Blessings and Curses
May God's Blessing be upon you
Blessings and curses are old testament matters that have no real relevance in today's times - WRONG! Blessings and curses have as much power over your life today as they did in the old testament times.
If I had to stand before a packed church on a Sunday morning and ask the congregation if they are blessed, I am sure that at least 99% or more would put up their hands and say that they are blessed.
If I again ask the same congregation if curses exist in todays times, I would estimate from past experience that the huge majority would deny that curses even exist anymore and the rest would say that they have no power in todays times.
However, many Christians do not even understand the word "Blessed" and when asked exactly what it means to be blessed, you are likely to be met with blank stares and very confused faces. If you use the simple standards, as set out in Deuteronomy 28, to determine if you are blessed or cursed, you will find that at least 90% or more of the congregation that said that they were blessed, suddenly finds that they may not be walking in as many blessings as they thought that they were, and that it is indeed possible that they may in fact have a curse or two hanging over their life that they were totally unaware of.
Blessings.
The word "Blessed" is best defined as "To be Envied." If you are not envied by all around you, then the chances are that you are not walking in God's full blessings. Let me say right now that blessings have nothing to do with being rich. I know many rich people with whom I would never ever trade places with and whom I do not envy at all.
Riches have never brought happines into anyones life. Mostly, new riches starts to breed greed and the desire for even more riches. Money becomes an obsession in life instead of it being a means to obtain what you need in life. Money in itself is not evil, but the love of money is the root of all evil. When your love for money overtakes your love of God, you are in the clutches of the devil.
The first section of Deuteronomy 28 gives us clear instruction on how to walk in the blessings of God and what they are :-
" Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
And these blessings will come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord your God." Verses 3 to 14 continue to list the blessings. Take these verses, modify them to todays terms ( ie cattle increases refers to increases in your investments etc), and see if you have the full blessings of God in your life.
Although these are Old Testament scriptures, they stand true to today and unless you are walking in the commandments of God and in full and total obedience to Him, you can not receive the full blessings of God.
Curses.
There are many curses that exist in the Old Testament. These are curses that are directly from God and do not even involve satan or witchcraft or black magic.
Briefly, Malachi describes that you are cursed if you do not tithe. Zaccariah describes the curse that rests upon the liar and the thief. However, all of these sub - curses can be summarised by the main curse found in Deuteronomy 28:15
"But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:" Verses 16 to 68 continue to describe the curses that can come upon you if you are disobedient to God's word.
When reading these verses it is important to understand that times have changed dramatically and so you do need to modernise the scriptures slightly to adjust for modern times. There were no bank accounts and investments in those days so where it talks about your increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks, in modern times it would refer to the performance of your investments, etc.
Jesus came and set us free from the curse.
I have had many argue with me that curses have no relevance in todays world because Jesus took all curses upon himself when He hung on the tree. Jesus also took all sickness upon himself as well and yet many christians are dying daily from sickness.
Curses still have the ability to affect you today as much as they affected the Old Testament people in the past. If you are disobedient to God and do not obey His commandments, then you nullify the works of Jesus and the curses are able to rest on your life and affect you. As much as Jesus loves you and wants you to walk in total freedom from curses, the curses will remain in your life until you identify the curse and the cause of the curse, repent and turn back to obedience to God.
Are there other curses that can affect us?
Sure - there are many powerful curses that can affect your life today. Possibly the most powerful is the word curse. A word curse is a something that is spoken into your life usually by someone who is in position of authority over you. This can be a parent, a teacher etc, who says something like " You are stupid". You then accept these words as factual in your life and go through life being controlled by these words and believing that you are stupid.
Parents and teachers, as well as bosses, have to be extremely careful with their words that they speak over those whom they have authority over. Take care to confess only positive things over those whom you have authority over, knowing that your words can impact into their lives in a good way, or a negative way that can virtually make or ruin the rest of their life.
My brother was highly intelligent and very good with figures, but right the way through his life he was told that he was stupid with his hands. As a result, even though he was fully capable and able to tackle odd jobs around the house, he always believed that his efforts were useless and that he was never able to do anything good with his hands.
"What you believe with your heart and confess with your mouth shall come to pass."
Is it possible to break free from a curse?
Absolutely. In order to break free from a curse, you do need to first identify the cause of the curse in your life. If your problems are as a result of a word that has been spoken over your life, you must begin to reject that word and cast it out.
"Lord, I do not accept that word that was spoken into my life. I cast it out of my life in the name of Jesus and it shall have no power over me or my family."
If you have been disobedient to the word of God :-
" Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. Forgive me for my transgressions. I turn away from them today and choose to follow your commandments carefully from this day forward. I break the curse that has resulted in my life in the name of Jesus."
Should you not know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, then simply say "God help me please".
The Greatest Victory is often in Defeat.
The crowds were stirred up and excited. They could sense the blood that was about to flow. They had carefully been planning these events for months. They had incited and stirred up hatred amongst many, and now the many had come out to gain victory.
A huge crowd was gathered, excited with the prospect of winning. They were eventually going to see "Justice done". Their victim had been cornered and betrayed into captivity. He had been captured and all that remained was the final act, the slow death of their victim and then victory was theirs.
