Diagnosed with chronic hypertension during her second pregnancy, Ashli refused to accept that diagnosis as a life sentence.  As learners, Ashli and Aaron Newman determined to implement generational cleansing and personal life lessons into raising their children.  The couple desired to raise their children in love and truth, doing all they knew to position their children to walk in their individual destinies.

Every family receives and bequeaths two streams—a toxic waste dump from the generational iniquity in their ancestral lines and a goldmine of generational blessings from the righteousness of their forefathers.  After their second daughter Micah arrived, Aaron and Ashli rigorously pursued generational cleansing while honoring the faith of their fathers.  Iniquity and rebellion* open doors to satan’s work in a family.  Those doors stay open until someone in the family recognizes that point of entrance, confesses and renounces those sins, thereby shutting the doors.  When those doors are closed and the family intentionally builds the opposite virtue (ex.:  using leadership positions to manipulate, control, or oppress people vs. using leadership positions to be life-giving and equipping), then the doors are open to God’s blessing.

As the couple initiated this family cleansing process, they sensed a link existed between Ashli’s physical symptoms of high blood pressure and the spiritual iniquity in their family line dealing with freemasonry.  Agreeing in prayer with a mature intercessor, Aaron and Ashli prayed and repented for their family’s involvement in freemasonry, working to shut the doors to the enemy’s work in their generations.  In addition, Ashli made changes in her diet.  She started taking supplements one year before her third pregnancy, standing on the promise that “by His stripes, we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5, KJV).   The couple addressed spiritual and physical causes for the chronic hypertension, but discovered that the emotional aspect needed to be addressed as well.  They distanced themselves emotionally from certain relationships which continuously generated turmoil.  When they discovered they were expecting their third child, Aaron and Ashli determined to nurture the baby’s spirit and to create a safe, worshipful atmosphere for the baby’s development.  Therefore, for the first four months of pregnancy, they shared their joyous news with only one intercessor (an elder) they trusted to bless the baby on a weekly basis.

Every Saturday morning, the elder called to bless the baby.  Delightful girls, their daughters Bryce and Micah are as different in personality as night and day.  Micah is very independent and likes to have time by herself while Bryce prefers company.  Therefore, it was noteworthy that Micah consistently walked into the room when the elder called to bless the baby, sat quietly during the blessing, and left silently when the call ended.  Ashli noted that her own spirit leapt in anticipation of the weekly blessing calls.  While the elder called specifically to bless the baby’s spirit in the womb, she also extended those prayers for the whole family.  It worked.  Two weeks into the pregnancy, the doctor took Ashli off the chronic hyper-tension medications because “she did not need them anymore.”  In addition to the elder’s weekly blessings, Aaron daily blessed his two daughters’ and the baby’s spirits in the evenings.  In the mornings, Ashli read Scripture to them.

Their son Noah arrived during the summer, healthy and strong.  In spite of health issues with her previous pregnancies, Ashli gained strength and health during her third pregnancy through a balanced approach to dealing with spiritual, emotional, and physical roots which can combine to cause illness.  However, the couple did not stop with removal of potentially negative elements in their family.  Intentionally, they determined to rebuild righteous lifestyles and attitudes in order to position themselves and their children to accomplish the specific destiny for which God designed them.  Aaron and Ashli purposed to build life and virtue into their family using blessing, Scripture, emotional adjustments, and implementing truths God specifically showed them.  In other words, they committed to staying teachable, while learning new ways of living and relating, when necessary, to maximize a healthy family environment.

As they intentionally nurtured Noah’s spirit in the womb and continue to grow all three of their children’s spirits, they noticed that Noah’s interactions with people are different than most other children’s.  Furrowing his eyebrows and staring intently, Noah studies certain people.  Other people, he responds and connects to without reservations.  As parents, Aaron and Ashli follow Noah’s lead on interacting with people.  If he wants to connect, they let him.  When he does not, they do not press him.

From birth, Noah’s spirit exhibited an unusually high level of dominion.  Taking Noah to his two week old routine check-up, Aaron and Ashli noticed the chaos in the doctor’s office and realized to their chagrin they left home without praying.  At that point, baby Noah began vigorously scrunching up his forehead.  Then, he relaxed.  Immediately, peace reigned in the room.  At that time, they considered the possibility that Noah’s nurtured spirit took dominion of the chaos and imposed peace into the room.  Since that first check-up, the Newmans have never entered that office with the level of chaos which was routine before Noah arrived.  In this situation and others, it has proven consistent that Noah’s spirit exercised dominion to bring peace into his environment.  It is God’s will for His children to exercise dominion by imposing peace into their environment and situations instead of being tossed and turned by external chaos.

Aaron and Ashli parent intentionally.  They are excited about learning and implementing new tools to grow their children, positioning them to be strong and whole in their spirits, souls, and bodies.  It is their goal to raise their children in the training and love of God so that when it is time, the children can enter their life’s calling with confidence, strength, and purpose.  Tearing down generational iniquity, rebuilding righteous ways of living and relating to God, ourselves, and others while continuing to nurture our children’s spirits during their growing up years widens and deepens the streams of generational blessing from which they can draw to accomplish their destiny.

*For more details on iniquity which opens the door to generational curses in families, please see Appendix B.

(excerpt from “Blessing in Action” in Perfect Peace by Crystal Wade, copyright 2010)