12/8/07 - Curse of the Generations? #2

Hi all,

I am on the road (again) this weekend, so am sending this out early.

I'd like to share further why the curse of the generations is something we should not fear, and why (and how) to be focused of what we have in Christ as a remedy for those curses.

As I said last week, there is no doubt that family sin can be passed down generation to generation: But God told Ezekiel that no matter what sin dominated our ancestors, he would not hold a latter generation accountable nor responsible for a previous generation's sins. The son isn't doomed to repeat the errors of his father, and can in fact be free from those sins.

In the natural there are habits, ways of thinking, and lifestyle changes one must apply in order to see the previous generation's curses fall away into the pages of history; but a Christian is clean and pure before the Lord on his or her own without entanglements from the past, empowered to make Godly changes in life.

Twisted authority

During a visitation one day I had the chance to ask the Lord a question. I had been thinking on the end of Matthew where Jesus said "All authority in heaven and earth is given unto me, go ye therefore..." During this visitation I asked him: "If you have authority over all things, then why is the earth such a mess?" He replied: "I do have authority over all things, but Satan gets people to give him their authority, then he uses their authority against them. What you see in the world is the accumulation and culmination of sometimes whole people groups and nations giving their authority over to Satan, and him using it against them, sometimes to the enslavement of whole nations."

Perhaps previous generations in your family gave parts of their authority over to Satan and he used that against them, and then as you were raised you were inadvertently trained in giving your authority to the enemy in certain areas, resulting in demonic activity and lifestyles that affected you growing up, or even to this day. The issue therefore isn't so much about how they let Satan in, rather YOU learning how to regain and use your authority, which is part of the discipleship process.

How do we apply our righteousness in Christ to those previous generation's sins and the spiritual forces that want to see them continue into our lives?

Fear not the motivation

One stream of thought is to investigate family history to see why we or someone we love is the way they are, and some knowledge can be gained of course. One can buy manuals and books that go into great detail about this or that sin and how demons get into a family. The hope is that by learning as much as possible victory may be gained through the right prayer or declaration or command.

Over the years I've talked to people very much concerned because they learned a grandfather was a Mason of the 32nd degree, or a grandmother had her palm read, or an uncle was part of the KKK or grandma held seance's in the same living room the family spent Sunday afternoon's after church in - and on it goes.

However, my concern has actually been for the person telling me their family story rather than the revelation of family histories, because many people I've encountered who do such research become genuinely fearful and thus motivated by fear in their prayers when they tie today's behavior in themselves or a loved one to grandma and grandpa's sins.

In trying to get them to look at Jesus I end up asking why this history makes a difference to them, for Jesus and his work on the cross is more than a match for anything grandma or grandpa did. Sometimes we can get so close to the problem we don't see the answer before us - do we really think so little of Jesus' work on the cross that we think if we know our ancestor's history in detail we can add to what Jesus did for us?

I knew a lady suffering from hormonal issues which caused her heart to gradually weaken and shrink, leaving her gaunt, pale, and fatigued. She was a Bible school student who, in spite of all she was learning there, spent her free time seeking out herbs and natural remedies, able to recite each herb's power and how it interacts with other herbs and her body, like a walking, talking herbal pharmacist.

She only grew worse. Talking to her was very frustrating as I would share about healing and her learning to take authority over her body and staying in praise and thanksgiving, and she would counter every point I made with something about this or that herb and how it could interact with the Word and prayer.

She was half focused on herbs and physiology and half on the things of the Lord.

It took my wife and I building a multi-year relationship with this woman and her husband, and continual guidance exhorting her to shift her attention to the Lord and what he's done instead of her body's physiology, in part through listening to my "Healing School" series over and over, but eventually she focused on God, her heart began healing, and today she is totally healed and (even) holds down a full time job.  

But to exhort readers in these pages to turn attention to what God has done for us and away from our past without providing some understanding about WHY and HOW to stop these evil spiritual influences, would be incomplete.

Not a people

The WHY really boils down to one thing - we've changed families.

Peter said in I Peter 2:10: "Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God."

The word "people" here means "people as a whole of the same race and language". (Vine)

Ephesians 5:8 says we "were at one time darkness, but now you are light."

