That can be - remember that Cain was cursed that he would be a fugitive and a vagabond. He would never settle. He would just continually move and travel around, so that's evidence of a cursing too. I have come across people, and it's like they could never settle anywhere. They'd just be there for a while and then, I've got to go. Now it could be it's in the family pattern, that their own pattern in their background was one of shifting from one place to another, and everyone learned not to make friends - but always look for some spiritual roots before trying to just solve problems. Look for some spiritual roots behind it. So there's always a cause for a curse. If there's a curse operating in a family, or in a personal life, there's always a reason for it. Think that, there's always a reason. That's what it says in Proverbs 26, Verse 2; Like a flying sparrow or a flying swallow, so a curse without a cause shall not fall. What he's saying is: if there's a curse, there's a cause. If something bad is there, there's a reason it's there. Find out the reason, and then you can deal with the curse.
So let's have a look what some of the possible causes of a curse. Now first, before we go there, how many of you can recognise maybe even in your own family that you've got one of those patterns operating? Whoa, look at that. Wow, we may have to have a ministry time, could be exciting. [Laughter] Could be very exciting. We'll save it up for after lunch. You've had the demons a long time now, so a little bit longer won't matter. [Laughter] We'll deal with them soon, so that'll be fun won't it. So how many recognise more than one pattern that's running through your family line? Wow, that's a whole number of you, okay, great. Well it'll be great for us to get into it after lunch then aye? It'll be good to do that.
So what are some of the causes for it? Well I've tried to find, and actually there seems like there's a variety of causes, and the Holy Spirit's got to bring them to the surface, so one of the most obvious ones is Idolatry. Everywhere there's practising idolatry, curses are inevitable, so what you'll often find when you're in a culture of idolatry, sickness abounds. Sickness abounds, idolatry, sickness abounds everywhere there's idolatry. The second thing is a cause, or root cause, is occult practices. You get involved with the occult, you're involved with demons, sickness and cursing is inevitable. Now here's one I found is people don't recognise; dishonouring your parents. Dishonouring your parents opens the door for cursing, for example in Ephesians, Chapter 6; honour your father and mother, that you may live long, it may go well with you. Now notice the consequence of honour is health, and prospering in your life, so that implies that the consequence of dishonour is sickness, and problems with health, short life, premature death, and problems throughout your life.
I have discovered of one of the biggest keys, for things working right in your life, is to ensure that you come to a place of resolving issues with your parents, and you come to a place of peace in your hearth with their weaknesses, and their failures, and their lacks. You come to freedom to honour them, and be appreciative of who they are. Now all parents make mistakes, all parents have their flaws and their issues, but God doesn't worry too much about that. He says: how you respond is really important - so honour, that it may go well with you. Throughout the Bible, I can show you many scriptures, it's very, very clear that when the dishonour of parents, there are demonic problems comes up. It says the one that dishonours his father and despises his mother, it says: the ravens of the valley shall pick his eyes out. The ravens of the valley speak of demonic spirits, and to pick the eyes out means to cause you to become blind or in darkness so you can't see.
So a key cause of cursing is this impact of dishonouring your parents. If you want to prosper in life, bring resolution to the home conflicts, the home issues, the home things. That will require forgiveness and repentance, and a decision to bless instead of remaining bitter, so have a think about that one. If you find that you're avoiding parents, or your attention isn't around when you're with them, the chances are you've got something going on inside you that needs to be resolved. Another one, in Deuteronomy 27, is mistreating the people who are weak, or oppressing or treating people who are weak or sick in some kind of way, or handicapped in some kind of way. We don't like to use that word. We use the word disabled, but if a person's disabled and you mistreat them, the Bible says a curse comes on you. God is very concerned about justice, and the treatment of people who are poor, or who are afflicted in some kind of way. The Bible is full of that. It says he that disregards the cry of the poor, shall himself cry and not be heard, so God is very concerned about how our attitude towards justice, towards people who are handicapped, disabled, or in any kind of way impaired. We should watch that we don't dishonour, disrespect them, but treat them properly.