David Houston
BREAKING CURSES
by
Doug Woolley
7/10/88
Reaching Toward the Fullness of the Scriptures
"Jesus came that we might have life, and might have it abundantly" (John 10:10). However, we are not always walking in that abundant life. 2 Cor. 5:17 is definitely true when it says, "if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." Furthermore, "having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness" (Rom. 6:18). Jesus appeared to "destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). It is also true that "the gates of hell shall not over power the church" (Matt. 16:18). Concerning Jesus, Is. 53:4‑5 says, "surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried... and by His scourgings we are healed." 1 Pet. 2:24 says, "by His wounds you were healed." These Scriptures are true, but we are not always walking in the fullness of them. "I have been over‑powered; the church has been over‑powered at times... We need to acknowledge where we are. The Bible says that legally those things are ours. The Bible says doctrinally those things have been done. Jesus has been scourged for our healing... but we still get sick. We've got to appropriate what Jesus did for us‑‑ the same thing with deliverance, the same thing for inner healing." Our soul needs to be restored (Ps. 23:3). Legally Jesus defeated Satan at Calvary, but we have a "battle on our hands" to have our souls' restored.
Imbalance in Inner Healing and Deliverance
"Much of the church, in the area of inner healing and deliverance and breaking curses, has either ignored it all together and said, 'I believe that when we got saved all that happened, it's all done, I don't want to go back into the past, I don't want to doubt what God did, I don't want to have unbelief‑‑ 2 Cor. 5:17 and all these other verses say it's all done'... another part of the church has said, 'well, Jesus said we have power and authority over devils,' hallelujah, so they see something that they think is a devil and they look that person in the eyes and say 'in the name of Jesus, come out. All right brother, you're free. Glory to God. Raise your hand and shout to the Lord that you're free.' And the demon inside of him is saying, 'Oh hallelujah, I get to stay in' because they did not have the anointing to drive them out." David Houston, a minister for 10 years, admitted that in his early ministry years he prayed for deliverance over people, yet the demon probably never came out nor did it come to the surface. We desperately need the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We need to be living in holiness and purity and know our righteousness and authority in Christ in order to have the confidence and anointing to drive a demon out.
Live by Faith in the Word of God
Jesus accomplished many things, but we need to appropriate His victory by faith to experience it in our life. Therefore, it is so important to know the Bible and to live by faith. Rom. 1:17 says that "the righteous man shall live by faith." Rom. 10:17 says that faith comes by hearing the words of God [Christ]. Rarely, does David take a new church member through deliverance; instead, he immediately teaches them the Word of God and how to live by faith, not their senses. 2 Pet. 1:2‑4 says that we will partake of the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the word by lust by His precious and magnificent promises. We need to trust in God's Word and hold fast to His promises. We live in a generation of "instant everything." People want quick answers to problems. A person might want a demon of fear cast out of him when he actually just needs to spend time in God's Word and meditate upon it. People need to learn to walk by faith in the Word of God in order to be set free.
Exposing Spirits through the Word of God
Many Christians never realize that they need to be set free from a demon or something else because they do not have enough of the Word of God in them to expose these spirits. Ps. 119:130 says "the unfolding of Thy words gives light." The light of God's Word needs to shine on our soul. We need to desire the fullness that God wants for us, and we need to proclaim the year of jubilee and aggressively take back what demons have taken from us. 1 John 5:4‑5 says that faith in God's Word gives us victory to overcome the world.
We Need to Set the Captives Free
Is. 52:2 says "shake yourself from the dust, rise up, O captive Jerusalem; Loose yourself from the chains around your neck, O captive daughter of Zion." Jesus' first sermon that he preached was on Is. 61:1‑4 pertaining to inner healing, deliverance, and breaking of curses. Jesus has given us this same ministry in which he came to do. We need to get a good understanding of this ministry to be able to administer inner healing, deliverance, and breaking of curses to this hurting generation. There are curses over black people, Jewish people, Asian people, and other groups of people. Just as physical features are past down biologically from generation to generation, curses are also past down spiritually.
Curses
Jesus became a curse for us in order that the blessings of Abraham might come upon us (Gal. 3:13‑14). However, "many of us are still walking in the effects of the curse because we are not correctly diagnosed and broken." Derek Prince, a minister in this area for over 40 years, says that in his opinion, at least 25% of Christians are affected by curses. Counselors will sometimes not see results in deliverance because they were coming against demons when they needed to break just one curse. We need to have the discernment of the problem from the Holy Spirit. The word "curse" is used about 200 times in the Bible. "Curses and blessings have supernatural power and are generally passed down from generation to generation." A blessing was pronounced over Abraham by an angel in Gen. 22:15, and it is still in effect 4000 years later. There are basically three sources of curses.
I. Curses by God
Curses are one of the ways that God judges. In Gen. 12:2‑3 God put a curse upon those who would "come against" Abraham's descendants. Beginning in Deut. 27:15, there are 12 curses that are visited on people up to the fourth generation. One of the worst curses comes upon those who worship idols and false gods. Deut. 27:16 says "cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother." Derek Prince says that in over 40 years of ministry, "he has never seen a Christian person prosper who has dishonored his parents." Curses also can come as a result of illicit or unnatural sex or as a result of injustice to the weak or the helpless. Jer. 17:5‑6 says "cursed is a man who trusts in mankind,"‑‑ in the strength of a human.
