you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons and daughters, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

If you are a Christian then, according to this verse from Romans 8:15, you have received the Spirit of adoption. Like any other gift, it has to be received in order to be appropriated. For many of us, this is no small task, since it involves overcoming the orphan spirit which is well established in our hearts.

There are a number of things that conspire together that lay behind this phenomenon. First of all we live in a very fragmented society. Divorce is rampant, single-parent families are the norm rather than the exception, children are alienated from their fathers, and fathers from the children. Conventional wisdom, the spirit of the age if you like, basically says that fathers are no longer needed. The only thing that the male is useful for, according to this wisdom, is for impregnation of the female! But it’s a huge lie!

And many of us have bought into this lie, so if we are not needed, then there is no need to take responsibility for our offspring! The result is that the children feel abandoned by their father, and what tends to happen then, is that inner vows are made such as “I choose not to need my father,” and the rift is never healed.

Psychologist tell us about our inner child, the little boy or the little girl within us that cries out for acceptance and love, but doesn’t find it. I myself had an orphan spirit for the first 20 years of my Christian life. I sought my identity in terms Christian service. I can look back now and describe myself as a Christian workaholic. This, together with a number of things I don’t need to go into here, resulted in a breakdown in 1995. This was followed by the breakdown of my 2nd marriage and my geographical separation from my children.

I would never have chosen this to happen, but if I had not, then I would not have discovered who I am. In other words since that time through much trial, temptation and pain I eventually threw myself onto the Lord. It is said that you don’t know that God is all you need, until God is all you have. And he is all I need, and through it all is working all things together for good for me. This meant that I came home to my father, not my earthly father, but my heavenly father, who gives me strength, hope, love, joy and peace as I wait for the fulfillment of his promise, that he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and hearts of the children to the father before the great and terrible day of the Lord.

Father, I thank you that your promise is true, that you truly do work all things together for good for those of us who love you called according to your purpose. Thank you Jesus that you came to seek and to save the lost. That was me, even after I got saved. You continue to seek me until I came to the place where my spirit cries out Abba, Papa, and I know deep in my heart that I am your son and dearly loved. Thank you in Jesus name amen