In families, grievous sins are passed down through ancestral lines and are usually repeated even though the next generation often has no idea what their ancestors did. The predisposition is ‘in the blood.’  

When I begin a relationship with a new doctor’s office, I’m handed a stack of paperwork.  They want to know my family history.  It’s an accepted fact that whom I am related to, by bloodline, determines predispositions toward certain diseases.  Just as we receive an inheritance of physical traits from our parents, we also receive a spiritual inheritance from our family line.  This includes righteous and unrighteous bents.  This does not mean that children are charged with guilt for the sins of their parents…just that the sins of parents do have an adverse effect on their children and open the door for similar patterns of sin. The children are left more vulnerable to the enemy’s work.  

New blood flow is needed to repair physical wounds, and new blood flow is also needed to repair spiritual wounds. There is no human blood source that has the power to wash a family bloodline clean.  Only one person’s blood can do that.  It’s Jesus’ blood and He freely offers it. He longs for us to apply the cleansing power of His sacrifice to our ancestral line. There need not be insidious generational influences looming over our families any longer. I need not stand by and watch the consequences of my family’s sin hurt my children and grandchildren. I can stop the unholy legacy from continuing by applying the blood of Christ to each generational pattern that holds my family captive. By doing this, Christ cancels out the effects that were caused by the sins of those who came before me.  What a gracious Savior!

I am providing a generational sin handout – below – as a way to begin to explore your past.  As you prayerfully examine the list, ask God to show you how many of these are characteristics within your family line.  Jesus Christ is the one who redeems you from the curse (Galatians 3:13-14), and can break the effect of any ancestral sins that may be influencing you today. 

PRAYER: Father, I am coming to You in the name of Your Son, Jesus. I long to be free from the unholy, invisible influences of family. I recognize patterns in my family that are unrighteous. I declare the power of your shed blood, demonstrated at the cross, over each of them. I thank you that you appeared to destroy the devil’s work. (1 John 3:8)  Teach us as a family how to live as Your children rather than the obedient children of fallen flesh and blood. In Jesus’ name, Amen