Curses are a spiritual reality. Certainly, not everyone has a curse operating against them. In this life we all have tragedies, failures, and losses. It is the nature of living in a fallen world. But more of us than you think have curses operating in our lives and are unaware of it. The curse and the negative outcomes it produces will not go away on its own and has no shelf life. So…determining whether a curse may be operating so that we can nullify the curse is a prudent thing to do.

There are indicators that a curse is operating in the life of an in individual or family. Let me list some of those indicators briefly. You can find all of these in Deuteronomy 28-30.

• When a family or individual continually suffers business failures or financial lack, even though they are working hard and making reasonably good decisions, a curse may be operating. When you can never seem to get out of debt because another financial demand occurs each time you get close to your goals, you may be dealing with a curse. If you see the same pattern in your family line, it is a very strong indicator.
• If you experience patterns of chronic, lingering health issues that are difficult to diagnose, keep recurring, or that proven treatments don’t seem to manage, you may be looking at a curse. Again…if there is a history of such things in your bloodline, this can be a strong indicator.
• If you or your parents or grandparents struggle with depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, despair, confusion, etc. when you have prayed, counseled, and taken treatments, there may be demonic influences operating through a curse.
• When there is a history of an inability to get pregnant or multiple miscarriages, this may also indicate a curse.
• When you see patterns of victimization in your life or family where you have been defrauded, passed over for promotions, taken advantage of, harassed, and so forth when you have acted with integrity and done the right things, a curse may be operating.

In general, when you recognize a repeating history of negative outcomes in your life or family line, that are not clearly results of your bad decisions or rebellion, you may need to address the possibility of demonic activity enforcing a curse.

To break or nullify a curse requires a legal transaction in the spiritual realm. The cause of the curse must be removed and then the enemy must be commanded to discontinue the harassment or oppression in your life. Proverbs declares, “Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest” (Prov. 26:2). The cause of a curse can ultimately be nullified through the the blood of Christ. However, we have to take several steps before the blood can be applied.

The basis of any curse being established against us is sin…either our own or the sins of our fathers. That sin must be submitted to the blood of Christ to remove it, so that the enemy cannot use it against us. For sin to be forgiven, it must be recognized, acknowledged, confessed, repented of, and renounced.

I continue to be concerned about how many “believers” are ignorant of God’s word and so are ignorant of their sins. Many believers let culture determine what is right or wrong and simply assume that God will agree with cultural norms. I’m often surprised at how many young couples in church are unmarried, but living together and have no idea that God would have an issue with that. Many believing men think that indulging in porn is not an issue as long as they don’t “act on it.” Believers are prone to make promises or commitments and then ditch them at the last minute because they got a “better offer” and think that breaking commitments or promises is not an issue with the Lord. We make judgments against others and feel no conviction because we feel justified in what we said or thought. We believe the cultural lie that same sex marriage is moral because it is tolerant and so we go along with the moral trend.

I could go on, but we need to be more biblically informed and train our consciences around the word of God rather than cultural values. We may also need to ask the Holy Spirit to inform us of issues we don’t recognize that are giving Satan a legal right to afflict us. King David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psm. 139:23-24) We need to pray the same prayer on a regular basis. Even if we are unaware that we are sinning, the sin still gives Satan a right to oppress us.

Once we become aware of something in our lives that is not aligned with God’s will, we need to acknowledge that it is sin and that we are responsible for our choices. Too many of us seek to excuse or rationalize what we are doing or blame others rather than simply owning it and confessing it. Any attempt on our part have “our sin” excused, gives the enemy an open door to attack us.

In conjunction with owning the sin, we must confess it…to God and, sometimes to others. If we have wronged others, we may need to confess that to them and ask their forgiveness. The key is found in 1 John 1:9. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The cleansing takes away the legal right of the enemy to attack us on the basis of that sin. However, unconfessed sin isa weapon the enemy will use against us.

