Words Matter (Part 5) – More About Curses

Biblically, there are two sources of curses. One is the result of persistent and unrepented sin on the part of a person, a family, or a nation. The other source is a spoken curse established by our own words or the words of another. If you read through Deuteronomy 28, you will see that God established certain consequences for obedience and disobedience to the covenant he established with his people. Obedience brought an array of blessings while disobedience triggered an array of curses. Those curses manifested in the form of crop failures, financial woes, oppression by others, health issues, problems with pregnancies, drought, defeat, mental illnesses, and so forth. God also established a principle that the children would experience the punishment of their Father’s sins to the third and fourth generation (see Ex. 20:5).

These consequences are called curses and some of those curses may be attached to families for generations. I do not believe that God is the source of these evils since by nature he is good and he is light and in him is no darkness at all (1 Jn. 1:5). Since Adam turned his dominion, planet earth, over to Satan, God’s people have lived behind enemy lines. Satan is always poised to kill, steal, and destroy anything or anyone that God loves. There are times when our persistent sins, our rebellion, and our pride force God to lift his hand of protection that has restrained Satan because our actions have given Satan a legal right to come after us. We experience Satan’s attacks as curses. Paul expressed that reality in his letter to the Galatians. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.         The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Gal.6:7-8). Consequences operate in the spiritual realm as well as in the natural realm. God warns us and even pleads with us not to open ourselves up to curses. The biblical pattern for breaking these sin curses is to acknowledge our sin or the sins of our Fathers, repent of our sins, renounce the sins that have brought the curse, and then to nullify those curses in the name of Jesus who became a curse for us that we might be blessed. There is an entire chapter on curses and vows in my book Born to Be Free if you want more detail on that.

In addition to sin curses are word curses. In a sense, the words of man have creative power. God spoke the universe into existence with words. Man is made in his image and although that image has been diminished by sin, remnants of his nature are still reflected in all men. Our words can create by setting forces in motion that establish the very things we spoke. We pray and we declare God’s word over situations and people with faith that he will establish what we prayed or declared when our words express his will. That is true because God has given his people authority. But Satan can also give authority to those who walk with him. In my last blog, I mentioned Balaam who had the capacity to inflict curses on others. We are told in Joshua 13:22 that Balaam practiced sorcery or divination. In other words, he called on demonic powers to enforce his curses.

We have no need to fear curses. The bible tells, “Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest” (Prov.26:2). In other words, curses spoken by others don’t have the power to affect us if we walk with the Father and keep our hearts and words aligned with Him. However, most of us have seasons where our walk is more of a stagger and in those seasons we may be open to a curse spoken by others. Since we have authority, our own words may act as curses when we pronounce judgments and negative outcomes over ourselves. If we have opened ourselves up then repentance, renouncing the sin or the words, and the blood and authority of Christ is sufficient to nullify any curses. Each time Israel fell under a season of cursing because of disobedience, repentance and renouncing broke the curses and opened up a season of God’s blessings again. As our hearts turn to the Father, he is able to place his hand of protection and blessing over us again.

What we need to remember, however, is that we can be aligned with God in 90% of our lives but if we have reserved 10% for the flesh, secret addictions, unforgiveness, etc. that 10% makes us vulnerable to curses spoken by others. Our own words always have authority to establish curses. Again…I don’t believe that a single utterance will open us up to a curse but if we persist in sin or negative words we may find ourselves being oppressed and afflicted by the enemy. Words matter and so we want to speak only as Jesus would speak and always speak life over others and ourselves. Be blessed!

Faith can be hard when life does not meet our expectations. Faith can be hard when promises we read in scripture that seem black and white and iron clad do not unfold as we anticipated. Faith can be hard when we expect God to intervene in supernatural ways to right every wrong yet we see wrong prevailing. This is not a new dilemma. The psalmists struggled with the same issues.

But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.      For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills…This is what the wicked are like—always carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning. (Ps.73:2-5, 12-14).

Here was a man who tried to live for the Lord every day and to so what was right. And yet, his days seemed like a constant struggle. Nothing was working out. God seemed to be ignoring his prayers. Perhaps he had health problems or financial struggles. Maybe his business was failing or his boss was a tyrant. Maybe he had a rebellious child or his marriage was slipping away. Those things in themselves were hard enough but the kicker was what he observed in the lives of those who gave no thought to God at all. They were prospering – good looks, great health, a fine house, the best of food and wine, an upper tier education for their kids, amazing vacations and a Roman spa membership. Along with that they enjoyed fame and fortune built on deceit and unscrupulous business practices. Where was justice?

There is a slice of biblical theology in which God promises good things to the faithful – health, safety, prosperity, obedient children, and long life along with vengeance on the wicked. But there is also another slice that promises persecution, hardship, warfare with an invisible enemy, a need to put on armor every day and a prayer to keep the evil one from us. If we ever believe that our faith will smooth every road, give us favor in every situation, and that every prayer will be answered immediately just as we had envisioned it, we will probably live with disappointment. The greatest danger is that we will take up offense against God and decide that he is untrustworthy.

