CHANGE THE ATMOSPHERE
Don’t Just Cast It Out—Fill the Room
There are some environments you walk into and immediately recognize:
Something needs to change.
Maybe it’s your home.
Your workplace.
Your ministry.
Your family.
Your community.
Or maybe the atmosphere that needs changing isn’t around you at all.
Maybe it’s inside you.
During this June 17 livestream, we talked about spiritual authority, praise, fear, pride, unbelief, deliverance and the responsibility believers have to carry the presence and truth of God wherever He sends us.
But underneath all of it was one central idea:
Don’t merely identify the atmosphere. Bring something different into it.
You Don’t Have to Become What You Walk Into
One of the easiest things to do is absorb whatever is happening around us.
Someone else is anxious, and suddenly we’re anxious.
Everyone is complaining, and before long we’re complaining too.
Fear enters the conversation, and now everybody is rehearsing worst-case scenarios.
Chaos enters the room, and we become chaotic.
But what if believers stopped merely reflecting environments and began asking God how we should respond within them?
We carry something.
Peace.
Truth.
Love.
Prayer.
Praise.
The Gospel.
The presence of God.
That doesn’t mean we control every environment or every person in it.
It means the environment doesn’t have to control us.
Praise Is an Assignment
During this livestream, I talked about praise as an assignment.
Praise isn’t merely background music before the “important” part of ministry begins.
Praise turns our attention toward God.
Psalm 117 says:
“Praise the LORD, all nations!
Laud Him, all peoples!
For His lovingkindness prevails over us…”
Notice that word:
Prevails.
Sometimes the atmosphere is telling you everything that’s wrong.
Praise reminds your soul of Who is still right.
Sometimes your circumstances are shouting.
Praise says:
God is still faithful.
Sometimes fear wants the microphone.
Praise says:
Give that back. 🤣
We’re going to talk about Jesus.
Always Led in Triumph
Second Corinthians 2:14 says that God always leads us in triumph in Christ.
Not triumph in ourselves.
Not triumph because we’re louder than everybody else.
Not triumph because we’ve mastered some spiritual formula.
In Christ.
☝🏽
Yes.
The foam finger has entered the blog again. 🤣
#1 JESUS.
Our confidence is Christ.
Our victory is Christ.
Our identity is Christ.
Our message is Christ.
And if God uses us to bring light into a dark environment, we don’t walk away saying:
“Look what I did.”
We say:
“Look what Jesus did.”
What Is the Strongman in the Room?
During the livestream, I also addressed fear, pride and unbelief.
And this deserves examination.
Sometimes we become so focused on what we believe is happening spiritually around us that we neglect what’s happening within us.
Fear can influence decisions.
Pride can keep us from correction.
Unbelief can make us double-minded.
James warns that the double-minded person is unstable.
One minute:
“God said it!”
Twenty minutes later:
“But what if…”
🤣
Anybody?
Spiritual maturity doesn’t mean we’ll never feel fear or have questions.
It means those things don’t get to become our masters.
We can acknowledge fear without obeying it.
We can recognize doubt without building our theology around it.
We can allow God to expose pride without defending it.
Because sometimes the first atmosphere God wants to change is the atmosphere of our own heart.
Unapologetic and Unbothered
I used those words during the livestream:
Unapologetic.
Unbothered.
But let me clarify what I mean.
Being unapologetic about Jesus doesn’t mean being rude.
Being unbothered doesn’t mean being insensitive.
It means I have settled Who I belong to.
I don’t need everyone to understand my obedience before I obey.
I don’t need universal approval before I follow Jesus.
I don’t have to shrink my relationship with Christ to make someone else comfortable.
And I don’t have to argue with everybody who disagrees with me.
Sometimes being unbothered looks surprisingly peaceful:
“I hear you. I’m still following Jesus.”
🤣
And then you keep walking.
When the Word Takes Over
Acts 19 gives us an extraordinary picture.
As the name of Jesus became known, people responded.
Lives changed.
Practices changed.
People who had been involved in magic brought their books together and burned them publicly.
And then Scripture gives us this powerful summary:
The Word of the Lord continued to grow and prevail mightily.
That’s what I want.
Not merely an emotional moment.
Not merely somebody feeling something during prayer.
Transformation.
Something that was controlling a person’s life loses its grip, and the Word of God begins occupying that territory instead.
That’s Kingdom advancement.
Don’t Just Empty the House
And this is where Matthew 12 becomes incredibly important.
Jesus described an unclean spirit leaving a person and later returning to find the house:
empty, swept and put in order.
Empty.
That’s the problem.
