Blessings and Curses are real. They have real impact in our lives and in the world. Blessings and Curses are essentially words that may be written, spoken or thought. They are words that are supernaturally powered with great authority to touch your life and destiny. They can release life or death … God’s kingdom or Satan’s kingdom.
Both blessings and curses start in the invisible, spiritual realm. They are spiritual vehicles of supernatural power. Blessings produce God’s Kingdom for the very best in our life and curses produce Satan’s kingdom of destruction over our lives. To give you some idea of how important this subject is, bless or blessing is used over 600 times in the Bible and curse is used 230 times. For example:
- Deuteronomy 30:19 shows us the choice we have in our life: “Today I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses. I am offering you life or death, blessings or curses. Now, choose life! Then you and your children may live.”
- Proverbs 18:21 tells us “Death and life are in the tongue.”
- In James 3:5-6, 9-10 we see that the tongue may be small but it has great power. “With it (the tongue) we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who were made in God’s likeness! Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing.”
A curse is the penalty or consequence that will occur because of disobedience and rebellion against God’s law. In the Old Testament the purpose of a “curse” was to protect the terms of a covenant by expressing the penalties that would be exacted if and when the covenant was violated. It’s like a penalty for breaking the law. When we speed, we get a $95 fine. If we don’t pay our fine, the government will keep looking for us until we do, and the fine will increase. Likewise, curses will continue to search out a family line until the penalty is paid in full.
But the good news is that there is a new law in town! In the New Testament, the New Covenant, through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we can, by faith, apply His blood to cover our sins, to pay the penalty, and to stop the curse.
A blessing is a statement of good will and happiness that is said about another, as well as the condition that fulfills those good words. God’s intention and desire to bless humanity is a central focus of the Bible. Two distinct ideas are present. First, a blessing was a public declaration of a favored status with God. Second, the blessing endowed power for prosperity and success. In all cases, the blessing served as a guide and motivation to pursue a course of life within the blessing. Blessings always come from hearing God’s voice and doing what He says. Obedience to God and His Word is the open door to all blessings in our lives.
There are three important features that are common to both blessings and curses.
- Their effects are seldom limited to the individual. It may extend to families, communities or entire nations.
- They dramatically change people – for good or for evil.
- Frequently they continue from generation to generation until something is done to terminate them.
In the coming weeks we will address how to identify blessings and curses and how to deal with them in our lives.