
Jesus frees manager from family curse
K had been on a journey of renewal and restoration from past relationships when God led her into deeper healing over hurts from a family business dispute. The Holy Spirit revealed the stronghold of a generational curse. As she forgave the relatives she felt betrayed by, K felt her heart change as she began a new journey of reconciliations with her relatives. Praise God!
(See Chinese versions: 简体中文 > 耶稣从家庭咒诅中释放一位经理 | 繁體中文 > 耶穌從家庭咒詛中釋放一位經理)
This is the second time I have undergone in-depth renewal prayer.
After my first prayer session, I have been on a journey packed with spiritual growth, healing, and restoration. I slowly began to understand myself better. Throughout, I experienced a continual flow of God’s love.
Jeremiah 29:11 NLT For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Psalm 121: 3-4 NLT He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.
There were several things we did not manage to cover in the first renewal prayer session, including repenting for taking part in occult activities, unforgiveness, judging, inner vows, etc. God would not settle for less and let me enjoy “second-grade” freedom because His love for us is not second grade. I’m grateful that God pursued me Himself, and through the people around me, to do a second renewal prayer. His heart is to redeem, restore and heal us to fullness.
I learnt about the power and importance of confession and repentance firsthand.
God is not a whip-holding father who forces us to confess every bit of our sin. His desires us to confess and repent in order that we can be set free.
My dad and uncles (from my mom’s side) once ran a business together. Disputes arose after around 10 years of operations. It became a family fight, a bit like what we see in a typical TV soap opera. They parted ways on unpleasant terms.
For a long time, I associated the financial hardships that my family suffered with the business dispute.
We sold our family home and moved to a smaller flat in an old building. I remember waiting for my dad’s updates on the family business, very worried. I always calculated how much I could earn after I graduated, as well as how much and how long I needed to contribute to my family’s finances. It consumed my mind and emotions.
This also affected how I saw myself. I started to believe that even when things are running smoothly, the “blessings” will be taken away suddenly. There is no mercy, and people were always judging me and talking behind my back.
I felt that the extended family had betrayed us.
I held grudges and passed on judgments on my uncles – a unique charge against each of them. Things turned more and more rotten as the years passed by.
Since I came to faith in Jesus, I have understood the importance of forgiveness. I tried to reconcile with one of my uncles by having dinner with him, together with my grandmother. Indeed, the dinner was one important milestone in this journey of healing. However, again, God wanted more for me.
During the preparation for the second renewal prayer, God impressed on me that the business dispute was a major incident to deal with. (Now looking back, it was also a major point of victory.)
With the support of my prayer counselors, God enlightened me that I did not know the whole situation or what my uncles were facing.
I was in no position to pass judgement on them.
That day, I confessed and repented of judging my uncles, undoing each charge that I had held against them. I also forgave them for the things that had happened. God then gave me a picture – a messy knot of strings becoming untangled into straight lines, each string a different colour, representing one of my uncles. The straightened colourful strings looked like a rainbow, which is a sign of God’s promise.
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Genesis 9:16 ESV When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
I also confessed and repented of judging my grandfather for having two wives and mishandling the family situation.
My maternal grandma was originally a maid to the family.
My great grandparents found her to be a good young lady with a good personality. So, they asked (or made) my grandpa to take my grandma as his second wife.
Growing up in a big family with two grandmas can be fun yet complicated. I have nine uncles, three aunts, and over 30 cousins, just from my mom’s side of the family alone. There is a lot of gossip, jealousy, betrayal, and even hatred within such a big family.
There was also a lot of bullying, hardship, and curses between my two grandmas. I heard stories about my first grandma hitting her husband’s second wife, my grandma, with a broomstick. I always assumed it was understandable because my grandma had stepped into her marriage.
During the prayer, I knew I had to forgive my first grandma but somehow, something held me back.
As we spent more time on this point, both prayer counselors and I myself sensed the word “curse”.
I did not know about my first grandma’s curses on my grandma and her descendants i.e. my family line, or my grandma’s curses on herself because of the hardships she experienced.
As the Holy Spirit led, I rebuked and broke these curses. Amazingly, I felt I could move forward to forgive my first grandma. Another knot became untangled.
No matter how messy the situation we have grown up with, God is here to untangle the mess for us!
Months after the renewal prayer, I apologised to one of my cousins whom I have judged in the past. Somehow in my mind, I felt my cousins can be close like friends. But after my dad fell out with my uncles because of their business, I felt they are no longer trustworthy and cannot be my friends. I judged their behavior, accusing them of being selfish in my heart, and kept a distance from them.
After I got the prompting from God, my apology came so naturally and I sent the message over. Soon after it is done, I realised it is the legacy of the freedom I received through this renewal prayer.
Having gone through major traumas in life, such as painful break-ups, job losses, witnessing my mom’s suffering from cancer and her passing away, and then, our family debts, I began thinking very lowly of myself.
I could find every single explanation for why I am a mistake.
I believed that I did not deserve love and nothing good would happen to me. I put on layers of dirty clothes and carried muddy bags, heavy and filthy, over all these years.
By His grace, God gently and lovingly took away these layers and baggage of lies, inner vows, unforgiveness, judgements, and self-accusations. Finally, some major strongholds were broken down. It feels so light, bright and free that I can now hold my chin up and journey forward.
I am more comfortable with myself, knowing that God created me in a way that’s pleasing and perfect in His eyes.
It is such a comforting thought.
Now when I make mistakes or fall for temptation, instead of dwelling on self-pity, I am able to pick myself up by confessing, repenting and moving forward. I have the assurance that God’s love and forgiveness is greater my shortfalls. Shame has no chance to creep in. And when I do something silly, I smile and am at peace that this is how God created me uniquely – and He must be smiling with me too.
Knowing that I am loved and valuable, I am more able to love others as well.
2 Corinthian 5:17 NIV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
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