Generational blessings and curses and what to do about it!
All life is generational. Some of it is a blessing, and some of it is a curse. Most people do not take well to the statement: “You’re just like your mother or your father”. Whether you like it or not, there is more of your parents and grandparents in your DNA than you realize. Some people feel trapped in the negative legacies of their parents’ sins, and wrongdoing.
How can you free yourself of hereditary curses?
Hereditary Influences.
Genetics DNA[1]
Physical features like eye color and blood type, hairline, hair type, laugh lines, mood, fertility, intelligence, infidelity, insomnia, poor driving skills, fear of the dentist, pain tolerance, facial expressions, athleticism, response to caffeine, popularity, procrastination, how fast we age, your sweet-tooth, preference for bitter foods, level of risk aversion, optimism, empathy, sweatiness, work ethic, musical ability and taste[3]
Epigenetics:[2]
The environment of the parents, diet, lifestyle influences a baby’s health. New research with mice indicates a possibility that experiences of fear can be inherited from grandparents.
Spiritual inheritance:
If a father does not go to church, no matter how faithful his wife’s devotions, only one child in fifty will become a regular worshipper. If a father regularly attends church, regardless of the mother’s practice, between two-thirds and three-quarters of their children will become churchgoers (regular and irregular). [4]
Social Economic Standing:
A child’s social construction of gender, class, race, and ethnicity plays a huge role in their Financial IQ. Children’s economic and social outcomes, both during their childhood and in their adult years, largely depend on their birth and upbringing. Children’s families, schools, and neighborhoods, peers and adults with whom they spend time plays a role including media images that shape their perceptions of themselves and their place in the world. There are, of course many other factors, both internal and external contributing to the individual child, that can also greatly affect the child’s social, economic success. [5]
Find Your Family, Find Your Destiny.
Prof . Lewis Termite’s research of young geniuses: When the young geniuses entered into adulthood, Terman looked at the records of 730 of the men and divided them into three groups:
- 150 were in the A group who were the true success stories — the lawyers and physicians and engineers and academics
- The middle 60% were the B group — those who were doing “satisfactorily.”
- The bottom 150 were the Cs — the ones who Terman judged to have done the least with their superior mental ability. They were the postal workers, the struggling bookkeepers and the men lying on their couches at home without any job at all. One-third of the Cs were college dropouts.
What was the difference between the As and the Cs? Terman ran through every conceivable explanation. He looked at their physical and mental health, their “masculinity-femininity scores,” and their hobbies and vocational interests. He compared the ages when they started walking and talking and their precise IQ scores in elementary and high school. In the end, only one thing mattered: family background. [6]
Generational Curses:
Biblical Perspective:
Every man has a choice to determine his or her destiny.
“I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:5–6
“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” Exodus 34:6–7
“Because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them.” Leviticus 26:39
Individual Responsibility:
“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.” Deuteronomy 24:16
“But he [Amaziah] did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, ‘Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.’” 2 Kings 14:6
“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.” Ezekiel 18:20
We all leave a legacy
“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” Proverbs 13:22: (NKJV)
When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant (Deuteronomy 6:10-11 (NIV)
“One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts …” Psalm 145:4
Leaving a GODLY Legacy of blessing or curse.
The following story of two American families illustrates the power of generational curses and blessings:
- Max Jukes was an atheist who married a godless woman. Researchers traced 560 descendants: 310 died as paupers—150 became criminals, 7 of them murderers—100 were known to be drunkards—and more than half of the women were prostitutes. The descendants of Max Jukes cost the United States government more than $1.25 million in 19th-century dollars.
- Jonathan Edwards was a contemporary of Max Jukes. He was a committed Christian who gave God first place in his life. He married a godly young lady and traced some 1,394 descendants: 295 graduated from college, 13 became college presidents, and 65 became professors. In addition, 3 were elected as United States senators, 3 as state governors, and 3 others were sent as ministers to foreign countries. In addition, 30 became judges, 100 were lawyers, 1 was the dean of an outstanding law school. 75 became officers in the military. 100 were well-known missionaries, preachers, and prominent authors. Another 80 held some form of public office, of whom 3 were mayors of large cities, 1 was the comptroller of the United States Treasury, and another was vice president of the United States. Not one of the descendants of the Edwards family was a liability to the government!
The Three-Chair Principle
David served God, with all his heart.
Solomon served God, with a divided heart.
His son Rehoboam did not serve God at all.
Joshua, Elders, Next generation
Me and my house will serve God. (Jos 14:15)
“Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel” (Josh. 24:31).
“After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel” (Judg. 2:10).
Lessons of REFORM from King Josiah
- While he was still young, he began to seek God” I am seriously concerned about our children. We wait too long to give them the full gospel.
- Of his father David” (v3) Josiah severed all ties with Amon his dad, and Manasseh his grandfather who did evil in the sight of the Lord. He took his hereditary influences from David, the last great spiritual father/king/ruler of united Israel. He thus sought to align himself with a generational line of blessing and truth.
- Began to purge the land of pagan practises (v3) Go against the mainstream culture, and make a stand against false religion.
- Restored Financial Integrity in the house of God. (v8-9) When there is chaos, ad administration. Josiah understood good administration, governance and order.
- Restored the house of the Lord (v10-13). The church is the only institution mandated by God, for God, to offer Christ as the only means to salvation.
- Rediscovered, and studied the Word of God (v15). A follower of Christ is a faithful, lifetime student of the Word.
- Trembled and feared to obey the Word (v19). We are not only to study the word, but we are to obey it!! It is not about how much we are in the Word, but how much of the Word is in us! For his passion and fearless humility God personally commended him. ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Concerning the words which you have heard— because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the LORD. v27
- Made Public confession of His faith (v30-31). He was not afraid to lead with a public confession and display of his faith, not in religious false hypocrisy! I see in the generation Z, the spirit of Josiah, who are willing again to be bold and radical in their faith.
- Kept the “Passover” like no other King since David (35:1, 18). Keeping the Passover is about worship. How do we serve, and worship God? He surpassed all others! Worship God in spirit and in truth!
- The fight that you have not been called for, you will lose. He did not believe the coming judgement of God against his people, and that God can speak and work through a pagan king. Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself so that he might fight with him, and did not heed the words of Necho from the mouth of God. So he came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo. (2 Chron 35:22)
[1] https://www.rd.com/list/traits-didnt-know-inherit-from-mom-and-dad/
[2] https://www.vox.com/2014/8/18/5927269/epigenetics-definition-cancer-diet-explained-inheritance-DNA-methylation
[3] https://bestlifeonline.com/inherited-genetic-traits/
[4] https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=16-05-024-v
[6] Gladwell, Malcolm., 2008. Outliers. 1st ed. New York, NY: Hachette Audio, p. 110.
