Preparing Your Petition
"I dare to come before You only under the covering of the precious blood of Jesus Christ." — Reflect on Hebrews 10:19
How It Was Actually Done
At three o'clock one morning, a woman crept out of bed into a dark living room to act on what the Lord had been pressing on her.
She had done a great deal of soul-searching and could find no unconfessed sin in either her life or her husband's. They were not walking in anything they knew of.
And she understood something important: one does not walk into a courtroom before a judge in a disorganized manner. Since God's courtroom is more serious than any on earth, she carefully organized her petitions before she prayed.
Here is how she did it.
First: Establish Your Standing
The first issue was her right to come before the Judge at all.
She could not come on the basis of anything she or her husband had done. "All our righteousnesses are like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). She could come only under the covering of the precious blood of Jesus Christ, possessing His righteousness and none of her own.
She also concluded that because the Lord had made her and her husband one, she could come on his behalf as well as her own.
Then she prostrated herself on her face and began:
"Father, in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son, I humbly come into Your presence. In the name of Jesus, I petition You to allow me to come before Your throne as Judge of the Universe. I petition You to allow me a court hearing. I am asking You to judge between my husband and myself and Satan. Therefore I petition that You make Satan come and be present for this hearing."
"Father, I want to make it very clear that I dare to come before You only under the covering of the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We have no righteousness of our own. We have only the righteousness of Your Son."
Second: Present Specific Petitions
She did not pray vaguely. She presented numbered petitions, each one asking for a specific judgment and stating what should follow from it.
She asked Him to judge whether He had genuinely called them into full-time ministry — and submitted that if He judged He had, then it was His responsibility to enable them to carry out the work He commanded.
She asked Him to look into their hearts and judge whether they were truly willing to do His will — and submitted that if His judgment was yes, then He, they, and Satan all knew that Satan had prevented them from performing it. She asked for a restraining order on Satan and his hosts.
She acknowledged that God permits sifting (Luke 22:31–32) — and then dared to submit that this sifting had gone on long enough, asking Him to bring it to a complete stop so they could do the work He had given.
She petitioned for the torment to stop — the nightmares and flashbacks that had persisted despite deliverance, fasting, prayer, and rebuke.
She asked for the yoke of fear to be broken off their lives once and for all.
She asked Him to review their finances and judge whether they had been righteous in that area — and if so, to make Satan remove his hands from their finances.
She asked Him to force Satan to stop interfering with His communication to them, so that they could receive clear guidance and obey it.
Then she committed the case to Him, thanked Him sincerely, and went back to bed.
Point to Ponder
One does not enter a courtroom unprepared. Organize your petitions before you pray them.
Verse to Remember
"Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus." — Hebrews 10:19
Question to Consider
If I had to state my case in specific petitions, what exactly would I be asking the Judge to rule on?
Today's Practice
Before you do this, be certain you have done the prior work. This is not a shortcut around repentance. It is what remains when repentance is complete.
Then prepare, in writing.
State your standing. You come only under the blood of Jesus Christ, with none of your own righteousness.
Write your petitions, numbered. For each one, ask for a specific judgment and state what should follow if the judgment is in your favor. Be concrete. Name the situation, the years, the losses, and the specific interference.
Include a request for a restraining order where the enemy has been preventing what God has commanded.
Ask for the sifting to end where it has served its purpose.
Then find a private place and present your case out loud, unhurried, on your face if you are able.
And then — this is important — leave it with Him and go to bed. The verdict is His.
Prayer
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son, I come humbly into Your presence.
I petition You to grant me a hearing before Your throne as Judge of all the earth. I ask You to judge between me and my adversary.
I dare to come only under the covering of the precious blood of Jesus. I have no righteousness of my own — only His. I make no appeal to anything I have done.
Here is my case, Lord. [Present your petitions, one by one, out loud.]
I commit this entirely into Your hands. You are a completely just Judge and I trust You to judge honestly, even if the ruling goes against me. I thank You sincerely for hearing me, in the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Establish your standing. Number your petitions. Present them. Then leave the verdict with the Judge.