There is also the heart-matter of repentance. Am I just saying the words or do I truly have godly sorrow for my failings and do I intend to do it God’s way from that point forward? Genuine repentance is required before forgiveness is released. In addition, Proverbs declares, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy” (Prov. 28:13).To renounce means to declare publicly that you no longer support, agree, or have a connection with something or someone…in this case, the sin and the one who promotes sin. Publicly does not typically mean that we must renounce it in front of the church, but I do need to declare it out loud to God and to the spiritual realm if to no one else.

Once we have recognized, acknowledged, confessed, repented, and renounced a sin in our life or in our bloodline, we can declare verbally that the curse is cancelled and nullified by the blood of Christ and by his authority. We can then cancel the assignment of any unclean spirit that has been afflicting us and command it to leave.

The question remains, what if I don’t know the specific sins of my “fathers” or may still be unaware of my own sin? When Nehemiah was informed of the state of Jerusalem during his exile, he prayed to God that he would be given favor to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall. He prayed, “I confess the sins we Israelites , including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees, and laws you gave your servant Moses…(Neh.1:6-7). He then went on to ask for forgiveness and favor in accomplishing God’s purposes for his people. Daniel also prayed this way regarding the sins of Israel. He said, “we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws…Lord, in keeping with your righteous acts turn away your anger and your wrath…hear the prayers and petitions of your servant” (Dan. 9:5,16,17).

If we specifically know our sin or the sins of our fathers, then confess them specifically. Repent on behalf of your bloodlines and renounce the sins. If not, pray as Nehemiah and Daniel prayed. They were essentially asking God to lift the curse that had been established against them for their sins and to bless Israel once again. We can pray in a similar way for ourselves, our family, and our nation.

In closing, we need to be aware of curses and take them seriously. The blood of Christ has more than enough power to nullify any curse. Indeed, Christ became a curse for us that we might be blessed. But curses aren’t dismissed automatically. We have our part to play through our own repentance and confession and even when the legal right of the enemy has been removed, you will still need to command these rebellious spirits to leave.

So there is the basic reality about curse and how to deal with them. Now that you know, get busy!

Reading through 1 John this morning, I was reminded of a seeming paradox in that epistle and a helpful explanation that was shard with me years ago. I thought it might be helpful for you as well. 1, 2, and 3 John are letters written by the apostle John who also wrote the gospel of John and the Book of Revelation. He was the youngest of the apostles and, perhaps, the one that Jesus loved the most. He and his brother James were the ones who offered to call down fire on a Samaritan village because they had not welcomed Jesus (Lk.9:54). Jesus called them the Sons of Thunder (Mk. 3:17) which suggests that, in his younger days, John was passionate, boisterous and. perhaps, given to anger. In his later years, he was known by the church as the “apostle of love.” In 1 John, the apostle is writing a general letter to the church that would be read aloud, passed along to another church that would read it aloud, and so on. It is a letter with a strong emphasis on love, but also on living for the Lord.

Now…let me point out the seeming paradox or contradiction in his letter, that actually turns out to be an encouragement. John writes, “God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we claim to to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1Jn. 1:6-7). He also writes, “And in him (Jesus) is no sin. No one who lives in him, keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him” (1 Jn. 3:6). No one who is born of God will continue to sin…they cannot go on sinning because they have been born of God” (1 Jn. 3:9).

However, John also writes, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 Jn. 1:8) and “If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar , and his word is not in us” (1 Jn.1:10). On the one hand, John tells us that if we say we have no sin we are liars, but on the other hand, he states that no one born of God will continue to sin. When I first began to study these passages, it troubled me, because I knew I still sinned, in some form, on a daily or even hourly basis, but John was telling me that if I had been “born again,” I couldn’t continue to sin. So…was I not really saved? I hope you see my dilemma.

This is where the Greek language comes to the rescue. In Greek, verb forms denote kinds of action. There is “punctiliar” action and “linear” action. “Punctiliar” is like a string of disconnected dots, whereas “linear” is a continuous, connected line. What John is saying is that after we come to Christ, we will sin, but it is punctiliar sin, not linear. In other words, sin is no longer the rule of our life, but the exception. We sin, but these are moments of stumbling separated by righteous living. These are sinful thoughts that do no rule our thinking, but that pop up from time to time. As we grow in Christ, sin should be more ocassional…the points should be further apart. If, we say we are saved, however, and sin still defines our life, then something is out of order.

