Sonship and orphans

 I. The root identity of a son is acceptance. I am “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1) by grace and not by works. From that position of acceptance, the Son is about the Father’s business (seeking first the kingdom). God’s love for me is not based on my performance but our of His character. God will never love me more nor love me less than He does right now.

II. To what end are sons given? To be the radiance of his Father’s glory (Hebrews 1:1- 3). The exact representation of His person. So, the purpose was to represent the Father in the earth. Therefore, the resources of a son are the resources his Father (Luke 12, John 16:14,15, John 20:21)!

. The lie being believed by the orphan is that no one could/would love them enough to put their needs first. No trust or intimacy, just isolation and loneliness. But an orphan still has those four needs. The deception continues until the orphan is convinced that he can meet these needs for himself through possession, passion, position, and protection.

III. Our Father wants to meet these needs (Philippians 4:19). A son has his Father as the source of his security, acceptance, value, and significance. This frees him up to truly love people and not try to survive relationships through manipulation because of fear. When wounds do happen, our Father creates ways of healing, like forgiveness and mercy.

Sons from the Beginning

I. God makes man in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). God is Spirit (John 4:24). Therefore, man is like God in his spirit, not physically. Speaking of his physical body, Scripture declares that man will die (Hebrews 9:27). There will be a resurrection of man’s body, Christ being a first-fruit or template (1 Corinthians 15:42-26).

II. God is the Father of our spirits (Hebrews 12:9). God was the Father of Adam’s spirit and is the Father of the spirits of those who have believed on Christ (Genesis 2:7). Therefore, sons are neither male nor female, slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile (Galatians 3:26-29).

III. Adam was created in the image and likeness of God and therefore a son of God (Luke 3:38).

Summary: Adam was created in the image and likeness of God in his spirit. Adam, the first man and prototype for us all, was created for the specific intent of sonship. Therefore, all men were created for the specific intent of sonship. From before the creation of man and from the beginning of all creation God has purposed to have sons. The entire story of redemption must be seen and interpreted through this mindset: the loving Father sending His perfect Son to bring back to Him other sons.

The Fall of a Son (Genesis 3:7-13)

I. When Adam ate the fruit, a fundamental change took place in his understanding of whom he was. God challenged Adam’s assumption that he was naked. It was because of Adam’s awareness of his “nakedness” that God knew Adam had obtained information from another source.

II. Man was not naked as we think of nakedness. We are “clothed” with a body (2 Corinthians 5:1-3). Adam was a spiritual being by nature and was clothed with flesh. When he ate the fruit, he was deceived at the level of his nature, his identity. He thought of himself as flesh that needed “clothing.” God is Spirit (John 4:24) and Adam was created in God’s likeness after/in/by Adam’s spirit.

III. What does he do when he is deceived into thinking of himself as flesh? He “sees” his vulnerability and seeks to provide for himself (fig leaves) and protect himself (hiding). He does not see God as Father, so he hides.

Summary: The major fall was the way Adam saw himself. A new culture arose the day Adam saw himself as flesh and not spirit: the culture of an orphan. He went from being a son destined to rule to thinking like an orphan preoccupied with survival. Adam understood himself as primarily flesh and acted according to that belief system, seeking provision and protection.

The Culture and Identity of an Orphan

I. The root identity of an orphan is one of being alone. “I am all I have.” When this is believed everyone is thought to be a potential enemy, requiring you to hide, whether covertly or overtly.

II. With a belief system rooted in the “I am all I have” thought process, it is to be expected that an orphan would be motivated by a deep-seated desire to provided and protect. When this desire is fully developed, it becomes a lust.

Summary: The identity of an orphan leads to the specific purpose of survival

The Culture and Identity of a Son

I. The root identity of a son is acceptance. I am “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1) by grace and not by works. From that position of acceptance, the Son is about the Father’s business (seeking first the kingdom). God’s love for me is not based on my performance but our of His character. God will never love me more nor love me less than He does right now.

II. To what end are sons given? To be the radiance of his Father’s glory (Hebrews 1:1- 3). The exact representation of His person. So, the purpose was to represent the Father in the earth. Therefore, the resources of a son are the resources his Father (Luke 12, John 16:14,15, John 20:21)!

Summary: It was God’s specific intent from the beginning that His sons would rule in such a way that the invisible God would be clearly seen and portrayed. To be a “ruler.” Orphans will use authority to secure their own provision and protection, whereas a son does not have that preoccupation; he can represent the Father.

A Quick Comparison

I. Orphans

• Flesh is the center of reality.

• Root identity is “I am alone.”

• Feels vulnerable.

• Seeks provision.

• Seeks protection.

• Culture of survival.

• Exchange oriented.

• Expects lack and therefore hoards.

• Seeks approval from others.

II. Sons

• Spirit is the center of reality.

• Root identity is “I am accepted.”

• Feels secure.

• Seeks first the kingdom (the Father’s business).

• Culture of rulership.

• Receives inheritances.

• Can be disciplined because he knows he is significant.

• Lives vulnerable and free.

• Seeks impact. 


An Orphan’s Relationship to God

I. God is the ultimate One who can provide provision and protection. However, because of an orphan’s identity of being alone, he has toiled and labored for anything he has obtained. So an orphan’s relationship with God will be exchanged- based. “This for that” thinking and bargaining instead of receiving of a gift.

II. This mentality is the basis for all religion. Its root is self- righteousness. In or to “exchange” with God, one has to believe that at the level of exchange, what the person possesses is equal to what they are exchanging with God. So, to exchange you have to believe that you have something of equal value! How arrogant!

III. Sons receive inheritances, but orphans bargain and exchange for wages. This is the nature of religion: we bargain with God for what He wants to give for free!

Summary: Because the mindset of an orphan is preoccupied with provision and protection, it affects his way of relating to God. This mindset keeps man bargaining with God instead of maturing as a son.

An Orphan’s Relationship with Others

I. Everybody has four basic needs: security, total unconditional acceptance, value, and significance. When a need goes unmet by a loved one, it creates a wound, which leads to pain, which leads to fear, which leads to controlling the environment to meet the need. This is surviving in your relationships. It is impossible to love as Christ when fear is the motivation. The result of this type of relationship is manipulation.

II. The lie being believed by the orphan is that no one could/would love them enough to put their needs first. No trust or intimacy, just isolation and loneliness. But an orphan still has those four needs. The deception continues until the orphan is convinced that he can meet these needs for himself through possession, passion, position, and protection.

III. Our Father wants to meet these needs (Philippians 4:19). A son has his Father as the source of his security, acceptance, value, and significance. This frees him up to truly love people and not try to survive relationships through manipulation because of fear. When wounds do happen, our Father creates ways of healing, like forgiveness and mercy.

Summary: God created man to have certain needs with the intentions of meeting those needs. However, man has looked to others or things to meet those needs, creating wounds of fear, which leaves the orphans trying to control people and/or circumstances to meet their needs. All the while, the Father longs to be the supply of those needs and to heal the wounds.

Recognizing the Orphan Mindset within Us:

I. Areas of defensiveness: this is usually when one is called “touchy”. The evidence is an imporprtlionate reaction to a situation. Often one begins to recognize this and ask oneself, “What about this causes such a reaction in me?”

