My fear of Rejection!!!!

Over the years I have faced all kinds of obstacles and any number of battles. However, the greatest, and the most obvious battle that anyone must face today is not sickness, or disease. The greatest battle is not money. No the greatest threat to every life is the battle of rejection. The enemy of rejection has been and continues to be, in my opinion the greatest source of pain for believers.I have been in ministry for nearly thirty years. I remember like it was yesterday the excitement that filled my soul every time I even begin to think about ministry. I was literally high on the idea of being a part of leading someone to the Lord. I could hardly contain myself.As Annie and I started pastoring the excitement for us was overwhelming. Every day we would talk about how great it was to be involved with what God was doing.Lots of people did not come to our little church. In fact most didn’t! I did not take that personally. In fact I assumed everyone was better at this that I was.We led a few people to Christ, and watched as the Lord would fill their lives with His Presence. Entire families were baptized. They would join the church, bring their families and friends. We would do weddings for their brothers and sisters, dedicate their children, and perform funerals for their loved ones.We spent hours and hours in counseling with them. Prayer upon prayer was spoken over very difficult situations. Our lives were filled with late night house calls, hospital visits, Christmas parties, birthdays and anniversaries. These people were more than members, they became our family.Occasionally, a family would leave.  That was inevitable, I learned to deal with that. However, when several decided to leave together, that was too much! It became the most intense battle that I had ever faced in my life.I took it all very personally. It was who I am part of my very makeup, I guess. I was not expecting any of this.Rejection, is the refusal to accept, to receive or to consider. Or in my words the refusal to be reconciled. I was completely unprepared for this. I wanted to leave the ministry. I felt like a complete failure. No one had ever taught me how to handle rejection.I realized in that moment that rejection, is the worst thing about ministry. In fact the most difficult thing in life is to be rejected by those you serve and love. I hate it! And if pastors would really be honest, they, too would agree with me, rejection is the worst thing about ministry.However, I am not writing this book for pastors (though I think it may be of great help to them) no one goes through life without experiencing rejection.Rejection affects every human being! You have faced it. It hurts! No, it  is devastating.The world is full of victims of rejection. The venom of this spirit is paralyzing. Unable to shake off the lingering symptoms many people remain stuck with the sickening affects of rejection all their lives.Unfortunately or fortunately, it depends on how you look at it, I have learned some things about rejection, foremost is the reality that even Jesus suffered from it.He was despised and rejected—  a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.  He was despised, and we did not care. (Isaiah 53:3 NLT). Jesus experienced rejection! Other people turned their backs on Him, they looked the other way when He was forsaken. He was despised and no one cared.And you know what? He was “perfect.” Yeah, He never sinned, He was without spot or wrinkle. And yet He was rejected! People reject even God!Perfection doesn’t guarantee acceptance.Maybe that doesn’t do for you what it did for me, but it was the beginning of freedom for me.I am writing this book so that you can overcome the rejection of others. And perhaps even more importantly so that you can overcome the spirit of rejection that often takes root in our own hearts.I believe that Jesus was rejected for you and for me. He endured this pain and this rejection so that you and I could endure and overcome and be set free from rejection.Let me state very quickly, when you experience rejection, you can identify with Jesus and you can receive strength and healing only from Him. Listen carefully, God has chosen you, qualified you, and redeemed you. According to the prophet Jeremiah the Lord has great plans for you. Plans that involve your success and not failure. He has never and will never reject you.He has reconciled you to Himself by His own blood. The opposite of rejection is reconciliation. The Kingdom of God operates in the "ministry of reconciliation" the world in the "ministry of rejection." Two spheres and two spirits of operation.Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthains 5:18-19). The enemy of our souls wants to trap us in the snare of rejection so that we never experience the reconciliation. All the rejection that Jesus endured here on earth was so that you and I might receive reconciliation.Rejection is one of Satan’s favorite tools to use against God’s people. The devil is a liar and this book will help you to regain your knowing that you are a child of God.It has taken me thirty years to have the nerve to speak and write about this evil spirit. This spirit that wars against "reconciliation." I truly hope that by writing and speaking about it, others will go free. As I close this blog I thought I might leave you with a few thoughts:1) No one can really reject you until you reject yourself2)Rejection will only destroy you if you reject yourself3) If you reject yourself no one's opinion will help4) Don't reject yourself4) His opinion is the only one that counts