Have you ever encountered the heavenly Father? Do you know Him as a Father, or do you think of Him as a big God always ready to punish you when you sin or don’t measure up to His standards? Have you ever thought of how amazing it would be if you had the Creator of the universe as a friend readily accessible at any time?
It may be hard to answer “yes” to the above questions, but from the beginning of time, He planned it so that we who live in this dispensation can know Him intimately through His Son, Jesus. The orphan spirit that I am specifically addressing here has left the church with a labor mentality. It has deprived her of the bond of relationship provided for on the cross.
In the Old Testament, God instructed Moses to build a tabernacle that would serve as a place of meeting between God and His people. He also ordained the house of Levi to serve in the tabernacle and serve the congregation. I believe that parallels exist in the tabernacle that show us how to interact with God in the New Testament.
The tabernacle had the outer court, the holy place, and the holy of holies. God instructed Moses to place the showbread, the golden lamp stand (Menorah), and the golden alter of incense in the holy place. The scriptures tell us that these were shadows of things to come and that the tabernacle was a replica of what God had shown Moses on the mountain.
I know you are wondering where I am headed with this. I Peter 2:9 (NKJV) says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.” Our destiny as Christians is to serve in the temple of the Most High. Unlike the Levitical priesthood, who could only entered the tabernacle on specified days of the year, we have access to the temple daily.
If you look closely, you’ll see that all the events, intercession, worship, and blessings took place in the holy place. The only piece of furniture in the holy of holies was the ark of the covenant. This is what the Holy Spirit showed me in relation to the orphan spirit: we have confused the manifestation of the Holy Ghost, intercession, and God given gifting with a personal relationship with the Lord. The work of the cross that tore the curtains separating the holy place from the holy of holies was not meant to take us to a place of servitude only, but to the ultimate place with God where there is only fellowship with the Father.
The orphan spirit makes us settle for service and for manifestation in the holy place only, and we never advance into the holy of holies for a personal encounter. Romans 8:15 (NKJV) says, “for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’” Ultimately, the Spirit of God wants to bring you to the place of experiencing the fullness of your Father in heaven.
After serving for a number of years in the depths of the African Rift Valley preaching, prophesying, and casting out demons, I saw many people delivered. What people would call the supernatural now was a daily experience for us in the villages dominated by Islam. We experienced the tangible fire of the Lord surrounding a revival meeting in a small church in Eldoret, Kenya. Angry villagers would not come within fifty feet of the building lest they get physically burned. We experienced healing of disease and tumors that probably had no scientific diagnosis, visitations of angelic beings, and things of that sort.
At the time, I thought I was a friend of God and that I had experienced fellowship with Him. Then one day I was praying in my apartment in the United States. The Holy Spirit said to me that He (the Father) had always wanted to be my friend, but I was too busy serving in the field and never gave Him a chance. Understand that since I was nine years old, I had always heard the voice of the Lord. He had spoken to me audibly, and the Lord Jesus manifested Himself to me twice. Yet I never knew the Father. That encounter with the Holy Spirit led to a month of daily encounters with Him where He taught me this truth.
Are you one of those people engulfed in service to the Lord yet has never encountered the Master that you serve? Psalm 91:1–2 (NKJV) says, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abides under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.’” The Psalmist of the above Psalm, who is believed to be Moses, speaks of a secret place. A secret place is not secret if it’s revealed to somebody else, and I believe that God has a secret place for everyone. If you have an encounter with the Father, He meets you at the secret place. You can take your relationship with the Lord to a deeper level by abiding in the secret place and getting to know the Father.
In the work of ministry, the anointing comes upon us and enables us to function in our calling and gifting, but the secret place is a place that you dwell, not visit. It’s a place of relationship and fellowship. As you get to know the Father and His love towards you, you come to the same place where Jesus was, doing only what you see the Father doing. You speak not from your own initiative but you replicate the will of the Father.
I want to challenge you to utilize your God given right from John 15:7 (NKJV): “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” Ask the Father to reveal Himself to you in the secret place, after which you will realize that you do not do ministry; you became ministry. You don’t have to get in a zone like the psychics to hear the voice of God, but rather prophecy becomes a stream that flows out of you anywhere and anytime. Take a moment and ponder this, pray to the Father in Jesus’ name, and expect the paradigm of your life and ministry to change.
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1) Ephesians 3:15 (NKJV) from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
2) Exodus 25:8–9 (NKJV) and let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.
3) Exodus 25:40 (NKJV) and see to it that you make them according to the pattern, which was shown you on the mountain.
4) Isaiah 61:1 (NKJV) “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
5) John 5:19 (NKJV) Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
