JOURNEY TO FREEDOM
UNIT V Key 7 REBUILDING
SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLE: What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? James 2:14
Since you have gotten this far in the program, no doubt you have cleaned up many of the problems from your old life before you knew the Lord. You have likely explored new activities and new ways of relating to others. You have also likely seen changes in your faith, personality, friendships, use of time, and more.
Some things cannot be changed in this life. Some family members may never speak to us again, despite our best overtures. You may have committed sins that resulted in society giving you a life sentence in prison, and your only escape will be after you die and go live with the Lord. You may have contracted a disease that has no cure and will shorten your time on Earth.
Habits can be changed, but some of them are unusually difficult to overcome. Sometimes change is difficult because of generational influences. Any unconfessed sin that our more recent ancestors committed, even if they died before we were born, can influence us through the relatives whom we did know.
Many who have experienced ssa/ma/tx temptations come from backgrounds that caused us to experience the effects of generational sin. Whether we like it or not, the sins of our ancestors influenced us. Certain sins tend to be passed along from one generation to the next. The older generation believed certain lies of the devil, so they pass them along to the younger generation while they are still impressionable children. Violence, weak sexual boundaries, chemical dependencies, and occult involvement all tend to run in families. Depression, anxiety, anger, prejudices, sloth, negative attitudes, etc., all get passed along to the children.
Sometimes the men in a family tend to have one set of weaknesses, while the women tend to have a different set of weaknesses. With the spread of the women’s liberation movement, many women these days are repeating the sins of their fathers rather than the sins of their mothers. Sons of single mothers may repeat the sins of their mothers rather than their fathers. In either case, personal, relational, and marital problems continue from one generation to the next.
Generational influences should not be ignored. Exodus 20:5-6 tells us that the sins of the parents are visited upon the children to three and four generations. Each individual in a family or kinship group is certainly responsible for his/her own sins. However, our families, whether for good or for bad, had a huge influence on our identities, personalities, faith, habits, beliefs, etc. Our families tell us what to think of ourselves, what to think about others of the same sex, what to think about others of the opposite sex, what to think about anyone who is from a different group, and what to think about life itself.
Our families tell us whom we must respect and whom we do not need to respect. They tell us who is trustworthy and who is not. They tell us, realistically or not, what to expect in certain situations. They make predictions about our future, for either success or failure.
While we must always begin by confessing our own sins, many have found it helpful to consider the sins of their ancestors. Certain sins and lies may be clustered in our kinship groups or our ethnic groups. People naturally identify with their own kin and ethnic history. We also tend to identify with the sins of our groups; we may even be tempted to justify our sins as part of our family or ethnic identity.
Confessing the sins of our kinship and ethnic groups, and renouncing their influence on us, may be very liberating for some. At the same time, we may feel guilty and disloyal. Such guilt is also a lie of the devil; the most loyal and faithful thing any of us can do for our kinship and ethnic groups is to obey God’s will in our own lives, pray for the salvation of those with whom we identify, and look for ways to serve.
When Jesus sent out His disciples to carry His Gospel to the world, He told them to begin with their own ethnic group (Acts 1:8). From there the Gospel spread to the Roman Empire, from the Empire to the barbarians, and from the barbarians to the rest of theworld. The Gospel came to your ethnic group because the Apostles first took it to their ethnic group (Acts 2:1-11).
We should thank God for generational blessings. We should thank God for the unique gifts He has given our ethnic groups, with which our groups can bless other groups. There may have been believers in our families in previous generations, from whom we can learn to bring faith back into our families.
Jesus went to the cross to break the power of generational curses in our lives so that anyone from an ungodly heritage can receive the blessings of the fifth generation. God promises that if we love Him and keep His commandments, He will bless thousands.
SCRIPTURE/STUDY GUIDE: (Feel free to write on the backside or use additional paper if necessary.)
1. How does Exodus 20:5-6 apply to your family?
2. How does Ezekiel 18 apply to your family?
3. What does Proverbs 22:6 say to you? In what ways do you think you might parent differently from how you were brought up? (If you think that you will likely not have children of your own, how do you intend to treat any children with whom you interact?)
4. Looking at your family heritage, do you see any generational sins that have influenced you? Do you also see generational blessings for which you can appreciate your ancestors? Please share.
5. Looking at your ethnic heritage, do you see any sins that seem to cluster in your people group? Do you also see blessings for which you can appreciate your ethnic heritage? Please share (in order to avoid any hint of racism, feel free to ask your mentor the same question regarding that person’s ethnic heritage).
6. In what ways have you re-built your life since you began the program?
7. In what ways does your secret life reflect your faith? Check all that apply.
____It matches my faith and I have nothing to hide.
____I have almost no secrets.
____There are some things I hope people do not notice or find out.
____I am still struggling to make my faith real.
____I make excuses for indulging my sins in secret.
____I take occasional “vacations” from living the Christian life.
____I feel like a hypocrite.
Please explain your answer:
8. How do you use your free time, and what does that say about your spiritual growth?
9. What promises encourage us to re-build?
Proverbs 12:14
Ecclesiastes 11:1
10. What does Ecclesiastes 12:1 say to you and any children you might know?
11. Do you think you have leadership qualities? Please explain.
12. What verses are encouraging you to re-build?
13. Did you use any memorized Scripture to battle temptation lately? What was the result?
14. How is your spiritual life in general, how are your private devotions, and how are things at your church/fellowship group?
Plan of Action: (Depending upon your background, you may want to compose a prayer specifically renouncing the generational sins, influences, and lies of the devil that might have been handed down in your family and ethnic group.)
Keys Ministry 