they're not importantly there were ever their faith or lack thereof in Jesus caused them to be there it's a point on a man wants to die and then the judgment so we're not talking about changing someone's eternal destiny we are talking about removing the legal right of the enemy to use their sin against us that's what we mean when we say repent of that which is our bloodline okay so so this was a program and I thought wow that's amazing because this is Ava's or in the process of writing the book and all this kind of thing and so it just helped me understand that there were others that were beginning to see this so so I just need for you to understand that there are things in our bloodline that the enemy can use now I'm just gonna give you I'm gonna give you a couple of things and I'm gonna kill you tell you a couple of testimonies and it will be done for tonight okay the enemy uses two basic things in your bloodline iniquity which literally is the sin of the bloodline and covenants with Deamonte demonic powers covenants with demonic powers see some Lois will say well nobody I don't have any covenant with demonic powers well I didn't think I did either until through the process that I'm going to share with you I begin to wear be aware of this so let me touch this whole thing with the Covenant with demonic powers okay so so I get invited this is before I knew anything about the courts I get invited to go to South Africa to speak in the conference and and you know I mean things are bad things are really bad I mean at this particular point I stepped away from leading the church in Waco I've been traveling for about three years for about three years everything was cool but then about three years into it for three years everything went wrong our children started making stupid stupid stupid stupid decisions all of them I mean I thought me and Mary must be the worst parents had ever lived because they also them making these crazy craziness life choices and we were like what is going on here and there's no heartache like your kids being away from God or doing crazy stuff that you know is going to bring really bad consequences you've lived long enough you know this is not going anywhere good so you're watching this but you're you're powerless to stop it and so you're watching financially things are falling to pieces I am being accused of all sorts of things all around this nation I mean there are lies about me there's I stole money I did this I did which none of it was true I mean this this honey I didn't even tell you how I tell people this I will compare my horror story during those 3 years with anybody's I mean it was it was terrible and I couldn't figure out what was going on everything's falling to pieces everything Mary stood with me in our kitchen in Colorado Springs and looked at me and said I wish you'd have been a businessman now we made a ministry of basically whole married life and I knew what she was saying she was saying I know we're going through this because of the call of God your apostolic call on your life that what God wants to do with you the enemy does not want that to happen I wish we'd have never seen this and I remember I looked I said I can't do that I said I know I said I'm with you as far as what's going on but I said I cannot do not do what God called me because she knew she was just expressing frustration we didn't know what to did I mean listen it was so bad that every time the phone rang or the dáil doorbell rang we didn't want to go answer it because it was like it was like it was like it was like something bad would be happening and I would think if I can just get through this to the other side if I can grit my teeth and endure and get through I'll be okay but before I can get through it something else would pile on top anyway just went on and on and on for three years and I didn't know what to do because listen the the prayer time since 1980 it wasn't working anymore nothing was working didn't matter how much i pray didn't matter how much i bound how much i loose how much i open outlets I shut I mean tears don't cry that much I yelled how much I wished her Nami worked I didn't know what to do and then I get invited to go South Africa so I go because I don't have any other places to go I mean there's every everything's falling to pieces so I go to South Africa and when I get to South Africa the lady that led that ministry said to me know Robert before you speak in my conference I want to cleanse your bloodline and I looked at her and I said what's wrong my bloodline I mean I was kind of offended up in America what's wrong my bloodline and she said to me oh don't know you you don't understand she said when you step on my platform there's going to be representation from a lot of different countries in Africa and so there's gonna be a lot of demonic powers and principalities that are that are trying to figure than once she said if there's anything in you or your bloodline that grants them the legal right they're coming after you and your family and I said please cleanse my bloodline I mean I mean it was like I don't need anything else please what I don't even know what you're talking about but do it to me please so they take me into a room without four or five different ladies that are in there and they begin to leave me in a prayer and they leave me a prayer like it's Lord I lay my life down through my dad Welton Wilmer Henderson and through my mom Mary Louise Davis Henderson I lay my life down through them all the way back to Adam and Eve you know people say well you don't have to do