Right now some of you find your spiritual life is in “critical condition.” You have walked with the Lord for a long time, but have come to the point where you feel like your life isn’t counting for much. You find you are not doing what you did years ago, and are accomplishing far less than you used to. You may unknowingly be facing incredible resistance, hindered by an underlying scheme of the enemy. However, don’t be disheartened, for God has already paid the price to overcome the plans the enemy has for your life.

Can Anything Good Come From There?
Satan wants you to believe that no spiritual fruit can come out of your life. He wants you to view your life like most of Israel saw Nazareth in Jesus’ day. To understand this, all we have to do is look at Philip excitedly calling Nathanael to meet the promised Messiah. He exclaims that he has found the long awaited one Moses and the prophets foretold, Jesus of Nazareth! But look at Nathanael’s reply, “And Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). We see in this verse that in the days of Jesus there was a pervasive negative attitude toward Nazareth. But it was not just Nazareth, the entire area of Galilee was looked at negatively by most of Israel. Their heart was “can anything good come out of that area?”

We see this same negative perspective again later in the Scriptures after Jesus had been arrested and Peter had just denied Christ. “And the servant girl saw him again, and began to say to those who stood by, ‘This is one of them.’ But he denied it again. And a little later those who stood by said to Peter again, ‘Surely you are one of them; for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it’” (Mark 14:69–70). The people of Galilee in Jesus’ time were considered by the rest of Israel to be very backward people. They were looked down on and considered red-neck, country bumpkins who spoke with funny accents. This is kind of like the way someone from New York City might think about people in Alabama or Tennessee as not being very sophisticated, well educated, or smart.

One reason the Galileans were looked down upon was that some of them had inbred with the Samaritans who lived in that area. The Samaritans were put there by King Nebuchadnezzar when he conquered the land years before, and when the Jews returned to the land they were not supposed to have anything to do with them. The Samaritans were considered people who were at a lower level and were looked down upon. They could be recognized by their speech, which eventually rubbed off on the Galileans. Because of their association with and similarity to the Samaritans, the people of Jerusalem considered the Galileans to be on a lower level.

It Is Cabul!
But that was not the major reason Galilee was scorned. History tells us that this area had been despised for generations. The earliest critical mention of Galilee is found in the book of First Kings. King Solomon had a friend named Hiram who was the king of Tyre, and helped supply material to build the Temple. “(Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold, as much as he desired), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him. So he said, ‘What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?’ And he called them the land of Cabul, as they are to this day” (1 Kings 9:11–13). The word “cabul” means: “worthless, good for nothing; nothing good can come from it.” The land of Galilee is very mountainous, very dry, and poor for agriculture. When Hiram went to look at it, he decided that the people from this area weren’t going to make him wealthy. With only a few shepherds herding sheep in the barren wilderness, it offered little that would bring him prosperity. So he spoke over the land declaring that it was “cabul,” worthless, good for nothing.

It says in Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” How often we forget that the words we speak carry power, power to bring forth what we spoke. This is especially true for every born-again, spirit-filled Christian. The words that you speak have power. From the time that the king of Tyre spoke “cabul” over the land of Galilee, saying it was worthless, that is exactly how it was considered. A thousand years later, in the time of Jesus, people were still reinforcing what had been said. People still believed the word curse which had been spoken over that land saying, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth? There’s nothing of value there, it’s no good, it’s worthless, it’s cabul.”

The Power Of Our Words
Word curses are powerful. Let’s look at one example from the Bible that shows the powerful result of word curses. “From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. ‘Go on up, you baldhead!’ they said. ‘Go on up, you baldhead!’” (2 Kings 2:23). Here is this man of God with a powerful anointing walking up the road by himself and there are about fifty young people (read “juvenile delinquents”) hanging out, acting “cool” when he comes walking by. These youth look at him and say “Hey man, you are so bald you must comb your hair with a wash cloth in the morning. Ha, ha, ha.” Another one says “Hey, put your head on the pool table, we need a cue ball.” They made fun of him, giving each other high fives, while enjoying putting him down.

