If You Believe These Lies, Satan can Easily Manipulate You

Demons can tempt you, but they don't run the internet search for you. Demons can tempt you, but they don't take the drugs for you. Demons can tempt you, but they don't do the cheating for you. You choose to give in to those temptations. There's a difference between a generational curse and a generational attack. A demon may strategize against family members, grandfather, the father, the son, and the demon may attack, but depending upon how that person responds to those attacks and temptations is gonna determine whether or not they get the same results that their grandparents did. My main point here is not that demons don't attack us generationally, they do. The main point here is that you are not powerless. You are not at the mercy of solving some riddle. I can't tell you how many times I've heard a Christian say, you know, I've just been praying that God would break it. I know one day he's gonna break that generational curse over my family. I say, what are you talking about one day? Do you not believe in the power of the Holy Ghost? Well then why is my uncle suffering with alcoholism? Because of the decisions that they make. And we'll show that to you here. So here are 3 thoughts around the experience of curses that people may experience? How do you explain the experience of curses that come on people? Well, let's do number one first. Number one, we're gonna look at repeat generational trouble, alcoholism, generation to generation, drug addiction, generation to generation, adultery, generation to generation. Write this in the comment section. There is a difference Between a consequence and a curse. There is a difference between a consequence and a curse. Now, getting back to what I was saying just a moment ago, demons do strategize generationally. Is this the equivalent of them having a legal right to your life? Absolutely not. That's not biblical. Rather, what's happening is that again, these demonic entities are saying, this is what worked for the grandparent. This is what worked for the father. I'm gonna try it on the son. Now, depending upon how the son responds to those temptations, depending upon how the son responds to those attacks, that's going to determine what the results are from that demonic attack. So you, as a born-again Spirit-filled believer, you're not under some bondage because of a sin your dad committed or a sin your grandfather committed. No, if you're in bondage, it's because of decisions that you made. Now, you may not like hearing that, that may sound blunt and to the point, but I'm not here to preach to itching ears. I'm here to see you set free. And until you begin to take responsibility for the decisions that you're making that are contributing to your spiritual defeat, you will always live in spiritual defeat. And I say that because I love you. I say that because I want you to go free. I say that 'cause you're probably not gonna hear it most other places. The reason you're walking in spiritual defeat is because of the decisions that you're making or the things that you're deciding not to do. It is a choice to walk in a spiritual bondage. And I know that's gonna sound insensitive. I know people are gonna say, that's not what I've experienced. What do you mean it's a choice? I don't want this. I understand. So let me explain so that we don't go too far on that point without bringing some clarity. I'm not saying you want the bondage. I'm not saying you're welcoming the bondage. I'm saying that there are some things that the enemy has deceived you into not doing or into doing that's causing it to become worse. So again, demons strategize generationally. What is your prayer life like? How's your devotion to the Word? Are you living clean? Are you obeying God's Word? Are you just hearing it only? How's your thought life? Are you choosing the Philippians filter, as I call it? Whatsoever is true, whatsoever is pure, whatsoever is lovely, Are you choosing that for your thought life, or are you choosing to allow the thoughts and the lies that the enemy gives you to permeate your mind? Are you dwelling on the lies? Are you believing the lies? Are you repeating the lies to yourself? Yes, you do have control of your thoughts. The scripture tells us to think on these things. The Bible wouldn't tell us to think on these things if it wasn't possible to control our thoughts. So again, You have the enemy attacking you. How are you responding to those attacks? You have the enemy tempting you. How are you responding to those temptations? It's one thing to feel an attack. It's one thing to experience an attack. It's something else entirely to give in to those attacks of the enemy by the way we choose to live. So this is the difference between a curse and a consequence. How do you explain generations of alcoholism? Generations of poor choices. How do you explain generations of drug addiction? Generations of poor choices. You are not the victim of your parents' decisions. You are not the victim of your grandparents' decisions. You are victorious. You have authority. God has given you the power to live right, and you can choose to pick that up again. That's not a message of condemnation. That's a message of encouragement. You do not have to settle for it. So how do you experience different consequences? You make different choices. Demons can tempt you, but they don't do the drinking for you. Demons can tempt you, but they don't run the internet search for you. Demons can tempt you, but they don't take the drugs for you. Demons can tempt you, but they don't do the cheating for you. You choose