Excerpt from Praying God's Word by Beth Moore

Praying God's Word: Chapter 6- Overcoming Feelings of Rejection

Rejection in and of itself is not a stronghold. Our reaction to rejection determines whether we become bound by it. Only God knows the tragic number of His own children who have allowed themselves to be imprisoned by continuing feelings of rejection for the rest of their lives. I would never imply that getting over rejection is easy; but it is possible for every single person who puts his or her heart and mind to it to overcome. That’s what this chapter is all about. Overcoming rejection is God’s unquestionable will for your life if you belong to Him. How do you overcome rejection? By applying large doses of God’s love to your wounded heart daily and by allowing Him to renew your mind until the rejected thinks like the accepted.

Few of us will embrace the difficult challenge of being rejected. In Philippians 3:10, the apostle Paul stated the deepest desire of his impassioned heart: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings.” A vital and admittedly painful part of God’s conforming process in our lives is our willingness to fellowship with Christ in his sufferings. The first suffering of Christ recorded in the Gospel of John is found in the eleventh verse of chapter one: “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” Rejection. Remember, these were Christ’s own people. He loved them. His heart must have longed to be accepted by them. The Hebrew people shared a sense of community with which we have little to compare in our society. To be excluded from the fellowship and acceptance of that community was considered a fate worse than death by many. In fact, Scripture tells us that certain Pharisees who really wanted to believe were afraid to express their acceptance of Christ for fear of the same rejection. John’s Gospel also tells us that Christ was rejected by His own brothers. If you’ve never experienced rejection, you might be wondering whether suffering is too strong a word for it; however, if you’ve been rejected by someone you love, you’ll agree that few injuries are more excruciating.