Generational Strongholds

I was introduced to the idea of generational iniquity recently at a Kairos event at Gateway Church. I spent some times studying that idea last week while I was snowed in. I found it very interesting, and thought I would share what I found.

Sometimes, you may have dealt with a sin or stronghold in your life, confessed, repented, made the choice to turn away from it, been a part of a group for accountability, taken every step to be free, but still struggle. When that is the case, it is possible that there may be a generational stronghold on your family.

Ex 34:6-7 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation."

Generational strongholds come from actions that perpetuated in a family in a number of generations.  Generational curses do not impose eternal judgment.  They bring judgment or bondage during an individual's life, reducing the quality of life, until that individual addresses the sin issues that put the curses into place.

Moses addressed this issue when the Israelites were preparing to enter the promised land.  He told the new generation that was preparing to enter in that they would not enter unless the dealt with their own personal sins and also the sins of their fathers. The account can be found in

Leviticus 26:39-42 "Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their fathers' sin they will waste away.  But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers - their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies - then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land

God is not punishing you for the sins of your parents or grandparents. There is a principle of reaping what is sown. This is a law of nature designed by God. But, because of the sin of man, the same law has a negative influence. You see this in your life. When you eat healthy foods, you feel healthier. When you eat cake for breakfast, French fries for lunch, and pie for supper, you feel sick, and if you do that for long, you will really be unhealthy. God does not punish you for eating poorly, it is just the natural consequences. If your mother fed you junk food all the time when you were a child, you have the natural consequences of that.

The choices that your parents made do have a huge impact on you. We see this in scripture.

David, the great king of Israel who wrote most of the Psalms, who loved God and had a very special purpose from God, had a problem with lust; he had several wives and many mistresses, even took his friends wife and had his friend killed to cover up. David’s sons had the problem, but even bigger. His son Solomon actually had 300 wives and 700 mistresses.

Another example is Abraham, father of the Jewish nation, chosen and called by God, faithful and obedient to God. But, when he was in a tight situation, he lied. His son Isaac had the same problem. He lied when he needed to. Isaac’s son Jacob did not just lie when he was in a fix, he was a liar. He lied and cheated as a way of life.

We are all impacted by the propensities of our parents.

Sometimes our parents or grandparents opened a door to a sin that became a stronghold, a sin that the family falls into easily. Once the door was opened, it may have opened wider and wider by generations.  Of course, every person has the opportunity to make their own choice. It may be that when you were born,  a door was already open. You did not have to allow the evil in. You had a choice, but it was a harder choice.

I can see all around me families that deal with the same root sin for generations. I don’t know all the theology concerning this topic, but I feel like it is an area that we certainly need to seriously question.