Praying over a room- to save the Spirit

One of the many books I am currently reading *note, if only I would finish them!!* is The Power of A Praying Parent. Surprisingly this book was recommended by Jeremiah's 2nd grade teacher at the end of school in May. I have to say, it's wonderful to live in a state where most people are christian and you can speak of God freely instead of feeling the "separation of church and state".

This book should be about a 30 day program where you pray every night over a specific issue, or go back and reread about specific problems you are having. It's been good for me to read, and has helped me break out of the typical prayers that you get into the habit of saying, and be very specific over the things I feel Jeremiah needs help with. I can say that I have noticed a difference when I pray, and it helps me add these things into our family prayers.

Anyway I read a chapter a few months ago that talked specifically about praying over a room. Now I had heard of and practiced praying over a house, or dedicating a house. I grew up doing this anytime we moved into a new place. I over the years I have become very aware that once a house is dedicated to the Lord you, or someone else, has to invite a bad spirit in. This could be by the books, games or movies you allow in your house, or the things friends do or say. But honestly I had never thought about specifically praying over a room. The author of the book said they went as far as to anoint the room of their son as well, similar to the blood used in the Passover.

I have been reading this book with Jeremiah in mind, but when I read this chapter and thought about the rooms in my house I knew that Jeremiah's room was fine, but Joshua's room was not. To be perfectly honest that room specifically has bothered me since we moved into the house- and I couldn't really figure out why. At first I thought it was because it needed new paint, which we did when we moved in. Since we ended up repainting twice in the week before we moved in, (and once since) I was a little burned out on even wanting to paint. Deep down I knew I had forgotten the baseboards, but that truly is a ton of work once furniture is already in, plus the baseboards were extremely beat up... look at me still making excuses for it. My neighbor had told me that the kids who lived here before us did some pretty terrible things in the house- like peeing on the walls. GROSS!! Don't worry, we had all new carpet laid when we moved in, and I had washed down the baseboards with Clorox wipes.

After reading this chapter I knew the room physically needed a face lift, and spiritually as well. Yes, the baseboards got a good scrub down with the sandpaper, and a layer of Kills :)

Physically speaking Josh's and Ben's room is still undergoing the face lift- takes me forever to paint, but I will post pictures soon :) Can't decide if I need to wait till it's finished, or just post it "as is" now....

Spiritually speaking, I prayed for two days about what I needed to rid in that room. I was led specifically to Josh's collection of Yugo and Pokemon cards, as well as many other things he still is not aware of losing. One day he will be very mad at me for throwing these away, and then later in life he will be thankful that I tried as hard as I could to bring him closer to God. I don't know much about Yugo or Pokemon, I can't say that they are "evil"- but I do know that God did not want them in Joshua's room.

Let me explain a little bit about Josh lately. It could be that he is a pre-teen, it could be that I haven't been the mom I should be, but his attitude had been pretty crummy. I have thought about and put into action different things that I thought would help change this bad attitude, but nothing really seemed to work.

Once I rid Joshua's room of the things I found, and put up a picture of Jesus, his attitude has much improved. In fact it's doing so much better that I went as far as to officially "move in" to my house by hanging pictures in almost every room. Took me 4 years to make this house feel more like home :) But it is wonderful to hear Ben playing with his toys, then suddenly saying "look mommy, it's Jesus" as he points to pictures on the wall. Yes Ben, it is. I hope these small things will bring a world of change in this house- because right now it needs it.