Digging Deeper

Heart Guide for Lesson 12:
Reversing the Curse

Sometimes we need to find freedom from inner vows and bitter judgments. Inner vows are misguided attempts to avoid repeating behaviors we reject or dislike in others or to avoid situations that we hate or fear (Such as: 'I'll never speak in public again!" or 'I'll never become a drunk like my father!"). They can be a naive way of trying to break generational patterns or correct our behavior in our own strength.

Unfortunately, the bitter judgment binds us to the pattern and the inner vow inadvertently puts all the burden of transformation on Self instead of upon the Lord and therefore blocks the one who vowed from being able to receive the grace (God's help) needed to overcome the behavior.

Inner vows, like spoken vows, are very binding as the scriptures reveal (Deuteronomy 23:21-23; Psalm 56:12; Ecclesiastes 5:4-5). Fortunately, the Lord, as Father and Husband, has preserved a way to annul our rash vows prompted by the enemy's deceptions, if we go to Him seeking to be released (see Numbers 30:1-8).

The only difficult part to breaking inner vows is recognizing where we may have made them. Ask the Lord for discernment and recollection.

1. We need discernment because there are vows that we may have made as freewill offerings to Him - these we would be wise to keep.

2. Recollection is needed because there may be other vows—vows made out of our hurt and anger—that the enemy used to bring us into agreement with his plans for our life.  

Such pain-induced vows have often been hidden by the enemy through our forgetfulness. These the Father readily disallows once we repent and renounce them.

Father, I repent of making bitter judgments against _________ and I renounce the inner vow(s) I made to __________. Forgive me and break their power off of me.

Return to Reversing the Curse: Head to Heart Guide for more ways to go deeper into these truths or stay 'on course' by going to the...