it all the way back to Adam and Eve I said well here's what I know maybe you don't but in essence I'm saying anything Lord that the enemy could use just manifested anything whatever it may be so that's what we pray and as I'm praying this there's a seer gift now I've been around him for Fetty people but I've never been around anybody like this her name is Katie and she sees in the spirit realm on an unbelievable for the phenomenal level and and so she as we're praying she says she says I see that Robert someone in his bloodline made it with a demon God named carracks and even the people that were useful Katie said do what she said I see it she said he made a covenant with someone in his bloodline made a covenant with a demon God named per acts and they said spell it and she said cause she sees she sees it she's a t-ara ex and they pulled out the computer and they Google perhaps what came up was a demonic God whose chief characteristic is to suck dry now at that moment I uh I had a cartoon experience you know the little light bulbs that come on in the cartoons that happened to me I have a revelation I suddenly realized the reason we are getting devoured the reason all this stuff is happening is because somebody made a covenant with a demon in my bloodline that is now claiming the right to come and devour me and suck me dry I just understood it immediately and they said okay we're gonna help you pray through this so they had me pray lord I ask I repent I repent for myself I repent for my family line I repeat for whoever and wherever this covenant was made cuz I didn't know and in Lord I say to you that I do not belong to four acts I have been bought by the blood of Jesus I asked for your blood - now speak in your courts in my behalf and silence every claim that perhaps would claim he has against me and with me and I'm asking for the annulment of that covenant that was made for whatever reason in my bloodline and I'm here to tell you that instantly I'm told by instantly all the sucking dry stopped instantly I didn't have to worry about the phone ringing I didn't have to worry about who was at the door everything I talked about everything shifted immediately I came home from South Africa I came home to a brand new world because the legal rights that the enemy was play because of a covenant with demon gods that was working against me was revoked and removed and we started in on a process of restoration that I have actually stood in amazement at and what God has done and continues to do all because I dealt with the legal rights the enemy was claiming now so why did this happen well let me just tell you this see I had functioned for years as a local pastor when I stepped into a kingdom level ministry I became a bigger threat and there was a commissioning of demon powers to search my bloodline to discovery anything legal they could that would give them the right to launch an attack against me because he cannot devour at will he has to have a legal right in watch we're sitting in this room we say oh there's nothing like that in my bloodline oh please every every ethnicity has it in your bloodline everyone every one of us do you know all of us white Europeans we were cannibals you go far enough back in our European bloodline we ate flesh and drink blood why because they were made that was the act of making covenant with demons you understand that's what the Lord's Supper is we're protecting of his flesh and drinking his blood why because we're in covenant with him the reason there's cannibalistic behavior is because there's covenants made with demons a lot of stuff we don't even know what why these things are going on listen so much sexual activity that's activity as creating covenant with demons and on and on and on anybody from Africa at every African City is a altered dedicating that city and its inhabitants to demons and if your ancestors come from that city whether they were dedicated they were part of the inhabitants then the enemy claims you legally that's his own that doesn't have that you you going to heaven after you die there's everything to do with a legal right in the here and now to harass you and to prevent you from coming into your destiny I'll get more into that tomorrow it's true in the Asian culture it's true I mean it's true in any and every culture in any and every culture they dead there was dedications to demon powers and sometimes they seemed not to have anything but if you become a big enough of a threat and the enemy searches your bloodline you will watch here's what happened it's like there's a Bungie card tied to your back and you keep trying to come into the destiny God has for you but it's like something keeps pulling you backwards and you can never quite get into it anybody ever feel like that there's something legal resisting you and it can be a covenant with demon powers now watch it's not anything to get you concerned over we just go before the courts of heaven and we deal with it and we and we see their legal rights revoked so I wanted to touch that one let me now finish with this for the night that's one area the other area is iniquity in our bloodline you know in other words there may not be governance with demons or so forth but you can have iniquity in your bloodline that is giving the enemy a legal right to work against you in other words it may not be something you're actually guilty of or it could be see why because I don't go too deep here but iniquity in the bloodline does several things one of the things it does the iniquity in your bloodline gives the enemy a legal right to