Preparing the atmosphere
This past week I had become a grandma for the first time. Wow, what an incredible love I feel for this beautiful gift from heaven. I was in awe to see such pure sweetness, innocents, and perfection all wrapped up in one. I can sit looking at pictures all day long.
Have you ever noticed how things get prepared at home for newborns? Organization gets stepped up; the baby room gets prepared, items get cleaned and cleaned again to make it the perfect environment for when little one comes home. Some people will even play soothing instrumental music [soaking music] in their home or the baby nursery to enhance the little one’s calming experience.
Preparing the environment with prayer is another way to clean the atmosphere. And we [grandpa and I] have been praying daily since before we knew our family was about to grow.
I share this to give you a mental picture because most of us know what I am talking about ‘preparing’ for a newborn.
But have you ever thought about doing this type of preparation before sharing the gospel of heaven? The message of Jesus Christ is as pure as it gets. Straight from heaven, our Lord Jesus came to show us the way. To free us from the bondages we get entangled in and free us from a performance mentality; we can push ourselves with unrealistic demands.
This past year, I have learned several different things about how principalities work to keep people in the dark, keep people in deception, and ultimately imprison them.
There have been times when I have talked to people I’ve met on the street but could not reach them. Yeh, they were probably on drugs, but maybe it is more than that. I started praying that the atmosphere would change as I walked downtown and in the park. Taking my spiritual authority – given to me by Jesus – and bound the spirit of darkness, the spirit of addiction, the spirit of rejection, the orphan spirit, wandering spirit. And I loosed the love of heaven, and I asked Holy Spirit to encounter these individuals, asking Jesus to meet them where they are at.
I presented the blood of Jesus – asking the blood to go before me and behind me. I ask for the Kingdom of Heaven to come to earth. That God would bring people or even angels to come alongside them to help them on their healing journey.
Engaging my heart and prayer in this matter, I eventually found that the atmosphere changed. Either the drug community moved on to another town. OR [what my heart wants to believe] these people encountered the love of God through people that genuinely have the spirit of Christ. The people I encounter thereafter were coherent and I could carry a conversation with them. I got to plant a seed or two and even water it with prayer.
We each have a realm of influence: our families, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our cities, etc. What if the church took their blood-bought keys and bound those things that go on around us that are illegal to function in heaven. Then lose those things that are a part of heaven; clarity, sound minds, love, compassion, etc.
What if we remember that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and our identity in HIM?
What if God did more than we asked or imagine?
We would see that our lights are a bright beacon to those individuals who stumble in the darkness.
Ephesians 3:20, 21
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.