Deliverance isn’t merely about getting rid of something.
What are you filling the space with?
If God delivers you from an old pattern, don’t leave the space empty.
Fill it with truth.
If you stop participating in something destructive, establish something healthy in its place.
If you stop feeding fear, start feeding faith.
If you remove ungodly influences, increase your exposure to God’s Word.
If God helps you break an old habit, establish a new rhythm.
If you’ve been delivered from something—
don’t romanticize the old house.
🤣
Fill the house.
Fill the Room
This may be one of the most practical lessons in spiritual warfare.
We can become obsessed with what needs to leave.
Fear has to leave.
Pride has to leave.
Unbelief has to leave.
Bondage has to leave.
Sin has to leave.
Yes.
But then what?
Jesus, fill the room.
Fill my thoughts.
Fill my conversations.
Fill my home.
Fill my business.
Fill my ministry.
Fill my relationships.
Fill my schedule.
Fill the places that used to be occupied by something else.
Because freedom isn’t merely the absence of bondage.
It’s the opportunity to become increasingly occupied with Christ.
Isaiah 61: Why Freedom Matters
Isaiah 61 has been foundational to ministry because it reveals God’s heart for people who are hurting, bound and broken.
Good news.
Healing.
Liberty.
Freedom.
Restoration.
But freedom has a purpose.
God doesn’t simply bring us out.
He begins rebuilding.
Restoring.
Establishing.
Transforming.
And eventually, the person who needed restoration may become someone God uses to help restore others.
That’s the beauty of redemption.
Your broken place doesn’t have to become your permanent address.
Signs Follow the Word
Mark 16 connects proclamation of the Gospel with God’s activity.
And I love the order.
We don’t need to manufacture manifestations to prove something about ourselves.
Preach Jesus.
Obey God.
Pray.
Serve.
Go where He sends you.
Trust Him with what follows.
The purpose isn’t to build fascination around supernatural experiences.
The purpose is to point people toward Jesus Christ.
☝🏽
Foam finger.
Again.
🤣
Don’t Boast in People
Then 1 Corinthians 3:21 brings us right back to something God seems determined to keep emphasizing:
“Let no one boast in men.”
Don’t build your faith around personalities.
Don’t become so impressed with a vessel that you forget the Source.
Don’t make an idol out of the person God used to help you.
Thank God for people.
Honor people appropriately.
Learn from people.
Love people.
But—
worship God.
The person holding the microphone isn’t Jesus.
The person praying isn’t Jesus.
The person teaching isn’t Jesus.
The person writing this blog isn’t Jesus.
And if I ever accidentally become the thing you’re staring at—
🤣☝🏽
LOOK UP.
Then Psalm 91
And after praying, teaching, interceding and addressing spiritual warfare, we ended by declaring Psalm 91.
That feels appropriate.
Because ultimately our security isn’t found in our ability to identify every possible threat.
Our security is found in God.
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty…”
Dwells.
Not visits occasionally.
Dwells.
Maybe that’s the final answer to changing an atmosphere.
Before we worry about what we’re carrying into territories, perhaps we should ask:
What am I dwelling in?
Because eventually, what fills us is what we carry.
If I dwell in fear, I’ll carry fear.
If I continually consume outrage, I’ll carry outrage.
If I live in comparison, I’ll carry insecurity.
But if I abide in Christ—
I can carry His peace into chaos.
His truth into confusion.
His love into hostility.
His hope into despair.
His Gospel into darkness.
And His praise into places where nobody else is praising.
So when you enter the room, don’t simply ask:
“What’s happening here?”
Ask:
“WHAT AM I CARRYING?”
Then pray.
Praise.
Speak truth.
Love people.
Preach Jesus.
Stand firm.
Stay filled.
And wherever God sends you—
CHANGE THE ATMOSPHERE.
But don’t merely cast something out.
Fill the room.
Fill it with the Word.
Fill it with praise.
Fill it with truth.
Fill it with love.
Fill it with the Gospel.
And above everything else—
make room for Jesus.
☝🏽
Closing Prayer
Father, before we ask You to change anything around us, search what is happening within us. Deliver us from fear, pride, unbelief and double-mindedness. Teach us to remain rooted in Your Word and confident in Christ rather than controlled by our surroundings. Where You bring freedom, teach us to fill that newly surrendered space with Your truth and Your presence. Let our praise redirect our attention toward You. Make us carriers of peace, truth, love and the Gospel wherever You send us. Keep us dwelling under Your covering, abiding in Christ and pointing people toward Jesus rather than ourselves. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Charnette Kay ⚔️
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