Understanding Curses & Blessings Pt 2, Ep 2-7
Welcome Back! I am your host Dawn Simmons and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are going to be discussing Curses, specifically events or occurrences that suggest a curse is operating in our lives. We will talk about some real-life examples of people dealing with curses or at least suggest a curse is present over their circumstances. This is the second part of our series "Understanding Blessings and Curses" and before this series ends, you will know how to break curses and usher in blessings that are being blocked by curses.
So let's start with just reviewing what is a curse. A curse is defined as: a solemn utterance intended to involve a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something. One of the things we discussed in part 1 was Deuteronomy 28 and verses 1-14 reveal the Blessings for Obedience, while verses 15-68 reveal the Curses for Disobedience. So as we discuss Curses today, those are the scriptures we are obtaining much of our discussion from as we identify events or occurrences that suggest a curse is in operation. So you can use that to reference in our discussion.
Now before we begin I want to say one thing that I try to remind us of periodically. Not every bad thing is from the enemy. We don't have a demon hiding around every corner waiting to jump out and get us when we are just walking along minding our own business. When we are talking about curses, don't assume that everything is a curse. We are talking about this to understand it, but we need to have our relationship with the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the truth in every situation. We always want the truth to be revealed, bring the dark out into the light.
If we take a look at Deuteronomy 28, beginning at verse 15, we can start to see some patterns forming on the effects of a curse.
Let's start off with money and possessions. It's clear here that disobedience will result in loss of income and assets. Have you ever met someone who is always living in lack? I don't mean someone who is working and struggling to make ends meet. We all have those seasons in our lives. I mean someone who continually has financial issues where even if they had accumulated some wealth regardless of how much because wealth is relative. I know a couple who are active in the church and have been Christians for decades but are continually living in lack. Their essential needs are met, but they always have extra bills pop up, there is always something going on that money is slipping through their fingers or their cars aren't working. For the years that I have known them, this cycle has never changed. Let's dig a little deeper and talk about how their actions contribute to this type of circumstance. I used to host a prayer meeting and multiple times in these meetings the husband would come to the meeting and pull out a check and show it to everyone saying he was being blessed by people just giving him checks. I know I felt he was trying to manipulate me to give him money particularly during a period of a few months where he was continually texting me and my husband about prayers to cover the expenses of a root canal for the wife. The texts always included dentist name and dollar amount. Multiple root canals by the way. At one point, the husband claimed to have a word for me that he needed to bring to me written out. Guess what is was written on, the back side of a $1,000 plus dental bill. They owned multiple cars, but only ever had 1 working at a time. We have a mutual friend who owns a body shop, and the husband would frequently mention to the body shop owner how he wanted one of the cars the shop owned but needed an engine, etc, he wanted the car but wanted it gifted to him he wasn't willing to pay for it to be repaired. During Covid, to make money, the wife would pray for people, but requested payment for her prayers. That disgusted me because the people she was praying for were hurting, you remember how it was the first few months of Covid. All of these things I am sharing with you by the way were discussed openly by them. I am not betraying any confidence here. Are you starting to understand what the issue is here? How can the Lord show favor and blessings to people being driven by this behavior? What is driving this behavior? Disobedience. One day I told the husband that we don't give out money like that, but if the Lord told me to give him money, then we would. He never again asked me for money. He actually moved on and took money from another family which paid for them to be able to go on vacation. The family that gave them the money to pay for their vacation, well, at the time they were living partly on an early withdrawal of their 401K because their income dropped due to a job change. You cannot prey on other people this way and expect God to bless you. Their behavior is producing a curse over their lives. How do I know this situation is a curse? As I was seeing multiple issues over a period of time, I went to the Lord, I asked Him to reveal to me what was His truth here. I was continually being asked passive aggressively for money and wanted to know what the Lord wanted me to do. When the Lord gave me the response to give to them, He also used it as a teaching moment to show me how living outside of His will produces bad fruit, even with people that are active in the church.
Ok, let's move on to another area that suggests a curse is in operation. Chronic illness. This one is much more difficult for the enemy to cover up in among other things because unfortunately the food we eat today is so genetically re-engineered that we are sometimes eating more chemical or fluff than real food. I am not taking a political stance here, just understand all I am saying is chronic illness is very real and valid, but this is still one of the areas God tells us will reveal a curse or a plague of diseases as the Bible describes. Epilepsy is one of the common diseases found during the 1st century that Jesus dealt with regularly and we read that Jesus was able to distinguish between demonic manifestations of epilepsy or true epilepsy that he could heal. It was assumed that people with this infliction were born of sin from their parents or their own sin as a child. We don't think that way today, but we also don't associate sickness or disease with curses. Tumors are another common way the enemy disses their presence. One of the ways to dig deeper into this area is to look at the family line. If generationally you see a lot of disease, then a curse is one option to consider addressing. Of the areas we are addressing in this discussion, I would want to see multiple areas affected before making an assumption based on this one area alone.
Next, mental health issues. This one could very likely go hand in hand with our previous area of chronic illness, but this one stands strong on it's own. The Bible describes it as madness, blindness and confusion of mind, that's in verse 28. Let's talk about the elephant in the room with mental illness today and specifically the confusion going on in the world today. God does not make mistakes. The enemy tells lies and will do whatever is necessary to convince someone of their lies, but God does not make mistakes and when He makes a man, He means to make a man. When God makes a woman, he means to make a woman. Are we all alike? Absolutely not, but we are what God made us to be and we cannot change that, no lie, no operation, nothing can change what God made us to be when He formed us. The truth will be revealed in the confusion of the world today but anyone who comes into agreement with the lies and lives in disobedience to God, will suffer in confusion and live in the curse they have accepted.
