7/49 Christian Foundations continues in Facing the Orphan Spirit
To begin this section, let me tell you a story. ‘Jenny’ grew up in a semi-Christian home where she went to 
Sunday School every Sunday. It was probably more so that her parents had Sunday morning to themselves, away from their 4 children that they were sent to church. For whatever reason, little seeds grew in Jenny until she was a 20 year old and working in the church office.
She enjoyed her work and ‘served well’. She even had a t-shirt made that said ‘Steward of the Most High God’. She often marked her folders as ‘Jenny, Steward of God’. This sounded like a good saying and to her, even sound doctrine … but it wasn’t the whole truth. Something was missing.
She thought about leaving this group and looking for another church. Working in the church office made her feel like she belonged somewhere. She was the ‘Helper to the Pastor’ and that was how others saw her too. They were her ‘authority’, her source of comfort and didn’t they have the final say on what the Bible said? She wasn’t really ‘close’ with any of them anyhow; none had tried to help her grow spiritually. She kept the rules of the church but quietly thought about ‘church hopping someday’.
When she had a good day at work, she felt God smiled at her, even though her peers frequently excluded her in their church activities. She had her job with the church and they didn’t.
“Maybe they are just envious”, she thought. “I need to protect what God has given me, especially since they don’t understand me.”
More and more she felt guarded and distrustful of others in the church and sometimes – if she let her thoughts go there – even felt the church pasters and leaders weren’t doing the very best as stewards that they could have. “God was sole owner of everything and He had given me a job to do!” … and that was that as far as Jenny told herself.
So that was Jenny until the day her Mother died and she faced some hard truths. She was independent and could 
take care of herself but what about her family? One or two of the pastor’s wives stopped by to offer their sad words but few others came. The funeral wasn’t very impressive as their money had been used for doctors. Jenny felt alone and lost, wanting to be loved by those she served but somehow, all this need and pride was mixed with isolation and being alone.
Sad and lonely, she went for a walk. “There’s got to be more to God than this!”
She began to question if she even knew the real Jesus and His love for her. At first, she didn’t really feel like she could talk to HIM, the One who walked beside her. She didn’t feel worthy; maybe she hadn’t done enough? She was only His Steward …. but He saw her as so much more!
As Jenny walked, she allowed His love to penetrate her independent, self-sufficient Heart. Her view of her walk as a Jesus follower began to change. Her view of being that ‘Steward’ began to melt into another sense of being His child first. She began to feel gratitude for what the Lord was doing for her … and for her family.
Never having known her biological father, she began to sense she really had a Father who just might cared for her. As the tears rolled down her face, she could she she had turned her back on the real Source of her comfort, turned to the pastors who could never fill that need inside.
She could see that believing she was ‘only His steward’ had robbed her of knowing she was His child. Taking care of His things had replaced knowing she owned these things as His heir and beloved daughter.
She returned to the home she knew with greater peace than ever. She removed the labels ‘Steward of God’ of her folders and books. She replaced the labels with ‘Growing child of God’. What a difference she felt!” (Names and places have been changed to protect ‘Jenny’s identity.)
An orphan spirit is most often felt as not knowing where you belong. A person goes from place to place, never being able to settle into a loving church family. It is a sense of never really being locked onto, or hold on to things of the Spirit or the church, ‘the box’ where you attend. Often it comes with a Fear of commitment and abandonment as this has happened often in the past. These are often attributes of this spirit.
The orphan spirit and slavery normally go hand in hand. These fears and actions take hold on our lives. Without recognition of this mind-set and spiritual reality, we won’t be able to move forward in our lives and calling.
Those with the “orphan spirit” live in fear of lack and insufficiency, and never completely enter into the destiny that the Lord so desires us to walk into. Because of the orphan spirit, the belief is that we will never fully feeling accepted. Thus we end up being “spiritual slaves”, never really understanding the true nature of the Father and that we were chosen by Him.
This slavery is based on deception, never really being aware that we are slaves, because of lying spirits. They tell us that this is normal, that it’s just how you were created, their job is to keep you held back from destiny and keep you trying to please God through works; living in a covenant that doesn’t exist anymore.
As we begin this Stage 4 in our series From Slave to Bride, join us to find answers for your own life.
Susanne Fengler, Blog Author
www.christianfoundations.jesus-treeoflife.info
Tags: Jenny - otphan
Filed under: From Slave to Sonship
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