Dealing with Ancestral Sin - Adopted from an article by
Asher Intrater
We are all born into a fallen world. From birth, we are
affected by our family environment. Bad behavior (sin) will be transferred from
one generation to another, even down the third and fourth generations.
“I, the LORD your God, am a jealous
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the
fourth generations of those who hate Me.” (Exod. 20:5)
I do not believe that this means that God will punish a
child for the parents' sin. Instead, children will pick up the sinful behavior
and ways of thinking from their parents and the environment around them,
providing a way for the devil to build strongholds of sin in our lives.
[Eph 4:26-27 NLT] 26 And
"don't sin by letting anger control you." Don't let the sun go down
while you are still angry, 27 for anger (sin) gives a foothold (place or
opportunity) to the devil.
God goes on to tell us that He has provided a way to deal
with this problem.
“but showing lovingkindness to
thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exod. 20:6)
God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of
God, has provided a way to deal with these "ancestral curses" (
generational influences ). There are three primary parts to coping with
ancestral curses; confession and repentance, forgiveness, and exercising a
believer's authority and power to cut off the devil's opportunities.
1.
First, the issue of sin picked up from an
ancestral source must be identified, faced, and confessed.
a.
[Jas 5:16 NASB] 16 Therefore, confess your sins
to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The
effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
b.
[1Jo 1:9 NASB] 9 If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
Unconfessed or hidden sin provides
the devil with multiple opportunities to build evil strongholds in a person's
life. Humans are morally responsible for their behavior and must choose to deal
with the sin in their lives.
2.
Next, comes a decision to repent of the sin or
sins.
a.
[Act 3:19 NASB] 19 "Therefore repent and
return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing
may come from the presence of the Lord;
b.
[Act 17:30 NASB] 30 "Therefore having
overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all
[people] everywhere should repent,
c.
[Luk 5:32 NASB] 32 "I have not come to call
the righteous but sinners to repentance."
d.
[Luk 24:47 NASB] 47 and that repentance for
forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations,
beginning from Jerusalem.
e.
[2Co 7:9 NASB] 9 I now rejoice, not that you
were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to [the point of]
repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to [the will of] God, so that
you might not suffer loss in anything through us.
To repent is to change one's mind
for better, to wholeheartedly amend with abhorrence and sorrow of one's past
sins. “It is changing the mind to hate errors and misdeeds. It is determining to enter upon a better
course of life. A life that embraces both a recognition of sin and sorrow for
it and hearty amendment, the tokens and effects of which are good deeds.”
(Strongs NT 3341)
3.
Unforgiveness is the next issue. Unforgiveness is a "barn door" for
the devil's activities. Unforgiveness is like a "cancer" that eats
away at a person. Anger, rage, despair, great sorrow, and depression are but a
few of the issues that can come about because of unforgiveness. God gave us the gift of forgiveness by His
grace through Jesus’ atonement on the cross. He expects us to do the same to those
who sin against us.
a.
[Mat 6:12, 14-15 NASB] 12 'And forgive us our
debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ... 14 "For if you forgive
others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15
"But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your
transgressions.
b.
[Mat 18:21, 35 NASB] 21 Then Peter came and said
to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive
him? Up to seven times?" ...
c.
[Mat 18:22 NASB] 22 Jesus said to him, "I
do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
d.
[Luk 17:4
NASB] 4 "And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you
seven times, saying, 'I repent,' forgive him."
Forgiving involves giving up all
bitterness and resentment. We forgive others whether or not they change their
behavior or atone for their actions. It does not necessarily mean trusting them
or continuing to let them hurt or manipulate us. Forgiving does mean giving up replaying their
behavior over and over in our minds. The memory remains, but the emotion
involved changes to empathy and concern rather than bitterness, resentment,
anger, or other negative emotions.
Forgiving can be very difficult
sometimes, especially when the cause is extremely severe. It is at this point
when we confess that that kind of forgiveness is just not in us naturally. This
kind of forgiveness requires a love for those that hurt us that goes beyond
human love. It requires God's limitless and eternal love. When we need this
kind of love, we call out to God to give
us His love for the offender; His forgiveness so that we can pass it on to
those we need to forgive.
4.
Finally, we need to deal with the spiritual
warfare dynamic involved with ancestral sins. These "curses" were
dealt with on the cross, just like all other sins. We need to invoke the
authority and power Jesus gives us as believers to "cut off" any
right the devil thinks he has to torment us because of ancestral issues.
Believers have the authority in Jesus' name, and the power of the Holy Spirit
to negate any rights the devil thinks he has to torment us due to ancestral
sins and to destroy sinful strongholds built on these ancestral issues.
a.
[Mat 16:19 NASB] 19 "I will give you the
keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been
bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in
heaven."
b.
[Mat 18:18 NASB] 18 "Truly I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you
loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.
c.
[Luk 24:49 NASB] 49 "And behold, I am
sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the
city until you are clothed with power from on high."
d.
[Act 1:8 NASB] 8 but you will receive power when
the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the
earth."
Words have power in the spiritual
realm. By proclaiming the truths of who we are as God's sons and daughters we exercise
the power and authority Jesus gives us.
By declaring these truths, we "cut off or loose" the right the
devil has to torment us due to ancestral sins.
We can forgive, break all curses, and cancel all bad influences that
came from our ancestors.
e.
[Psa 118:10-14 NASB] 10 All nations surrounded
me; In the name of the LORD I will surely cut them off. 11 They surrounded me,
yes, they surrounded me; In the name of the LORD I will surely cut them off. 12
They surrounded me like bees; They were extinguished as a fire of thorns; In
the name of the LORD I will surely cut them off. 13 You pushed me violently so
that I was falling, But the LORD helped me. 14 The LORD is my strength and
song, And He has become my salvation.
The spiritual lesson from Psalm 118
is that we have the authority and power to bind up and loose us from the
attacks of the enemy. To loose (Greek – lyo) is to “loose one bound, i.e., to
unbind, release from bonds, set free to do away with, to deprive of authority,
whether by precept or act or to declare unlawful.”
We exercise this right by declaring
these truths to the powers and authorities that have built strongholds based on
ancestral sins and issues. We “cut them off” in the name of our Lord Jesus! We
are making known to the devil and his minion that we know who we are and the
authority and power we walk in as sons and daughters of God.
f.
[Eph 3:10 NASB] 10 so that the manifold wisdom
of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the
authorities in the heavenly [places.]
Part of dealing with ancestral sins (curses) is redeeming
the relationships, specifically between parents and children. Remember the
verse that follows Exodus 20:5.
[Exo 20:6 NASB] 6 but showing
lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
This “lovingkindness” is manifested in the relationships
between parents and children when the children honor and esteem their parents.
[Exo 20:12 NASB] 12 "Honor
your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which
the LORD your God gives you.
Honoring parents brings long life, health, success, and
fulfillment of personal destiny. It does not mean continuing to let them abuse
or hurt us, agreeing with everything they say or even ask us to do. It does
mean respecting them and showing honor. It does mean thanking them for the good
things they have done, forgiving them for the bad and wrongs, and speaking good
and not evil about them or to them.
In the final analysis, we need to remember that when we are
dealing with problems and hurts from others, we are not primarily dealing with
the individuals. We are dealing with the evil that has entrapped them and
caused their bad behaviors.
[Eph 6:12 NASB] 12 For our struggle
is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers,
against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual [forces] of
wickedness in the heavenly [places.]
Our unforgiveness, anger, rage, and resentment against those
that hurt us need to focused on the devil and his minions. For those that hurt us, unforgiveness needs
to change to empathy where God's love can flow through us to heal their wounds.
