Greetings,
Proper parenting welcomes God to bring about generational changes in the family destiny. Proper parenting invites God to visit the iniquities of the fathers that seek to rest upon the children to the third and fourth generation.
Exodus 34: 5 Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
Iniquities are a flaw, a propensity to transgress, a place in our hearts where we are vulnerable to the temptation to look for life in the wrong place. Iniquities are issues of the heart that need a visitation of God’s presence to transform the root character, nature, way, power, and authority of the family name. When someone in the family line accepts the responsibly of the family issues, God can change the family line. This is accepting the responsibility of headship – the authority that comes by accepting the responsibility today for everything in our lives. When we accept the responsibility of authority in our lives and allow God to write in us a changed character, nature, way, power, and authority it changes our family name. We should not just expect God to bless us in the inherited state of our lives. We should expect God to empower us to become all that we are meant to be in Him. We should expect Him to empower our family inheritance to become what it should be by the power of His grace.
Matthew 13:52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
Examples of iniquities can be:
- A negative, pessimistic view on life
- Oppression
- Depression
- Poverty mentalities
- Shame Issues
- Pathologic Disorders such as lying and generational addictions such as alcohol, gambling, or other things displaying user tendencies
- Hoarding
- Various compulsive behaviors
- Masochism
- Eating disorders such as bulimia or obesity
- Pedophilia
- Homosexuality
- Infidelity
- Sexual addictions such as pornography
- Anger issues
- Incubus / Succubus or other demonic relationships
- An inability to keep commitments
- Disruptive behavior disorders
- Various phobias
- Mental health disorders
- Anything that influences the human nature to act upon works of the flesh:
Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
People who have issues are not bad people, they just have issues that need a visitation of God’s presence to receive deliverance and healing in order to receive a transformation of character, nature, way, power, and authority. Everyone has iniquities, but some are more obvious than others. Everyone needs a visitation of God’s presence and transformation by God in their hearts and minds. It is foolish to resist God’s transformation in our hearts because of stubbornness and human pride. Admitting that there are things in our lives that are wrong is not saying there is something wrong with us. It is simply a wiliness to allow God to remove the things that are wrong so we can increasing know who we were meant to be. Our identity comes from our Father in heaven, not the natural inheritances of human experience.
Humanity was created in the likeness and image of God, therefore, anything that does not exhibit the likeness and image of God is a problem that needs a visitation of God. God does not condemn us for our iniquities. He does not shame us for our iniquities. He forgives our iniquities, but He doesn’t just ignore them and say everything is ok. He doesn’t just sweep them under a rug to not be seen. He visits us in the places of our iniquities to transform us to become like Him. How we were born naturally is not how we should be. It is how we are and now it is up to us to invite God into our hearts and minds to change the character, nature, way, power, and authority of our family. We are not to ignore our weaknesses nor are we to accept them as things that must be or are even desired to be in our lives. It is not shameful to admit an iniquity. It is foolish to ignore them or to accept them. It is wise to invite our loving Father to give us the identity we were meant to have. It is a miracle and it happens by the power of His grace at work within us. It is not reasonable. It is unreasonable. Everyone has a cup to drink and to accept anything less than the miraculous changes that come by God’s presence in our lives is foolishness. God wants to heal roots. He wants to transform the places of roots so the fruits of our character, nature, way, power, and authority become a testimony of His presence at work in our lives. He doesn’t come to condemn us or to shame us. He has come to deliver us. He has come to save us. He has come to transform us to be what we could not be without Him. There is nothing wrong with us. There is simply something wrong in our lives that needs to be healed by the One who loves us. It is impossible for these things to change without God, but with God all things are possible. It is as miraculous as a virgin conceiving by the power of the Holy Spirit and a Son being born that was the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person in the earth (Heb. 1:3). Life is not fair. Everyone has a cup to drink in life and part of everyone’s cup is leaning to allow God to transform the areas of iniquity in our hearts. His mercy forgives us, but His grace transforms us!
2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
Iniquities have been accepted as a normal way of life by those in the kingdoms of the world. We do not condemn people for this. They do not understand and simply need light to shine to show them the way to life. We receive them as they are, but we must never participate in taking any step that leads them further in the bondage of transgression and sin. We must simply set an example of people who allow God to visit the iniquities of our hearts and change us. We do not define the way of God by the cultural ways of the world. We offer transformation to those in the world by the cultural ways of God as His kingdom comes and His will is done in our hearts and minds, even as it is in heaven.
Proverbs 6:20-28 My son, keep your father’s command, and do not forsake the law of your mother. Bind them continually upon your heart; tie them around your neck. 22 When you roam, they will lead you; When you sleep, they will keep you; And when you awake, they will speak with you. For the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light; reproofs of instruction are the way of life, to keep you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress. Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, nor let her allure you with her eyelids. For by means of a harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread; and an adulteress will prey upon his precious life. Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be seared?
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
