Sunday in Piura and it seems that the weather cooled down a little. We are not far from the ocean and the clouds brought a cooling effect upon the city. We started our first service at 9 am and didn’t have time for coffee. So we were asking the Lord to turn the water into [...]
Sunday in Piura and it seems that the weather cooled down a little. We are not far from the ocean and the clouds brought a cooling effect upon the city.
We started our first service at 9 am and didn’t have time for coffee. So we were asking the Lord to turn the water into coffee for us. I don’t think He did it but we laughed along the way.
After worship, Kevin called upon people that Pastor Lionel wanted him to minister healing to. There were several important ladies in the church with debilitating sicknesses. Kevin ministered to each of them as they showed signs of restoration but these were not sicknesses that could be seen. Yet the power of God was present and we will wait for reports of miracles.
I preached on the Kingdom of Heaven from Matthew 13:44-46 explaining that the Kingdom of heaven is our country, out nation and we are all fellow citizens. I taught the people about the great bloodline that we have from our heavenly Father and that we must not dishonor that bloodline by mixing it with the bloodline of this world through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, nor the boastful pride of life. I spoke of the great treasure of the Kingdom of heaven and how the Lord placed it into the treasure chest of our hearts. We must sell all else for the sake of that single treasure. This Kingdom is our pearl of great price and we must cherish it.
The people seemed to hang on every word as they saw themselves in a new and exciting place. Faith filled the room as I prayed with the people, teaching them that we do not have a vote in our Kingdom, we have voice and our King always listens.
The people so received this gospel of the Kingdom of heaven that they began to dance and rejoice with a happiness and a joy as we have not witnessed before. I think it just might have been the happiest place on earth today at the God Is Love Baptist Church in Piura, Peru!
After the church we stood out in the open air lobby and hugged the people as they left and prayed for some of them and there was lots of kissing on the cheek, since that is their culture here.
They squeezed us into a taxi and took us off to a restaurant for a meal with Pastors Lionel & Gladys, their two daughters and a couple of their grand-children.
The evening service was joyous and even more lively than the ones before. I continues to preach on the Kingdom of God and the Spirit of Adoption that was given for every believer. Our Kingdom operates by the “law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus,” and that law supersedes all earthly laws of the kingdoms of this world. Kevin then gave words of knowledge about sicknesses and several people responded. A medical doctor had pain and stiffness in her shoulder, neck and back since 1998 from some kind of accident. She also had a tumor. She began to weep as both the pain left her body and the tumor disappeared. Two other people also had tumors or growths dissolve with the prayer of faith. Numerous other people had infirmities leave their bodies.
This service ended our ministry time in Piura. Back to the hotel to pack and catch a return flight to Lima in the morning.
“Abandonment is a severe trauma that holds a soul in captivity for a very long time and may cause a great escape from life’s pain and fears. Abandonment hits hard. It seems that our choice is then reaction or proaction.”
I was watching an interview on television with author, Brad Meltzer, concerning his latest book. He stated that the aunt of the late Jerome Siegel, who was the original creator of Superman as a character for comic books, had told him of a dream that Siegel had as a liitle boy, after the shooting death of his father, Mitchel. This dream supposedly began what we know about the famed super-hero. Quoting Meltzer: “In 1932, Mitchell Siegel was killed by three gunshots to his chest. While mourning, his son dreamed of a bulletproof man and created the world’s greatest hero: Superman.”
Jerry Siegel is said to have dreamed of of bullet proof man in a defensive response to the terrible loss of his father. Whether this be a true story or not, it is apparent that the feelings of loss – abandonment can definitely give way to dreams of super normal life. Super-Heros can become a need for orphans, since they don’t believe their fathers are able to protect themselves or their children. It is like a search for pseudo-fathering that can actually be controlled by the orphaned child so that loss is prohibitive even in the face of danger.
In other words, I wonder how much of our intrigue with super normal life might actually be and escape from the fear of loss? Then when, as Job said, “The thing that I feared the most has come upon me,” and loss in normal life occurs, is it the orphan spirit that drives some even deeper into a fantasy of super life? Do we escape into our imaginations by defense? I believe this is a popular way of dealing with life and is a real destroyer of faith in Jesus Christ.
