One thing I learnt since 2021 is that, when God says something in the Bible, he means it! So when he explains the things that bring about blessings and when he explains the things that bring about curses, we’d better listen up!
I grew up in a very close-knit little rural farming community, which was centered around our church. It was a truly idyllic way to grow up, for me at least. Others didn’t have the same experience, but I was very content in this society, knowing my place and learning how to become a productive member of this community.
(Kindly note: The image above is AI generated and does not reflect the community where I grew up. But I am having fun seeing what WordPress AI comes up with, to illustrate my articles, which are all about SI – Spiritual Intelligence!)
Being a farming community, at the age of six I joined my two elder sisters during the week to live in the congregation-run boarding school. Initially, I shared a dormitory room with six other little girls, later we grew in number to eight. Three of these little girls were my direct cousins and one a cousin once removed, the others were all linked to my genetic bloodline in one way or another.
And of course I was taught to read the Bible every day, praise God’s Name every day and pray (communicate with) God every day. In fact, when the ‘wake-up’ bell rang in the mornings, the first thing we would all do, is roll out of bed from under the warm “Federdecke” (duvet), onto our knees and start our day with saying “Good morning” to our Father in Heaven, in the Name of Jesus Christ. This was also the last thing we would do in the evening, before jumping back under the covers. Our whole life was punctuated with activities that recognised that we are living out of the sheer grace of God. After washing our faces, brushing our teeth and putting on our school uniforms, we would run barefoot – whether summer or winter – to the “Religionsstunde” (religion class), held by our Pastor.
Then, we would run to the dining hall for breakfast. All mealtimes were opened and closed with a Thanksgiving Prayer. I only realised many, many years later that the closing Thanksgiving Prayer actually comes from Psalm 136:1!
School Assembly was opened with a devotion and prayer every morning. After school we had lunch, time for a nap, then “Lernstunde” (directly translated as “Learning Hour” – more commonly known as “Study” or “Study Time”). This was a time to do all our schoolwork, followed by time for play. Those kids that struggled to memorise their daily Bible verses and Hymnverses had to go for extra lessons with one of the friendly ‘aunties’, who were helping in the hostel kitchen. In the evening, after dinner, we had “Lernstunde” again – this time was for learning the daily Bible verses and Hymn verses off by heart, so that we could recite them again to our Pastor the next morning.
I wasn’t going to tell you all of this.
But somehow it seems relevant. Why?
Because – although I certainly had a BLESSED childhood – throughout those seven years of Primary School, I can’t remember ever hearing our Pastor teach us specifically about the Blessings and the Curses of Deuteronomy 28!
And so I never realised the significance of Deuteronomy 28 until I took time off from doing life as before in 2021 and allowed the Holy Spirit to guide my every living second of every day! And one of the many revelations I received was exactly this:
“When God says something in the Bible, he means it! So when he explains the things that bring about blessings and when he explains the things that bring about curses, we’d better listen up!”
This is what God does in Deuteronomy 28. Go on – click here and read!
Verses 1 to 14 explain all the blessings that we will receive, IF we fully obey the Lord our God and carefully follow all his commands. Truly BEAUTIFUL!
And verses 15 to 68 explain all the curses that are automatically released, IF we do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees…
This was a HUGE AHA-moment for me, in 2021!
As I was reading the curses, it was as if I was listening to daily television news or reading the daily newsclips of the various news websites available on the internet.
I suddenly realised that the root cause of all the ills and diseases we see on Earth today is this one sentence: IF we do not obey the Lord our God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees…
… curses come into play, whether we like it or not.
It is SPIRITUAL LAW.
Of course, none of us can keep all the commands and decrees, and each one of us is failing to obey the Lord our God all the time! So this is why God’s plan of salvation involves the “Messiah” – the anointed Saviour, Jesus Christ – who breaks every curse, if we believe in him.
It sounds crazy, I know. But I’m telling you: this is TRUTH. This is truth that you cannot and will never understand, unless you – or someone who prays for you – asks God, in the Name of Jesus Christ, to send the Holy Spirit into you, to open the eyes of your heart to be able to SEE and ACCEPT this truth.
So, are you living under a curse?
If you don’t obey God and don’t follow all his commands and decrees – absolutely! Not only you, but all your descendants, for three to four generations!
How you choose to live your life, has consequences – not only for you, but for your children, their children, your great-grandchildren even your great-great-grandchildren. Actually, if you do live according to God’s commandments, your choices today result in a blessing for your descendants for a thousand generations! (I saw an astonishing vision about this, which I will write about at another time!)
It doesn’t matter, whether you believe this or not: it’s a basic spiritual law.
So what are these commands and decrees that we’re supposed to obey and follow? I’ll talk more about this in my next post.
And how do you get out from under any curse?
That, dear friend, will also be the topic of a future article.
If you’re curious to find out more, like my facebook page so that you don’t miss the next installment of this fascinating series on SI (Spiritual Intelligence)…
PS: You may not like my style of writing – I can be rather direct! But I know that you don’t have time, and I don’t have time, and the things I write about are too important to beat about the bush: they have consequences that last BEYOND our lifetime! If my brand of ‘tough love’ is not what you want or need, you’re welcome to move on… but if my words speak to you, please know that I wouldn’t write this, if I didn’t DEEPLY CARE about you and I want to see you thrive and flourish in all respects – here on Earth AND on the ‘other side’!
REINHILD NIEBUHR 
Leave a comment