This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Any of you who are his people may go to Jerusalem in Judah to rebuild this Temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives in Jerusalem. And may your God be with you! Ezra 1:2
In the book of Ezra, God stirred up the heart of King Cyrus, making him issue a decree that allowed the Jews to return to build the temple of God in Jerusalem. The Jews began their work, but as we all know, the devil cannot sit calmly and watch the work of God move forward. So, he also stirred up men to stop the building of the temple. See how the bible describes the opposition
Then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten the people of Judah to keep them from their work. 5 They bribed agents to work against them and to frustrate their plans. Ezra 4:4
Despite all the opposition, it is interesting to see that the work did not stop. Regardless of how hard the opposition tried, the building of the temple continued. Years later, when a new king was in power, the enemies of the Jews were still trying to stop the building of the temple. This time they deployed a different strategy, they wrote a letter of accusation against the Jews and sent it to the king. In this letter, they accused the Jews of rebuilding a rebellious city that would revolt against the current king. Then they said something interesting, they asked the king to search his records to validate that their claims were right. The letter was read to the king and here was his response:
I ordered a search of the records and have found that Jerusalem has indeed been a hotbed of insurrection against many kings. In fact, rebellion and revolt are normal there! 20 Powerful kings have ruled over Jerusalem and the entire province west of the Euphrates River, receiving tribute, customs, and tolls. 21 Therefore, issue orders to have these men stop their work. That city must not be rebuilt except at my express command. Ezra 4:18-21
Once the letter from the King was received, the enemies forced the Jews to stop building. Finally, the enemies of the Jews got what they desired, but can you tell how they got it? Legal grounds. They tried to discourage the Jews, but that didn’t work, they tried to frighten them and frustrate them that did not work, but once a found a legal ground, once they found they were able to get the king to issue a degree, on the strength of that legal command the work of God stopped.
As I grow in my walk with God, I’m learning how to engage better in the place of prayer. One lesson I have come to learn is that prayer is a legal interaction in the spirit realm. The devil can interrupt the working of God in our lives if he finds a legal ground. But he is completely ineffective and unable to stop us if there are no legal grounds. A legal ground gives him access.
Jesus said “I will not speak with you much longer, for the ruler of the world (Satan) is coming. And he has no claim on Me [no power over Me nor anything that he can use against Me] John 14:30 AMP
If you read further down in Ezra, the Jews rose to build the temple of God again, and of course, opposition rose again. but this time the Jews did something different. When the opposition came, they did not try to fight back, instead, they responded to their enemies legally. They said, King Cyrus issued a decree and on the strength of that decree we are building. When their enemies took this to the current King, the King searched and found it to be true. The Jews got permission to continue building the temple because they found a legal ground to override the previous decree.
This tells me that before we issue decrees, bind, or cast in the place of prayer the question that must be answered is ON WHAT GROUNDS? What gives us the right to issue that command? On what legal decree are we standing? If Jesus had to find where it was written (it’s legal when it’s written) we must also learn to engage in prayer and warfare that way.
The Jews in the book of Ezra had to go back and find where it was written for them to overcome their enemies and complete the instruction of God to build the temple.
You and I will need to know what decrees have been issued in our favor, this would be the grounds upon which we would overcome any opposition and advance the kingdom of God. The Bible is a compendium of legal decrees, take time to find what has been written, for in it lies true victory.
