Intercession and Generational curses.
We are commanded to Pray. 1 Thess:5:17,18. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Philippians 4:6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Colossians 4:2. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Ephesians 6:18. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
Intercession is also important especially in Leadership.
Intercession:
Oxford meaning.
The action of intervening on behalf of another orof saying a prayer on behalf of another.
Ezekiel 22:29-31.
The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice.
And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.
Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord GOD.
Job’s Intercession.
Job 42:8-10
"Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you For I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.“ So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job. The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold.
Abraham’s Intercession.
Genesis 18:23-33 Abraham came near and said, "Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? "Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? "Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?"
So the LORD said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account." And Abraham replied, "Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. "Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?"
Moses Intercession.
Exodus 32:31-32. Then Moses returned to the LORD, and said, Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves.
But now, if You will, forgive their sin--and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!
Samuel’s Intercession.
1 Samuel 12:18-25.
Then Samuel called on the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain.
So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel. The people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”
“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless.
For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.
David’s Intercession.
2 Samuel 24:17.
Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, Behold, it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father's house.
Intercession.
Just as the High Priest Samuel was an intercessor on behalf of Israel, so likewise Jesus our High Priest is our intercessor before the throne of God.
Romans 8:31-34.
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?
It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one.
Christ Jesus who died, more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Generational curses.
Christian superstition
Generational curses.
Christian superstition
Let’s consider the topic of “Christian superstition”. Perhaps some of us would not be too keen to admit that we are superstitious, but I’ve encountered quite a number of Christians that have been influenced by this teaching of “blood line curses”, “generational curses” and so on. In my opinion, there are two reasons why this type of thing has an appeal.
Generational curses.
Firstly.
People are fascinated and intrigued by the supernatural; spooks, goblins, spells and curses and these kind of things are big sellers nowadays. If you look at the big selling books and the big selling films, it’s often to do with the supernatural. Many people have an inclination towards this.
Generational curses.
Secondly.
Man is forever trying to lay the blame on someone else or something else for his sin. Modern psychology is testimony of the fact that people don’t like accepting blame. Blame your father, blame your mother, blame the environment for why you are what you are, this has its root right back in the book of Genesis in the creation. Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent and the serpent did not have a leg to stand on! So man is inclined to not want to accept responsibility for his sin.
Generational curses.
Salvation plus “something else”
This whole thing about curses etc seems to have some kind of attraction for certain people.
Often people who get converted amongst the black community that have practiced ancestral worship, are accused of bringing in their ancestral worship and mingling it with Christianity. But westerners who bring all this superstition and fear into Christianity and get people to believe that the blood of Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross at Calvary is not sufficient to deal with their past and to deal with their sin, are no better off. They preach that “something extra” is needed, that you have to go through some extra process or go and see someone who has had specialised training, so that they can get blood line curses and generational curses etc broken.
Generational curses.
1 Corinthians 5:17 says:
If any man is in Christ he is a new creature, old things have passed away behold all things, all things, have become new.
Years back there was a doctrine that had a similar kind of appeal - where you didn’t have to accept responsibility for your own choices and your own sins. That was the doctrine of Christians being demon possessed. People would go and have the demon of nicotine cast out of them and the demon of alcohol. Everywhere you looked there was suddenly a demon to account for why people were doing what they were doing.
Generational curses.
These kinds of “New teachings” go through the church periodically.
The Bible says that we need to become mature so that we’re not blown about by every wind of doctrine.
Yet you still find that every time there’s a new teaching in the church, it seems to appeal to certain Christians who do not know the Word of God, people who do not have a good firm grounding in the Scriptures. Many Christians today do not read the Bible and those who do read the Bible perhaps read a verse or two out of some devotional book.
But very few people read and study the Bible and really get grounded in the Word of God.
That is why these types of doctrine find a root and a base in people’s hearts and lives.
Generational curses.
Is it possible for a Christian to be demon possessed?
2 Corinthians 6:14 says:
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers, for what does righteousness and wickedness have in common? What fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?
Now this is an admonition and a command for us not to get married to or to go into business with unbelievers. “What fellowship can light have with darkness?” And yet people have this doctrine which suggests that a demon can cohabit our body with the Holy Spirit. Would the Holy Spirit and the Word of God charge us to live holy and separate lives - not to have anything to do with the darkness and unbelievers - and yet the same Holy Spirit is prepared to cohabit with a demon? I think not!
