BREAK GENERATIONAL CURSES

No one wants to be an alcoholic. No one says, "Do you know what? When I
get older I think I'll be a drug addict." No one wants to have an anger
problem. No man gets married and wants to hit his children or his wife.
No one who suffers from depression or oppression wants to be that way.
However, if you look further into the situation, you usually find out
through counseling that their mother was like that, their father was
like that. This is a generational curse.
We recently had a "Freedom Service" in our church. We prayed
specifically for people to break the generational curses on their
lives.
One woman testified that as child, her mother would beat her and hit
her on the head. Now as a mother, she does the same thing to her child, and
her little girl is doing the same thing to her doll.
Maybe you've inherited a family curse or maybe the curse has begun with
you. Either way, God has a plan for your freedom that will shatter the
chains of that cycle forever! It will stop it in your life and stop it
from passing on to your children!
The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, "What do you mean when
you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: 'The
fathers
have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'?
"As I live," says the LORD GOD, "you shall no longer use this proverb
in
Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as
the soul of the son is mine" (Ezekiel 18:1-4).
You can be free! John 8:31-36 reminds us that as we abide in Jesus
Christ, we receive His freedom. Not only has Jesus set us free from our
sins, He has set us free from the penalty, the moral liability, and the
ongoing curse of that sin! Jesus Christ is the Anointed One. That means
He is the burden-removing, yoke-destroying power of God in our lives.
There's going to come a time when the fathers may eat sour grapes, but
the children's teeth will not be set on edge, when the curse will not
be passed down from generation to generation. It doesn't have to be "like
father, like son." Through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we have a
new and better covenant with God the Father. Through Jesus' blood, He
forgives us our sin and delivers us from iniquity.
God has redeemed us from the curses being passed on from one generation
to the next. This redemption comes as we understand that the root of
our problems is in the spiritual realm. As we apply God's Word and power to
our lives, and we choose to walk in righteousness and obedience to God,
the chains of bondage will be broken. The freedom we have longed for
can become reality!

Becoming the Very Thing We Hate
There have been many studies conducted to determine why behavior
patterns are passed from one generation to the next. As we have
discussed earlier, evidence shows that astounding numbers of people
with negative behavior patterns produce children with the same negative
behavior patterns. The government is trying desperately to determine
why and how this happens and to develop ways to break the cycle. Does the
answer lie in the study of the genes? Can we find the answer in the
study of the environment in which we grow up?
No. The answer lies in the study of the Word of God. The Bible tells us
there are generational curses that are passed from one generation to
the next. Thank God, Jesus has provided a way to not only break the cycle
in our lives, but to stop it from passing on to our children.
How many of you faced things as a child and now, today, your children
are facing the same things with you as the adult? We swore we would
never be like that, but we have become the very thing we hated. We want
to change, but we can't. We can relate to Paul when he wrote: "For what
I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not
practice; but what I hate that I do" (Romans 7:15).
Breaking the Bondage
When I was a drug addict, even though I hated it, I would stick that
needle in my arm over and over again. I was bound by drugs and
controlled by the needle. I went from being an athlete in college
sports to a drug addict living in a deserted shack far out in the woods. Every
dollar I could beg, borrow, or steal was spent to put drugs in my
veins.
My money was gone, my health was gone, my life was gone, and I hated
myself. I wanted to change. I had a desire to change. But in myself, I
had no power to change.
Many people ask me, "How did you do it, Larry? How did you change your
life?" I'll tell them how. There are three steps to breaking a
generational curse.
1. BE BORN AGAIN BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST
"Do not marvel that I said to you, 'you must be born again'" (John
3:7).
The real turning point in my life came when I gave my life to Jesus. I
didn't just decide to turn over a new leaf to be a better person. The
Lord changed me from the inside out. Unfortunately the term "born
again"
has been so overused and abused that it has lost its impact. Repeat it
to yourself slowly: "born again." Let the meaning sink into your heart
and mind as though you were hearing it for the first time.
When we are born again, Jesus gives us a chance to start life all over
again. He is not giving us a religion, He is giving us a relationship -
a living and vital relationship with the Almighty God of the universe.
And this is just the beginning of our miracle! In Genesis 17:1 God told
Abraham, I am Almighty God. Think about this for a moment. He is not
"partial-mighty," not "somewhat-mighty," but "ALL-mighty." He is God
with a capital "G."
We come to God through His Son Jesus Christ, whose name is above all
names. His name is greater than any other thing that is named. That
means the name of Jesus is above drugs, violence, alcohol, hatred -
anything and everything that torments us. And all power is available to
us through Jesus Christ to destroy every bondage and burden in our
lives. That is what God does for us! He forgives us our sins and He
sets us free. Jesus died so we could live. He shed His blood so we could be
free.
The blood of Jesus removes our sin. When we apply the blood of Jesus to
our lives, we are using the weapon God has given us to destroy the
power of the enemy. We can now move in victory. One of the truths we need to
understand is that the moment we receive Jesus Christ as our savior,
every sin we have ever committed is gone, washed away by the blood
Jesus shed on Calvary. I don't care if we were raised in a church pew or
raised in a prison cell, it is the same for every person -- every sin
we have committed is gone as though it was never, ever done.
