Understanding Curses & Blessings Pt 1, Ep 2-6
Welcome Back! I am your host Dawn Simmons and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are starting our series on Understanding Blessings and Curses. We have set the stage for this discussion by first examining why our words matter, we then talked about the spirit of rebellion and last week we touched on the seven spirits of God that we have in the Holy Spirit. All of these are components to Blessings and Curses. First we will understand what a blessing and a curse are, then we will see in the Old Testament and the New Testament how God has used both for His purposes and finally we will talk about some real life examples of blessings and curses. Next week we will start digging more into a discussion on Curses. I wanted to start with Curses first so we can end on a positive note with Blessings. Either way before this series ends, you will know how to break curses and usher in blessings that are being blocked. Ok, are you ready? There’s a lot to get through so let’s get going.
The first thing I want to do is get us on the same page and talk about what exactly is a curse and what is a blessing. A curse is defined as: a solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something. Now let’s define a blessing. A blessing is the act or words of one that blesses or a thing conducive to happiness or welfare. The funny thing about curses and blessings is that so many people, not even Christians, people in general have a tendency to believe in blessings, but will shun the idea of a curse. A curse is some medieval thing that has no relevance in our modern world. Just because we ignore it or deny it’s existence, it doesn’t go away. It doesn’t cease to be because we don’t believe.
So now we have to ask, why don’t people believe? Well, blessings and curses originate in the spirit realm, but they will manifest in the natural realm. We can see and feel and, in some cases, touch, taste and smell the manifestation of each in the natural realm. How they came into existence begins in the spirit realm and what we cannot see, we tend to not believe or not want to believe, or not understand or not want to understand. The whole point of this podcast is for believers who believe and want to understand. We cannot act like the spiritual realm does not exist or has ceased. We are denying what the Bible reveals to us and that hurts us in the end. When we deny the truth of the Bible, that in and of itself is a curse we are placing on ourselves.
When we reflect back on the episode titled, Why our Words Matter, we began to talk about how our words activate spirit realm outcomes. There are consequences to what we say and do. Things we own, objects we focus on and what they represent has an impact we don’t often think about. Let’s take a look at what Paul has to say on this. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 4:18, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Now, a side note here, I visited the ancient site of Corinth. I saw the ruins of what was seen at the time Paul wrote that letter. I walked the street where Paul walked. I stood at the bema seat where Paul was summoned. I saw what he would have seen in his day in that ancient city and while there were some areas that were still standing, some areas that were able to be reconstructed, it was clearly an example of something that was impressive in its day, it was a very large affluent city, but here we are today and it is in ruins. The unseen in Corinth, however, still very much alive. Walking there, one of the larger areas had a strong demonic presence residing. In one of the areas that was less commercialized and not fully excavated, no demonic presence. My point is this, no one lives in those ancient ruins, but the spirit realm is still active there. What is unseen is eternal. The same demonic influence the Corinthians wrestled with as Paul ministered to them has not gone anywhere and as much as I loved being there, I couldn’t wait to get out.
Ok, let’s get back on track and start to outline in the Old Testament what God has to say about Blessings and Curses. First let’s take a look in Exodus. Here Moses tells us what God has to say about the origin of blessings and curses. Exodus 19:5, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” So we see the origin of his blessing, so how do we know what a curse is? Well a blessing and a curse are the opposite, so we know that if we do not obey God fully and keep his covenant, we have a pretty good idea what can happen. Moses has already told us about God blessing and cursing man in beginning in Genesis 1 and 2. Here we see the blessing that is being offered and the boundary God sets for them and the consequence if they disobey. We all know how that goes and in Chapter 3, we see the first curse in verse 14.
Those events give us a pretty good picture of how God creates our blessing but that there is an opposite also created in the spirit realm that will occur in our natural realm if we disobey. Adam and Eve had a more simple time than we do or than the generations that followed. They had one thing and it was a struggle for them. So while it was more simple for Adam and Eve, and that is not a judgment on them, we all like to think of ourselves as better than Adam and Eve, but we should be careful with that. We all have moments where we failed to resist something far less significant than eating from the wrong tree. Let’s fast forward about 2700 years to Moses and the Exodus and God providing more specifics on Blessings and Curses. It’s really important to understand this background and where it is all discussed in the Bible if you want to understand how these function in the spirit realm. We cannot break any curses or have a breakthrough in our blessings if we don’t take the time to understand it. The only place we can get the information is from the bible so let’s keep going.