II. Patterns of Compulsions: Everyone tends to be compulsive about something. (Success, esteem, cleanliness, appearance, uniqueness, etc.) Compulsions represent excessive attachments. Compulsions usually exist to protect the false self.

III. What is necessary for you to maintain the usual amount of stability or peace in your life? (Money, friendships, good emotional feelings, health, respect, position, etc.)

Conclusion: Peter’s transformational knowing of himself and Christ

I. Matthew 4:18-22- Peter knew Christ and would have said much about what he believed was true about Christ. He told his brother Andrew from the beginning that Jesus was the Christ.

II. John 13- Initially refusal to let Christ wash his feet, then is shocked at Jesus’ prediction of his betrayal. It seemed inconceivable to Peter that he would deny Christ. He must have assumed Christ was mistaken. Doubting Jesus was easier than doubting himself. He had not yet encountered the full extent of either his pride or his fear.

III. John 18:15-27- Catching Peter after his denial, we would probably find him self-absorbed in regret and anguish. Struggling to comprehend the depth of his betrayal, lack of courage, fear, and how easily his pride would have been wounded. In short, he had encountered his weakest and most despicable self, and he was likely filled with self-loathing.

IV. John 21:15-25- Peter’s encounter with the risen Christ gives us a glimpse into the connection between self-knowledge and knowledge of God. Jesus asks Peter three times if he loved him- one for each denial- and then gives the exact same invitation to Peter that had started their relationship. (Follow me).

Summary: Peter’s knowing of self and Christ has grown and so has his soul. By coming to experience the painful and worst parts of himself, he moves beyond believing into knowing the depth of Christ’s love by experience.

GP2RL: Ask God to help you see what makes you feel most vulnerable and most like running for cover then discuss with God.

This is not about introspection or self-analysis, this is about prayer! A conversation with the ONE who can heal you!

The word, yes the BIBLE, is meant to heal our DADDY WOUNDS! by HIS WOUNDS we are healed!

 Malachi 4:5-6 – “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

Matthew 27:46 – And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

John 14:18 – “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

The final words of the Old Testament are about John the Baptizer: “His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6).

We tend to think of people in a variety of categories: gender, race, income level, education level, nationality, political party, age, marital status, and so on. God tends to think of people in two categories: those who are cursed and those who are blessed.

What causes the most cursing is fathers. God’s final word was that families and nations are cursed for generations when fathers do not have a heart for their children, which in turn causes children not to have a heart for their fathers. The reason so many families are crumbling, along with churches and nations built on the family unit, is because a divided house falls, just as Jesus predicted.

Since we have three kinds of fathers, people can have three kinds of father wounds. A father wound is simply an unhealed hurt from a physical father, spiritual father, or father figure. These categories are not mutually exclusive, and someone can have multiple father wounds from multiple kinds of fathers.

Since no father is perfect, we are bound to have some degree of hurt and disappointment in one or more of these areas. For a moment, think of the most influential man or men in your life, whether he loomed large in his presence or absence, and ask yourself what was/is he like?

Coming to terms with the fact that fathers influence our lives no matter what kind of father they are is crucial in understanding how we communicate with our heavenly Father and relate to those around us. When we don’t deal with the flaws in our relationships with our earthly fathers, we spend our whole lives trying to avoid making the same mistakes in our relationships. But in the process, we become so fixated on the issues that we repeat them instead of finding healing from them in prayer.

The father wound explains various misunderstandings of God the Father as each is either a projection or rejection of a man on earth onto the Father in heaven. This thinking is completely backward. We are not to begin our understanding of God the Father by looking at men on earth and assuming He is like them. Instead, we are to look to God the Father and judge other men on earth by the character and conduct of our Father in heaven.

To heal the father wound, we need to forgive the father on earth who hurt us and start spending time with our Father in heaven who can heal us. A father wound allows a failed earthly father to stand between you and your heavenly Father. Although He is there for you, you cannot see Him because your bitterness blocks your view. In this way, a wound is the spiritual equivalent of an eclipse where an earthly father blocks the light that shines on you from your heavenly Father. Forgiveness is how you release that man, remove that eclipse, and receive a new relationship with God as Father.

On the cross, one of Jesus’ final seven words was, “why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). At that moment, Jesus took your place. At that moment, Jesus took on Himself all your sin, and the Son of God was forsaken—or orphaned as Jesus used the words interchangeably—so that the Father could adopt you into the Forever Family. Jesus Christ was orphaned so that you could be adopted by a Father who will never abandon you or orphan you. The most secure relationship in all eternity is between God the Father and you, His child.

Earthly dad rejection = inability to receive/feel love, God's love, etc... Deliverance is NOW!

 You may be asking yourself what is an orphan spirit? It's a demonic spirit that invades a person's mind causing them a sense of abandonment from their past hurts and experiences. It attacks the mind and emotions of the individual suffering with abandonment, rejection, and great disappointment.

An orphan spirit attaches to a person who has experienced extreme rejection in their life. It creates separation, worry, anxiety, and fear. Once this spirit enters into a person it becomes a stronghold in their mind and remains there until a new foundational truth of the Word of God is formed. If this mental fortress is not corrected and torn down by the individual who accepts it, it will continue on to the next generation until someone stands in the gap and says no more.

This is a false mindset that does not line up with the truth in Gods Word. This spirit is false belief system put in place by the enemy. The Word of God says that we are accepted in the beloved. So, it is a lie and deception from the enemy making us feel unaccepted. Please take the time to open your heart and get a revelation of God’s love for you and change the direction of your bloodline back to fellowship with God. Allow him to heal and cleanse your heart. This could be your missing link to freedom.

“AN ORPHAN SPIRIT IS AN IDENTITY THAT LIVES APART FROM JESUS LOVING US WITH HIS PERFECT LOVE.”

— ALENA MOORE

THE UNSEEN WAR

The Unseen War gives additional information about the Orphan Spirit. This book is now available on Amazon.

ORDER THE UNSEEN WAR

I personally experienced so much emotional turmoil from this false religious thinking caused by the enemy. Wanting freedom for myself and family is what kept me searching for the truth.

An orphan spirit is an identity that lives apart from Jesus loving us with his perfect love. Jesus paid a high price for our redemption, we are a kidnaped royalty. Upon salvation we begin a personal relationship with Christ, we begin to have revelation of the ransom he paid. God's love and acceptance of us stand before we were formed in our mother’s womb. God created us to belong and to be treasured. Only the father's presence, his love, his touch, and his voice can heal the orphan spirit.

So much of the body of Christ is feeling a lack of love and being truly accepted by God, this is a physical sign in the earth of what needs to happen spiritually. The spirit of adoption is the manifestation of the spirit of God and a prophetic declaration of healing and restoration back to sonship. The sons and daughters of God are being awakened in this hour to their rightful place in the kingdom of God. We will be coming into our full inheritance as God’s children when we are healed and restored back to him.

The orphan spirit makes you see others through the lens of deeply rooted resentment and anger because subconsciously you are angry of the fact that you have no father. This taints your perception you have of other male figures in your life including God the Father.

Once abandoned or rejected by your earthly father, a deep void is created. This makes it difficult for us to interact with our heavenly father because our trust is broken, and we will need healing to take place to fix that breach in order to bring full restoration back to us as his children. Knowing the father's love is especially important and necessary for a believer to function as a healthy member to society and as a member of the body of Christ.

