Fear of Rejection

Greetings,

 

Matthew 6 tells us not to worry (fear) three times (Matthew 6:34, 31, 34).  Why do we continue to go against what God says in His Word?

 

I have experienced fear in almost every person I come across.  Of course, it is at different levels and the result in high level fear is a manifestation in the physical, emotional, and the spirit.  Fear left unchecked will dominate your life, will compromise you immune system, and make you ill. The enemy seeks to destroy you (John 10:10). Jesus came to give us abundant life (John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly).

 

Some of the issues as a result of fear are, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia, throat issues, high blood pressure, heart issues, migraine headaches, back aches, stage fright, skin issues, addictions (because of feeling unloved), and PTSD, to name a few.  I found that fear will cause muscles, tendons, and ligaments to tighten up which can result in muscles pulls and tendon issues such as Plantar Fasciitis.  You see Plantar Fasciitis quite often in athletics (especially specific to men).  I have seen fear cause one leg to be shorter than the other causing alignment issues and pain throughout their body.  Fear will cause the arteries to constrict (make narrow).

 

Unfortunately, we think of fear (anxiety, stress, worry) as singular when actually there are 4,000 documented fears in the world.  One fear in itself cannot do much damage, but multiple fears will work together to destroy your life.  I heard a story of a Viet Nam veteran that came back from the war shunned and scorned (rejected) by his own country causing trauma (fear) in his life that he has to deal with to this day.  The primary physical manifestation in his case is throat issues.  Their soul has been damaged and the ministry solution to this issue is to take the person back to the entry point and bind up and cast out this specific fear.  The same can be done for PTSD or any trauma in a person’s life.  God uses his disciples to heal, but faith is ever lacking in the Body of Christ and it is frustrating to me because so few come to the Healing Room that I am a part of.  We are destroyed due to lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children).  We are destroyed because of pride and because we are a stubborn generation.

 

The topic of this article is rejection, which is a fear.  I found that once rejection enters, abandonment (fear of abandonment) and unloving (fear of not being loved) follows.  We feel abandoned because we are rejected.  We feel unloved because of the rejection and don’t feel worthy to be loved.  There is one other element that is a result of rejection, abandonment, unloving, and that is anger.  Anger because they were rejected, abandoned, and unloved.  In many cases, this anger can be high level rage.  Babies rejected in the womb (unwanted by the parents) are especially high risk.

 

Rejection (fear) causes depression (despair/hopelessness/sadness/broken heart/gloom/unhappiness - Thesaurus). How do I know this?  The Bible tells me so. Anxiety (fear) in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad Proverb 12:25.  What does the medical field say causes depression?  They can’t really answer this question.  Doctors say that mental illness can’t be cured, but Jesus showed and instructed us that we, as disciples of Jesus Christ, can bring healing in the name of Jesus as we pray to our Father in Heaven.

 

One thing is common in all the people that I have ministered to and that is: they just want and need to hear the words “I love you.”  These simple words will cast out all their fears (1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love). Why is it so hard for us to convey the love of God?  Mainly, because the earthly father did not learn how to convey the love of God to their children, so we were not taught to do the same to our children.  Secondly, is un-forgiveness and bitterness holding us back?  Is it time for us to be the “Repairer of the Breach” (Isaiah 58:12)?

 

OK, let’s get to the rejection tidbits from Be In Health with a little commentary and additional Scripture added by me.

 

The most important things to know about Rejection:

 

