International School of The Bible
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13 Kingdom of God
Curses and Blessings
“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13). One of the greatest tools that the "power of darkness" has is generational curse. One of the greatest benefits of the Kingdom of God is to release us from all kinds of curses.
Genesis 22:1-2 says, "Now it came to pass after these things that God tested [to assay] Abraham, and said to him, 'Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am'. Then He said, 'Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.'"
There have been many speculations, wonderful sermons and even books on Genesis chapter 22, as to why God asked Abraham to obey such a command to take the life of his promised son Isaac, or the life of any human being.
What I am writing here is not the only application for this very important chapter, but I can tell you how God used this in many real life situations with my wife and me and other personal friends. I can tell you how He taught this to us in our own personal lives and in the lives of those close to us, and during circumstances that truly stretched the fiber of faith of all involved.
These experiences had to do with generational curses. We have dealt with many and have watched the Lord overcome them through many trials and with much grace and mercy. He is still at work in our lives, as He is in the lives of all of His children.
This chapter is a type and shadow of God offering His own Son Jesus on the Cross and the resulting resurrection. It shows that when one blood covenant partner gives his son, then the other one is obligated to give His Son. This story shows that God does indeed "test" us, not so that we may pass or fail a test, but so that He can "assay" us to see if we continually follow and obey Him no matter the cost. He already knows how the test will come out, He simply wants us to know ourselves, and, I suppose, there is a display here for Satan as well.
Beyond these wonderful symmetries and analogies there is another, sometimes overlooked, issue; God was walking Abraham up the hill in order to overcome his generational curses.
I submit that Abraham and Sarah were under the curse of being without child. That was one of the most serious and shameful maladies of that age. God gave Abram the promise of having a child, and through that child many nations would be blessed. Abram did his best to obey and follow the Lord, but as recorded in Genesis chapter 16, he took matters into his own hands and produced Ishmael. Then, as recorded in Genesis chapter 21, the supernatural promise was fulfilled; Isaac, the son of promise, was born of barren Sarah and Abraham. One would have thought that the issue of being childless was over. Right? Wrong!
I submit that Isaac and Abraham were still subject to the curse and that they needed to complete the overcoming process with God to destroy the curse.
Deuteronomy chapter 28 is a good place to study curses and blessings.
A curse is the opposite of a blessing. A blessing is some type of prosperity from God that is the result of good and positive words or deeds. A curse is some type of failure caused or propagated by wicked or negative words or deeds that can be perpetrated by people and satanic beings. In Deuteronomy 28 Moses lists the blessings if one obeys the commandments of God, and the curses if one does not obey the commandments of God. According to Deuteronomy27-30, blessings come by hearing and obeying God, and curses come by not hearing and/or not obeying God. The good or evil acts from former generations come down to you as well.
Exodus 34:5-8 says that curses are passed down to future generations. "Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation" (Exodus 34:7).
God's original purpose was for us to have blessings passed down to future generations, which would have resulted from man's free will in right relationship to Him. However, justice demands that if blessings can be passed down, so must curses be passed down.
Notice, in this passage of Scripture there seems to be a paradox. How can God keep mercy and forgive or remove sin, but not clear the guilty?
No one knew how this was possible until Jesus was revealed as the Lamb of God. God's entire wrath was put on Jesus at the Cross; nothing was left out. All of your curses and mine were on Jesus. That is how God can remove, or forgive, our curse and still remain just to not clear the guilty. He made Jesus "guilty" for you and me.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could just read the Bible, discover that we are forgiven and that Jesus took our curse, then say a nice tidy prayer and see the blessings come? Sorry, often it does not work that way, although sometimes it has and can. Prayer can break curses, however my experience has been going through the hard times of the overcoming process, much in the same way Abraham did with Isaac.
Here are some facts about generational curses extracted (in part) from the book Blessing or Curse.
1. The penalty for sin is the curse. The curse of eternal separation is the ultimate curse. If that has been settled, what about those of a lesser penalty? If He annulled death, He also annulled your curse.
2. A curse or a blessing is a supernatural power for good or for bad. Deuteronomy 28:21 says they cling, verse 29 says none can save.
3. Curses and blessings can be generational, passed down. They can be on families, nations, races, and regions.
4. Curses are usually propagated by words spoken, written or inward or by objects.
5. Curses are like a long arm from the past. Wrestling against shadows.
6. The primary cause of a curse is not hearing and obeying God, Deuteronomy 28.
Some indications of a curse.
