Generational Curses

Father God, I come to you today to thank you. Thank you for giving me life today. Thank you for the little things we take for granted. Thank you for our family, friends, and church family. Thank you for our jobs.  Thank you for blessing us with what we need Lord.  With these thanks, I pray now Lord for our family and friends that are in need. I pray Lord that you bless them in the areas they are lacking. I pray that you bless them with health and strength Lord. I pray that you remove any infirmities that are in their bodies. Cover them Lord from the crown of their heads to the sole of their feet.  Bless them in their finances Lord.  Help them to be good stewards of their finances Lord and in any area where they are weak Lord.  Father only you alone are able to do these things.  I pray now Lord that you continue to use us Lord to do your will. Lord, remove any distractions that are preventing us from drawing closer to you, and father forgive us for our trespasses. Father we love you, we thank you, we honor you and give you praise.  All these we ask in your Son Jesus’ name, Amen.

                                                                                         Prayer by: Judith Notice

When my son was 13, I signed him up for a community basketball team.  I took him to every practice and of course I was at every game.  The coach at the time had two leagues with different age groups.  Since he was the only coach managing both leagues and because I have played a little basketball myself when I was younger, I offered to help coach.  He would handle the 14-17 age group, and I would handle the 10-13 age group.  My son was a fairly good player offensively, but he was a beast when it came to defense.  He has very fast hands.  I believe that was attributed to his martial arts training.  There was another boy on the team who also had very fast hands, but it was when it came to dribbling the ball.  He was very impressive.  During one of my training sessions I assigned my son to that boy, who I called dribbling machine.  The dribbling machine attempted to trick my son to move one way while he attempted to go the other.  It did not work.  He tried different ways, but my son kept up with him.  Since the dribbling machine now became predictable, when he made the attempt, my son stripped the ball and possibly fouled him.  The dribbling machine became angry, and he pushed my son to the floor.  My son got up and headed in his direction, and I quickly got between them, since my son is a black belt and has an unpredictable temper.  While I was between them, the dribbling machine made an attempt to hit my son, but my son somehow made the dribbling machine hit himself in the face.  The dribbling machine expressed his anger by saying I held him while my son hit him, and that he was going to get his dad.  Are you asking yourself how does the title tie into this story?  You should know me by now.  I like to draw a picture as though you are right there.

The next day I saw the dribbling machine come with his parents in tow.  I had to look twice because I could not believe my eyes.  His mom was pregnant with a very tight top to where part of her stomach was showing.  She had on a pair of real short shorts.  Did I tell you she was pregnant?  She had tattoos on her breast shoulders, and calf and I admit I wondered where else she had tattoos.  She had a toddler who was old enough to walk but young enough to wear pampers.  I know this because he only had on a shirt, pampers, and some sandals.  The dad had dreadlocks that were very unkempt.  He had gold all in his mouth, gold chain that hung down to his stomach, he was pushing a stroller with a little girl in there, and his pants was on his hips where I am able to see his underwear.  I remember seeing the dribbling machine walking towards me with a proud look on his face. (are you kidding me)

The father made some hand gestures and was rambling off but my mind was in a different place.  I was 34 years old at the time, and since the dribbling machine was my son’s age, I assumed his parents were also.  I remember looking at his mom, and wondering how did she get to be like that.  I did the same with the dad.  Then I thought about how rude the dribbling machine was to me as an adult, and I thought about the baby in the stomach, the toddler in pampers and the girl in the stroller.  I remember thinking when would the cycle end.  It was when he asked me if I took him for a joke; I came out of my trance.  It took a lot of humility on my part, but I was able to persuade the parents to accept my apology.

A generational curse is what we label as a negative pattern of behavior that is thought to hold a family in spiritual bondage. They are sins committed by earlier generations and passed down from one generation to the next creating an often devastating cycle.  The bible states “The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.”  (Nu 14:18)  When I first heard this verse, I was much younger and had no desire to know God, and it made it easy for me to stay away.  I said to myself what a cruel God.  Why would He punish the children for what the father did?  But I got older, saved, and love the Lord, and it now make sense.  The fathers walked in disobedience, so therefore their children would most likely walk in disobedience, and the cycle would continue.  That is why in families it can be seen as a curse because you have generations of sexual abuse, physical abuse, substance abuse, alcoholism, divorce, promiscuity, homosexuality, etc.

It all stems from families who do not recognize that demonic influences are at work in their lives.  The ones who are most susceptible to these curses typically have strayed from the will of God and are no longer on the path to righteousness or never were. The above list of abuses or behaviors becomes a learned behavior that takes a stronghold on their lives, providing fertile ground to repeat the pattern of negativity with their own offspring, hence the dribbling machine, his parents and mostly likely the baby (in mom stomach) and toddlers.

Is generational curse the right label?  Maybe not, however there is a cycle of behavior that does pass on from generation to generation and it is negative in nature, and God will visit each generation based on that behavior.  Maybe the next time we hear of someone sexually abusing someone, part of us would have some compassion, since it may have happened to abuser.  Maybe the next time we hear of a husband beating his wife, part of us would have compassion, since as a little boy he may have saw his mom beaten.  Or better yet, maybe we can offer help to break the cycle.  Pray about it then decide.  Amen.