Automatic Transcript Generated
Speaker 1
Yeah. So Gloria’s asking the Bible talks about generational curses. How can you tell if you are suffering from a generational curse and how can you stop it?
Speaker 2
I love this question.
Speaker 1
I love this question too.
Speaker 2
Yeah. And it’s I think for us it’s really meaningful because working on a documentary and filming over 100 interviews or actually 150 interviews on mental health, we really saw this generational sin pattern and it really is a thing and it really, I think, is a compass. In this verse of Exodus 25 to six, where is one of the Ten Commandments, the Second Commandment, and God is talking about how he visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him, but shows mercy to thousands, to those who love Him and keep his commandments. So it’s really interesting. So when people are in this very separate negative pattern, I see that verse as God saying, I might let this perpetuate for three or four generations and then he’s going to make an intervention and try to help break this cycle or else maybe forever, indefinitely, we will be having a problem struggling with these generational sense. And then I love that part about God just blossom for thousands of generations. I really feel like I’m in one of those families. But what’s important to keep in mind is none of us are exactly stuck with what our parents did before.
Speaker 2
We don’t have to feel like we have to carry their baggage. And if you read Ezekiel 18, pretty much the whole chapter, we could start at verse one. It says, 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. So this is a parable. And they used to say this back then, you know, the fathers ate the sour grapes, but the children are suffering the consequences of it. And God says in verse three, 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, the soul whose sins shall die. But if a man is just and does what is lawful and right, if he has not eaten on the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor defiled his neighbor’s wife, nor approached a woman during her impurity. If he has not oppressed anyone, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has robbed no one by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with clothing.
Speaker 2
It keeps going on. And I mean, you get to the point. Basically, if this person has done these things and walked in God’s laws and kept his judgment faithfully, god says in verse nine, he is just, he shall surely live, says the Lord. And it goes on and on. But God gives these different scenarios where maybe a man’s unjust, he has a son, but that son does, right? He’s not held to the count of the sins of the father and if the son sins, he’s not held account. God keeps us independent and separate in terms of how he judges us. But I’m sure God is very mindful of the struggles that we are dealing with. He totally understands that. And I think that’s a part of that verse. When God says don’t judge, lets you be judged. We have no idea what other people are dealing with and you are carrying unique burdens that have been passed on to you. That’s the real thing. God gets that. But there is hope. We’re not stuck in this. Even if you’re in the second generation of the third generation of this being handed down, we could get out of it.
Speaker 2
I find a lot of hope in John eight starting at verse 31. And Jesus is having a bit of a confrontation here with the Pharisees. And so we are told in verse 31. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. And so Jesus here is saying right now, his word, his truth, what’s in the Bible can set us free from the bondage of our past, from the bondage of our family? We can be made free with what’s even in the Bible. And it’s interesting, the Jews said, well, we’re Abraham’s descendants and we have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you, Jesus, say you will be made free? And Jesus answered them, he says, most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the sun makes you free, you shall be free indeed. And who’s the son who has the power? Who has authority? Jesus is saying, I have the authority.
Speaker 2
We’re all under sin. How can any of us really release any of each other but God, Jesus can’t set us free. That’s what he wants to do. And go back, read that whole chapter is really interesting how Jesus keeps going on and on about trying to show how he sets people free, how he’s of a different family even. And these Jews, they thought to the descendants of Abraham, they think they’re all so proud about their heritage, but really their father in the sense they’re of that lineage of Satan. Jesus wants us to be a part of a different lineage, wants us to be a part of a different family, one that is not of the one we’re born into, but we can die and be born again into a new family, we could be born as a new person. We have a new chance that all of our struggles of our past can die. That old person of us can die. Our family history, our past selves, our parent selves that we bring with us can die. And we could start a new as a child of God. And hence the verse, you know, behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we shall be called the sons and daughters of God.
Speaker 3
Amen. If I can just jump in, Jay. I really like what you said there, and it just reminded me of a verse that I’ve held to. And I know I’ve had friends who’ve overcome things like addictions and, you know, things that were passed down to them, you know, like alcoholism and drug abuse and things like that. And a verse that they found so much hope in is two Corinthians 517, which says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. So it’s not just some stuff when you come to Jesus like, oh, God, cleans up some things. But there’s nothing that can’t be made new because God can make all things new according to his word, and God can’t lie. So I totally agree with what you’re saying, and I think that’s so important for us to realize as we think about having a generational curse on our family. And I just want to say one last thing. I’m sorry.
Speaker 2
These are great points.
Speaker 3
Appraise God. I remember reading a book back when I was a teenager, and this woman from church was like, you really need to read this as you’re coming into a time where you start dating and that sort of thing. And the book was called Kiss the Girls and made them cry. And it was about a woman who overcame generational curses with sexual sin. And she basically spoke about how she claimed God’s word in overcoming it. And because of that, she didn’t give in to those sins that were in her family’s past. And she said it was like three or four generations of this going on in her family. And she was like, I want to give my life to Christ. I don’t want this to be a problem in my heart and in my life. And it was something she was seeing a potential struggle with. But God gave her victory. And so it doesn’t matter. Whatever sin it is that you have that could be you feel is passed down to you, every type of sin. Jesus understands, and he’s able to give you the victory. And the Bible sends us it is Jesus that gives us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3
And I’m just so grateful for that because I know in my family there’s definitely been things that are my Lord. I don’t want this to be a problem for me and I surrender those things to God and by his mercy and grace, I don’t struggle with any of those things at this time. And every day I just give I die daily. I give everything to the Lord and every day I know I’m new and clean and thank God He gives me victory every day and every step of the way.
