The Bible declares this good news: "The Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you" (Deuteronomy 23:5).

He loved us and continues to love us boundlessly. The consequences of sin are so terrible, incurring such severe curse, but the love of God is great and His heart so compassionate.

He came and, with amazing love, was crucified in my and your place, so our sin could be forgiven and the curses which afflict us be broken.

• The Sin – He carried on the Cross. Scripture is very clear about this great truth. He became "Sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
• The Curse – He carried when He hung on the Cross. Yet again this is another wonderful truth Scripture emphasazes: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13).

Just think – the Lord became "sin" and "curse" for us! You can now say, "the Lord loved me. He became sin for me. The Lord loved me. He became a curse for me. The Lord loved me. He came to forgive all my sins and to break the curse for me".

Consider what a tragedy it is! The Lord died for all people. He persistently calls them to Himself, to forgive their sins, to break their curses and lead them to a life of blessing. Yet inspite of this, they still reject Him and don’t come.

This is the shame, that the Lord died for you and you didn’t wholeheartedly come to Him and give your life to Him.

Believe me, life without God in the centre, life full of sin, will not only lead you to the lake of fire in the end, but will cause you "tribulation and anguish" (Romans 2:9) in this life.

The life of sin brings about curses; curses which not only afflict the soul [i.e. lack of security, peace and joy], but also which affect both the body and possessions.

It is not true that material / physical curses terminated completely with the Redemption of Christ. Curses do still exist, but now it is possible for anyone to protect himself from them.

Jesus came to earth and died for all, making it possible for everyone to be redeemed and saved. However, we can only receive salvation through His forgiveness of our sins, if we come and give our lives to the Lord.

In the same way, Jesus also became "curse for us" (Galatians 3:13), while He was on the Cross. He became a curse to redeem us from curses influencing our souls and bodies. Just as we can only receive salvation by coming to Him and accepting it, so we can only receive protection from curse by believing that He became curse for us, to redeem us from it.

Curses will continue to exist as long as we do not stand firmly against them, do not believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Christ has redeemed us from them.

Curses are not broken automatically but by an act of faith.

These are references that confirm the existence of curses in the New Testament. Please turn to 2 Peter 2:14; Revelation 22:3 and 18:4,8; Luke 19:43, 44 and 13:1-5.

I can assure you that surrender to sin and a life apart from the Lord may bring physical as well as spiritual and psychological curses. Paul told the Corinthian believers that the reason behind the curses afflicting their bodies was their recklessness. He wrote, saying: "Manay are weak and sick among you, and many sleep [die]. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged" (1 Corinthians 11:30,31). Refer also to John 5:14.

Curses may still have a hold over those Christains who don not resist the attacks of the enemy and stand firm in their conviction that Christ has redeemed them from curses. Scripture warns us to this effect: "[ not] give place to the devil" (Ephesians 4:27). "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). Resist the enemy. Declare that you are not under the curse.

• "The Lord will strike you with confusion of heart [anxiety]" (Deuteronomy 28:28).
• "The Lord will give you a trembling heart [enslaved to fear].. and anguish of soul [depression].. and have no assurance of life [anxiety]" (Deuteronomy 28:65, 66).
• "The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do [you will be weary in everything you do]" (Deuteronomy 28:20).

2- Curses Breaking Family Bonds

• "You shall beget sons and daughters but they shall not be yours" (Deuteronomy 28:41).

This curse deprives a man from enjoying his relationship with his children.

• "The sensitive and very refined man among you [the rich] will be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children" (Deuteronomy 28:54).
• "The ender and delicate woman [the rich rich] among you.. will refuse toward the husband of her bosom and to her son and to her daughter" (Deuteronomy 28:56).

This curse of selfishness makes someone insensitive to the needs of those closest to him.

3- Curses Influencing Work and Financial Status

• "You shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually" (Deuteronomy 28:29).
• "You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards… but you shall [not].. gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them" (Deuteronomy 28:38,39).

This curse causes effort and time to be wasted; much labour and little harvest.

• "The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you but you shall not lend to him; he shall be be the head and you shall be the tail" (Deuteronomy 28:43,44).

This curse incurs social instability.

4- Curses Afflicting the Body [Health]

• "The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with sword, with scorching, and with mildew" (Deuteronomy 28:22).
• "The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumours, with scab and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed" (Deuteronomy 28:27).
• "The Lord will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed" (Deuteronomy 28:35).
• "Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in this Book of the Law" (Deuteronomy 28:61).

Curses Are Inheritable

In the same chapter listing the curses (Deuteronomy 28), it is clearly written: "Then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues – great and prolonged plagues – and serious and prolonged sicknesses" (Deuteronomy 28:59).

Scripture repeatedly makes this point absolutely clear. For example:

• "And after all this, if you do not obey me… those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity… also in their fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away. But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers… then I will remember My covenant with Jacob" (Deuteronomy 26:39).
• The Word of Lord to Eli the priest: "And all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age [the curse of premature death]" (1 Samuel 2:33).
• In Lamentations, it is written:“ Our fathers sinned .. but we bear their iniquities “ (Lamentations 5: 7)[ Please also refer to : Leviticus 26: 39, 40; 2 Samuel 21: 1-2; 2 Kings 22: 13; 2 Chronicles 34: 23; Psalms 79: 8; Jeremiah 32: 18; Nehemiah 9: 1, 2; and from the New Testament, Matthew 23: 35 and 27: 25; Revelation 2: 21-23].

Consider this woman – her name is Rahab, a Canaanite from a cursed people. “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brethren” (Genesis 9: 25). This people excelled in sinfulness. Their constant refusal to repent inevitably brought down upon them the destructive judgment of God.