God’s Word exposes numerous issues for any family to address in order to walk in conformity with his standard and design. A misunderstanding of generational curses can discourage people from making noble attempts to turn a family’s legacy around.

A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him (Proverbs 17:25).

The Reality of the Curse

• Since the Fall of Mankind, we have all lived under a generational curse starting with Adam and Eve.
  • Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned (Rom. 5:12).
  • Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me (Ps. 51:5).
• Punishment originates from continued rebellion and natural consequences.
  • You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts (Jer. 32:18).
• A spiritual injury can be more devastating than a physical death.
  • But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea (Matt. 18:6).

The Explanation of the Curse

• God does not hold you responsible for any sins other than your own.
  • The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son (Ezek. 18:20).
• The sins of the father punish future generations when they become the sins of the children.
  • Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin (Deut. 24:16).
• There is no escaping the fact that a parent’s sin negatively affects their children.
  • Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap (Gal. 6:7).
• There is no denying the fact that sinful behaviors can easily be learned and imitated.
  • When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance (Gen. 26:7).

The Reversal of the Curse

• You will not bear a generational curse if Christ has already borne the curse for you.
  • Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Gal. 3:13).
• The desire for a godly multigenerational legacy is so that future generations will live mighty lives marked distinctly by holiness.
  • Hallelujah! Happy is the man who fears the LORD, taking great delight in His commands. His descendants will be powerful in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed (Psalm 112:1-2).
• Resolve to defy any sinful legacy and turn your family around.
  • For I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments (Ex. 20:5-6).
• You may not be able to erase every trace of a sinful legacy, but you can begin to create something completely different.