Dealing With Generational Sin and Iniquity

Isaac was Abraham’s son. He was born with some of his father’s iniquities. He was even born with his father’s lying, manipulative nature. God had to clean him up. Isaace said the same thing to a foreign king that his dad, Abraham, had. He said, “You can have Rebekah (Isaac’s wife). She is my sister.” In Genesis 26 is the story of God exposing this sin, so he can redeem Isaac and cleanse him from this iniquitous bent. This is so He can get on with the covenant that He established with Abraham, and so He could get The Dream back. Genesis 26 is all about the redemption of this man’s nature. God couldn’t just say, “I can do this through your sin or in spite of it.” He said, instead, “I know how to redeem it, so I’m going to clean you up, then I am going to bless you. Then, I’m going to re-establish the same covenant through you that I established through your father, Abraham.”

Then, Jacob comes along and, surprise, surprise, God has to do the same thing with Jacob. Jacob has a fallen nature also. In Genesis 28, God reveals the promise to him and says, “I’m going to work this dream out through you. However, I can’t really do it through you yet, because you are still a conniver and a schemer and a thief…  I am going to do this through you, though.”

Most people don’t know that when God came to Jacob in Genesis 28, Jacob had not even made up his mind whether he was going to serve Yahweh or one of the idols in the land. He was not a saintly man that was following hard after God. He was a worldly man that hadn’t decided what god he wanted to serve. Read it and see. Jacob basically listened to God lay his plan out and then he said, “If You really do these things, then You can be my God.” Ha! What a deal for God! Jacob even said, “If You make me rich, I’ll tithe to You.” So, for twenty years God works things out in this man. For twenty years, God never refers to Himself as the God of Jacob, but as the God of his fathers or the God of Abraham or the God of Isaac. In 20 years, never does it say, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

“From there he (Isaac) went up to Beersheba. That night the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.’” (Genesis 26: 23-24; NIV)

“Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. (God) said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.’” (Genesis 28:10, 13-15, and 20-22; NIV)

Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:

• Read the sections of scripture above from Genesis 26 and 28.
• Are you aware of iniquitous patterns in your family line that can block God’s movement in and through your life?
• Do you see an attitude where you tell God how fortunate He is to have you in the kingdom? Are you telling God how He can use you? Are you laying out conditions with God as to how you will serve Him?
• Are you willing to bring them to the cross and let God deal with them quickly? 
• Do you want the Lord to be able to tell your children and grandchildren that He was your God and He wants to be theirs, as well?
• As the Lord ministers life and truth, forgiveness and deliverance to you, intercede for those before and after you in your family lineage. Intercede for those who haven’t yet decided to make Jesus their God.
• Intercede for the nation’s iniquities, as well.

A prayer you can pray:

Father, we are so much like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We see patterns of iniquity in us and in our family lines. Even American cities have the iniquitous flavor of certain people groups that have settled there. These strongholds must be broken. For us, personally, coming to Jesus is the first step to that. We are thankful that, unlike Isaac and Jacob, we have Jesus. We can bring everything to the cross that is holding us back. Have we fully decided to make You our God? Have we praised Your Name in our homes and in our cities? Have we humbly given You our whole life or, like Jacob, are we demanding You conform to our image of You and what we want from You? We want to be saved, healed, delivered, transformed, and reformed. We want the world to see Jesus in us. We want to expand Your dream in this nation. We want our children and grandchildren to hear how we served the One True God, Jesus, Yahweh, Jehovah, and how we made You known in the earth, especially to our loved ones. Dream through us, sweet Savior and Lord Jesus. Dream through us. Amen.

Today’s decree:

God is well able to deal with our iniquities, so He can fulfill His dream through us!