How is the Atmosphere in Your Home?

Reprint of a post from almost two years ago......

I heard a sermon given by Lindell Cooley of Grace Church in Nashville about the atmosphere in our homes. The message hit home and has remained in my heart and mind ever since. Each home, Christian or pagan, has an atmosphere. The atmosphere of some homes can be felt more strongly than others, but all have one. For a Christian with discernment, sometimes the chaos and evil in a home can be felt upon entering, if not shortly thereafter. Also, homes that are Godly and orderly can be felt as well.

It is important to actively cultivate the atmosphere in our homes to be peaceful, orderly, calming, and God-honoring. The times that we live in require diligence as Christians. We can invite what the Bible calls "unclean spirits" into our homes by laziness, apathy, or over-busyness. Once this type of atmosphere invades our homes, it is then even more of a spiritual battle to attain unity and peace. It is important to remember that the spiritual is even more real than the carnal (flesh), and certainly more eternal.

The busy things we fill our lives with are sometimes necessary, and I do emphasize sometimes, but are never more important than devoting the time needed to cultivate a Godly spirit within our homes. How can we direct the atmosphere in our homes? I know there are going to be some eye-rolls at this, but it doesn't change the truth of it. I believe one of the number one ways we damage the spiritual atmosphere in our homes is the media, and what we allow to fill our air-waves.

God doesn't change, and His holiness hasn't changed. We are saved freely by grace, but nevertheless that doesn't change a thing about God's character. Yet it never ceases to jolt me what Christians allow their eyes to see and their ears to hear. I guess we figure since even most pastors won't lay down the remote or get off the computer, why should we? Except for one thing. God's standard doesn't and hasn't changed, regardless of what the Church has compromised on. It's not okay, just because the majority says it's okay.

Because what the majority says is okay is rapidly deteriorating. And the spiritual battle is real. We were warned in scripture that the battle we fight is not carnal, against flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers and principalities. Leave this country and go to a tribal area and you will know how real the spiritual realm can be. I say again that just because America is wrapped up in daily living and 10-year goals doesn't mean that is the most important thing about life.

One of the most positive things we could do to improve our spiritual atmosphere, is to switch off the televisions and computers for a time and study God's word together on a daily basis. I read this in one of my books today, and it is worth repeating - "A woman after God's own heart is first and foremost a woman who has in her own heart a deep and abiding passion for God's Word. And her children- NOT the children at her church, not the women at her church, not her friends, neighbors or anyone else- but her own children are to receive the firstfruits of this burning personal passion."

My husband and I will eternally maintain that it is our job as parents to be the primary spiritual trainers and teachers of our children. We don't agree (any longer) with dropping them off at youth group or Sunday School and expecting them to do our job for us.  Honestly, the most rebellious time in two of our children's lives as teens was while they attended a youth group.   God tells parents explicitly in His Word that it is the parents' responsibility to spiritually train our children.

Can we do this with media blasting 24/7? Are we willing to do something about it? Hopefully, the answer to that is a resounding yes, because not only is the most holy God worth it, our children are absolutely worth it. Being careless about what is piped into our homes can invite those powers of darkness in. Adultery, lust, fornication, murder, violence, homosexuality, sorcery and pornography constantly beating the air-waves is like a direct portal for spirits to enter and wreak havoc in our families. God has spoken against all of these things - how can there not be a consequence for allowing it?

His grace doesn't protect us from the immediate consequences of sin, bad choices, or negligence. It grieves my heart so much that feeding our fleshly appetites for entertainment overrides our concern for the spiritual. How many in the Church today could even turn off all media for an extended period of time? Or how many would, is a better question... How important is wholeheartedly following God to us? Are we willing to fight for the atmosphere in our homes, which will then affect the whole of our family life? Do we love our children enough to not allow unrestricted access to the internet and television? Do we pay for our children to have internet on their phones?

Odds are increasingly great that they have viewed and will continue to view pornography. Do we pay for them to have satellite tv in their rooms? Odds are great that they have watched and will continue to watch sexually explicit programs when we aren't around. Will we fight for our families, or just hand them over to satan on a platter? If we aren't diligent with these things, we seriously might as well broadcast pornography in broad daylight and sit down and watch it with them.

This is not an age for assuming the innocence and good choices of our children; if we aren't making extreme efforts to thwart evil (including fervent prayer), satan will get them. He may not win their souls, but he will wreak hell in their lives and drag them down as far as he can. It's not just the tv that affects the atmosphere in our homes. The music we play or allow our children to listen to, the video games we allow them to play or play ourselves, the books we read, the sensuous magazines we look at or allow them to look at (even ones you can buy at the check-out counter), the movies we go see or rent, all affect the spiritual realm in our homes and lives.

 I have been there, being careless with what my eyes viewed and my ears heard, and that of my family. I have experienced the difference between a home where discernment is exercised hourly, daily, and one where discernment is thrown out the window for the sake of selfish, carnal satisfaction, or even laziness. The road to discipline in this area has been gradual, but steady, and I can tell you, I wouldn't go back to not caring for all the money in the world. I can feel the pleasure the Father has in the fact that our family is willing to make changes in these areas for the sake of our spiritual health, and ultimately, for Him and His holiness.

 It will be a lifetime commitment of prayer, discernment and willingness to take a stand, go against the tide, say no to our flesh when it collides with His standards, and remembering that all the activities and entertainment, all the busyness, even daily schedules should be for the ultimately eternal - if they aren't, they simply aren't worth the investment of time, or the risk they pose to the atmosphere of our homes.

America is all about her rights. Well, we have a right to a spiritually peaceful, content, God-honoring home. But it doesn't just happen. And it won't happen even with regular church attendance, Bible-studies, and all the worship CDs in the world if we are being careless in other areas, which invite the darkness in. Evil times require due diligence. When Jesus, our Unseen Guest, walks through our homes, we should want Him to feel like He belongs there, not like a stranger in a foreign land. Our homes, our families, and our very Holy God are worth the effort to make this happen.