Curses and Blessings
Do you know that God is ready to bless you and reluctant to curse you? Look at what the Old Testament has to say about blessings and curses. Numbers 14:18 tells us that God is loving and merciful, gracious and forgiving, but he will not ignore your sin or hold back it’s effects if you refuse to repent.
Blessings and curses can affect succeeding generations. The sins of the fathers are visited upon their children to the third and fourth generations – whereas God’s blessings last a thousand generations! (Deut. 5:9-10)
All true blessing comes from God according to His own good purpose. You can’t force Him to bless you, and you can’t snatch a blessing from His hand. However, it is His nature to pour overflowing blessings on all those that are willing to receive them.
Many of the Old Testament blessings are listed in Deut. 8:13-15 & 28:1-14 and include: fertility, health, victory, prosperity, good reputation, family harmony and success. These blessings have not been revoked with Christ, in fact the Holy Spirit pours more into your life: election, freedom, forgiveness, holiness, God’s presence and adoption (See Eph. 1:4-14).
Israel received the blessings when they obeyed the Law of Moses but the New Testament blessings are yours by grace through faith in Christ. You can pass these blessings on to others by announcing blessings in the name of the Lord. God gave the Old Testament priests an important blessing to announce which released God’s goodness over the people. “This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.’ So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.” (Num. 6:23-27)
God judges sin, and He does this through curses. God’s first curses were pronounced in the Garden of Eden. His curse on sin brought the whole human race under condemnation and as a result we live in a world of suffering and heartache. However, when God announced this curse, He also revealed His mercy and grace (Gen. 3:15). God was pointing to Jesus’ victory on the cross – when He removed our sin, defeated Satan and paid the price for the curse to be lifted! We can begin to experience the freedom of the cross here on earth. The only way that Satan can operate in a believer’s life is through sin and within the curse on sin. Once your sin has been dealt with, Satan’s power is completely broken.
God gave the Law to the people of Israel to keep them apart from other nations and to teach them His holiness. Obedience to the Law released God’s blessing and disobedience attracted God’s judgement (the curse of the law). See Deuteronomy chapters 28 and 29.
Jesus has also dealt with the curse of the Law. When He died on the cross, He was made a curse and in this way lifted the curse of the Law from all who believe in Him and took it onto Himself. He opened the way for the blessing of God to come to people by faith in Himself. You can live in this freedom and be released from every negative curse pro- nouncement that has ever been made over your life.
Many people maintain that no curse can influence a Christian because we have freedom in Christ. It is true, we have been set free by the blood of Jesus from every negative influence – including curses. But we have to be prepared to fight and stand fast in our freedom for it to benefit our lives. A curse exists when a supernatural dimension is added to the natural harmful power of the tongue. When someone speaks with the intention of hurting a person, family or situation, their words possess a certain natural power. Gossip, slander and negative speaking can do great harm. People probably don’t realise that their hurtful words can also be a “prayer’ which the evil one may choose to enforce. The destroyer can take these words literally – and start to act upon them physically.
Every negative word or curse-like pronouncement provides Satan with an opportunity to defame and destroy someone. Any word that you speak against yourself, or against others, exposes you and them to the destructive power of the enemy. This is why it’s so important that we learn to control our tongues.
All curses operate until they’re revoked by the curser, or the victim is released by the power of Jesus.