I would like to remind you of this 17 year old girl who had her fully boxed boxes of college needs, including shampoo and conditioner, about six months before moving into college, all ready and labeled and organized and ready to go. I will testify that God has brought much change and maturity to that planned part of my former personality, HOWEVER, I still and always will love a little planning! May has been the first month of this pregnancy that I have allowed myself to indulge in such joys. Of course I created boundaries on this planning, and the capacity to implement those boundaries with such ease is a testimony to God, because without harnessing my natural instincts I would already have the baby lotion and wipes and diapers and bedding purchased and set up in the room, ready to go. But God.
This month we took some time to create an atmosphere in the bedroom our child will spend much of the early months of their life. This was a process that demanded much work both in the natural and supernatural realms. In the natural, we were so graciously given a beautiful crib that we were thrilled to receive and immediately set up; we also picked out and purchased and assembled a dresser for the child’s belongings, and for the first time we let ourselves plan out a little map for the child’s room of where everything could potentially go. We spent hours in that room this month planning and dreaming about who our child might be and ways we could make their bedroom a sweet place of rest for him or her. This was not only incredibly fun, but also made the fact that in five months we will be bringing a precious human life into our home much more of a reality.
In the supernatural realm, we were also quite busy. We believe that there is a supernatural world of which we cannot see but are very much a part of in our every day lives. Ephesians 6:12 says, “Our battle 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.” We believe we live in a battle, constantly persuaded by good and evil and we understand there to be an enemy who desires to bring destruction into our lives.
Over the last year we have studied our authority to create an atmosphere that is life giving and full of light and goodness. This learning began with the process of praying through the times we spent in the courtroom. While praying before entering that room for the first time, I saw SO CLEARLY a picture of the supernatural world. We were praying for the presence of the Holy Spirit to fill the room, for the blood of Jesus to cover those doorposts, and we bound any darkness that sought to dwell in that physical space, knowing the influence of such unseen powers. And through this time in prayer I SAW all of the powers of darkness outside of the room pounding on the doors to come in, but they were being held back by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. This idea of the power of the blood goes back to the bible in the Old Testament when the Israelites would cover their doorposts with the blood of a sacrificed animal so that darkness would pass by and their sins would be forgiven. When Jesus Christ came and died as the ultimate sacrificial lamb, we now have access to the power that comes through His blood and we plead it and use it as a weapon in this supernatural world. Darkness cannot pass by His blood. It is too powerful as it represents our total and complete forgiveness.
In addition to His blood, we have been given much authority in this supernatural world to bind and to loose. The bible says, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 18:18) We have authority to bind darkness and loose light. To bind demons and loose angels. We have authority through the blood of Christ, the name of Jesus, and the Word.
We took that lesson of creating an atmosphere and applied it in our home. I remember walking into our new space for the first time back in August and praying through every doorpost, praying over every room and every inch of our space, for light and goodness and light and praise and worship to fill the atmosphere. It has always been a desire of my heart to create a life giving space for my husband to come home to in the natural world through the fun of decorating and maintaining the appearance of the physical space and supernatural worlds through bringing in light and life in my own spirit.
We have this same deep rooted desire for our child. As we have sought to create an atmosphere for our child, we have two specific requests:
1. Freedom. We know that where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Corinthians 3:17) And as we continue to maintain that space as a space where the Holy Spirit is welcome and encountered, we believe for the freedom of our child. Children are so easily influenced by this supernatural world because of their preciousness and innocence and naivety and we view our position as parents as protectors and advocates for our child in this battle. So we pray for the presence of the Holy Spirit to infiltrate every corner of that room, and for a supernatural freedom to follow as promised in the Word.
2. Peace. Because our child will be spending so much time in their early months of life sleeping, we have started praying for a peaceful place where our child can experience sweet sleep. Proverbs 3:24 says, “When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Your sleep will be sweet.” We pray this is the case with our little one. Because praise and worship music is such an important part of our lives and connection to our Father, we have been intentional this month to spend time in that space in prayer and worship, inviting the Spirit into that room specifically through music. We believe God inhabits the praises of His people, and worship is a way to invite Him into a space. So as we worship, we pray for a peaceful sanctuary and space where our child can have sweet sleep.
Needless to say this has been a fun and full month of much work that we believe will produce much fruit. We will reap what we sow, and we have already started to sow seeds of life and light over our little baby and the space in which they will dwell. We took this month to create that habit, and we hope this nightly routine of prayer and worship will continue once our child is born as we believe this is an important habit for the spiritual health of our home and daily protection and edification of our entire family.
Habit #5: Establish a nightly routine
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