Spiritual Effects from Abandonment: The A-B-C Series on Ancestral Influences

Healing Prayer Training

By Gena Barnhill @BarnhillGena and Press Barnhill @PressBarnhill

Have you ever felt you were all alone and could only depend on yourself? Spirits associated with abandonment may be the underlying root of these feelings. Abandonment often collaborates with shame, fear, control, rebellion, and rejection to inflict turmoil.

Our Family

We were unaware abandonment operated in our family lines until we were trained in inner healing prayer and participated in a generational healing service. Both our fathers were physically and emotionally abandoned as children but adored their children and grandchildren and worked hard to create loving home environments. They did not want their future generations to experience the childhood pain they had endured.

No one realized at the time our parents were raising us, and later when we were raising our children, that spirits associated with abandonment were already wreaking havoc. We did not realize we were in a spiritual battle and had the tools to fight. Once we recognized the spirit of abandonment in our family line, we broke it off by using the Healing Prayer for Ancestral Influences¹. This prayer is at the end of the previous blog Intro to Ancestral Influences.

We wish we had understood we were in a spiritual battle when our children were younger, and we had authority over them, as parents, to break the negative influence of abandonment. We continue to pray for them and for a hedge of protection to surround them.

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Open Doors to Abandonment

Abandonment can be activated when a relative has physically or emotionally left the family in one of the following ways:

A child was given up for adoption by their birth parent(s).
Broken marriages can open the door to this spirit.
Whether because of an accident, sickness, suicide, or act of violence, the early death of a parent, grandparent, or sibling can be experienced as abandonment.
Emotional abandonment can be caused by hurtful words or actions, drug abuse, family conflicts, or other reasons. Parents may not be emotionally available to their children if they are dealing with emotional wounds.

Going back four generations, we each have at least thirty ancestors. Several of these people likely experienced a form of abandonment, opening the door for abandonment to enter the bloodline. It will stay until removed.

We learned from Restoring the Foundations, an inner healing prayer ministry, that abandonment began in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve rebelled and disobeyed God and lost their identity and home. They felt forsaken and abandoned.

When we believe we are abandoned and experience a lack of identity and a place to belong, shame sets in. We become fearful our shame will be exposed. Fear leads us to exert control over ourselves, others, and our environment so our perceived weaknesses are not exposed. We believe we are alone, no one cares, and it is up to us to survive. We act like orphans.2

Although we may have had parents who loved us, we still perceive abandonment when this influence has gained access to our family. This results in acting like spiritual orphans, believing we aren’t good enough and do not measure up. In John 14:18, Jesus promised He would not leave us as orphans and would send the Holy Spirit to guide us.

We are offered assurance of our position as God’s adopted children. He will never leave or abandon us. Romans 8:15–17 says,

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

Manifestations of Abandonment

Negative spirits use abandonment to keep people from trusting God and others.

Distrust of God is a prime focus. We become angry at God and distance ourselves from Him because He allowed the abandonment. If we believe God has abandoned us, we may decide to abandon Him.
When we do not trust others, it becomes difficult to enter serious relationships, including marriage. We build walls to protect ourselves from hurt and more abandonment.
Abandonment pushes people to rely only on themselves. Our culture celebrates independence and the “self-made man,” which leads to adopting a performance-based mindset. When we focus on our efforts, we ignore God and erroneously believe it is up to us to survive.
Many believe if you want something done right, you need to do it yourself. God created us for a relationship with Him and others—interdependence not independence.

Encouragement from the Bible

The Bible highlights the importance of fellowship with God and each other.

In Matthew 18:20, we are told the Lord is with us when two or more are gathered in His name.
In Hebrews 10:24–25, we are advised to keep meeting together to encourage each other.
In Genesis 2:24, marriage is a biblical principle of two uniting to become one.

Importance of Forgiving

In situations, such as accidents or sickness causing death, relatives may have done little to cause the abandonment. Yet, we need to forgive them for any part they played in partnering with abandonment. In other situations, such as divorce/separation, emotional abandonment, or deliberate acts by a person, forgiving people involved may be hard, but still necessary.

We need to forgive everyone connected with abandonment, so we are free of negative influences. This includes forgiving ourselves for allowing spirits associated with abandonment to impact us. When extending forgiveness becomes difficult, we can ask Jesus to help us forgive.

The Blessings

When we renounce abandonment, we replace it with God’s truth. In prayer, the Holy Spirit often leads prayer recipients to understand:

They are beloved children of God, adopted into His family.
God will never abandon them or forsake them, as written in Hebrews 13:5.

When the influence of abandonment is removed from the life of a believer, frequently there is a sense of release. The person’s countenance changes, revealing their newfound freedom in Christ. They now have an identity and a place to belong. They are no longer spiritual orphans.

¹Gena Barnhill and Press Barnhill, Simple Effective Prayer: A Model for Inner Healing (Birmingham, AL: Brookstone Publishing Group, 2022), 25–26.

²Chester Kylstra, “Escaping the Orphan Lifestyle.” MP3 audio download produced by Restoring the Foundations, 2013.

Now it’s your turn. What spiritual effects of abandonment have you seen in your life or the lives of other?

Be sure to share your thoughts on our Facebook Group Healing Prayer Discussion.

We are all stronger when we learn from each other. We look forward to your input.

Blessings,
Gena and Press

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on June 20, 2022, and has been revamped for comprehensiveness on September 4, 2023.