3 Lies the Spiritual Orphan Believes

The concept of having an orphanage mentality can be difficult for believers to grasp. For most people, the concept that we are adopted by our Heavenly Father is easy to understand. But for many of us who grew up in abusive homes, it’s hard to believe that God wants us or even loves us.

I spent most of my adulthood unaware that I was battling orphan spirits. But one week during my Bible study, I suddenly found myself, like Oliver Twist in Dickens’ classic story, slowly starving and longing for more in my spiritual life. I realized that I was doing I finally began to understand how that image was preventing me from having the blessing of having a deep personal father-son relationship with God.

I had no archetypes for upbringing. I don’t even feel my parent’s pride. I didn’t feel like my parents were “delighted” for me or that I had big dreams or plans. And even though I lived with three other siblings, I felt completely alone.The loneliness of an orphan is especially cruel. Because when a child is lonely, he or she at least has the security and welcome of a home and family. For me, home was where I felt most lonely. It felt like an orphanage. It provided only the most basic necessities and nothing more. And I turned that outward orphanage and rejection inward, incorporating all the characteristics of an orphan in my spiritual life.

Since I was five years old, my parents have told me that it is selfish to demand more than the bare necessities of life. I had brothers and sisters who my mother and stepfather loved more than I did. I was only due to a piece of love, a piece of childhood, and as a result I adopted this orphan attitude into my spiritual life. . I was supposed to be “seen, not heard”.

All my life the spirit of the orphanage has persuaded me to believe lies about who and what I am in the Kingdom of God. Lies that made me bitter and always aggressive.

As I devoted my heart to writing my personal memoir last year, I learned an eternally valuable truth about who I am and what I am… This is true for my father.

Spiritual orphans have physical parents but are treated like orphans. This kind of education leads a person to believe many lies about himself, and the lies affect every stage of his journey with God.

The three biggest lies are:

1. “I mean less to God than to other believers.”

For me, this lie appeared when I tried to pray to the Lord. I felt that I must be bothering him. I believed that God loved them and wanted to answer my prayers for them, so I spent hours asking for friends and the need for unfamiliar names on my prayer list. I was able to pour out my heart to God, but me? I was convinced that God was not interested in my desires and demands, no matter how urgent they were.

2. “I have to apologize for doing something wrong.”

I was convinced that nothing good should happen to me or me. I wasn’t supposed to dream, set goals, or achieve any kind of success in life. Success and achievement were for children planned and sought after.

3. “God is always a little bit angry with me, and at most he tolerates me.”

My father was a college athlete and dreamed of a career in the education industry. He wanted a child one day, but he didn’t have it yet. They had never been married and I was a very inconvenient reminder for them. To him I was a temporary loss of control and the death of his dreams. (And I ended up going on two tours in Vietnam) To my mother, I was the son of a man who loved me, but he didn’t return her affection. She thought his child would win his heart. Instead, she found herself with a child she didn’t really want. I lived with her without knowing anything about her biological father until I was 21, and I could feel her resentment and anger. As a child I didn’t understand the situation, so I came to believe it was my fault. I thought my parents wouldn’t do bad things, so I must be a bad kid. For most of my life, I felt that God had provided me with salvation, and he was angry at me for crucifying his son for someone like me. I was. He offered me salvation, but that was all I got. I was tolerated but unloved.

Writing my memoir,orphan in the house of godI came to understand the truth about how Heavenly Father sees me, what He thinks of me, and who He really is. The three truths I discovered are:

“You and I have been in his mind since the creation of the world.”

At the time of creation, when God hung a star in the sky, he put something with my name written on it (Psalm 147:4). It was a reminder of the Lord’s promise to Abraham to have children for each of the countless stars in the night sky. Knowing that I was one of those stars changed my life.

“You and I are his personal creations.”

Psalm 139:13-14 We tell you that we are ‘horribly and wonderfully made’. The Hebrew word for “made” here is the same word used in Genesis when God created Adam. We are talking about artists who create art with their hands. that’s us. The first breath you ever took was the one he breathed into your lungs. When your little heart began to beat in your mother’s womb, it was at the command of the Lord. He “wrote you on his palm” (Isaiah 49:16). On the day you were born, he sang and danced and rejoiced for you (Zephaniah 3:17).

“He wants to give you and me the best.”

Jesus compared his earthly father to our Heavenly Father (Luke 11:11-13). He said that if we, sinful people, are still doing what is best for our children, why does he think our Heavenly Father would do more? Letting us know that even the best father on earth is far superior, and that he generously bestows upon us every good and perfect gift.Jacob 1:17).

If you have ever lived your life as a spiritual orphan, I want you to know that you were wanted and planned before the world was created. I have only the best plans for you and I love you as my child. you are not an orphan. you are his beloved

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Penny Tweedie