Daily Meditations from John N N Ng'ang'a:
Week of 31 Jan–Feb 6th 2011-- Curses and blessings
Day 1
Ezek 18:2-4
2 "What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel:
"'The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'?
The reason why I say it is important to meditate over this issue is because part of the problem of Africa is this very topic. Something in us has given us the impression that because our forefathers had a certain way of operating, we have no alternative but to continue operating in the same way. Because the Africans were slaves, even after there is no slavery, we continue operating as slaves.
In fact we may not need to talk about the whole of Africa. Go back to your village and discover there are certain families where nobody ever goes to high school. Is that true in your villages if you grew up in a village? It sounds like there is a certain way of operating that does not allow that family to move out of whatever is the history behind them. In another family, they are the type of people who are drunkards and by the age of sixteen, any of their boys has also become a drunkard, or even a murderer, a rapist, whatever.
It then sounds like ,until we are able to ‘break’ this connection with the past, Africa will continue to be what it has always been…under developed . Because we do not to admit our responsibility, one of the things we like is the idea of blaming the colonialists. You will not be surprised we still blame the colonialist even at this stage where many of our leaders are in their forties and hence were not even born before most of Africa got independence. Kenya got independence in the year 1963, add forty years and we became forty years as a nation in 2003. That means that when you get anybody in their forties and they are talking of the reason for our troubles as colonialism, he is simply making a joke because he never lived during the colonial era.
Day 2
Ezek 18:2-4
2 "What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel:
"'The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'?
Blaming everything on curses tends to make us not take responsibly for anything. But we blame our problems today as a country on colonialism little knowing that if there are any problems currently; they are likely to have been caused by the Kenyatta generation when he led, the Moi generation when he led, the Kibaki generation when he is leading. Unless we have a certain belief that once something happens it cannot be corrected, there is absolutely no reason why our political class today continue to explain our problems in terms of colonialism. However bad the colonialists were, forty years are more than a generation and is long enough to correct whatever errors they made. So remember I am not defending them. I am only saying however terrible they are, forty years is enough to correct their errors. Some people use neo colonialism to explain our plight, but then our leaders have allowed it and hence we still hold them responsible.
We see the same attitude in our institutions, for Example University. There may be something that went wrong when in its history but we cannot allow the current management to explain the problems by what happened in history when it has been long enough to correct whatever went wrong .
Day 3
You are your own man
Ezek 18:2-4
2 "What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel:
"'The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'?
The message God has given us in the bible is that ‘you are your own man’ or ‘you are your own woman’ not necessarily your father responsibly. Do not assume you can blame your father’s curse for your current or past performance. The time has come when you must take responsibility and accountability for who you are and what you become in the presence of God. That is God’s message for you.
Unfortunately this is a very controversial topic because theologians and Christians generally take three positions on the issue of breaking curses.
The assumption is that curses come from other people, the previous generation cursing the current one
Day 4
3 "As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. 4 for every living soul belong to me, the father as well as the son-both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die. NIV
Most Christians hold one of three positions:
One position is, it is not possible for one generation to curse the next.
There are many people who are teaching that what happened to the previous generation cannot affect this one. And they use biblical scriptures in order to explain that. They argue that it is not possible for one generation to affect the next one.
But that’s one position. The next position is a corner that says, you are what your parents made you.
That is that, basically you can give credit for your achievements to your parentage. If your parentage is bad, you must also become bad. And if your parentage is good you must also become good. What we are saying in this position is that unless you are rescued, you have no way of moving out of this curse. The whole issue about generational curses is a big teaching that is currently going on. This is the basis of the many deliverance ministries. They state: young man you have no future until you come to my ministry for deliverance .Why? Until I take you through deliverance you have no hope whatsoever of ever becoming anything useful
Day 5
Ezek 18:2-4
2 What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel:
"'The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'?
3 "As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. 4 For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son-both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die. NIV
The third one says , yes it is true that one generation can affect the next one, however, when you become a Christian and surrender your life to the Lord, Jesus takes your curse.
They teach that Jesus Christ became our curse on the cross .When you surrender to him, He is able to cut your connection with the past and you become a new creation. That is the third position and it is the position, to my understanding, most of the biblical scriptures take.
I do not believe it is right to start giving you the impression that your parents cannot curse you. It is possible they can curse you. So I do not agree with the people who say that one generation cannot affect another one. It is important to understand there is a certain amount of power that your parents have on you. But I am here to tell you that when you come to Christ it is possible to cut that connection. The bible has examples of parents, like Isaac, who blessed their children and Jacob who cursed some of their children
Day 6
God reigns supreme
Isa 48:11 for my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another
One of the things you must understand very clearly is that God reigns supreme over the whole universe. Your parents are included in the universe given my understanding of the meaning of the word universe. The devil and his demons are also in the universe. So it is important for you to understand that He has power over spiritual powers.God is the creator even of the devil. So there is no fight between the devil and God. They cannot fight. You know one of the things I like mentioning is that in boxing they have very good rules. Because in boxing you can be killed very easily...they have very good rules. I want to tell you that Conjestina our national heroine is not allowed to start fighting until both boxers are weighed. We already know her weight but that weight is always checked just before the fight begins. Why do they have to keep weighing? It is because a featherweight should never fight a heavyweight. Are we together? In fact if they do and something happens, the organizers of the game will be in the dock and might be jailed. You are not allowed to fight if you don’t have the same weight. Featherweight fights featherweight. Heavyweight fights heavyweight. Because otherwise you can destroy each other.
Day 7
Isa 48:11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another
The devil and God are not of the same weight class. My friend, the game does not even begin. Right at the weighing level the game is over. Why? Because the devil is a created being. Who created him? God. So they do not fight. In case you think I am original with it, go to the book of Job and start watching the events as the fight develops but you know there is no fight. The devil needs God’s permission before he can fight job. And he is there wondering how to reach job. God says, ‘you have seen my servant Job’. But the devil says,’ but God I can destroy him. He only defeats me because of your power. Why don’t you move aside and allow him to fight him. Because you see the devil knows he cannot fight with God. So he is asking for permission to fight who? Job. Please understand the idea. And if nothing else during this service, I pray that God can that get through into your heart. When you belong to God there is no question of the devil ever defeating you
John n n ng’ang’a