Devotion 1 - The Orphan Spirit

Devotion 1 - The Orphan Spirit

Many people do not spend much time thinking about their identity. However, the truth is that our behaviour, our feelings, how we treat ourselves and others, as well as our daily decision making, are closely linked to how we perceive our identity, even though we may do so unconsciously.

In fact, according to psychologists and sociologists, most problems related to human relationship, whether emotional or mental, can be traced to our identity. Our distorted identity is rooted in the orphan spirit - an ancient spirit unleashed upon mankind by Satan, the first orphan.

Satan, after he sinned against God, was thrown out of heaven, his original home, to the earth. Since then, he experienced rejection, abandonment and loneliness. He lost the presence of the Father. Out of jealousy, his primary goal is to make all humanity like himself, fatherless, with no inheritance and totally lost - an orphan!

Hence, many of the man-made religions are ‘fatherless’ at the core for Satan came to “kill, steal and destroy…” the sonship spirit which rightfully belongs to humanity.

Origin of the Orphan Spirit – The Fall of Lucifer 

Before Lucifer became Satan, he was a worship archangel, just like Gabriel the messenger archangel and Michael the warrior archangel. Lucifer was known as the Angel of light, full of wisdom and beauty. Unfortunately, the great splendour and knowledge blinded him with pride and deluded him into thinking he could be like God. After his fall, he was separated from God and became the first orphan.

Isa.14:12-14 - “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.”

Eze.28:11-16 - “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering:
The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. 16 “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, and you sinned; Therefore, I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God…”

In the context of Ezekiel 28, the first ten verses deal with the ruler of Tyre (who was condemned for claiming to be a god though he was just a man). However, the discussion moves to the king of Tyre starting in verse 11 through verse 19 and Lucifer seems to be the focus as these are things which just cannot apply to human beings. For example, the king is portrayed as a cherub (vs.14), he was blameless and sinless (vs.15) and he received a different judgment from man as he was cast out of the mountain of God and thrown to the earth due to the sin of pride (vs.16).

Yes, we can only infer because we are applying figurative interpretation here, so cannot be dogmatic. The reason was explained here and so far, have not come across any theologian who disagree on this.

Apparently, this represents the actual beginning of sin in the universe—preceding the fall of the human, Adam, by an indeterminate time. Being rejected and abandoned by God the Father, Satan became the “first orphan” and the source of the orphan spirit. In anger, he goes all out to make all humanity suffer like him – to live in bondage to the Orphan Spirit. To do that, he began with the temptation of Adam and Eve, which unfortunately, he succeeded.


The Orphan Spirit on Humanity

As a result of Adam and Eve’s fall, the Orphan Spirit is passed down to every succeeding generation. We are all born with an orphan’s heart. Hence, we always struggle with our identity. An orphan heart always desires for but feels that it does not have a safe and secure place in a father’s heart, where they feel loved, valued and affirmed.

Symptoms of an orphan’s heart:

- Constantly struggle with fear, anxiety, jealousy and insecurity

- Craving for attention, affirmation and recognition.

- Struggle with low self-esteem and self-worth

- Striving for significance as we get our value by achievement and performance

- Competitive, perceiving the strengths of others as competition rather than help

- Secretly rejoicing in the failure of others as it make us feel good about ourselves

- Struggle with co-dependence – always need to be needed by people

- Longing to belong – a longing heart for deep intimacy


By the term ‘orphan’s heart’, we are referring to a spiritual condition in which we profess outwardly to know God as Father but experience an internal contradiction to this belief. Deep down we struggle to comprehend that God truly loves us. We still harbour feelings of abandonment, fear, unworthiness or rejection.

If we are honest with ourselves, we all to a degree, suffer from, and manifest this Orphan Spirit in our lives. We can be born again and still have an Orphan Spirit. Being saved does not automatically produce a sense of security, love and acceptance as a son or daughter of God; they are two different things. The new birth in Christ makes us a son or daughter but does not mean we will automatically enter into a full personal experience of that love relationship with Him as father.

This is not an automatic product of salvation. It is one thing to know God as Father, but another to experience Him as Father in a deep personal way. An orphan heart cannot be cast out, it needs to be healed, it needs to be restored!


We are Created to be Children of God

In the course of exploring the family tree of Jesus, Luke gives us a divine revelation that helps us to change the way we look at humanity and, ultimately, how we look at ourselves. It was in the hands of a loving Father that the first man came forth.

Lk.3:38 – “…the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

God created us to be his sons and daughter, Adam was not just God’s masterpiece. More than that, he was God’s son. Thus, the original spirit God gave to His children was a spirit of sonship and not the spirit of orphanship. We are created in the image of God. Only children bear the image of their parents.

The Garden of Eden was the first home for man and woman. But due to sin, Adam and Eve have to leave their home in the same way Lucifer had to leave his original home in heaven.

Gen.3:24 – “So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”

The orphan spirit in humanity was due to the consequences of the fall of Adam & Eve. The term “orphan” refers to a sense of abandonment, loneliness, alienation and isolation. Ever since Adam and Eve were alienated from God the Father in the Garden of Eden, the orphan spirit has permeated the earth, causing chaos in society.

To make matters worse, in contemporary society, with the breakup of the nuclear family, and the passiveness of many human fathers, large numbers of people are not only alienated from God, but they also grow up without the loving care and security of their biological fathers. This drives the orphan spirit deeper into our human hearts.

A dysfunctional family creates a dysfunctional individual, which ultimately leads to a dysfunctional society. Today, lots of people have struggles connecting to their spouses, children and to those in spiritual authority. Many also have a hard time accepting and loving themselves as they suffer from identity issues and are driven to succeed due to their need for a father’s affirmation—which is a hole too large to be filled. In fact, all the emotional, physical and spiritual ills of society can be traced to humans feeling alienated from God and their earthly fathers.

Before Jesus left the earth, He said in Jn 14:18, “I will not leave you orphans…”. However, there are presently millions of men and women who are acting out lives of violence and rebellion because they have never fully experienced the Father love of God, and at the same time felt abandoned by their earthly fathers.