Destiny and Dreams - Week 6 Summary

This week was on Dreams and Destiny, and the title was rather misleading. Our speaker did not talk directly about dreams and our destiny, but spoke on our identity and relationship to God. He said that Destiny and Identity are mirror images of each other. So often we try and get our identity from the things we do. We strive to achieve things, to make an impressive resume of all that we do so that when people ask us what who we are, we can pull out that resume and feel good about ourselves. The truth of the matter is that we should not get our identity from what we do, but from who we are, and who we are becoming. That is what our destiny should be about, who we are becoming. 

The biggest recurring theme throughout the week was the comparison of the Orphan Spirit and that of a Son or Daughter of God. The orphan spirit views God as our boss, and we are just lowly employees. There is no relationship to be had, just a set of rules that we can never perfectly follow. God is very distant to the orphan spirit and there is no desire to pursue relationship. What really stood out to me about the orphan spirit was the desire to find identity in the external. So often I try and find who I am in the things I do, what I am good at. Sometimes I measure my current value against my pay check. Am I worth this dollar amount? I am constantly measuring myself against others to see if I am as far along as they are in school or at work. I find myself discouraged if I am not doing as well as one person, but at least I am not as bad as that other guy.
I realized that I was holding onto some qualities of the orphan spirit and they are preventing me from realizing the fullness of the spirit of a son of God. I have made the most progress in my view of God as a Father, rather than a boss. Though I still need to work on my trust in God to provide me with my daily needs, and let go of my finically motivated decisions. Too often, I find my self skipping our on activities with friends because I don’t want to spend money. I also find it very difficult to give money away, even to church, because it is my money. The fact of the matter is that everything I have is a gift from God, so I should be giving him my first fruits to demonstrate my trust in him, rather than my earthly possessions. God is the great provider, and once I come into the full realization of that, I can make another step towards the sprit of a son. I still have a long way to go in the way I view myself and others. I am guilty of criticizing and judge both myself and people on a daily basis. Everyone single person on the face of this planet is a unique and intelligent creation with different skills, experiences, and abilities. It is too easy to slip into the orphan mentality of comparing ourselves to others and putting them down to make us feel better. As a son of God, I should be working towards making others feel better about themselves and helping them to realize the fullness of a relationship with God and how good it is. 

Here is a summary of what the Orphan Spirit looks like compared to that of a Son/Daughter. Take a look at the characteristics on both sides and find the areas of your life that could use a little more attention. It has been really helpful for me. 

Orphan		Sons & Daughters
Boss —> worried about what God’s wants them to do. They do things to earn stuff from God, that they deserves something for what they have done. God seems distant, not trustworthy, manipulative, perfectionistic, emotional absent, abusive, partial, judgemental, unforgiving.	God	ABBA —> hebrew word for daddy. There is a desire for a loving relationship. God is close, trustworthy, sets us free, full of grace, merciful, comforter, ever-present, healer, always hearing, gentle, invites us to joint him, generous, sympathetic and perfect provider.
Employee/Prisoner —> we punch into work for God, then we punch out. Feel alone, needy, see themselves as their own provider, ashamed and dirty, tired, afraid, hopelessness, unloved, aimless, rejected, failure, get identity from external, fear man, seek false comforts, restless, unloved, forever blame themselves, don’t see their own value	Self	Sons & Daughters —> we are free, we are a co-owner of the company (not employee), part of a great big family, provided for, Relationship, forgiven, clean, rested, courageous, live life to the full, filled with hope, know they have purpose (to know ABBA), chosen, do all things through Christ, dream with God, know peace, unconditionally loved, blame the enemy and accept responsibility for their own mistakes, see their value
Competition/Enemy —> wear masks to hide their weaknesses from others, compare themselves to other people and try to be like them, afraid of intimacy, don’ t have healthy boundaries for their life, no trust, don’t feel trustworthy, hurt others, criticize, judge, gossip, complain, jealous, independent of others, stingy, blame others for their own mistakes, hate correction and discipline, divide people, disrespect and dishonour others,	Others	Future Siblings —> transparent to others, compare themselves to Jesus, open to love, have healthy boundaries, love to remove hurts, trust other people, wisdom to know who to trust and who not to, encourage, jealous for others (want everyone to become everything God has them to be), feel inter-dependent, generous, accept responsibility, welcome discipline, bring unity, respect and honour others