There is obviously a process of spiritual growth or sanctification that occurs in every new believer. It takes longer for some than for others, but growth and maturity are expected. If we are not growing or are loosing ground, then we may be in bondage to some demonic power or simply have not truly surrendered ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus and that raises the question of whether I truly gave myself to the Lord. But even when we have given ourselves, we will still have those points and moments in our lives when sin occurs. But John encourages us in these moments when he says, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn.2:1).

Here is my encouragement from John’s writings. When we read that those who are in Christ no longer sin, the devil can begin to fill us with doubt about our salvation or our sincerity However, what John actually says is that those of us who are in Christ will not longer live a live defined by sin, but rather by the righteousness of God. Graham Cooke often reminds us that we obsess about our sin, while God obsesses about our righteousness. We often think about our failings, while God thinks abut who we are in Christ. That is a good perspective to remember. John also tells us that if we say we have no sin at all, then we are deluded or lying, so we need not pretend to be sinless. God knows our weaknesses, but has already made a way for us through Jesus.

God is not concerned if we struggle with sin. He is concerned if we don’t struggle with it, in the sense that we don’t resist it or wrestle with it or if we make a practice of justifying it in our lives. James 3:2 says that we all stumble in many ways, so God does not require that we live a sinless life. The balance is found in wanting to live a sinless life and please God in every way, even though we sin.

A second area where Satan can bring condemnation is when we are growing in the Lord, but start to feel that we are sinning more now than we we first became a Christian. The truth is, that because you are growing, your sin is not increasing, but your sensitivity to sin is increasing. That is a good thing, but we need to be wise so that we do not allow the enemy to use that sensitivity against us. Again, John has a solution to the sin we do recognize in our lives. “If we confess our sins, her is faithful and just and will forgive our sin and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn.1:9). So, once again, God has made a way for us.

One of Satan’s primary schemes is to make us feel condemned and disqualified from living a joyful life in Christ. Certain scriptures may bring a sense of condemnation if they are misunderstood, so I wanted to highlight those in John that I have to struggled with. Just remember the great promise of Romans 8:1, that there is absolutely no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Be blessed.

In his book, The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey wrote, “How easily do we who live in material bodies devalue the world of spirit. It occurs to me that although Jesus spent much time on issues such as hypocrisy, legalism, and pride, I know of no television ministry devoted to healing those “spiritual” problems, yet I know of many that center on physical ailments. Just as I begin feeling smug, however, I remember how easily I am tormented by the slightest bout with physical suffering, and how seldom I feel tormented by sin.”

His point is that we focus too often on the material and physical part of our existence and seem to look to the spiritual only as a last resort.  In our healing and deliverance ministries, we must be careful not to be only concerned about emotional health and freedom from the demonic while not being concerned about developing the character of Christ in our people.

I have seen believers who were crushed by the weight of their freedom because they felt that their freedom was the stamp of God’s approval on their lives.  Torment had driven them to Jesus.  Freedom somehow took their eyes off the Lord and placed it on the pleasures of the world.  The outcome was ugly.  Some spirits returned and found the house clean and orderly.  They moved back in and brought a lot of friends. 

Even when praying for physical healing, we often think the only issue is faith.  But often, unconfessed and unrepented sin get in the way of healing.  James tells is that we must confess our sins to one another and pray for one another that healing might follow (Ja.5:16). In a rush to help people, we often pray before we help them examine their lives.  Our spiritual condition is ultimately much more important than our physical or emotional well-being.  

Freedom and healing need to be steps in the process of discipleship, not ends in themselves.  I believe that emotional healing and freedom from the demonic are God’s will for our lives, but we must not offer them as stand-alone benefits, but as an expression of God’s love and power that are simply aids to becoming like Jesus.  When ministering to people, I often have to remember to slow down. Do some work before praying or before deliverance.  As Yancy suggests, we may need to come to a place of being tormented by our sinfulness before attacking the other torments in our lives.  Just a thought.