BOOK REPORT Written By: Diane Ebaugh Sutton | First Published: 2018
Numbers 23:30 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.
A curse can be a barrier to keep people from receiving healing. And a curse had kept me from the level of prosperity that God had intended for me. (Derek)
2 Corinthians 4: 17 – 18 But the things that are not seen are eternal.
Proverbs 26:2 A curse without a cause shall not alight.
Someone or something put that curse there. It is helpful to discover the cause.
In most cases, it is necessary to deal with the occult involvement and to revoke the curse before demons can be driven out.
The corresponding phrases from Deuteronomy 28 are, plague with diseases; consumption or wasting disease; fever; inflammation; boils; tumors; scabs or sores; itch; blindness; sickness.
This list creates what might be called the atmosphere of a curse. They suggest evil forces at work.
Sometimes it is sufficient to revoke the curse, without any specific prayer for healing. And the healing will come.
Malachi 4:5&6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.
The most urgent social problem is the outworking of a curse. It comes between husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters. Its goal is the destruction of the family.
The tap root is what links many generations to worship false Gods. This brings on generational curses.
Matthew 15:13 Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.
Two of the strongest cravings are the desire for knowledge and the desire for power. If a man is not satisfied he will turn to supernatural sources, and becomes entrapped in the occult.
Deuteronomy 27:15-26 On the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim half of the tribes would invoke a blessing on all Israelite’s who were obedient. Then the other six tribes would invoke a curse on all who were disobedient. To both the blessing and the curse, all the people were required to respond, Amen! Some of the curses were: Acknowledging and worshiping false gods. Others were:
Disrespect for parents.
All forms of oppressions and injustice.
All forms of illicit or unnatural sex.
All forms of disobedience to the Law.
Disrespect for parents brings God’s curse.
Galatians 3:1-10 Trusting in the works of the law (legalism) and making flesh our strength (carnality) culminate in a curse.
Legalism is just as deadly as other; less respectable sins.
Galatians 1:6-9 If anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. The Greek word translated accursed is anathema. It means something that provokes God’s wrath.
Blessing and cursing can never be separated from one another, any more than heat from cold, or day from night.
Jacob reacted indignantly to Laban’s accusation of theft. Genesis 31:32 If you find anyone who has your gods, he shall not live. The words of Jacob’s curse, was a death sentence on the one who stole them, Rachel. Shortly afterward, she died in childbirth.
Daily confess; Galatians 3:13-14 Through the sacrificial offering of Christ on the cross I have been purchased out from under the curse and have entered into the blessings of Abraham, whom God blessed in all things.
The significance of a ring is that it often symbolizes a covenant relationship. By biblical standards, a covenant is the most solemn and powerful form of relationship. Therefore Satan exploits covenant relationships in order to gain the strongest possible control over the people.
Titus 3:2 Paul says to speak evil of no one. The phrase no one applies to believers or unbelievers. The Greek verb translated to speak evil is from the word blaspheme. The sin of blaspheme includes not only evil words spoken against God, but also evil words spoken against our fellow human beings. Such language is forbidden to Christians.
James 4:11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. The word here translated to speak evil is katalalo, which means to speak against. We are not to speak against fellow believers at all- even if what we say about them is true. This sin is not speaking falsely but speaking against.
I bound the satanic forces at work against me, I loosed myself from the effect of my friend’s words about me. The pain in my abdomen ceased. (Derek)
Matthew 7:1-2 Jesus says, Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgement you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. The verb translated to judge is derived from critic and criticize.
A different kind of situation arises when we are legally obligated to serve as a witness. No one can, be at the same time both a witness and a judge. In this situation we are not filling the role of a judge, but of a witness.
God has not provided many different solutions for the many problems of mankind. Instead there is one solution. The cross of Jesus.
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Here is the basic problem of humanity. There are sins that many of us have never committed, murder, adultery, theft and so on. But, we have all turned to our own way. The Hebrew word here is avon, here translated iniquity. This is the cause for the curses.
The Divine Exchange!
Christians often limit salvation to the experience of having one’s sins forgiven and being born again. However it is only the first part.
*Isaiah 53:6 The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Jesus identified with our iniquity and also endured all the evil consequences of that iniquity. He carried them away so that they might never return again upon us. Now God offers us all the good that was due to the sinless obedience of Jesus.
*Jesus was punished that we might be forgiven. Jesus was wounded that we might be healed.
*Jesus was made sin with our sinfulness that we might become righteous with His righteousness.
*Jesus died our death that we might share His life.
*Jesus became poor with our poverty that we might become rich with His riches.