II. Curses by Men Representing God
After Joshua's army conquered Jericho, he had his people take an oath in Josh. 6:26 saying, "cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his first‑born he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates." This curse was fulfilled during the reign of the wicked king Ahab approximately 530 years later. 1 Kings 16:34 says, "In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his first‑born, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun." These Scriptures should put the fear of god in our lives' concerning the power of curses, which can last over 500 years. We really need discernment of our family tree to be set free from certain curses. The curse of illegitimacy (when a person is born out of wedlock) sometimes makes a person feel like he is not a part of the group‑‑ he feels rejected and left out.
King David was terribly hurt by Saul's and Jonathon's death and he sung according to the Spirit. In 2 Sam. 1:21 David spoke a curse, "O mountain of Gilboa, let not dew or rain be on you, nor fields of offering for there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, not anointed with oil." Derek Prince, who has been to Israel many times, says that 3000 years later all the mountains around this one mountain are flourishing with trees and vegetation, but this one mountain is bald with nothing growing on it because of the curse that David spoke on it.
Jesus spoke to a fig tree and cursed it to "dry up" (Mark 11:14). In Mark 11:20‑21 Peter noticed the fig tree and said, "Rabbi, behold the fig tree which You cursed has withered." We need to be using the power of speaking prophetic curses in our land and city, especially over pornography shops. This will only work when the Spirit of God moves upon us to do so. Bob Weiner and others have experienced success in this in the past as they had been moved by the Spirit.
Jacob left his father‑in‑law whom he had worked for, and his wife Rachel had secretly stolen Laban's household idols (Gen. 31:19). Laban accused Jacob of stealing these household idols. Jacob, who was angry at the accusation, foolishly cursed in Gen. 31:31, "the one with whom you find your gods shall not live." Rachel was sitting on the idols which were in the camel saddle. She told Laban that she could not get up because she was having her period. Although she was not caught, David Houston claims that the curse still had some effects on Rachel in her body. The next time Rachel gave birth to Benjamin, she had severe labor pains and died (Gen. 35:16‑19).
Isaac mistakenly spoke the blessing, that was suppose to be on Essau, on Jacob (Gen. 27:27‑29). Essau was mad and told his father, "bless me, even me also" (verse 34). Isaac, in the Spirit, told him that the power of the blessing had already gone out and he can not take it back nor give that blessing again. All these Scriptures show that there is power in our words when we bless and curse.
III. Curses by Men Representing Satan
Witch‑doctors and other people who have been involved in the occult have spoken curses over others. There have been many testimonies confirming the power of these curses.
Evidence of Blessings and Curses
Deuteronomy 28 has 14 verses on blessings and 54 verses on curses. "Some of the things that come with blessings are exaltation, good health, reproductiveness, prosperity, victory, and God's favor. Some of the things that come from curses are humiliation, failure to reproduce in all areas of life, mental and physical sickness, family breakdown, poverty, defeat, oppression, failure, and God's disfavor." Some other evidence of a curse is recurring and chronic sickness. David has gotten frustrated praying for sick people since he has seen some people get healed; yet, he's seen a lot more not get healed. Now he does not lay hands on people so suddenly, but he tries to discern the problem. If we always "cry wolf" so many times, then people will lose faith in healing. David recommends that all Christians should read the excellently balanced book, Greater Health God's Way. Sometimes a sick person just needs to eat and sleep properly. Other times, a sick person needs a curse of infirmity broken over him. We desperately need the anointing of God to discern these things by the word of knowledge or discerning of spirits. We need to pray for "the spirit of counsel and strength" (Is. 11:2). A person who has a good paying job, but is still not able to pay his bills on time may have a curse over his life. Others who are always having accidents may also have a curse.
How to be Released From Curses
There are four steps in being released from curses, according to David. First, we must RECOGNIZE the curse that is upon a person. Second, the person must REPENT from the actions of the curse. Third, he must RENOUNCE the curse by falling out of agreement with it and by breaking the curse with anointing in Jesus' name. Fourth, he must RESIST the temptations that come after the curse has been broken. "I did not realize that the curse‑‑ that demonic force‑‑ that was over his life, working for generation after generation, had set up thought patterns, had set up habits, and I may have cut the root power inside of him, but in his soul he's been set on a track of thinking that way, thinking in line with that curse and acting in line with the curse, and he's not only got to have faith and have it broken in Jesus' name with the anointing of God, but he has got to have the faith to resist it in Jesus' name. He's got to believe that Jesus became a curse for him and that on a certain day he was delivered from the curse." After breaking a curse, we need to not only pray that the Holy Spirit will bill those vacant areas, but the person must make an effort to resist. Much of the areas that need to be changed are in the soul. The mind and will need to be changed. We need to have the person meditate in the Word of God to help in resisting.
Questions
Can you break curses over people in your family who are not saved? We can by just speaking against it. Most of the time, when praying for a Christian, we can lay a hand on his head and break the curse.
What is the cause of crib death? David does not believe that God is the source of this death, nor of the death of good people that are desperately needed on the earth. Crib death is possibly a curse or a result of a night demon that needs to be recognized.