Why should you feel cursed? (Part 2)
Last week’s article discussed the curse of the law versus the freedom we have through the accomplished work of Christ. This week, I’m stepping out to look at this issue from a very different, but very real, angle that we don’t often discuss in detail here in the U.S. Church. The Bible tells us “…our battle is not against flesh and blood (but) against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.” (Ephesians 6:12, CSB)
Have you ever been frustrated but couldn’t quite identify the source?
At one point in our young family life, we were experiencing frustration every week. We didn’t understand why. We just knew something was wrong.
I was serving in a growing church as Pastor of Youth and Family Ministries. Our four kids were under 10 years old, and almost every week, one of them would get sick on Saturday night.
It seemed like we could never attend church together as a family.
Thinking it was just the reality of life, we kept plugging along, doing our best. But this meant that Jen often stayed home with one or more of our kids. Missing church and not being together as a family weighed on us. At least it did until one day, a friend asked if we had prayed through our house.
“What can it hurt?” we thought. So, we invited an elder and a couple of prayer warriors to come pray through our home with us.
There was nothing spectacular about praying through each room, consecrating it to the Lord and taking a stand against the enemy’s work in our family life… until we stepped into our young son’s room. Suddenly, our friend asked, “What is going on with your neighbors on this side!?”
I looked at her a bit dumbfounded, but then my mind quickly flooded with thoughts and images. A few months prior, I had literally pried our neighbor’s hands off his daughter’s throat while my wife called 911. And just a few weeks before, I had learned that the woman practiced Reiki. Reiki is a new age form of ‘healing arts’ in which a person believes they are manipulating universal forces. The word literally comes from the Japanese terms meaning ‘spirit-force.’ This is an unbiblical, ungodly practice. And all this was going on just a few feet from where we slept every night!
When I mentioned these things, Linda began praying a wall of protection around our home and standing against the enemy in Jesus’ name. It was a powerful moment, but I still wasn’t sure what to think.
Real change began to occur in our family’s health. It became rare that any of us would miss church due to an illness. We continued to pray for the Spirit of God to fill our home and protect us.
Please hear me clearly. I am not saying that illnesses or other issues we face in life are always caused by a spiritual problem. That would be denying the reality of living in a world so affected by The Fall that the Apostle Paul says, “the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption…” (Romans 8:21, CSB) The Fall of humankind as recorded in Genesis 3 has impacted all of creation to the level of our brain chemistry, immune system, etc. Even so, let’s not neglect the spiritual part of life as a potential cause for problems.
“In general usage, a curse is an imprecation or an expressed wish for evil.” (Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, p. 290). Had our neighbors cursed us? I have no idea and frankly don’t really know how all that works. What I do know is that we humbly took our stand in Christ, resisted the enemy, put on the armor of God, and continued to grow in our walk of faith. And things changed.
A curse in the O.T. was often tied to sin, pride, deception, and especially breaking covenant with God. (See Deuteronomy 28, for example.)
In the New Testament, it is mentioned less frequently, but is no less real. Jesus told us to “Bless those who curse you” (Luke 6:28) and Paul said we are to “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” (Romans 12:14). Jesus cursed the fig tree as a symbol of the destruction of the unproductive, hypocritical religious system of that day (Mark 11). Paul says that anyone who preaches a false gospel, “let them be under God’s curse!” (Galatians 1:9, NIV)
Here’s the point: we are complex beings with physical, mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual components. Oftentimes in the U.S. we address the first four components in some way, but neglect to fully address the spiritual. As believers in Christ, we have a responsibility to humble ourselves before God and resist the devil (James 4:7). We must “Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil” (Eph. 6:11 CSB). One of the pieces of armor is “the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” (Eph. 6:16, CSB)
So, how do we submit to God and resist the devil on a practical level?
We take our thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). We confess and renounce out loud, thanking God for the forgiveness He has provided in Christ (1 John 1:5-10 and 2 Corinthians 4:3). We work out our salvation recognizing that God has initiated our relationship with Him (Philippians 2:12-13). And we seek to obey through the power of the Holy Spirit as an expression our love for Him and others (John 15:9-17).
When we sold our home a few months ago, the couple that purchased it looked at many houses over the course of more than 2 years! They told us that when they walked into our house, they felt the difference spiritually. Our house had become a place of peace. The Lord, our sanctuary, so filled our home that His presence was tangible to those entering. He answered our prayers for His protection and presence.
Dear Saints, as Ephesians 6 says, our struggle is not simply against flesh and blood. Although sin affects our world in very real ways, we also have an enemy who seeks our destruction. In every situation, we should consider both the natural and supernatural realities at play. Since our enemy is fighting in the unseen realm, we need to do battle there as well—with the armor of God, prayer, and active repentance.
True spiritual protection is ours in Christ as we submit to God and resist the devil.