• The first thing to know about Rejection is that it is not just "a feeling." It is an evil spirit that works with other spirits to make us feel and think that we're rejected.
• Rejection can rule our lives. It does so by influencing our thoughts and decisions.
• It can change our personality. We can be someone who believes we are always being rejected by others and anticipate ongoing rejection into the future. It may cause us to fall in a trap of self-pity resulting in a victim’s mentality which is a whole other issue we need to be aware of.
• Rejection leads us to value man's opinion or acceptance more than God's.
• It establishes our value based on whether another human being accepts us or not.
• If we determine our value based upon the rejection of others our value is not based upon God's acceptance of us according to the Word.  This makes God a liar because He has said that He already accepts us (Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?).
• Rejection is also a form of Unbelief because it doesn't want us to believe that God has already accepted us.
• It leaves us feeling like we have to be accepted first by man before we can be accepted by God.  This keeps us from resting in God's acceptance (Hebrews 4:9-11 NLT  So there is a special rest^] still waiting for the people of God.  For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall).
• Rejection is a form of idolatry because we allow other people's opinion or approval to become more important than God's (Exodus 20:3 NLT  “You must not have any other god but me).
• Our value and who we are do not depend on whether someone likes us or not.  Our value is evident in that God knew us and planned for us since before we were born (Psalms 139:14-16 NLT Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
  You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed).
• If God knew us before we were formed, then we are no accident. We are known of God. We are accepted by Him through Jesus Christ. We were desired by Him.
• Regardless of the circumstances of our conception, we were desired and intended by Him.  We are extremely worthy in God’s eyes.
• Therefore, no one is "an accident" and no one is "a mistake." He used our earthly parents to bring us into this world but He is our Father. This is the Truth according to His Word and we need to accept it as true. It does not matter how much Rejection seeks to deceive us because God’s perfect love is not a deception. 

 

We must choose to believe what the Word says rather than rejection. Instead of seeking acceptance from others, we need to remember that God knew us and planned for us before we were born and trust that He accepts us. Then, we may rest in His acceptance and value as sons and daughters of God and not be tossed to and fro by Rejection and the resulting fears.

 

That is how we overcome Rejection in our lives.

 

Blessings to you all,

 

Tony Sanchez

 

Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword

Greetings,

I visit other churches and I listen or watch sermons.  I have been in bible studies, attended men’s breakfasts, attended conferences, read hundreds of books and articles, written extensively, and been a part of many ministries.  The point being is that many times I have heard many things from man regarding religion based on their interpretation with little reference to Scripture to back up each and every important subject.

 

This is what I see lacking in the church, ministry, and Body of Jesus Christ.  I see a lack of using the written and spoken Word of God.

 

On more than one occasion, I have turned on Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, and others.  What I see is a feel good message by story tellers.  I listened to Joel Osteen and it was 15 minutes later that he finally referenced Bible scripture.  I see a bunch of pastors trying to entertain the Body and not offend them.  Many times they hurriedly try to throw in a few Scripture verses at the end of the sermon when in reality they should have had Scripture throughout the message.  The Scriptures should have been the sermon with the pastor providing the commentary.  Not the other way around. Scripture should be the blue print for any message when we are preaching the Gospel (Mark 16:15) or ministering.

 

I put together the piece below to show you how important the word of God is for the Body.  Every ministry, article, teaching/message, prayer, etc. that I am involved in has the written or spoken Word of God backing up everything that I do.  Especially, in the Healing Room and Altar team ministry where it is God and the spoken Word of God that is going to bring healing to the individual.  The Word of God empowers us to bring the needy out of captivity (Isaiah 61:1).

 

Understand this:  What we do or say can disappear like a vapor (James 4:14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away). 

 

But the Word of God is the word that will not return void.  It is God’s word and not the word of humans. In other words, people cannot make their desires a reality merely by applying Isaiah 55:11 to whatever situation they desire. The only word that God guarantees is the word that proceeds from His mouth. Any other word from any other source does not carry this type of authority. 

 

Isaiah 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

 

Lastly, I would like to thank Pastor George who over the years has issued outlines with Scriptural references to back up his points which makes for a more effective sermon.

 

Spoken Word of God

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12-13 is one of the great biblical texts on the power of God’s Word. The author has been warning the Hebrew church of the danger of cultural Christianity.  Because God’s Word is powerful to expose our sin and God Himself sees everything, we must be diligent to have our hearts right before Him.

In the context of John 1:1, “the word of God” refers to all of God’s spoken revelation, including that which came through His Son.  If we heed God’s Word, it will keep us from the cultural religion that brings sure judgment.

