Defeat the Spirit of Illegitimacy
Dr. Ray L. Self
And Jesus when He was baptized went up straightway from the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him; and lo, a voice out of the heavens, saying," This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:16-17).
God affirmed Jesus. He knew who He was and walked continually in that identity.
All children and even adults desperately need their father's affirmation.
To defeat the Spirit of illegitimacy, you need the father's affirmation. This affirmation is available from God our Father
Our sense of self has a tremendous impact on our lives. This personal value is first derived from our earthly parents.
Without understanding how God affirms our identity, people will typically seek to gain their sense of value and approval from personal life experiences.
Seeking validation is a life-controlling issue.
The spirit of illegitimacy is in the world, creating an intense hunger to establish self-worth through illegitimate means.
The spirit of illegitimacy affects entire societies, churches, communities, and families.
The work of the spirit of illegitimacy is a demonic scheme to control us and keep us from God's best.
2 Cor 2:11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
Eph 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
Satan uses schemes as a systematic plan of destruction to attack and hinder God's plan working through His people.
The most common scheme is known as the spirit of illegitimacy scheme.
The fruit of this scheme causes humanity to seek value and worth from illegitimate means.
The world's system of values is manufactured through self-determination separate from the will of God.
The world's system values and legitimizes only certain people. Therefore, the world is very biased, valuing some people over others.
The world values: money, appearance, titles, human intelligence, prestige, power, stardom, winning athletes, winning teams, beautiful people, anything that is sexy, and whatever is cool at the moment (you get the idea).
Worldly values have two primary characteristics –
- They change from day to day
- They never last and are constantly dying
Millions of people spend their lives trying to become "someone of value."
The world's system is at complete odds with God's plan. Therefore, you cannot please God by a method that the world offers.
The effort to legitimize oneself takes an enormous amount of self-will. Self will usually is never God's will.
Demonic spirits want you to question your identity. Notice how Satan attempted to get Jesus to doubt His identity. - Matthew 4: 1-7 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD." Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down;
Satan tried and failed to make Jesus illegitimate. Jesus knew what His Father had said – "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," and He knew what His Father had written. "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
If Jesus had tried to prove His worth, He would have fallen into the scheme of Satan. The trap is called illegitimacy.
Satan wants you to question your worth, value, ability, gift, call, salvation, etc.
The source of the spirit of illegitimacy is the devil, and the problem is that we have inadvertently cooperated with him. Hosea 4:6, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."
The fathers' affirmation that Jesus received is a model of what God is offering us today
God, our Father, offers us His validation which will make us legitimate.
Back to the Beginning
Genesis 1:26 - And God said, "Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
- God made man to be like Him
- God created man to have dominion
- God did not make man to be Him
Adam opened the door to this Spirit when he disobeyed God.
Illegitimacy can be disguised as a blessing. Adam and Eve wanted to be equal with God. When they acted on the temptation, they open the door for the spirit of illegitimacy. What appeared to be a blessing was a trap!
Genesis 3:4-5 - The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die!
"For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
When we take control and rebel against the authority of God, we open the door for the spirit of illegitimacy.
Ever since the rebellion in the Garden of Eden, humanity has been trying to gain legitimacy back.
A Christian has a legitimate position as a son or daughter of the King of Kings.
When God affirmed Jesus as His son, He made way for every believer yet to come to receive the same affirmation.
The baptism of Christ was prophetic, showing His death and His resurrection. By faith, we are united with Him in His death and resurrection - Romans 6:5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
We are one with Christ in His death and His resurrection. Romans 6:8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.
Immediately after His baptism, Jesus received God's affirmation. - "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."
When we were baptized, we died and were resurrected with Christ. Because we are in Christ, we also have received God's affirmation.
Jesus brings us back into a legitimate position with God. We are restored as His children and affirmed and given our value back.
Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
God sees us as equal. It is a very high position and a place of equality.
The search for value began when Adam rebelled. It was lost until Jesus gave it back to us.
Despite the work of Christ, many people continually search for counterfeit ways to fill the void of low self-worth.
The devil has been pleased to assist us in our search because he knows that this is a way to keep us away from God's purpose for our lives.
Common symptoms of a lack of the father's validation or illegitimacy:
- Feeling incomplete
- Not measuring up
- Never being quite satisfied
- Endless searching for happiness, but never finding it
- Feeling the need to prove yourself
- Feelings of inadequacy or low self-esteem
- False methods of coping or defense mechanisms in place
- Developing a false self or identity
- The constant conflict between the ideal self and the real self
- Persistent sadness just underneath the surface
- Escape methods – drugs, alcohol, sexual additions, overspending, workaholic, religious addiction, fantasies, false personalities, TV, or anything that gives temporary relief
In the New Testament, numerous identity scriptures affirm our identity.
Romans 8:17 - And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.
- We are Children of God.
- We are heirs of God.
- We are joint-heirs with Christ
1 Peter 2:9 - But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (KJV)
- We are a chosen generation (set apart by God)
- We are royal priests
- We are a holy nation
- We are not ordinary people (we are supernatural children of God!)
Ephesians 2:5-6 - Even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved), and raised us up with Him, and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.
- We were dead men and women
- We have been raised up with Jesus
- We are sitting with Him in heavenly places.
The truth of God becomes your reality by faith
- Faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17).
- Hearing many lies can produce false faith.
- Hearing many truths renews your mind and creates true faith.
Galatians 3:26 "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." (KJV)
