Don't Live Like an Orphan When You're Part of God's Family - Episode #204

Hey there, hello to you today.

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show. 

Today’s subject matter is of the utmost importance, but not necessarily something that is talked about enough within the Christian community.

And that’s our tendency to live like orphans even though we are now part of God’s family thanks to Jesus. 

God's promises devotional on Amazon

Good verses to read about your true identity:

Psalm 17:8

Isaiah 43:4

Psalm 147:3

Psalm 18, verses 2, 18 & 19, 28, 32, 35 & 36

Romans 12

John 8

 

We have so many promises from the Lord to assure and reassure us of our new identity in Christ, and yet we struggle with feeling unseen, abandoned, alone, wondering about unanswered prayers and the things in life, big and small, that wear on us and weigh us down. 

How do we reconcile the way we feel with the promises God has given us? 

That’s the heart of this episode of the podcast. 

 

You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show podcast, which can be found on the EDIFI app, an all Christian content podcast option - as well as anywhere else you listen to podcasts. This is episode number 204. 

 

If I could give a definition of a believer living more like an orphan than like a child of the Most High God, I would put it like this: there is a strong and sometimes even extreme sense of aloneness and possibly abandonment that can at times define some aspects of a person’s character, their attitudes, thoughts, feeling, beliefs and intentions. 

 

This sense of aloneness and possibly feeling abandoned almost seems to operate on its own, like it has its own life force or something, working to mold the person’s self-image, actions and reactions. Sometimes it may seem like the words someone speaks are misheard and interpreted very differently than what was being conveyed (which can lead to strong reactions).

Decisions may be made based on feeling orphaned. This can also lead to rapid decisions and reactions, as in too quick and not thought out or prayed over. Ready, fire, aim sort of a thing. 

 

We have a God who loves us and because of that love for us and because of our love for Jesus, we have an enemy, Satan. And I think our enemy works to get us feeling alone, abandoned, orphaned. The devil is in the details, isn’t that the saying? And the devil also works in darkness and tries to push God’s children into darkness as well. Operating in the darkness and pushing that orphan-like feeling on people is an attempt to manipulate people. And to keep the evil influence secret. Satan doesn’t want us to know that he is harassing us; he would like us to wrongly believe that the problem lies within us. The father of lies, the devil, always lies to us because it is his native tongue (that’s what Jesus said in John 8:44). 

 

Some of the things our enemy often does is try to hide what’s actually going on from the Lord’s followers. He lies, he deceives, he manipulates. Now what if a person starts to counter the sense of aloneness with the truth from God’s word? Does the devil ever try to push back on the truth? Yeah, he probably does. 

So what are we to do?

One thing I know for sure; Jesus died to give us freedom, and when we bump up against areas in our life where our freedom has been stolen or where we maybe have given our freedom away, we don’t want to just give up. Pray and keep on praying, isn’t that what Jesus taught His followers in Luke chapter 18? It can be so hard to keep on fighting the good fight of our faith in prayer sometimes. But I really want to encourage you to keep fighting. Keep praying. Keep your Bible open. Keep believing, even if it feels like it’s hard to believe those promises. Pray and don’t give up. Paul wrote about this in 1 Thessalonians - pray with