With a soft whisper I say “welcome back to bible study.” I know this has been a very difficult week of Breaking Free with Beth Moore. Looking in my workbook, I see the words I penned the first time I completed this study. When Beth Moore asked “how does God want you to respond to what he showed you today?” this was my written response three years ago:
“I feel utterly nauseous, tight chest, numbness, pain in my stomach, clenched teeth and physical pain. I’m feeling instant depression and sadness and I have this strong desire to run away and hide.”
After writing this I pushed through my discomfort and broke free from generational bondage. I suspect a few of you are noticing similar feelings of discomfort, while others decided to close the book and keep inside your comfort zone. Change is not comfortable…yet if you do so through prayer and with Jesus beside you, you’ll be thankful when you complete the journey and break free. Don’t hide in your emotions, your addictions or your past. See yourself as God sees you and experience freedom in Christ.
Many of the ruins have been in your family generation for a long time. Satan has been using these ruins to hold your family hostage and keep them from a full relationship with Christ. Did you find any of these while digging into your family archives?
- Alcoholism
- Addiction
- Racism
- Aggression
- Abuse
- Sexual Immorality
- Affair
- Lust
- Pornography
- Greed
- Pride
- Materialism
- Self-centerdness
- Divorce
- Abandonment
- Theft
- Lying
- Anger
- Resentment
What other ruins are missing from this list? Post a comment below and share what you found while digging around your family tree and tending to the garden. Beth reminds us to purposly seek generational strongholds or they will become so familiar to us that we no longer recognize them in ourselves, our children and our grandchildren. Be the one to break the negative cycles in your family and pass on new values based on Christ. You need to be the change in your generational line.
Satan uses family weakness and generational sin to hold us in captivity. If you don’t recognize and acknowledge the bondage, how can your family ever be set free? What bondage are you passing on to your children and grandchildren? It’s time to re-construct the family tree and sow seeds for the Fruit of the Spirit to thrive. “Accept God’s appintment as a reconstruction worker,” advises Beth Moore.
Please post a comment below and share your story of bondage or breaking free, or send me a private email as many of you have been doing. What matters to God matters to me…and I enjoy hearing from you individually.
Prayer Requests
Our Prayer Wall has many requests, so please visit the page during the week and pray for these women who are asking for your help. If you have a prayer request for our prayer wall, post a comment on the wall.
Beth Moore Quotes
- Anything passed down to us that inhibits the full expression of freedom in Christ qualifies as bondage.
- Too often Christians have sought Jesus as Savior but ignored Him as Deliverer.
- The 10 Commandments is a plan for staying out of slavery.
- God is the only perfect parent.
- We don’t need to be afraid of Satan’s opportunism, just aware of it.
- Generational yokes often go undetected because they blend in so well with our personalities.
- Just as God’s primary agenda is redemption, Satan’s primary agenda is to blind people to the Redeemer.
- The virus of self-centeredness is very contagious, but each generation has the option not to catch it.
- If you do your part for one generation, He’ll do His part for a thousand.
For Next Week
- Read Week Five in your book.
- Listen to Audio Session Six or Video Session Six (optional due to cost)
- Check in with your Small Group Leader for prayer requests and fellowship
Group Discussion- Answer one question or as many as you like
- How are you revealing God’s Presence in you to the next generation?
- What reaction did you have to the exercise on page 82?
- Why do you think your parents or grandparents may have been in captivity?
- Share your thoughts about this week’s study.
Please post your comments below…and share what you are learning with a friend.
God is good, always!
1.How are you revealing God’s Presence in you to the next generation? I come from a non-christian family & it is hard having no example to have led from what to do with your kids. Sometimes I feel like I need to plan out activities & learn songs to be prepared & teach them about God as a ‘good parent should’ but more & more I’m realising it’s all about living the life. They are little mimickers/copiers & will do as I do. So, now I’m focusing more on letting them see me pray, spending time with God, reading the bible, talking about him & making him a part of everything I do…. easy to write – hard to do! I think I fail more than I achieve, but lets hope they catch on to the good parts~!
