Court of Heaven
1. Daily Dread to Daily Bread.
2. Daily Bread Prayers to
Make Your Name Holy –
3 Going to Court on Rights Deprived – Debts & Temptations
Petitioning the Court of Heaven – as Sons & Daughters
Mat 6:9-13 Therefore pray in this way: Our Father, who is in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name. (10) Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. (11) Give us this day our daily bread; (12) and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. (13) And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil. For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Our Father in Heaven
• As we say, Our Father in Heaven – we take the matter out of earth’s court to God
• Not servant, not master (Pharaoh), not orphan but son
• Our Father – one in a family no isolation
• Qualification – Keep your face shining before Him
• Do not enter human conflict
• This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
• Angels – go attend on what He asks
Our Father – to many God sounds like Unjust Judge, Hard to please
• Joh 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, – we come to Him as Father not as Judge or Master
• Voices of rejection & orphan that defeat you
• Spirit of poverty & demand – Competition & not enough
• Confess repent renounce – all reactions to authority figures
• Forgive authority figures who hurt you – bless them
• Any abuse that has marred sonship & father image – confess, ask for healing & adoption
• This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased
• Scope of Our Daily Bread = Needs
Your Will Be Done = Daily Bread
• Man shall not live by bread alone – Matt 4:4
• Joh 4:34 Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.
• Hunger & thirst for righteousness
• Eating His flesh & drinking His blood – Feeding on the Living Bread
• Harvest is my food – Jn 4:32
• Salvation of My City – Give me Lanka or I die
• Chose your throne – Court of Heaven
@ Sparrows & Swallows Altar.Com
• Heb 4:14, 16 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
• Psa 84:2-3 My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh shout for joy to the living God. (3) Even the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, Your altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my God.
Who Is In Heaven – Nearness
• 1st. His Omnipresence. The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. 1Ki_8:27 : that is, Thou fillest immensity.
• 2dly. His Majesty and Dominion over his creatures. Art thou not God in heaven, and rulest thou not over all the kingdoms of the heathen? 2Ch_20:6.
• 3dly. His Power and Might. Art thou not God in heaven, and in thy hand is there not power and might, so that no creature is able to withstand thee! 2Ch_20:6. Our God is in heaven, and hath done whatsoever he pleased. Psa_115:3.
• 4thly. His Omniscience. The Lord’s throne is in heaven, his eyes behold, his eye-lids try the children of men. Psa_11:4. The Lord looketh down from heaven, he beholdeth all the sons of men. Psa_33:13-15.
• 5thly. His infinite Purity and Holiness. Look down from thy holy habitation, etc. Deu_26:15. Thou art the high and lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. Isa_57:15.
• Thy Kingdom Come –
Thy Will be Done in My Earth = Heart, Life
• Kingdom of God comes into me as Christ’s Rule when I am born again Jn 3:3-5 – God’s Will is in My Heart
• God’s Kingdom Rule I exercise through Christ’s Ascension Gift (CAG). Eph 4:7-12 – Commissioned by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
• As I operate in CAG, I occupy my Poga on earth
• Evangelism of my oikos & community
• Biz House, work field,
• Politics governance Prov 1:2-23, 8:1-7
• Father & Two Sons
Father’s Court & Elder Brother’s Court
• Judge – Elder Son or father
• Defendant – younger son
• Litigant – – elder son
• Advocate – Father prayed through all 4 stages of the Prodigal son
• Leaving Home – high minded
• Prodigal Living – wasting the father’s hard earned wealth
• Pig pen living – wretched
• Returning Home
• Restored son
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Our Cry For Daily Bread – Legitimate Needs
Forward Propulsion – Backward Clearance
• Forward Propulsion
• Hallowing His Name
• Living for His Kingdom
• Doing His will
• Backward Clearance
• Forgiveness for our sins (our debt)
• Forgiveness for sins (debts) of others
• Overcoming temptations – influences, invasions, infiltrations
• Subduing the evil one
• Map = Past Recovered – Future Assured
Past Recovered – Psa 103:4 who redeems your life from ruin;
• Present – Reigned – who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies;
• Future Reassured – Psa 103:5 who satisfies your mouth with good; your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
• Psa 103:5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
• Psa 103:5 He wraps you in goodness–beauty eternal. He renews your youth–you’re always young in his presence.
