When I first gave my life to Jesus, I loved Him with everything in me. But I'd go home, and the atmosphere in that house could be chaotic. Restless. Heavy.
A lot of believers live like that. You can be saved for years and love God with all your heart and still walk into a house that just feels wrong.
Here's what you have to understand. We're spiritual beings living in a natural world, and everything you experience in an atmosphere is influenced by the invisible. If you try to get spiritual results by natural means, you're going to burn out. You'll stress out. And then you'll settle. You'll learn to coexist with things God actually gave you the authority to overcome.
Atmospheres create climates, and climates attract cultures.
I've walked into homes that looked pristine. Everything clean, everything in its place. But you could feel stress in there. Chaos. Sometimes you could feel a curse or demonic activity, things that didn't match anything you could see with your eyes.
God gave you that house
When God was getting Israel ready to go into the promised land, He gave them instructions about their houses.
"When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I put the leprous plague in a house in the land of your possession, and he who owns the house comes and tells the priest, saying, 'It seems to me that there is some plague in the house'..."Leviticus 14:34–35, NKJV
This isn't leprosy in somebody's body. It's in the walls. The priest was to have the house emptied, go in and look, shut it up for seven days, then come back. If the plague had spread, they took out those stones, scraped the inside of the house, and carried it all outside the city to an unclean place. And if it came back after all that, the house came down.
God told them they'd live in houses they didn't build. The way I understand it, the people who lived in those houses before them were pagan worshipers, and when they heard God's people were coming, they hid the silver and gold of their idols in the walls. So Israel moved in with accursed things already inside.
God loved His people enough to show them where the curse was and give them a plan to get it out.
Notice what He said first, though. Which I give you as a possession. Whatever space you live in, whether you own it, rent it, lease it, or rent one room in somebody else's house, while you occupy it, God has given it to you. Your job is to possess it.
I grew up in it
My mother was into white witchcraft. Wicca. She was so into it that we had a black Afghan hound, and the dog's name was Wicca.
I never practiced any of it, but I watched people lie in circles on our living room floor doing séances. Our bookshelves were full of books on magic and spells.
Now all of that has been normalized. Astrology. Crystals. Reiki. Burning sage so peace fills the house.
I remember a man in our church who'd hurt his leg years earlier. Somebody gave him crystals and told him they'd heal him. He was born again, but he still had those crystals in his pocket, and he wouldn't give them up. He believed his healing was coming from them.
People want relief. I get that. But what those things promise is short-lived, if it works at all. And in the end they produce the very opposite of what you wanted.
Ask Him what grieves Him
Start here. Holy Spirit, is there anything in my home that grieves You?
You have to be willing to lay everything on the table. No room is off limits. No closet. No secret habit. If it's in the back of a cabinet or out in the garage, put it on the table.
Years ago I had boxes I'd been carrying around since before I got saved. I'd move, put them in the next garage, and never open them. One day the Holy Spirit told me to open a particular box. Inside were scales for weighing drugs. He brought it to my mind so I could get it out from among my possessions before it could be a doorway for anything.
It's not just objects, either. Unforgiveness defiles a home. Constant fighting, gossip, backbiting. If that's what's going on in your house, you have to be willing to change it.
Get it out. Don't sell it.
In Acts 19, revival broke out in Ephesus. New believers started openly confessing that they had practiced witchcraft, and they brought their books out and burned them in front of everyone. Scripture says, "So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed" (Acts 19:20).
That's real repentance. They weren't just saying, I'm sorry, God. They were breaking agreement with darkness, even though it cost them.
Over the years people have asked me, Can I sell it? It's worth a lot of money. I ask them, if you knew something could bring a curse on somebody, would you want to hand it to them? Of course not. Then don't sell it. Destroy it.
Achan found that out the hard way. Israel was told to take nothing from Jericho, and he took silver and gold and buried it in his tent (Joshua 7). Israel went up against Ai, a battle they should have won easily, and lost. That one hidden thing didn't just affect Achan. It affected everyone connected to him.
