WHEN THE FAMILY UNIT WORKS AS DESIGNED, ALL MEMBERS OF THE HOUSEHOLD ARE RESPECTED AND THRIVE.
God wants our relationships and homes to be healthy. We must follow the roadmaps provided us by Scripture and solidify the bonds among our neighbors, spouses, children, and leaders. When a husband and wife partner in peace and unity, heavenly atmospheres are released. If a couple embraces fear, discouragement, abuse, or strife, demonic atmospheres invade the home. Fear and anger become governing ecosystems that leak from our homes into the community. Our home base is truly a strategic fortress for shifting the community’s atmospheres.
When a husband and wife partner with the Holy Spirit to raise their children in accordance with biblical values, atmospheres of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, longsuffering, and self-control develop. These atmospheres become their children’s normal that they gravitate toward throughout their lives. I believe this baseline created by a family’s home life is what is described in Proverbs:
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).
If you want to shift atmospheres in your home, set up a family meeting to decide together what atmospheres you want released in your home. Once you agree on what you want your home to “feel like,” then pray and ask the Holy Spirit for family strategies to accomplish your goals. You will find that there are some things your family needs to stop doing and others they need to begin. Make a list together so you can hold each other accountable; do not be offended when your children confront you if you revert to an old pattern.
Be careful not to use this strategy as a way to punish family members. We want this to be fun and effective. Remember that we are practicing and rarely get it right all the time. Partner with the grace of God as your family works to shift atmospheres and release His Kingdom.
Several years ago, I experienced a very stressful time period in my life. Tim was in elementary school, Cory in junior high, and I was the full-time finance manager at their Christian school as well as the high school Spanish teacher. (Can you feel the frenzy already?) But wait, there is more. My stepmother had just passed away, which left my sister, Heather, in need of extra help for schooling. After a family meeting, we decided to partner with my dad and Heather to help her through her high school years.
As long as everything went smoothly, I was able to keep everything moving forward. If any glitch occurred, however, disruptions became enormous. One rainy day as I rushed from one place to another, I realized (while at the gas station) that I did not have my credit card in my purse.
I hurried home “son in tow” and tried to enter our house through the garage but ran smack into the door, which was locked from the inside. I did not have a key to this door, so I had to run out in the rain, unlock the front door, and search the house for my misplaced card.
Before I could leave to run back out into the rain, something snapped inside me. I began kicking and screaming at the door.
A little voice behind me said, “Mommy, where’s Jesus?”
Immediately, I saw Jesus (in my mind) reaching under my car seat, smiling, and picking up my credit card. Sure enough, when I huffed over to my car, my credit card was right there where Jesus showed me.
Tim’s ability to interject truth in the midst of my temper tantrum helped to dissipate my rage. He used a tool I often employed with my kids to help them sort through their emotions. Tim’s response to my rage worked because we had cultivated a family value to submit ourselves to God.
Family members who are able to support each other in shifting atmospheres “do life” well together. When biblical values are taught as normal aspects for the family, each member, including children, becomes a powerful carrier of heaven’s atmospheres.
Notes
1. Blue Letter Bible, s.v. “Radah,” accessed January 2, 2017, https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H7287&t=ESV.
2. Ibid., s.v. “Kēryssō,” accessed February 10, 2017, https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs =G2784&t=ESV.
3. “The World’s Tallest Man”, https://shop.bethel.com/collections/prosperous-soul/products/the-world-s-tallest-man.
SHIFTING ATMOSPHERES OVER REGIONS
To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
—EPHESIANS 3:8-10
As we venture into our understanding of regional atmospheres, it is important we outline the higher beings belonging to Satan’s kingdom. These are the spiritual beings residing in the heavenly places that hold influence over our natural world. Though these, too, can be referred to as demons, they hold much more influence than the average unclean spirit and tend to operate at a higher level—meaning they work to exercise control over key regions, nations, and people to complete specific tasks for the enemy. Depending on your Bible’s translation, these evil spirits are listed as principalities (rulers), powers (authorities), and rulers over the darkness of this world (cosmic powers).
In The Three Battlegrounds, Francis Frangipane describes principalities (rulers) as a high class of spirit-beings in the satanic hierarchy. The word principality (or ruler, in the ESV) means the first place, rule, or magistracy of angels and demons. As higher beings in Satan’s government, principalities serve to implement hell’s anti-Christ agendas in human society. We can see this because the word magistrate, chosen by the original author to define “principality,” means a civil officer who administers the law.
These are the unclean spirits who receive orders from the upper echelons of darkness and pass them on to lower-ranking demons. These lesser demons represent the common “foot soldiers” of hell—identified frequently in Scripture as unclean spirits. Principalities are not as high-ranking as powers and world rulers but nevertheless serve a critical aspect of the devil’s kingdom.
