The things that happen to our families (both good and bad) have reasons. When something good happens you may think its luck, when something bad happens you may just believe the expression, “bad things can happen to good people.”

What if I were to tell you what you consider “luck” is actually a blessing, and what you may attribute to “fate” is actually a non-blessing. These two seemingly mysterious words will lose their mystery by the time you finish reading this article.

Let’s begin by first pointing out an obvious truth. Your family is beset with problems. That is to say, it is a normal family. Since you are a believer in God you have most certainly prayed to Him about many of these problems. Perhaps you have had the joy of answered prayer for some problems, and a time of relief from others…but there are certain family problems that don’t seem to go away. They just turn in circles and continue to plague the family.

Your image of God may be seriously shaken because you don’t understand why He doesn’t seem to bring healing from certain issues. Your voice feels like a cry in the desert. If yours is this kind of situation this is an article for you. It is important to first understand how we receive a “blessing” or “non-blessing.” Scripture tells us our families inherit blessings as well as non-blessings.

“I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”2

In the above Scripture we realize God has an inheritance system for bestowing blessings or non-blessings. Why would He make an inheritance system? When our Lord first created us, sin was not part of the plan. He designed us in such a way that all the good things He had naturally endowed our parents with would naturally pass on to their children just by the mere fact of having been born by them; a natural automatic transmission.

This is how each of our families have gotten where we are today, inheriting blessings on one hand, and non-blessings on the other. What God originally designed as a gift to us became a channel of unwanted problems down generational lines.

God wants our families to practice good spiritual habits and pass those habits to our children so that he can bestow blessings from generation-to-generation. Satan, however, came in and introduced sin into God’s inheritance system. Satan is using this same system to infect our families with sinful behaviors so that we suffer the consequences in the form of non-blessings.

Scripture assure us that God has not changed his inheritance system even after Satan infiltrated it. He left it as He had made it because it was still the best He had in place to bless us with. However, after Satan’s mischief our Lord updated the system by providing: 1) knowledge of what had been going on since Satan came in and 2) sending us a Savior in Jesus Christ.

This would allow us to continue using the inheritance system to bless our family once we are schooled into using it as originally intended (the knowledge), and at the same time applying to it the redemptive power of Jesus His Son the Savior (His death and resurrection). The reason you and your family may have continued to have certain problems is that you didn’t quite know about this inheritance system even if you knew about Salvation through Jesus Christ.

The problem of humans not having enough knowledge of the things of God has always been around. From ancient times to our own present day the Scripture in Hosea still rings true when God Himself exclaims: “My people perish for lack of knowledge!”3 Today is your opportunity to have that knowledge. We are talking about freedom from the negative things you have persistently seen present in your family history from generation-to-generation, sometimes skipping a generation, but simply not going away.

A prominent example can be found in our family medical history when the doctor asks whether a certain disease is known to have occurred in your immediate or extended family. We are so used to hearing medical questions like this that we don’t think any further. But why should we simply accept the history of family disease as something that will be passed on to future generations? God did not create us to inherit disease.

In my searching of Scripture two things have become very clear: 1) hereditary disease is not from God and 2) something went wrong that caused us to inherit disease. These two points can be summarized in one name, Satan.

Satan is the author of all negativity wherever it is found on the face of the earth, big or small, directly or indirectly. I hope that you the reader are clear about that. There is no such thing as neutral negativity. If it is negative then it can only come from one place: Satan.

In today’s world we describe Satan by all sorts of scientific names and pagan terms such as, “karma” or “feng shui”. We must know exactly whom we are talking about. A human ailment having a specialized nametag to it doesn’t mean it cannot be Satan’s work. If he is not directly the cause he is indirectly the cause because all evil, sin and death came from him. The Lord calls him “the father of lies.”4 He also tells us that Satan comes into our lives “to steal, kill and destroy.”5 This means that wherever you find even the slightest clue of any of those three things be very clear as to who is around.

This is not to scare us. It is for us to know exactly what is going on, so that we can apply the power of our Savior, which is given to us for the very purpose of fighting the enemy. Not knowing this is what causes God’s people to perish.

If we don’t recognize Satan’s work, then we cannot fight him. When we look into our families and see all the things that steal our strength, energy, power, personalities, talent, resources; that kill our optimism, smiles, joy of life, even our very people; or when we see all sorts of destruction happening in our families, we shouldn’t have the slightest doubt about whom we are dealing with or rather, the one who is dealing with us.