When I was first saved I worked in a Christian bookstore, and I was preaching revivals where real revival was breaking out. I got on the radar of a witches' coven. One night a normal-looking lady walked in, and the moment she came through the door, the Holy Spirit stood up on the inside of me. Pay attention. She walked around, asked me questions, and left.
The next night, same thing. This time she put her hands on the counter and, under her breath, said, I release this fear on you. Then she slid an object across to me.
Your natural tendency when somebody hands you something is to reach out and take it. But the Holy Spirit gave me discernment. I didn't touch it. I said, "I'm not receiving your fear. But if you're having problems with it, I'll pray with you."
She was the high priestess of that coven. She ended up getting saved. It took two days to cast all the devils out of her, but she got saved.
That's why Scripture says not to take an accursed thing to yourself. When you bring it home, you're taking it unto yourself.
I was preaching in Arizona a while back, and the Holy Spirit gave me a word of knowledge that morning. A woman there had a dream catcher, charms, and other white witchcraft things in her house, and she was dealing with sadness and emotional struggles that were connected to them. She came forward. She was saved. It had just never dawned on her that those things needed to go. She got rid of all of it, and afterward she gave an incredible testimony.
So gather it up:
- occult objects, charms, crystals, idols, dream catchers
- pornography and anything connected to past sexual sin or ungodly soul ties
- decor that glorifies death, darkness, or witchcraft
Then destroy it and throw it out.
And watch your mouth. Some of you don't have demons in your home. You have an undisciplined tongue that's giving them permission to hang out there. James 3:16 says where there's envy and self-seeking, there's confusion and every evil thing. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath, "nor give place to the devil" (Ephesians 4:26–27).
Sometimes it's people, too. When Jesus walked into the ruler's house, the professional mourners laughed at Him. So He put them out, and then He raised the girl (Matthew 9:23–25). Some voices can't stay in the room if you want resurrection in your house.
Don't leave it empty
Jesus said when an unclean spirit goes out, it comes back looking for a place to rest. If it finds the house swept and put in order but empty, it brings seven spirits worse than itself (Matthew 12:43–45).
You have to fill what you cleaned.
Play worship in your house. Read Scripture out loud. Pray Psalm 91 and Psalm 27 over your family. God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3).
Speak peace. Jesus told His disciples that whatever house they entered, the first thing out of their mouths should be peace (Luke 10:5). Declare Deuteronomy 28:6 over your doorways. Blessed when you come in, blessed when you go out.
Anoint your doors and windows. They're the entrances. I anoint my bed and declare it off limits to every power of darkness, and that when I lie down my sleep will be sweet (Proverbs 3:24).
I'm the last one to bed in our house. Every night I walk through it, pray over the doors, plead the blood of Jesus, and declare that we abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Every property we've ever owned, I've anointed the four corners. On our property in Alabama, I bought four military lock boxes, put a Bible in each one with promises and decrees written inside, anointed them, buried them at the four corners, and poured oil over the ground. That property is dedicated to God.
And if something gets in, take authority. Years ago some people came over to our house. Before they came, there was peace. After they left, there was strife and tension in our relationships, and I couldn't figure out why. The Holy Spirit showed me they'd brought something in with them. I call them spiritual hitchhikers. So I walked through the house, anointed it again, went to the front door, and commanded every demonic spirit to leave in Jesus' name. The atmosphere shifted right back to peace.
You can have a home where God's presence is so welcome it feels like it's right there, waiting on you to pursue Him. Lot lived in Sodom, and the wickedness of that city came right up to his door. It didn't get in.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). That doesn't just mean the people. It means everything in it.
Pray this with me.
Jesus, You are Lord over my life, and You are Lord over my home. I repent for anything I've allowed into this house that grieves Your Spirit. Tonight I choose to cleanse my home. Show me what needs to go, and give me courage to obey quickly. I dedicate every room, every conversation, and every screen to the glory of God. Let this house be filled with Your peace, Your presence, and Your power. In Jesus' mighty name, amen.
We go deeper every Monday night in The Living Room.