Generational curses or Bloodline curses.
Deuteronomy 5:9. is where the root of this issue starts and it’s also mentioned in Exodus 20. Both of these are accounts of the Ten commandments being given.
Deuteronomy 5:9.
Visiting the iniquities of the father upon the children until the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.
What is overlooked in this passage of Scripture is the fact that it is visited upon those that hate God.
An iniquity is a sin that shows up at a later stage.
Isaiah 53:5. “He was bruised for our iniquities”
A bruise does not show up straight away. Somebody can hit you on the arm and you won’t see anything. It may hurt, but you won’t see anything. The next day you will notice that you have a bruise there and that is what iniquity is. It’s a sin that’s in your family, that if you do not serve the Lord, will almost surely show up in your own life.
Generational curses.
You will find that often when husbands beat their wives, their sons beat their wives. Often when people abuse alcohol, their children become alcoholics etc. There is a very strong possibility that whatever your father does, you will end up doing - if you hate God.
NB: the iniquities will be visited upon the children up until the third and fourth generation of them that hate God. Parental influence is a huge factor in your life.
Generational curses.
The Jews began believing that this actually meant that if something was wrong with them, it was because their father sinned.
People still believed this in Jesus day.
John 9:1-3.
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
The Lord tells Ezekiel to correct this proverb which he hated.
Ezekiel 18:1-3.
The fathers eat sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
Generational curses.
Ezekiel 18:1-4 & 5-9 & 10-13.
The word of the LORD came to me: What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?
As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child, both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die.
And yet people today quote that proverb and people today use that proverb as a basis for teaching generational curses and blood line curses.
God hated that proverb then and I can guarantee you that he still hates it now.
Generational curses.
The Lord goes to great lengths to clarify this:
Ezekiel 18:5-9 & 10-13.
Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is just and right. He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the house of Israel. …He follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws. That man is righteous; he will surely live, declares the Sovereign LORD.”
“Suppose he has a violent son, who sheds blood or does any of these other things (though the father has done none of them): “He eats at the mountain shrines. He defiles his neighbor’s wife. He oppresses the poor and needy. He commits robbery. He does not return what he took in pledge. He looks to the idols. He does detestable things. He lends at usury and takes excessive interest. Will such a man live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he will surely be put to death and his blood will be on his own head.”
Generational curses.
Ezekiel 18:14-17.
But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things:
He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the house of Israel.
He does not defile his neighbor’s wife…
He keeps my laws and follows my decrees.
He will not die for his father’s sin; he will surely live.
So God goes through three generations to teach that each and every person is responsible for his own choices, it has nothing to do with what your ancestors did.
Generational curses.
It goes on to say
Ezekiel 18:17-23.
He will not die for his father’s sin; he will surely live. But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people. Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?
Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live.
So we see clearly that the guilt of the father will not be visited down upon the son.
Everyone will be dealt with according to his own righteousness or unrighteousness.
Deuteronomy 5:9.
Visiting the iniquities of the father upon the children until the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.
Generational curses.
Doctrine is important, Paul says that there are those going around teaching certain things and it says they must be silenced.
1 Tim 1:3.
… stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer.
1 Tim 4:16.
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Titus 1: 9.
He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
Generational curses.
We have been given the Word of God so that we may refute those who teach wrong doctrine. Paul says there are those going around teaching things they ought not to teach destroying the faith of some. What is so sad is that when I searched on Google for “blood line curses” there were only one or two decent sites for every twenty or thirty “nonsense” sites. The sad thing is that young Christians get into churches where this kind of stuff is taught. We need to be very careful because it is unscriptural and it just stirs up superstition and fear in people’s hearts. Paul writes to Timothy and he says:
2 Tim 1:7. KJV
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Generational curses.
My encouragement is get into the word of God; don’t just accept any teaching.
The church in Berea was commended because they didn’t just accept what Paul taught, but they went and they checked it out against the Word of God to make sure that it was true.
Acts 17:11.
Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
You have a responsibility to check that what you are taught is Scriptural . It does not matter who the teacher is or what authority they have over you. The authority of God’s Word is far higher and far greater. Check it out against God’s Word and if it lines up with God’s Word - accept it. If it does not - reject it.
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