How To Win Battles In The Court Of Heaven by Apostle Arome Osayi: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Question of Lawful Captivity

Turn to Isaiah 49:24. The prophet asks: "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or shall the lawful captive be delivered?" The same question is rendered two ways because one rendering alone cannot capture the full meaning.

The first: shall the prey be taken from the mighty? The second: shall the lawful captive be delivered? In the second rendering, the prophet defines the state of the one held by the mighty — it is a state of lawful captivity. This tells us who the mighty is: not one of brute strength, but one who brings people into captivity through legal means.

When someone is in a legally constructed bondage, there is very little any mortal can do. It takes God. But God's answer is clear in Isaiah 49:25: "Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered — for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee."

This contention is not battlefield warfare. It is legal contention — God creating a premise that gives you legal advantage in the heavenly court.

Satan as a Licensed Attorney

Satan has many names. One of them is adversary. Whenever he wears that name, he is operating as an attorney. He has a license, as a registered attorney within God's justice system, to bring cases to court. Every time you see Satan in heaven, he is doing nothing else but court cases.

The realm of the spirit is legal in nature, and it has nine distinct shapes. The first shape — the one we are studying — is the legal shape. Satan is not merely an enemy; he is a skilled legal practitioner who works day and night formulating accusations.

The Case of Job — Round One

In Job 1, Satan brought the first accusation: Job's commitment to God was transactional — he served God only because God had a policy of prospering faithful servants. Satan argued that prosperity, not devotion, was driving Job. To prove otherwise, God removed the outer two concentric circles of Job's spiritual covering — his possessions and his household — allowing Satan access while protecting Job's life.

In Job 2:1, Satan returned. God again pointed to Job — still holding his integrity despite being moved against "without cause." Then Satan launched the skin-for-skin campaign: touch his body, his very flesh, and he will curse you to your face. God regulated this too — permitting the affliction but with a boundary: "save his life."

Satan is so wicked that the moment permission is given, he acts immediately. He struck Job from the sole of his foot to his crown with sore boils, and Job sat among ashes scraping himself with a potsherd. At this point his wife came with the second front of the skin-for-skin campaign: "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Cause God and die." Job refused. He sided God, not his wife — and that is why his name appears on the list of the three most persuasive intercessors, while Abraham's name does not. Abraham made the same mistake Adam made: siding his wife against God.

God Forgives — But Justice Still Plays Out

When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged Uriah's death, there was no case in the court of the land — the witness was eliminated. But there was a case in the court of heaven. God dispatched Nathan as the court's messenger to inform David of his standing. David confessed, and God instantly forgave — but the justice aspect had to play out: his wives were defiled publicly, and he walked deposed from his throne.

God will forgive you for the sin, but Satan will accuse you for the act. In 1 John 1:9, God is faithful and just — faithful to forgive based on the sacrifice of Jesus, and just in the judicial dimension that must still be satisfied.

The New Testament contains 80 warnings against willful sin — 80 times. That is what the hyper-grace preacher does not want you to see. In Hebrews 10:26-29, for those who sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of truth, there remains no more sacrifice — only a fearful looking for of judgment. Three count charges apply: treading underfoot the Son of God, counting the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and despising the spirit of grace.

Iniquity — What Satan Hunts For

Satan cannot make you sin if he has not first taken your mind and trespassed it beyond its allowance. Sin is soulish — bound to the soul — because it gratifies the flesh and self. If self is removed from the arrangement, there is no sin.

This is why in Luke 22:31, Jesus told Peter: "Satan has desired you" — the Greek word is exaiteomai, meaning to demand for trial. Satan found exhibit in Peter's life. The case was valid. Jesus was left only with the ability of intercession.

Satan does not merely travel east to west — he travels in time, searching your bloodline up to 25 years back, studying your great-grandfather's choices, every covenant broken, every idol consulted. He has a powerful documentary of your bloodline.

• Iniquity (first meaning): The history of sin in your bloodline — a recorded pattern that gives Satan legal ground to tempt you in a specific, custom-designed way.
• Iniquity (second effect): It makes you think about yourself in a way that is contrary to God's ordination for your life — a demonic lecture that feels more real than the word of God.
• Iniquity (third effect): It can cause a man to forget his destiny, his family, his calling.

Saul was moved from his high calling into pride so severe that God had to strategize with Samuel about how to anoint David without Saul knowing — because Saul was ready to kill the one who anointed him.

Solomon loved the Lord in 1 Kings 3 — but iniquity from his father's bloodline opened a door of custom temptation. First, burning incense in high places. Then strange women. Then strange gods. The temptation was not random; it was formulated according to the iniquity of the bloodline.

Satan waited 17 years after Saul broke covenant with the Gibeonites before pressing charges — pressing them at the height of David's reign. Satan does not press charges until the harvest is the brightest. He times his accusation for maximum damage.

The Resurrection as a Court Verdict

There was no law in the Torah that condemned Jesus to death. He was condemned by a doctrine of necessity and an ancient tradition — not by the Torah, not by Roman law. The courtrooms of men condemned him. But it was the courtroom of heaven that found him innocent.

Resurrection was the response of the courtroom of heaven — Jesus was discharged and acquitted. He was commanded to quit the underworld, and he did not go alone. He led captivity captive.

All the demonic forces had gathered to prevent the resurrection — it required more power than what was used in creation. Satan did not know that power existed. The power that raised Jesus from the dead — that same power is now the operating system of your Christian life.

Legal Prayer — How to Fight Back

Legal prayer is taking advantage of the elements of the new covenant to dispossess Satan of the legal ground upon which he stands to accuse you. It is the blood of Jesus applied against iniquity in your bloodline — dispossessing the enemy of his evidence.

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. If you pray from the knowledge of what the blood has legally accomplished, God will answer — and for many, the prison houses in which you have been confined will open.

The way we fight spiritual battles is by knowledge first, then power. Get knowledge of your legal standing in Christ, then release power from that position.

• Father, by the blood of Jesus, I erase every ground of iniquity in my bloodline that Satan stands on to accuse me.
• I apply the blood of Jesus against every record of sin my ancestors accumulated.
• Lord, contend with every one that contends with me — legally — in the court of heaven.
• Let the verdict of the court of heaven over my life and my bloodline be: discharged and acquitted, in Jesus' name.