to give into those temptations. Granted, it's not easy to fight these battles because they're perfectly crafted to tempt you, perfectly crafted to torment you. And you have to be one to say, I'm gonna put on the armor of God, I'm gonna come against the attacks of the enemy, and I'm not going to choose to make the same decisions that my parents made. Now let's talk practical consequences here. For example, maybe your grandparents made poor financial decisions. Well, poverty can be inherited, but that doesn't mean you're bound by that. You see, here's why I like to use the word consequence instead of curse. The word curse implies that you're powerless to do anything about it. The word curse implies that you need to find a special prayer to be free of it. The word curse implies that you have to go uncover some demonic riddle, some demonic mystery, some ancestral entry point that maybe you know nothing about, and until then, you're not gonna be free. Well, that's just not true. For whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. So we have to learn the difference between a consequence and a curse. You say, I hear so much talk, guys, about family bloodlines. Well, you know, in my family bloodline this, or my family bloodline that. My friend, whatever is in your family bloodline, there's nothing more powerful than the blood of Jesus. When you are born again, you are washed in the blood of Jesus. When you are born again, you are adopted, grafted in, translated into a new family with a new bloodline, with a new inheritance, with a new heritage. You become new. Behold, all things become new. Your past is gone. You've been taken out of that generation. You've been taken out of that bloodline. And now you've established a new heavenly one. So yes, it's true that our family bloodline can affect us in practical ways. And of course can invite demonic attack and those enemies strategize against us, yes. But ultimately when you're born again, you're washed in the blood of Jesus. And the blood of Jesus is more powerful than your family bloodline, I promise you. So again, we have to learn the difference between a consequence And a curse. Oh, I'm under a curse of alcoholism. Okay, who did the drinking? Oh, I'm under a curse of adultery. Okay, but who did the cheating? Oh, I'm under the curse of a generational porn addiction. Okay, but who chose to run the internet search? I'm not saying that those demons aren't strategizing against you. They absolutely are. I'm saying the only power they have is the power you give them. So let's stop calling it generational curse and let's call it generational consequence based on generational choice. Demons strategize generationally, but those attacks only have as much power as you choose to give them. So that's number one, learn the difference between a consequence and a curse. And by learning the difference between a consequence and a curse, you can defeat this This attack of repeat generational trouble. Next we see repeat bad and oppressive feelings. So you kind of have like this issue over you. Like, I can't tell you this. I'll tell you this. I've spoken to so many pastors who've come to me and said, David, somebody put a curse on me. David, somebody cast a spell. These are pastors. And I say, are you walking in the Spirit? They say, yes. I said, how did they do it then? Well, I don't know, somewhere in my family, legal right. And you see the torment it creates. So to combat this idea, you have to learn the difference between correlation and causation. Just because something correlates doesn't mean it is the cause. I'll tell you what I mean. When I was a kid, I used to play this game with my brother at every intersection. Well, not every intersection, but Many intersections. We would sit in the car and the light would be red. And I would say, it's gonna turn green now. It's gonna turn green now. It's gonna turn green now. Like we would try to guess when the light would turn green and we would try to be the one that was right and get it right when it turned green. And so we could say it, you know, 15, 20 times, it's gonna turn green now. It's gonna turn green now. It's gonna turn green. And then it would turn green and go, there, I knew it. That's how curses work in the mind of the believer. There have been pastors I know, ministers I know, who come under attack even from other preachers. And those preachers will speak evil against them. Oh, their ministry is gonna fail. Oh, everyone's turning on them. Oh, they're this, they slander them. Usually it's out of jealousy or competition. And so they're slandering them. And then here's what happens. People begin to jump on the bandwagon. And they'll say things like, you know, something didn't sit right in my spirit with them either. And there are many believers who will dislike a man or woman of God because of some personal issue or an opinion they disagree with, or their methodology or the terminology they use, whatever you may have. And the moment they find other believers who share in their disapproval of that minister, Now suddenly they feel validated in what they would call their discernment. I know this is a little deep, but hear me out here. So these preachers who come under attack from other preachers, from other Christians, they become inundated with witchcraft. That's witchcraft, to slander a man or woman of God, to try to turn people on them. That's witchcraft. That's how the devil operates. And it's always some type of justification that goes along with it. They try to make it seem justified, like they're doing it for the sake of righteousness, but usually it's for the