I always skeptical about generational curses and thought they were sort of hoaxy...that is until I experienced freedom from mine.

Background On Curses

Curses show up all over the Bible. The first one to curse was God. After Adam and Eve fell, God cursed the ground and the work of their hands. Before the Fall, working the ground, farming, and growing stuff was easy. You sowed, it grew and multiplied, and then you harvested. No weeds. No thorns. No toiling. After the Fall, God curse the ground to make it hard to grow stuff, especially food. Most work sucks because God cursed it after the Fall.

King David cursed a lot too. If you read in the Psalms, he's always cursing his enemies or the enemies of God, telling them they'll be ruined or sometimes wishing they would die...I know, harsh. King David was cursed too. There was a prophet that cursed David after Absalom, his son, took over his kingdom temporarily.

Curses are all over the Bible. If it was just words, I doubt it would be that prevalant.

Background On Generational Curses

This concept of generational curses comes from a phrase that was used over and over again in Hebrew literature. It originated from a story of when Moses requested to see God's glory in Exodus 33-34. It says that when the Glory of the Lord passed by, He proclaimed about himself, " And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."

Basically, God was saying He would curse to the fourth generation because of the sin of one person. Sounds harsh, but God also says that His blessings will go on for a thousand generations.

Personal Experience

Like I said before, I didn't really know what to think about this until I experienced this first hand. Once a prophet was ministering to me and he said that there were curses on me from what my ancestors did. He talked about violence and trauma and about war. Then he broke them. I didn't know what he was talking about. As I was praying about it, I kept getting this vision 3 men being hanged by one of my ancestors, among other things about war and atrocities. So I kept praying about it and breaking the curses that were passed off.

Then I began to experience a peculiar thing. I had lived with this subtle sense of fear and paranoia my entire life, ever since I could remember. Every time I go somewhere, I would always fear that something tragic would happen. Very often, I would get images of tragedy among my friends and family. Because I lived with this all my life, I just thought it was normal. But after that guy prayed for me and I continued to pray about my curse, I began to experience freedom from that fear and paranoia. It was amazing! I had never not had this sense of paranoia in my entire life. For the first time in my life, I felt like I could breath fresh air without this thing nagging over me. It was a curse that was identified and broken.

How to Break Generational Curses

First, it helps to know the cause of the curse. That can be hard, especially if one of your great grandparents did something that caused the curse. In any case, if you know that your ancestors worshipped idols or were involved in witchcraft, that would help. Also, sometimes if you pray about it, God may show you too.

Suffice it to say, God is good and loving, and if it's really important for you to know, He'll let you know one way or another.

Secondly, ask for forgiveness on behalf of your ancestor. There's precedence for this in the Bible. Nehemiah, when he was fasting and praying, he asked God to forgive him and his forefathers for their sins. In his particular case, his forefathers' sins caused the Israelites to become captive to Babylon. So ask for forgiveness, even though you didn't do it.  It's harder for modern westerners who tend to be more individualistic.  But back then, and actually in reality, we're all connected and in community and interdependent. 

Thirdly, break the curse in the authority of Jesus.  It's actually a legal transaction.  In Galations, Paul said that when Jesus was crucified, He became a curse for us.  He took on all of our curses, and just like salvation, we need to trust in Him for taking on our curses.  So just break the curse in Jesus name, and recognize that Jesus took on that curse for you and make the transfer by faith...it's kind of like getting saved.

Fourthly, walk in your freedom.  Just like a lame person who is healed may have trouble walking at first because of atrophied muscles, it might not be so steady at first, but just walk and be strengthened in your freedom.  I often was taken aback by the absense of fear and paranoia after I was freed from my generational curse and it was easy to live like I still had it.

Anyway, hope that helps some people who might be experiencing generational curses on their lives and not sure what to do.

Check out some of the other articles that I've written:

How To Find God's Will For Your Life

How To Find God's Will In Christian Dating And Marriage

Hope For HIV/AIDS Patients