Conquer the spirit of rejection

 

Cynthia’s Story

 

Dashing down the beachfront, Cynthia was riding as if the devil himself was chasing her.  Henrico spurred his horse mercilessly, desperately trying to catch up with the evasive woman in white.  Her long blond hair flared around her face as she turned her head to look at the ocean.  In total abandon she raced into the waves, the horse rearing in rebellion.  “Lady, are you crazy… you’ll kill yourself” he shouted from the shallow waves.  She slid off the horse, straining on the reigns to bring the fiery stallion under control. “Haa….haa….slow down darling, that’s enough” she calmed the horse in a breathless voice.  The reigns slipped from her hands and the horse catapulted back to the shore. Cynthia’s brilliant blue eyes flashed with triumph as she turned around to face Henrico.  “Your horse is full of energy, you should exercise him more often” she chided him. “You’re crazy lady, if you want to kill yourself don’t use my horse to do it” he retorted angrily.  A fleeting look of pain flashed in her eyes.  “I’m tired, Henrico, please take me back to the hotel”.  Henrico reached down and pulled her onto his horse.  “As you wish, madam” he replied as he steered the mare towards the hotel.

 

Jakes was sipping a Martini, watching the droplets sliding down the frosted glass.  His thoughts lingered on his favorite obsession: Cynthia. He met her at this very same hotel 6 years ago.  His obsession was immediate and overwhelming.  He had to have her and he was prepared to do anything to reach his goal.  There was however one obstacle that posed a serious challenge – Cynthia was already married.  Surprisingly, she was the one who displayed blatant disregarded of her vows, as she provocatively flirted with him.  He saw in her the forbidden fruit and the temptation of it rendered him powerless, always wanting more yet remaining empty handed.  It was however the vulnerable side of Cynthia that appealed to him the most.  She was like an innocent, always seeking to be loved.  Sometimes in the soft morning light he stared at her face while she slept and he wondered what it was that made it so difficult for her to love and be loved.

 

Jakes heard the gallop of the horse before he saw them, and when he did, he felt the familiar ache of jealousy clawing at him.  It looked idyllic – she was holding onto him, resting her cheek against his broad back while he steered the horse towards the terrace of the hotel.  Effortlessly she slipped off the horse and waved the youngster off while she made her way up toward the pool deck.

 

  “Morning love … slept well?” she asked, kissing him on the cheek before she sat down opposite him.  “Cynthia, I’m too old for all of this … it’s time for you to make a commitment to me or to let me go.  Please, my angel, I want you to be with me.  Come with me to Monte Carlo, meet my children, you can paint, I’ll..” he said when she interrupted him.  “Jakes, what has brought this on?  You know I don’t like to talk about these things.  Besides, it’s our last day here and I want to enjoy every moment of it.” Her whole being suddenly became still as she reached acrossed the table to hold his hand “I’m sorry Jakes, you’ve only been good to me… it’s just, when I feel caged, I have to break free – and you, well you are coming too close…”

 

She had it all.  She was stunningly beautiful, rich and did those things that most of us only read about in books.  Yet the woman who sat opposite me in my lounge was broken, desolate and in desperate need.  In fact, she was so broken that my fellow councilor, Belita, and I knew for sure that it was going to take a miracle to heal this woman.  She was ready to commit suicide yet clung to the hope that the living God might… might, just maybe, reach out and take the time to touch her.  As she poured out the story of her life, it became quite apparent that most of her problems stemmed from rejection.

 

She knew rejection throughout her live.  Rejection from her father, and then from her husband who was unable to show her the love she needed.  Cynthia, in turn, found herself unable to show her love to her daughter and her husband.  You see, for a sensitive person, rejection need not be blatant to hit the mark. The spirit of rejection would probably turn the inability of her husband to love her into self criticism and self rejection.

 

One of the major signs of self rejection is a poor self image.  Despite her outward appearance she was convinced that she was ugly and had a very low self esteem.  The spirit of rejection constantly whispered lies in her ears.  She heard these lies so many times, that even as a little girl, she started believing them, which gave this spirit permission to become an obsession in her life.  Rejection resulted in perfectionism which in turn led to even more self rejection.  This was a fight for her survival.  She was reaching out to the living God and we were there to witness how the love and mercy of the true and living God would touch her with His healing power.

 

In Cynthia’s case she received and caused a lot of rejection.  The sad thing was that her biggest desire in life was to be loved and to be able to express her love to her family.  The spirit of rejection, however, makes this just about impossible, and the only lasting solution would be to deal with the root causes of the rejection. If we go back to the Bible we see God’s reaction and penalty with regards to rejection.

 

In the Bible we read the following in Exodus 20:4-6: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that  is in the water under the earth; 5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; 6  And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments”

 

In the very first commandment God is saying that He loves us so much, that should we love or worship anything that He made, more than Him, he WILL punish our children.  This truly is such a revelation.  God tells us that He’s jealous of our love and worship and WILL punish our children if He’s not the centre of our love and worship.  This sounds like a God who knows rejection and does not like it!  You see God created you and me, because He has a need, and His need is this – for the people whom He created, to choose to love and worship Him out of our own free will.  He craves our love and adoration – and we have the same craving and need for God’s love – we’ve been created to fulfill this need for each other.

