In my last blog, I discussed the reality of curses. Curses are a very biblical topic and play a significant role from Genesis to Revelation. The very first curse is established in Genesis 3:14-19 after Adam and Eve sinned. They are a critical part of God’s first covenant with Israel and reveal how he deals with men and nations. Many are spelled out in detail in Deuteronomy 28-30. If you have never read that section you should. In those chapters, God promises abundant blessings if Israel will follow him and abundant curses if they rebel. These curses were established to be spiritual consequences that function as a restraint against sin. From the very beginning, God established the law of sowing and reaping. Paul succinctly summarizes it in Galatians 6:7-8. He writes that a man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh will reap destruction (curses). Whoever sows to please the Spirit will reap life.

When we act in ways that violate God’s law and do so without confession or repentance, we open ourselves up to a curse. If our fathers sinned against God without repentance, those sins can also be used by Satan as legal grounds to afflict us (Ex. 20:5). That is the nature of generational sin and generational curses. If Satan discovers a cause against us – our sin, the sins of our fathers, to the sins of those are in ca covenant with – he can bring an accusation before the Father, and the Father will have to grant him permission to enforce a curse against us.

Satan is constantly looking for something in our lives or bloodline that gives him a legal right to establish and maintain a curse. With that in view, a curse can be defined as a supernatural assignment of the demonic against a person, family, place, organization, or nation that constantly brings about negative outcomes over a sustained period of time. God’s heart is to bless. Satan’s heart is to establish curses that steal, kill and destroy. God’s desire is that we never open ourselves up to the enemy, but justice in the spiritual realm allows Satan to afflict us if he can find a cause.

There are many believers today who are being oppressed or tormented by demonic spirits that have taken an assignment against them based on something that has given them a legal right to do so. Many times, deliverance ministries rush to cast out a demon only to find that it remains or leaves and then returns…because that unclean spirit still has legal grounds to oppress and torment. An essential step in casting out a demon or in breaking a curse is to take away the legal right of the enemy to be present. When that has been accomplished, then we can effectively command the spirit to leave and forbid it to return.

So, what are common open doors for curses in the lives of believers? The Bible lists many….

Idolatry or involvement in false religions. Idolatry is anything we bow down to in place of God. It can be an idol in the traditional sense, but can also be addictions, materialism, power, popularity, a sinful relationship, etc. Many of us have ancestors that did worship false gods, offer human sacrifices, bow down to idols, etc. and that idolatry can be a source of generational curses. (Dt. 5:8-10)

Dishonoring parents. (Dt. 27:16) This sin carried the death penalty under the Old Covenant. Under the New Covenant it can still give the devil a right to torment us.

Injustice and violence, including abortion that was not medically mandated.

Sexual immorality which includes pornography, sex outside the marriage covenant, homosexuality, molestation, incest, etc.

Robbing God of tithes and offerings. (Mal.3:8-9)

Anti-semitism or hatred of Jews. (Gen. 12:3) Individuals of German descent may be affected with generational curses due to the holocaust, etc.

Ignoring the poor. (Pr. 28:27)

Turning our heart away from God, which constitutes unbelief. (Jer.17:5)

Refusing to honor God. (Mal.2:2)

Unforgiveness towards others. (Matt.6:14-15)

Judging others with an attitude of condemnation and self-righteousness. (Matt.7:1-2).

Rebellion. Some sin is from from ignorance, some from weakness. Rebellion knows what God requires and chooses to reject it.

Occult involvement includes witchcraft, psychic readings, astrology, Ouija boards, white magic, black magic, Freemasonry, etc. If parents or grandparents dabbled in those things, their involvement may open the door to a generational curse.

Pride and arrogance. Pride is always an open door for the enemy because God humbles the proud.

There are other causes for curses as well, but these are the most apparent in scripture. We all sin, so are we all going to be cursed? Not necessarily. Sin becomes an open door when it is not quickly dealt with through confession and repentance. If we continue in a sin, fail to forgive, maintain a judgmental attitude toward others, rationalize our rebellion against God’s law, etc. we definitely become prime real estate for a curse. If, however, we quickly acknowledge those attitudes and behaviors as sin and bring those issues before the Lord to be submitted to the blood of Christ, the enemy will have no case against us.

If we are honest with ourselves, we can typically recognize the sin and issues in our own lives. We should deal with those quickly. Of course, we can be blind to some, so we need to ask the Holy Spirit to show us any sin in our lives that we do not recognize. You might even ask believers who know you well to share any thoughts they have about what they see. Some of the more challenging issues that can open the door to curses for us, are the sins of the fathers. Few of us know what our grandparents or great grandparents were involved in, and yet their sins need to be submitted to the blood of Christ as well.

In my next blog, I will talk about how we can determine whether a curse is operating in our lives or family and how to nullify generational curses that we may b e unaware of.