I do not believe that all of the following conditions always have to do with a curse, but they certainly make up a checklist to look into. Please do not take all of these as absolute indications that there is a curse operating in your life. I have seen exceptions. These outlines are taken (in part) from the book Blessing or Curse by Derek Prince, referred to above.
1. Mental or emotional breakdown.
2. Repeated or chronic sicknesses, especially if hereditary.
3. Barrenness, and/or a tendency to miscarry, or related female problems.
4. Breakdown of marriage and family alienation.
5. Continuing financial insufficiency.
6. Being accident prone.
7. A history of suicides and unnatural deaths.
8. Rebellion.
9. Demon activity.
10.Continuing failure, and the inability to succeed.
11.Inordinate sexual orientation.
12.Substance abuse such as alcohol and drugs.
13.Inordinate eating habits.
14.Other addictions.
If you feel that some of these may apply to you, don’t feel condemned, just convicted enough to be honest. I have been delivered from many curses. The problem is that many people do not wish to agree with God about their condition. Therefore they cannot be delivered. Allow Jesus to take your curse and your sin. He already did, now just appropriate it. Be honest with Him! It may be less painful to avoid the truth, but you will stay in bondage.
Some sources of curses.
Deuteronomy 27:17 says the person that moves the boundaries is cursed. God gave us boundaries, and when we transgress them, we are cursed.
1. False Gods, Exodus 20:3-5.
2. Idolatry (occult), Deuteronomy 27:15.
3. Disrespect for parents, Proverb 30:17.
4. Treachery…neighbor, Proverb 17:13.
5. Injustice to the weak and poor, Proverb 28:27.
6. Unnatural sex/incest, Leviticus 20:10-16.
7. Anti-Semitism, Genesis 12:3, 27:29.
8. Depending on the flesh, Jeremiah 17:5-7.
9. Stealing/perjury, Zechariah 5:1-4.
10.Stinginess, Malachi 3:8-10.
11.Perverting the true Gospel, Galatians 1:8-9.
12.Living by legalism, by the Law, and not by grace, Galatians 3:10.
13.Self-imposed (speaking negative words, and/or personal sin), Genesis 27:11-13, Matthew 27:24-25.
14.Servants of Satan, others cursing you like Balaam and Goliath, Numbers 22:6, 23:11-13, 1 Sam. 17:43.
15.Deuteronomy 28:15 says that if we do not obey His commands, all these curses will come upon us. Most of the time we recognize our sin, and when we confess it we are cleansed. However, God commands us to “fear not.” Fear, which is born out of an ignorance of God’s great love for us, can bring curses. Fear can be the spirit connector to the curse.
A curse cannot attach itself without a cause. “Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, So a curse without cause shall not alight” (Proverbs 26:2).
The way to make every curse have no cause is to cooperate in its transfer to Jesus, who bore it for us, and to hear and obey the Word of God. When we miss it, we confess our sin and we come back into right standing and obedience. (1 John 1:9).
Removal of the curse was a promise to Israel.
We, the church, are reaping the benefits of the New Covenant ahead of time. Natural Israel will also enter into the New Covenant as told by Jeremiah. Jeremiah describes the promise in Jeremiah 31:29-34. However verses 29-30 gives a great picture that I urge you to keep in your mind and spirit. “In those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge” (Jeremiah 31:29,30).
Jesus was the fulfillment of this promise. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)” (Galatians 3:13).
The steps for becoming free from a curse are:
1. Confess your faith in the finished work of the Cross, that Jesus took every curse that could come on you. Lift up Jesus, as the Israelites lifted up the snake on the brass pole (Numbers 21). Place the reaping of the consequences of sin, perhaps that of your forefathers or even your own, on the Cross.
2. Confess your faith that Jesus is the Son of God, the only way to God, and that He died on the Cross and rose again.
3. Repentance is a powerful way to deal with curses. Repent from all rebellion and sin, and submit to Jesus as Lord. This may include your personal repentance as well as corporate repentance for your family or whoever is affected by this curse. In the case of our children, we should repent for them, and for our forefathers who may have passed this curse down as well as for ourselves. Look back at your forefathers’ sins and forgive them. Then put the fruit of those sins on the Cross of Jesus who bore their fruit. Look at yourself and ask God to forgive you. Then look forward and ask God to forgive your children and pray to put the fruit of generational curses on Jesus instead of on them. Repentance in this manner is powerful. My wife and I can testify to that. We have seen supernatural blessings occur in this area.
