We are talking about how you should pray when you enter any home.

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Luke 10:5-7 "Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house.”

Luke 10:8-9 "Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'

You are assigned whatever house you enter. Because you choose to follow Jesus, He assigns to you every house you enter. You will be invited into homes that are connected to you because of friends or family. Also, Jesus might send you to strangers. Jesus wants you to prepare the way for Him to set a household free from evil. The assignment might be only for that moment you are there. You might enter a house only once, and never go back again. The next question is, what should you pray when you are there. There is no formula that works for every house, because every household has different needs. Listen to Jesus in your thoughts as you pray to Him, and ask Him to show you what to pray.

First say, ‘Peace to this house.’ You are actually saying this with your voice, and not just in your mind. This is a battle prayer. Peace in this case is not what the world thinks it is. Jesus is our peace. It says in Ephesians 2:14 that Jesus Himself is our peace, and He breaks down the barrier, the dividing wall between Him and the person who chooses to follow Him. When Jesus tells you to declare peace to a house, He is entering the home because He wants to bring down the barrier that separates the people from God. Bringing the barrier down is a battle. You can’t have true peace inside your heart and mind, without following Jesus. For those in the house who already have Jesus inside, they have true peace that remains in them. The rest are still in a battle.

Heal those who are sick or injured. You are invited to go to a house of someone connected to you somehow. Because you are invited and you decided to go, that should trigger you to ask Jesus how He wants you to pray for them. If anyone there is sick or injured, then ask Jesus to show you how to pray for them. If you ask to pray and they don’t want you to pray with them, then don’t. If they say yes, there is a high possibility that Jesus might heal someone. Healing can be more than just physical healing. If there is a healing it’s because the Kingdom of God has invaded their space, and you should tell them. It’s important to give Jesus credit because many will want to explain it away or give you the credit instead of giving the credit to Jesus.

The 70 were sent out to intentionally go door to door and declare peace over each home. They went in pairs, not alone. They weren’t invited when they knocked on each door. If they were invited in then they would pray for healing. I’ll talk about praying for cities, door to door, in other prayer coaching sessions and give more detail there for how we have prayed for entire cities. It is amazing that when we actually knocked on doors and asked if we could pray for the people, so many were desperate for healing and would invite us inside to pray.

Can you pray peace over houses while you are walking or jogging? Yes you can pray peace on each house. Also ask Jesus what else to pray. It’s not wise to engage people while you are walking or jogging alone, but you can still pray and ask Jesus to heal the people in each household as you pass by. You can pray God sends workers to each house. Most importantly you can pray and invite Jesus to enter each home to set them free from evil.

Pray for your own house as well. Jesus doesn’t specifically mention praying for your own household in Luke 10, but it is implied that you can. It is a house and you have been invited in. Start with declaring peace on the entire property and the whole house. How often should you do this? Whenever the idea pops into your thoughts, you should declare peace over the house. If there is any level of turmoil or conflict, you should pray for peace. If anyone in the house is ever sick or injured you should pray to Jesus for their healing. In this session I’m sticking to the text in Luke 10, but there will be more instructions in future prayer coaching sessions about ways you can pray for your own household.

Prayer coaching: “Jesus, I accept your assignment for me to pray for each home that I enter. Show me what to pray while I’m in each house that I visit. Remind me to declare peace over each house I enter. give me boldness to ask to pray for their healing, and humility to not pray if they say no. If you heal someone when I pray, may all the glory and credit go to You. Inspire me to pray when I walk or jog around my neighborhood. Show me how to pray for peace and healing over where I live. Send your workers to my neighborhood and to my home, my family and friends. Jesus, set them free from evil.”