“THE ORPHAN SPIRIT MAKES YOU SEE OTHERS THROUGH THE LENS OF DEEPLY ROOTED RESENTMENT AND ANGER.”

— ALENA MOORE

I have some questions for you to ask yourself… If you answer yes to several of these questions, you have gained a greater understanding of the grip this spirit has in your heart, your mind, will, and emotions.

Do I make choices out of insecurities? Am I jealous of other people's success? Do I try to earn God's love with works? Do I self-protect by drawing inward? Do I feel unworthy, not good enough? Do I feel avoid and try to fulfill it with work, physical appearance, self- gratification, narcissistic behavior, or self- indulgent behavior. Are you driven to success and have the mindset you will succeed at all cost? Do you use people to fulfill your goals? Do you repel your children or your spiritual children? Do you struggle with anger and fits of rage? Do other people in your family struggle with anger and rage?

This could be a generational curse. Do you always compete with others? Do you lack self-esteem? Do you see your identity in possessions, physical appearance, activities or work? Do you strive for perfection? Do you primarily identify yourself through your career, title, material possessions, your physical appearance, sports activities or pleasures? Do you place the value of your identity in these lies and deceptions of the enemy?

I know I did for the majority of my life. As you become aware and begin to recognize the attributes and limits the enemy has placed on you, I pray that you refuse to allow this spirit access to your mind by taking every ungodly thought captive.

Here are some attributes of how this spirit operates in you and through you, it affects all aspects of your decisions and relationships. I personally struggled with so many of these symptoms. God has taken me through a process of awareness, in order to bring healing and freedom.  

Addiction, self-indulgent behaviors through over eating, sex, lust, shopping etc, always searching for the meaning in life and searching for contentment, jealous, envy, disobedience, rebellion, abandonment, loneliness, isolation, alienation, drawing inward, rejection, critical spirit of other and self, very defensive about everything, always blames others for what is wrong, unable to receive correction from anyone, not teachable, fear, always feeling unworthy and not good enough, feels unloved, constant thoughts of self hatred because of failures and sins.

Many are unaware they are functioning emotionally with an orphan spirit. Even though they have been accepted and adopted as God’s sons and daughters, the fact and truth that they have been adopted into the family of God upon salvation. They are unaware of what this spirit is doing to them, and how it is controlling them.

An orphan spirit will limit your capacity to understand your identity and purpose, you won’t be able to maximize all that God has for you in your Kingdom purpose. God's love brings security, rest and citizenship. Love; is who God is; not only how he acts but his consistency covers our inconsistency, and he declares us lovable. We are created in his image and that image is love. To love and to be loved. Only the spirit of God can bring us revelation of the father's heart towards us, only the father can make us whole again and set us free from the orphan spirit.

Revelation is the first step in overcoming this spirit. We have to refuse this spirt access to our lives and refuse to participate with it. We must be willing to see what the enemy has done to us. If you refuse to admit the existence of the spirit and its operation in your life, it will be impossible for your to get free. You must bring all your past hurts of feeling abandonment to God and ask for healing.

Ask Jesus to stand with you in your past hurts and reach out to him for full restoration. Join me in this prayer, and allow God to work on your behalf and set you free! It is his desire is to set you free. We must surrender all to God and allow Jesus access to your wounded heart, to all the dead places in your heart and he will make you whole and set you free. that is my hope for all who read this.

PRAYER:

Father God help me to realize that I am struggling to connect with you in a healthy way because of the rejection that I have lived and experienced in my past. I ask you to start the healing process that I so desperately need and cleanse out the things in my life that are holding me back from you and a deeper relationship with you. Help me to recognize the open doors to this spirit, help me to see and identify those things that are hindering my identity and purpose in you. Father forgive me for not being able to feel and receive your love, your unconditional love that you have for me.  I ask you to forgive me for assuming that you are the same as other human beings, that have hurt me. Please help me overcome the orphan spirit! Jesus please forgive me for embracing the attitudes and the actions, heart motives of an orphan spirit. I want to experience your love and heart’s desire for me. To know that I am a part of a healthy spiritual family. I break all soul ties that I have formed with an orphan spirit. I bind my body, heart and spirit to God's will and purpose for my life in Jesus name. Lord I ask that you heal my mind, emotions, and my heart from the spirits of abandonment, rejection and fatherless. I break all soul ties with them, that have been formed in my mind and emotions from an orphan spirit. I Put the blood of Jesus on the origin of where an orphan spirit came in my life. I recognize and renounce an repent for an orphan spirit that has gained access and control over my life and bloodline. I break its power and control now by the power of the blood of Jesus now. I break a generational curse now. I repent for my ancestors on my mother and fathers side who participated with this spirit. I put the blood of Jesus on the root where it came in at. With dunamis power form heaven burn away that root, every branch connected to it, all residue from it. I declare it is broken now and cannot affect me or any future generations from this day forward. God, please help me to have the heart and mindset of a son and daughter. As your child help me to turn my heart toward you Heavenly Father and my relationship with my earthly father. Send me a spiritual father handpicked by you. Lord please help me to pray for and support all spiritual fathers that you have placed in my life. Please help me to model the attitude and heart that Jesus showed towards you as he walked the earth. Please reveal to me all areas of my heart that have been wounded. Please heal those areas and make me whole. Lord I ask that you help me to forgive everyone who I have considered or looked to as a spiritual father or any leader who wounded me or failed me. Lord please help me to commit to a church and a spiritual father. In Jesus name Amen.

THE ORPHAN SPIRIT
Ever since Adam and Eve were alienated from God the Father in the Garden of Eden, an orphan spirit has permeated the earth, causing untold damage!

By “orphan,” I am referring to a sense of:
1. abandonment
2. loneliness
3. alienation
4. isolation

Almost immediately after the fall in Eden, the fruit of this orphan spirit resulted in jealousy, culminating in Cain murdering his brother Abel because God the Father didn’t receive Cain’s offering. To make matters worse, in contemporary society, with the breakup of the nuclear family, large numbers of people are not only alienated from God but are brought up without the LOVING CARE AND SECURITY of their biological fathers.

Fathers, you are representing the fathering aspect of God to your children.
• Faithfulness
• Unconditional love
• Security
• Provision
• Discipline

You must ensure that your child grows up with a HEALTHY PERSPECTIVE OF WHO GOD IS, by virtue of how you represent God. I believe all of the EMOTIONAL, PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL ILLS of society can be traced to HUMANS FEELING ALIENATED from God and their biological fathers.

Orphaned men have a hard time connecting to:
• their spouses,
• their children,
• those in authority at church and work.

They also have a hard time accepting and loving themselves. There are presently millions of men in prison who are acting out lives of violence and rebellion because their earthly fathers abandoned them. The Only Way To Break This Orphan Spirit Is For Us To Be Filled With A Sense Of The Father’s Love In Christ.

THE ORPHAN SPIRIT IS PERHAPS THE GREATEST CURSE ON THE EARTH TODAY.
Only when a person is HEALED OF FATHERLESSNESS through the love of God is the orphan spirit broken so they can begin the process of entering mature sonship. Sonship is so important that all creation is presently crying out for the manifestation of the mature sons of God (Rom. 8:19)!

