When others reject you

Have you ever tried to help someone who didn't really want to be helped out of their situation?  Sometimes, we tend to think that if we could just explain things a little more clearly or be a little bit better of a witness, they could be helped.  But honestly and truthfully, we've got to know when to break free from the burden of false responsibility. 

In Matthew 10, Jesus was sending out His disciples, and He told them that if they went to a town and the people didn't accept them, they should shake the dust off their feet and go to the next town. 

What does that mean for us today?  Basically, if someone doesn't want to be helped, we are not obligated to try and change them. 

The world is full of hungy, hurting, needy people who would love to get any little bit of love and encouragement you have to give them.  So when one person rejects you, don't let that stop you.  Simply do what Jesus did.  Move on to the next person and the next person until somebody wants what you've got.

Extracted from Joyce Meyer's November article

How Do You See Yourself?

by Joyce Meyer Do you like yourself? After years of trying to help people emotionally, mentally, spiritually and socially, it was a major breakthrough when I discovered that most people really don’t like themselves. Some of them know it, while others don’t even have a clue that this is probably the root of so many other problems in their lives. God wants us to have great relationships, but self-rejection and even self-hatred are the roots of many relationship problems. In fact, I’ve found the Bible to be a book about relationships, providing valuable advice about my relationship with God, other people and even myself. How are the relationships with other people in your life? What about your relationship with God…and even with yourself? Did it ever occur to you that you have a relationship with yourself? While I’ve never given it much thought, I spend more time with myself than with anyone, and it’s vital to get along well with me. Remember, you are the one person you never get away from. We all know how agonizing it is to work day after day with someone we don’t get along with, but at least that person doesn’t come home with us at night. We can’t get away from ourselves, not even for one second, so it’s of the utmost importance that we have peace with ourselves. Many of us fall prey to self-rejection because we feel that nobody really loves us or accepts us. We figure that if nobody else loves us, then why should we love ourselves? Because we think others don’t love us, we feel that we must not be worth loving. But that’s a LIE we’ve believed for way too long! We should love ourselves—not in a selfish, self-centered way that produces a lifestyle of self-indulgence, but in a balanced, godly way that affirms God’s creation as essentially good and right. We may be flawed by unfortunate experiences we’ve gone through, but that doesn’t mean we’re worthless and good-for-nothing. We must have the kind of love for ourselves that says, “I know God loves me, so I can love what God chooses to love. I don’t love everything I do, but I accept myself because God accepts me.” We must develop the kind of mature love that says, “I know I need to change, and I want to change. In fact, I believe God is changing me daily, but during this process, I will not reject what God accepts. I’ll accept myself as I am right now, knowing that I will not always remain this way.” Many times people who reject themselves do so because they can’t see themselves as good, proper, or right. They fail to see themselves the way God sees them—as precious children He dearly loves. As you begin to see yourself through God’s eyes—someone who’s loved and cherished—your view of yourself will begin to change. You’ll begin to see yourself not as rejected, but as loved and accepted…unique and beautiful in His sight. http://www.joycemeyer.org/OurMinistries/EverydayAnswers/Articles/art33.htm

Invite Him In

There is a famous scripture that many people have heard in the context of an invitation to know Christ, as Savior. Rev 3:20 (Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in)". God does not force Himself upon us. He is quite a gentleman :) He knocks, and waits for us to ask Him in. There is an initial step, the first step of this, which we call salvation. We hear Christ knocking and we open our hearts to Him as Savior. It is the first turning. But the principle of this "knocking and waiting for permission to come in" remains true, well into our Christian life. We all pretty much handle our brokenness in the same way - we mishandle it. It hurts too much to go there. So we shut the door to that room in our hearts, and we throw away the key....but that does not bring healing to our souls, not at all. It might bring relief - for a while but never healing. Usually, it orphans the little girl in that room, leaves her to fend for herself. The best thing we can do is to let Jesus come in, open the door and invite Him in to find us in those hurting places. He knocks through our loneliness, through our sorrows, through events that feel too close to what happened to us when we were young - a betrayal, a rejection, a word spoken, a relationship lost, He knocks through many things in our lives, waiting for us to give Him permission to enter in. The question is, will you let Him heal you? Will you give Him access to your broken heart?