Next, related to mental health issues are a curse that we see rampant today. Suicide and premature deaths, whether natural or unexpected. This is considered separate and apart from the previous mental health issues because it is a curse of death, it's final once it is carried out. With mental illness as we have already discussed, there is an ability to recover and remove the curse. The number of suicides in our world is rising. According to the World Health Organization, it is the 4th leading cause of death among 15-29 year-olds. 77% of global suicides occurred in low-middle income countries in 2019, that was a pre Covid statistic. If a family has multiple of these types of deaths, a curse is active. This can go back multiple generations, and this can be broken.
Next is the issue of breakdown of the family relationships and marriages. Divorce is obviously one indication. Alienation from family where family ties are broken. Verses 53 and 54 are pretty graphic in describing the breakdown of family. As we look at families today, we can see how all of these other areas can produce a breakdown of the familial relationships. Curses don't operate in silos, so we look for multiple areas in most cases and find the causes. We look at families up the family tree and across it to see what has happened over the years. In some cases, it may be a new curse and you won't see generational history but you will see it spread and affect those around the one who is living under a curse. It generally will not just affect the one person but there will be collateral damage to those surrounding a cursed person. When you see that it's time to examine the life of the cursed person for indications, behaviors, patterns, words spoken to reveal how a curse was able to legally enter the life and produce outcomes.
Our 5th area to discuss are areas relating to childbearing or female issues I will call them. These could be barrenness, miscarriages, tumors, ectopic pregnancies, issued with the menstrual cycle, endometriosis, fibrosis. We know just from Genesis that pain during childbearing is a result of a curse, but in Deuteronomy 28, verse 18, 53, 57. Now if you notice I am not reading verses this week. I honestly do not want to read these verses. Some of them are too horrible I don't want them to enter my mind and I certainly don't want them on my lips. Read them for yourself and take them to heart because the Lord only speaks what is true so if you are under a curse, He tells us the result. I will say that not every occasion of barrenness is a curse, some are, but some are also natural. Barrenness easily produces bitterness in the heart, as do miscarriages and ectopics if we are not careful. We have to guard our heart during these times so that we don't perpetuate a curse or any other negative behaviors over ourselves or a baby if you are later blessed with a baby. Frequently you will see the female issues be hereditary, If you are having these issues, don't resign yourself to a curse, examine your heart, your behaviors, and your relationship with the Lord. Look at all of these issues we are discussing as a whole. Ultimately, ask the Lord and if it is a curse, then keep listening and let's get it broken off of you.
Lastly, have you ever met someone who is just is clumsy or has a lot of accidents. It may result in serious injuries or just weird it only happens to them injuries but there is no denying they are out of the norm. I used to wonder if one of my son's was this way. The joke we started to make was the remodel at our local hospital was partially funded by my son. He always had the weirdest way he would fall, break bones, from a young age. This is my middle son, so not the two who I recently shared with you that have had the surgeries.
A few of his injuries include: broken heel bone from getting into bunk bed while swinging his feet up in the air, broken forearm while getting out of a car and stepping on a curb, broken wrist falling off of an exercycle, two broken feet falling 30 feet from the last transition while rock climbing, hurt shoulder while snowboarding at 53 mph, broken arm – quite frankly I don't remember how it happened I just remembered he couldn't finish jr lifeguards. There's a few I'm going to leave out, just out of sheer embarrassment but suffice it to say, many of my photos of this particular son are emergency room photos through the years. Some of these injuries were solely his fault for being who he is, an extreme sports enthusiast who just doesn't seem to mind if he gets hurt. Others though, I wasn't sure what to think when he was a kid. Was he really that clumsy, careless, or what was going on with him.
It would not surprise me to find out at some point that there was in fact a curse over him when he was a kid. I see no evidence of it now, actually the opposite, a lot of favor over him. So even if there was something, it can change so don't be discouraged over your own situation or a friend or family member.
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.
As always let’s recap Top Show Points:
· Defined curse: A curse is defined as: a solemn utterance intended to involve a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something.
· Deuteronomy 28 verses 15-68 reveal the Curses for Disobedience
· Not every bad thing is from the enemy. We don't have a demon hiding around every corner waiting to jump out and get us when we are just walking along minding our own business.
· disobedience will result in loss of income and assets.
· Example of couple cursed in finances due to disobedience
· Chronic illness
· chronic illness is very real and valid, but this is still one of the areas God tells us will reveal a curse or a plague of diseases as the Bible describes
· If generationally you see a lot of disease, then a curse is one option to consider addressing. Of the areas we are addressing in this discussion, I would want to see multiple areas affected
· mental health issues
· God does not create confusion, the enemy does
· Suicide and premature deaths, whether natural or unexpected. This is considered separate and apart from the previous mental health issues because it is a curse of death, it's final once it is carried out.
· If a family has multiple of these types of deaths, a curse is active. This can go back multiple generations, and this can be broken.
· the issue of breakdown of the family relationships and marriages
· 5th area to discuss are areas relating to childbearing or female issues
· Look at all of these issues we are discussing as a whole. Ultimately, ask the Lord and if it is a curse, then keep listening and let's get it broken off of you
· Clumsiness
· Gave example of my son's misshaps
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 :
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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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