Bless and Curse Not...

A few years back, I spent some time in a foreign country where I was in constant danger. I recall seeing the terrible conditions in that country where teachers were rejoicing because their monthly earnings jumped to $30 a month from $3 a month! I saw children as young as 8 years old working for a living driving tractors, filling sandbags, digging trenches, and cleaning up human waste. I remember feeling overwhelmed with compassion for them, but at the same time realizing that we who live in the developed world take many things for granted.
I spoke with my wife about allowing the children to have whatever they desired. For some odd reason, I felt that I should be showering my children with gifts. I think it was an attempt to make up for time lost without them. In any case, when I finally came home, my children lacked nothing.
To this day, however, my children tend to overlook the bountiful home they live in and I have to continue to remind them that we live in a world where everything can be gained and lost very quickly.
With this in mind, I would like to remind fathers that they should always seek to bless their children and their families in every way possible. Granted that you don't spoil your children by lavishing gifts that are dangerous or wastefully extravagant, you should, nevertheless see to it that they receive gifts whenever they accomplish goals that you set for them or whenever you see that they exhibit excellent behavior above what is expected.
Additionally, be careful not to curse your children even when they behave badly. It is too common for parents and guardians to say things like, "You'll never amount to anything!" or "You're going to end up in prison!". Although you may think you are correcting your child, you are setting things in motion that may forever alter your child's future.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. - Ephesian 6:12

This means that there are things unseen in the world around us that influence the decisions we make and have the ability to twist circumstances in ways that are both beneficial and malignant toward us. When we speak blessings over our children, we grant angelic forces permission to manipulate our surroundings to fill their lives with wonderful things including health, joy, friends, wealth, and wisdom. When, on the other hand, we speak curses into the lives of our children, we will allow demonic beings to fill their minds, bodies, and spirit with malicious thoughts, ideas, disease, loneliness, and confusion among other terrible maladies.

We ought, therefore, to be careful to bless our children as our heavenly father blesses us. We ought to bless and curse not. Remember the law of sowing and reaping. Those things that we sow into our children's lives will inevitably come back as fruits in our own lives (for good or evil).

Before you begin to think that this is some kind of recipe for total well being or utter destruction, let me make something clear. Speaking blessings does not guarantee that our children will be without trouble and neither does speaking curses automatically induce failure, but the likelihood of these things increases dramatically with each blessing and each curse.



If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! - Matthew 7:11


Man O God