FREEDOM FROM GENERATIONAL CURSES
“Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:7)
It is obvious that patterns of sin are passed down through families. When we acquire or inherit a sinful habit or belief from our parents that negatively affects our lives or those around us, this is known as a “generational curse.” It is the shadow side of behavior passed down through the generations, but is it possible to break this cycle of suffering?
Family is important to God, and it is clear that he does not think merely in terms of individuals but also in terms of generations. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations. From David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until Christ are fourteen generations.”
When God looks at you, he also sees your family. He sees where you came from. He looks at your ancestors, and he looks at your children and grandchildren.
When making a covenant with Abraham, God never once said, “I’m going to bless you.” He always said, “I am going to bless you and your descendants.” (Genesis 22:17-18). Abraham obeyed God and was blessed, and his descendants were blessed, too, because blessings tend to run along blood lines.
Curses also run along blood lines. In Exodus 20:5-6, God warned the children of Israel not to follow false gods, saying, “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, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. “
The iniquity of the parents is carried on to the children to the third and fourth generations (Exodus 34:7), and the children have an inner inclination toward the same certain sinful habits. “Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their iniquities.”(Lamentations 5:7) Even though they may be dead and in the grave, their iniquity is sticking with us.
List of curses pronounced by God (Deuteronomy 27:15–26)
Most of these curses from God are generational curses.
1. “Cursed is anyone who makes an idol (a thing detestable to the Lord) and sets it up in secret. “
2. “Cursed is anyone who dishonors their father or mother.”
3. “Cursed is the one that does the work of the Lord deceitfully” (Jeremiah 48:10).
4. The Curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked (Proverbs 3:33).
5. “Curse is anyone who moves their neighbor’s boundary stone.”
6. “Cursed is anyone who leads the blind astray on the road.”
7. “Cursed is anyone who disobeys the Lord’s commandment” (Jeremiah 11:3).
8. “Cursed is anyone who gives nothing to the poor” (Proverbs 28:27).
9. “Cursed is anyone who robs God of tithes and offerings” (Malachi 3:9).
10. “Curse is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.”
11. “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he dishonors his father’s bed.”
12. “Cursed is anyone who has sexual relations with any animal.”
13. “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the mother of his mother.”
14. “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his mother-in-law.”
15. Cursed is anyone who rewards evil for good (Proverbs 17:13).
16. “Cursed is anyone who kills their neighbor secretly.”
17. “Cursed is anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.”
18. “Curse is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.”
19. Cursed is the person who trusts in man, who draws strength from flesh, and whose heart turns away from the Lord (Jeremiah 17:5).
20. Cursed is anyone who steals and swears falsely by the Lord’s name (Zechariah 5:4)
21. Cursed is anyone who makes graven images (Deuteronomy 5:8).
22. Cursed are the ministers who fail to give glory to God (Malachi 2:2).
SYMPTOMS OF CURSES
Poverty Alcoholism
Hereditary disease Drug addiction
Divorce Immorality
Child abuse Adultery
Sexual abuse Perversion
Domestic violence Depression
Confusion Fear
Panic attacks Indecision
Mental illness Suicide
Destructive attitudes and behaviors.
When you look at your family tree, do you see a pattern of any of these things? Do you struggle with a particular sin and see a history of that sin in past generations? Maybe you’ve been told that the depression or fear you deal with runs in the family, or perhaps you struggle with marital infidelity and can identify a pattern of affairs and divorce going back to a parent or grandparent. These could be symptoms of a generational curse.
BREAKING GENERATIONAL CURSES
The good news is that generational curses can be stopped today!
1. ACKNOWLEDGE THE CURSE AND MAKE THE DECISION TO BE FREE OF ALL GENERATIONAL CURSES.
If you are tired of a particular vice that runs in your family, it is time to be free and get blessed by God. Admit that you have a problem. We can change some dysfunctions in our lives (addiction, anger, time and/or money management, relational conflict, and eating and exercising issues) and change the whole course of our walk with God and of our future descendants, if we decide to break the ancestral curses by faith.