tempt you in a given area see what why do you have a propensity talk about evil stuff now why do you have a propensity towards certain things because there's an equity in your bloodline is giving him a legal right to tempt you in that why are you given to depression why are you giving you know to anger why are you giving to whatever wife what do you tend toward lust what are you what do you why does all this why is that there is because it's something in the bloodline that gives him a legal right to tempt you there I haven't told this a long time but when I was about three four years old the Sears & Roebuck catalogue would come down our house now look at some of you old enough to remember this the Sears & Roebuck catalog would come that mean it was not the same thing and I loved it when it came because I would on my three four years old I would open it and I would find the toys and I would dream about Christmas and what what what Santa Claus might bring me because that's what we did and that's what I was dreaming about but I'd do something else I take that Sears Roebuck catalog and I would go behind a couch or a chair or into a corner somewhere when I thought my mother and dad could see because I I knew it was wrong even though there's nothing like this in my house I knew it was wrong I would find the women in their underwear because I like to look at the women in their underwear [Music] [Applause] why does a three or a four year old where does a three or four year old get the desire to look at women in their underwear iniquity iniquity there was iniquity there was a sexual issue a perversion of whatever in my bloodline that made me gravitate towards it at three and four years old so where do you get that it's iniquity its iniquity that's creating that bent creating that desert creating that legal right for the enemy to tempt you in that given area so you have to know how to go and even deal with this issue because iniquity I don't know but I'll tell you that's one of the things that happens it but and so the enemy knows how to use iniquity even if we're not guilty of the same thing even if we have even if we have fought against it and we've seen it broken he knows how to take the iniquity in the bloodline and build a case with it let me just use this in all clothes for years and years and years and years I'm talking about Dec two decades at least at least two decades 20 years at least two decades people would promise me stuff they would promise me we're gonna do this I mean I'm talking about ministries I mean they would promise me the moon they would hear me they would see me they would recognize the grace on my life and they would I mean these are you know substantial well and all people never say Robert we're gonna do this and we're gonna do is I'm gonna create a platform for you we're gonna run together we're gonna do this and then nothing would ever happen out of it it would happen over and over and over and over we're gonna we're gonna put you on TV TV yeah we want you to be on TV and it would happen over and over come out of it now get my hopes up and I'd go home and I would tell Mary this day they said there's a guy yeah that's awesome because see watch I had in my spirit since about 1992 yeah that since 1992-93 I was in a meeting and I was on the floor and the presence of God was so strong and I wasn't asking God for anything or anything like that and I heard him say to me I will make your name as one of the great men of the earth I heard him say that I didn't ask him to say that I wasn't expecting them to say that I just heard him say that and so I thought I knew what that meant wasn't what it meant but I knew it was God so for years and years and years every time somebody would promise me something I would think this is the way God's gonna do that you do the same thing I mean you try to figure it out and then what they promised me would fall flat and come to nothing they would never fulfill what they probably never they were just it would be like they never said it it just happened over and over and over again and finally the last straw was when someone very high personality said we want you to come on our television show and I got all excited I thought this is it and they said this is like now 20 years out down the road and I think this is here this is what God said he would do it's like you know and I can do everything they tell me to do they say okay you're in the queue and we're gonna call you we're gonna bring you out we want you to film and they will broadcast it all these guys things long story short they never called even though they promised me they would they never called a year past they never called now after a year passed I'm done I mean this is after two decades of this going on and on and on this is what was the land food Lord I didn't ask you for this I didn't ask you to make my name as one of the great men of the earth I didn't ask you to say that now watch what do you done through this time I said I don't want it from me if you want me to have that realm of influence that's great but I'm not asking it I'm not even asking for it for from you at all I didn't start this thing what is the Billy Joel song we just struck the fires that Billy Joe or I didn't start this thing not me I didn't do this and now I just had it I just had it I mean as far as I was concerned all these I didn't know why they were telling me is I didn't know why they were you know promising me thinking they were fulfilling I just I just had it so I years past and I'm just done I mean I'm just done just said you