sake of jealousy. And so here's what begins to happen. Watch this now. People begin to pile on. Oh yeah, something didn't sit right. Oh yeah, I didn't like them either. Oh, I have a story too. And now you have all these people getting together, sharing in their disapproval of that man or woman of God. And because they share in their disapproval of that man or woman of God, somehow they think that they all heard from God. But sharing in your disapproval of someone doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit validated you. It just means you found other people who don't like that person too. But here's what happens. That pile-on begins to come. And now that preacher starts to let that get to their head. They let the slander get to their head. They let their curses of the other people get to their head. Your ministry's gonna fail. Things are gonna take a turn. Your finances are gonna take a hit. Everyone's gonna turn on you. And this is so subtle. Watch this, guys. So what begins to happen now Is that individual who's being attacked will now begin to see through the lens, through the belief that they're cursed, that it's working. Oh yeah, people are turning on me. So what do they do? They maybe lash out, maybe say some things they shouldn't, and that turns more people. And so it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. When if they just realized those people don't have the power to cancel me or curse me, you can't cancel or curse who God has blessed. It's not possible. And most people overestimate their influence anyway, to think that they can do that to someone else. And it just usually isn't the case. And so what ends up happening, and I've seen this happen, guys, I've seen this happen over and over and over and over again. Pastors of local churches, someone will leave their church and then they'll curse that pastor. And then others will begin to gossip and slander. And now what begins to happen, watch this, is that pastor begins to develop this complex. I know we're going deep, but I wanna dissect this for you because this is gonna expose how the enemy works. Now that pastor begins to develop this complex. They begin to lose their confidence. Their confidence is shaken now because now they're seeing people turn on them. Others are gossiping. It's affecting their heart. It's affecting their preaching. It's affecting their prayer life. And now they're wearing this lens, like a pair of glasses through which they're seeing everything. So if there's a small dip in the offering, they're gonna go, it's the curse. If they get a flat tire, they're gonna go, it's the curse. If another member leaves the church, they're gonna go, it's the curse. My ministry's failing. It's going downhill. And I can't tell you how many pastors I've spoken to where I tell them, you know, those issues you're facing, you've faced those before. Were you cursed then? They say, no. So why now all of a sudden are you attributing that to some bitter ex-church member or some jealous minister who wants to come against you? Why are you even attributing that to a curse? Well, because it's the lens through which they're seeing it. And humans by their own nature are pattern-seeking. Maybe you left the church. Let's use another analogy to examine this point. Maybe you left the church and the pastor told you that if you leave their church, you're cursed. First of all, if a pastor ever tells you that, that if you leave their church, you'll lose the anointing, or you leave their church, you're not gonna fulfill the call, or if you leave their church, you're basically leaving Jesus, that's a cult, guys. That's, you can, don't just walk away, run away. But here's what happens. The people of God will hear this from abusive manipulative leaders. And they'll say, if you leave my church, you're cursed. You leave my church, you're not gonna fulfill the call. And so then they leave the church and now everything that happens to them that's bad, they attribute to that supposed curse. If they get sick, they go, it's because I left the church. If their child gets injured, it's because I left the church. If they lose their job, it's because I left the church, not realizing that's correlation, not causation. So that produces in them these feelings. And now they develop this complex, this fear. They lose their confidence in their relationship with God. They lose their confidence in who they are in Christ. And it brings this heaviness. And that heaviness that they feel, they don't realize is coming because they're believing in the curse in the first place. In other words, the only power that thing has over you is your belief in it. But now you're seeing everything through this lens. You're seeing everything through that perspective. And no matter what happens, you're gonna attribute it to that so that produces these bad feelings in you. So it's belief in the curse that gives it its power. That's correlation versus causation. So, so far we reviewed how to explain these generations of trouble. So alcoholism, drug addiction. Yes, it's a demonic attack. I wanna say that over and over again so nobody misunderstands me. Yes, demons do attack generationally, but that can only affect you if you disobey God or you choose to sin. And in that case, that wouldn't be a curse. That would be a consequence of a choice that you made. So you're not, You're not a victim of your parents' and grandparents' decisions. So that's number one, consequence versus curse. Next, we looked at correlation versus causation. Are these bad things coming because someone spoke something over me, or are these bad things coming because