FEELING LIKE AN ORPHAN CAN BE DEBILITATING.‭ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
It has to do with sensing in your heart that you have:
• ‬No real heritage,‭ ‬‬‬‬‬‬
• ‬No sense of security in feeling protected
• No inheritance,‭ ‬‬‬‬‬‬
• No one really cares about your destiny.‭ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Most people affected with the orphan spirit also feel and fear abandonment‭‬.‬

HOW CAN ONE GET FREE FROM THE ORPHAN SPIRIT??
This is a fundamental question that virtually everyone is forced to answer.
• You don’t have to be fatherless to find yourself gripped with the debilitating “spirit of an orphan.”
• Those who are entrapped in this disposition are always striving to prove their worth.
• They believe that everything is a fight and are fearful that their efforts will never be adequate.

“Spiritual orphans” often get trapped in a performance mode and insist that advancement will only come through hard work.

This common outlook obscures the significance of relationship and inheritance.
· Orphans struggle with feelings of inadequacy.
· Orphans are compelled to strive to get anything.
· Orphans continually compare themselves with others.
· Orphans secretly compete with people around them.
· Orphans are always trying to do something that gives a sense of validation.
· Orphans are haunted by rejection and failure.

LIKE ONE OF THE KING’S SONS
Mephibosheth—a crippled orphan—was forced to contend with the inexplicable fact that there was something more.
An incredible offer was being presented. “Then David summoned Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (2 Samuel 9:5-10)

David was restoring the identity and value of Mephibosheth. The gracious king not only reinstated his fortune but also treated him as one of his family members. “So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons” (2 Samuel 9:11).

I believe this is a prophetic allegory.
WE LIVE IN A SEASON WHERE GOD IS RESTORING IDENTITY AND INHERITANCES.
• He wants to make you “like one of the king’s sons.”
• The question is whether you’re willing to take a seat at the table?
• Despite your frailties and fears, you can no longer allow yourself to be gripped by the orphan spirit.

GOD’S INTENTION OF FATHERHOOD
What is God’s plan for His people? It is for them to be His “family.” Family is God’s idea because He ordained and designed it: “I will be a Father to you and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty”
(2 Corinthians 6:18).

God is the Father of an entire great family which includes all those who name Jesus Christ as Lord.

Paul the apostle’s affectionate prayer for his beloved Ephesians states, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (Ephesians 3:14).

God is the Father from whom all fatherhood derives its meaning and inspiration.
We have to understand His fatherhood –His love, forgiveness and acceptance –if we are to understand healthy family relationships. Unfortunately, today’s generation has a warped understanding of Fatherhood because fathers have often abused their authority or have been absent, causing a breach of trust and security. This is an area in which many continues to struggle after coming to Christ. With poor role models in the world, God’s people, the church of Jesus Christ, must start to model an example of God’s intention for family.

No longer can we live independently of each other. God wants to restore fathering to the kingdom of God.
A spiritual father is like a natural father.The importance of fathers in a family is to bring strength, stability and balance to the family.

A natural father is meant to be a protector, counsellor, and guide to his children. Natural children are envisioned to grow up secure in the father’s love and guidance. If they lack a healthy father role model, these children cannot achieve their destiny. “Fatherlessness is the most destructive trend of our generation.”

RESTORING A SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY
God’s heart is to take a generation that has been cursed by a breakdown of family relationships and rebuild trust.
Jesus came to restore broken relationships: the relationship between God and man and the relationship between fathers and sons.

WE ARE ALL UP FOR ADOPTION
For as many as received Him gave he the power to become…………….No matter how perfect our background and childhood, we only find our full worth as children of the Father.‭ ‬ ‬‬‬‬‬‬The gift of the Spirit of God to us does so much more than healing and tongues.‭ ‬‬It changes our nature,‭ ‬names‭ and ‬home.
‬‬
THIS IS MY FINAL ILLUSTRATION.

Jephthah was the illegitimate son of Gilead and a prostitute.‭ ‬His half brothers say to him,‭ ‬”You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house,‭ ‬for you are the son of another woman‭”‬ (Judges‭ ‬11‭)‬.‭ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬The orphan spirit entered him in that moment. ‭
‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
• ‬Disinherited,‭ ‬rejected and ‬wounded in the house of his father. ‬
• Jephthah fled,‭ ‬and the Lord brought to him,‭ ‬like He did for David,‭ ‬an army.‭ ‬‬‬‬
• ‬Then Ammon invaded Israel and the elders came to him,‭ ‬begging for help.‭ ‬‬
• ‬They invited him back and accepted him as leader. ‭ ‬‬

Japhthah could have said,‭ “‬But you drove me out,‭ ‬you hated me‭,” ‬but he rose above that orphan voice. ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
‬He defeated the Ammonites,‭ ‬and Ephraimites‭ (‬42,000‭ ‬of them‭) ‬and became judge over Israel for six years.‭ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
No wonder Hebrews‭ ‬11:32‭ ‬says he was a man who‭ ‬”conquered kingdoms,‭ ‬performed acts of righteousness,‭ ‬obtained promises‭”‬.‭ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬He overcame the orphan spirit and embraced his destiny.
‭‬‬‬‬‬‬
“‬For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear,‭ ‬but you have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry,‭ ‬Abba,‭ ‬Father‭! ‬ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.‭ ‬And if we are children,‭ ‬then we are heirs‭; ‬heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ‭.”‬(Romans‭ ‬8:15-17‭)
‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
“Praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,‭ ‬who blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.‭ ‬For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world,‭ ‬to be holy and blameless in His sight.‭ ‬In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ‭ ‬…‭”‬ (Ephesians‭ ‬1:3-5‭)

‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

THE ORPHAN SPIRIT.

7/21/2017

1 Comment

 

THE ORPHAN SPIRIT
RaJean Vawter &  Jack Frost
                         
                       
The deep feeling of being a spiritual orphan is one of the greatest hindrances to having our hearts healed and being free to walk in expressed love, intimacy, and healthy horizontal relationships.
             
We see spiritual orphans all around us all the time and don’t realize it. The Arab/Israeli conflict, for instance, is rooted in the orphan spirit that came on Ishmael when he was abolished from his father’s house. As we go through this study, we’ll see how we can identify this as such. First the natural, then the spiritual. The same war is within the church. The same war is within you and me as we are fighting for a place in the Father’s heart. When I say orphan spirit, it can be a demonic spirit, but it is also a heart attitude. There can be an orphan spirit over an individual person or over a city, a nation and/or a people group.


So what are some characteristics of an orphan spirit? First of all, let’s look at the origin of the orphan spirit because doing so will give us a good idea of what we’re talking about.


Lucifer was the first spiritual orphan. He lived and worked in an atmosphere of pure love and acceptance. But when he decided that he wanted what God had, he was cast out. Have you ever thought about the pain he felt when he went from the place of perfect love to the place of no love, nothing but hurt and emptiness and loneliness and fear? He became an orphan in every sense of the word. Well, misery loves company so he had to get everybody else into that same boat so he caused Adam and Eve to go along with him. In 1 Timothy 2:14 it says that Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. But in Romans 5:12- 19 we see that Adam willfully sinned. The man actually entered into the sin, but the woman was deceived. How? By orphan thinking.