1. God’s Word is powerful to expose our sin (4:12).

The text declares four things about the power of the Word:

A. God’s Word is living.

Since God is the living God (Hebrews HH3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God), and His Word cannot be separated from Him, that Word is a living Word. It can never be exterminated. As Isaiah 40:8 proclaims, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” Since God is the author of life, His living Word imparts life in two ways.

1). God’s Word imparts new life to dead sinners.

Because of sin, we all enter this world dead in trespasses, inequities and the resulting sin, alienated from God (Eph. 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins ). God is pleased to use His Word to impart new life to dead sinners. James 1:18 states, “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth…” 1 Peter 1:23 says, “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”

2). God’s Word imparts renewed life to His saints.

All of us that have known God’s salvation for a while have gone through dry times when God seemed distant. God uses His Word to renew and revive us. David wrote in Psalms 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”  Repeatedly the psalmist cries out, “My soul clings to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.” (119:25). “This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has revived me” (119:50; see also, 93, 107, 149, 154, 156, 159).

It only makes sense that if the living God, has spoken to us in His written Word, then we should seek it like a treasure and devour it. Being the word of God, it is both a word from God and a word about God. It is our only source of knowing specific truth about God. Creation reveals His attributes in a general way, but the written Word is God’s disclosure of Himself in a way that we could never know through creation alone. And invariably, when we see God as He is, we also see ourselves as we are.

B. God’s Word is active.

We get our word “energy” from the Greek word translated “active.” It means that the Word is effectual. It accomplishes what God intends for it to do. As Isaiah 55:10-11 states, ““For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater,  So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

C. God’s Word is sharp and piercing.

It is “sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow..” Some use this verse to draw distinctions between soul and spirit, but that is not the author’s intent. (What then does the distinction between joints and marrow mean?) Rather, he is using figurative language to show that God’s Word is sharp and it cuts deeply, to the very core of our being. Unless your conscience is hardened beyond remedy, you cannot read God’s Word or hear it preached faithfully without getting cut in the conscience.

God’s purpose in cutting us is to bring healing, not to leave us wounded. Sin is like a cancer growing inside of us. Untreated, it will be fatal.

D. God’s Word is an authoritative judge of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The word “thoughts” refers to negative thoughts related to emotions, such as anger, which a man may wish to keep hidden from others, but which is not hidden from God.  We can also describe them as morally questionable thoughts. The heart refers to the totality of the inner person. We get our word “critic” from the word translated “judge.” So the idea is that God’s Word is able authoritatively to act as critic of our innermost feelings and thoughts, showing us where we are wrong.

So in verse 12, the author is showing how God’s Word is powerful to expose our sin, never for the purpose of embarrassing us, but always to bring healing. We cannot rid our lives of sin if we aren’t even aware of it. The Word cuts down to our inner thoughts and feelings, revealing to us the things that are not pleasing to God, so that we can repent of these things and receive God’s restoration.

It’s a good idea to include Hebrews 4:13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. 

The author moves from God’s penetrating Word to God Himself, who sees everything. It is impossible to hide from God! Adam and Eve tried to hide from God after they sinned, but they could not do it, and neither can we. The word “open” means “naked.  We stand naked on the inside before God! There is no escape from His omniscient gaze. Sin is always stupid, because even if we fool everyone on earth, and think that we got away with it, we didn’t fool God!

3. Since we all will give account to God, we must be diligent to have our hearts right before Him.

The final phrase of 4:13 means either “Him with whom we have to do,” or, “Him to whom we must give an account.” We know that one day we all will stand before God to give an account of the deeds we have done in this body. Therefore, we should have as our ambition to be pleasing to Him (2 Cor. 5:9-10 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad), not just outwardly, but on the heart level.

Conclusion

One of the key things we are meant to realize is that there is no point in maintaining hypocrisy before God, His son, and the Holy Spirit. We are known inside out but because we are known, if we will be honest with ourselves before God, we can find true understanding and help from Him.

Blessings to you all,

Tony Sanchez 11-25-15