Expert: Rev. Robert Woods - 8/4/2006

Question

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Followup To

Question -
Is it true that someone can pray to another and recieves what he/she wants through Jesus.

When one gets saved do curses follow him/her.



Answer -
Blessings and thank you for your questions.

I believe that you are asking about whether you can pray to someone besides God (like a Saint or Mary).  NO one can hear your prayer but the triune God (Father, Son, Spirit).  Mary cannot hear you, no saint can hear your prayer, only God can hear and answer prayer.  There is no instance anywhere in Scripture where a person can hear prayer but God.

Curses:  the biggest curse on mankind is death.  With Jesus Christ, this curse is lifted.  Death no loner holds power over us.  With Jesus, curses from God are lifted from us.  There is only one curse from God that is possible upon Christians that is the curse of Abraham.  The Bible tells us that if we curse Abraham or his seed (Israel and the Jews), then God will curse us.  

While all the curses of God are taken from us (except the Abraham curse) at salvation, the enemy can still curse us.  His curses come in the form of guilt, accusation, persecution, and even depression.  While we have power over Satan by the blood of Jesus, often we forget this power and we allow the enemy to curse us.

I hope have answered the question you asked.  If I haven't, please try and rephrase the question and ask again.


Thank so much for the information, but what I want to know in the first question is do intercessory prayers work like when you pray for my requests or a pastor and more especially on the email or on phone without being there physically does it work when we are not together.

And about the curse question what I want to know do generational curse apply to a born again christains like when your grand parents where poor, drunkard, witches does it follow the children (decendents)also to be the same?

Answer
Blessings and thank you for your questions.

1.  Prayer - God hears our prayers no matter where we are or whether we are alone or with other believers.  You can pray for Israel for instance, and you never have to go there and you don't have to know anyone Jewish.  I can pray for your health, finiancial. family, job or any other needs even though I don't known where you live or have ever met you.  Intercession is one of the greatest forms of prayer, we interceed for those who need it.

Example:  it has been proven by several major secular universities that prayer does help people recover from sickness faster than those that aren't prayed for.  THe study showed that a group of people who were given the names of people in the hospital and prayed for there healing, got out of the hospital faster, recovered quicker, and had better attitudes than those who were not prayed for.


There is power though in corporate prayer (when believers get together and pray in one accord) and the laying on of hands. I would much rather lay hands on the sick, anoint them with oil, and pray for them rather than just doing it without them.  God seems to honor that laying on of hands.


2.  Curses:  there are generational curses that can be transfered from parent to child, even if the child was not involved in the activity that caused the curse.  Salvation forgives us of sin, both known and unknown, but it doesn't always take away a generational curse.  Only through representive repentance (the idea that you take the place of the person who caused the sin or the curse) can you rid yourself of those curses.  Sometimes we don't really know what happened in the past.  My suggestion is to ask the Lord to identify to you any curse or sin that you need to deal with.  

Example:  my first church in Indiana had a huge curse on it.  THe church for over 50 years (during the late 1800's and early 1900's) was a meeting place for the KKK.  This organization hated Jews and Blacks and was obviously not Christ-like.  We as a church had a service of repentance where we publically denouced the sin of our forefathers and asked God to forgive us.  We stood in the place of our forefathers when we asked for forgiveness.

Example:  I am part Cherokee Indian.  I know that Indians did not believe in a Triune God but saw spirits in everything.  The Indians had many pagan worship ceremonies in which they asked blessings upon the generations to come.  Because these were pagan rituals void of the Savior, they actually brought curses upon those of us that followed.  I asked the Lord to forgive the sins of my ancestors and asked him to release any curse that was placed upon my family.

Example:  blessings are also generational.  On one part of my family, there have been many generations of preachers.  God called me into ministry and released that blessing of anointing upon my life before I even knew that there were any preachers in my family's past.