Powers or authorities, depending on your translation, are defined as “the power of rule or government.” Placed above principalities but beneath world rulers of darkness (cosmic powers), powers serve as the administration of hell’s government. These are the entities that issue/manage Satan’s commands. Powers receive the devil’s orders and delegate to principalities, who then dictate them to hell’s lower ranks. Powers serve as the system by which Satan’s kingdom is operated. With the father of lies at the top, his slaves and fellow beings work to implement all sorts of wickedness.
World or cosmic rulers serve as elite beings placed in authority over entire nations and global regions. These are the spirits revealed to Daniel when he interceded for the freedom of his people. Visited by God’s messenger, the Hebrew was told of the reason for his prayer’s delay; it was not due to anything he lacked or did incorrectly but to the magnitude of the spiritual battle that surrounded him:
Then he [the angel] said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come” (Daniel 10:12-14).
In this passage, the Lord’s angel revealed an interesting truth about spiritual warfare—when it comes to the angelic and demonic realm, there appears to be a hierarchical authority. Although the messenger angel was dispatched, an evil spirit with more authority (due to hierarchy) withstood the deliverance until an even greater angel, Michael, was released.
When it comes to dealing with principalities, powers, and world rulers, our most effective method of warfare is
to displace their authority rather than directly cast them out. Displacement occurs when we exercise our weapons of warfare referenced in Chapter Four. Notice that Daniel did not engage with the world ruler himself. Instead, he left the battle to God and was protected under His covering. Daniel’s contribution to the fight, rather than confront the elite spirit head on, was to devote himself to a period of intense prayer and fasting:
In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks (Daniel 10:2-3).
I write this because when it comes to dealing with powers, principalities, and world rulers (and you could argue in all spiritual warfare), the battle belongs to God. We should never search out demons to attack; our focus should be on expanding the Lord’s Kingdom. If we focus too much on battling the enemy, we will wear ourselves out. We must, instead, assume an intercessory stance like Daniel and partner with God as He releases His angelic army to destroy the works of darkness.
OUR MOST EFFECTIVE METHOD OF WARFARE IS TO DISPLACE THEIR AUTHORITY RATHER THAN DIRECTLY CAST THEM OUT.
In Daniel’s case, the Lord dispatched Michael to bring authority over the prince of Persia. He did not have Daniel engage with it himself. God did not delegate this authority to Daniel; instead, Daniel stood in the gap for his people and prayed. As we work to reverse the enemy’s hold over our nations, cities, and regions, our main weapon of warfare is intercession. These higher evil beings may not be cast out because they are working through multiple people in the region. They must instead be displaced:
The means through which the church successfully wars against principalities [and powers and rulers] is through Christ’s spiritual authority and the principle of displacement. Principalities are not “cast out,” for they do not dwell in people; they dwell in “heavenly places.” They are displaced in the spirit-realm by the ascendancy of Christ in the church and, through the church, into community.1
The church can re-terraform the earth to line up with the Lord’s will through acts of intercession, partnership with Christ’s authority, and outreach to our communities with practical godly trainings and hands-on help.
We sometimes perceive intercession as an elite form of prayer—something that only high-ranking prayer warriors or little old ladies can participate in. In truth, the Bible encourages all Christians to intercede. We can define the word intercession as “the action of intervening or of saying a prayer on behalf of another person.” Put simply, intercession is our way of covering one another. All Christians can exercise this gift no matter their experience or leadership position. If we examine Jesus, we see that He was the ultimate example of a powerful intercessor. Even at the point of His death, He continued to beseech the Father to forgive humanity (see Luke 23:34).
Even the Holy Spirit engages in intercession. Paul writes:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26).
Similar to Daniel’s experience, the Holy Spirit serves as an intense intercessor. Whereas Daniel prayed and fasted so hard that he mourned for several weeks, the Holy Spirit (on a much larger scale) utters deep groans or sighs on our behalf.
This might make intercession seem a heavy or undesired gift. Make no mistake, intercession, though powerful, does not have to wear us down. Beni Johnson does a great job of addressing this in her book The Happy Intercessor, in which she dispels the myth that all intercessors must be depressed and constantly under attack. Instead, she encourages intercessors to align themselves with joy in their dependence on God. Doing so protects us from the weariness that sometimes attaches to us in seasons of warfare.
Stacy was a young believer who carried a passion for prayer and justice. Growing up, her dad had been an alcoholic who verbally abused her and her two youngest sisters. Now in their own marriages, Stacy began to see common patterns of rage developing in the households of her siblings.
