“Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all.”

Proverbs 22:2

Some days ago, as I was reading this text, I came to understand why some people are successful and some are not. The root of it all is in the nature that we possess. For a long time, I thought that rich people reached that position through greed and that poor people were victims who had been exploited by the rich. However, in this text, Solomon explains that riches or poverty are a result of the nature that God has given to each one of us. Generally speaking, we receive our nature from the environment in which we are raised. When a person has the nature of a poor man, but wants to behave as a rich man, he gets himself into debt. For instance, there are poor people who want to live in wealthy neighborhoods, so they take on financial commitments that will choke them. They end up accumulating many debts that they cannot pay. On the other hand, for those who have a nature of wealth, it is easy to attract prosperity, make finances, and multiply resources. Henry Ford said, “You can take my factories and burn my buildings, but give me my people, and I will build the business right back again.”

How can we distinguish whether God’s blessing is with us, or whether in reality, we are under some type of curse? All this is revealed to us through the Word of God. In his book, Bought with Blood, Dr. Derek Prince shares seven steps found in chapter 28 of the book of Deuteronomy, where we see the effects of a curse. You can see them below:

1. Brokenness, by mental or emotional breakdown

2. Chronic or repeated infirmity, particularly if hereditary, which is the nature of a curse

3. Female problems (barrenness, miscarriages, premature labors, menstrual suffering, and a host of other difficulties of this sort)

4. Marital failures and family breakups

5. Financial insufficiency

6. Proneness to accidents

7. Families with histories of suicide or unnatural deaths

Many of the people who came to our ministry recognized the effect of these curses in their lives, but they experienced total deliverance after taking part in an Encounter (a 3 day spiritual retreat). When Solomon said that a curse never comes to rest without a cause, he was saying that evil has an origin. What is most important is to identify the existence of a curse. As long as you ignore it, the enemy can control your life, because his strategy is to remain hidden in order to cause greater harm.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
“I was born into a family in which fear was a really big part of our heritage. Our mother was a great woman with great strength in many areas, but she was filled with countless fears that she had inherited from previous generations. This brought a very strong emotional slavery to her children. When I met God, something difficult began to manifest in my life. While sleeping, I would wake up in jolts. A spirit of death and panic turned everything around me into something uncontrollable. Marcia, my daughter, would join my husband in prayer for me, but there was no answer. They would take me to the clinic. I would go into the ER, and the doctors would run tests, but they would find nothing. I would come out feeling ashamed. I began to pray whole-heartedly about the matter. I studied a lot about bondages and curses, but I didn’t fully grasp the work of the Cross of Calvary. I thought it was something that belonged in the past. But then everything changed when I received the revelation of the Cross and of the divine exchange that took place there. God turned curses into blessings when I received the DNA of Jesus. I am now a free woman, and able to help many people who are going through similar problems.” (Pastor Janeth de Barrios)

TODAY’S DECLARATION
“I heard the Word of God, I believed it, I obeyed His command, and God rewarded me by giving me complete deliverance.”

Today’s post is an excerpt from Pastor Cesar Castellanos’ book, Declarations of Power for 365 Days of the Year: Volume Three.

TODAY’S BIBLE READING

• Old Testament: 2 Chronicles 25-27; Psalms 147
• New Testament: Luke 12:13-21; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17