 Then God came along, and said, “Son, where are you hiding?” Adam said, “It’s this woman’s fault.” As soon as he did that, the ability of women to ever trust man went out the window.  As soon as we blame another person for our behavior, we have violated trust in the relationship, and all intimacy is cut off, and shame comes in. “You’ll become like God, your Father,” Satan said. In every one of us is a sincere desire: we want to be like the Father. Eve wanted to be like her Father. But Father said “Don’t eat of this tree.” But Eve said, “If I do it my way, I’ll be like the Father, and He will appreciate me more.”


You see how orphan thinking goes? It is a short-cut spirit. We think our way will get us to what we want more quickly. Even then, Eve wanted a place in the Father’s heart. She wanted to please the Father. She wanted to be like the Father. But an orphan will try to convince us to start thinking like them. “OK, you are going to become like your Father, but just do it the way you want to do it, not the way He wants you to do it.” You can easily see independence and sell-will come into play here.


Going on with the story. . . God saw the shame they were carrying, and in Genesis 3: 21 He shed the blood of an animal and He robed them. Right there is a perfect illustration that no matter how far we live outside the Father’s house, no matter how often we listen to the accuser of the brethren, the Father wants to cover us. 1 Peter 4:8 tells us that love covers. He doesn’t want to leave us uncovered.  Hebrews 11:16 tells us that God is not ashamed to be called our God. Hebrews 2:11 says Jesus isn’t ashamed to be called our brother. He does not judge us. John 5:22 says the Father does not judge us; the Father judges no one.  Does He discipline? Yes, but He will not condemn, He will not accuse. He wants to cover us with a robe of righteousness.


Because Adam blamed his wife, his wife wouldn’t take ownership either; she blamed the one who deceived her. Because neither of them would take ownership, they chose orphan thinking over being restored into the Father’s love. So what did the Father have to do? One of the most horrible verses in the Bible is Genesis 3:24. God drove them out of the garden. Nobody wants to leave the place of perfect love, but when Adam and Eve chose orphan thinking over Father thinking it was Isaiah 59:2 happening. Our sin separates us from God. He doesn’t want us separated from Him. But their choice meant they had to leave the home of perfect love.


When man left Dad’s house which was the place of perfect love, every human being ever born from that day forward was born with that Adamic nature. Every human being is born with an orphan heart. This means that we don’t loose a spirit of son-ship. We never had it. Ask a two-year-old. Go put up those toys. No! Do this. No! Do that. No! From the time they are old enough to fight against us, they are warring against being subject to an earthly father and mother’s mission. From the time Adam and Eve came into agreement with the first spiritual orphan till now, all of mankind are born as orphans, and we can’t cast this out.


But good news! In John 14:18, on the last day of His life. Jesus said, “I will not leave you as orphans, but I will come to you.” That’s the turning point of 4,000 years of history. For 4,000 years, mankind lived life as if they didn’t have a home.


Jesus on that final night said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” Why did He say that? Because orphans do not have the faith to get to the Father on their own. Orphans have no faith for anyone to meet their need because the only way orphans get anything is to take it. So He said, “I’ll come to you.” And He doesn’t stop there. John 14:21 says, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father and I will love him and manifest (or reveal) Myself to him.”  He is speaking of the love He has for us. That word manifest in Greek means to exhibit in person, or disclose by words, appear, declare plainly, inform, manifest openly. That sounds like He’ll show us Himself in some way that our five senses can pick up doesn’t it?


Did you notice the word “mission” when I spoke of the Lord’s command not to eat of that certain tree? That was God’s mission for Adam and Eve. It was God’s mission for Satan to have great authority and be a worship leader. But, what happened? Lucifer sought his own mission over God’s mission. Hebrews 12:9 says be subject to the Father of Spirits and live. Another way of saying that is, be subject to the Father’s mission and live.  In Greek, the words sub-mission, subjection and subject all mean the same thing. They all have to do with being underneath and dependent.


So what is the Father’s mission? In  Matthew 22:37-40, the lawyer asked Jesus, “What’s the first and greatest commandment?” Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind. And love others as you do yourselves.” There’s the Father’s mission right there. A person who knows God is a person who is at home in love. When I say the word house or home I’m speaking of a place of warmth, protection, comfort, security, identity, a place where we are given a sense of purpose, or destiny, a reason to get out of bed, a place where we receive affirmation, a place where we are encouraged that whenever things are going wrong that day, we know that we have a place that we can run to. We know that there is always a place at home. Whether in our workplace, our church, our home or wherever, we have a sense of, “I’m valued, I’m honored, I belong, I’m accepted, I don’t have to perform to be loved and accepted, I don’t have to meet up with a lot of rigid demands; I am loved the way I am, not the way I should be.” We have a sense of total love and acceptance. The whole mission of all creation is about receiving love and bringing us into unity with the Father. Didn’t Jesus say, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35).  However we feel about ourselves is what we are going to do and require of others and how we treat others. If we are hearing the voice of the Father of creation tell us how much He loves us, we will be subject to His mission, and we will give our life to make the Father’s love known to the next person we meet. When we are subject to the Father’s mission, we understand that the great commandment comes before the great commission.


Obviously, much, much more can be said about this but to cut to the chase, what are the characteristics of the orphan spirit?

• Being more concerned with ministry than in meeting the needs of our family.
• Not feeling as if we belong.
• Not feeling accepted.
• Feeling like we are on the outside looking in.
• Trying to be good enough
• Trying to act right, talk right; do right in order to have a place in a person’s heart.
• Envious of someone who has any sense of love and intimacy. Satan sets himself against anyone who thinks that they have any right to the Father’s heart or the Father’s inheritance.
• An unbiblical view of what God thinks about us. Since nobody loves us, nobody cares about us; Satan tries to steal our idea of what God thinks about us from s. This then leads to. . .
• A closed heart. Someone doesn’t treat us nicely or doesn’t appreciate us so we close our heart to them.  
• An independent, self-reliant attitude.
• Control, especially of relationships.
• Superficial relationships.
• Striving.
• Anger.
• Fear.
• Defiance, fighting, wrangling, arguing.
• Bondage.
• Living as if we don’t have a home.
• Looking for love in all the wrong places. Chasing after counterfeit affections and engaging in passions of the flesh.
• Trying to take what a true son has. (Arab & Jew)
• Loving when things go well; lack of trust when things go wrong.
• Inability to receive discipline. Hebrews 12:6-8 – For whom the Lord loves He chastens. And scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
• Blaming others.
• Refusal to deal with our heart, our own hurt and rejection.
• Life lived based upon what others think about us – or what we think they think about us.
• Focusing on the faults of those in authority.
• The disappointment, discouragement or grief caused by other’s faults is received as rejection or woundedness.
• Inability to receive love, comfort and admonition from others.
• A life of oppression, getting up every morning battling a sense of heaviness, darkness which results in great difficulty receiving love, acceptance and admonition from God and others.

·       Lack of basic trust.


BASIC TRUST:
If I accidentally step on your toe, I can ask you to forgive me.  You say, “Yes,” Then I respond with, “Thank you. Do you still trust me as a woman of integrity?” “Yes.” But next time you have your foot sticking out and I walk by, you’re going to withdraw your foot. You can trust me as a person, but loose basic trust for me to get too close without withdrawal and protecting yourself. Life is a life of pain and rejection. But what do we do with it?