 

This is also where the snag comes in.  If any of your ancestors, up to four generations back, had any idol in their lives, which they have failed to repent of before God, or failed to deal with the demonic entities which gained lawful right to their bloodlines, their iniquities will be visited upon you.  This is what the Word of God says and He is true to His word.  Cynthia’s father also suffered from rejection and failed to love her because he too, had a spirit of rejection which plagued him.  This we call bloodline sins and this is one of the most likely root causes that have to be dealt with.

 

You might say that your folks did not worship any idols and I would be very surprised if that was true indeed.  You see, we as Christians have become so accustomed to Satan’s portrayal of what an idol is that we’ve been missing Gods view of what an idol is.  If we go back to the scripture quoted previously you’ll see it starts off with the words: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” What God is saying here is that anything that is more important to you than God, has become a god to you.  You see, it need not be a carved image, it could be your TV, your car, your favorite sport or your family, the list is endless.

 

With all the trails we face in our everyday life, it becomes very easy to dethrone God and for something else to become the most important thing in our lives.  Once a person realizes that something else have taken first priority in their life, above God, they often fail to confess it before God as a sin, and to ask for His forgiveness.  This then becomes a transgression, which God says He WILL visit upon their descendants.  So, often you live a good life and all of a sudden things start going wrong in your life, this is the time to go into investigation mode.  Examine your priorities in live.  Is God still number one on your list?  Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the things that you need to repent of, before God.

 

 

The Word of God says that we must confess our sins to one another.  When we do this, we bring our areas of weakness into the open, thereby enabling us to pray for each other. The Bible also states that darkness will flee from light, therefore, confession brings hidden sins into the light, resulting in weakening demonic bondages and helping to set people free.

 

Confession is a powerful tool towards being set free from bondages.  But confession also needs to be accompanied by repentance and a willingness to turn away from sinful behavior.  I’m a mother of two young boys and when they’ve been naughty, I experience the Fathers heart.  I love them, yet I will discipline them, until I hear them say that they are sorry and won’t do it again.  They know the rules – and I know that I made the rules and need to be consistent in applying them.  The same with God – He gave us the rules in the Bible and He enforces them, because He loves us.

 

Even today, when I think about that day God met with Cynthia, I sigh with wonder.  After she told us the story of her life, she repented her sins before God.  She was so broken by all the fruits of rejection in her life that she truly wanted to turn away from sin and make God her first priority.  She asked God to forgive her and she, in turn, forgave all of those people who hurt and abused her.  She recommitted her life to God and asked if we would baptize her.  In her case this was where God had an appointment of healing with her.  Living in a small apartment in the heart of Pretoria, capitol city of South Africa, we have no option but to baptized people in the bath.  This day was no different, as I prepared the bath, my fellow councilor, Belita, prayed with Cynthia.

 

I asked my daughter, Julene, to baptize Cynthia.  Belita and I stood praying in the bathroom as Julene baptized her.  Both Belita and I were praying and asking God to meet Cynthia’s needs – and He told both of us that He would take it from there, and He did.  Usually the person being baptized, would get out of the water after baptism but not in this case.  She remained in the water, with only her face above the water.  There she quietly lay – for 3 hours – we stood there praying in the bathroom, knowing that God Himself was doing a wondrous miracle in her life.

 

After the 3 hours she opened her eyes and sat up in wonder, tears of joy streaming down her face.  “Jesus cleansed me – I have been restored” she said, whilst climbing out of the water.  I could hardly believe my eyes, this was not the same broken women who entered my lounge a few hours ago, she was glowing with an inner radiance which came from the throne room of God.  What a privilege it was to have witnessed the healing and restoration power of God. Since this day, I’ve seen Cynthia at several of our conferences and classes, and she is still glowing with an inner beauty that outshines her stunning looks.

 

 

I have yet to come across a person who has not suffered from rejection in one form or another. You’re likely to come across the following types of rejection:

Rejection from the womb

Self rejection

Fear of rejection

Rejection by other people

 

It seems like such an insignificant spirit, but it’s deadly.  The main aim of the spirit of rejection is to steal from you, kill and/or destroy you.  If you look at the fruits of rejection you will identify how effective this spirit is operating in your life, or in the people around you.  The Bible says that a tree will be known by its fruits, in other words, if you see apples growing on a tree, you know that it is an apple tree.  When I talk about the fruits of rejection, I will point out those symptoms by which you can identify its operations.  Some of the more prominent fruits of rejection are:

· Suicide or thoughts thereof

· Depression

· Low self-esteem

· Feelings of isolation

· Inability to love or be loved

· Perfectionism

· Addictions

· Eating disorders such as an anorexia or bulimia

· Self mutilation

Sexual immorality

 

If you recognize one or more of these fruits in your life, you probably dealing with a spirit of rejection.  I will use examples of people we’ve counseled to show how the fruits of rejection were identified in their lives.  I’ve not used the real names to protect the privacy of those we’ve counseled.