Dispelling the spirit of an Orphan heart

As I led the class on "Spiritual Warfare" we again began to see the importance of our identity in Christ. In Galatians 4:5-6 "so He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying 'Abba! Father!'" We here this and if we don't look very deeply we say what difference does this make in my life. My son is the best example I have of this Scripture for, we adopted him over 4 years ago from Kazakhstan. He was in an orphanage for the beginning of his life, we had been led to pray for two years before he joined our family. We overwhelmed with the idea of choosing a son, so we put this huge decision in the Lord's hands and followed His direction. I remember when we had hit delay after delay in attempting to adopt from Russia, then the Lord opened a door for us to adopt from Kazakhstan. On the day we said yes, we had a referral and I opened an email with a picture of my son. As I looked at the picture I was moved deep inside my heart that this was my son. Later the Lord showed me that Joshua, my son, was chosen and didn't perform to get a place in our family. A better description of the original language is to "set in place as a son", the Law was all about following the Law in a failed attempts to become righteous before God. Joshua was chosen by God as our son, just as I was chosen by the Holy Spirit to be one of the children of God. When Joshua first came home for the initial honeymoon period he acted more like an orphan thinking he needed to hit or scratch to get what he wanted. Joshua only liked food that was like what he was used to in the orphanage. Although the moment the plane landed in America Joshua became a citizen of the U.S., our legally adopted son, and an heir in our family it took him some time to adjust to being a full member of our family. Though there was a process of bonding on both sides, I knew deep down that he was my son. Most people struggle with having a clear sense of their identity and destiny. It is simply amazing love that God would choose to place us in His family, make us heirs, give us authority, and bring us into intimacy with Himself. So many of us have received deep wounds in our family, that family gives us a distorted picture and experience of what we believe God's family is like. So many are spiritual orphans choosing to go life on their own, rather than fully receive God's incredible invitation of family. This Father God is love and has a heart that burns to bring sons and daughters into His family. As I had an intense week because of the lead up to teaching "Spiritual Warfare" I found myself under intense emotional torment, not totally unfamiliar to me. Growing up very much with an Orphan heart, I have struggled to be embraced by the Father's incredible invitation. As a child I had experienced so much loneliness, fear, insecurity, worry, and anxiety because of living with an orphan heart. As I couldn't sleep the darkness seemed to overtake me and it was like the father of lies was whispering in my ear that I was on my own and I was not going to be okay. The fear seemed to increase to the point of a writhing fear of death, the orphan spirit strikes terror in another heart. I worked with a couple this week who the man struggled with an orphan heart because he never measure up as a servant, while his wife's orphan heart struggled with loneliness and being unloved. As a servant he was always trying to measure up then hoping for his inheritance (acceptance and love as a son), he was on the continual treadmill of performance. All of these schemes of the Enemy are pictures of who we are that keep us from enjoying being sons and daughters of God. Identity is everything because the life you live is based on who you are, either the construction of this self is a prison or sets you free to pursue the destiny set in your heart. As my wife read a book on Andre Agassi, she shared that Andre hated tennis but was driven by an unrelenting father to become the best tennis player in the world. Tennis became his whole life, yet the little boys heart just wanted the acceptance and love of being a son. He would even surround himself with older men looking for a father to give him what he never had. I believe that my father's suicide left me searching for a father and shattered my identity as a son. A mother is so important in a family to communicate unconditional love, tenderness, and nurture. But it is a father who God placed in the family to speak God's heart over the children and bless them with their identity. Adam was given authority to name the animals. In the Hebrew culture father's were the one who named the children and communicated a unique aspect of God's love and truth. Because the New Covenant is the Abrahamic Covenant fulfilled, it is by faith or belief and not performance (The Law). Believing the powerful lies that are based on our experience can send us hurling into an internal darkness and torment. These lies have there power in the fact that we have been given authority on earth, so what I choose to believe guides my life. The paraphrase version of a Proverb, as a man thinkth so he is. How we see ourselves is vital to our very existence and life. Stand against the orphan spirit, as a child of God your life depends on it.

A son of the Most High,
Bret