No More Curse!

“I was brought here to bless; and now he’s blessed—how can I change that?” Numbers 23:20 (The Message)

Baalam was a hired gun sought out by Balak to curse Israel. But, God prevailing upon him, Baalam blesses instead; the actual intention of God. Though Balak sought to win the upper hand by employing supernatural means, he could not thwart God’s ultimate destiny for His people.

I heard a fellow pastor once ask for prayer because people had been trying to put him under a curse. Several other pastors gathered around him and the prayers were loud and boisterous on his behalf. I loved the man, but I was ill at ease about the proceeding. It wasn’t until I got home and thought, prayed and read Scripture a bit that I understood why.

We must always remember that Jesus Himself actually became a curse for us when He was crucified. “Christ paid the price to free us from the curse that God’s laws bring by becoming cursed instead of us.” (Galatians 3:13) There is no way that anyone could affect a curse upon a person who has trusted Jesus to set them free!

If it was impossible for God’s blessing to be reversed in the Old Testament, how much more so the permanent blessing which Jesus provided on Calvary? I think Satan wanted my pastor friend to “believe” he might be cursed, thereby increasing his fear and making him less effective. But there was never any curse actually resting on him.

It is God’s intention to bless; it is His delight to load us up with the fruits of His love. But, just as Balak tried to reverse the blessing, so others will try to make God’s people fear they have lost God’s good grace. So, even though they are completely free, many believers are paralyzed in fear, thinking somehow they have lost the blessing of God.

God had blessed Israel, had determined to bless them, had promised to bless them, showed His blessing by providing victory after victory, and completed His blessing by bringing them into the land which He had promised. All of that in the face of their continued grumbling and mistrust.

God’s blessings to “spiritual Israel”, that is, those who believe in Christ, are irreversible. God not only blessed us at the cross, He continues to bless, is determined to bless, promises to bless, and will show you his blessing by providing personal victories of faith. And He will complete that blessing the day you and I arrive to be with Christ in heaven forever.

As a believer I am a child of God because of the blessing of the cross. How can I think anything or anyone is able to curse a child of the Universe’s Creator and King? Storms may assault your boldest belief, but they can never shipwreck your standing in God’s family. Life may be filled with frustrations and seem fraught with failure, but those never deduct the slightest iota of your standing before God. Child of God, through faith in Christ, know that the blessing cannot be reversed!

There arises the shout of joy when God’s people realize their Heavenly Father is not angry with them. Not only that, through the cross, He sees no imperfections, no sin, no wrongdoing in them at all. All He sees is the perfection of His Son in us. We may desire to sin less, but God views us as sinless only through the perfection of Jesus.

God no more demands that we be mistake free than I would the same impossibility from my own children. I know they are imperfect, and their imperfections have no effect whatsoever on my love for them. God is not soft on sin; He was as hard on sin as can be imagined when His own Son bore the entire brunt of mankind’s curse for us. The price has been paid in full; it would be unjust of God to ask for additional payment from us.

It is we who are dwelling upon our failings while God dwells upon the payment of Jesus upon the cross. There is no virtue in taking a curse upon ourselves that God has no desire for us to carry! Lay aside the condemnation, the fear, the self-doubt and self-loathing; these are not attractive to God at all, and they keep you from experiencing the fullness of His love.

The more we understand the greatness of God’s blessing to us in Christ, the freer we will be to become more and more like Christ Himself. Be free! There are no curses upon you as you trust Jesus exclusively for God’s forgiveness.