Now the prophet becomes angry. We know from studying the life of Jesus with the disciples that what the prophet did here was not right, but look at the results. “He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. And he went on to Mount Carmel …” (2 Kings 2:24–25). Do you understand what happened? The words that he spoke released power because he was an anointed man of God. Those young people thought they were pretty cool when there were fifty of them and only one of him, but then the bears came, and all of a sudden they were injured, beat up, and wiped out. We need to understand that there is power in our words. Sometimes we speak curses and we don’t even know it, just by speaking critical things about others.

From Cursing To Blessing
One of the ways the enemy operates against the people of God, the kingdom of God, and the work of God is through word curses the enemy declares upon people, upon regions, and upon churches. Those word curses are reinforced when believers say critical things. That is why it is so important to be careful of what you say. There is an old proverb your mother probably taught you, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” That is true, it has a biblical basis to it. We tend to quickly and easily criticize other Christians and other ways of doing things. Word curses are something that the enemy releases to bring limitations and restriction, and then he reinforces and strengthens them by encouraging the people of God to speak critical things. Once the word curses of the enemy have been strengthened by our critical comments, they make it more difficult for believers to accomplish the vision and fulfill the anointing that God has put upon them because they are fighting against something in the spiritual realm that has been set against them.

If you are regretfully remembering critical things you have spoken, you may have unknowingly been used by the enemy to fortify his curses. The enemy may be using your critical words to wound the spirit and sap the will from others, weakening them until they are in critical condition spiritually.

How can we tell if our words are weapons in the enemy’s hands? It is not whether what you said is true or false — truth can injure just as deep as or deeper than a lie. More important than what is said is how and why something is said. If what was spoken was spoken in love and with the intent to build up, set free, or instruct, then there is little concern that it will assist the schemes of the enemy. But what should you do if you find that you have spoken critical comments that have strengthened the enemy’s curses? First, ask the Lord’s forgiveness for using your tongue to curse instead of bless; bringing death instead of life. Then, ask the Lord to break the power and effect of the words you have spoken about that person and to give you a reconciled heart toward them. Lastly, pray for the Lord to restore anything the enemy has destroyed or stolen, and for the Lord to bring blessing upon the one you have spoken against.

The Enemy’s Scheme
Going back to the king of Tyre and Cabul, look at Ezekiel 28:12–13: “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.’” This Scripture starts out talking about the king of Tyre, but changes into a prophecy about Satan. So we see here that the king of Tyre is a type, or representation, of the devil himself.

This is important to realize because what the king of Tyre spoke over the entire region of Galilee — that it was worthless and good for nothing — is exactly what the devil speaks over your life. When you have stumbled or made a mess of things, the devil comes along and tells you that “you are spiritually worthless, you have failed God too many times. You have done so many things wrong, and made so many mistakes that your spiritual life is no good. You are never going to go anywhere from here. You are not going to accomplish anything. You’re cabul. Your life is worthless, good for nothing.” This is especially true today in America as the war babies and the baby boomers are moving toward retirement. The devil has spoken to many of them, “you’re too old, you’re never going to accomplish those things you thought God wanted you to. You’re done, your best days are behind you. You don’t have a future. You don’t have anything to look forward to. You’ve got that creak in your hip and that pain in your back. Your time is over. The only future for you is in a hospital or nursing home where you will be strapped into a wheel chair and some nurse will come along and feed you while the food dribbles down your chin.”

God Has The Final Word
Friends, we have good news for you. God — not the devil — has the last word for your life! The devil can bring you condemnation, he can proclaim your life is cabul — it’s no good, worthless, and you have messed up too many times to ever get anywhere. But remember, God loves to take what is considered worthless by man, and raise it up to be the greatest in the kingdom of God. That is part of the nature of God. He likes to take what is considered by man to be the least likely to succeed, and cause it to be the most successful in His kingdom. The world thinks that those most likely to be used by God are the ones who look like movie stars — who are photogenic, with beautiful hair and smiles, and never gain too much weight. Man chooses those who are smart and always know the right things to say. In the kingdom of God it is not that way at all. God loves to take what the world considers to be the least and raise it up to be His greatest. If the devil has ever spoken cabul over your life, if he has ever said your life is worthless, it’s over, it’s no good, it’s going nowhere; you are a great candidate to be wonderfully used by God in these last days!

