We are studying in detail about blessings and curses to fathom all that the word of God has to convey about this. There are so many who are held down by several curses that overrule their lives thereby not being able to experience the true blessings that God has envisioned for them. As we delve into the word of God, we will be able to understand how these curses can be broken, so that the blessings of God can flow freely into our lives.
I would like to share a testimony that a brother shared with me last Sunday after the service that I hope will encourage all of you. He told me “ever since you began teaching on this topic of blessings and curses, I found it extremely difficult to sit inside and listen to the word of God. I was literally being compelled to get up and leave, also feeling a kind of a heavy burden on my chest. However, I continued to sit through the service, and as the final prayer was being said, I experienced this great weight being removed from me and sensed a feeling of lightness settle in. The migraine headache which I had been suffering from for a very long time, totally disappeared.” I was overjoyed when I heard this testimony, and give all the glory and praise to the Lord alone for the deliverance that He brought about to this brother who was responsive and obedient to His word.
When we listen to the word of God, and live in obedience to Him, not only will we be victorious, but also be enabled to lead the kind of life that God truly intended for us. While the enemy comes in to steal, kill and destroy all the good things in our lives, Jesus came to give us life, a life that He said would be abundant in every sense.
We reiterate that blessings and curses are words spoken over our lives, and while blessing build us up, curses pull us down. The Biblical perspective of blessings is contrary to the worldly understanding. Blessings are not material possessions, but blessings are the words spoken by God or those in authority, that describe what will take effect in the future, which will eventually build us up. Words have power because God created the heavens and the earth with His words, and it was those words that also made us into His likeness and image. God blessed Adam and Eve and told them to multiply and replenish the earth. They were given authority to rule over all that God had created as well, and this they did by the authority of their words.
There are many who are erroneously taught that the God of the Old Testament is a harsh God who punished sin immediately, and that the God of the New Testament as revealed in Jesus is a God of grace, thereby wrongly inferring there is no fear of judgement. The Old Testament is not just about the law and the New Testament is not only about grace. This kind of flawed teaching emphasizes the fact that since Jesus has completed the work of salvation by His sacrificial death on the cross, we are now in a period of grace, and hence there is nothing left for us to do. The truth of the matter is that we can do nothing to gain salvation or be set free from Satan’s schemes. That can only be attained by believing on the finished work of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. This is because Jesus paid an enormous price for us by His atoning sacrifice to save us from all our sins. However, once we have believed and received this gift of salvation, the Lord expects us to walk daily in obedience to His commands.
God’s grace as revealed in the Old Testament
The word of God is explicit that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. The grace of God was revealed in the Old Testament as much as it was in the New Testament. So also, the judgement of God was manifested in both the Old and the New Testaments.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they instantly realized that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together to cover their shame. This was a futile effort on their part, as the fig leaves would soon wither, and would not be sufficient protection for their bodies. God in His grace made garments of skin for them, because He knew the fig leaves were insufficient for them and that they were incapable of taking care of themselves. This was an act of God’s grace to fallen man. At the same time, God also punished Adam and Eve for their willful disobedience.
We read about the jealousy of Cain over his brother Abel, which led him to murder his own brother Abel. However, when God pronounced his punishment on Cain, Cain realized that he would be vulnerable to be attacked and killed by anyone. As Cain pleaded with God for mercy, we read in Genesis 4:15 that “God put a mark on Cain to protect him.” This was God’s grace shown to Cain in spite of his sinful act.
Another example is from the Old Testament if from the journey of Israelites through the wilderness, after they were delivered from Egypt. When the people murmured and complained against God and Moses, the Lord sent venomous snakes amongst them, which bit them resulting in the death of many. However, in the midst of the judgement, as the people begged Moses to intercede to the Lord on their behalf, God commanded Moses to make a fiery serpent and lift it up so that everyone who looked on it were saved. Here again the grace of God was revealed in the midst of God’s judgement.
If we do not understand that we believe in the same God, who is not only a God of grace but also one of judgement, it will invariably lead to a life of indiscipline and carelessness. The result of this is that we will lose out on the blessings that God has in store for us. We must therefore firmly grasp the truth that God is unchanging, and is revealed throughout the Bible as a God of grace and a God of justice who judges sin. Therefore, if we confess and forsake our sins we will receive pardon from the Lord because of His grace. But, if we continue in sin we are in danger of being objects of His judgement and punishment, for He is also a God who is just.
The blessings of worshipping God alone
We read in Exodus 20:3 "You must not worship any other gods except me.” (ERV)
The people of Israel were in bondage in Egypt for four hundred years, living mundane lives, with no purpose whatsoever. However, when God delivered them, and brought them out of Egypt, He gave them commandments to help them live godly, and disciplined lives. The very first commandment God gave them was that they were not to worship any other gods except Him alone.
In the New Testament we read in Matthew 22:37, “Jesus answered, " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'” (GNB)
Exodus 20:3 and Matthew 22:37 are one and the same commandment, however, in the New Testament Jesus explained this further that this love for God should be with all our heart, soul and mind. By doing so Jesus impressed the truth that our love for God be such that no one but God, should fill and dominate all of our being. Jesus was categorical that nothing or no one should take the place of God in our lives.
We have all failed in that we often let worldly things or relationships take priority over God and have thereby set the wrong things on the throne of our lives. While God’s plan is for us to live in obedience, and be recipients of His divine blessings, the plan of the enemy is to divide our hearts and dissuade us, so that we are unable to worship God as we should, thereby robbing us of all God’s blessings designed for us.
