Praying
TO OVERCOME REJECTION
Helpful Scripture
1 Peter 2:4 - As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious.
Psalm 34:18 - The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
2 Timothy 1:7 - For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Starting Points
The opposite of rejection is acceptance. If we don’t have acceptance, we probably do have rejection. The feeling of being unwanted, excluded, worthless, not really belonging or somehow on the outside looking in.
Proverbs 18, verse 14:
“A man’s spirit sustains him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?”
A wound in the spirit goes deeper than the conscious mind. It’s below the level of that which we can actually understand or even apprehend with our conscious mind. It goes below the level of our conscious memory. It often stems from some experience in early childhood, but our conscious mind can’t endure that experience and blots it out, but it’s not blotted out from the spirit. So the wound continues there in the spirit deep down below the level of conscious mind and conscious memory. That takes away strength. It takes away initiative. It takes away the joy of living. It’s a wound that saps out our life.
There is usually a succession of negative emotions and attitudes that follow on as a consequence from rejection. Out of rejection comes loneliness; out of loneliness, misery; out of misery, self-pity; out of self-pity, depression; out of depression, despair or hopelessness. And if despair or hopelessness takes its course, then the final end is an attitude of death or suicide.
We must understand these two basic facts:
Christ on the cross bore our rejections—all the agony and the heartache.
An exchange has taken place: we are accepted because of His rejection. We are “accepted in the Beloved.”
For many people, the simple declaration of their acceptance in Christ resolves the problem. But for others, it takes more than this.
Steps to Acceptance
Forgive those who have rejected you
Lay down bitterness, resentment, hatred and rebellion.
Accept the fact that you are accepted in Christ and that God accepts you.
You must accept yourself.
You are God’s workmanship, His masterpiece, that which He’s devoted the most time and care to of all the things He’s ever created in the universe. You are at the top of the list.
How Do I Pray?
Father, I forgive. I lay down bitterness, resentment, hatred and rebellion. I thank You, God, that I am accepted in Christ. I am a child of God. Heaven is my home. I belong to the best family in the universe. There is royal blood in my veins.
Lord Jesus Christ, I believe You are the Son of God and the only way to God. You died on the cross for my sins and You rose again from the dead. I repent of all my sins and I forgive every other person, as I would have God forgive me. All those who have rejected me and hurt me and failed to show me love, God, I forgive them all now.
I trust You for Your forgiveness, and I believe, Lord, that You accept me right now as I am in Christ. I am accepted. I am highly favoured. I am the object of Your special care. You really love me. You want me. You are my Father. Lord, I want to thank You.
I accept myself in Christ the way You made me. I am Your workmanship. I thank You for what You have done and I believe that You have begun a good work and will perform it until the day of Christ the Lord. I release myself now from any dark, evil pressure. I release my spirit to rejoice in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.