31 Days to Bless Your Home: Easy Tips for the Domestically Challenged
Week 2- The Spirit of the Home: Creating an Atmosphere of Love, Peace, and Joy the Brings Honor to God
Day 11 – A Heart Devoted to God
“Yet Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” Matthew 6:33 NLT
This week’s challenge: Prayerfully evaluate the spiritual climate of your home and ask God to help you establish an atmosphere in which the fruit of the Spirit clearly abounds.
Today’s challenge: Read the Bible and pray with your family.
I had originally intended to give today’s challenge by video because I wanted to look you in the eye and talk to you from my heart. However, I have been holed up in my new house the last few days painting, cleaning, and babysitting the carpet installers. With pink paint streaked through my hair, ripped jeans, and sweat pouring down my face, the vanity in me screamed not to put this on video. I don’t want to scare my readers!
What I do want, however, is to grab your attention and help you to realize that today’s challenge is the most important of all the challenges we will do this month. The most vital decision you can ever possibly make in your lifetime is to say “Yes” to God.
I am speaking to you, wives and mothers, you who truly long to build strong and happy homes for your families, as well as you young ladies who are planning in your hearts how you will someday be as a wives, mothers, and homemakers. I am telling you that none of the self-help books, homemaking blogs, or books on fulfilling womanhood will give you the results for which you are seeking without first making the commitment that as for you and your house, you will serve the Lord.
I imagine that most of you that are reading this wonder if this is even relevant for you since you have probably already made a commitment to the Lord and are walking in a relationship with Him. I can tell you that I have loved the Lord with all my heart since I was a little girl; however, my home has not always been a reflection of Christ. It was not until I learned to put Him first and yield myself, my family, and my home to Him wholeheartedly that I discovered the spirit of the home for which we are all striving. Therefore, no matter where you are on your journey with Christ, I believe these steps will make an enormous impact on your homes and families.
1. The very first thing you must do if you truly want peace and joy to abound in your home is to accept God’s love for you and trust in the price Jesus paid for you on the cross. It begins with a personal commitment to the Lordship of Christ before you make it a family commitment. If you have not made Jesus the Lord of your life, here are some links to help you. The first is called the “Roman’s Road to Salvation” because it offers several verses from the book of Romans to help you understand what it means to be born again. http://www.gotquestions.org/Romans-road-salvation.html Although there is a prayer guide at the end, this next link also includes a more comprehensive prayer to guide you through this extremely important commitment. http://www.salvationprayer.info/prayer.html
2. For those of you who have already made this commitment, the next step is to make the decision that as a family, you will serve the Lord. Make the declaration that your home belongs to God, and as a family, you will live for Him alone! As Joshua proclaimed in Joshua 24:15, “Choose today whom you will serve…As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”
3. Not only will we serve the Lord, but we have chosen to put Him first above all other things, even before sports, activities, school, work, etc. We refuse to put God aside as a byproduct or an afterthought. He deserves our best! You will notice that when you make this commitment, everything else falls into place perfectly! I promise it does! “Yet Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” Matthew 6:33 NLT
4. Pray for each member of your family by name every day. As you go about the day, and one of them comes across your mind, say another prayer for them. I often pray for each one as I fold their clothes, cook, or clean one of their messes. We have decided to make our home a house of prayer, and what a difference it makes!
5. Pray withyour family. Even if it just a brief, simple prayer, make it a habit of going before the throne of God together every day.
6. Read God’s Word. The Bible contains God’s very words to us. Why wouldn’t we want to absorb every bit of it that we can? How in the world do we expect to thrive as a family unless we learn to live by “every word that comes out of the mouth of God?” (Matt. 4:4) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV I am not writing this to add a layer of guilt or another thing to add to your to-do list, but rather to inspire you to draw from the very instruction manual God has provided for us to live an abundant and purposeful life. Even if all you can read is a verse a day, do it and meditate on it. Absorb it like a sponge! Read it to your children every day!
7. Find a good, Bible-based church where you can learn, grow, serve, fellowship, be encouraged, and thrive as part of the body of Christ. A church that has Christ as the head and God’s Word as the foundation is a powerful place for your family to bond and be strengthened in your faith.
Each day, as we yield ourselves and our homes to the Lord, we will notice that the Holy Spirit will certainly do His part. As we discussed in the first day’s challenge of the week, if we want more of the fruit of the Holy Spirit to abound in our homes, we need to seek the source of the fruit, and that is the Holy Spirit. Rather than working harder to have peace or joy, for example, these things will automatically flourish in our homes just by having the presence of the Holy Spirit abiding there. Therefore, I conclude this week’s “Spirit of the Home” by reminding you of what you have when you put God first in your life and home.
”But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Galatians 5:22-23
Dear Father, I pray for each one reading this today and ask that you bless their homes and families. Help us to yield our hearts and our homes to you and submit to Your will in all things. When we asked You to be the Lord of our lives, that meant that we are putting You first in all things. I pray that everyone reading this will notice a profound shifting in their homes toward greater peace and joy and that all of the fruit that the Holy Spirit provides will abound richly in their lives and homes. In all things, let love reign supreme! Pour out your immense and richest blessings on each one here. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Join me tomorrow for “The Spirit of Hospitality” and some new recipes to try over the weekend. Next week, we’ll be talking about the glamorous side of homemaking with lots of tips on keeping a clean house without getting caught in the perfectionism trap. Come join me!
Be blessed and enjoy this beautiful fall weather!
Shari Lewis