4. Claim forgiveness for all of your sins, especially for the sins that exposed you to a curse. Ask for release from consequences of your ancestor’s sins.
5. Forgive others who have wronged you or disappointed you.
6. Renounce all contact with anything occult or satanic, including objects that represent them.
7. Replace the void created with the Word of God. Ask God to give you the Word that will counteract the curse you have renounced. Then meditate upon it, memorize it, and continually confess it.
8. Know that victory is on the subtraction side, "it is no longer I who live. On the addition side it is "Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). Your old nature cannot be changed; it will always be subject to the curse. Your new nature is Christ, who is no longer vulnerable to the curse. He defeated all curses at the Cross.
However, the only way you can see this is through personal intimacy with the Lord Jesus. That will require that you become as a little child. Wounds of many types, including a curse itself, may close your heart. Stuffing your true feelings and emotions also cause inner wounds and cut you off from intimacy from the Lord.
You should know that Jesus is a safe person. Pour your heart's most desperate cry out to Him. As you do this, you will encounter Him intimately, and you will be on your way to healing.
Overcoming a curse may come immediately or it may take some time.
Often it takes a period of time to become totally loosed from the affects of a curse. With some it is immediate, with me it has more often required a lengthy process. I am not trying to bottle up God in a formula. He can work any way He wills. I am just giving you what my experience has been and how it has lined up with Scripture. We have seen victory and overcoming when we have lived out the overcoming lifestyle as I have explained. "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death" (Revelation 12:11). We have also seen immediate manifestations of the path of healing and deliverance when we identified the problem and confessed our sin with repentance. Our job is to be honest and repent, God has the plan and the path customized for your life.
Often, this time element is designed to bring us to our Mount Moriah as Abraham was. As we "take up our cross," and put our "knife" to things in our lives that need to be sacrificed, we experience freedom, purpose and blessings as did Abrham.
Pull the chain around the tree.
I heard someone from Derek Prince ministries tell a wonderful way to stand once we meet the conditions. He used the analogy of a giant Redwood tree. Sometimes they do not simply saw them down. Instead they will wrap a chain around the huge trunk and tighten it with a winch. Every so often they come and tighten up a few more notches. The tree is dead once this happens; yet it still has great foliage on it. Every so often the workmen come back and tighten the chain, more and more, until the manifestation of the death is obvious. When we meet the conditions as stated above, our curse is also dead, but it may still have fruit and foliage. Just continue to tighten up your chain by living the overcoming lifestyle!
That is what we are doing as we position ourselves to be free from curses in our lives. We have strapped down the chain. Now simply tighten it by living the overcoming lifestyle. Remember to “keep your garden clean,” or in other words, walk a life worthy of the Lord as in Ephesians 4:1. Stay out of strife and live your life in love and forgiveness.
Suggested prayers.
Scriptural basis: “Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that on the cross you took every curse that could come on me.”
Faith in Christ: “You are the Son of God, the only way to God; you died on the cross and rose again.”
Repentance: “I give up all rebellion and sin, and I submit to you as Lord and Master.”
Claim forgiveness: “I confess all my sins and ask your forgiveness, especially for sins that exposed me to a curse. Release me also from consequences of my ancestors' sins.”
Forgive: “By a decision of my will, I forgive all who have wronged or disappointed me--just as I want God to forgive me.”
Renounce: “I renounce all contact with anything occult or satanic. If I have “contact objects” I commit myself to destroy them. I cancel all Satan's claims against me.” (See pp. 68-71 of Blessing or Curse: You Can Choose for list of occult practices. See pp. 121-124 of They Shall Expel Demons for five signs of a cult.)
Release: “I ask you now to release me from every curse over my life. In your Name, Jesus, I release myself.
Now receive the exchange.
|
Blessings |
Curses |
|
Exaltation |
Humiliation |
|
Reproductiveness |
Barrenness |
|
Health |
Sickness of all kinds |
|
Prosperity |
Poverty or failure |
|
Victory |
Defeat |
|
Authority (head) |
Helplessness (tail) |
|
Above (strength) |
Beneath (weakness) |
Here is the point to remember. God’s solution for us is to see and believe.
