Breaking Generational Curses
11/29/2013 09:13
Curses and blessings are important concepts throughout the Bible, and understanding as much as we can about them can not only bring change in our own lives, but empower us to help set others free to move in greater destiny.
A curse can’t just happen. There has to be a cause.
Proverbs 26:2 “Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight.”
A curse comes upon us three different ways:
1. Through rebellion of our past generations
2. Through our own rebellion
3. Through words that place curses on us
The Bible uses three distinct words: iniquity, sin, and transgression and we tend to roll them into one and the same. They are distinct not only in name but function and knowing these differences can help us understand curses and how they can affect us.
And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, Exodus 20:1-5
Notice in this passage that “iniquity” is directly associated with a generational inheritance or curse. An iniquity is what is passed down to children. It means “bend towards, a certain predisposition to a sin, inclination, inclined towards, and tendency.”
A car out of alignment has a tendency to pull to one side or the other. An iniquity is a tendency to commit a certain sin over and over, seemingly uncontrollably. According to Romans 5 and Genesis 1, everything produces after its own kind. Iniquity reproduces itself and is something that is passed down generationally. Iniquities are like wicked seed—once sown they produce fruit. This can be seen as a cultural trait in a nation. When a person continually transgresses a sin, iniquity is born and it passes on and gets stronger with each succeeding generation.
We may not necessarily be fighting a sin, but something much more powerful—an iniquity. A curse means to be hemmed in and those under the influence of the curse of an iniquity are literally hemmed in and bound to this generational curse.
The good news is that the power of iniquity was dealt with at the cross in the Great Exchange and there is a Biblical model for breaking free from iniquity.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.Isaiah 53:4-6
We’ve already discussed what an iniquity is. “Sin” means the sin nature of Satan, the nature Adam assumed from Satan through rebellion as spoken of in Romans 5. “Transgressions” are trespasses, acts of sin, sins of the flesh, and rebellions.
On the cross, Jesus dealt not only with sin and transgression, but also iniquity. So, here’s how to deal with iniquity or generational curses:
Trace the roots of your family and examine the sins, habits, failures that were in their lives. See if there is any witchcraft, anger, mental breakdowns, alcoholism, greed, pornography, incest, control and manipulation. It is often said that people who are alcoholics are the children of alcoholics. Look for certain traits that are common in the family or the race.
Then do what Daniel did. He set a model for us in breaking transgressions.
Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.
“O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.
“As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!
“O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us.
Daniel 9:3-16
There is liberty to confessing the iniquities of our fathers, and because of the Great Exchange, we are privileged with an additional bunker buster—the blood of Jesus. Follow this model:
- Forgive the curser
- Reject and rebuke the curse
- Bind and cast out the curse
- Place the blood of Jesus as a permanent separation
- Close the door
- Give praise and thanksgiving to God
As God responded to Daniel by sending angels, the heavens will open to you in ways you never knew before. You may even feel iniquity lift from you, you’ll see more clearly and a greater alertness will become a blessing to you. In the past, iniquity held you in such bondage that habitual sin was reflexive and seemingly uncontrollable. Moving forward that trigger is broken and it’s very important that you not yield to this particular sin again in order to remain free.
Based on Daniel’s model and Isaiah 53, here’s a prayer model to follow:
“Holy Father, I come to you in the Name of Jesus. I forgive my ancestors (name them specifically if you can) for the sin and iniquity of_______________. I reject and rebuke the curse that came with that iniquity. I ask forgiveness for my participation in it. I bind and cast that iniquity out of my life in the Name of Jesus. I confess and place the blood of Jesus as a barrier to that generational curse. It’s permanently broken from my life. I close the door to the sin of __________ from my life. I praise you Holy Father for complete deliverance. Thank you Jesus for setting me free from sin through your blood and sacrifice. Amen”
dmcb
Related:
Categories of Causes that Bring Curses
