“Then He said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.'” 

To succeed at anything, you must learn to face rejection. When we leave the comforts of home, we enter a world full of rejections. No more accolades, pats on the back, or “good job” for just being young and cute. Some of us even face rejection with family members, including husbands and wives. You may even be facing it now. They do not believe in your vision; they say you are working too much, and they think you are too optimistic or too zealous for the Lord.

Moments of rejection are those times in life when we feel dismissed or not accepted by family, friends, peers, and others. These are moments when, instead of getting the affirmation needed to boost you forward, you get negativity, questions, doubts and total refusal to affirm your call and God’s plan for your life. Affirmation is the vitamin of the soul, but rejection can be damaging in such a way that it creates a wound that is difficult to heal. Jesus faced it in the early phases of His ministry, in His own town of Nazareth, when people challenged Him with these questions: Are you truly the Son of God? Aren’t you the son of Joseph the carpenter? Why do you think you are so special? Can you truly do the things you say you can do? Are you out of your mind? To that, Jesus proclaimed, “No prophet is accepted in his own country” (Luke 4:24 KJV). In other words, no one truly called will be embraced by his own. One of the key things that prove God has called you is that your own reject you, and you will often feel wounded by the uncensored words of others, including those who are very close to you.

Jesus was not the only one that faced rejection by His own. Moses defended one of the Hebrews, because of his compassion for his own people, by killing an Egyptian who was beating on a Hebrew. Soon after that, he attempted to mediate between two Hebrews and was rejected with this statement: “Who made you prince and a judge over us?” (Exodus 2:14a NKJV). We are all familiar with Joseph’s family's rejection of him. After sharing his dreams with his family, his father responded, ”What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” (Genesis 37:10b NKJV). And who can forget the ridicule the future king of Israel received from one of his brothers for believing that he could bring down Goliath? “Now Eliab his older brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, ’Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.’” (1 Samuel 17:28 NKJV)

As you can see, even the best of the best have been rejected: deliverers, kings, governors, and even our Savior. However, they did not allow their rejection to hinder their destiny. Instead, they managed to persevere in spite of the rejection, believing in their God and His purpose for their lives. They fully embraced their destiny and allowed their conviction to shield them from the negativity. Not only did these people succeed, but God also used them to help and save the very people that rejected them.
How do you ensure that the rejections you face do not hinder your destiny?

1. Accept rejection as a part of your journey
2. Remember they do not know what they are doing
3. Pray for those who reject you
4. Allow the Word of God and prayer to be your defense
5. Cry if you must, but allow the Holy Spirit to be your comfort
6. Give no voice to the devil
7. Remember that you are joining a club of deliverers, kings, governors and our Savior Himself

Moments of rejection can be great opportunities to draw closer to God and humble ourselves before Him. They are reminders that we are but children of God, and they can serve as great medicine against pride. Rejection also yields an opportunity to experience great mercy and favor from the Lord. Since men are rejecting us, it draws us closer to God’s heart. David understood this principle; when he was overthrown from his throne by his own son, he faced the rejection of many. One of the people that rejected him with insults was Shimei, a man from the family of Saul, who felt that what happened to David was payback because he took the kingdom from Saul (1 Samuel 16:5-8 NKJV). David’s military wanted to kill this man who dared to insult the disposed king of Israel, but David stopped them from doing so and said, “It may be that the Lord will look on my affliction, and that the Lord will repay me with good from his cursing this day” (2 Samuel 16:12 NKJV). So the next time you feel rejected, do not defend yourself, but rather look to God to repay you with good, which will be far more valuable than the damage caused by the curse of the rejection.

My prayer for you today is that God will grant you the grace to overcome rejections and experience His favor so that His destiny for your life and business will be realized. We will continue with Week 4 of our series on 12 Defining Leadership moments next week.

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