A CURSE create unpleasant contradictions of God’s goodness and can place one in a position where no change is desired, even though you are a Christian!
It can make one to doubt if what God promises us in the Bible about living victoriously is actually true.
Although a curse will not take you to hell- only rebellious people and those who reject Jesus go to hell- it can cause a struggle and make life on earth meaningless.
Curses are invisible barriers that hijack a person’s destiny making them fail to walk in victory and to fulfil their God ordained purposes on earth.
A curse gets its legitimacy or rather draws its strength from guilt. It has the right to land on a person who is guilty of a particular crime that invoked it in the first place.
Proverbs 26:2 says curses have a cause.“ Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest. ”
A dictionary meaning of the word curse states it is a solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or on something.
A curse can come from God or from man. Satan can also curse you because of your faith in Jesus Christ.
Many people say a curse cannot affect a Christian because Jesus already died on the cross and carried the curse.
That is the absolute truth, however, you don’t have to look far to see the huge difference displayed in the lives of Christians and the reality of this truth.
Click on the link below for a related post on dealing with curses.
When you suspect the presence of a curse in your life take action and do the following;
- Acknowledge the curse– accept that you and your family are under a curse and it is affecting your lives. You cannot break the curse if you don’t acknowledge it.
- Repent –Daniel 9:1-2. When Daniel found out why they were bearing the punishment (curse) for the sins of their forefathers who worshipped a foreign God, he repents on behalf of himself and his forefathers. It is important to repent the sins of the forefathers to be released form the consequences of the curse.
- Ask God to remove the consequences of the curse– in our time Christ died and arose. He took the curse that we may display the blessing God has promised us through Abraham.
- Actively resist– attempts by Satan to keep you under a curse
We need to come to agreement that since Jesus became a curse for us, we need not live a life characteristic of a curse. We are legally free from the curse.
Curses from God
Deuteronomy 28:14-15 is a conditional verse on understanding curses where God spells out the consequence of disobedience. “Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them .
However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you.”
God is warning us of the punishment for the sin of worshipping of other gods, an eventual punishment that touches third and fourth generations.
Deuteronomy 5:8-9. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.
Numbers 14:18, “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
Jeremiah 32:18, “You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the parents’ sins into the laps of their children after them. Great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord Almighty.”
Lamentations 5:7, “Our fathers sinned but we bear the punishment.”
Aaron’s bloodline
An example of a curse from God is like the one that affected Aaron’s bloodline after he worshipped another god-The Golden calf.
Exodus 32: 1-4. “Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.
He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
His bloodline had a curse of early death and barrenness because of idolatry.
Exodus 20:3-5 “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,”
The worship of other gods attracts curses of premature death according to Exodus 23:24-26 which says, Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces.
Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.
It means that if we worship other gods ,his blessings will not been upon our food and water, we will get sick, there will be no miscarriages or barrenness(failure to reproduce).
Aaron’s two sons Nadab and Abihu died Leviticus 10:1–2 “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.”
Elizabeth a descendant of Aaron was barren. Luke 1:5-7, “ In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron.
Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.”
A curse from Man
When a man or woman speaks forth bitter words out of anger due to a sin or injustice committed against them or someone else, a curse is released.
The curse will have effect only if the person is an authority figure like a husband , parent, teacher, boss, doctor, pastor.
The tongue has got power to bring about supernatural events like death, accidents unemployment, poverty or even sickness. Ephesians 4:29. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Proverbs 18:21– The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
James 3:6– The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
When a curse is spoken what happens is that an evil spirit has been assigned to perform or reinforce the condition or circumstance that the author of the curse wishes to befall someone or a place.
That’s is why the Bible exhorts us in James 1:19- My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry
In Genesis 49:1-7 we see how Jacob cursed his sons. In Verses 2 and 7, Jacob cursed Reuben that he would no longer excel for he slept with his concubine, Bilha. He also cursed Simeon and Levi for not being able to control their anger and the curse affected Moses whose great grandfather was Levi.
Personal curse
There is a difference between a generational curse and a personal curse. A personal curse is directed towards an individual, while a generational curse is directed towards a lineage of descendants.
Unfortunately many people suffer from individual curses they have inflicted upon themselves with their own mouths by speaking defeat, “ I will never make it…I will not get healed from my condition and so on!”
Click on the link below for a related post on understanding how curses may affect Christians.
The Bible however, tells us to make positive affirmations. “Let the weak say I am strong, and let the poor say I am rich.”
Parents also are guilty of pronouncing individual curses on their children when angry: You will never make it in life, you are the most stupid child…!
