Blessing or Curse?

You may be surprised at how much the Bible has to say about them. Altogether words for blessings and curses occur almost 600 times.

Both blessings and curses are usually expressed in words— either spoken words or written words. But those words are not ordinary words, they are words charged with supernatural power. The power may be the power of God or it may be the power of Satan.

One of the features of both curses and blessings is that they often continue from generation to generation to generation. This means that a person who is experiencing either a blessing or a curse may not easily discern where it comes from, because it may be in the past, even hundreds of years ago.

Curses

First of all we’ll turn to Proverbs 26:2.

“Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a

curse without cause shall not alight.”

That’s very important. If there is a curse, there is a cause for it. And in many cases in order to be released from the curse it is important to discover the cause. The curse never comes without a cause.

So let us look at some main sources of curses.

In Deuteronomy 27 God ordained that when Israel came into their promised land, they were to pronounce upon themselves twelve curses if they disobeyed God in certain respects.

1. Idolatory and False Gods

That’s the first and primary cause of curses in people’s lives—involvement in idolatry, worship of false gods and the whole realm of the occult. In Exodus 20:3 (the first commandment) the Lord said, “I am the Lord your God… you shall have no other gods besides me… you shall make no graven image to worship.” Then He adds, “If you do, I will require it of the three following generations. It will not only be visited on you, but for three subsequent generations.”

So you understand that you may be struggling with something in your life right now which is due to your grandfather, or even your great grandfather, or great grandmother, or some other ancestor.

2. Dishonoring parents

Dishonoring parents is a very, very important issue. I don’t doubt that there will be who have problems in their life because their attitude to their parents is not right.

Remember the first commandment with a blessing is the opposite

—‘Honor thy father and mother that it may be well with you, and that

you may live long on the earth.’ Dishonoring parents automatically exposes you to a curse.

This does not mean you have to agree with your parents or even do everything they tell you to do—that depends on the way your parents are living. But you have to honor them as your parents. It is the first commandment with the promise of blessing.

3. Illicit or unnatural sex

Any form of unnatural sex brings a curse. This includes any form of homosexuality or bestiality, as will sexual relationships with members of your family. Today we have to acknowledge the fact that there are millions of children who are victimized by their fathers or other relatives in the area of sex.

4. Injustice to the weak and helpless

The American Indians in the United States placed a curse on the White House because the American government regularly broke its treaties with American Indians. You will notice that from 1860 to 1980 every President elected in the 20th year died in office. You can trace that back to two things: the American government’s unfaithfulness to the American Indians and the fact that Abraham Lincoln, who was the President elected in 1860, permitted a spiritist séance to be conducted in the White House by his wife, who later ended up in a mental institution. So you see that curses not only affect individuals, but whole nations.

5. People with Relational Authority

Here is another source of curses which is very important. God has so ordered human society that in certain situations one person has authority over another person or persons.

The most obvious example is a father, who, according to the Word of God, has authority over his family. Whether people like it or not, whether they fight it or not, is unimportant—the fact is, he has authority over his family. If he doesn’t use it, that does not alter the fact. Still he has authority.

So the father says to this child, “You’ll never make good. You’ll never succeed. Your brothers will do well, but you’ll be a failure all your life.” Do you know what that is? A curse. You’d be amazed how many people struggle all their way through life because of a parental curse pronounced upon them.

Another kind of person who can pronounce a curse is a teacher. A teacher has authority over his or her pupils. It may be that a teacher in the early years has one pupil whom she just can’t get on with. She says things like, “You’ll never learn. You always get things wrong, you’ll never succeed.” What’s that? A curse. I have dealt with people who have had to be delivered from a curse pronounced by a teacher.

6. Self-Imposed Curses

Self-imposed curses are curses that people pronounce on themselves. I cannot tell you how many people we have dealt with who have pronounced a curse on themselves by saying, “I wish I were dead. What’s the good of living? I’m not going to make it.” You don’t have to say that very often. It’s an invitation to the spirit of death, and he does not need many invitations—he will come in. We have seen scores of people delivered from the spirit of death that came in through such negative talk.

7. Men Representing Satan

Witch doctors—called by various names in various nations—are experts at curses. That’s their profession, and they are very skilful at it. We have become so civilized in some places that we have lost touch with some things that are very real. But they are still real, even if we don’t believe in them. You can say you don’t believe in viruses, but if you get one you’ll get sick! Curses are as real as viruses.

8. Soulish Prayer or Utterances

“But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly sensual, demonic.” (James 3:14, 15).

There are some people whose prayers you would be better off without. That sounds shocking, but some people seek to control you by their prayers. They have their own ideas about where you should live, or whom you should marry, or what form your ministry should take. Yet their ideas do not come from God. They generate a soulish pressure that may even be demonic and that keeps you from finding what really is God’s will for you.

Or people may just sit and talk about you. Christians criticizing one another, talking about one another, running one another down generate a negative power that’s released against the people they talk about.

9. Unscriptural Covenants

If you make a covenant, which is a very solemn agreement, with people who are under the power of evil forces, you come under that same power. This is particularly true of secret societies. In America, for instance, the Ku Klux Klan, and world-wide Freemasonry. The latter is a sure road to disaster for your descendants. It is impossible to estimate the number of crippled, retarded, unhappy children whose problems go back to a parent or other ancestor in the Freemasons. You may think what you like about it, but the consequences are ordered by God, and you can’t change them.

As Christians, we are all in a covenant relationship with one another through the blood of Jesus. The only other covenant that is valid for Christians is the covenant of marriage between a man and his wife. To enter into a covenant relationship with people on any other basis but these can be extremely dangerous.

Forms that Blessings and Curses Take

To study this theme in detail, one chapter of the Bible is devoted solely to it—Deuteronomy 28.

The first fourteen verses deal with blessings and the remaining fifty-four verses deal with curses. When you have read that list of curses, you should decide that you want no part of them! The source of both blessings and cursings is clearly stated.“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all his commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.”

Summary of the Blessings

One of the simple statements of blessing is, “You’ll be above only and not beneath, you’ll be the head, and not the tail.” I asked myself once, “What does it mean to be the head and not the tail?” The answer was simple: the head makes the decisions, the tail gets dragged around.Which end are you—the head or the tail? Are you making the decisions? Are you taking the initiative? Are you determining the way things happen? Or are you at the mercy of circumstances, under financial pressure, health pressure, family pressure, and just being dragged around? If you’re the tail it’s a curse, if you’re the head it’s a blessing.

So that’s the prescription for blessing. But before you can enjoy the blessing, if there is a curse over your life, you must first be released from the curse. Through the death of Jesus release is already legally ours. He has already obtained it for us. What we have to do is move from the legal to the experiential; we have to get it working in our lives. The legal base is already there. God doesn’t have to do anything more, we have to appropriate what God has already done for us. 

WhatsApp us now for an appointment to lead you through the process.