The scripture that we'll be focusing on is Genesis 27; a scripture entitled : Issac blesses Jacob.
Some prior knowledge that you may need before we get into this scripture; firstly, Isaac was the first born son of Abraham and Sarah; he was the promised child. Jacob was Issac's son and the twin brother of Esau. Esau was born before Jacob and thus he was the first born son and bore the birthright; a special privilage granted to the first born. Esau and Jacob looked different; Esau was hairy and Jacob wasn't. God had revealed to Rebecca (Jacob's mother) that he wanted Jacob to carry on God's promise to Abraham. Jacob bought Esau's birthright from him.
Okay so now that we've covered all that, this scripture speaks of a blessing; a blessing that according to the law at that time, was suppose to go to the first born but instead went to the second born who, incidently, held the birthright and therefore the one the blessing belonged to. So the blessing according to Genesis 27:28-29 goes like this;
"May God grant you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the Earth and plenty of grain and wine.
Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be Lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!"
If you continue to read the scripture into Genesis 27:39-40 you will find yet another blessing; that given to Esau and it goes
"Behold, away from the fatness of the Earth will your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. By your sword you shall live and serve your brother; but when you grow restless, you shall break his yoke from your neck"
You may say "That doesn't sound like a blessing at all."
Right you are; the blessing was given to Jacob, however, the one solace that Isaac could give his son Esau was to give him a way out of his curse, hence, "when you grow restless, you shall break his yoke from your neck"
Of course it's not the content of the blessings that I want us to focus on but the fact that Isaac used words to bestow blessings on his sons. The first one seemed like a blessing but the second seemed more like a curse. Why? Because of the words he used.
It's the same even now; blessings and curses are just words of your mouth, however, they are not limited to one's birthright.
Positive confessions are blessings and negative confessions are curses. In this case we're not talking about swear words but words spoken to confess things. For example, if one were to say, 'He will prosper!' That would be a blessing while if someone were to say 'He will never prosper!' That would be a curse.
Of course, blessings and curses are no longer awarded according to one's birthright. When Jesus died; he restored our dominion, (which Adam lost in the garden of Eden) so now, whatever we speak is what will come to pass (if it is according to God's will for our lives).
Well you may say, 'That's great! God doesn't want me to be cursed.'
No, he doesn't, but your words have creative power and you can still call bad things onto yourself.
'Why is this important?' You may ask.
Well, what do you confess over your own life and your family's life? Do you call blessings or do you call curses? We need to remember that the power of life and death lies in our tongue Proverbs 18:21.
Calling blessings simply means making positive confessions; just like Isaac did for Jacob and calling curses means making negative confessions life; like Isaac did for Esau.
You see positive confessions opens the way for God's blessings and favor to cover us while negative confessions tend to block our path. Perhaps the reason why negativity blocks our way is because it shows a lack of faith.
Blessings and curses are not to be taken lightly, sometimes blessings and curses can last for generations, hence generational blessings and generational curses. Of course you have the power to break all the curses on your life and on the life of your family through the name of Jesus Christ because if you ask for anything in the name of Jesus Christ he will give it to you, John 14:14.
So don't be alarmed by blessings and curses, they're just words, but remember that words, aren't as insignificant as they may seem, for the same words that have the power to create worlds, also have the power to destroy them so use yours wisely.
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