Think of this, God could have sent Jesus to any part of Israel, but He specifically sent Him to Galilee. He could have gone to the most sophisticated, the wealthiest, the very best, but God planned and prophesied that Jesus would go to Galilee because it was considered the least and He wanted to break the curse that had been spoken for a thousand years over Galilee. “Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined” (Isaiah 9:1–2).

Jesus Broke The Curse
When Jesus began to minister in Galilee, releasing the kingdom of God in miracles, signs, and wonders, it broke the curse that was upon that area, and made Galilee be forever known as the home of the Savior. God deliberately began to manifest the power of His kingdom in Galilee, because He loves to cancel the devil’s words and make them cabul. God loves to take the devil’s curses over your life, your family, and your ministry, and make them worthless and account for nothing.

Years ago God spoke to some of you through a prophetic word or while you were reading the Bible that you had a great destiny in the kingdom of God to fulfill, a great ministry that has yet to come forth. God showed some of you that you would be raised up to a great place of influence and anointing, but you haven’t seen it happen.

In fact, you have seen the opposite. You’ve seen nothing but difficulty and struggle and mistakes, and the devil has said to you “that prophetic word was no good, it will never amount to anything.” Where once you thought in your heart that you would achieve it, now you have begun to wonder if that was even actually a word from God. Maybe someone was just trying to tell you something to make you feel good. But the prophetic promises of God cannot be cancelled by the enemy’s curse! Your destiny remains to be fulfilled. Your purpose in the kingdom of God remains to come forth in its fullness. God is not finished with you. Your best days are yet to come. The days of anointed ministry and the days of the things that God has prophesied to you are yet to come. You have not seen everything that God wants to do through your life.

God’s Thoughts Toward You
If you could see the thoughts that God has toward you it would amaze you. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). God has thoughts of you praying and seeing the sick healed and the dead raised. He has thoughts of you changing the spiritual atmosphere of the city in which you live, impacting the entire region. God’s thoughts toward you are thoughts of you winning the lost, of your family coming into the kingdom of God and being on fire for the Lord. If you could see the thoughts that God has for using you, your talents, and your anointing to a greater degree than they have ever been used in the past, it would amaze you.

Your life is of great value to God. It is not worthless. It’s not cabul. Your prayers are of great value to God. God wants you to see your prayers answered and see things happen because you prayed. Your worship is of great value to God. Your love for God is of great value to Him. Your love for your fellow man, your heart being touched when you see those in need, is of great value to Him. The love and compassion that God has fashioned in you are of great value to Him. Your life has great worth to the kingdom of God. Your future and what He has destined for you to accomplish is of great value to God. There are many prayers you are destined to see answered. There are still many victories you are destined to come into and win for the kingdom of God. There are still many souls you are destined to reach; still many miracles you are destined to see performed for the kingdom of God. Your future is of great value to God. If you could see His thoughts for you, it would blow your mind, thoughts of changing your city and bringing revival. God still has wonderful things in store for the kingdom of God and for His people. We are entering into a time of harvest all over the world, and God is going to raise up ordinary people to do extraordinary things and see awesome miracles. You cannot fail God enough, make enough mistakes, or mess up enough to make God stop loving you or cause Him to take His destiny away from you. It’s still there. Your future is great in the kingdom of God.

Prayer To Break The Curses
First John 3:8 tells us that “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” The Heavenly Father chose to send Jesus to Nazareth in order to break the enemy’s curse that had been declared over that region. When Jesus made that region His home-base from which He declared the gospel and performed miraculous ministry, the word curses proclaimed over that region were broken. Suddenly it went from being cursed to being blessed.