Basic trust in relationships has usually been lost by the time we are five or six years old. So if anybody gets too close, we move behind our walls of protection. Don’t trust, don’t talk, and don’t feel. Basic trust doesn’t mean the ability to believe or trust another person. It’s the capacity to hold our heart open to another person, especially if we believe their motives or intentions are not pure. Basic trust isn’t an issue between us and other people. Basic trust is an issue between us and God. When we truly come into this revelation of the Father’s love, our basic trust is in “What does Father think about me?” When I come into this place of living life as if I have a home, suddenly somebody can be coming at me and I don’t have to take on the same spirit. If I’m subject to the Father’s mission, surrendering to His love, then supernatural grace comes in those circumstances. Whether it is during the situation with someone who is aggressively coming at me or whether it is a situation at home. I can stay in a realm of total rest when I come into this place of son-ship. It is an issue of basic trust.


Taking it a bit further, basic trust is when we risk being vulnerable with an open heart even when it hurts us to stay open and not close our spirit. Basic trust is when we are able to move beyond weaknesses in others and receive God’s healing touch one moment at a time and not run away. When aggressiveness comes at me, I retreat back into the Father’s love. When one person chooses to retreat into the Father’s love, the other one backs down. Even when someone may be misrepresenting the Father’s love to us, when we come into this place of son-ship we can surrender to that.


Orphan spirit cannot be cast out, because it is a result of a structure or system of ungodly beliefs that we have been developing over a lifetime. It has become who we think we are.  An orphan heart has to be displaced by personal experience in our Father’s love and a revelation of a spirit of son-ship.


When we begin to live life as if we don’t have a home, then everybody around us must fit into the same mold. Did you ever go to your mother or father in need only to come to them at the wrong moment or a moment when they were feeling anxiety, fear, turmoil? And because there was already so much pain in their life when you came they pushed you aside. When did you cease being your mother and father’s son or daughter? I’ll tell you when it was. It was when you touched your mother or father’s hidden core pain and you rejected a spirit of son-ship, daughter-ship. Years later it can still be an area of distrust in your heart toward them which means you are also not surrendering to the Heavenly Father's love, day by day, moment by moment.


The orphan spirit is what causes a child to want all the benefits the parents can give but not submit to their authority or open their hearts to them. It’s what causes a person to take and take from the gifting of another without seeking God as to how to give back. It is knowing that we are to give back but not asking God what or how to do so. Instead, we give what we would want and on our terms. Orphans deceive. Orphans are unreal. Orphans say all the right things, but we can just feel we don’t have their heart.


At some point we need to come to a crisis moment where we either choose to let the Father’s love displace the earthly father’s love and displace that orphan’s heart or we come into a place of deception and we embrace the orphan heart as our way of thinking and living. It is why our children by 12 years old begin to reject our values, our morals, our boundaries. They take on an attitude that says, “Why can’t mom and dad just do it my way sometimes?”  How much of that is an impartation because it was also our heart with others?  It was our heart since we too ceased receiving our mother and father when we were children, and now we are reaping in our own sons and daughters what we sowed in our youth.


It’s not a matter of salvation. We can even battle oppression every day of our life because we can’t cast out an orphan heart. We can only introduce an orphan to a Father. Do you know any perfect mothers or fathers or pastors? What happened when we were in need of comfort or love and we ran to them only to receive hurt or rejection?


Romans 8:14-15 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” In order to come into this place of son-ship, we have to be led by the Spirit of God which is by a fathering spirit. So what is the opposite of that? Those who are led by the chief orphan spirit, the first spiritual orphan are not sons. Then, when we cut off intimacy in one relationship, it becomes a cold love that defies all relationships, and then all our relationships become conditional. We will only have love and acceptance for those people who are acting right, talking right, doing right, agreeing with us, but those who don’t, we keep out.  We are still living in the father’s house. But we’re living as an orphan.


When God moves powerfully in people’s lives, why do so many of them still end up divorced, destroyed and living victory-less lives? They aren’t able to receive discipline, because spiritual orphans can’t receive change. They receive the nature of God as His power, and they relish in the power, but when they get home it doesn’t turn to discipline and change. {A note to divorced people – Many times it is a spouse who will not accept discipline and change even while you are. But, by the same token, many whose spouse will not change often refuse to deal with what needs to be changed in themselves because what they need to change is so small compared to the needed change in the spouse.}


Anything in us that is not subject to the Father’s mission must change. When we’re not willing to change, to look at the three fingers pointing back at ourselves, then true intimacy with the Father is non-existent. Instead, people focus on His acts, on gifts, discipline, duty, and/or in hyper-religious activity, instead of relationship. There is no healthy relationship with God, because we don’t know how to have a healthy relationship.  We keep our distance from Father God and try to handle the pain and disappointment ourselves.  So then our image of Father God (derived from life experiences compounded by our ungodly belief system) produces within us fear or condemnation and inability to receive His compassionate, forgiving love. How do you daily hear His voice clearly saying to you, “You are the son or daughter whom I love and in whom My favor rests!” so that we are no longer living like a spiritual orphan, but are at home in Father’s love?


Application:


Let your memory get in touch with a defining moment when basic trust was lost and your ability to receive love and healing was hindered. Where was Jesus that day? Meditate on Psalms 22:9-10; 139:13-24; Isaiah 49:15-16; Hebrews 13:5-6; Psalms 27:10; John 14:18-23; Jeremiah 1:5; 31:3; Isaiah 53:4-5; 66:11-13.
             
Get in touch with the pain and loneliness of the moment when you cut yourself off from receiving a parent’s love.
             
Look throughout the memory and see if you can see what Jesus was doing when you were closing your heart to love. Can you see Him? What is He saying to you? Be still and listen! Allow Him to speak words of comfort, acceptance, and belonging. If you feel like you are not receiving anything, just think “Jesus loves me, this I know.”
             
Allow your Father to express His Father heart for you. Hear Him say to you:  “You are the son or daughter whom I love and in whom My favor rests! You were created by my love and for love! I am perfection, and I perfectly and unconditionally love and accept you. There is nothing you can do to be loved but to receive it!”
             

Allow Him to rejoice over you with singing as you are still before him to experience His love and let him restore basic trust (Zephaniah 3:17).

 

Deliverance from an orphan spirit

 Some of the most notorious serial killers of our time have something in common, beside their thirst for blood: They were all adopted. David Berkowitz (a.k.a. Son of Sam), Ted Bundy, Aileen Wuornos, Joel Rifkin and the Boston Strangler are just a handful of the prominent serial murderers who also happen to be orphaned by their parents for one reason or another.

Why is this series important? Because if the enemy can cause a breakdown in child-parent relationships, he strikes at the core of God’s desire for us as individuals and as a people. He first brings division, then comes death.

Why do we have daddy issues? It is due to dysfunction in the parent-child relationship - many times during the formational years. This dysfunction can happen on the part of the parent, the child, or both. It can take the form of trauma, absenteeism, rejection or rebellion.

This can, and often times does, open a door for an orphan spirit.

An orphan in the natural means to not have parents. An orphan spirit, however, can come in when there is sin, abuse, neglect. You can live in a home with two parents and still be a spiritual orphan because of a felt lack of godly parenting. The indifference, neglect, or abuse can be real or merely perceived. The enemy specializes in causing individuals to interpret the actions of others as a personal attack, even when it is not. An orphan spirit can also come in through the rebellion of the child and the rejection of the parents authority.