The orphan spirit can even bait a child to come out of the dreams that are given them by their loving heavenly Father and into the world of fantasy. Thus, the “I’m gonna be a rock star, I’m going to be president, I’m going to be rich and famous!” loses all sense of substance. Those who actually become those things in life are hard workers and they can plot a roadway to get there. Those who fantasize will only speak of billowy clouds of what they wish to be. We must be cognizant that fantasy and dreams are not the same, and faith is not the result of fantasy, it is the result of love.
Abandonment is a severe trauma that holds a soul in captivity for a very long time and may cause a great escape from life’s pain and fears. Abandonment hits hard. It seems that our choice is then reaction or proaction.
Here is what Jesus said to His disciples about His death and leaving them: “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me?’ Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.” John 16: 19 – 22 (NKJV)
The power of love and life overcomes death and abandonment! Love is not fantasy. Loss and even death in this world is going to be part of all of our lives. It is necessary for us to substantiate and solidify the loving presence of our heavenly Father in our lives in proaction to the losses so that we never lose.
From when a friend moves away, to a loving family that is leaving the church to go to another, or even someone near and dear to us dies, we do not hold on, we do not grieve unendingly, we do not fantasize of how things ought to be different, and we certainly do not lose ourselves in the fanasies of another kind of existence.
It is the love of the Father that we must receive and trust in. That love will cause faith to arise and we will never be without no matter how few earthly things it seems that we may have. Let us rid ourselves of the fears of doing without. Let us trust in our heavenly Father and show Him our faith in overcoming the world, with joy – His joy made full in us!
“Father in heaven, I trust in You with my whole heart. Sanctify the pictures and images of my heart and my mind with the overwhelming, overcoming power of Your love. Speak to me in vision and in dream and show me the paths of our walk together. I trust in You at every turn in the pathways of life with You. I know that many of the loves of my life will take other paths at different times and different seasons, but I truly want the best for them, even as I know that my very best is found in You. My heart can only be wounded by the unbelief that is received by me, but my faith arising is the balm that heals! My knowledge of Your love – Your goodness and Your power to cause the future to take place is what I will trust in. I am Your child. I will walk the wonderful and glorious paths of life with You for ever and ever. Amen.”
“So, the orphan spirit is critical and can even believe that they have that great “gift of discernment” that they operate in. The orphan child is, however, deceived.”
The orphan has persistent regret about the past. Circumstances cannot be forgotten and there is constant, even seemingly consistent, input that depreciates the self worth of the orphan child within. Surges of memories that deteriorate any good to the heart and mind of the orphan child seem to come in waves over them.
The pain of it causes the orphan to strike out with judgment and criticism, in order to try to balance the scales of worth. Making others be bad then becomes the pattern of life for the orphan spirit. If others fail and show lack of worth, “it feels better, even if it doesn’t make me be any better.”
So, the orphan spirit is critical and can even believe that they have that great “gift of discernment” that they operate in. The orphan child is, however, deceived.
The scripture says, “Love . . . is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; love does not rejoice in the iniquity of another . . .” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-6)
The child of God cries out, “Please don’t make me bad so that you can substantiate your good! Don’t place me in the prison of your pain!”
If there is a lack of excitement over other people’s successes, if one is exalted in any way and you are not, if feelings of jealousy arise because of someone else’s success, you are listening to that orphan spirit that wants to destroy you. If you have imagined people to be bad when neither their character nor their behavior have supported such a surmise, you have been deceived by the orphan spirit.
The Father sees possibilities with people. His eyes are upon each of His children and He’s busy believing for their best. What child of His does not want to have their Father’s eyes? To have your Father’s eyes you will see the things in people that He chooses to see and not the gross errors that the accuser of the brethren sees.
“My Trusted Father God, You are so full of mercy and love for me and for every one of Your children. Your wonderful creative loving eyes are full of hope and care for every one of us and I believe with all my heart that You are so very good and Your mercy endures forever and ever! Lord, deliver me from the snare of the trapper that causes me to have a critical eye toward others and and unbelieving heart toward their future and their destiny. Let me rejoice from the depths of my heart in their successes and let me desire to pray and have faith and encouragement toward them when they are anything less that successful! Deliver me! Oh my God from all that is orphan and help me to use the power that You have given me to become Your child of inheritance! Amen.”
