George came from a long line of broken relationships, domestic violence, abandoned children and runaways from abusive homes. George was so amazed to find God, to receive salvation, die to all the sins of his past and find a new life. For over 10 years, he’s been serving God voluntarily as a prayer counselor at church as often as he can fit into his schedule. He’s a great guy, good-hearted, humble and very lonely. No attempts to find the right woman to marry have worked. He prays, fasts, and tries his best, but lately he’s become weary of disappointment. “I know there’s been a generational curse on my family for years, but I’m filled with the Spirit now – why’s this curse still affecting me?” he asked.
Christians of all church backgrounds are still carrying around the curses of generations before them. Some, because they aren’t truly saved, Christian in name only. But others like George are sincere, and are still blocked by the same evil that has destroyed their families for decades. Why? It’s not because it’s God’s will, or that the power of the cross is too weak, or that they are unworthy to be freed from the curse. It’s because they haven’t yet learned to live in the freedom that Jesus purchased for them on the cross. Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us—as it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’”
The law of the prince of this world, is that once he owns a family (which is how demons think), he has the right to continue tormenting that entire family line, even inhabiting unborn babies in their mother’s wombs. But Jesus became a curse so we can be free from curses, and free from the devil’s laws and rules. Galatians 5 also says, “For freedom Christ freed us. Stand fast therefore and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” That’s not only talking about sin, but about all the bondage of the devil. Submit to Jesus as Lord, and you’ll be saved, but to find total freedom from the curses of your past, you need to make specific choices in faith to “untangle” yourself from their hold. Jesus’ death broke the power of all evil. Sickness, sin, and curses. Most Christians focus on forgiveness of sins—the most important, because there’s no salvation without it—but few are even aware that acting in faith is part of breaking generational curses as well.
I discovered George was convinced he didn’t deserve a happy marriage. He wasn’t even aware of how negative he was, but his actions and choices proved it. He was always nervous and doubtful about his worth, and about approaching a woman who interested him, and his attitudes would sabotage his attempts. When she’d eventually turn him down, he’d become resentful and carry a grudge, making him even more unattractive to the opposite sex. Holding on to guilt and unworthiness was his default setting, and he accepted it as unchangeable. He didn’t understand that he had to act on the fact that Jesus had broken his curse, and it wasn’t going to happen automatically just because he was a Christian. Without knowing it, George’s passivity was permitting a generational curse of loneliness to needlessly continue.
Once we identified what was going on, we began to fight against the negative thoughts that he was entertaining. He recognized how insecurities had been blocking him on his job, his family relationships, his health, and even how he served as a prayer counselor. He’s finally taking hold of that freedom that Jesus died for by rebuking those attitudes and doing the exact opposite of his passive default setting, even if it makes him feel awkward and uncomfortable.
Yes, Jesus carried our curses, but we have to live in the faith that they are broken. Only we can change our habits and mindsets to prove to God, to the devil, and to ourselves that those generational curses are broken forever. Faith is to be grabbed ahold of and put to use in every aspect of our lives.
For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would give you, according to the riches of His glory, power to be strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19 MEV
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