Find a photo of your parents as a child, even your grandparents if you have it. Then compare it with a photo of yourself as a child. Take note of the facial similarities. It's even more amazing to see if you have children of your own. Genetics get passed down from generation to generation however our parents' struggles can also be inherited. If we don't confront not only our past but our parents' past, then it can have a hold on your emotional, mental and spiritual life. As children of God, we get to end generational strongholds and start a new identity in Jesus.

Our present is shaped by our past

1.  Unaddressed sin doesn’t get better, it gets worse.

Be open to finding the fights you are battling that you did not submit to, but inherited. We need to manage the battles of our past and break them to move sound into the purpose God has for us.

2. The curse is broken but the pattern can be repeated.

We can repeat the same negative, toxic patterns as the generations before us. But here’s the best news: There is no curse over your life if you’re in Christ Jesus. It’s been broken. Jesus heals us in our brokenness and we can break the patterns of our origins .

Exodus 34:6-7

And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

As human beings, we’ve inherited the problems and tendencies of our first ancestors. They sinned by disobeying God and eating the forbidden fruit from the forbidden tree. From then on, the entire family tree of humanity, in every generation, has tended toward destructive patterns and sins. The good news of Jesus is that we can be re-born into the family of God. As God’s children, we inherit a new identity in Jesus. Jesus most clearly displayed for us this identity of love and compassion and forgiveness when he gave up his life by dying on a cross - a wooden cross made from a tree. At this tree of Calvary where Jesus shed his blood for us, we become free from every past curse, and receive power to live in the fullness as part of God’s family.