How to Make Your Home a Place of Peace

When we moved into a new home several years ago, we didn’t immediately put up the same old pictures from our last home.  I was tired of some of them and others just didn’t convey the look I was going for in the new home. We picked our favorites and then went with some blank walls for a time while we decided what we wanted to put up.  We didn’t rush out to buy a bunch of new things either as we decided it would be more fun, in the long run, to purchase something while traveling or for other meaning and then every time we look at the picture or the knickknack we would think of the meaning or the story behind it.  

 
You probably like to do something similar when decorating to set the atmosphere in your home.  HGTV is wildly popular for helping us find new ways to express love and comfort in our homes in a way that is inviting to others and is a peaceful place for us to come home to, but what about the spiritual atmosphere in your home?  Are you spending time setting the right spiritual atmosphere in your house?

 
One of the keys I have learned to live successfully in this new kingdom of God that we became citizens of when we were saved, was that the blessings of God were not automatically operating in my life.  I would read in the Bible that God had blessed me in many ways and I would wonder why I wasn't seeing it in my life. Like take these two verses, for example:

Proverbs 24:3-4 “By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”

1 Samuel 25:6 “And thus you shall greet him: ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.”

Maybe you read those and think but my rooms aren’t filled with all precious and pleasant riches.  I need a new couch! My carpet is worn out! And my home is not filled with peace.  I go to work sometimes just to get out of the arguing!

 
These blessings are available to you as a child of God, but they don’t operate in your life automatically.  So, how can we set the right atmosphere in our homes?

 
1. Choose your atmosphere.  Joshua 24:15  “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

 
Just as you choose what style of decorating you will use in your home...farmhouse, modern, classic...you get to choose what you want the atmosphere to be in your home.  Before you get overwhelmed with all the options like I do when picking out paint colors, let me tell you there are only two options. One is to choose to have an atmosphere that is filled with the Holy Spirit.  The other is to do nothing purposeful about your atmosphere and the decision will be made for you. Satan will march right in with his evil minions and sit at the head of the dining room table.

 
An atmosphere is defined as “a pervading or surrounding influence or spirit, general mood or environment.”  If you don’t purposefully choose to energize your atmosphere with the Holy Spirit, you are going to be wearing yourself out fighting stupid battles that you were never meant to be in.  

 
How do you fill the atmosphere with the Holy Spirit?  Some ideas include playing praise or worship music, listening to good preaching or things like my Tuesday Facebook live teaching, singing, praying, confessing out loud what God’s word says about you, using Christ-centered decorations (Scriptures, pictures).

 
We will change our atmosphere with our words.  Did you notice most of the things I listed were things you would hear (other people’s words) or what you would say?  You were created in God’s image and He created the atmosphere He wanted by speaking it into existence. We can do the same.  You can speak the atmosphere you want in your home into existence.

 
2. Protect your atmosphere.  Psalm 91:9-11 “Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge - no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

Once you’ve decided you will proactively go after a Holy Spirit atmosphere in your home, you’ll need to protect it.  You do have an enemy and he will try to get you off course.

 
You can protect it by watching what is playing on TV.  If it is fear based, sexually immoral or otherwise goes against God’s word, it has got to go.  I can’t tell you how many series my husband and I started watching on Netflix and TV that had a great storyline and that we were excited about but it started to show nudity, so we shut it off.  These things weaken the protection over your home. They get your eyes off of Jesus. Consider objects you allow into your home. Don’t keep the Ouija board in the closet thinking it is a harmless game.  A pretty dreamcatcher on the wall is a symbol of magic power or a talisman. Ask God to reveal to you anything that needs to go. Maybe those romance novels?

 
You can also protect your environment by not allowing arguments and small insults to happen in your house.  Take a firm stand and decide that we aren’t going to live like that in our house. Only love will operate here.  It’s a slippery slope to allow fun jesting that embarrasses another or starts a small fight. Establish rules for your children early and enforce them.  Don’t let your children talk back to you or run to their room slamming the door saying they hate you. Explain to them that that is not what we as a family want in our home environment and it is not God’s best for us either.  Satan will try to divide and stir up trouble at every chance that you give to him. Take your authority and send him packing. Jesus is Lord in your house.

 
Protection over your home environment can also include anointing your doorways with oil.  Oil represents the Holy Spirit. You can pray a bloodline around your home and enforce your authority that no demon of hell may cross the bloodline of Jesus that you have established.  Decree and declare it.  That is what kings do and you are royalty.  But you don’t need to stay up at night worrying about protecting your home.  Send your angels to work by declaring God as your dwelling place and He will fight your battles for you.

 
I urge you today to take proactive measures in choosing the atmosphere for your home.  If you don’t do it, it will be done for you. Fill your home with the Holy Spirit in every nook and cranny you can think of.  Pray over your children and their bedrooms. Tell sickness it can’t come to your house for a visit. Tell strife it is not welcome here.  Not only will your homes be filled with material riches when you honor God in this way, but it will be filled with precious memories and be a home of peace.