How can we be a blessing to someone or be a curse to someone? Do our words encourage or discourage? Do you want to be blessed by God or be cursed by God?
Being blessed is being encouraged and made joyful with good things. We are blessed when someone is kind to us or is patient and gives us grace when we screw up. The Bible says we are blessed when we remain in the presence of God (see John 15). We are also blessed when we trust and obey God. We will be blessed even in our trials and distresses, because He is with us. The word blessed occurs 306 times in the English Standard Version (ESV).
To be cursed is to be made miserable and destitute because of our own sin or the sin of other people. So, what is sin? The short answer, sin is disobedience to the truth and commands in the Bible (i.e., love others, be kind, patient, etc.). We are also cursed when we do not trust and obey God and when we turn our hearts away from Him. The word cursed occurs 74 times in the ESV. Our words are the most common way we curse God and each other. Read my post called: WORDS HAVE POWER—Part I: Overcoming The Destruction of Offensive Words
Meditate on and journal your answers for the following Scripture:
Jeremiah 17:5-8 states, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6) He is like a shrub in the desert and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.’ 7) ‘Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. 8) He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.‘”
?? How are we cursed when we trust in man and find strength in our flesh (verse 5)?
?? What happens when we turn our hearts away from the LORD (verse 6)? Does your life feel like this?
?? What happens when we trust the LORD (verse 8)? In what areas of your life can you trust God more?
Deuteronomy 28 also defines how we will be blessed or cursed if we choose to obey or not.
All these BLESSINGS will come upon you and accompany you
If you OBEY the LORD your God:
1. Your children will be blessed.
2. Your land and livestock will be productive (e.g., your life work will be successful.)
3. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed (e.g., you’ll have plenty to eat.)
4. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
5. Your enemies will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
6. The LORD will send a blessing on your barns (wealth) and on everything you put your hand to.
7. The LORD will establish you as his holy people…
8. The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity…
9. The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands.
10. The LORD will make you the head, not the tail IF you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God… you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
Also, read the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5 and Luke chapter 6 to learn more on how to be blessed.
However, IF you do NOT obey the LORD your God…
ALL these CURSES will come upon you and overtake you.
1. Wherever you go, you will be cursed.
2. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed (e.g., you will not have enough to eat.)
3. Your children will be cursed.
4. Your land and livestock will be cursed (e.g., your life work will fail.)
5. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
6. The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. (2 Chronicles 12:14 states, “He did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.”)
7. The LORD will plague you with diseases… with a wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew…
8. The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder…
9. The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies…
10. The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured.
11. The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind.
12. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do…
There are 17 more curses listed in this passage. Would you not agree that it is better to obey God than disobey? To know more about what evil is, please read the following post: EVIL—What is it and what is the remedy?
?? How do the verses in Jeremiah compare with these verses in Deuteronomy?
?? Are you experiencing any of the above curses? If you are, then seek God to show you the sin of disobedience that is blocking God’s blessings.
?? What changes do you need to make to be blessed?
To learn how you can live a blessed life read: Living a Victorious Life
Another type of curse that causes misery are word curses put on us by family members, teachers, and those who hate us. We also put word curses on ourselves. I became free from many curses, and I encourage you to read my short book on my website to know what word curses are and how you can become free too. Many times, we bring curses on ourselves when we do not trust and obey God. If you struggle to trust God, you may have false beliefs that prevent you from trusting God. I encourage you to read my short book to be free from these unhealthy beliefs. Go to Hopeforcompletehealing.com
?? Do you want to be blessed or cursed?
?? What do you need to do to be blessed?
If you find my posts and website helpful, then please share the links with your friends and family, hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected and no part of the posts or my book may be reproduced without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom.
Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. Please leave your name so I know you are a real person making the request.
P.S.: Experiencing a lasting change in your life depends on having a right relationship with God the Father through believing in His Son Jesus Christ and obeying His command to love (1 John 3).
Hope for Complete Healing 