The topic of curses was clearly the favorite. As I taught, I read Biblical descriptions of a cursed people and a cursed land; and, they heard descriptions that they could totally relate to! Then, as I began to teach about the Biblical remedies, I could see every eye in the room! No one was sleeping! No one was distracted. They were sitting on the edges of the benches, pens and highlighters ready. I continued to lead them to understand the problem as well as the remedy that is found in Jesus Christ. I taught them some very practical ways of appropriating Jesus’ sacrifice as the atonement for their sins and curses.
At the end of those sessions of teaching, I left them with some “homework”: to research and pray about their respective communities, asking God about those sins or curses that may be thwarting God’s desired blessing.Even as I was wrapping up the speaking session, however, one pastor slipped a shabby, paper note up to the front for me. The paper said (in Swahili),
“My father murdered a man right here in Gendabi years ago. What do I do now to break the curses off of myself, my family, and the land?”
So, right then and there, we were able to stop and practice what I had been teaching! It was a beautiful opportunity for them to “grow into” the new principles, and put action to them!After that little activity, as pastors began to return to their seats, I spotted many of them beginning to write on spare papers. By the closing of the conference, we had a large handful of papers containing the writings of many leaders, confessing the curse-inducing sins of their families and villages. What a blessing to finally deal with the weights that have been on their shoulders and hearts for so long!
