Generational Curses
Deut 5:9 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected--even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.
Last week I shared about blessing and inheritance. God blesses you because of the good your family has done. Today I want to talk about the flip side of the coin. Is it possible to overcome the sins of our parents and grandparents?Be assured: God does not hold you responsible for something that someone else did. But to understand the Lord’s words to Moses, we need to consider the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The skeletons in your closet weren’t put there by your dad or your grandmother or your great-aunt. They’re the work of your First Parents. You were in Adam when he broke God’s commandment. Just as you were in Adam when he fell from grace, so now, if you believe in Jesus, you are in Christ through faith.To get out from under the “generational curse,” you have to be grafted into a whole new family tree (Romans 11:11-24).
17...And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God's special olive tree...
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah wrote 600 years before the birth of Christ, and he anticipated this New Testament perspective. That ultimately, you will answer for your own actions:
Jer 31:29-30 "The people will no longer quote this proverb: 'The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children's mouths pucker at the taste.' All people will die for their own sins--those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker."
Common sense tells us that behavior and attitude problems — just like physical characteristics of height, weight, hair color, and complexion — tend to run in families. Similarly, certain types of sin can be passed from generation to generation. This is particularly true of addictive behaviors such as alcoholism. It is also possible for physical and sexual abuse to become ingrained in the psychological legacy of certain families. However, none of this should be viewed in terms of an irreversible “curse.” Spiritual deliverance is available to everyone who sincerely calls upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13).
Source: https://www.focusonthefamily.com/family-qa/understanding-the-generational-curse-of-exodus-347/