Constant disease, sky-high patience required in family relationships, addictions, personality problems, divorces, homosexuality, suicide, accidents, your children that never seem to make it anywhere, apparent misfortunes, doors constantly shutting on you and on your family, most especially when you see patterns happening over and over again in your family, there you have it. These things have a personal cause, in the form of a person, the Evil One. Strangely enough, this suffering may continue without relief even if you have prayed about them to God. What is happening? How does Satan get all this power to wreak havoc in our lives as if God were not there and as if I were not praying at all? Is God Almighty really there? Does he really love me? If so, where is He? Why is he not delivering my family from this bondage?

Know this, if Satan can wreak all this havoc it is because he has been given the power. Not by God, but by us! Satan has used our freedom (the only place where God doesn’t intrude in our lives) to convince us to hand it over to him, and we did! Satan can be right in the door of our family’s lives, look back at God and tell Him: Look, your uninvited majesty, they called me not you! God will not intervene; he will only wait for you to change your mind.

You can easily say, “No, not me! I never invited Satan into my life. I hate him with all the hate I can muster, and besides, I have always been a Christian, I love my faith and I practice it.”

Maybe not you, but rather your inheritance! Remember, the system, designed for your good? You may think: “No, my parents were good folks too!” The answer is: yes, maybe not them, but the ones from whom they inherited. See the point? It can go as far back as it can go. Not all families experience spiritual oppression with the same intensity, but there is always something of it in any family that is always striking if their eyes are open enough and they are aware like you will be after reading this.

When we understand the God designed inheritance system intended to bless us and the hijacking of this system by Satan to cause non-blessings, we can no longer say things like: “Oh, I don’t care, that was a problem my grandparents had (or anybody I’m related to), and it’s not my problem!” Your family has comes from somewhere or someone before them. You are part of that as well; you are them and they are you.

Satan was indirectly invited into your family through agreements on ungodly things. These agreements can range from family trauma, listening or watching inappropriate radio and TV shows, to playing with a Ouija board or reading your horoscope. All of these actions give Satan indirect permission to enter your life or the lives of your family.

There can only be one solution: cancel the agreements! You may say: “How? I didn’t make any agreements with Satan, I don’t even know what agreements were made and by which family member, so how can I cancel them?”

We may never know exactly what the agreements were, but we know and see their consequences. The system will not end with you. Just like you inherited blessings and/or non-blessings, you are also going to pass on those blessings and/or non-blessings to your descendants. When those agreements were originally made, your ancestors didn’t ask your permission. You may not have even been born yet. The inheritance is a spiritual thing not bound by time or space. It just goes on.

At any given moment, the ones holding the flame of the family are those who are there. Their choices for Satan or for God will be the ones inherited after them. Today you can make a choice for your family. You are vested with all the power of those who went before you in your family – simple inheritance. With your power of free will you can cancel past agreements with Satan and strike new ones with God for the future. It is just like how the President of the United States can undo what former Presidents did – he is the one there today. There is no better way to clean up the legacy of your family – just by praying!

Can you imagine how good and gracious God is? All He needs is someone from your family who will rightfully take up the freedom He gave us, and turn it around in His favor. Then He is ignited for us! At that moment Satan has no more rights that he can use to block God. All this can happen because Jesus Christ came to free us from captivity.6 You cancel those agreements with the evil one, and you take on the saving and cleansing power of Jesus. While you clear up both the past and the future you obtain healing for the present, because you have taken back your freedom and power from the enemy, by freely and consciously renouncing him. You will then see the floodgates of God’s Heavenly powers open to flood your life and that of your family.

Shouldn’t every family member be around to pray this, or at least agree? No. Were you around when your family made bad choices for which all of you paid later? The more members of your family you can have to pray this prayer the better of course, but it’s not a condition. It’s amazing how God can take even the least we can offer to do great things for us. He needs only one person to do it right and you will see what comes out!

1 Mark Hebrews 9:27
2 Exodus 20:5-6
3 Hosea 4:6
4 The Gospel of John 8:44
5 The Gospel of John 10:10
6 The Gospel of Luke Chapter 4; The first Epistle of John 3:8