“When the orphan spirit is working in a person’s life they are not sure of themselves. They try to pretend that they are confident but they are insecure and lack true peace in their lives.”
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’” (John 14: 27 & 28)
A good father will provide security and stability through love. If there is one thing that I want all of my sons and daughters – my sons and daughters of faith to know – it is that I dearly love them. I love them as individuals and I love them as a whole family. This is even more the case with our Father God.
Yet there are so many that will not be comforted. The orphan spirit comes with insecurities and lies of who the child of God is not. The scriptures tell us of our shortcomings if we do not heed the word and the promises of the Lord. Hebrews chapter 4 & 5 tell of how the children of the Lord did not enter the “rest” because of their unbelief that they were accepted by God the Father. The writer of Hebrew reveals how the Father stated openly, “This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased!” Although the proclamation is made by the Father and the children are called His children, they did not believe His promises for themselves and they walked through the wilderness like orphans. They did not enter His rest!
When the orphan spirit is working in a person’s life they are not sure of themselves. They try to pretend that they are confident but they are insecure and lack true peace in their lives. I have to sadly report that most Christians I know are not happy because they listen too much to the orphan spirit instead of believing as a child of the Father.
The person who truly believes themselves to be the child in whom He is well pleased is a faith-filled child and one who is confident in the Father’s love and not constantly performing to see if He will prove His love to them if they do right.
There is a steadfast peace to the child of God. Security, stability and confidence is without question. These come by knowing the love of the Father. The true child knows the he or she is loved. Period.
The orphan spirit is fearful, nervous and even unstable at times. There is a tremendous lack of trust because they listen to the voices of the orphan. The orphan spirit may give false tranquility but it is not the true peace.
The peace of God the Father comes from within. It is that secure and steadfast knowledge that I am His child and I please Him greatly. I believe that with all my heart.
“My heavenly Father, I trust You with all that is within me. I watch You do so much inside of me and I can see You working mightily around me. The voice of Your Spirit soothes me in troubled times and I know that I am Yours and nothing can separate me from Your love and care. You give me peace. You make me one with You. You are my Rock on which I stand and I do not have to waver one bit. You surround me with Your loving Fatherly arms and make me to know that I am Your child. Abba! You are my delight! I am the apple of Your eye and object of Your affection and the center of Your focus right now. I receive Your peace and I believe Your promises for me. Every single promise without excuse and without wavering at all! I am Your inheritance and You are mine! All of my heart is Yours, Papa! Amen.”
“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.”
“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 orphan spirit causes a child to be independent and unattached with feelings of the need to be self-made, self-reliant. Mistakes are their own and any successes are because they have performed correctly. This is such a painful process.
Children of the Father never have to perform for Him. Never.
There is inter-dependence and partnership when being led by the Spirit of God. God is not working alone and neither is the child who is led. There is such a rewarding and confident feeling when we work with God in lieu of working for God. Faith then works as a synergism of love between the believer and the Father of lights!
“Heavenly Father, I know that Your love is abounding toward me and I want to work, love, live and believe with You. I never want to be performing for You so that I believe You accept me according to what I have done instead of Your powerful love for me. I feel that You watch me with loving eyes and not supervisory eyes. I am confident that You are all and in all and I am Your child. All that I have and all that I am belongs to You. Let’s go forth and build Your kingdom together! Thank You Papa for the confidence that You give to me by being with me in all that I do and inviting me to be part of all that You do. Amen.”
“The devil sends an “orphan spirit” to battle against us and our heritage in Christ Jesus. This orphan spirit causes our thoughts and views of God to be obscured and misplaced.”
The first chapter of John states that: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become the children of God!” Thus, we have the POWER to become His children!
But the devil sends an “orphan spirit” to battle against us and our heritage in Christ Jesus. This orphan spirit causes our thoughts and views of God to be obscured and misplaced. Our image of God becomes one of a task master or even a behavior supervisor and a critical judge irrespective of the works of Jesus in our lives.
The one who is free from the bondage of the orphan spirit sees God as a loving Father. The Spirit of Adoption surrounds with the confidence, care and compassion of the Lord as our Abba or Papa. Through the humble and loving approach to Papa God, we know that He loves us, accepts us, forgives us and displays His unending love to us.
