You Can Experience Peace: The A-B-C Series on Ancestral Influences

By Gena Barnhill @BarnhillGena

May you experience the joy and peace Jesus came to bring us.

The Christmas season can be a time filled with wonderful memories of happy gatherings, holiday parties, festive decorations, and celebrations. It can also be a frenetic time of trying to find the perfect gifts and prepare for family gatherings. Perhaps family gatherings are no longer as happy as we remembered them. Or they were never joyous. The financial cost associated with gift-giving and celebrations and finding the time to prepare can add to the holiday stress.

You can still experience peace at this busy time of the year.

If we become more aware of our relatives’ idiosyncrasies and experience heightened conflict during family gatherings, we may be recognizing negative ancestral influences that need the Lord’s help to break. Most people are unaware that these negative patterns need to be confessed and renounced for peace to reign.

You Can Still Experience Peace: The A-B-Series on Ancestral Influences #peace #Christmas #healing Share on X

During the holidays, we may observe several undesirable behaviors and emotions.

Examples of Undesirable Behaviors and Emotions:

• overconsumption of alcohol
• overconsumption of food
• loneliness
• anxiety
• sadness over unmet expectations
• overspending
• worry over finances
• conflict in relationships
• grief

The root of these undesirable behaviors and emotions may be a negative ancestral influence.

Possible Negative Ancestral Influences

• abandonment
• abuse
• addiction
• anxiety
• depression
• poverty
• rejection
• shame
• victimization

Not all challenging situations have their roots in negative ancestral influences. However, if we recognize a negative pattern in our family lineage, we can ask the Lord to reveal if this is a negative ancestral influence that we need to break. If He indicates this is a negative ancestral influence, we pray to break its power over ourselves and our families.

Break the Power of the Negative Ancestral Influence by:

• Confessing the sins of our ancestors, parents, and ourselves that are associated with this negative pattern.
• Forgiving each person who influenced and hurt us because of these influences.
• Asking the Lord to forgive us for yielding to these negative influences and accept His forgiveness.
• Renouncing these negative influences and declaring that we break their power over our lives, our families, and all future families in Jesus’s holy name.
• Receiving God’s blessings. We ask Him what He would like to replace the negative influence with.

For example, if we observe a pattern of addiction in our lineage, the Holy Spirit may replace it with freedom and dependency or Him instead of substances. If we renounce anxiety, the Lord may replace it with peace and joy.

You can still experience peace even amid the surrounding holiday stress.

Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27 ESV).

I pray you may experience the Lord’s peace in your life this Christmas as we celebrate His birth. Jesus came to heal us and set us free from our burdens and brokenness as he said in Luke 4:18-19. Jesus is our only source of hope and peace. Draw close to Him.

I’d love for you to have an opportunity to chime in. What helps you experience peace during the holidays?

Be sure to share your thoughts in our Facebook Group Healing Prayer Discussion.

We are all stronger when we learn from each other. Looking forward to your input.

Blessings,
Gena

In case you missed the rest of the Ancestral Influences Series, here are the links:

How Does the Spirit of Control Affect Us

How Does the Spirit of Death Affect Us

How Does the Spirit of Deception/Lying Affect Us

How Does the Spirit of Depression Affect Us