Generational Curses from Sins of Divorced or Adulterous Ancestors

Recommended Reading:

Breaking Generational Curses (~Marilyn Hickey)
The Breaking of Curses (Spiritual Warfare Series, Volume 5) (~Frank Hammond)

Curses of sin go down through the generations. Your sins affect your children. Your parents’ sins affect you.

Were your ancestors adulterous?  Were there divorces and remarriages involved? If so, there may be curses that need to be broken in prayer in the name of Jesus. Remember, with curses, there are both spiritual and natural consequences, too.  It isn’t all a mystery.

When parents divorce, sometimes their example and their excuses put some ideas and expectations into us that are not healthy. We may expect marriage to be short lived and miserable, and the first time we encounter difficulty in our marriages, the thought of the possibility of divorce may come up.

When people divorce, when they “fall out of love”, it tells of a conditional love--a love that does not love the person but only loves the objects of comfort associated with that person.  You may find you are accustomed to that kind of love.  You may have known the unconditional love of Jesus, but for you, during your life or your partner’s life, there may have been little more than conditional love from family members and that may have set up the expectation for marriage.

When we become accustomed to something good or bad, we can become addicted to it.  It becomes our comfort zone.  We know how to act in that environment. We know what to expect.  It may not be good, but there is no fear of the unknown or of disappointment.

Because of this, it is important to go through and ask God to forgive any living parents, grandparents, family members and to remove from you and protect you from any curses that may try to harm you and your relationship.

Sometimes we hold onto our bitterness and resentment for sins others had committed against us.  We need to remember that every time someone caused you pain, they hurt Jesus, and not only that, but Jesus anticipated that pain for an eternity and will remember it for an eternity. When I say that I need to be sure to make clear what I mean by it. When He forgives, the Bible talks about Him forgiving us and forgetting our sins--casting them as far as the east is from the west and so forth.  In that sense, He lets the sin go willfully.  He chooses not to remember it as an offense, and He is perfectly right to do so because if He has paid the price for our sins and if we have let go of our sins and let Him cleanse us from all unrighteousness, then that sin is not something that is in our heart. It is not something we would be willing to do again given the chance.  We have repented of it. But, His memory is perfect.  So, while He does not hate us for our sins, our sins do hurt Him deeply.

And, here is the thing.  There is no sin that anyone has committed against us that has caused us more pain than what Christ felt when we sinned against Him. Also, if Christ loves the person who sinned against us, shouldn’t we love that person, too?

So we need to forgive. No, we do not approve or condone sin.  But, we forgive it. When we do not forgive, we condemn ourselves, too because if we are right not to forgive, then Jesus would be all the more right not to forgive us.

What Forgiveness is Not

Some think forgiveness is forgiving and forgetting.  Real forgiveness goes much, much deeper than that.

People usually prefer to run away from the sin rather than forgive it. They would rather not bring back the memory of it. But, to forgive, we must.  We must face the offense straight on and address it directly, look at it, and choose to forgive it. Otherwise, over and over again, the memory of that sin may return to haunt us and we will be thinking once again, “If only I had gotten revenge when I had the chance”.

Excusing a sin is not forgiving it.  To forgive something, it has to be treated as the offense as it is stripped of excuses and anything that could take its memory away or make it seem justifiable. If it was a good deed that hurt, we need to come to grips with and pray for help to understand and appreciate it.  But, if it is wrong, and if the person knows it was wrong and you have a right to hate that person, and then you choose not to do so, that is forgiveness. it’s more than just saying, “No big deal”.

Go back over your relationships with family and friends and pray for God to reveal to you things you need to forgive completely and things you need to have others forgive you for.

When people hold grudges, they mostly hurt themselves. Sometimes their offender has long forgotten the offense. Sometimes not. Sometimes they have a hard time forgiving themselves, too.

Feeling Better Already?

If you’re like most people, you have probably unloaded a huge burden from your chest.  You probably feel much lighter and much more confident in your relationships with other people and with God.

There’s still one thing left.