I’ve recently heard, “He didn’t have a chance. They were all heavy drinkers… both on his mom’s side and dad’s side.” I know tons of people who, time after time, end up living together without being in a marriage relationship-heck, that used to be me. I was used to floating from one person to the next – all in the name of love, but looking for love in all the wrong places (isn’t there a song with that title? lol…) I was only trying to “get a feel” for someone before I was tied to them for life, like so many do. Why buy the cow if the milk is free?Then I think of the many young woman and girls I used to council at our local Pregnancy center… they quit high school when they got pregnant at 15 or 16, a year or two after the baby’s born, they plan to get their GED… but surprise, they’re pregnant again, and this time their loser boyfriend is incarcerated – “but I love him!,” they insist! So, education is put off again. Welfare becomes a way of life. It’s a sick circle of events. A domino effect – their mothers and grandmothers also lived/or are still living a similar lifestyle. They don’t know anything else. They think this is the way life always will be, but we have a responsibility to let them know there is a better way. In the Bible, God tells us that He will lavish mercy and unfailing love on those who love and obey Him, but if He is not the central focus of our lives, He tells us…
“I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected-even children in the third and fourth generations who reject me.” Exodus 20: 5
“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are about to enter and occupy. But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed.” Deuteronomy 31: 15-16
Generational curses are real! They involve negative patterns from your family history that are repeated in your own life. Let me give an illustration of that in my life: I was adopted when I was ten weeks old. I don’t know much about my biological family, with the exception of knowing I have an older brother. When this disease manifested, I did some searching into my biological family for medical information. I found nothing medical, but I did find a half sister twenty five years older than I am! We were able to put together what little information we both had… we came to the conclusion that our birth father loved woman-young women, and he was a big-time womanizer. I’ll tell you why I say that… the very little non-disclosing information I had from the adoption agency said my 21 year old mother was married to my 57 year old father. I also knew that I had four other siblings, who were adults when I was born! The adoption agency told me those children were from a previous marriage. So between my birth mom and this other women were two marriages and six children. The half sister I was able to meet… her mom and our father weren’t married. Her mom was only sixteen. Was my birth father maybe having an affair?
When I think about how chaotic my life used to be in this area, and how I probably was destined to go down the same road as my father, his father, his father before him…etc. That, my friends is a generational curse. God will not force His will on anyone. He lets us decide. It truly is choosing over a matter of life or death. We all have the power of choice. I have chosen the better way!
I’ve turned to God, and He broke the curse! Now any Generational sin has no power over me! God keeps His word. He’s lavishing mercy and unfailing love on me, and He will continue with my descendants. We certainly cannot control our circumstances, but we can control the way we respond by the choices we make.
Yes, Jesus defeated sin and death on the cross 2000 years ago, but our sin nature is still here trying to trip us up. That is why making good, godly choices is vital to living a victorious life. I’ve learned in a way that brought on so much heartache, that making bad choices can create all sorts of unwelcome problems and chaos.
“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying Him, and committing yourself firmly to Him. This is the key to your life.” Deuteronomy 30: 19-20