Mighty Men Of Valor

Mighty Men of Valor

Prov 26:2

2 As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. (KJV)

The New King James Version says it this way:

Prov 26:2

2 Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight. (NKJ)

In other words, a curse doesn¡¦t just happen.

I¡¦ve said many times in the course of my ministry ¡V our lives at any given point are the results of the decisions that we’ve made.

„« We live in a society where taking responsibility is a diminishing commodity ¡V everything that happens to us is always someone else fault.

„« But the reality is our lives, whether good or bad, are the results of the decisions that we make.

This scripture that we just read tells us that a curse doesn¡¦t just happen ¡V there are reasons behind it.

Now, don¡¦t get all theological when you read the word, ¡§curse¡¨

It¡¦s easy to conjure up some ideas of a witch casting a spell or a curse on you ¡V but that is not what this is saying¡K

In the Word of God we can read a lot about ¡§blessings¡¨ and ¡§cursing¡¨

Let me show you something that is very easy to understand about this.

In Deut. Chapter 28 there is a series of scriptures that talk about the ¡§blessings¡¨ that will come upon God¡¦s people if they listen to what He says.

Then after several scriptures of blessings the Lord says, but if you don¡¦t listen to Me He lists a whole bunch of ways a person will be cursed.

Let me contrast two of these real quickly:

Deut 28:3

3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. (KJV)

Deut 28:16

16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. (KJV)

What the Lord is saying is NOT if you¡¦re blessed when you walk through the field you will be floating around on some spiritual cloud where you won¡¦t feel the heat of the sun and as you enter the city you won¡¦t smell the fumes of the car and be oblivious to everything that is going on around you.

Nor is it saying that if you are cursed that you are going to stub your toe on every rock, coyotes are going to swarm around you, birds are going to attack you and when you get in the city cars are going to run over your toes, people are going to mug you.

What you will see in the Word of God if you study the areas where it talks about the ¡§blessings¡¨ of God and the ¡§curse¡¨ is this very simple definition:

Blessing: Empowered to Prosper

Cursing: Empowered to Fail

The things that you are doing ¡V planting a field, working in business are empowered to prosper or fail ¡V in other words, the natural side of life receives empowerment from the spiritual realm according to the Word of God.

We are the result of the decisions that we have make, because there are spiritual implications to the natural decisions that we make

And we are either empowering ourselves by the Spirit of God to prosper (don¡¦t confuse prosper with just money)

Or we are empowering ourselves to fail and bring hardship into our lives.

The empowerment of failure does not come without reason according to Proverbs 26:2.

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Looking back at Deut. 28, as I stated the Lord illustrates every aspect of our life in how the blessing and how the curse works, but it all stems from or is based upon one single issue:

Deut 28:1-2

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: (NKJ)

The empowerment to prosper comes from the decisions we make to obey what God has said.

Deut 28:14

14 "So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand or to the left... (NKJ)

When we carefully keep ourselves in obedience to the Word of God we keep ourselves in a place of the Spirit (My Word is Spirit and life ¡V John 6:63) which empowers us to prosper.

Now notice:

Deut 28:15

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: (NKJ)