You can be free! John 8:31-36 reminds us that as we abide in Jesus Christ, we receive His freedom. Not only has Jesus set us free from our sins, but he has set us free from the penalty, the moral liability, and the ongoing curse of that sin! Jesus Christ is the Anointed One. That means he is the burden-removing, yoke-destroying power of God in our lives (Isaiah 10:27).
2. BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR PERSONAL LORD AND SAVIOR.
Take your hands off the controls of your life and allow God to be in control. For Jesus to become Lord of a person’s life involves absolute and total surrender. We are not on our own. We were bought at a price with the blood of Jesus. We belong to Jesus and are his purchased possession.
If you want a change in your life, if you want forgiveness, peace, and joy that you’ve never known before, God demands total surrender. He becomes the Lord and the ruler of your life. God said, “I know the plans I have for you—plans to prosper you and not to harm you—plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name (John 1:12); and “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
3. REPENTANCE AND CONFESSION OF SINS.
We must repent of obeying any fleshly desire that has led us to sin against God or other people, and turn from our sinful ways for good. Following this, we can then proceed to break any curses in our lives in Jesus’ name because the Son of God took on our curses on the cross.
If we [freely] admit our sins and confess them, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and He will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).Repent genuinely and confess the sins that caused the curse.
4. CONFESS THE SINS OF YOUR PARENTS AND FOREFATHERS.
The Lord declares that He will visit “the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me…” (Exodus 20:5). The visitation of the iniquity of the forefathers functions to hold a person captive and to enslave them, to rob them of their freedom, and hinder their growth and maturity in God.
Why would God want you to confess the sins of your father or mother when you had nothing to do with their sins in the first place?
By confessing aloud the heinous sins your sinful parent has committed against the Lord, you are demonstrating to Him that you have the knowledge and understanding that these original sins are what have caused all of these events to occur in your own personal life.
If you can trace back through your family line any type of heavier sin or sins that your grandparents may have been involved in, it would be my strong recommendation that you also confess the sins of these grandparents, and possibly your great grandparents if you can trace some of these heavier sins that far back.
But if they confess their iniquity and THE INIQUITY OF THEIR FATHERS, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham. I will remember…” (Leviticus 26:40, 42)
5. BREAK THE CURSE.
A generational curse comes through the blood line and can only be cancelled by blood. The blood of Jesus has the power to release the grip of all generational curses. “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Revelation 12:11)
Take Jesus’ authority and power and verbally command this curse line to be fully broken in the name of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us in Matthew 16:19 that whatever we bind or loose on this earth will be bound or loosed up in heaven. In other words, God has already given us His power, anointing, and authority to trample over all the power of our enemies—and some of our enemies are definitely demonic spirits who reside in curses.
In the name of Jesus, command every inch and every part of this curse line to be completely broken, completely severed, and completely demolished.
“Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).
6. DRAW NEAR TO JESUS CHRIST CONTINUOUSLY.
We need to continue drawing near to Jesus Christ, who “redeemed us from the curse of the law” and ask Him, who became a curse for us, for His help and guidance. Once we make a U-turn from generational curses and consequences, we need to continuously repent of these bad influences from our ancestors and our sins. Removing these toxic influences from our spirit takes time and effort (remember that Rome was also not built overnight). Whether we admit it or not, our ancestor’s dysfunctional habits may stick with us for a while, even if we have become a new creation in God and want to be free of them as soon as possible.
For instance, one of Abram’s weaknesses was his tendency to lie when he faced challenges. When Abram was going to God’s promised land, he encountered a famine, and that led him and his wife to live in Egypt for a while. At that time, Abram was afraid of new people there, so he asked his wife, Sarai, to pretend she was his sister (Genesis 12:11–14). Due to his lie, he got into trouble. However, by the grace of God, he overcame that difficulty, though this lying habit was passed on to his son, Isaac. He lied that his wife, Rebekah, was his sister (Genesis 26:7-9). Later, many of us remember the story of their twin boys, Esau and Jacob. Jacob also lied to his father, Isaac, to get the birthright (Genesis 27). This kind of dysfunction has been transferred through the three generations. Finally, Joseph, one of Jacob’s sons, changed the lying habit and lived before the Lord by repenting of the sins of his ancestors and his own.