So again, fast forward about 2700 years from Adam to Moses and the Exodus and we start to see what God provides as a guideline for how to receive his blessing and how to avoid a curse. Question. Have you ever really thought about all that Moses has done for you? He wrote the first 5 books of the bible, the Pentateuch, and in that we receive so much information about who God is and the history of his people. The time and effort required for all of the words we have at our fingertips is overwhelming. We type or handwrite a note with ease, that was not the case for Moses. His painstaking effort for every generation that followed is one thing I want to thank him for when I get to meet him. I hope I get to hear his stories or see them when the time comes. Sorry, I am digressing quite a bit today but this is all so interesting to me. Deuteronomy 28, have you ever read it? I mean really read it? I actually laminated it. Sounds silly but I figured if I was going to ensure my success in this topic, I wanted his words on the subject readily available and sturdy. If you haven’t read it, take a look at it this week. I have spoken before about a scripture journal, I use one regularly to put in those scriptures that I want to keep front of mind for prayer, for study, for revelation, it’s an easy way for me to keep His word in my heart. I am going to put in the notes some links to some scripture journals on amazon that I have produced that are compact and will really help you if you want to improve your prayer life. Anyhow, besides laminating these verses, I have them in my scripture journal. I want to know these blessings. As we read these blessings, we see the spiritual laws being laid out for us in our natural lives. Some people think because we have Jesus, this Old Testament scripture does not apply, but yes it does. I will show you that in a minute, but I want to make sure you understand how important these 14 verses are for us to read and absorb in to our hearts. I stand on these scriptures in times of need. Verse 6, “You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out” Thank you, Lord, I am blessed. Verse 3, “You will be blessed on the city and blessed in the country.” I will receive that! Here’s a good one, verse 7, I have used this one multiple times, “The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.” I remember the first time I saw that play out in my life, I was astonished that the Lord actually fulfilled it just like he said. The last time I had to use this was almost 2 years ago exactly and it was a business related situation. It lasted about about 3 months and at the end, I was the last one standing. I saw the 5 people I was having to work with at a non-profit on the Board of Director level go down one by one with their untruthful words and manipulative actions. I refused to be a party to what they were saying and doing no matter how much pressure they were applying and I trusted the Lord to deal with them and reveal the truth.
Now interestingly as we look at the Curses for Disobedience, which start with verse 15, and continue through verse 68! Initially you will see some opposites to the blessings and then God goes on to some more specific, somewhat horrific and painful descriptions of His judgment as a result of disobedience. What most people don’t understand about God is that He is just and in being just, that means at some point there will be a Judgment for what we do. It may be sooner, it may be later, but it always comes. So a curse could come swiftly as a judgment directly from God or he could allow the enemy to play out a consequence and allow that to be used for His judgment. Just reading the Curses would be enough to convince me that Obedience is the only way.
I mentioned earlier that we would look at the New Testament and how I know the Blessings and Curses were not just an Old Testament event, but are still applied in the New Testament, so lets look at John 15. There are 3 verses here that I want to share that fully depict blessings and curses. Verse 5: I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. That one I have hanging on my wall in my family room. Verse 6: If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. That I want no part of so let’s take a look at Verse 7: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. A blessing does not get any better than that. Now understand that if we remain in Him, we would never ask Him to win the lottery or for a new car, that does not glorify him. Remining in Him would lead us to ask for those things we know we need to fulfill His plan in our lives. So the principles of Blessings and Curses are still applicable in the New Testament, which means they are still applicable to us today.
