Rejection

Have you ever been rejected? Ever been made to feel you are not good enough? Like you don't measure up. You don't fit in. You are inferior. You are unwanted and unwelcome.

Any person who has ever felt this way knows the sting it brings and the deep sorrow. Such feelings have brought more than one person down. Children have experienced this rejection from their parents. Students have experienced this from teachers and other students. Athletes have experienced this from coaches. Employees have suffered this same fate from employers when they have been fired or passed over for a promotion. Job applicants know the sting of rejection when the company decides to go with another applicant over them.

I just returned from making a visit. I heard another kind of rejection. When religious people judge and reject people who need help the most. People who lost their way and wandered down a painful and harmful course of life. The holier than thou types sit in their pristine chapels looking down their pious noses at those who desperately need Jesus the most. They need to gospel message of the cross, the death of Jesus, His shed blood, His mercy and His grace..

I heard the testimonies of people today who got burned by the church. They love Jesus and desire to be close to Him. Church is a whole other matter. They have seen and experienced first hand the rejection of religious people. They have heard the whispers, seen the scornful stares and felt the betrayal.

Jesus made room for sinful broken people. He did not excuse their sin. He did not turn a blind eye to sin. He did make room for broken, sinful, confused, and wounded people. His love and grace were and still is big enough to save, deliver, adopt and welcome all kinds of people. He demands repentance. He accepts dirty, flirty, sin stained and scarred people. He redeems them. He reclaims them. He restores them.

I am thankful Jesus did not reject me when I first came to Him. I sure was not much to work with. Nobody saw potential in me back then bu tJesus. All these years later I am more thankful that He still does not reject me. I have been rejected by men. More than I could ever put into words. As tough as I am, if I were honest, I would have to admit the rejection of people has hurt deeply. The acceptance of Jesus is sufficient.

For all those rejected by others Jesus stands with open arms to embrace. To the sinner He calls for you to repent and to be cleansed by His grace. To the condemned Jesus offers pardon. To the abandoned Jesus offers His constant companionship. To the ostracized Jesus offers close communion. To the guilty Jesus offers forgiveness.

To ever religious person in every church who judges and condemns rejecting those who need the gospel and the church the most I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. You are hypocrites. Clean and pure on the inside but filthy rotten on the inside. You may dress up the outside but you are stinking sewage of sin on the inside.

To the rejected I echo the words of an old hymn, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in light of His glory and grace." His eyes are filled with love and compassion. His heart longs to accept you. His arms are wide to embrace you.

Power Of Persevering Prayer

I just got off the phone with a very excited veteran follower of Jesus. This warrior has walked with Jesus about as long as I have been alive. She knows how to battle in prayer for family and friends. Time and time again over the last several years we have exchanged prayer needs and stood in the gap for one another.

Tonight she called with a huge praise report. She experienced a personal revival at the answer to something she has prayed about for over three and a half decades. Tonight that prayer was answered and she could not contain the joy inside. It spilled over and she had to tell me and others.

I rejoiced with her. I celebrate her long fought prayed out victory. Imagine those long years of praying and the answer being delayed. It would have been easy to lose heart and to give up. Many in similar situations have in much less time. Not this tenacious prayer warrior. She grabbed the promises of God firmly and refused to let go.

Some of you reading this are facing challenges. Yes, I know you have prayed. Prayed for a long time but the breakthrough did not come. Somewhere along the way did you lose heart? May my friend's personal testimony inspire you as it inspires me. Three and a half decades of praying for her were not in vain. The breakthrough came.

Your breakthrough can come if you do not give up. Have you prayed for thirty plus years? Have you refused to give up and to give in? Have you stayed true dogged determined to get your miracle?

I could not help but think of this little verse after talking with my friend. May it encourage all of us to pray harder with perseverance as long as it takes to win the victory.

Luke 18:1 (NKJV)
1  Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,