It is a mindset that develops from the influence of sin during development so that the individual’s growth and maturity are greatly hindered, and do not fully form or function as God intends. It fosters a fear, suspicion, anger towards, or even hatred for authority. It causes the individual to not feel as if they belong, and even prevents them from being able to form deep and healthy connections with others. It causes parents to selfishly separate from or push away their children. It causes children to reject and hate their parents, and any form of authority as a whole. This causes individuals to seek validation, comfort, and community outside of what God desires. People become isolated and or codependent. They turn to abusive or manipulative relationships in search of love. They turn to gangs for community. They turn to drugs, alcohol, sex, food, work, exercise, and excess – anything to fill the void – a void that can only be filled by God and by healthy parent-child relationships.

This orphan spirit, then, tends to transfer from one generation to the next.

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…

God’s solution to break the generational curse is found in Malachi 4
Malachi 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

Malachi 4:4 Remember the Law of Moses…

Exodus 20:3-6 “You shall have no other gods before Me… For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

This spirit requires the Lord to visit the third and fourth generation, to give an opportunity to break the self-destructive, and self-replicating cycle.

As I stated earlier, the rejection can come from the child toward the parent.

Adam rejected God as Father and rebelled against His authority, even though Adam was in a perfect environment with a perfect father. Death and separation were the result. One of Adam’s children ended up murdering the other. The cycle of death and brokenness has been transferred through the generations and is still going on today.

The rejection can also happen as the parents reject, neglect, abuse, or ignore their children in various ways.

David failed as a father in many ways. His sons were not orphans but we still see this orphan spirit moving in their lives. One of his sons raped their sister and David did nothing about it. This brought about hatred, murder, and his son Absalom even staged a coup to overthrow David’s kingdom. David’s selfishness resulted in some pretty messed up kids that almost cost him his life and kingdom. His legacy was that his grandson, Rehoboam, would later spark a civil war that divided the nation of Israel.

When parents are selfish, or absent for any reason (like death or even deployment), it can create a wound and a void in the soul of the child.

Genesis 21:14 So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away.

Ismael was sent away by his father when he was 14 years old. Abraham was 86 when Ishmael was born, and 100 when Isaac was born.

Ismael was a product of Abraham and Sarah trying to fulfill God’s word in their own strength. Being sent away wounded him greatly. He needed his father in this critical time of adolescence. His wound allowed a spirit of rejection enter his life, as well as an orphan spirit.

His descendants became the Arabian Muslim nations that are still in contention with Israel to this day. The tension in the Middle-East is not political, economic, or even religious – It is a orphan spirit, a spirit of rejection that has been passed down from generation to generation. It roots go deep and it has grown bolder and stronger into a principality. It is the son that was rejected that violently kicks against the son who has the father’s blessing.

Many of us are walking around with an orphan spirit or a spirit of rejection. Either because of what our parents or spiritual authority did or didn’t do, or because of how we chose to interpret or respond to them or even God. Paul writes what it looks like when this spirit runs rampant through culture.

2 Timothy:1-5 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.

All of these selfish, religious, and self-destructive behaviors can be directly linked to daddy issues.

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Again, an orphan spirit can come in through rejection. Whether by the parent or the child. Mentor or mentee. Spiritual leader or follower. We are proud and rebellious by nature without any help or disfunction from anyone else. You couple that with trauma and rejection somewhere in the parent-child dynamic, this orphan spirit can become a stronghold.

Orphan Spirit vs Sons & Daughters:

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

“I will never leave you nor forsake you” (6 times in OT)
John 14:16-18 I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth… you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

Malachi 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet (John the Baptist, filled with the Spirit from the womb) before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

John 17:21 [I pray] that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

The Son is in the Father, God sends His Spirit so that we can be sons and daughters of God and fathers and mothers in God.

God hates rejection and the mistreatment His children.

Exodus 22:22-24 “You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

Many times in the Law

Malachi 3:5 I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness… Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans,

Matthew 18:6 Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

So if God hates rejection and the orphan spirit, why did God allow Ishmael to be rejected? Ishmael was born out of rebellion against God. Gos was separating for Himself a people that would bring about Messiah. Isaac was the son of the promise, Ishmael was the son of the flesh.

Galatians 4:22-31 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman… But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic… Nevertheless, what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

An orphan spirit wants to enslave, to destroy, and to contaminate legacy. God comes to bring life, hope, and inheritance.

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

How do we overcome an orphan Spirit? The Spirit of Adoption.

Romans 8:14-17 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Galatians 4:3-7 When we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Malachi 4 is our theme scripture. It talks about the Elijah spirit.
What is the Elijah Spirit?
Prophetic, confronts sin, speaks to authority, engages in intercession… yes!
But it is primarily the Holy Spirit of Father God and His Son Jesus.
It is the Spirit of Adoption by which we cry our “Abba, Father!”

Orphans look to others to make their own dreams come true.
Sons and daughters seeks to fulfill the dreams for the parents.

John 6:37-38 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

John 5:19 “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

Jesus, as the Son, did not come to serve His own dream. He had a vision for His life, and that was to fulfill the dream of His Father. The Holy Spirit helped Him and empowered Him to do this. This was prophesied long before Jesus came on to the scene.

Joel 2:28-29 “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

The Holy Spirit was not given only for power and prophecy. He was given so we could have a vision to see that our Heavenly Father’s will got accomplished, as well as the authority that we are placed under. Jesus did the will of Father God, and father Joseph and mother Mary.

God in Heaven is Father, Jesus is the Son – He reveals Himself in family terms. When He spoke of sending the Holy Spirit, He also spoke in terms of a gift from the Father to His children.

Luke 11:9-13 So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

God gives us His Spirit so we can get a vision of how to accomplish dream of our natural / spiritual fathers and mothers (as they align with God’s). He then grows us up to become mothers and fathers and His Spirit starts giving us God-dreams of our own that He will call us to raise sons and daughters to help accomplish them. He will fill them so they can get a vision and see how. And the spiritual reproductive cycle continues.

Luke 16:12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?

How to break and orphan spirit:
• Repent our sin, selfishness, and offense, letting go of the wrongful case against God
• Forgive: parents, ourselves, and
• Ask God for healing
• Adopt God back as Father
• Become a spiritual son / daughter
• Submit to legitimate natural and spiritual authority
• Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and give you vision on how to accomplish the dream of your parents, pastors, teachers, or supervisors.
• Engage and execute – put feet to your faith and move forward, trusting God for your process.

irst “Orphaned” Spirit

Scripture shows us that Lucifer was a special angel in charge of worship in heaven.

Pride in developed in Lucifer’s heart and he wanted to take God’s position.

So, Lucifer is banished from heaven.

Lucifer (who is now called Satan) leaves God’s presence.

Lucifer rejected God. He rejected love. He rejected Father.

SO, Lucifer becomes the first orphan. An orphaned spirit.

Sonship

Now we move forward in time to creation.

God made the first man Adam in His own image and put His own breath (life) in him.

Adam was born into sonship in relationship with His Father.

Adam was a son and lived as a son. There was no orphanness.

Revenge

We know from Genesis chapter 3 that Satan take out His revenge against God by attempting to destroy those made in the image of God.

