Praying with Authority: Using Legal Scripture in the Courts of Heaven
I’ve always felt a kind of energy activate around my head, especially around my ears, whenever I began to pray. Even long before I understood what it meant, it would start swirling like a soft vibration. I used to be afraid of it, not realizing that what I was sensing was actually a shift in the spiritual atmosphere.
When I prayed the Rosary, I would often feel very cold sensations, like a chilling wind around me, and even my breathe would feel cold. As a teen and young adult, it scared me. I thought maybe it was a ghost or something else. I didn’t yet have the understanding.
Now I realize these were real spiritual signals, confirmation that heaven was responding, that something unseen was moving. What I once feared, I now recognize as the activation of the Holy Spirit. Many people feel these kinds of sensations during prayer and misinterpret them out of fear or lack of teaching.
I have also noticed the difference in sensations in relation to the types of prayers I offered. When we pray with scripture verses, a deep sense of power rises up in the spirit. When I speak the Word aloud and decree it with intention, I feel a strength that is not my own. It is an empowerment that anchors me. It is as if Heaven itself responds because it does. The enemy cannot argue when we quote scripture. He knows it better than most believers and when he hears it declared by someone who believes it he flees.
The enemy is a legalist. He roams, watching for spiritual loopholes, unrepented sin, generational rights, or words we have carelessly spoken. He waits to accuse us before the Righteous Judge as written in Revelation 12:10. In these moments, sweet and simple prayers like the Our Father or Hail Mary may bring comfort, but they often do not carry the legal weight needed to rebuke demonic forces.
We are not just called to pray. We are called to go before the Courts of Heaven, to present the Word of God, to decree with authority, and to rebuke using scripture. Just as Jesus did in the wilderness, we respond with "It is written." Not emotion. Not wishful thinking. Not tradition. Legal grounds!
To war effectively in the spirit, we must understand who we are. Authority in prayer does not come from how long we’ve been saved or how emotional we feel. It comes from legal position in Christ.
When Jesus died and rose again, He did not just save us. He gave us His authority and legal dominion to operate in the earth and in the spirit realm as co-heirs and ambassadors of His kingdom. The same authority He used to cast out demons, heal the sick, and rebuke storms now lives in us.
Scriptures That Establish Our Legal Authority
Luke 10 verse 19
"Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."
This is a legal transfer of authority. Jesus gave His disciples power to confront the forces of darkness. That authority is ours as His followers.
Colossians 2 verses 14 to 15
"Having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and stood opposed to us, He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
This shows the legal defeat of the enemy. Satan was stripped of his rights to accuse, provided we remain under the covering of Christ and walk in repentance.
Ephesians 2 verses 5 to 6
"Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
We are seated in heavenly places with Christ. That is a judicial position of dominion. From there, we legislate in prayer.
Matthew 16 verse 19
"And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
This is legal language. Keys represent access and binding and loosing represent judicial actions. You are not begging in prayer. You are issuing verdicts in the spirit.
Romans 8 verse 17
"And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ..."
As heirs, we inherit Christ’s authority. A legal heir has rights. Those rights include dominion, protection, and the ability to exercise power in the courts of Heaven.
Mark 16 verses 17 to 18
"And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons... they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
This is a list of signs that accompany legal authority in Christ. Not suggestions. Not symbolic. These are our rights in the kingdom.
Walking in That Authority
It is not enough to know about authority. You must walk in it.
Speak the Word aloud.
Renounce legal ground.
Use the name of Jesus with conviction.
Plead the blood of Jesus over your body, home, mind, and children.
Cancel enemy assignments using scripture as your legal decree.
Command spirits to leave. Do not negotiate. Do not beg.
Keep your life clean. Repent quickly. Keep short accounts with God.
Authority is not a feeling. It is a position. A legal right.
And that right is only activated by faith, obedience, and the Word.
The Courts of Heaven: A Divine Judicial System
The "Courts of Heaven" teaching, popularized by Robert Henderson and increasingly affirmed by intercessors around the world, presents Heaven as a functioning legal system. Just like on earth, there are legal rights, testimonies, covenants, and verdicts. When we fail to pray with spiritual authority, it is like walking into a courtroom without representation or documentation.
Henderson teaches that many prayers go unanswered not because of lack of faith but because we have not removed the legal grounds the enemy holds. The accuser may have documents, such as unrepented sin, bloodline claims, or soul ties and until those are revoked through repentance and declaration, the enemy keeps access.
As written in Isaiah 43:26,
"Put Me in remembrance. Let us contend together. State your case, that you may be acquitted."
This is courtroom language. God is inviting us to bring our case before Him, to speak His promises, to cite His covenant. His Word does not return void as written in Isaiah 55:11, but it must be spoken with authority in the spirit realm.
Why Scripture-Based Decrees Matter
In spiritual warfare, authority is not in our feelings. It is in the spoken Word. The devil recognizes legal authority, not emotion. When we declare scriptures that align with God's justice and truth, we strip the enemy of his ability to operate.
Examples of scriptures to use in decrees include:
Psalm 149:6-9 to declare the written judgment
Luke 10:19 to claim authority over serpents and scorpions
Isaiah 54:17 to nullify weapons formed against you
Colossians 2 :14-15 to declare the enemy's defeat and the cancellation of all charges
Revelation 12:11 to claim victory through the blood and testimony
These are not just verses to read. They are legal evidence in a spiritual court.
What Deliverance Ministers and Watchmen Are Saying
Derek Prince, a powerful teacher in deliverance ministry, taught that the Word of God must be spoken aloud like a drawn sword. He said, "The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. A sword must be drawn and aimed to be effective."
John Ramirez, a former Satanist turned evangelist, explains that the demonic kingdom operates on legal contracts. He teaches believers to break contracts through repentance, renunciation, and declaration. He is very clear that silence or passivity gives demons permission to stay.
Rebecca Brown in her book He Came to Set the Captives Free explains how Satan cannot touch what he has no legal right to. Closing doors and removing claims involves both repentance and declarations spoken with scripture.
Robert Henderson writes in his teaching that "The accuser has access until someone goes before the Courts of Heaven and removes his legal rights." He emphasizes that many believers are perishing for lack of knowledge of this divine legal system.
Not All Prayers Work in Battle
There is a place for peaceful, meditative, or devotional prayer. But in times of attack, demonic torment, generational bondage, witchcraft, or soul ties, we must pray as warriors. We must pray with legal understanding. We must revoke, repent, decree, and rebuke. Silence or weak tradition will not move a spirit that is standing on a legal claim.
Final Thoughts
You are not weak. You are not ignored. But you must understand the courtroom you are standing in.
God is the Judge. Jesus is your Advocate. The Holy Spirit is your Counselor and Witness.
The Word is your evidence. The Blood is your covering.
And the enemy is already defeated, but he must be served legal notice.