Speaker 2
Yeah, I was just having that Him come to mind that faith is the victory, is our victory. And that really sends it up. It is just stressing God that he can bring us out of it. He’s the God of creation and he’s also the God of recreation.
Speaker 1
And I think also it’s important to as far as understanding, if we are struggling from it, we have to know God’s truth because generational sin is like sin separates us from God. Generational sin affects us where it’s like what we think is normal is not necessarily what’s right in God’s eyes. And the only way that we learn what is right is to study His Word and to examine the truth, to get to know that truth. And then throughout Scripture, god gives us the keys to the victories over those different types of sin that may be affecting us. And so we have to become aware of it. And we can only become aware of it by knowing the truth that God has established in the Bible. And a big part of that is knowing what love really is. I would say that’s the pinnacle of all of it. That’s the foundation and the pinnacle of all of it. We have to know what love is and we have to know really well what that looks like. And anything that differs from that, we have to be able to say like, wait a minute, that differs from God’s perspective, god’s design for love.
Speaker 1
Now, if we are operating in a way or tempted to operate in a way that goes against God’s framework of love, we can begin to recognize that. And then once we recognize that, then we can see what is it. That’s the key to address that. We probably have to go through the process of forgiveness. We probably have to go through the process of accepting God’s forgiveness into our own heart and life at a very deep level and then through the process of rebuilding the relationship or doing with God in what is right, in the.
Speaker 2
Way that is right, and not building or understanding of love based on what our parents did. But start looking at the example of Christ.
Speaker 3
Exactly.
Speaker 1
And then from there I also forgot to mention repentance. That’s a big part of it we have to repent of. We have to recognize the issue and repent of that and then accept God’s forgiveness then but yeah, it comes back to understanding it and then we have to practice that and keep practicing that because we can do it right, but we’re going to make a mistake again. And that’s why Jesus did what he did for us. That’s why he gave his life for us, because we would make mistakes. But we have to keep coming back and practicing and practicing what is the right thing, what is the right way to operate and until it becomes a habit and a part of us. And so that is really, I think, the key to overcoming the generational sin. And it starts with first acknowledging it, recognizing it actually. It starts with recognizing what is love, then recognizing what’s differing from that love and then working through the process to overcome that.
Speaker 2
And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
Speaker 3
Yes. If I could play devil’s advocate just for a second because you know I.
Speaker 1
Love to do that.
Speaker 3
You don’t agree with no, I totally agree with what you’re saying. I absolutely agree. But I guess when it comes to somebody who’s coming to maybe the person who’s bringing this up, they might come to bring up the verse where it says that God visits the iniquity of the children to the third and fourth generation. Like in the third Commandment, where you should not take the Lord’s name in vain. It’s it or not excuse me for the second Commandment, to not bow down and serve idols. In Exodus, chapter 20, verse five, it says, thou shalt not bow down thyself to them and or serve them for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. So now some people might go, well, there’s the this and there’s a lot of verses that say, you know, that the God visits the iniquity into the third and fourth generation. But I think the Bible also gives you the context in which those sins keep going down, which is the last phrase, which I think perfectly contrasts kind of what you’re saying, which is of them that hate me.
Speaker 3
So if you hate God, then, yeah, those sins are going to follow you because you’re not coming to God who is love and getting those things fixed and worked out. But I think that just kind of uprooting that the reason why things keep perpetuating is a lack of God, which is a lack of love and being a person who hates God and hates his law and hates anything related to him. So I think just kind of keeping that in mind, which is just you need to understand the Bible and understand in its context what it exactly is saying. Because the Bible does say that the iniquity is visited to the third and fourth generation, but it’s of those who hate God, who are not coming to God, who are not repenting, who are not seeing God is a God of love and having God heal them. So anyways, I don’t know if you guys have any other thoughts on that?
Speaker 2
That’s a huge point.
Speaker 1
Yeah, I think that’s a really neat piece to pick out. And I think that is a core part. That’s another piece of the truth. And I don’t think it’s contradictory. I think it aligns with it that if we don’t understand God’s love yeah. And how perfect it is, it’s really easy to hate things that are part of that love. I mean, look at all the people that hated Jesus, and he was the purest epitome of love, but they didn’t really know him. And so it comes to knowing God and knowing his love in our life at an intimate level, and then it’s very hard to hate Him at that point because you really feel it, which.
Speaker 2
To me, it just keeps coming back to John Eight, where God’s talking about how Abraham knew God, abraham loved God. Abraham really was in God’s family, whereas the Jews themselves weren’t really in the same position as Abraham was, and more in position of Satan, more challenging, rebelling, rejecting God. And that’s why they were not in the truth. That’s why they were in bondage of slavery.
Speaker 3
Yeah, that’s really true. And I think that’s just so sad to think how many people stay in that rut for generations and throughout their lives. Like, they don’t choose a better way. And, like, it just reminds me of John 1010 that says, for the thief, basically, the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus says, But I have come, that they might have life and they might have it more abundantly. And so there’s a better way in Jesus Christ. But you have to just be open to it. You have to accept it, and you have to allow God to do that work in you that maybe it’s always not comfortable to repent, to confess, to go through those process and go through those feelings. But when you do, that’s where real healing comes. And it’s a beautiful thing to know that you’re not stuck with the sins of your past or the sins of your parents past, but you have a new future in Jesus, and he gives you a new life. And I don’t think there’s any better gift than that.
Speaker 2
No. It’s so profound. It’s beautiful. Yeah.
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In His Service
BibleAsk Team
