I had it on my mind the other day to wade into a topic here that I think many of us would be interested in learning more about, and it has to do with ‘generational curses’ that can be passed down through family lines. I always feel a tad hesitant to touch on this topic, because I feel like I still have much to learn; and if I’m going to teach on it, I better have a firm, scriptural understanding as to what we are even talking about, before I attempt to explain it to anyone else.

But before I address this idea that the ‘sins of the forefathers can be passed down to the 3rd and 4th generation of those who hate God’ (Deut. 5:9-10), I was feeling compelled to first address this idea of what it means to be ‘sanctified’, or what we refer to as: ‘sanctification’. Then, as I was all set to tackle that subject, I was ‘moved upon’ yesterday to first address the topic of ‘slave mentality’, which is what yesterday’s message focused on; I hope you were able to read it and are caught up here today. :- )

I’m not one given to having titles for my messages, but if I was, I would call this series: “Slave Mentality, Sanctification, and Generational Curses”; so there you go.

As I mentioned yesterday, a child who was born to slaves… immediately became the property of the slave owner. So imagine being born into slavery for no fault of your own. I hope you see the parallel here, given that is what all of humanity was born into, thanks to the fall of the ‘first’ Adam, back in Genesis 3 (Rom. 5:12). This makes for some great teaching because guess what Jesus came to ‘set us free from’? Slavery, or being ‘slaves to sin’ (John 8:32-36; Luke 4:18; Rom. 6).

When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by Lincoln in 1863, there were somewhere over 3 million enslaved people living in the 10 Confederate states. As you might suspect, none of those 3 million ‘freed slaves’ woke up the next morning, living somewhere else in their own home as owner/operators of their own thriving businesses. It just didn’t ‘work’ that way, for all the obvious reasons. Clearly…there was a need for some form of ‘reconstruction’ to follow this significant development in America.

Nor did those 1-2 million Israelites who were freed from slavery in Egypt…cross the Red Sea and just naturally fell into living as a ‘freed people’. There was most definitely a ‘process’ to undergo and learn; many of them failing to 'get it’… and were destroyed in the wilderness. When we study that ‘template’ given to us in the Book of Deuteronomy and the Book of Joshua, we come to learn that in order for the people to get settled in this new land where God was planning to bless them in an abundant of ways…there was a ‘cleansing of the land’ that needed to take place. There were some wicked folks living there who God wanted to be dealt with and ‘removed from the land’, for a host of reasons. All this was a foreshadowing of what God’s ultimate plan was for all of humanity, who were held captive to sin by the devil. (1 John 5:19; Eph. 2:1-3; Acts 26:18; 2 Tim. 2:24-26; John 8:34)

When a repentant sinner turns to Jesus, surrendering their whole heart and will to Him, we call this a ‘conversion’ where they now surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, making Him their new ‘master’. Please note- there’s no point in ‘calling Him ‘Lord’, if we are not going to do what He says.’’ (Luke 6:46). Also, I don’t know who needs to hear this, but the truth of the matter is this: We are going to serve one or the other, God…or the devil. But at least we have a choice in the matter. (And we can’t serve both; so we have...or get... to choose)

Now when we do make this ‘turn’ and begin to follow Him, the Spirit of God begins to first do a work of cleansing, or ‘sanctifying’ in our hearts. Prior to coming to Jesus, our hearts were defiled with a corrupt, carnal nature (Jer. 17:9; Mark 7:21-23). And the ‘fruits’ of this carnal nature is evident, as Paul points out in Gal. 5:19-21, driving home the point that anyone who continues to practice those traits…have no inheritance in the kingdom of God.

Hence…the reason the Spirit begins to lead us to ‘put to death’ …all the deeds of this carnal nature; and IF…you are truly a born again child of God…you will comply with, and follow His leading (Rom. 8:13-14). Can I just add here that it is pointless to become consumed with wanting to know whether one is ‘saved’ (or not), and at what point are they ‘saved’…and can they ‘lose their salvation’? This I can assure you…if you are abiding in Christ, you are in the best, most secure place you could ever imagine being. I can promise you that (John 15:1-8).

It is this ‘process’ of being ‘led by the Spirit’…which is known as ‘sanctification’, and it simply means being ‘set apart’ or ‘made holy and pure’. There are some ‘Canaanite nations’ on the land, but it’s not a physical piece of real estate we are talking about, nor is it various tribes of evil people we are contending with anymore. But there sure are some ‘bad spirits’ that have been deeply rooted in us that do need to ‘come off the land of our hearts’. (Eph. 2:1-3)

You may be familiar with some of those ‘spirits’ (Eph. 6:12), like spirits of lust and greed, or spirits of anger and hatred, maybe even spirits of racism. And let’s not forget spirits of pride and rebellion. Why, there is most likely ‘tormenting spirits’ like fear and depression and anxiety…possibly linked to ‘’roots of bitterness and unforgiveness’ that have defiled you and others around you for…generations, perhaps? (Heb. 12:15). And guess what Jesus was anointed by God to do? To ‘heal all who are oppressed by the devil’ (Acts 10:38). How grand is that? This idea of having ‘unclean spirits’ leave us was pretty common teaching back when Jesus was here, as He even explained what can transpire if we are not paying close attention. (Matt. 12:43-45; 1 Pet. 5:8; Eph. 4:27)

I hope we are all on the same page here, when we come to talking about how this work of ‘sanctification’ is a ‘process’, vs. just a quick ‘one and done deal’ the moment you come out of the waters of baptism, which is an important step to take after coming to Jesus. There are ‘things’ in our life as new believers…that need to be ‘dealt’ with; and some of those things could very well be associated with…’generational curses’.

Have you ever known or heard how some families seem to have unfortunate ‘patterns’ or traits…that run in their bloodlines, like physical and sexual abuse, or various addictions, maybe depression and suicide, etc.? Does adultery and divorce ‘run in your family’? Yeah … those can very well be ‘tied in to curses’ that existed in earlier generations that just got ‘passed down’; sort of like how many children were ‘born into slavery’…for no fault of their own. But here’s some more ‘good news’: those ‘curses can be broken, once and for all. We can talk more about this tomorrow, Lord willing.