2.What reaction did you have to the exercise on page 82? Well – what a breakthrough week – my whole aim for this study is to focus on the benefit of enjoying Gods presence – breaking that legalism & knowing God’s love in my life. Well the things in my family I thought were hindering this – mainly feelings of rejection in the male line & my perfectionism – were only the beginning. Issues of fear of abandonment, feelings of missing out & self protection were revealed to me through the female lines – the female line with the ‘put up & shut up’ attitude of old…..never seeing love as intimacy, but as duty. Commitment was just to stand by, not to really be a part of something special. While the male lines were critical & proud. Its been a big revelation for me this week. Also a huge generational thing was a critical spirit. Always looking for the bad, never the good. Wow! So much going around in my head right now, It still dosen’t all make sense or flow quite right. Can’t wait to see how to break it all in the upcoming weeks!
3.Why do you think your parents or grandparents may have been in captivity? They knew ‘of God’ but didn’t know God. They believe that just being a good person is enough.
4. Share your thoughts of this weeks study. Very deep & eye opening! I’m a little scared I wont be able to get on top of everything but I’m guessing this is going to be a long long process to break all of these things. I love the verses in Psalm 78 that Beth showed us in the last lesson. I’m holding onto these verses & plan to recite them over my children & family to grab Gods promise! I want to be that changing link!~
Psalm 78
4 We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.
5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors
to teach their children,
6 so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.
7 Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.
8 They would not be like their ancestors— a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him
The best way to teach your children is to model Christ. Speak to them in love, as Christ would. Forgive them for wrongs, as Christ would. Encourage them to pray and trust God, as Christ would. Remind them they are sons and daughters of the King, just as you are. Don’t focus on religion, focus on faith. Encourage them to draw near to God in a way they can feel His presence. It might be youth groups, church, summer camps or a Christian friend. Let God lead…and encourage them in their walk of faith. Pray for them constantly.
This was definitely a week for opening up some “stuff” and it was not easy. I believe in leaving a legacy for our children and I think that we do that by how we walk. My childhood was kind of like Beth Moore’s because we went to church, but did not understand anything about a relationship with God. I did not even know that existed. So, in our family we love the Word and live by it and I know that makes a huge impact in our kid’s lives, but this week showed me areas that I just have left in “ruins” and not done anything to change. So….now comes the change. What is so funny about studying about generational curses is how they are passed down and you may not have even known that was going on in your family, which brings the point home about when she said that we have to address them….look for them…because they will sneak up on us and we would not even know they were there.
Well I am quite a bit late on this. I am actually now on Week 5 and find myself looking back to Week 4. Talking about loss, abuse, and betrayal (wk 5) had me looking back at my life differently. I don’t recall many of those things during childhood or young adult hood, but I have “symptoms” of experiencing some of those things. As I thought about this more in depth I went back to generational sin and found something I didn’t see as clearly in Week 4: Insecurity. It was on my mother’s and my father’s side and led to a criticizing personality. I recognize it now: I criticize most everything. That saying “There’s always room for improvement.” I take it to the extreme on myself and my family. High Expectations, again I take them to the extreme. I notice I knock the joy out of things with my critical attitude and need for things to be just right. I know we aren’t perfect yet I push my family for perfection. Yikes!!!
Lord I thank you for revealing this generational sin to me in your time. I pray that I will break this chain of insecurity and criticism and lead my children to learn to be secure in You. Amen.
I am slowly making my way thru this. This is a tough week for me. I can see why many give up. Thanks for the encouragement though. I have so many things going thru my mind. I appreciate that this is a journey I have to make myself. I am going thru the last day in this week. I just needed to take a break for a moment make myself accountable to keep going. Thanks for being there.
Keep working on it Debbie. When you break free and look back you’ll know it was worth the effort and emotions.