The nails were pounded through the hands, the feet were nailed and the beaten victim was set on the cross, hung between two low life criminals to slowly await the impending death and the ultimate defeat through death. His capturers taunted and mocked Him. Surely this man that hung there on the cross so meekly and seemingly without any power, could not have been the man that they had tried for so long to corner and capture. Why had this man so readily accepted this death on the cross that would means His end forever. His capturers were probably a little disappointed that it was so easy. There was no fight to it. The only smal bit of resistance was when one of this man's friends had drawn a sword and cut off the ear of one of the soldiers, and even then this Man had commanded His disciple to put away his sword. Why He even picked up the severed ear and replaced it on the soldier and healed it (Luke 22:51).
After hours hanging there on the cross, this man who had claimed to be so great, suddenly cried out and then there was no life found in Hid body. Why was it so easy. Even the worthless robbers that had hung next to Him outlived Him. Surely the victory over this Man should have been better, sweeter. Surely He should have at least put up a fight. Why had he so easily accepted "Defeat". Even when we taunted Him before he died, instead of fighting back at us, He merely said "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Life returned to normal, except of course for those that mourned the death of the Man that had been their hero, the man that they had witnessed performing so many miracles. This Man that they had come to accept as being the Messiah, the Son of the living God, had been taken away from them. Doubt entered their minds and fear gripped them. They had openly been telling everyone how this Man was truely the Messiah and that nothing could defeat this Man, and now He was dead and gone. What were they going to do? Was this Man who died so easily really the Messiah that they thought He was?
Yet on the third day, when they went to the tomb, His body was not there. Instead there was a angel that gave them instructions, telling them that there was no defeat, but that victory had arrived. Suddenly over the next days, a realisation came upon the whole area, that what the people who were against Jesus had thought to be a great victory, had became their biggest defeat ever. He was not dead but He is alive!!
The Christ had risen, and not only had He risen, but also defeated death and sin, and had secured the keys to hades. He had secured the ultimate victory in what all had first believed to be defeat. The price had been paid, and now the devil and his demons had been defeated once and for all eternity. They thought they had won the war, but they Lost!
Often times will come before you, when all are against you and it appears as if the ultimate defeat is going to overtake you. Have faith and the knowledge that our Lord Jesus takes defeat and turns it into victory. The greater the defeat appears to be, the greater that the victory will be. Nothing is impossible for Jesus, so place your faith in Him. Allow Him to take control and handle your situation.
My God is the God of miracles and the condition for a miracle is impossibility. So when the situation appears to be impossible, just sit back, smile and say, "Ok Jesus, it is your situation, take this thing that appears to be defeat and turn it into a great victory, so all may see that you are The Christ, that lives inside of me." Praise Jesus!
Love covers all Sins
Proverbs 10:12 "Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins."
John15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends“.
Jesus had such great love for us, that He laid down His life for us, and in so doing, all of our sins, past, present and future, are covered and hidden away. Jesus was prepared to pay the ultimate price, to become a sacrifice for you and me. He took the place of the old sacrifice which was necessary for the atonement of sins, and became the final sacrifice, that we no longer had to continually perform ceremonious sacrifices, to wash away our sins. He Loved us so much that He spared us from the law of sin and death, that we would be able to share in eternity in Heaven with Him.
I recently read somewhere that one of the churches had issued an instruction to their individual churches, that they should no longer be preaching the cross, as people no longer found this an interesting or appropriate message in modern times. It is sad, but yet it is also a fact that many people are unable to fully comprehend the message of the cross. However there is something that everyone searches for, and that is love and acceptance.
Jesus was, and still is, perfect love. Jesus accepted all who came to Him, and not only accepted them, but loved them eternally. Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus's closest followers and supported Him throughout His ministry, and yet she is the woman out of which He cast the seven demons. The seven demons did not come from leading a good and wholesome life. Yet Jesus accepted her, cast the demons out of her, and His perfect love hid all the sin away. The apostle Paul was a great sinner who actively persecuted the early church, and yet Jesus touched Him and covered all of his sins, and made Him into one of the greatest.
I can just imagine the scene when they brought the womam who had been caught in the act of adultery, to Jesus. They wished to stone her and kill her according to the law of Moses. Yet Jesus quitely said to them, "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone." And then Jesus carried on with what He was doing. All of the accusers left. Now comes the strange part. When the woman realised that she had received a temporary reprieve, why did she not run and hide before her accusers came back to stone her. (John8:3 to 11)
She could not. She remained riveted to the floor. Then Jesus looked up at her and said to her "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." Can you imagine the eyes of Jesus, as he looked up at her, filled with perfect love, with not even the slightest glimpse of condemnation for what this woman had done.
It is with those very same eyes that Jesus looks down on you today. He sees no sin, for His perfect love for you has hidden all the sin in your life. He has already paid the price for your sin, so that you may walk fearlessly amongst your accusers. You no longer need to run, for as the accuser tries to condemn you, Jesus turns to your accuser and says to them, "You who are without sin, cast the first stone." The accuser quickly leaves.
Jesus wants you to feel His love that He has for you, if only you will allow Him to show it to you. If you have never experienced that perfect love before, then come to Him and say this small prayer, that He may pour His love over you and say to you, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." Click here.
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