I recently read the book “Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship.” It rocked my world and opened my eyes to the way I was living this “Christian” life.
I truly lived like an orphan. Just to name a few ways:
– Even though I had a home, I oftentimes felt like I didn’t belong. Not by my parents physically, but emotionally and spiritually.
– “Orphans see God as a Master whom they must appease continually” (p. 120).
– “Orphans are independent and self/reliant” (p. 120).
– “Orphans value obedience more than relationship” (p. 121).
– “Orphans are addicted to and strive for the praise, approval, and acceptance of man” (p. 122).
– “Orphans serve out of a sense of need for personal achievement as they seek to impress God and others” (p. 122).
– “Many orphans can quote the Bible extensively and pray for hours at a time, yet have never known personally the affectionate love and acceptance of God” (p. 123).
– “Orphans believe they must be holy to be accepted by God. They live with an increasing sense of guilt and shame over their failure” (p. 123).
– “Orphans generally possess a low self-image and an attitude of self-rejection” (p. 124).
– “Because they have shut a portion of their heart off from expressed love, orphans seek comfort in counterfeit affections: addictions, compulsions, escapism, busyness, hyper-religious activity, etc.” (p. 124).
– “Orphans often relate to their peers through competition, rivalry, or jealousy toward others’ success and position” (p. 125).
– “Orphans have difficulty receiving admonition, even godly admonition, because they have difficulty acknowledging when they are wrong” (p. 127).
– “Orphans are guarded and conditional in their expressions of love” (p. 127).
– “For orphans, God’s presence, if they sense it at all, is conditional and distant. Orphans question whether God lives them” (p. 127).
– “Orphans are in bondage. They are slaves to their fear, their mistrust, their independence and self-reliance, their sense of self-righteousness and self-justification, and most of all, to their loneliness” (p. 128).
– “Orphans are fired by spiritual ambition. They earnestly desire some spiritual achievement or distinction and are willing to strive and achieve it. They desire to be seen and counted among the mature” (p. 129).
– “For orphans, the future, like many other things in life, is always uncertain” (p. 129).
Can you relate to any of these? If so, I would encourage you to check out the book “Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship.” I’d also love to chat with you about it if you are willing to share.
I have lived most of my Christian life (since age 16) as an orphan, not a physical one, but spiritually and emotionally. I knew (head knowledge) but didn’t really believe that the Father loved me as His daughter and that I was His beloved.
You see, my relationship with my parents growing up was not great. I regularly shut them out and often closed myself in the computer room after school.
It has been revealed to me that people can’t give you what they never had themselves.
This helps me understand the way I was raised and some of the places in my past where I didn’t feel as connected.
Because my family didn’t talk much or show affection, I thought that that was normal. This also lead to fears of trust, rejection, and love. These three fears are common to a lot of people.
Naturally, I projected my relationship with my parents onto my relationship with Father God. However, our Heavenly Father is not like our parents.
When we come to know Christ, we have been given the right to become children of God and Jesus’ sibling. We can have all His unconditional and endless love. We don’t have to prove ourselves to Him. We don’t have to pass any tests. We just have to accept it.
We can’t earn God’s love by following a set of rules, i.e the Pharisee’s.
I want to leave you with a few songs that have spoken to me about this subject.
“The Truth About Me” by Mandisa
“Run Baby Run” by Jason Upton
“Who You Are To Me” by Big Daddy Weave
Keep Lookin’ Up,
Misha