The curse of the generations our family's experienced occurred in times when we (and/or our relatives) were in darkness and were not a people. Think of that - in darkness and not a people - without God in this world - (or if they knew God they still turned their authority over to Satan in areas resulting in affliction in the family.)

BUT for you: Ephesians 1:5 tells us the Father God adopted you through Jesus to make you his child. Ephesians 2:19 says we are now part of the household of God. II Corinthians 5:17 says we are new creatures in Christ, and all things are new. Ephesians 3:15 says you are now part of a family named after Jesus, and this family exists in heaven and on earth, headed up by our heavenly Father.

In the natural, physical world, things may look unchanged since you were born again - maybe your family is still in those generational bondage's. However, if your family is still "not a people" and still in darkness but you are now in Christ, you have actually switched families!

In order to be free from those family sins you must focus on your new family not your old. You may have to limit how you interact with your earth-family, watch what you say, and pray for them - but your focus must be on your new family - your new Father, your new Big Brother and Lord, and your new brothers and sisters - while walking in wisdom with your earth-family.

The blood of Jesus, my family blood line

How do you get your mind around this spiritual truth? By learning of the thing that allowed you to switch families - the blood of Jesus.

I was casting a demon out of a teenage girl, sitting opposite her and commanding the spirit to come out immediately. As I was telling it to come out, this slightly built girl's arms slowly but steadily reached out, her hands stopping just short (1 inch) of grabbing my throat in a death grip. One person on either side of her had grabbed each arm and tried to restrain her, but her superhuman strength was such their pulling had no effect on the progress her hands made towards my throat.

Suddenly through no effort and no thought of my own, up out of my spirit I heard myself say: "You can't touch me, I'm covered by the blood of Jesus". Immediately the spirit gave up, came out, and the girl was delivered and is serving the Lord to this day.

The line in the sand the demon could not cross was that I was of another blood line - washed in the blood of Jesus and part of his family now. The demon had no strength nor answer to the Holy Spirit prompting my spirit to assert itself in the presence of evil, he had to go.

Jesus' blood was the currency that bought our adoption into the family of God, so says Ephesians 1:3-7. Romans 5:9 goes beyond that, for not only has our adoption been purchased by the blood of Jesus, we are now justified by that blood.

Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours

Justified is beyond forgiveness and acquittal: Forgiveness means a valid offense has been forgiven. Acquittal means charges were brought, but the jury declared us not guilty, yet the record of charges being brought remains in the court records.

Justified means all record of charges ever having been brought against you are wiped clean off the books as if they never existed, with the judge (Judge) telling everyone you are now a friend of the Court, a member of the Judge's family, and no further accusations may be brought! We are forgiven, acquitted, and justified all in one, by the blood of Jesus. To make it official, Ephesians 1:13 says we are "stamped with the seal of the long-promised Holy Spirit".

To this end Paul writes in Romans 8:33; "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect (when it is) God Who justifies - Who put us in right relation to Himself? (Who shall come forward and accuse or impeach those whom God has chosen? Will God, Who acquits us? Who is there to condemn us?" (AMP)

He goes on to say that nothing can separate us from this kind of love - not angels, nor demons, nor death, nor anything encountered in life - nothing is greater than God having already justified us in Christ!

And that is the point - not even demons (even if from our family) can come against us because our Father God has already adopted us, justified us, and sealed the deal in the Court of Heaven.

Empowered in Christ

That is how we stand against the familial sins that would seek to bring us under their dominion - we must be strong in our knowledge of God the Father's love for us, his act of adoption, his act of justifying us in the Court of Heaven, and that we have his seal of approval, the Holy Spirit. We must be armed in our minds with this knowledge, and supported by determination to live according to our new family rather than our old, learning how to take back authority that had once been in the enemy's hand.

We need to get our eyes off the past, off our old family, and onto the glorious grace we currently possess through the blood of Christ. There is a blood line in the sand family demons cannot cross over if you stand up to them - you are in a different family now - but to walk it out we must keep our eyes on these truths, and follow through with new ways of thinking, new habits, and surrounded by new family members to support and pray for us as we walk it out.

 

Some thoughts this day,

Blessings,

John Fenn
www.ifaithhome.org
www.cwowi.org