{"id":3659,"date":"2014-09-20T04:04:59","date_gmt":"2014-09-20T08:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/?p=3659"},"modified":"2014-09-20T04:04:59","modified_gmt":"2014-09-20T08:04:59","slug":"rejection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/20\/rejection\/","title":{"rendered":"Rejection"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/20\/rejection\/wp_20130722_011-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3661\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-3661\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/WP_20130722_011-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"WP_20130722_011\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/WP_20130722_011-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/WP_20130722_011-180x180.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.ChurchOfTheBeyond.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/WP_20130722_011-144x144.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.<\/p>\n<p>Genesis 4:6-8<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The first appearance of a man experiencing rejection in the Bible was in Genesis 3. \u00a0When the eyes of the couple were opened, they knew that they were naked. \u00a0They knew that the state that they were in was insufficient, and they suffered shame. \u00a0This was the first rejection.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after, their son Cain experienced similar rejection. \u00a0His offering was not accepted as a way to seek\u00a0God, and\u00a0so he was angry and his face downcast.<\/p>\n<p>In both of these cases,\u00a0the conditions of the rejection were the men&#8217;s relationship with God. \u00a0In the first, the man lost his\u00a0fellowship with God, in the second, the\u00a0other man failed to regain it through an inappropriate offering.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Man cannot be whole without God. \u00a0Instead, in His absence, they rely upon each other, turning to religious, political, and demonic arrangements.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, for the believer, in a\u00a0life with trials, men still face rejection.<\/p>\n<p>Rejection for the unbeliever is natural, just as condemnation, guilt and shame. \u00a0Rejection for the believer, then, is not.<\/p>\n<p>For believers, rejection is simply believing someone else&#8217;s words over God&#8217;s about you. \u00a0This is always the root.<\/p>\n<p>Rejection is always a spirit of judgment, because it has to do with what you believe, and that requires a judgment about yourself.<\/p>\n<p>In all honesty, the only release from the spirit of rejection is the release of the spirit of judgment.<\/p>\n<p>Where ever there is rejection, there is always rebellion. \u00a0Quite simply,\u00a0when faced with rejection, one has two choices. \u00a0Either don&#8217;t believe it, shrivel up into a miserable heap, or retaliate. \u00a0There is simply no other way for the human heart to respond. \u00a0Which is what makes our choices so important.<\/p>\n<p>If we respond in rebellion and any form of retaliation, either actively or passively, we step into pride. \u00a0God always resists the proud, and yet, He gives grace to the humble.<\/p>\n<p>In all honesty, one of the best ways to free yourself from rejection is humility. \u00a0When you\u00a0you connect the\u00a0irritation to authority or anyone with the feelings of rejection within, you see that one comes from the other. \u00a0At that point, you can choose to no longer respond to the\u00a0rebellious impulses, including the thoughts.<\/p>\n<p>Doing so, then triggers a cascade of responses. \u00a0Since you can no longer act out, you are faced with two options. \u00a0Either melt into a puddle, which is acceptable, or cry out to God until He reveals the truth. \u00a0Either one\u00a0works. \u00a0What also happens is that God actually releases the help\u00a0that would have been stopped up by any previous rebellion. \u00a0God wants to help you, but you have to keep the focus where it belongs, squarely on yourself.<\/p>\n<p>Consider Cain. \u00a0God was gracious to Cain, and encouraged him, saying, &#8220;If you do well, will you not be accepted?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0truth is, God wants to help us, but our own reactions often\u00a0make it hard for us to be helped. \u00a0When we step into rebellion, on any level, we are working against God&#8217;s ways, and it short-circuits the grace he would give us. \u00a0Yet, when we refuse to go in to rebellious ways of thinking, the alternative is to ask God for mercy. \u00a0With all the effort we could spend on rebellion, we can go to God and ask Him, beg Him, for His truth. \u00a0And, He wants to give it, longs for us to ask, and teaches us to stop looking at the people we think have neglected us and deal with the one thing that&#8217;s important&#8211;what we believe.<\/p>\n<p>Fear is at the root of rejection. \u00a0We are afraid of something. \u00a0And, it is always a lie. \u00a0And, it is always judgment.<\/p>\n<p>The spirit of judgment is\u00a0the cause of the fear. \u00a0Because of what we believe, we judge ourselves quite often, as well as others.<\/p>\n<p>When we come to issues such as self-rejection, we always come to the issue of self-hate.<\/p>\n<p>And, the simple solution, when it comes to judgment, is simply forgiveness.<\/p>\n<p>Rejection is always judgment. \u00a0The way out of that judgment is either a better understanding of the truth, or true forgiveness. \u00a0Either work. \u00a0It sometimes matters very little whether we understand that actual situation or not, when we choose to forgive, we can no longer hate, including ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>For years, I could not figure out what to do with self-hate. \u00a0The solution is actually\u00a0easier than one might expect. \u00a0Forgive yourself, or, put another way, agree with God&#8217;s forgiveness of you. \u00a0Agree with God.<\/p>\n<p>In any place you have self-hate, you can will yourself to forgive. \u00a0The holding onto it is an act of the will, and so is the letting go. \u00a0You cannot hold onto it if you do not choose to.<\/p>\n<p>And, in ever personal experience of self hate that I have ever had to let go in this way, while I could not have told you through many hours of counselling WHY I hated myself, the moment I did, all the reasons &#8220;why I shouldn&#8217;t&#8221; instantly came flooding to me. \u00a0It really was all right there. \u00a0While I spent a few years attempting to understand where all this self-hate was coming from, the moment I simply turned it into forgiveness, it was right in my face.<\/p>\n<p>The thing is, you couldn&#8217;t possibly be rejected if you understood where you were really coming from. \u00a0But, deception and wounds come in from all sources, and when we believe that are no good, we begin to act on those beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>When you realize there is no other one to please, and no standard to live up to other than Him, your house then becomes built upon the rock. \u00a0A house built on the sands of the opinions of others is always shaky, but it is the house that totally settles it worth upon what Christ says about it that remains.<\/p>\n<p>You cannot be controlled if you do not control, and you cannot feel rejection if you do not have something of rejection in you.<\/p>\n<p>The simplest solution to the spirit of rejection is to get rid of the spirit of judgment. \u00a0Paul said, the spiritual man judges all things, but is judged by no one. \u00a0That is, the one led by the Spirit agrees with\u00a0what God thinks about things, and judges as he hears, even as Jesus did. \u00a0That man is not subject to the opinions of others, and, Paul said, I do not even judge myself.<\/p>\n<p>But, the key is, these are of the Spirit, and not of the flesh!<\/p>\n<p>When we do not walk in our own judgment, but His, because we are Spiritual, we do not control, cannot be controlled, and are free.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. 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