There is a spiritual reality behind everything in the natural realm. The spiritual and invisible world is all around us but we cannot see it with our natural eyes. It is upholding everything that we can see with our eyes. Paul prayed in Ephesians chapter 1 that the people would have eyes to see the spiritual world. Ephesians 1:17,18 says, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” When we see the truth of the spiritual world, we will know the truth and we will be free, as Jesus said in John chapter 8.
Paul’s prayer is that you and I may see the riches of the glory that is our inheritance. What is this glory? Colossians 1:27 says, “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The glory, the blessing is, Christ in you! You, the old person that is subject to curses, have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20), however the new man, Christ in you, is now living. And guess what, Christ in you cannot be subject to curses!
The fact that curses are attempting to overtake you is based upon a lie!
If Christ lives in you, then the issue of curses hurting you is legally settled. However now you must possess that truth for yourself by seeing and believing. You must continue to see what is going on in the spiritual realm and affirming the truth of what you see. That is the only way to make it, because some curses don’t just release the next day. Some demonic strongholds don’t just go away like a scared dog. It may take patience and a lot of time affirming and testifying to the truth of the Cross. At the same time you must live a holy life, in other words an honest life, so that your testimony is effective with God and with Satan. It may take some time for your mind to become renewed or the genetic factors to change, but as you continue to see and believe you are overcoming.
Seeing is your God given heritage as a child of God “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9,10).
Remember our previous statements regarding curses.
While they are not desirable in our lives, they can be the raw material for “jewels” for the Kingdom of God. Remember the theme of the Book of Revelation. We saw Jesus at God’s throne holding our Scroll with our curses recorded therein. After the process in Revelation, we see in its final chapters jewels making up God’s Kingdom.
On the Cross Jesus was cursed. In Hell He was cursed. But God spoke resurrection life into Him and He is now King! That same resurrection life spoken to you will also transform you and your life.
Now, let's refer back to Abraham and Isaac.
The following passage is Genesis 22:3-14.
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you."
6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.
7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"
8 And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am."
12 And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."
13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of The LORD it shall be provided.
I ask you a question. If the ram caught in the thicket represents the substitution of Jesus being slain for our sins and our curses, then where and when did that animal appear, at the bottom of the hill or at the top? Actually, it is over the top of the hill. The ram was over the top; it could not be seen until Abram was at the top.
In like manner, where does the Lamb of God appear foryour curse? In your easy chair, or in white knuckles and bloody fingernails prayer and searching the Word to hear what God is saying about your life and death situation?
Notice the promise and confirmation of blessings and anointed ministry after this type of testing and trial!
Genesis 22:15-19 says,
Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,
16 and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son --
17 "blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba."
I have often wondered why Abraham believed that Isaac could be raised from the dead. "[Abraham] concluding that God was able to raise him [Isaac] up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense" (Hebrews 11:19).
Could it have been that when God appeared to Abraham that he saw not only the incarnation, as Jesus stated in John 8:56, but that he also saw Jesus the resurrected One?
When God takes what He promised to us, and even the promises that we have already received, through death and resurrection, they are ours for eternity. Satan can no longer take them. Also, these resurrected promises are tools in the hand of God to perform His mighty purposes on earth and for eternity!
Can you see this resurrected One in your circumstance? Can you see God walking you up your hill? Has He failed to give you the miracle at the bottom of this hill? Maybe it is for your benefit and for the benefit of His Kingdom. Maybe it is to put some generational demons into early retirement as in the Book of Revelation chapters 20-22.
Can you see Him bringing you face to face with the absolute worse conclusion to your suffering and tribulation right now? Will you walk all the way up the hill praising Him every step of the way? Will you just stop everything and concentrate on Jesus in the Word and in prayer long enough for Him to make this real in your life so that you will have the confidence of Abraham?
Now it is up to you to add obedience to these truths.
“But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God” (James 2:20-23).
Deuteronomy 28:1-15, NKJV.
1 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
2 “And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:
3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
4 “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 “The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8 “The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
9 “The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways.
10 “Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you.
11 “And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.
12 “The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
13 “And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.
14 “So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15 “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:”
Assay: an examination and analysis of something, chemical testing carried out to determine the composition or a substance of the concentration of various components in a substance, a sample of material for analysis.
Prince, Derek. Blessing or Curse. Grand Rapids, MI: Chosen Books, 1990
Prince, Derek. They Shall Expel Demons. Grand Rapids, MI: Chosen Books, 1998