REJECTION! Oh how that emotion ruled my life. It seemed that being rejected by people was a constant theme for me. Over the last few years since my husband’s death “rejection bombs” seemed to explode over and over. I was so tired of feeling rejected. Christmas of 2015 there was one more huge rejection and I knew I had to find out what was happening. I cried out to Jesus and said, “Show me what I’m doing that causes this to happen over and over. I’m done with rejection. I will change! Just show me, Jesus, what I need to know.”
Nobody knew that I battled with rejection. I looked successful. I acted successful. I totally loved the Lord. I was deep in my relationship with Father God and Jesus and Holy Spirit. But still I felt pummeled by rejection.
I was sharing with my new neighbor, a pastor, and she told me about RLI. I researched it and truthfully, I thought it sounded a little strange. BUT, I was desperate to change so I signed up for a conference in March. Challenge after challenge occurred to keep me from getting to the sessions but I gritted my teeth and determined I was going to make it there each day.
My first fear was that the leaders would look at me and say, “Well of course you’re being rejected, you deserve it”. The truth was they said to each of us, “You are loved; you are not your sin or emotion. You deserve love.” This was said the first day and the walls came down and I was able to listen for truth instead of having walls up to protect.
I attended every session, every day. I got sick during the week and felt awful but I was not going to let Satan rob me of hearing truth. Truth was going to set me free and I was determined to be set free.
The most important truth I heard was that so many of the emotions I thought were just emotions were my reaction to evil spirits with names – rejection, fear, frustration, abuse, anger and many others. These spirits have the assignment to rob me of joy, love, peace and all the gifts from God that are good and perfect. Now I realized that it was not “what” I was fighting but “who” I was fighting. I learned that I have the power, through Holy Spirit, to resist the devil and he will flee (James 4:7).
Now I know I can resist the spirit of rejection and he must flee. Now I know that when I feel emotions of frustration, fear, criticism, resentment and many others I can take my thoughts captive (2 Cor. 10:5). I can refuse to come into agreement with any spirits trying to fuel these emotions. I can choose Godly characteristics and emotions. One of my most used phrases now is “I know who you are (rejection etc). I have played and agreed with you in the past and it wasn’t fun so I choose not to come into agreement with you. I am submitted to God. I resist you in the Name of Jesus and now you must flee”. Sometimes I have to say it multiple times. Sometimes I say it just one time and I have the victory! Sometimes the attack of the emotion is sneaky and I don’t recognize it immediately. I often refer to my manual and when I see the name of the emotion then I know who I am fighting and can more effectively fight. Once I know who I am battling then I can wield the sword of the Spirit and I win the victory. (Ephesians 6:10-17)
In the months since I first attended the conference, I have seen tremendous breakthroughs in some of the relationships where I was previously experiencing rejection. Part of it is the way I respond to rejection triggers, and rejection is no longer chasing me! Thank you RLI for teaching me these life-giving truths!