Getting Territorial.

Matthew 10:12-13  As you enter the home, give it your greeting.  If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you.

 

Your home should be your refuge.  Whether it’s a cozy one bedroom apartment or the palatial palace you’ve always dreamed you would own — where you LIVE should be the place you find peace and rest.

Is it?

I want to challenge you to think about your house in a different way… Your home is YOUR territory.  That means you have the authority to decide it’s atmosphere.

When we moved into this house 4 years ago, we were the first ones on a street that now has 9 homes and 4 apartment buildings.  It was just the Yoder’s, an empty duplex attached to us, and about 20 construction workers living across the street in temporary containers.

As has always been my custom, while I began unpacking I also started praying.

I wanted our new home to be fresh and clean in both the natural AND the spiritual.

No one had lived here before us, but it had been filled with workers, contractors, and all manner of people during the year it took to build.  And all those people, whether they recognized it or not, carry a spiritual atmosphere with them.  We all do.

But it wasn’t long before I realized that cleaning this home out spiritually was going to take more than a few absent-minded prayers.  We were not at peace here; in fact, quite the opposite.

So I got purposeful.  One morning, Brenner and I walked around each room anointing the windows and doors with oil and praying that the Lord would set our home a part.  We asked Him to fill this place with his presence and His authority.

If you’ve ever recognized a spiritual attack in your life, you know how some can lay under the radar, nearly undetectable, while others can be more overtly obvious.  What we went through in the coming days was absolutely OVERT.  So much so that my husband offered to cancel his upcoming business trip.  I wouldn’t let him.  I wasn’t sure what to do, but cowering in fear was not on my list of possibilities.

As I put Brenner to bed the next night I felt the anxiety rise inside of me all over again.  I called my dad because he’s got a lot of knowledge about these things.  As we talked through it all, he showed me that sometimes we need to get downright serious in our actions against the enemy.  When I got off the phone, I was sure what needed to be done (and I was grateful it was 10:30 at night because I preferred to make certain no one saw me doing it!).

I grabbed 3 full containers of olive oil from our pantry and headed outside.  You see:

Ephesians 6:12 – “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

2 Timothy 1:7  “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

2 Corinthians 4:8 -9  “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

With purpose and conviction, I took that oil and poured a stream of it around the entire length of our property, including the empty duplex we’re attached to!  And I prayed hard, using all 3 bottles, until I was CERTAIN I had staked our spiritual claim on this, our home.

And when it was over, I felt that peace that passes understanding – absolutely no more fear.  That night my son and I both slept like rocks.

I came downstairs the next morning to make myself a latte.  It was a hot summer day already and, having no curtains yet, I could see the construction workers walking around outside.  But today they weren’t working so much as looking right in at me.  It wasn’t long before my doorbell rang and my stomach started to sink.

A rather large Bavarian man stood at my gate with a small crowd of construction workers forming in the distance behind him.  When I opened the door, the smell of french fries hit me like a wall or, more accurately, the smell of 3 containers of olive oil baking in the heat of that sun.  And, now, in the light of day, I could also see the even stream of oil setting into the porous granite stones around the perimeter of ours and our soon-to-be neighbor’s house.

I thought to myself, “what have I done?”!

When I reached my gate, the man, with a perplexed look and concerned tone, asked me if I’d done something with OIL here?

Now, It would have taken some effort for me to explain this situation to my best friend, let alone to some random construction worker — forget using my limited German vocabulary to do it all.  Just then, over his shoulder, I saw a small ant crawling up the side of our garage.  I thought fast and I told the man I did it to keep the bugs away….

He slowly repeated what I’d said, but in the form of a question.  I smiled brightly and said, “Yes, that’s it!”.  Rightfully, he thought I had lost my mind.

I went back into the house teetering between crying from laughter and crying from embarrassment.  And for a further 1.5 years, I lived together with these strong construction workers who think I truly believe that olive oil will keep the ants off of my property.

But guess what?  I chose to laugh!

And, let’s be honest, taking such an extreme measure is not always necessary.  I’ve certainly never done something like this before.  But it was the answer for OUR situation — and our home is now filled with peace, rest, hospitality, and grace.

You’ll need to ask the Father to show you what needs to be done/claimed in your territory.  My challenge to you today is that you DO find the way.

In the same manner that you choose paint, fabrics, and pictures to decorate your home with an atmosphere in which you love to live.  Choose to adorn everything in-between with things like love, joy, patience, self-control (…the fruit of the spirit!).

CLAIM your spiritual rights, which are already given to you in Christ Jesus.  Don’t allow the enemy to gain even an inch.  He WILL try.

And then, just like we need to clean bathrooms and kitchens regularly, we need to clean the spiritual atmosphere of our homes regularly also.  Ask God’s presence to fill it.  Plead the blood of Jesus over your kids, your doorstep, your marriage, your sleep, all of it.  Be wise with who and what you allow into it.

YOU define the atmosphere of your home, and who you are in Christ right now will continually re-define it.  

How amazing is it that we get to be in control?  So have fun and press-in.  Beware though, people may come over and feel so at home, they ask you how you do it.  Then you’ll find yourself having to share stories about things like ants and olive oil…

 

#SpiritualAtmosphere  #YourRefuge  #PrayForYourHome