Enemy Tactics
• Judge, Advocate, Litigant, Antidikos = adversary Lk 18:1-8, Accuser = katagoras Rev 12:11, Witnesses
• Alienate you from your Father
• Take you to the adversarial court & throne of iniquity & wrath – right & wrong – shift you from Court of Grace & throne of mercy.
• Plead justice rather than mercy
• Witness of bad blood – bitterness, broken relationships, sins
• Witness – 1 Jn 5:6 – blood, word, Holy Spirit
• Never Litigants – We’re Supplicants
• However we are God’s Government. We will go to the Court of Advocacy open 24/7 for the Elect. We are not victims. We are advocates. We are not litigants – we are supplicants.
• Our Advocacy is directed to our Father in Heaven & not to an unjust judge
• It is based on God’s Sovereignty – in Heaven – supreme authority
• Right balance between passive surrender – que sera sera
• to active surrender – make your name holy, your kingdom rule prevail in all human machinations, your will be done
Priest before God & man
• 2 Cor 5:17-21 – Court of Pleading with others for reconciliation
• Be reconciled to God – Father forgive
• Until we do our work & ministry of reconciliation – powerful will sin against God & the poor
• Poor will sin against God & their own
Debtor & Debt Owner
Why is there Delay? Health, finance, call of God, promotion, recognition, reputation, inheritance,
• Recognise Court Case against you – what’s the cause of delay?
• Story – you expected a loan facility. Bank says Title unclear, no repayment capacity, there is a former bad debt. You cancelled it. Uber did not.
• With whom may you be dealing as a debtor?
• With whom are you dealing as debt owner (creditor)?
• Across what relationships – spouse, dad, mom, against children,
Court & Advocate
Heb 12:22-24 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, (23) to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are written in Heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (24) and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
• 1Jn 2:1-2 My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (2) And He is the propitiation concerning our sins, and not concerning ours only, but also concerning the sins of all the world.
Jesus Our Repayment
• Thank God for Jesus who says I will be your repayment capacity – your Ransom. He will never say I can’t pay for you. He is forgiving while we are sinning. He is our life long insurance. His Premium on the cross is sufficient to pay for all our damages
• However we do not court sin. Grace empowers us above sin.
• There is a court before which “Please forgive me. I will restore”, is a valid legal submission that exonerates you & recovers loss, overcomes delays, rights relationships. In a world of indicting others for our misery, such a court room will be a welcome respite
• Sin, Iniquities, Transgressions
• Psa 32:1-5 A Psalm of David. A Maskil. How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! (2) How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit! (3) When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. (4) For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. (5) I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.
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Be Aware. Of the schemes of the devil – Ephesians 6:10-20
• Sins are acts of commissions and omissions. – he that knows to do good and does it not, it is sin unto him Jam 4:17
Sin means to miss a mark, go astray, fall short of std. And the motive why we do what we do is very important.
• Iniquity = fracture, devious action & just deserts – God visits iniquity
• Job 1 & 2 the accuser brought a case against Job’s motives. Job’s motives for serving was wrong. It means not only do we do the right things, but the right things for the right reasons is important.
• Transgressions are when we deliberately cross the boundaries laid down by the scriptures, by our parents, by our authorities in school, workplaces and the government.