Scripture calls on us to preach, teach, and understand the whole counsel of God not just one facet that we find particularly appealing. All of God’s word is true and all of his promises are certain but they often come later than we anticipated. Think about Joseph who was given prophetic dreams that he would be a ruler some day with his brothers bowing before him. All that came to pass but only after being sold into slavery, falsely accused, imprisoned, and forgotten. Eventually there was prosperity and power but a season of hardship filled the parenthesis between the dream and the reality. Neither the suffering nor the prosperity contradicted God’s word. The key for Joseph was not to judge God as a liar because his dreams were not fulfilled immediately or even soon but to continue to trust God that his promises would come to pass – some in this life and some in the life to come. We greatly differentiate between this life and the life to come, but I suspect God sees them both as one continuum. Promises made now but fulfilled then are just as faithful.

The psalmist struggled with the idea that God’s justice should punish the wicked while all he saw was the wicked being blessed. He lamented, “When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me” (Ps.73:16). Sometimes our assumption in such matters is that God is blessing the wicked while we forget that the prince of this world can bestow wealth and fame as well. As he continued to seek God, however, he was given a revelation. “Till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny” (Ps.73:17). In a moment, God revealed the eternal destiny of the wicked and the certainty of God’s justice. We are also told that the kindness or goodness of God calls men to repentance. So judgment and mercy are both reserved for the wicked to be dispensed in different seasons.

All this is to say that when we live by faith, we trust in the promises of God and often we cry out for those promises believing God for an answer. When we don’t see his answer quickly or as we had imagined it or when we see those who are indifferent to God already enjoying blessings that we are still praying for, we may take offense at God when he is still being true to his word. Remember, Paul had to learn to be content in moments of abundance and in moments of scarcity as well. Faith and expectations must be rooted first in the goodness and faithfulness of God so that I know God will grant a harvest for whatever I am sowing into with faith and prayer. Then I wait on him to see how and when the harvest comes. May he always give us eyes to see what he is doing and understanding to know what he has already done and to always count him faithful.

The 1992 book entitled Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend has become a classic among counselors and therapists.  In a nutshell, the book directs us to maintain healthy boundaries in our lives and relationships that let in good things and keep out bad things. Boundaries are important and biblical.

If you think about it, God has always been big on boundaries. He clearly defined sin and said stay away.  He clearly established a principal that believers should not marry unbelievers.  He even marked off boundaries for nations, the tribes of Israel and the nation of Israel.  Boundaries set limits.  They mark what belongs to you and what does not belong to you; what is safe and what is unsafe; what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. What is sinful and destructive and what is righteous and life giving.  They establish responsibilities and freedom from responsibility.

The key is knowing what boundaries God has established and actually believing that those “No Trespassing” signs are not there to restrict you but to keep you from disaster. In the area of spiritual warfare boundaries are especially critical.  As I said in my last blog we have just finished one of our healing and freedom weekends where dozens of believers discovered that they were being afflicted or oppressed by demons at some level.  It may surprise you to discover that believers can be oppressed by demons and that so many are.  Part of the problem is that the church in America has neglected to teach biblical principles about demons and deliverance for decades.  The result is that a large inventory of the “critters” has accumulated in believers and their families undetected and undisturbed.

Many of these demonic spirits have attached themselves to Christians because we have not observed God’s boundaries.  If you walk through a field of grass burrs you are going to pick up a few.  If you do that in West Texas you will find them attached to your jeans and your shoelaces when you immerge form the field.  You will also discover that they will inflict some pain as you try to remove them and that they hold on with some tenacity.  Demons are much the same.  If you play in Satan’s playgrounds you are likely to bring some unwelcome friends home with you.

Those “playgrounds” take many forms.  Ungodly relationships are probably at the top of the list.  It is a rare believer who makes it through high school and college and into marriage without being involved in several relationships where God was an after thought if he was thought of at all.  Most believers enter marriage having had several sexual partners beforehand.  Many have lived through seasons of alcohol and drugs.  Pornography is often an issue and many have had abortions.  Some have dabbled in eastern religions, immersed themselves in movies and literature that are sexual or occult in nature. All of those “playgrounds” open the door to demonic oppression.   After those “prodigal” seasons they thankfully return but often they return with serious “grass burrs” attached.

Something in our fallen nature always believes that we will be the exception to the rule.  We are often aware of God’s boundaries and the “No Trespassing” signs but we think that somehow we can violate those boundaries without consequence.  But according to Paul, God will not be mocked. Whatever a man sows he will reap. (See Gal. 5).  Seasons of unrepented sin, unforgiveness, curses we have spoken over ourselves, sinful and especially sexual relationships, occult dabbling’s, and emotional trauma seem to be open doors through which the enemy enters – even for Christians.  A great deal of pain and work would be avoided if we honored God’s boundaries and if we taught our children of the spiritual consequences of walking through fields that God has told us to avoid.

Too often we warn our children of consequences in the natural realm– pregnancy, STD’s, addictions, etc. but don’t warn them of consequences in the spiritual realm.  Out children then believe that birth control, antibiotics, condoms, and recreational use of drugs and alcohol will keep them from the consequences so why no play in that playground. They need to understand that sin has real consequences – spiritual torment and bondage – in the spiritual realm that birth control and support groups can’t resolve.  Boundaries are good.  We should honor them and teach them.  Taking and eating in the face of God’s clear commands is not a good idea.  Be blessed today and a blessing to others.