Spirit of Rejection

I’m not a professional counselor but I have engaged in hundreds of one-on-one conversations across six churches and forty-eight years of ministry, and I can, with a high degree of certainty, say that much of what I’ve heard found its roots in rejection. Everyone experiences some type of rejection during their lifetime. Some more often and more devastating than others.

When I served as a hospice chaplain, I discovered that rejection followed many terminally ill people to their death. Stories of rejection filled their final days and much of it occurred in their younger years – in their family of origin. I specifically remember Donna, who Jesus freed on her deathbed from a lifetime of rejection created by her father.

Donna lost her mother when she was seven. Her father, who told her daily, “I wanted a boy, but got stuck with you,” was an alcoholic and often beat and abused her when drunk. Donna was told that she was not allowed in the house when the school bus dropped her off. “You don’t deserve a warm home,” she was told. Donna stayed in the barn until her dad arrived, which often was around midnight after he returned from the bar. She used loose hay as a blanket in the winter time and often went to bed without supper. After a while, she smuggled food to the barn.

Her adult years were characterized by drunkenness and multiple broken relationships. She attempted suicide twice and spent many months in confinement. Several men also abused her, and over the years she experienced two abortions, one miscarriage, and finally delivered a little boy, which Children’s Services later took from her.

While dying, Donna cried out in fear and hopelessness. When I told her about a Savior, who would forgive and save her, Donna cried uncontrollably for two hours. That was around 7:00 p.m. Donna passed away around 11:00 p.m. with no one there but me and her girlfriend. She knew nothing but rejection her entire life, and finally found acceptance in her dying hours. 

When I read Ephesians 1:6 to her, bitterness and anger left her and she was able to forgive her father, and released all who had rejected her during her life. The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 1:6, “We are to live to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved…” Donna was born again.

Rejection was a tool of the enemy that not only stole her divine potential but robbed her of a meaningful, fulfilled life. The spirit of rejection snuffed out any probability for her to live a productive lifestyle. However, upon dying, Donna was swept up into the arms of her loving Savior, Who bid her welcome and accepted her wholeheartedly into the kingdom of God!