A man who can provide a meal for five thousand men plus women and children certainly would not be considered poor by normal standards! Matthew 14:15-21
Jesus exemplified abundance. He always had all that He needed. He was continually giving out to others, and His supply was never exhausted. So when did Jesus become poor for our sakes? On the cross. Deuteronomy 28:8 Moses summed up absolute poverty, hunger, thirst, nakedness and need of all things. Jesus experienced all this on the cross.
*Jesus bore our shame that we might share His glory.
*Jesus endured our rejection that we might have His acceptance as children of God.
*The shame Jesus endured on the cross has opened the way to be released from our own shame.
*The rejection of Jesus resulted in our acceptance.
Matthew 27:46, 50 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?….Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
* God rejected His own Son. Jesus died not of the wounds of crucifixion, but of a broken heart.
*Jesus became a curse that we might receive a blessing.
Galatians 3:13-14 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), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
There is no need resulting from man’s rebellion that is not covered by the same principal of exchange. The evil came upon Jesus that the good might be offered to us. Now you must lay hold of this principle to meet that special need in your life: release from the curse.
Just before He expired, there came one final, triumphant cry: It is finished! In the Greek It is finished, means It is completely complete or It is perfectly perfect.
*Giving Thanks is the first step to release.
Jesus had taken upon Himself every evil consequence brought upon humanity. That we might receive every blessing. Such a sacrifice is stupendous in its scope, yet marvelous in its simplicity. If you are living under a curse, Jesus has made full provision for your release. Your response is to say, Thank You!
Salvation includes the total human personality, spirit, soul and body and it is consummated only by the resurrection of the body at the return of Christ. It is normal to progress by stages. Many Christians never go beyond receiving forgiveness of their sins. They are not aware of the many other provisions that are freely available to them.
A person may seek physical healing, not knowing that the root of his physical sickness is an inner emotional problem. In response, God will move to bring the emotional healing that is needed. If the person does not open himself up to this, but continues to beg for physical healing, he may in the end receive no healing at all, either physical or emotional.
A curse over a person’s life is the barrier that holds him back from the other provisions of salvation.
Deuteronomy 30:19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.
Like Israel, we determine our destiny by the choice we make. Our choice may also affect the destiny of our descendants. God is waiting for you to choose. Not to choose is, in effect to make the wrong choice.
*The response: Lord, on the basis of Your Word, I make my response. I refuse death and the curses, and I choose life and blessings.
Confess your faith in Christ and in His sacrifice on your behalf.
The word confess means to say the same as. Confession means saying with our mouth what God has already said in His Word.
Hebrews 3:1 Jesus is called the High Priest of our confession. When we make confession, it releases His priestly ministry on our behalf.
*Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You are the Son of God and the only way to God, and that You died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead.
Repent of all your rebellion and your sins.
Mark 1:15 Without repentance, no effective faith is possible.
*I give up all my rebellion and all my sin, and I submit myself to You as my Lord.
Claim forgiveness of all sins.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
*I confess all my sins before You and ask for Your forgiveness especially for any sins that exposed me to a curse. Release me also from the consequences of my ancestors’ sins.
Forgive all other people who have ever harmed you or wronged you.
Forgiving is not ab emotion; it is a decision.
You have in your hand IOUs from another person that total $10,000. In heaven, God has in His hand IOUs from you to Him in the amount of $10,000,000. God makes you an offer: You tear up the IOUs in your hand, and I’ll tear up the IOUs in Mine. On the other hand, if you hold onto your IOUs , I’ll hold onto Mine!
*By a decision of my will, I forgive all who have harmed me or wronged me-just as I want God to forgive me. In particular, I forgive….
Renounce all contact with anything occult or satanic.
2 Corinthians 6:14-15 What fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial (Satan)? Therefore Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.
*I renounce all contact with anything occult or satanic-if I have any contact objects, I commit myself to destroy them. I cancel all Satan’s claims against me.
You are now ready to pray the prayer of release from any curse.
Remember, there is only one basis upon which God offers His mercy: the exchange that took place when Jesus died on the cross. Included in that exchange was provision for release from every curse. You do not have to earn your release. You do not have to be worthy.
Receiving is in the past tense; having is in the future. Receiving takes place when we pray. Then having follows.
*Lord Jesus, I believe that on the cross You took on Yourself every curse that could ever come upon me. So I ask You now to release me from every curse over my life-in Your name, Lord Jesus Christ!
*By faith I now receive my release and I thank you for it.
Now don’t stop at saying Thank You just once or twice. Your mind cannot grasp a fraction of what you have asked God to do for you, but respond to God with your heart!
