For 27 Years I Told Mothers Their Generational Curse Was Already Broken. Then I Opened Nehemiah 9.

1. The Verse Every Christian Quotes Halfway

Exodus 20:5 says God visits “the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.” Iniquity means sin. Most of us stop reading there.

But the verse keeps going: “of them that hate me.” And verse 6 says, “And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”

God won’t hold you guilty for your granddaddy’s sin (Ezekiel 18:20). But children watch, and children learn. That boy I buried watched his daddy pour a drink every night. Then he poured his own. Nobody ever brought it to God, so it kept coming down.

2. The Chapter Almost No Pastor Preaches

About 2,500 years ago, God’s people came home to Jerusalem after years as captives. Nehemiah 9:2 says they “stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.” Then the chapter shows 4 things they did.

• READ. They read God’s Word for a fourth of the day (verse 3).
• TRACE. They told their people’s whole story back to God, from Abraham to that day, naming where their fathers went wrong (verses 5 to 37).
• CONFESS. They confessed it all to God (verses 2 and 3).
• SEAL. They wrote their promise to God down, and their leaders sealed it (verse 38).

It’s not a magic formula. It’s what God’s people did when they got serious about turning back to Him. And I had never once preached it.

3. Jesus Paid for It. So Why Is It Still Here?

Jesus paid for every bit of it. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law” (Galatians 3:13).

But 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” John wrote that to people who were already saved. The cross is where it was paid for. Confessing is how you bring it to Him.

I preached the first part every Sunday and never taught the second. So if it’s still coming down to your grandbabies, it was never because your faith was too small. Nobody walked you through what comes after the cross.

4. Why I Couldn’t Just Do It From My Bible

I went to seminary, and I still couldn’t do this from my Bible alone.

The pieces are spread across 4 books: Exodus, Ezekiel, Nehemiah and 1 John. And Nehemiah 9 is a whole nation’s prayer from 2,500 years ago. It doesn’t tell you what to say about your daddy’s drinking, or what to do tomorrow morning.

The first mother I sat down with said, “Pastor, I don’t know what to say.” I didn’t either. Every prayer book at the Christian bookstore was just prayers, like “Break every curse.” None had the steps.

Then our oldest church mother laid a little book on my desk. It Ends With Me. It turns those 4 things into 40 days of prayers, about 10 minutes a day, with every prayer written out word for word and every verse printed on the page. Day 1 starts at the cross.

5. Days 1 to 17: Read, Then Trace Both Sides

I did it myself first, then started 12 mothers on it in our fellowship hall.

The first 7 days are reading. They felt like homework. But one mother, 71, told us, “I read verse 6 out loud for the first time in my life. Nobody ever read me the mercy part.”

Days 8 to 17 are the Trace. You go back 4 generations on your mama’s side and your daddy’s side, as far as Exodus 20:5 says it reaches.

I knew my daddy drank. Then my aunt told me my mama’s daddy walked out on a whole first family. My own daddy walked out on us when I was 9. It was coming down both sides, and nobody had ever put it together.

6. Days 18 to 33: Confess, One Thing at a Time

This is the longest part, one pattern a day: drinking, anger, broken marriages, money, sickness, fear and family secrets.

You start with your own sin. Then you tell God the truth about your fathers’ sins. You aren’t carrying their guilt. You’re agreeing with God about what happened and leaving it with Him.

On the drinking day, I locked my office door and said it out loud. My daddy, my granddaddy, my son, and every mother I told to just keep believing.

On day 31, my phone buzzed at 10 at night. A text from my son: “Hey Mama. You up?” I looked at it for an hour.

7. Day 40: Their Names on the Last Page

The last 7 days, you pray a blessing over every child and grandchild by name. On day 40 you sign and date it. Your signature doesn’t break anything. Jesus did that.

That mama from the repast wrote her grandson’s name first. On Easter Sunday, he sat beside her on the front pew.

Of my first 12 mothers, 9 finished. Then 48 of 61 families. About half my church has done it now. And my son calls me most Sunday nights. He hasn’t come back to church. But he calls.

Not every family saw it. But I’ve never seen this many mothers stop being scared.