Break cycle of family curses

By ANNE ANJAO-EBOI

KENYA: I believe we live in a physical as well as spiritual world. However, some people only believe what they see in the natural; to them, anything intangible does not exist.

But I know man has a body, soul and spirit, so the presence of generational curses is real. Consider what God says in the following verses:

Exodus 34:7, “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”

Lamentations 5:7, “Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.”

It may not make sense why God would want to punish innocent children who had no idea what sins their ancestors committed. Well, He still remains God and His way is often good.

I would not want my children to be cursed on my account, so I will do everything possible to avoid offending God.

The reason most of us accept the negative situations that plague us is simply ignorance. Your great grandfather, grandfather and father were hopeless alcoholics, so what makes you think you will be ‘clean’? With sufficient knowledge on generational curses, you will break this alcoholic curse and not only live a sober life, but ensure your children never touch alcohol.

It could be that a family is bound by the spirit of poverty. When it seems like something good is about to happen, all hell breaks loose.

I met a man who recently fled the fighting in South Sudan. Tom’s family is dirt poor. His parents are peasant farmers, and none of his three siblings completed their university education. Tom got his Master’s degree courtesy of the goodwill of certain kind people.

Despite his qualifications, getting a job in Kenya was a challenge. He got a job in South Sudan only a year ago, with an NGO. Not only did Tom have a good job, but he had also hit on an excellent business idea that had given him good returns in the two months it had been in operation. Things were looking up until that Sunday when things went haywire.

Tom is back in Kenya, in his rural home, with his parents. To say he is devastated is an understatement. Many are the times you will catch him deep in thought, staring into the distance. He is clearly torn between poverty and security.

There are those bound by a spirit of sexual immorality. Others are from families where none of the siblings is married, or almost all of them are divorced. A spirit of death binds others — they bury someone every year. Still others are bound by a spirit of gossip; everyone is ever peddling rumours. Others suffer from the spirit of family disunity. The list is endless.

SOUR GRAPE

Know that Christ was made a curse, so we can be freed from the curses that sin has brought us. Once you become a child of God, no longer will the sins of your forefathers follow you.

Jeremiah 31:29-30, “In those days they shall say no more, the fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: Every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.”

My maternal grandmother, my mother and my aunt all passed on due to breast cancer. I recognised this as a spirit of sickness and bound it, and the result is that year after year, tests show I am cancer-free. I believe this curse is broken over my life and my children’s. Another curse was early death in the family where out of a family of nine, only three of us are left alive. I believe this curse is broken as the last premature death we suffered was in 1994, when we lost our brother.

Curses are real, but God’s ability to deal with them is even more real. Trust in Him to deal with them.