To assume that some BELIEVERS who happen to be sick or hungry are under a CURSE – while other believers (who are healthy and full) are not CURSED – is wrong. Not only is this unkind and judgmental -- it’s a misuse of scripture.
Those who fully trust the Gospel of Salvation know that we are not Old Covenant people. Jesus (our deliverer, mediator, savior) proclaimed a new covenant – a replacement for the “schoolmaster." Hebrews makes it plain (8:13), “By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear” NIV.
Jesus gave us the guarantee of our inheritance NOW (Rom. 11:26, 27, Eph. 1:12-14). We are MADE ALIVE in Him (1 Cor. 15:22). The iniquities of previous generations can have no LEGAL jurisdiction in the lives of the NEW CREATION. We are not affected by our old nature any longer; neither do we partake of the sins of our past -- nor the sins of others.
THE DEVIL CAN’T DO IT:
Our freedom doesn’t come through repeating specific phrases to the devil about our rights. Scriptures everywhere teach that it’s NOT the devil who holds our destiny in his hands. God is absolutely in control. James 4:7 tells us, "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
DRAW NEAR TO GOD..." James didn’t say anything about repeating expressions, or formulas that could supposedly take away satan’s “legal rights.”
John gives us great assurance when he says: “He who has been born of God keeps Himself and the wicked one DOES NOT TOUCH (harm) HIM” (1 John 5:18). This word for touch in Greek is “hapto” and means to fasten onto or to lay hold. Essentially, John says that if we’re born of God, the devil can’t affect our lives anymore. (See also Gal. 3:23-28.)
And what could ever separate us from the love of Christ? Not trouble or hardship, not persecution or famine, not nakedness or danger. (NOTHING, Not our past mistakes. Not words or curses that others have said.) Not death nor life, not angels nor demons, not the present nor the future, nor any powers…not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:38).
“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31 NIV). (Who can be against us? The answer is NO ONE -- NOTHING!) The devil is eternally defeated, and we are delivered from the power of darkness into the kingdom of light. Christ’s work is totally FINISHED in us! We now sit in heavenly places (Eph. 2:5-6).
WHAT WE KNOW:
If after becoming a Christian, we continue to act with ungodly behavior similar to that of previous generations, then we just don’t understand the reality of the fullness of our salvation. Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (“soteria,” to be delivered from the bondage of sin, to be whole, rescued, salvaged, be in health). NIV Col 1:12-14, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” NIV.
There must be a transition for all of us … a full transformation into the REDEMPTIVE TRUTH that CHRIST lives IN US and we live IN HIM. We need our understanding baptized with TRUTH. We need to apprehend what the cross has already provided.
If we believe that our failures and disappointments are due to our past failures -- or those of our ancestors, then we forfeit the need for our own accountability. Galatians 2:19-21 says, “I HAVE BEEN crucified (past tense) with Christ and I NO LONGER LIVE, but Christ lives in me. (The sins of my old life – and my fallen nature no longer exist for me.) The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” NIV. (Rom 5:1-5, Rom. 8:1-8).
For those who live In Christ Jesus, THERE ARE NO GENERATIONAL CURSES.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law.(Gal 3:13) Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Ironically, Paul CURSED those who presented a false gospel – these are the ones that required Christians to keep Old Testament laws and concepts:
"As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:9, 4:21). The stronghold that really needs to be pulled down is the one of lack of knowledge!
CONCLUSION:
Perhaps we need to change our “terminology” – because we’re not under a “CURSE!” However, as believers, we do need to repent. We need to become transformed by the renewing of our minds… and become whole. We all do have “environmental tendencies” that need to be recognized and changed. All inclinations, predispositions, propensities toward wrong behavior need to be modified and adjusted; we all have wrong habits that need to be addressed. But those are not CURSES. They are pivotal CHARACTER issues that we need to deal with.
2 Cor 5:18-21, All this is from God, who RECONCILED us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, NOT COUNTING MEN’S SIN’S against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”
**Gal 4:8-10, “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God -- or rather are known by God -- HOW IS IT THAT YOU ARE TURNING BACK TO THOSE WEAK AND MISERABLE PRINCIPLES? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? NIV
**Titus 2:13-15 also makes it very clear “…. Jesus Christ … gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. THESE THEN ARE THE THINGS YOU SHOULD TEACH. ENCOURAGE AND REBUKE with all authority.” NIV
Out of our own ashes, we emerge as the mature company of believers. We’ve freed ourselves from wrong behavior by incorporating the truth that Christ has redeemed us from every curse. We’ve taken our own accountability for wrong-doing. We’ve changed our responses. Now, with undeserved vindication, we glimpse into the nowness of the eternal resurrection life and we manifest the Image of the overcoming Son.
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