The sin that is washed away by the blood of Jesus is as if it has never
been committed. That is what it means to be born again: to be made new
by the power of the blood of Jesus; you are just as if you had never
sinned.
2. BREAK THE CURSE ON YOUR LIFE WITH SPIRITUAL WEAPONS
"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for
pulling down strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:4).
Most Christians know and can quote this verse, but they do not know
what those weapons of spiritual warfare are. Quoting Scripture does no good
if we do not understand what it means. But if we do, the Word of God is
one of the most powerful weapons we have to fight the enemy. People
often say, "The truth will make you free," but that is not the complete
scripture. Read that together with the rest of the verse, and you shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32).
It is the truth that you know and understand that will set you free.
The problems we face are spiritual problems. Anger is a spiritual
problem, addiction is a spiritual problem, depression is a spiritual
problem, racism is a spiritual problem. Abortion is not a political
problem, it is a spiritual problem. It is a sign of a spiritual
temperature and is a condition of our nation. We are in a war that is
spiritual and the war won't be won through carnal means, but through
spiritual means. Be strong in the Lord and in His power.
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his
might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against
the
wiles of the devil" (Ephesians 6:10-11).
Webster's Dictionary tells us the word "wiles" is from the word
"stratagems" from which we get the word "strategies" as in battle and
warfare. In other words, we are to put on God's armor in order to stand
against the strategies that the devil brings against our lives.
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places"
(Ephesians 6:13).
The government is not our enemy. The people down the road or across the
street aren't your enemies. Your ex-husband or your ex-wife is not your
enemy. Your in-laws or your "out-laws" aren't your enemy. Your enemy is
a spiritual enemy.
"Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to
withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand" (Ephesians
6:13).
The promise to us is that when we have on the armor of God and the
devil attacks us, we will be able to defeat him, not in our own power or by
our own might, but in the power of God. But how many Christians get up
every morning and put on the armor of God? Did you put on each piece of
armor today?
We should begin our day by saying, "I gird my loins with truth. I put
on the breastplate of righteousness. I put on the helmet of salvation. I
take the shield of faith and hold it before me. I shod my feet with the
preparation of the gospel of peace. I take in my hand the sword of the
Spirit, which is the Word of God, so I am fully prepared for the day"
(See Ephesians 6:14-17).
Most Christians go into battle naked. The word of God says that
Christians are at war, yet we don't put on the armor of God every day
and we aren't armed with spiritual weapons for spiritual battle.
Imagine a real army in a real war. The enemy's troops have tanks, bombers, and
fighters, but we send our troops into battle naked, defenseless, and
unarmed. If we going to win this spiritual war, we must learn how to
put on the armor of God and fight.
We are not given the weapons of warfare so we can draw little Jesus
soldiers for the children's Sunday school room, but so we can engage in
spiritual warfare and win. You are in a war against the enemy of your
soul right now. You will be in a war tomorrow, and you will be in a war
the next day. You are in a war until you die or until Jesus returns. So
prepare yourself with the Word of God, and learn to put on the armor.
3. REGAIN CONTROL OVER THE POWER OF YOUR WILL
God made each one of us with a free will with which to make decisions
and to live up to them. He intends for us to exercise that will for our
own good. We are challenged by a society that encourages us to live
without restraints. We are urged to do whatever feels good, to walk
away from commitments that no longer meet our needs, to develop addictions
of every kind, and to please ourselves at any cost.
In our schools today, kids are taught to "just say no" to drugs. Thank
God for any attempt to keep kids away from drugs, but in spite of all
their efforts, drug use is still on the rise. In their own strength,
it's not easy to "just say no."
Our will sets the direction for our lives. If we are influenced by the
world's slack standards and a lack of personal accountability, our will
is weakened and our ability to make godly decisions is hindered. Every
one of us has experienced the inner battle of knowing what is the right
thing to do and being unable to do it. We read in Matthew 26:41 the
words of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, "The spirit indeed is
willing, but the flesh is weak." Jesus knows what we are made of.
Our weaknesses are not a surprise or a disappointment to God. He has
known it all along and He made His provision for our will in His plan
of redemption. As we have seen, through Adam, we lost the willpower to say
'no' to sin in the Garden of Eden, but through Jesus, what we lost -
our willpower to say 'no' to sin - was redeemed in the Garden of
Gethsemane!
No longer do we have to be like puppets on a string, unable to control
our own actions. When Jesus shed His blood, He bought back our
willpower: Through the blood of Jesus, we can say, "NO!" 'No' to drugs.
'No' to alcohol. 'No' to anger. 'No' to violence. 'No' to whatever has
kept us bound. We can be free!
If you will make up your mind that with God's supernatural power you
will change your course, change your thinking, and change your habits,
then there is nothing you can't do!
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that works in us" (Ephesians
3:20).
God has equipped you from within so you have His strength to do what
you know is right. The things you never thought you could change, the life
you never thought you could have - God will do exceedingly abundantly
above all you could ask or think to give you that life! Through Jesus,
the generational curse that has held you and your family in bondage can
be broken. - TODAY!