As I was preparing for this, I had to really take some time and examine my family and make sure I didn’t miss something. I’ve shared before about my situation with my oldest son, but this week, 4 days ago now, my youngest son had a surgery, his 4th and unfortunately we know there is a 5th needed in about 6 months. On the one hand I felt very blessed that he was able to get the surgery and because a cadaver bone was used, it was a bittersweet blessing because I know that somewhere near me here is a family that lost their 39 year old son, possibly father, brother that allowed their loss to help others. On the other hand, this is the 4th surgery in 4 years and all 4 of them were unusual injuries for the type of injury. I wouldn’t expect it to be a curse situation, in the next episode when we get into curses more deeply, I’ll explain why I could be led to think that about this situation, but I know that God has this situation covered because He told me so and that’s all I need to know.
Next week we are going to talk about indications that a curse may be present in your life so that will be pretty interesting. There are a lot of ways curses play out and we will talk about some specific examples.
Years ago I worked with a woman, she was probably in her 50’s then, I was in my 20’s. I can only remember her first name, it was Pat, I usually use Jane, but there’s no way anyone will ever know who she is. I can see her standing there, she was pretty tall, about 6 feet, probably 230 pounds, she always was very well dressed, she cared about her appearance. She didn’t have a lot, but she took care of what she did have. She was married and had some sons. She wasn’t particularly happy. She was very nice to me, but I admit, she did have an attitude. She never liked any of her supervisors, I never really understood why. She wasn’t really content either, she was more resigned. She was resigned to this is the way things are and I can’t change it. After a few years I heard her say something that I never heard anyone say before. She was a Christian, she went to church regularly, I suspect she was demonstrative in church but I don’t know if she was truly alive. That day I heard her say, her “people” referring to her genealogical line, were cursed. I asked her to explain and she said it said in the Bible that her people were cursed and there was nothing she could do about it. She wouldn’t look me in the eyes when she said it, she just kind of looked off into space and said it matter of factly. I wanted to respond to her, but I truly did not know what to say. I was dumbfounded that this belief was being taught to her and that she believed and accepted it. If you allow this deception, this nonsense into your mind, into your spirit, into your belief system, then guess what, you are cursed. You are coming into agreement with the enemy and you are sealing yourself to a curse.
Don’t be like Pat, don’t accept any curse and as we walk through this series we will help you understand it and break it off and start receiving your blessings.
I hope this has been helpful to you. If you know anyone who is experiencing any of the issues, please share this podcast. Addressing these demonic influences and getting them out of our lives is life changing if we are willing.
Ok so as always let's recap the Top Show Points:
· We are starting our series on Curses and Blessings
· A curse is defined as: a solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something.
· We discussed Adam and Eve and the first curse
· 2 Corinthians 4:18, fixing our eyes on what is unseen and eternal.
· Exodus 19:5, God’s covenant
· A blessing is the act or words of one that blesses or a thing conducive to happiness or welfare.
· Deuteronomy 28: 1-14 are the Blessings for Obedience
· Deuteronomy 28: 15-68 are the Curses for Disobedience
· God is a just God who renders judgment, curses are a part of that judgment
· John 15: 5-7, verses discussing Curses and Blessings still apply in New Testament
· Gave you a story about Pat who resigned herself to her curse
I hope this has been helpful to you. If you know anyone who is experiencing any of the issues, please share this podcast. Addressing these demonic influences and getting them out of our lives is life changing if we are willing.
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, it will be helpful in gaining wisdom and understanding and it is required for the gift of spiritual discernment
Our Journals can be found on Amazon at :
https://www.amazon.com/author/mountainmovermedia-dawnsimmons
Also, I want to encourage you to visit our website and join our Warrior community. I am working on planning some live events and the only way to be included in that is to be a part of our Warrior Community. Just visit our website, www.conqueringourunseenenemies.com, and join from the Home page or the Resources page.
I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, it will be helpful in gaining wisdom and understanding and it is required for the gift of spiritual discernment
· Also, we just dropped a video on our YouTube Channel, Life journey with Dawn Simmons. We are still in our series where we visited the 7 Churches in the book of Revelation and the latest video was the church in Laodicea, it’s a beautiful church actually. Very intact.
· Also, I want to encourage you to visit our website and join our Warrior community. I am working on planning some live events and the only way to be included in that is to be a part of our Warrior Community. Just visit our website, www.conqueringourunseenenemies.com, and join from the Home page or the Resources page.
I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!
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