Many years ago, I purchased a rundown rental property, to create passive income. The property was not managed well by the previous owners. The house needed renovation and the land required a lot of work. There wasn’t any grass, only weeds. The weeds were not planted by me, and I grew frustrated seeing all those weeds and no grass. The previous owner left a lot work to do. Instead of blaming the previous owner for not doing his job, I, slowly but surely, applied lawn care chemicals to kill the weeds, which caused the grass to flourish. By the time the property was sold, the lawn was green and abundant. I passed on a very beautiful lawn to the next owner.

Maybe you had parents who did not deal with some issues, and consequently, these issues got passed onto you. Scripture does not tell us to blame others, but to resist the Devil and deal with the root of the issue.

When Solomon inherited the throne from his dad, King David, he also inherited some enemies his father did not deal with. I really love how David warned Solomon regarding those enemies, however, Solomon still had to deal with the enemies. King David died but his enemies were still around and caused problems for Solomon.

Demons and curses do not die with people; instead, they continue to afflict the succeeding generations. Solomon knew that before he could establish his kingdom, he had to remove his daddy’s “demons.” Unfortunately, not all of us are privileged to have parents that are transparent enough to inform us of certain bad habits and traits. Thus, we will have to confront these enemies, in our own lives, because they were not dealt with by our parents. Solomon‚ considered the wisest man on earth‚ makes it his first priority to deal with his father’s adversaries, before building the temple in his kingdom. As a result, King Solomon exiled some and executed others, as the Scriptures confirm, “thus the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon” (1 Kings 2:46).

The Bible describes it as “iniquity of the fathers” (see Numbers 14:18). For example, Abraham had a father who worshipped idols (see Joshua 24:2). Coming from a past of occultic practices, Abraham faced some issues; one of them was fear and lying‚ he lied about his wife. Abraham’s son, Isaac, lied about his wife as well. Then Abraham’s grandson lied about his birthright, and his great grandchildren lied about what happened to Joseph. Furthermore, lying was not the only generational issue that was passed on, many of their wives were afflicted with barrenness.

When we are born, many traits get passed down from our parents through their genetics. For example, the color of our hair, the color of our eyes, our skin tone, and many other physical features. Moreover, character traits also get passed on to the next generation. Statistics confirm that we are 10 times more likely to drink if our parents were alcoholics.

This principle applies to both generational blessings and generational curses. Although, certain traits and tendencies are passed on through our parents’ genes, it does not mean they have to be activated. Negative experiences, bad company, and wrong choices are what activate negative genetic traits. When we surround ourselves with believers, fill our minds with the Word of God and make choices that honor the Lord,thennegative things that are inherited by our parents will not be activated.

We must understand that we will carry the punishment for our ancestor’s choices (see Ezekiel 18:2).

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This blog was written by Vladimir Savchuk.

Pastor Vlad is the lead pastor of Hungry Generation Church, an author of “Break Free” and “Single, Ready to Mingle” and a founder of free online school “Vlad’s School.” To download free e-books, sermon series, small group study guides go to vladimirsavchuk.com