Now believe that you have received, and go on in God’s blessing!
Do not try at this stage to analyze what form the blessing will take or how God will impart it to you. Leave that in God’s hands. Let Him do it just how and when He will. You do not have to concern yourself with that.
*Lord, I now open myself to receive Your blessing in every way You want to impart it to me.
*Repeat these words. Exaltation, Health, Reproductiveness, Prosperity, Victory, God’s favor.
As you repeat them, pause and thank God that each one is now part of your inheritance. Remember that giving thanks is the purest and simplest expression of faith.
Satan has some foreknowledge of what God has prepared for those who escape from his oppression. The greater the blessings in store for a person, the more determined will be Satan’s attempt to hold him back.
The sword is the sword of the Holy Spirit. If we take it the Holy Spirit will wield it. But if we do not take it, the Holy Spirit has nothing to wield.
Each of Satan’s three temptations contained the word if. In other words, it was aimed to produce doubt. Jesus countered every temptation with the same phrase: It is written. Satan has no defense against the Word of God.
Joshua 1:6,9,18 Be strong and of good courage.
The Kingdom demands forcefulness, an attitude of fixed determination that presses ahead regardless of every kind of difficulty or discouragement.
One of the first steps is a correct diagnosis of the condition. Once you understand that your life is under a curse, you will be motivated to seek the release that Jesus purchased through the exchange on the cross.
Perhaps parents realize that they have brought curses upon their children, He has a special promise in Isaiah 49:24-25
Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives rescued from the fierce? But this is what the Lord says: Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.
Hebrews 3:1 Jesus is the High Priest of our confession.
In every situation we encounter, we must respond with scriptural confession in order to invoke the continuing ministry of Jesus as our High Priest. Confession is limited to the statements and promises of the Bible. It consists in saying with our mouth what God has already said in His Word. Beyond this confession cannot go. So don’t confess your sins, confess what God has already said.
Hebrews 10:21,23 And having a High Priests over the house of God… let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
It is our confession that unites us to Jesus as out High Priest and releases His priestly ministry on our behalf. The words hold fast mean, we must consistently reaffirm our original confession.
When accusations come from human enemies, the issues are clear. But when the accusations are inward, directed against the mind by demonic powers, the issue is the same: to maintain the confession of the truth with unwavering determination until those invisible forces are silenced and routed.
Psalm 118:15,17 Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things! …I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
Proclamation to shout aloud, implies a transition from a defensive posture to one of attack.
There is a distinction between thanksgiving and praise. We thank God for what He does; we praise Him for who He is.
Psalm 100:4 First, we enter His gates with thanksgiving; then, we pass through His courts with praise. This brings us into the immediate presence of God.
Faith begins to praise God before the promised victory, not after it.
Psalm 50:23 He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.
Psalm 20:5 In the name of our God we will set up our banners!
Three effective banners are proclamation, thanksgiving and praise. First, we secure the blessings of God that we have proclaimed. Second, we shut out the satanic forces that would resist us and seek to withhold the blessings from us.
Hebrews 4:12 As we both speak and hear, both edges of the sword of God’s Word are at work in us simultaneously.
The mind is the main field of battle. We must be careful to recognize dependency on the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, the carnal mind can reduce these principles to a system.
Here are some proclamations:
*Galatians 3:13-14 Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, I have passed out from under the curse and entered into the blessing of Abraham, whom God blessed in all things.
Ruth (Derek’s wife) has received release from many curses over her life, but she has a continuing battle walking it out in experience. We make this proclamation several times a day. Each time, we move further away from the effects of curses and into the blessings of inheritance.
*Isaiah 54:17 No weapon formed against me shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against I do now condemn. This in my heritage as a servant of the Lord, and my righteousness is from You, O Lord.
First, we ask God to condemn any tongue that speaks against us. God has given us authority to do this for ourselves. Second, our right to exercise this authority depends not on our own righteousness, but on His righteousness.
*Lord, I forgive all who have spoken evil against me, and having forgiven them, I bless them in Your name.
He instructs us to forgive those who seek to harm us, and to respond to a curse with a blessing. Blessing and forgiving, those who curse us, does not depend on our emotions. It proceeds from a firm decision of our will.
First, we condemn the tongue that has uttered the curse. Second, we forgive the person from whom the curse proceeded. Third, we ask God to bless the person.
*2 Corinthians 5:17-18 I am in Christ, and therefore I am a new creation. All those old things have passed away. Everything in my life has become new, and everything is from God. And… Revelation 21:5 *Then He who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful.
Proclaim the above when pressures of sin or guilt or unworthiness pursue us from our past.
