Children's Bread

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

Written By

BBI

Published On

February 22, 2026

"Explore the biblical foundation of invisible barriers. This foundational teaching of BBI Ministry highlights a spiritual law found in the heart of the Ten Commandments."

HAVE you ever felt like you’ve done everything right—obeyed the Word, stayed faithful in prayer, and lived blamelessly—yet you still face "invisible barriers" that won't move?

Whether it is chronic sickness, financial stagnation or barrenness, many believers find themselves asking: If God promises blessings for obedience, why am I still suffering?

To understand this- why bad things happen to good people- we look at the life of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. The Bible describes her as "blameless and upright," yet she was barren until her old age. This apparent contradiction reveals a profound spiritual reality: the presence of generational curses.

The Root Cause: Idolatry and the Fourth Generation

This foundational teaching of BBI Ministry highlights a spiritual law found in the heart of the Ten Commandments. While most sins affect the body and soul, the sin of idolatry touches the spirit and echoes through time.

Iniquity of the Fathers

In Exodus 20:3-5, God declares Himself a jealous God who visits the "iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me."

When a forefather engages in idolatry—giving the worship due to God to "wood and stone or anything else apart from God"—it creates a legal entry point for a curse.

The Specific Penalties of the Curse

According to Exodus 23:24-26, the curse of idolatry manifests in very specific ways:

Defilement of food and water.
Barrenness and miscarriage.
Sickness within the household.
Shortened lifespans (not fulfilling the number of one's days).

The Case of Elizabeth: A Righteous Woman Under a Curse

Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron, the first High Priest. While Aaron was chosen by God, his lineage was also marked by the catastrophic sin of the Golden Calf—a peak act of idolatry.

Why Elizabeth Suffered

The Bible is clear: Elizabeth was "righteous in the sight of God" (Luke 1:6). However, she remained barren for most of her life.

The Invisible Barrier: Even though she was doing the right thing, she was living under a a generational curse (Deuteronomy 28:46) triggered by her ancestors.
The Sword Against All: In Ezekiel 21:3-5, God warns that when His sword is drawn against a land due to corporate sin, it can cut off both the "righteous and the wicked."

Elizabeth’s story proves that personal righteousness does not automatically dismantle a bloodline legal claim. Just as Daniel, Nehemiah, and Ezra were righteous yet suffered the consequences of Israel’s national exile, many modern believers suffer the consequences of their family’s spiritual "exile."

Is the Curse Forever?

Lamentations 5:7 says, "Our fathers sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment." Without divine intervention, these cycles of frustration, early death, and barrenness can continue indefinitely.

Many people eventually reach a point of spiritual exhaustion, saying, "It is futile to serve God because there is no benefit for living right."

This sentiment stems from a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). They see the promise of the blessing but are blocked by the invisible barrier of the bloodline.

The Solution: Dealing with the Bloodline Through the Cross

The good news is that we are not destined to live frustrated lives. While Elizabeth lived under the weight of the law, we live in the era of grace and the finished work of Jesus Christ.

1. Identify the Pattern

Look at your family history. Do you see patterns of the same sickness, the same marital failures, or the same financial "barrenness"? Recognition is the first step to freedom.

2. Apply Galatians 3:13

The scripture provides the ultimate "legal" counter-argument:

"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')."

3. Renounce and Repent

We must deal with the idolatry of our forefathers. This involves:

Confession: Acknowledging the sins of the lineage (Daniel 9).
Renunciation: Severing ties with ancestral altars and idols.
Enforcement: Using the blood of Jesus to "cleanse" the spiritual record of your family.

Living Under the Blessing

Once the invisible barrier is removed, the "rain" of God’s blessing can finally reach the soil of your life. The obedience you have practiced will no longer be "held up" in the heavens. You will see the fulfillment of your days, the removal of sickness, and the fruitfulness that God promised in Exodus 23.

Don't let a lack of knowledge keep you in a cycle of frustration. You have the authority to break the curse and start a new legacy of blessing for the four generations following you.

Your Righteousness Deserves Its Reward. Like Elizabeth, you may be blameless but blocked by an invisible barrier. You don't have to live a frustrated life under a cloud of idolatry you didn't create. Come and deal with the root so you can walk in the fruit.

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Common Questions

Being born again secures your salvation—your sins are forgiven, and you belong to Christ. You don’t need deliverance to be saved.

However, even as a believer, you can still struggle with patterns, strongholds, or spiritual oppression from the past. Deliverance isn’t about salvation; it’s about applying Jesus’ freedom to those areas. If you experience ongoing struggles, prayer, renunciation, and pastoral support can help you walk fully in the liberty Christ has already won for you.
Breaking a generational curse, in a religious sense, is seen as a spiritual journey of repentance, faith, and deliberate action. It begins with acknowledging sin—both one’s own and, in some beliefs, the lingering effects of ancestors’ wrongdoing—and turning away from it through heartfelt repentance and prayer. This recognition is often accompanied by a conscious renunciation of the curse, verbally declaring that one no longer accepts the negative patterns or misfortunes that may have been passed down through the family line.

