In this lesson we will share with you a few points that all believers should know about curses and how they operate.

 

Let us begin with the fact that curses are real, and that they have a real negative impact on those upon whom they land.

 

Deuteronomy 28:20 “The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me.”

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The verse above is the summation of what Paul calls the curse of the law in his letter to the Galatians.

 

Moses told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 28-30, that God was giving them a choice between blessings and cursing, and that by their decision to uphold or reject the promises that God was giving to them—either by their actions or by their neglect—that they would place themselves to receive the blessings or cursing as a result of what they chose to believe.

 

Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”

 

There is no in between when one belongs to God, and as it is written: The earth is the Lord...and all who dwell in it. Psalm 24:1

 

Matthew 12:30 “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”

 

Let us ask this question from the New Testament perspective, Is the curse of the law active today against the human race?

 

1 Corinthians 16:22 “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed (anathema). O Lord come!”

 

Jesus Christ is the only One who has the power to redeem us from the curse of the law, so that all who are outside of Christ are still under the curse of the law. That is why Paul adds the phrase, O Lord come into those who do not yet know You so that they can be delivered from the curse of the law (interpretation mine).

 

Paul knew that without Christ, who bore our curse on the cross—cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree—there can be no hope of redemption from all the curses stated in the law.

 

From the New Testament perspective again we ask this question, Are all who receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord automatically delivered from all the curses stated in the law?

 

Legally, yes! Practically, no! How do we know?

 

Galatians 6:7-8 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

 

In practicality the nature of how the curses operate does not change, what changes is the legal rights of those who are still under the consequences of the curse of the law, but who have now been redeemed by Christ Jesus.

 

Deliverance from the consequences of many of the curses has to be appropriated; we know some of the consequences are removed automatically when we get saved, while others are removed as we properly practice and partake of the sacraments, like water baptism and holy communion.

 

Deuteronomy 28:60 “Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.”

 

Sickness and diseases come as the result of the curse of the law, when we get saved, we do not automatically get healed, although legally, we are already healed as soon as Christ comes into our hearts.

 

1 Peter 2:24 “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose striped you were healed.”

 

In Christ—legally speaking—God does not consider us to be under the curse of the law any longer, but since God is not mocked, as long as we not having died to sins continue to live for unrighteousness, then the sickness and the diseases of the curse of the law shall cling continuously unless and until they are dealt with according to the Scriptures.

 

James 5:14-16 “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save (deliver from the consequences of the curse) the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

 

Once in Christ, a way of escape from the consequences of the curse of the law is made available to the believer who wants to turn his/her life around so that they might live for righteousness sake.

 

According to a book written by Frank and Ida Mae Hammond, who were considered to be pioneers in the deliverance ministry in the last century, there are eight basic laws that govern curses.

 

For the benefit of those who are in Christ but still struggle with the consequences of the curse of the law, I will now list the eight principles that they believed and taught, govern all curses.

 

 

1)       THERE IS A CAUSE FOR EVERY CURSE.

 

Proverbs 26:2 “Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight.”

 

 

2)        SIN IS THE GATEWAY FOR THE CURSE.

 

Genesis 3:14 “Because you have done this, you are cursed…”

 

 

3)       A CURSE IS A SPIRITUAL PROBLEM THAT CANNOT

          BE REMEDIED BY NATURAL MEANS.

 

Galatians 6:7-8 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows (seeks for a solution from the Holy Spirit) to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

 

 

4)        WHERE SIN REMAINS THE CURSE REMAINS.

 

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn form their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

 

 

5)       THE POWER OF A CURSE IS DEMONIC.

 

Genesis 4:7 “If you do well (do the right thing), will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin (demons are the power behind the sinful act) lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

 

 

6)        THE LAW PROVIDED NO REMEDY FOR THE CURSE.

 

Galatians 3:10 “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’”

 

 

7)         CHRIST REDEEMED US FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW.

 

Galatians 3:10 “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’).”

 

 

8)        THE REDEMPTION MUST BE APPROPRIATED.

 

Genesis 22:16-18 “...By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice (and were willing to forfeit the most precious thing that you had in order to obtain the promise).”

 

The eight points are quoted directly from the author, as well as many of the Scriptures he quoted to make his point, but the explanations in brackets which are not part of Scripture are mine.

 

The name of the book is The Breaking of Curses, by Frank and Ida Mae Hammond. Published by Impact Christian Books. Inc.

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We conclude then that curses are still part of everyday life for all who do not love Jesus Christ, and that for many who believe in Him, curses are still a part that affects them negatively.

 

What then, shall a believer do, who wants to be freed from the consequences of the curses that he/she brought upon themselves by their lawless deeds, or about the iniquity that they have inherited by the lawless deeds of their ancestors, which still affects them today?

 

Galatians 5:16 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

 

How do we walk in the Spirit?

 

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no (curse of the) law.”

 

To walk in the Spirit, one must walk in obedience to the law of Christ.

 

Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

 

Works of the flesh are the mark of selfish ambitions, to which all of the curses are attached. All spiritual fruit leads to self-control which bear the mark of the flesh that has been crucified with all its passions and desires.

 

Galatians 5:24 “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

 

Spiritual fruit cannot be cursed because it is blessed by God.