No More Curse!

When you allow the Holy Spirit to be the teacher in your bible study, you find that many times He leads the discussion away from the topic you thought you were supposed to teach on. For example, today I sensed in my spirit that there wasn't going to be much from the book of Ruth taught today, even though we had a great study last week and were prepared to go forward and look at chapter 4. As it turns out, the question of curses, particularly the doctrine of generational curses, was brought up, so the Holy Spirit taught on this issue. We were taken to Galatians 3: 13-14.

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ: that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Scripture is clear that there are no more curses on the believer - AT ALL! There is a very popular charismatic teaching in the body of Christ that we are all under Old Testament generational curses and that they must be rooted out, etc - this is simply NOT TRUE!. I know many well-meaning Christians who love God and desire to serve Jesus but have been hood-winked by the devil into believing this false doctrine. The truth is that Jesus Christ took every curse, being made a curse for us - now the blessing of Abraham and ALL of its benefits flows to us believers, Jew and Gentile alike.

If you are black, you are not cursed because of the enslavement of African Americans in our culture; if you come from a family of sickness and disease, you are not cursed with those same diseases; if you are a woman, you are not cursed because of your gender; abused, raped, not cursed because of the shame of your past; poverty-stricken, not cursed to always be in lack; lack of education, not cursed and prevented from being promoted or placed in a position of prominence, and the list goes on and on. You are blessed, regardless of your circumstances!

Don't look at the doctor's report, your check-book, your pile of bills, or listen to negative confessions from family and friends - you are blessed and that is the truth. Facts can change, but the truth never changes. God loves you and you are highly favored. You are His born-again child, accepted in the beloved and are as perfect and righteous as Jesus! Hold fast to the promises God has given you and don't let doubt or unbelief take root. Your testimony is coming!

No Judgment for the Christian

Romans 14.

Our Tuesday night small group is finishing up our study of Romans, so I thought I would post some of the points we discussed on this blog.

We talked about how our freedom in Christ to eat and drink all things or the freedom to operate in the Spirit as the Lord directs should not be flaunted in front of a weaker believer who does not have the same revelation of such freedoms. A weaker believer would be someone who is under some self-imposed law and does not have full revelation of the entire freedom he or she has a member of the body of Christ. In cases where we know our freedom to partake or engage might cause that weaker brother or sister to stumble, doubt, or be tempted to act against their convictions, then we should abstain or refrain, as the case may be. Everything that we do should be done to the glory of God to build others up and edify them in the Lord.

We all concluded that it is difficult to make hard and fast rules in this area, but that it is best to hear from the Lord and be led by the Holy Spirit. Jesus only said and did what He heard the Father say and saw the Father do. And we should do likewise.

Also, in combination with 2 Corinthians 5: 10, Paul tells us not to judge or criticise fellow believers, because all of us will appear before the judgement seat of Christ (Greek work there is bema, or step/place where the foot rests) to receive rewards and payment for what we have done in the body. Immediately, some of the ladies in the group had a look of fear cover over them, thinking the judgment seat of Christ is a bad place where Jesus will judge us for all the things we've done wrong. But that is not the case. The bema seat of judgment is a place where rewards are given by Jesus to His bride, the church, whereas the Great White Throne judgment seat in Revelation 20 is a place where unbelievers will be judged and condemned for the sin of not accepting Jesus. They are two very different judgment seats. It is important to understand that believers will NEVER be judged for their sin or wrongdoings, because ALL of their sins, past, present, and future, were judged in the body of Jesus 2000 years ago on the cross. God no longer remembers our sins-they have been washed away forever by the precious blood of His son.

After a lengthy discussion on this topic, I saw the fear disappear from the ladies eyes and a look of excitement come over them--Jesus, their bridegroom, their Lord and Savior, is going to give them rewards for what was done here on earth. What an exciting thing to look forward to!!