Faith plays a central role in this process. Believers rely on the power of God to intervene, heal, and restore, trusting that divine authority can break spiritual strongholds that have persisted for generations. Prayer, sometimes accompanied by fasting, Scripture reading, or intercession from spiritual leaders, is used to call on God’s guidance and protection.
When we receive salvation, our spirit is redeemed immediately. Our sins are forgiven, we are justified, and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us (Ephesians 1:7; Romans 5:1; Ephesians 1:13–14). Salvation restores our relationship with God and secures eternal life.

However, the curses or effects of sin in the world—sickness, generational patterns, fear, poverty, or emotional wounds—are not always broken automatically. The reason is that while our spirit is saved, our body, mind, and circumstances still exist in a fallen world under the consequences of sin (Romans 8:20–22).
If you struggle with something but generally overcome it, it is not necessarily a spirit. The Bible shows that even faithful believers wrestle with sin and weakness—Paul himself admitted in Romans 7:15–20 that he struggled to do what was right even as he desired to obey God. A true “spirit” or demonic stronghold is usually characterized by persistent, overpowering opposition that cannot be resisted through prayer, Scripture, and obedience.

If you are able to resist, repent, and grow despite the struggle, it is more likely an area God is using to refine your character and strengthen your faith. Struggles can reveal patterns in our lives that need God’s grace, teaching us dependence on Him, humility, and perseverance. Victory is not about perfection; it is about continuing to walk in obedience, relying on God’s Word, and trusting His Spirit to lead you forward.
Yes, according to Scripture, the human spirit can be influenced, but it’s important to be precise about what that means. The Bible teaches that we are spirit, soul, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). The “spirit man” is the part of us that connects with God, discerns spiritual truths, and communes with Him (John 4:24; Romans 8:16).

A demonic spirit cannot possess the spirit of a born-again believer because the Holy Spirit indwells them (1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 John 4:4). The Spirit of God protects and fills the spirit man, so it cannot be taken over. However, the spirit man can be influenced or oppressed by external spiritual forces if there is neglect, unrepented sin, or agreement with lies, which can affect our thoughts, emotions, and will.

Satan and his spirits can tempt, deceive, and oppress, but they cannot inhabit the spirit of someone truly born again. That’s why Scripture emphasizes guarding your heart and mind, staying in God’s Word, and walking in obedience—this keeps your spirit man aligned with God and resistant to attack (Ephesians 6:10–18; James 4:7).
consequences of sin, wrongdoing, or negative behavior can extend beyond an individual and affect their descendants. In this context, a generational curse is not merely about inherited traits or family patterns in a psychological sense, but rather a spiritual or moral consequence passed down through family lines.

For example, the Bible mentions in several passages, such as Exodus 20:5 and Numbers 14:18, that the sins of the parents can affect their children “to the third and fourth generation.” This is often interpreted to mean that unrepented sin or disobedience to God can create spiritual or circumstantial burdens like poverty, addiction, illness, or relational strife that may continue to manifest in subsequent generations.

Religious teachings often emphasize that generational curses are not inevitable. Through repentance, prayer, faith, and obedience to God, it is believed that individuals can break these curses and restore spiritual blessings to themselves and their descendants. In Christian practice, this might involve confession, seeking deliverance through prayer, or living a life aligned with God’s commandments to end the cycle of negative spiritual influence.
Feeling anger is not automatically a “spirit.” Anger is a natural emotion that God Himself expresses in certain circumstances (Exodus 32:10; Psalm 7:11). What matters is how you handle it. If you feel angry but do not act in sin, controlling your words, thoughts, and actions, this is not a demonic spirit—it is a natural human response being managed in obedience to God.

A spirit of anger in Scripture refers to a persistent, controlling, or destructive force that dominates a person’s behavior (Ephesians 4:26–27 warns against letting anger give the devil a foothold). If your anger arises but you remain calm, forgive, and do not allow it to control you, it is simply an emotion, not a spirit.
When faced with temptation, there are times to run and times to resist, and Scripture gives clear guidance.

You run from sin when it is dangerous, seductive, or beyond your natural ability to resist. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee fornication.” You remove yourself from the source of temptation—whether it’s a place, a person, or an opportunity—because staying there puts your soul at risk. Running is not cowardice; it is obedience and wisdom.

You resist when you are confronted with pressure or attack that you can face through God’s power. James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Resisting means standing firm in faith, speaking Scripture, and relying on the Holy Spirit. This is active confrontation, not passive endurance.

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— Deuteronomy 31:6

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