`The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving
iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of
the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.' (NKJ)Numbers
14:18
Curses. That's right, curses. I don't mean "curses"
as in modern American slang words that aren't repeatable in nice company. I mean curses in
the traditional sense of the word, like when someone raises his hand or points his finger
at another and speaks all sorts of evil things on him... may he be childless, may his
widow be destitute, may he lie unburied when he dies and be eaten of dogs. That sounds
even more silly and superstitious to the modern mind than the rest of the business of
casting out demons, but it's given a lot of credibility in the pages of Scripture.
In fact, the Bible mentions cursing or curses 181 times. And
that doesn't count all the times that someone curses someone, say Jezebel gets cursed by a
prophet, and the actual word "curse" isn't used.
Pause a moment to think of it. God cursed Adam, Eve, and the
serpent. He also cursed Amalek. Deuteronomy chapter 27 is all about various curses. Jesus
cursed a fig tree in Mark eleven, and the Pharisees who resisted his ministry in Matthew
23. Paul the apostle cursed a sorcerer in the thirteenth chapter of Acts, striking him
blind. Both Jesus and James warned against "swearing," which is related, and
often leads to cursing. These are just a few of the many examples we can find in both the
Old and New Testaments.
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a
man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap
corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life."
Galatians 6:7-8
Sometimes the reaping mentioned in the above text extends
even into the next generations. We serve a God who is forgiving and abundant in mercy,
as our opening scripture says, but who "by no means clears the guilty, visiting
the iniquity of the fathers to the children of the third and fourth generation." It's
not an accident that children who were abused grow up to abuse their own children. It's
reaping what has been sown--not just in the realm of learned behavior, but in the realm of
the spirit. There is a cross-generational curse, familial demons passed on from father to
son, and oftentimes deliverance is next to impossible until you uncover and break those
curses.
"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)
Deuteronomy 28:15
Many will automatically think of Galatians 3:13 in this
connection: 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." Outside of
Christ, there is no way to break a curse--it has to be carried out, like any other
provision of the Law. Each generation passes it on to the next three or four and it is
endless until someone comes to Christ and breaks its power by living righteously. But as
we've learned in everything else, our redemption from a curse must be appropriated--it
isn't automatic just because we became Christians. The next verse, Galatians 3:14 talks
about receiving the baptism in the Spirit--you don't receive that automatically, you have
to ask for it, press in there by faith and obtain that blessing of your redemption.
Likewise you have to obtain, by faith, redemption from any curse you or your forefathers
have managed to get yourself under.
Many cultures of the world take cursing very seriously. We
ought not to stand aloof like some superior species because we've harnessed electricity
and know how to propel ourselves along in machines with gasoline engines. We may be modern
and progressive in some ways, but we're backward when it comes to the things of the spirit
realm. We don't even believe in curses. Nevertheless, much of the world has learned over
the generations just how powerful they can be.
A curse is very similar to dispatching a demon upon someone.
That demon has access to you through the person who cursed you. If that person is God, as
in when you do something that calls for a curse (read Deuteronomy 27 and 28), that can be
a powerful curse indeed. Some witches and other occult practitioners have developed great
power in cursing people. A few can even drop a person dead in their tracks. Others,
through curses, hexes, vexes, spells, and incantations, can release demons to harass
people. Cursing is real.
Some curses come almost accidentally, like the person who
continually uses oaths that call on God to "damn" something (damn means curse).
They're uttering a curse when they say that--that's why it's called "cursing and
swearing." Sometimes a curse can even land on someone just because others are
gossiping about them, speaking evil--kind of like poking pins into their image from afar.
Cursing is a powerful weapon for evil.
Parents may even curse their children. "You're stupid
and you'll never amount to anything." can be a curse the child is unable
to get free from. Parents are a sort of spiritual covering designed to protect the
innocents under their care, and when they violate that covering and begin to abuse the
children, verbally or otherwise, it can have disastrous effects. Be careful how you speak.
Demons are standing by, looking for any possible entry to your household. Bless instead of
curse. The Bible says that, right? Let's take God's Word seriously. There is a reason for
everything our Lord says in it, even those things we moderns find hard to accept and
understand.
You might suspect the presence of a curse if you continually
keep trying to get ahead in your spiritual walk, but always seem to run into a ceiling, a
barrier that won't give. If your ministry grows only so big, only so successful before
another division sends half the people away, if your family is continually plagued by
sicknesses, if you keep running into undeserved criticism from various sources. Chances
are you brought that curse on yourself by criticizing others--an undeserved curse doesn't
land, the Bible says (Prov 26:2), but a clever demon will find your vulnerable spots if
he's sent by a curse.
A curse isn't removed just because you get born again. Just as
a demon doesn't leave until you tell it to, neither is a curse broken until you break it.
You do it like this...
I come against this curse that is bringing unjust criticism
(or whatever it is) against me in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I repent of
criticizing others, justly or otherwise, and I determine to speak well of my neighbor and
my brother and my sister. I break that curse right now--I nullify it, declare it void in
the name of Jesus Christ. I even break any familial ties, and cross-generational curses on
me from my ancestors--in the name of Jesus the Lord! I speak blessing instead of cursing
right now in Jesus name. Amen!
If you're ministering deliverance to someone and you seem to
hit a snag, break any existing curses and proceed to cast the demon out. You'll notice the
difference. Or if you are just trying to get ahead in your Christian life, you'll be set
free, you'll find yourself running without the old weights and sins that used to slow you
down. Break the curse, and walk in the blessing. Do it today!
Read Part One of this message, The Reality of the
Warfare
Read Part Two, Casting Out Demons
Copyright © 1998 Kim
Harrington, Masterbuilder Ministries. All rights reserved.
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