“Lord Jesus, help me to see my heavenly Father as the ever present love of my life. I know that you lead me but you do not chastise me into submission to your ways. Send your light and life and love to break the thoughts and images that come from that orphan spirit and free me from any grasp that it may have upon my life. I ask you for peace to come upon me. Peace not as the world gives but peace that can only come from the Father of lights by the wonderful Spirit of Adoption. I am your child and I have not been abandoned! Thank you Papa for your peace and joy! Amen”
“Never listen to the person who describes the “facts†of another persons behavior. Listen to the person who says nothing. Jesus said nothing to support Himself against His accusers. The real Spirit filled person will say nothing like their Master.”
The following is part of what I taught in Issaquah, Washington at Y.O.U.R. Church Without Walls concerning the breaking of the orphan spirit:
Recently, I was asked to tell the testimony of how I came to Christ. This is something that is rarely asked of me and I don’t think I’ve told the story in a few years. However, it reminded me of some important principles that we all need to live by.
Our son was dying of some strain of spinal meningitis and was not expected to live more than a few hours. While staying by his side through that grueling time, Irene and I were terribly tired so a nurse came to us and said that she would take our place at his side so that we could go get a cup of coffee together. I remember so well how we were walking down the hallway of the hospital hand in hand and talking. One of us said, “Well, if he dies, we will simply thank God for the wonderful and joyous time that we were given to have him. If he is incapacitated by the disease and is unable to care for himself then God probably just has so many children for some purpose like that and we should have him because we have the love and abilities to care for him.”
At this point the weight of it all seemed to leave us both. We were not offended by our circumstances and we would meet with the future without any offense toward God. Please keep in mind that we were not even born again at this point. Yet, our feeling was that we had a future and a hope!
We would carry no offense! Our circumstances were not evidence that God was not doing His job and we were not questioning Him in any way.
That evening, as I lay on a couch outside our son’s room and Irene lay on a couch two floors above me, we both, without knowing what we were doing or without consulting the other, turned our lives over to Jesus Christ. Our son, just moments afterwards, awakened from a deep coma and a debilitating fever and was totally healed.
A few years ago, we were doing a conference in Seattle with Mahesh Chavda. Irene and I were driving to the hotel with Mahesh and he asked us how we came to Christ. We told the above story and he was particularly moved by it in that he then told us of a time when he and Bonnie had a son that was born premature. He had heard the voice of God telling him to go to Africa and yet was ready to cancel his trip due to the very grave condition of his newborn son, who’s life was hanging in the balance. They too, were not offended. Because they were not offended, God took them to new realms of the miraculous!
In our conversation with Mahesh, it was apparent that God was revealing the devastation that takes place when people are offended by their circumstances and do not allow for the full effects of life from God to lead us into our destinies! I believe that Mahesh, Irene and I were seeing something that was very important to us and our future in the wonderful works of Christ Jesus upon the earth.
It is my continual experience and observation, that people who are offended by their circumstances in life have the inner need to shift the blame off of their souls to someone else. It seems that their minds cannot stand the strain of dealing with the circumstances in faith so they must find someone who is wrong. Although this is an intricate problem of the heart it is all too common to mankind.
When this phenomenon comes into religion, it is ultimately God Who gets the blame. As Christians, people usually do not have the inner strength to realize that they are offended by God Who, in their mind, is supposed to control their circumstances and not allow anything bad to happen to them. They have somehow come to believe that God’s love toward them can be measured by the good things that happen, both to them and around them. Thus, when circumstances are increasingly bad, the easiest work is to shift the responsibility for those circumstances to the God who is supposed to make it all okay. He doesn’t, so now they are offended.
Of course it is impossible to openly admit, even to themselves, that they have a problem with God. So, they take a lower road in their minds and begin to blame God’s servants. You see God’s servants (pastors and Church leaders) represent Him and surely they are the ones at fault. It is like a new set of glasses that are now placed before the eyes of the offended. The eyes see inconsistencies where love used to cover those inconsistencies. Now, there is a remembered list of offenses. Now, there is trouble that brews and does not go away. There is no balm that will fix it.