Reading between the lines we can imagine that Satan wants God’s children to become orphans just as he was.

Orphan Spirit in Man

As Adam and Eve were tempted, they began to have their own orphan experience.

No longer were they living fully in the loving fathering presence of God as sons and daughters.

The orphan spirit had entered the world.

Orphan World

Every person born after Adam and Eve would now also have this capacity for orphan-ness. To live apart from the fathering of God.

Eventually the earth would become an orphan world with many people living apart from a relationship with God.

What is the orphan spirit?

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty of what an orphan spirit is (and what it is not).

Teresa Liebscher says:

The orphan spirit embodies the mindset of a son or daughter separated from his or her loving Father. Out of this sense of abandonment, lies, sin, and selfish acts flourish to medicate the loss of identity, provision, and protection.

The orphan spirit is mindset or a disposition that effects the spirit, soul (mind, will & emotions) of people.

It is a distortion of the image of God in people.

It is a way of thinking, feeling and then acting and living that is more like an orphan than a loved son or daughter.

It is a way to describe behaviours that come from unhealed inner motivations and drives.

Romans 12:2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Orphan mindsets are the “pattern of this world”, not of God’s world.

The orphan spirit is not a specific demonic spirit. Although continually living with an orphan mindset can lead to actions that may open the door to the demonic.

Example: Continued rejection is an orphan mindset that can lead to someone having a spirit of rejection.

How does it work?

The “orphan spirit” something we can “grow into” in an orphan world through negative life experiences.

We begin to hear an internal voice: “I’m not good enough, I need to work harder, I don’t belong …”

When we listen to this voice it effects our mind (the way we think), our will (the choices we make) and our emotions (how we feel).

Over time we can develop a stronghold in this area that exerts control over our life.

This often takes the form of believing and then living from these lies rather than God’s truth.

Lies are designed to keep people in fear, isolation, lack, condemnation, competition etc.

They may be successful life strategies to some degree, but are far below the abundant life God has for people.

Example: If I don’t push everyone down around me I will never succeed.

Orphan Attitudes & Behaviors

Luke 6:44-45 …

Every tree will be revealed by the quality of fruit that it produces. Figs or grapes will never be picked off thorn trees. People are known in this same way. Out of the virtue stored in their hearts, good and upright people will produce good fruit. But out of the evil hidden in their hearts, evil ones will produce what is evil. For the overflow of what has been stored in your heart will be seen by your fruit and will be heard in your words.

Jesus said that want is in the heart will come out and be seen by people.

It is like this with the orphan spirit. What is internal become external.

Where there is certain kind of fruit it is associated with a certain root.

Here are some orphan mindsets (lies) :

• I don’t belong
• I need to work hard to be accepted
• I am unworthy
• I am not loved
• I need to fight to succeed
• Peopel never like me
• Everyone is against me

Orphan mindsets show themselves as orphan-like behaviours.

• Jealousy
• Anger
• Fear
• Isolation
• Competition
• Over protectiveness
• Bullying
• Self-hate
• Dependence on substances

These are some of the fingerprints or the fruit of the orphan spirit.

It is important to identify the root (orphan mindset) and not just focus on the fruit (orphan behaviour).

The orphan mindset can be seen from the perspective of disempowering and empowering mindsets and behaviors.

Disempowered Orphan Mindset

People act like victims.

Examples: rejection, self-hate, isolation, unworthiness, suicide etc.

Empowered Orphan Mindset

People act like bullies.

Empowered orphan mindsets can look like power or success, but can be harder to identify as orphan mindsets.

Examples:  performance, dominating others, independence, control, aggressiveness.

What are orphans like?

Here are some characteristics of orphans that are also foundations of an orphan spirit.

Orphans know about love but have little personal experience of real love.

Orphans think like a slave or a servant.

Orphans never really belong. 

Orphans live as if that everyone is against them. 

Orphans live life by following rules to avoid punishment

Orphans have no family identity

Orphans fight for position and power in life

Orphans seek comfort in things that are often harmful to them

Jesus & the Father’s Promise

John 14:18

“I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you.”

When Jesus said these words to was also Father God speaking.

He was saying. I will not leave you in this world like orphans. I will come to you.

The only way to stop being LIKE an orphan is to: 

Be INTRODUCED to a true Father – to a perfect, loving heavenly Father.

AND to be TRANSFORMED into a son or daughter by the Father by living in His blessing.

God wants want every vestige of the orphan spirit out of our lives so we can be whole. This is His desire for every person.

Only has a person has a relational connection with God can orphan mindsets be properly identified, replaced with truth, wounds healed and people made whole.

The Journey

There are aspects of orphan mindsets still operating in all of us from time to time.

The good news is that we don’t need to be perfect to minister to others. We do need to be on honest and open before God and to stay on the journey to wholeness.

The more orphan mindsets are displaced in our lives with what God has for us, the greater will be our testimony and expectation that God will do this again and again for us and for others.

Freedom from Orphan Mindsets

When we do an activation at the end of this session I’ll share some keys to use to bring freedom from orphan mindsets in a SOZO context.

Now let’s look at the Father’s Blessing

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FATHERS BLESSING

Big Picture

Ephesians 1:4-5

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

God is a good Father.  He wants to bless people. He especially blesses His children who are in relationship with Him

The Father’s intention is to have sons (and daughters) and for them to grow in relationship with Him.

He designed the world as a place where sons & daughters can be reconciled to Him, restored and grow into maturity.

In relationship with God is the only place where the orphan spirit is displaced and replaced.

Seven Needs

There are seven key things that every person needs. We see this especially children in the type of home they need to grow into healthy people.

These needs are primarily supplied through the blessing of a father.

• Peace
• Identity
• Security
• Affirmation
• Protection
• Destiny
• Comfort

These needs are primarily supplied through the blessing of a father.

Father’s Blessing

Mark 1:11

And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

In this passage we see the Father’s blessing spoken over His son Jesus.

Obviously Jesus didn’t need to be freed from orphan mindsets, but He still needed the Fathers blessing.

People need know and experience the Father’s blessing to be truly free from orphan mindset and also to become whole and mature sons and daughters.

Orphan mindsets OUT Fathers blessing (and all this contains) IN.

Lack of Parents Blessing

Life experiences have played a huge role in our capacity to receive and live in the Father God’s blessing.

Lack of our earthly Father’s blessing and bad father experiences can cause us to see God wrongly (e.g. as a father who is angry, judges, is distant etc.)

We need to seeing the Father as He really is (not based at all on the orphan voice).

Our Goal

Our goal is to connect people to the Father’s love and blessing for them.

To help them hear what God is saying who He is for them and how he seems them and their situations.

What are sons and daughters like?

Here are some of the characteristics of sons and daughters who are experiencing the Father’s blessing.

Sons and daughters live in the daily experience of the love and affirmation.

Sons and daughters know the pleasure of their Father no matter how hard they work.

Sons and daughters are at home wherever they are. They belong.

Sons and daughters know that their Father knows them and loves them completely even when the world is against them.

Sons and daughters live by faith – completely trusting their Heavenly Father for provision, protection, affirmation and identity.

Sons and daughters are accepted as a part of the family and find their identity in their relationship with their Father.

Sons and daughters simply receive their inheritance from their Father with no need to struggle against others.

Sons and daughters get comfort that lasts from their loving Father.