know I'm just happy doing what I'm doing I'm grateful to you Lord I'm thankful for that but but but all this stuff I don't understand everything I just you know understand and so all of a sudden in the middle of that I have a dream and in my dream my great great grandfather has through negligence injured somebody and because of what he did there was a present day judgment against me from a court that was my dream I wake up the dream is so real I actually think there's a there's a there's a real judgment against me from a natural court you ever have one of those countries I mean I wake up and I'm scared because because I'm thinking oh no this is bad this is really bad and and and and then when I get awake I still can't shake it I'm still not real it was a dream it was a dream was dream there's there's not a natural judgement against me but by that time I realized oh god it's actually saying something that my great-great grandfather through negligence injured somebody and the Lord spoke to me and he said through negligence he stole someone's dreams away therefore the devil has had the legal right to steal your dreams away and I knew God was telling me I need to come before the courts and repent in behalf of my great-great-grandfather and asked that whatever he did would be forgetten I remember I did that with tears and I remember thinking if I knew who he damaged who he hurt I would try to bring some form of restoration but I didn't know but I knew it was God and so I I remember for an hour I just went before the Lord and there's paid attention to what the Holy Spirit was saying and I walked it I said Lord just forgive me forgive my sin line but in particular Lord I asked that that any sin of negligence that my great-great-grandfather function and that caused someone to be damaged and cause someone to be hurt I ask you please Lord to let your blood speak for me in my family line and to forgive that now I wasn't asking for his eternal destiny be change I was asking for the legal right of the enemy that was being used to use it against me so I felt this shift take place so I get up I think wow that was that was pretty significant so about a week later I'm in California and my phone starts ringing and I never answer phone calls that I don't know just don't do it and and and so I'm looking at it and but that's coming from the number coming from the area where this ministry is that it promised me they were gonna have me on the television show so I think I wonder if that's the deal so I took a chance and I answered it and I said I said hello and this very pleasant lady said is this Robert Henderson listen yes ma'am and she told me she said this is and she told me her name and she said I'm from and she told me the ministry it was that ministry and she said we would like to talk to you about being on our television show and all of a sudden all the anger in me started coming back at and I said to her I've already talked to you just like that I said I've already talked to you she so now she said you have and I said yes ma'am you told me I was in the queue and I told her I said I went through a process y'all told me you're gonna have me on you never call me back you know that that's what happened and she said well mr. Anderson could I put you on hold and I said no I've been on hold for a year not really I didn't say that daddy I thought it my father so she put me on hold she went away he's doing go very long she come back and she said mr. Anderson she said I've checked our records we have no record we've ever talked to you that the enemy because the legal thing that my grandfather had done had used that to actually just erase any record that they had ever talked to me and then she said to me she said would you like to be on the show at that point and this was a revelation if you want to be on this show you better be nice so I changed my tone and I said yes ma'am I would and she said well let's see what we can get done long story short I better not show three times and I mean the first time I was on it the whole thing broke records I mean we the influence stuff I mean it was just it's just been an amazing an amazing thing but see why and that began to unlock the word that I heard 20 plus years ago 25 years ago now the words I heard see it began to be a long quiet because the legal right the enemy was using by the iniquity in my bloodline the negligence of my great-grandfather I dealt with it in the courts of heaven and I asked for the legal rights of that thing to be revoked so that the enemy could not use that as a reason to steal my dreams away and everything began to open up everything it is still opening up I mean it's still opening up I mean this and there's been other things I could tell you about where that I would have encounters that was great things through to another level an internet encounter could break things to you to another level now but see now all that stuff is free to have its effect because I dealt with a legal issue that the enemy was using connected to iniquity in my blood long to allow me to come in to destiny and purpose that makes sense so we have to know how to come before the courts of heaven not just approaching his father not just approaching his friend but approaching the judge would you stand with

Channel: Crossroads Community Church - Winchester VA

Views: 262,689

Rating: 4.7899599 out of 5

Keywords: Robert Henderson, Courts of Heaven, Father Friend and Judge, Crossroads Winchester

Id: Flu8R0mSSOo

Length: 78min 36sec (4716 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 21 2019