Temptation – Breach in the Wall
• A. Alert to broken down walls of protection
• 1. Protective walls of moral living
• 2. Protective walls of a godly family line
• 3. Protective walls of the Church
• 4. Protective walls of God ordained government
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B. Temptations
Alert to Avenues of Invasion (Influence)
• 1. Influence authorized by God for a specific purpose
• 2. Influence established thru family line sin
• 3. Influence permitted by our own wilful sin
• 4. Influence gained through some traumatic experience
• 5. Influence achieved through deception
• 6. Influence attained thru close association with a demonized individual
• 7. Influence obtained thru untested “spiritual” or religious experiences
• 8. Influence acquired thru participation or association with a cult group
• 9. Influence allowed thru participation in prohibited witchcraft activity
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• Temptations C – Sphere of Attack
D – Symptoms of Infiltration
• C. Alert to the specific sphere of attack Operate in and through the thoughts, Operate in and through the emotions, through the will, in the body, and through other people
• D. Alert to possible symptoms of infiltration (influence)
• 1. Prolonged inability to choose what I know to be right, Plaguing (compulsive) destructive behavior, Plaguing thoughts of evil that cause me repulsion, Uncontrolled feelings of anger and bitterness and Plaguing fear that keeps me from doing what I should. Inexplicable unpleasant physical symptoms with no apparent cause.
• Strange events or sense of an unseen evil presence…….
• Inexplicable negative feelings with no apparent cause, Condemning evil voices (thoughts) concerning self or others.
• Sudden attitude changes.
• Many Roles of Advocacy
• As the guilty to be pardoned – Christ our advocate in heaven. Holy Spirit our advocate on earth convicting us of sin. Assuring us of forgiveness & justification. Father as Judge
• One to one speaking the Gospel is the most urgent advocacy we must never forget.
• As advocate interceding on behalf of my brother who is alienated from God. Christ my co-advocate. Father as Judge. HS acting in my brother’s heart
• As advocate & judge forgiving my brother’s sin against me
• As judge judging my own sin 1 Cor 12:28. Father forgives
• As Judge – let us reason together – doing mene mene on my nation, race etc. “I and my fathers have sinned. We are worthy of sore punishment”.
• The woman by perseverance overcame the unjust judge & the adversary. However the Lord contrasts this with the elect’s position in the Father’s Court where we can go for justice – for ourselves or for another. In the Adversarial Court, the adversary obstructs justice. In the Father’s Court the Advocate facilitates Justice for ourselves or for others, cities & nations we represent. We can get the adversary out of the way, wrest the case out of the Court of Right & Wrong before the Unjust Judge and take it to the higher court of our Father’s Justice which is to show mercy to the undeserving – to vindicate wrong doers upon a plea for clemency based on Jesus’ righteousness. He died for me. We file the case again under the blood of Jesus in a different Court Jurisdiction. In that Higher Court, our righteousness is not matched with enemy’s accusation. We are judged by the Blood of Jesus. At our Father’s Court, our plea is not, “Give me justice; I am right & he is wrong”. My plea is “My Father is just & my Advocate has paid in full”.
• Heb 12:24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.
• Luk_6:37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.
• Jn 20:21-22 – Remit sin is the work of the Court of Heaven wirking through a beliver’s cry for mercy – advocacy
• The relation we stand in to this first and best of beings dictates to us reverence for his person, zeal for his honor, obedience to his will, submission to his dispensations and chastisements, and resemblance to his nature.
Make Your Name Holy
• 1st. With our lips, when all our conversation is holy, and we speak of those things which are meet to minister grace to the hearers.
• 2dly. In our thoughts, when we suppress every rising evil, and have our tempers regulated by his grace and Spirit.
• 3dly. In our lives, when we begin, continue, and end our works to his glory. If we have an eye to God in all we perform, then every act of our common employment will be an act of religious worship.
• 4thly. In our families, when we endeavor to bring up our children in the discipline and admonition or the Lord; instructing also our servants in the way of righteousness.
• 5thly. In a particular calling or business, when we separate the falsity, deception, and lying, commonly practised, from it; buying and selling as in the sight of the holy and just God.