Doctors can curse their patients by telling them they are going to die. Teachers can curse students, husbands can curse their wives and pastors can curse their congregation by making solemn utterances that have a negative impact on their lives.
Curses for disobedience
There are curses that God reminded Moses (Leviticus 27:16-26) that would come upon the Israelites if they disobeyed. Anybody who did these detestable things would incur a curse;
1.Dishonour of parents
2.Stealing from one’s neighbours
3.Leading the blind a stray-misleading someone because of their ignorance about something
4.Withholding justice from those who deserve it
5.Sleeping with one’s father wife
6.Bestiality
7.Incest
8.Sleeping with a mother-in-law
9.Accepting bribes to harm the innocent
10.Failiure to obey God’s commandments
Whoever committed these sins was individually liable for a curse and the punishment that the curse came along with, for example, if a man slept with his father’s wife both were to be killed (Leviticus 20:11).
Generational curse
The only time we see a curse following a generation is when another god is worshipped.
In Deuteronomy 28:18, we see the only situation where descendants would bear punishment for a sin not committed directly by them. The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
Click on the link below for a related post on understanding and dealing with generational curses.
For committing the sin of idolatry, the Lord Himself was going to send curses. He is angry with His own children!
Isaiah 65: 6-7, Behold, it is written before Me: I will not keep silence but will repay; yes, I will repay into their bosom Both your own iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers, says the Lord.
Because they too burned incense upon the mountains and reviled and blasphemed Me upon the hills, therefore will I measure and stretch out their former doings into their own bosom.
Presence of a curse
In Kenya idolatry is practiced today in Freemasonry, divination, ancestor worship, white garment churches, blood oaths, and libations.
Any religion that does not acknowledge salvation through grace and the finished work of Jesus on the cross is idolatrous.
Idolatry bring curses that cause misery, failure, sorrow, poverty and even death among a people.
Click on the link below for a related post on how to deal with curses from idolatry.
Suspect the presence of curse when you have prayed, fasted, done your bible study, meditated on the word and done everything you know how to do right and yet the circumstance is not changing.
When you are under a curse you will try hard but experience little or no success. It is the curse mounting an invisible barrier against you.
Failure at the edge of breakthrough or the spirit of Pisgah is a common feature of a person whose life is cursed.
Remember Pisgah is where the Lord showed Moses the Promised Land and told him he would not enter. Moses had a curse of anger inherited from an ancestor.
Divorce, separation, no marriage and all forms of family breakdown tell of the presence of an active a curse in a family.
Incurable diseases, abject poverty and struggling, no promotion, barrenness, depression, confusion, suicide, are also signs of curses. It is punishment from the Lord.
The late Derrick Prince in his teachings on curses and blessings put together the common signs that betray the presence of a curse: (Deuteronomy 28:15-68).
Comes against everyone
A curse touches both the believer and non-believer alike.
When the curse of the Babylonian captivity came upon the Israelites because the forefathers disobeyed God and worshipped idols, Daniel, Meshack, Shadrack, Abednego, Ezra, Nehemiah who the Bible says were righteous men before God, were not spared either.
Curses come against everyone, from North to South. Ezekiel 21:3-4. “And say to her: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.
Because I am going to cut off the righteous and the wicked, my sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north.”
A curse can cause you to live a meaningless, useless life, living under limitation. Some things that hinder our progress are tied to curses.
A knowledge of generational curses can help you understand why there are failures and how to overcome them when they present themselves as invisible barriers.
Unfortunately, the church has rejected the teachings on generational curses and how they affect the lives of believers!
Asking God for forgiveness
Jesus has released us through His work on the cross of Calvary. On the cross he became a curse. Galatians 3:13. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.
He came that we may be free and not be yoked again by inherited failures and controversies of our bloodlines. Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
There is a benefit that will come if we have a personal relationship with God. Like salvation, Jesus has opened the door but man has to decide to walk through it!
We come to salvation by faith, repenting and asking God for forgiveness and Jesus to dwell in us. He died for the sins of the whole world but many people are still not enjoying the gift of eternal life.
It is the same way many people are still not enjoying the benefit of release from the curse.
The same way the power of sin has been broken over our lives through accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour, the power of the curse also has been broken over our lives through repentance of the sins of our forefathers.
In both cases the release is not automatic and we have business to do with God.
We must understand and appropriate all the benefits of the cross -sin for righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:21. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Curse for blessings. Galatians 3:13. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.
Sickness for health 1 Peter 2:24. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem Isaiah 53:3.
Poverty for riches. 2 Corinthians 8:9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