Stacy took ownership over atmospheres in their homes and repented on behalf of her sisters who had partnered with her father’s sins. Standing in the gap for their situations, Stacy prayed, “Holy Spirit, please forgive me and any members of my family who have partnered with rage. I ask you to forgive us in Jesus’s name and to release peace in place of rage.”
Miraculously, the verbal fights her sisters experienced with their husbands decreased in frequency. Stacy began to notice a pervading feeling of God’s presence that outweighed the previous atmospheres of anger, bitterness, fear, and rage.
Interestingly, Stacy never felt “oppressed” or “discouraged” while she interceded for her sisters because she did not allow these issues they were dealing with to take ownership over her life. This is a great example of healthy intercession. When God prompts us to pray and we lean into discernment, intercession can be an encouragement to our hearts.
A similar pattern emerges when we intercede for our cities, nations, and regions. This type of intercession comes from Second Chronicles:
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Prayers like this keep you in alignment and covered by Jesus as you intercede for your community. Here is an example:
Humbling yourself:
Father God, I ask You to forgive me for any way I have partnered with the spirit of (insert name of spirit here) over my city (or region).
Turning from wicked ways:
I forgive the people in my region who have agreed with this spirit and have given it a place to dwell. I ask You, Holy Spirit, to turn the hearts of the people back to Father God so that You can begin to teach us how to live godly lives.
Receiving healing:
Jesus, I ask that You would displace the spirit of (insert the name of the spirit here) and replace with Your Father’s opposite (insert what God wants to release).
When we take the time to hear what the Lord wishes to impart, He will release the fullness of His blessing. Sometimes, what the Lord releases is not an obvious opposite, so we need to be willing to hear His voice.
WHEN GOD PROMPTS US TO PRAY AND WE LEAN INTO DISCERNMENT INTERCESSION CAN BE AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO OUR HEARTS.
One night, I had a horrible dream that included a theme of incest in it. I woke up very distressed because I knew that what I had picked up was in the atmosphere around me. I called my good friend, Renee, and we went to lunch. She admitted that she, too, had picked up this demonic broadcast.
I was quite angry at the enemy and my justice meter kicked into high gear. I declared into the atmosphere, “Not on my watch! Get your filthy hands off the children.”
This in itself was not a wrong prayer, but my anger veiled a deeper strategy from the enemy. When I discussed this with a prophet friend, Ben Armstrong, he asked, “Did you ask God to release an atmosphere of proper intimacy among families?”
No, I thought. Had not even crossed my mind. I was so on guard against the enemy’s plans that I did not stop to think about what God wanted to release in its place.
As we discuss principalities, powers, and rulers, be comforted in the fact that it does not matter how specific you are in identifying its authority. For instance, when I go into a city and discern its atmospheres, I do not ask the Lord what sort of principalities or powers are ruling the environment. All I care about is the agenda or message these principalities and powers are broadcasting and seeding into the environment. If a city suffers under a spirit of suicide, it does not matter to me if this emanates from a world ruler, principality, or power. All I care about is reversing the devil’s work, renouncing partnership with it and asking God to release His broadcast in its place.
We should not constantly search for the principalities and powers; they are not ours to engage. God will send his angels to do the he
avy lifting as long as we humble ourselves and partner with how He wants us to pray. It is our job to provide support to His army through worship, praise, prophetic and scriptural declarations, acts of love, and intercession. We are God’s “terra-formers” who partner with Him to reclaim the earth’s territory for His reign. Our job is to cleanse the atmosphere; God’s job is to cast down the heavenly beings that rule these areas.
Many times, God will have us perform prophetic acts instead of actually engaging the enemy. Prophetic acts can be a lot of fun and sometimes a bit strange. My prophetic intercessor friends have repeatedly told me what God has asked them to do to shift regional atmospheres. Sometimes, God has asked them to take bread and cast it out onto a body of water. Other times, He has told them to take wine and pour it over a rock. Although we do not know what these acts of obedience accomplish, our simple acts of obedience open doors to the angelic.
GOD WILL SEND HIS ANGELS TO DO THE HEAVY LIFTING AS LONG AS WE HUMBLE OURSELVES AND PARTNER WITH HOW HE WANTS US TO PRAY.
Another way we can displace powers, principalities, and world rulers is to step past the four walls of the church and engage in community outreach. No city, nation, or region is truly free apart from God’s church sowing into the community. God’s people have a mandate to go outside the church and reveal the Kingdom of Heaven, for example, by feeding the poor, building businesses, and interceding for government officials. I feel compelled to repeat this verse from a previous chapter:
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