Our relationships are of vital importance to lives but can often bring consternation and pain. Much of the pain is caused by misplaced agreement. We all have an inner need to have harmony and union but that agreement is not always a good thing. In fact it can be disastrous. Agreement is most dangerous to us when we must find accord with others in our hurts, pains and offenses. If we just want camaraderie and it doesn’t matter if we are right or wrong we can find a great bondage and deception awaiting us.
The old adage, “misery loves company” actually holds some truth here. Our supposed superior judgment of good and evil then assures us that we are always right. Oh we may humbly say different but we judge according to our assumption that we are right or at least more right than the other person. Now comes the spirit of deception. The accuser of the brethren touts the “facts” or the circumstances of the case. Love doesn’t take a stand so it gets run over by the “facts.” The offended thinks that love is weak. But then mercy and forgiveness are also weak to the offended.
Deception takes its place when we are offended and do not act positively in love. I have found that it does little good to quote the scripture since “it never applies,” so they say. When, “love does not take into account a wrong suffered,” is discussed you find a denial that there is anything but love for the person that is actually hated. The deception grows as the offended begins to practice deception and get agreement from others who at first are consolers and then confidants, but eventually co-laborers in the crusade to rid the world of the evil doers.
Gangs are an example of how we can degrade socially into a covenant agreement that warms our emotions and each gang member believes that they are right – the world is wrong! Yet, the gang is agreed upon hate and discontent and doing that which is evil instead of that which is good. They are orphans who are deceived.
Here is a great rule that you can live by victoriously: When you have a complaint about how you have been mistreated, do not talk to someone who will agree with you. That’s right, don’t share with someone that cannot reprove you. The last thing that you need when you have been wronged is agreement.
This is contrary to your desires. When you are offended by your circumstances, agreement is what you will want to seek. Agreement is a very powerful thing and should instead be used with faith to see the miracle works of Jesus Christ made manifest upon the earth.
Although offense is possible with even the most informed, it is what is done with that offense that separates the overcomer from the deceived. Those with faith in God and not their circumstances – know that no matter what happens, God is their ultimate rescue. These prominent people of faith will find those who agree with heaven and not with earth or their only agreement will be in heaven.
There is a higher wisdom that says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend.” Understanding this means that you will not find agreement with a true friend but reproof that will cause you to be thrust into a destiny of faith and trust in your glorious King.
The scripture shows us that Absalom had favor in the eyes of his father king David, yet he had agreement with others who were also offended by God’s lack of deserved acclaim. God had not been running the kingdom properly or they would have a better king. A king like Absalom would be so much greater, wiser and more compassionate toward the people.
David, upon the other hand, did not want to destroy the uprising of this rebellious group of deceived people. He instead relied up his God to either protect the kingdom that was given to David to oversee or remove him as its overseer. It was actually God’s kingdom anyway. He didn’t place himself as the king over God’s people and he wasn’t going to cause himself to remain the king. He was either there by God’s choice or he wasn’t. He left the outcome up to the Lord.
The coup d’état of the offended can not only arise in strength but it can cause people that have held your trust to be swept into believing a lie and seeing nothing but lies in every direction. Yet, the fall of the deceived is first felt when offenses go unanswered and the opportunity to listen to the reasoning of another offended person comes to the ears.
The answer is not so difficult. First of all, diligently care for your heart at all times and never give way to offenses. Do not ever think that you are above being offended. Settling these matters is a part of your deep abiding relationship with Jesus.
Next, teach it and keep teaching the matters of the heart as you equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. This teaching gives them a fighting chance against the accuser of the brethren and a relationship with Christ that will not be clouded by unrighteous judgments.
Then, never listen to the person who describes the “facts” of another persons behavior. Listen to the person who says nothing. Jesus said nothing to support Himself against His accusers. The real Spirit filled person will say nothing like their Master. Remember that the Pharisees gave all the evidence while Jesus worked the works of compassion – doing the works of the One Who sent Him.
Now offenses usually start when we allow ourselves the luxury of discouragement. Discouragement is simply pride, ego and vanity. Discouragement cannot exist unless circumstances are not going our way. When we don’t get our way we are offended and wallow in discouragement. To understand this and to accept this definition of discouragement is the beginning of victory in this battle.
