The Kitchen Floor

Welcome back! I took a couple weeks off over the holiday, and I’m so excited and grateful I did because we finally moved! It’s been a couple of weeks of lots of cardboard, packing paper, and wondering where all this stuff was hiding in our prior house. The donation center is going to be stocked by the time I’m done unpacking the tribe! While unpacking, I thought about things we do to set apart our home, the main thing being anointing and praying over each room and space.

Anointing your home and spaces is not typically something that is taught in Sunday School or at Vacation Bible School, however, I believe anointing and praying over your spaces is crucial. I’m going to give you the run down of what we do, and then what we do to maintain within our home. There’s no perfect prayer, and steps that must be followed to get a specific result. The process for your space will become so deeply personal between you and the Holy Spirit, which in turn will change how you do things and what you’re lead to pray. Much like your spiritual relationship with the Lord taking shape as you grow closer to Him, what your home needs will also fluctuate and develop as your relationship with the Lord does in seasons.

First, oil. Some churches teach that oil is a host of things and representations, but what it boils down to is being set apart. When they anointed in the Bible, it was for the purpose of setting it apart for the Lord. The anointed the items in the temple, priests, kings, judges, and those called into ministry. We use that same goal when we are anointing our home. We want it to be a sacred space, filled with the Lord’s presence, and set apart for His children. In the Bible, there is a recipe for anointing oil, but traditionally, most use olive oil. Now, here’s my disclaimer: I have used hand sanitizer, vegetable oil, water, lotion, and whatever I have on hand to anoint. It’s not as much about the material you’re using as a conduit as it is the heart asking for God to set apart the thing being anointed. For the ease of the read, I’m just going to refer to the conduit as oil for this blog, and for homekeeping, I have a bottle of oil that is set apart just to anoint in my home.

Second, what to do with the oil. It’s super simple. A little bit of oil on the tip of your finger, and then you make a cross on the surface, like a lower-case “t”. Nothing fancy, just a visual picture of being set apart for the Lord.

Ok, now we can get into the actual what we do as we go through our home. We typically wait until kids have been tucked in for the night, so we can move throughout the house without needing to stop for granola bars, helping with needs, or distractions.

We anoint: Windows, thresholds, furniture (especially electronics and seating), bed frames, children, animal kennels, appliances, countertops, really any and everything the Lord highlights as we move throughout the space. We pray over one room at a time as we go. Jeremy will usually pray first, and then I will close. Sometimes we get to something and one of us feels very strongly that there is more than our usual set-apart prayer needed, so we will spend significant time praying as the Holy Spirit leads us over that space.

I remember one time after hosting small group, we felt led to pray a cleansing prayer over our home, and the Lord took us to a specific seat on our couch, and we spent at least 10 minutes praying over that space. Another time, our teen was dealing with some deeply demonic oppression and Jeremy was out of town. I called him and we prayed over the phone, but then I went to the area our teen stayed in the most and opened doors and windows anointed the space, and prayed specific strongholds destroyed and the Holy Spirit to fill the space.

Our basic bullet points in prayer are:
-Thanking God for the blessing of our home/children/belongings.
-Asking Him to scour our home with the Blood of Christ, removing anything that is not of the Lord.
-Binding anything that the enemy has used to gain access to our family, has been brought in to our home unknowingly or knowingly by our doing or others, and casting it to the foot of the Cross to be dealt with by Christ.
-Filling our home with the Holy Spirit from the foundation through the roof.
-Setting angel armies, linked together, around our property, and a guard at the doors, and all entry points to our home, preventing the enemy from having access to our home and family.
-That all who enter would feel the Holy Spirit’s presence and experience healing while in our home.
-The love of God would be our covering and our foundation, and we would have wisdom and discernment as we continue to obey and pursue the Lord in our lives.
-Specific blessings over each child and the function of the space. So living room: connection, joy, family, security, wholesome conversations, discernment, and protection over activities. Dining room: connection, fulfillment, callings, and community. Bedrooms: rest, peace, revelation, presence, protection as they rest, and God-honoring actions. School spaces: clear and sound mind, wisdom, knowledge, growth, and joy. Kitchen: feeding the five thousand, peace, laughter, deep conversations, transparency, life, provision, safety.

I’m sure you get the idea. We try to do this in depth every quarter, but we are always quick to refresh our home when something feels off. Sometimes it will be a show that was briefly on, a visitor who was struggling, or even something that was given to us, and since its arrival, things just felt off. My grandmothers both passed away within 12 months of each other, which means I was blessed with lots of beautiful items they had curated in their homes. They struggled with their own strongholds, depression being one of the big things. Within days of bringing some items home, I noticed my own mental health was really struggling. I prayed over what had changed, and the Lord brought those items to mind. I couldn’t get to the oil and anoint those items fast enough! It completely changed the atmosphere in the home as the Holy Spirit set those items apart, while I surrendered in prayer.

There are times our kids are struggling with specific things, and we always start by anointing and praying over them. Yes, sometimes those prayers and anointing happen at 2 am when the Lord has me wide awake praying over them, and they are drooling on their pillows. I also write scripture on note cards and slide it under their mattresses on their beds. Praying that as they rest, the Word, which is alive and active, will saturate their very being and restore them to Christ.

If you want more information on praying over your marriage, I have an older blog from a few years ago on it. I will be sharing it soon, so you have it as a resource, because the beauty of prayer is that it doesn’t expire. He is the same throughout all the ages, faithful then and faithful now. A huge piece of our testimony is marriage healing, and what I learned in that season of intercession has an everlasting impact on our family.

By the time we are in the last space to pray over, we end by blessing our home. Thanking God for what He has done, is doing, and will continue to do for us. We ask Him to fill our home with those who need loved to life, pointed to Him, and give us the wisdom and capacity to do His work. He has always answered our prayers. We have been so blessed to have community and fellowship in our homes. Speaking of which, those boxes are calling my name, but this break from the unpacking was so welcome!

Oh, and fun news. Jeremy got me a cold foam frother thing for our anniversary a few weeks ago, so my healthier iced matcha lavender cold foam might really be a thing soon, and just in time for summer days! I’ll keep you updated on my adventures! Feel free to ask specifics about prayer, anointing, and being set apart. I can chat while I unpack all these books. You are loved, wanted, chosen, and I’m so glad you’re here.