That is why it is important for us to read and understand the Bible as a whole and not in part. The whole Bible (Old and New Testaments) are inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, and given to us in its entirety. This is so we can understand God’s handiwork right from the beginning of creation, His redemptive plan being unfolded, and also what lies ahead until the time of His second coming.
Jesus too was tempted by the devil to bow down and worship him
In Matthew 4:9-10, The devil said to him, “I will give you all this if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! Scripture says, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”(GW)
The devil tempted Jesus by asking Him to bow down and worship him, and promised Him that he would give Him all of the world’s pomp and riches if He did so. Jesus rebuked the devil by saying, ‘Go away, Satan!’ and told him in a most straightforward way, that no one but God alone was worthy of all the worship.
Many of us may not realize that we are worshipping various things in our lives. For a majority work takes the highest priority that there is no place or time for God. What happens in the bargain is that they don’t do well in their work, and forfeit God’s blessings as well. It is only when things get bad they then want to turn to the Lord, and seek His intervention. We need to cling on to the Lord because He alone is our sure foundation, in the midst of all life’s turmoil and uncertainties. The Lord should always have the topmost position in our lives, and when that happens everything else will follow. May we always be reminded that God alone is worthy of all our worship, and our complete trust must be on Him alone.
We read in Exodus 20:4-5, “You are not to make an image or picture of anything in heaven or on the earth or in the waters under the earth: You may not go down on your faces before them or give them worship: for I, the Lord your God, am a God who will not give his honor to another; and I will send punishment on the children for the wrongdoing of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation of my haters;” (BBE)
The Lord cannot tolerate any form of image or idol to takes His place and forbids worship to anything other than to God alone. God’s word is clear that those who do so, their children will be punished to the third and fourth generations.
If there is a repeated incidence of misfortune in the family, it is a reminder to search our lives and set right before God those things that are not in keeping with His word and commands. The Lord does not approve of any form of idolatry, and if there is any image or idol that we pay homage to, we must first of all discard them from our homes. These objects will become hindrances to us receiving God’s blessing in our lives.
If we make a decision to give God alone the top priority in our lives, giving Him due honor and worship every curse in our life will be broken, and we will experience God’s hand of blessing on our lives. God does not approve of a divided heart, but wants us to love Him with singleness of heart and thereby be the joyful beneficiaries of His blessings.
The blessing of honoring our parents
We read in Exodus 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live for a long time in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” (GW)
Of the Ten Commandments that God gave, the first four are about our relationship to God and the following six are in connection with our relationships with those around us. Jesus did not nullify the commandments given in the Old Testament, but rather explained them in detail in the New Testament. We do not obey God’s commandments out of fear of punishment, but because we love God, and truly want to live in obedience to His precepts. In the Old Testament much of it was external, but in the New Testament Jesus took it to a far higher level and brought it to the core of man’s heart and being.
In our relationships with others the one that takes prominence is our relationship with our parents, because they are the first relationship we ever know of. The commandment of God is clear-cut, we are to honor our father and mother. Some children may obey their parents out of compulsion, but may not really honor them. To honor our parent’s means to give them the respect that is due them in our hearts.
Grandparents also play an important role in the discipline of grand-children, and instilling this sense of respect for their parents. Often when parents reprimand their children, grandparents interfere and pamper them thereby making the correction ineffective. When we do so, children will become disobedient over a period of time, and begin to disrespect their parents. It is our duty to teach our children the right things, and not encourage any form of disrespect.
Parents have the responsibility to teach children from the word of God, and imbibe in them the need to honor their parents from a young age. Irrespective of the age of our parents, their educational qualifications, we have a duty to honor our parents for all that they did for us, and all the sacrifices they made. Just because we are more educated or knowledgeable having technology at our finger tips, gives us no room to disregard or disrespect our parents. When we disregarded their words and advice, we become recipients of the curses that they spoke over us. We did not choose our parents but God chose them, and we are commanded to honor them. Only when we honor are we promised the blessings of long life where things will go well as God intended.
We read in Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” (ESV)
It is explicit that for children to obey their parents is the rightful (just) thing to do, and if they do otherwise they are clearly doing wrong, almost like we are doing injustice to them.
Jesus obeyed His parents
We read in Luke 2:51, “So Jesus went back with them to Nazareth, where he was obedient to them.” (GNB)
We read in Luke 2:46-47, “After three days they found Him in the Temple, sitting in the center of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all those hearing Him were astonished at His understanding and His answers.”
Jesus was just twelve years old when He was found by his parents in the temple with the teachers of the law, dialoguing with them, which implied that His understanding and knowledge of the word was so profound. Yet after this incidence, we read that when Jesus went back to Nazareth, he remained obedient to his earthly father and mother. Jesus is absolutely the best example as to the kind of obedience and honor we should render to our parents.
If we have in any way dishonored our parents, we must repent, and ask God to help us honor them the way we should. If our parents are not alive, it is still necessary that we ask God to forgive us for all the times we chose to disregard or disrespect them or their words. The word they spoke or the thoughts of hurt they felt toward us may be the hindrance, and cause for us not to receive the blessings of God as we should. If we confess those sins to the Lord and decide to give our parents the due honor in our hearts, He will cancel all of those curses and replace them with His divine blessings.
There are two important aspects that we are reminded of; firstly to place God alone on the throne of our lives, and discard anything or anyone who will try to take that position. He alone is worthy of all our reverence and worship. Secondly, to honor our parents, giving them the true respect from our hearts. When we do these, we will most certainly experience God’s manifold blessings in our lives.
Rev. F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
Transcribed by: Sis. Esther Collins