*Psalm 118:17 I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
When oppressed by hopelessness and gloomy forebodings of death present themselves, Proclaim the above.
*1 Peter 2:24 Jesus Himself bore my sins in His own body on the tree, that I, having died to sins, might live for righteousness-by whose wounds I was healed.
*1 Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 1:7; Hebrews 13:12; Romans 6:13;8:33-34; Revelation 12:11; 1 Corinthians 6:13 My body is a temple for the Holy Spirit, redeemed, cleansed and sanctified by the blood of Jesus. My members-the parts of my body-are instruments of righteousness, presented to God for His service and for His glory. The devil has no place in me, no power over me, no unsettled claims against me. All has been settled by the blood of Jesus. I overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of my testimony, and I do not love my life to the death. My body is for the Lord, and Lord is for my body.
Proclaim the following when Satan attacks or home, our family, our business, our ministry, etc.
*The bolts of our gates will be iron and bronze, and our strength will equal our days. There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens to help us and on the clouds in His majesty. The eternal God is our refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out our enemy before us, saying, destroy him!
Our gates represent our defense system. God will drive out our enemy before us. God says, destroy him! And He has given us the spiritual weapons we need to do this.
* 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 The weapons of my warfare are mighty in God. With them I pull down the strongholds that Satan has built in my mind. I bring all my thoughts into obedience to Christ. Three of my weapons are proclamation, thanksgiving and praise.
Remember, our enemies are not human beings. Our enemies are spiritual forces from Satan. From Ephesians 6:12
*Forgiving is stronger than resenting; blessing is stronger than cursing; giving thanks is stronger than complaining; praise is stronger than accusation; and loving is stronger than hating.
*I can do all things through the One who empowers me within. Philippians 4:13
God’s strength is made perfect in my weakness, and so when I am weak, then I am strong 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
*God is able to make all grace abound toward us, that we, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8
Abundance, not mere sufficiency.
*God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7
*In the name of Jesus I submit to God and I resist the spirit of fear. Therefore it has to flee from me.James 4:7
Do not put your faith in your proclamation, or in any other method or procedure. Our faith must be in God alone.
Be strong and of good courage.
Jesus took upon Himself all the consequences that disobedience to God had brought upon the human race. These fall into two main categories: those brought upon Adam by his original disobedience in the Garden; and those pronounced later in connection with the Law given through Moses.
Galatians 3:13 states, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. This relates to the fact that the Law had declared that anyone executed by hanging on a tree had- by that very fact-become a curse. This opened the way for deliverance from the curse through the sacrifice of Christ.
God pronounced a curse upon Adam and Eve in the Garden. Genesis 3:16-19 this falls into two main sections, the first spoken to Eve, and the second spoken to Adam.
Eve’s curse, Childbearing would be arduous and painful. And She would be subject to her husband’s authority and dependent upon him for her desire for children.
Adam curse, Genesis 2:15 Hard labor, thorns and thistles, and man would be subject to decay and death. These curses affected the earth itself.
The crown on Jesus’ head represented the curse of thorns; the purple color of His robe represented the curse of thistles.
Matthew 1:1-17 Traces Jesus genealogy back to Abraham. As a descendant of Abraham, Jesus was born under the law, Moses law.
Luke 3:23-38 the genealogy of Jesus is traced back to Adam. As a son of Adam, Jesus was subject to the curses.
On the cross Jesus died as the last Adam. He took upon himself all the consequences that Adam’s disobedience had brought upon the human race. When he died they were terminated. When he was buried, they were forever put away.
Then on the third day Jesus rose again from the dead as the second Man. He became the Head of an entirely new race-the Immanuel race. The God-man race, a race in which the nature of God and man are blended together in a new creation.
Jesus on the cross was made a curse in order to cancel every curse on man and on creation. Revelation 22:3 And there shall be no more curse.
Matthew 21:21 Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree… In other words, He gave them authority to pronounce curses.
When blessings are offered, but rejected, curses inevitably follow. The same applies to those who have the Gospel with its blessings proclaimed to them, but deliberately and consciously reject it. They expose themselves to corresponding curses.
Acts 13:9-12 Then Paul, FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, looked intently at him and said, O full of all deceit and all fraud, thou son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time. And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit. His words were not the product of his own fleshly reaction to opposition, but represented God’s sovereign judgment on the sorcerer, uttered by the Holy Spirit. The proconsul was so impressed that he became a believer.
James 3:8 But no man can tame the tongue.
Psalm 141:3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.
Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
Forever in His Love,
Diane Ebaugh Sutton
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