With our own strength, we cannot change the course of our lives and the next generations. However, with the help of Jesus Christ, who redeemed us from the curse of the law and became a curse on behalf of us on the cross, we can break the generational curses and consequences by repenting of the ancestral sins and our own.
You will be blessed if you believe in His promises.
7. LEAVE A BLESSING FOOTPRINT FOR YOUR CHILDREN.
Our forefathers messed up their lives by sinning against God. That got us stuck where we are right now. After being delivered from generational curses, let us leave a good legacy of blessing to our descendants, so that they will not have to deal with generational curse battles.
After making a firm decision to leave where our ancestors used to be trapped and where we are, let us keep moving toward God, who is our Heavenly Father. The Lord our God has many godly characteristics and divine genes. When we come to God and ask Him for these heavenly blessings, He will abundantly pour them upon each of us, His children, and help us become “an Abraham” in our family to begin forming an incredible family history and tree. And God promised Abraham “that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22:17-18)
One step at a time in our journey of faith and by examining ourselves through the Word, repenting of our sins, renewing our minds, and following in the perfect footprints of our Lord, we can not only choose life and Jesus Christ but also pass on our God-given wonderful legacy to our descendants. In the future, when they look at their family tree, they will really appreciate the footprints we leave, whether they are big or small, for our children or grandchildren to walk in.
https://mountzionblog.org/freedom-from-generational-curses/
PRAYER TO ELIMINATE GENERATIONAL CURSES
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, I come to you sincerely with a desire to be free from all curses and their results. Lord Jesus, I thank you for saving me and cleansing away my sin at the cross. I confess with my mouth that I belong to you. The devil has no power over me because I am cleansed and covered by your precious blood.
I now confess all of my sins, known and unknown. I repent of them now in the name of Jesus. I ask you, Lord, to forgive me. I now confess the sins of all of my forefathers. In the name and by the blood of Jesus Christ, I break and renounce the power of every demonic curse that was passed down to me through the sins and actions of others. In the name of Jesus Christ, I break the power and the hold of every generational curse that came to me through sin, my sins and the sins of my forefathers.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I break the power and hold of every curse that came to me through words spoken and through disobedience—mine or my forefathers’.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I now renounce, break, and free myself and my family from all demonic subjection to my father, mother, grandparents, or any other human being, living or dead, who has ever in the past or is now dominating or controlling me or my family in any way contrary to the Word and will of God.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I renounce, break, and free myself and my family from all psychic heredity, demonic strongholds, psychic power, bondage, or curses upon me and my family line as a result of sins, transgressions, iniquities, or occult or psychic involvement of any member of my family line, living or dead.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I declare every legal hold and every legal ground of the enemy broken and destroyed. Through the curses, Satan no longer has a legal right to harass my family line. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, I am free. Thank you, Jesus, for setting me free.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I command all demonic spirits that are harassing me through curses to leave me now. Go! in the name of Jesus! I confess that my body, soul, and spirit are the dwelling places of the Spirit of God. I am redeemed, cleansed, sanctified, and justified by the blood of Jesus. Therefore, neither Satan nor his demons have any place in me nor any power over me because of Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for setting me free!
(Author Unknown-This prayer has been used all over the world to cut off generational curses and/or occult activities. It is important to pray it out loud to God).
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil… I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live ” (Deuteronomy 30:15,19).
James Dina(james@mountzionblog.org)
25th January 2021
https://mountzionblog.org/freedom-from-generational-curses/
WORKS CITED
1. “Are Generational Curses Biblical?” by Hank Hanegraaff.
2. “Breaking Generational Curses” by Duane Vander Klok
3. “The Lordship of Jesus Christ” by Dr. Roger D. Willmore
4. “Dealing with Your Daddy’s Devil” (Page 91) by Dr. Ivery White.
5. “30 Things the Blood of Jesus Does” by Kristi Winkler.
6. “The 6 Steps to Breaking a Generational Curse” by Michael Bradley.
7. “How to Break a Generational Curse” by Rev. Caleb Kim sermon.
8. “Warrior’s Prayer Book for Spiritual Warfare” by Kathryn McBride.
