The most challenging things we face in life are not obstacles, but relationships. No matter the age, or stage of our lives the most important and transformative thing about us is the people we relate to and the way those relationships inform us and unfold over our life.
Our entire life is summed up by the way we relate to God, and people. The most important thing about us is what we think of Jesus, and people, who are created in God’s image. Relationships have layers, and spheres in which they exist. Not all interactions are the same, but the way we interact is a sum of what has shaped our thoughts and feelings.
Relationships are meant to be transformational, not transactional. This was so eye opening and felt like it answered a soul deep question of what has been wrong in many of my relationships. We are meant to be ‘Iron sharpening iron’ as it says in Proverbs, speaking words of life, and “discovering creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them towards acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love.” Hebrews 10:24 TPT.
I believe that the greatest factor in interacting transactionally, which keeps people at a distance and views them as tools to get what I want instead of a BEING to be enjoyed, is an orphan spirit.
We have divided souls. We compartmentalize and guard our hearts in ways that build walls and keep others out. We choose to be our own security and provision and protection. We believe that no one will really look after us or give us what we need, so we have to take it for ourselves. We have a scarcity, lack, poverty mentality that keeps us from asking for what we need and reinforces that there isn’t enough (love, care, protection, encouragement etc) to go around. We are all lost children wandering around trying to find a home with support and protection.
The first step in healing this Orphaned heart is to be reconciled to God. There is no help and hope for sonship apart from being reunited to the Father.
Jesus came to redeem us from the brokenness and separation of this world. We have been given the spirit of adoption.
“And so that we would know that we are his true children, God released the Spirit of Sonship into our hearts—moving us to cry out intimately, “My Father! My true Father!” Now we’re no longer living like slaves under the law, but we enjoy being God’s very own sons and daughters! And because we’re his, we can access everything our Father has—for we are heirs because of what God has done!”
Galatians 4:6-7 TPT
“...And you did not receive the “spirit of religious duty,” leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” enfolding you into the family of God. And you will never feel orphaned, for as he rises up within us, our spirits join him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Father!” For the Holy Spirit makes God’s fatherhood real to us as he whispers into our innermost being, “You are God’s beloved child!””
Romans 8:14b-16 TPT
As an adopted child you have been hand picked, specifically chosen to be a part of God’s family. You are not one of many in a sea of children, but you are the one that God created to be in relationship with Himself and share the inheritance of Jesus as a dearly loved child.
God intends to set the lonely in families as it says in Psalm 68:5-6a TPT
“To the fatherless he is a father.
To the widow he is a champion friend.
The lonely he makes part of a family.
The prisoners[a] he leads into prosperity until they sing for joy.
This is our Holy God in his Holy Place!”
Reading at the end of the podcast was Romans 8:14-35 in The Passion Translation