that's just life and it happens to correlate at a time where I thought I was under this, and that can produce that feeling? I remember I was talking to a couple, they were an evangelistic couple, and I told them, you know, your belief in that is what's causing all these feelings of angst. And the moment they accepted that truth, oh, wouldn't you know it? The burdens lifted, the joy came back, the peace came back. And all of a sudden they had their confidence back again. And guess what? Their ministry began to thrive again. Why? Because they just realized this is nonsense, that you can't curse who God has blessed. And finally, number 3, and guys, this is so important. This is so important. This is so important. Chaos versus curse. So we looked at consequence versus curse. Correlation versus causation. And now we're looking at chaos versus curse. You may find, and this has to do with repeat bad decisions, bad situations. So the first one was like an ancestral problem. The second one was that feeling, that oppressiveness. How do you explain that? I just told you how we explain that. The third is you may feel like one thing after another. You lost the house, then you lost the car, then you lost the job, then you lost your insurance, and somebody got sick, then somebody died. Then you got sick and then you got injured and then somebody left you and then somebody slandered you and then it happened again. And then just when you thought there was peace, it all happened again. These are trials of life. And some might attribute that to a curse. In fact, I've seen many comments from believers and my heart breaks for them when they write things like, God just ignores me. Or, I've been praying for years for God to break this curse and he's just ignoring me. I'm thinking that's not even biblical. The fact that you think you could get stuck under some curse for decades, because you don't find the right cure. It's just, guys, that is the very essence of legalism. And that's why many are tormented under that belief system. I know people who've wanted to end their lives because they've adopted this type of thinking. And it's just not biblical. It's not truthful thinking. And so one thing after another happens. And this is what I wanna say to you. And I don't wanna come across as insensitive. A lot of this can come across as insensitive because we're dissecting the thought process behind these struggles that we have. But let me say this, don't you realize that terrible things happen to believers on a regular basis? So look at what the Bible says, John 16:33, I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart because I have overcome the world. Here, Jesus is saying, You will have many trials and sorrows. Well, did the early church think that they were cursed because they faced the trials of persecution? Look at this, Psalm 34:19, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Romans 8:35-37, Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Please hear this now. Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted or hungry, or destitute or in danger, or threatened with death? As the scriptures say, for your sake, we are killed every day. We are being slaughtered like sheep. No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us. So when we face these trials, we can either throw up our hands and say, I'm cursed, God's abandoned me, this has to have something to do with some ancestral problem. Or we can say, even in this trial, I'm more than a conqueror. Maybe, and this isn't for everyone, maybe you're repeating the trial, because you haven't passed the test of that trial. And instead of developing the character that God wants you to develop, instead of learning to trust God, even in the midst of the storm, you're trying to get yourself out of the test. You're trying to escape. Well, let God process you. Even in the midst of the trials, we are overwhelmingly victorious. Why? Because he loves us. Does it mean we're cursed if we go through issues? Does it mean we're cursed if we face one bad thing after another? Look at Paul the Apostle, 2 Corinthians 11:23-30. Look at what Paul went through. Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more. I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, Been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 5 different times the Jewish leaders gave me 39 lashes. 3 times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. 3 times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold without enough clothing to keep me warm. Then besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray and I do not burn with anger? If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am. Paul was shipwrecked 3 times. I know some believers who will think they're cursed if they get in one car accident. If they face one trial, one issue, maybe instead of throwing up our hands and saying, I'm cursed, God's abandoned me, we begin to stand on the word and say, Lord, even in the trials, I am blessed. In fact, write that in the comment section. Even in the trials, I am blessed. Even in the trials, I am blessed. The devil is a liar. No, your trials are not proof that you're cursed. No, your trials are not proof that God has abandoned you. Your trials are opportunities for growth. James 1:2-4, dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow. For when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. So be truly glad. 1 Peter 1:6, there is wonderful joy ahead. Even though we must endure many trials for a little while. This isn't a message of defeat, this is a message of victory, even in the midst of the storm.