The Difference between Generational Curses and Generational Cycles.

Hello Family, 

Today I want to talk about something that the church brings up and preaches about that is Generational curses. I want to talk about this to help people to understand how important it is to pay attention to context. When we have bible studies we should always look for why it's being said, what events are going on at that time and what kind of words were used in the text because that is equally important.

Curse And Cycle What is it?

To understand this question we have to look into what these words mean and how it's used in the context. There is an article that explains curses well and certain events that happen in the bible. The article is called Bible Study Tools check them out whenever you get the chance.

                   

The word curse as explained in Dictionary.com is to wish misfortune, evil, doom, or bad to happen to a person or persons, to recite or say something that can harm or kill somebody or something. I know it doesn't say that word for word with some of it but I guarantee you it is accurate. Now, this definition is different from how God curses people, for example, God cursed the serpent to slither on its belly all the days of its life, and God cursed man to labor all the days of his life and work for the food that he plants and to go back to the dust, and lastly, God cursed the woman to feel the pain of pregnancy and the woman will try to have rule over the man but will not(Marriage)Genesis 3:14-19 NLT. 

Do you see why God cursed them? Because it was due to their disobedience, the judgment of God comes because of disobedience.

Now let's look at the word cycle, The word cycle as described in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is a course or series of events that recur regularly and usually lead back to the starting point.

So a cycle is something that happens over and over again in a repeatable way. Let's look at it this way, You go on your phone and go to your music player you go through your music and you find your all-time favorite song and you love it so much that you put it on repeat, you listen to it several times and then after listening to it you start getting tired of it and decide I'm going to take this song off repeat and listen to some of my other music. The same thing can be applied when you are doing something you don't like, for example, you are tired of hanging around people who are negative and you get tired of hearing their nonsense all the time,

you can change it by stopping listening to them and start hanging around people that are positive, honest, and encouraging.

The same thing goes on with life, when you do something over and over again you get tired of it, and you can change it by doing something else a change.

 

What Does God say about Generation Curses or Cyles?

When you read the first 5 verses of Exodus 20, God was dealing with the Israelites concerning the matter of Idolatry. God was telling his people not to put no other gods before him or not to make gods out of materialist things, because that is where idolatry comes from to make something more than it is or created to be.

Then when we go to Exodus 20:5 God tells the Israelites that he is a jealous God and that he would punish the children for the sins of the parents to the 3rd and 4th generation of those who hate me. 

Let's break this scripture down so that we can have a better understanding of what God is saying to the Israelites. As we know God is still dealing with them concerning the sin of Idolatry and in verse 5 he was telling them the punishment for the sin of Idolatry. When we continue to read the books after Exodus in the old testament we see that the sin of Idolatry was one of the Israelites' biggest issues. It caused them to be in captivity for a long time it caused Solomon to stray from God, it caused them to be oppressed under bad rulers, It caused them to be punished by God because what, when they choose to worship idols they choose to Hate God.

And that's where we are going to solve this continued riddle of generation curses. As we know the church in today's society misinterprets the subject of generation curses by saying that generational curses are caused when a believer goes through something because of a struggle with a continual sin over and over again.

This is entirely wrong and it is a false teaching in today's church and should be exposed so that people can get the right interpretation of it.  Now the correct and biblical accurate way is this. The subject of Generational curses was there because God was warning the Israelites about what would happen to them if they went down the path of practicing idolatry and showing God that they hated him by practicing it, God was dealing with the Israelites with this matter while he was giving the 10 commandments.

Now on the matter of generational cycles,, cycles not generational cycles only because we are all accountable for the things we have said or done. We will not give an account of what everybody else has done on judgment day but the things we have personally said or done, for the body of Christ will all go to the Judgment seat of Christ as it says in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11. 

Now it is a fact that sons and daughters can struggle with the same thing as their parents, but that's if they choose to, In 2 Corinthians 10:13 it talks about temptation comes to everybody, better yet I like how the NLT version puts it, It says the temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. The cycles that happen whether it be a whole family, an individual, or best friends are not curses its just repeated temptations or desires that attack to steal, kill or destroy our joy, happiness, or more importantly our faith in Christ Jesus. 

I want to encourage you that the only way to break cycles in your life is to not only pray but also fast, don't get me wrong Praying definitely has positive results but fasting and praying together is a chain breaker, it tears down strongholds, wrong thought patterns and addictions that so easily trip us up, and the best of all it can also draw you closer to God. Next, you also need to make a firm decision to do something different for a change. God gave you free will and it's up to you if you want to do the same thing over and over again or try new things.

Old Testament Laws and New Testament Grace

The other difference between Generational curses and cycles is the differences in time that they were talked about. Generational Curses were a punishment from the old testament laws, while the new testament says that we are under grace through faith in Christ Jesus. All throughout the New Testament, talks about the differences between God's grace through Christ and the law, as a matter of fact, Galatians 3:10 says "But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.” 

Those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ and has given their life to him no longer have to live by the law of Moses(Torah)  but are now under grace(Ephesians 2:8). 

In Conclusion, because you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ you are no longer slaves to sin and its tyranny. You are no longer held in bondage by the curse of the law and have become victorious over it through your faith in Christ Jesus, you would only be under the law again if you have completely given up on Christ Jesus and went back to a life of a heathen.

When you have given your life to Jesus Christ you no longer hate God but you have learned about him and now have a soft heart towards him instead of a hardened heart(Ezekiel 36:25-27)