It was another beautiful weekend filled with praying, worshipping, proclaiming the good news of Jesus and seeing the wonder-working power of His name move in the lives of His daughters. The women’s retreat was full of tears, laughter, breakthroughs, and healing. Driving home, I reminisced on all that God had done; rejoicing in praise. I thought back to a moment that stood out to me, as it was something I had never experienced before. A woman who had experienced deep pain looked at me and said, “I don’t see rejection in your eyes.”
Someone who was familiar with rejection from the time she was young, had an expectancy that the normal reaction to who she was and what she had been through should be rejection. But the Holy Spirit filled my heart with such compassion for her that all I could do was look at her with love, acceptance, and hope for a brighter future. I pondered this word rejection on my drive home. I thought about how hard it is to feel rejected. Rejection can start from the time we are babies and every person on earth will feel rejected at one time or another. Rejection can be from not getting a part in the play, to a parent saying they don’t want you. It can be extremely painful and keep us stuck in places we don’t want to be. It can feel lonely and even bring its own form of self-hate. It can hang on to us like a backpack, taken to everyplace we go, leaving us feeling shame and worthlessness.
Then what can bring hope to this kind of feeling? The fact that God himself was rejected before any of us. John 15:18 says, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” Jesus was rejected by man and chose to die for us anyway. This gives hope that if He can endure the rejection and ridicule, then what excuse do we have to carry a spirit of rejection with us? God overcame the spirit of rejection and turned it into our Salvation when He shed His blood, died and rose again three days later. The world continues to reject Him, and He continues to forgive and knock on the doors of every heart to be open to Him.
If rejection has been a part of your journey, don’t lose heart my friends. It only weighs the heart down and make us feel less than a son or daughter of the Most-High God! Our citizenship is in Heaven and our residency is on Earth. Ephesians already tells us that we are seated in Heavenly places, and it doesn’t get any better than that. My prayer for you today is if you have been walking with the spirit of rejection, you will look at the Father and see that He has no rejection in His eyes for you. That He loves you and is the rightful judge over the accuser; you can lay that down. I pray He will bring you comfort with His peace and remind you that He is for you and not against. That He will fight your battles, you only must be still and know that rejection is not a reflection of WHO you are it is a spirit that comes against the very nature of WHOSE you.
You are loved, you are chosen and you my friends can walk in this life free of rejection!
The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. Psalm 118:22
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. John 1:11
You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. 1 Peter 2:4
Emily Rodewald 