Rejected by men. but…

Such beauty, such a precious gift we have to watch the snow blanket everything in white.  All is clean. pure and new.  This is how it is when we receive Christ as Savior and Lord, washed clean; clean slate, clean heart, clean start.  But that doesn’t mean there won’t still be very hard things left within us to work through and deal with.  Just like the snow blankets the earth and yet we know the leaves, dirt, concrete, etc.,  are still underneath; so it is with us.   We are washed clean from the penalty of sin, but we still have to deal with its consequences and its presence in our lives while here on earth. One of the greatest hurdles I personally, have had to overcome is fear of man.  Fear of man is often borne of neglect and rejection.   One of the greatest needs we have as human beings is to be loved, accepted and cherished; to have a place where we belong.

When we come to Christ, we have a whole new family, a spiritual family, an International family.  But even members of this new family can get it wrong about us sometimes.  I have had to learn to listen for God’s voice only, to get all of my assurance, security and direction from Him alone.  When we listen to One another, more than God, even in the Body of Christ, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment.  God had to take me on the journey of John 10:1-5   “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. ² But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. ³ To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”  

We must listen so often to the voice of God, especially by being in the Word constantly, that all other voices fade into the background compared to His.  Our souls, hearts and minds become trained to hear, listen and obey His voice.  One of the most important parts of this training, in overcoming rejection and fear of man, is found in 2 Corinthians 10:  ³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, ⁴ for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. ⁵ We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” 

We are at war, in a battle for our minds.  We must be active participants and not just believe any old thing that comes into our mind.  I have had to train my mind to   cast down imaginations  to  destroy speculations.   We must not allow our minds to imagine what others are thinking of us, or to speculate about motives.  Only God knows the hearts of men.  So let us focus only on what God says is true about us, now that we are His children, and dismiss all those other “thoughts” that clutter our minds.  When we stand before the Lord, at the end, we will be standing there by ourselves.  So stand before Him alone now, listen to His voice alone now, and cast down to those imaginations,  destroy those speculations.  Let’s take every thought captive, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and make it obey Christ.  You will learn to live a freedom filled life, a Peace filled life, a joy filled life, when you train your mind to listen to God alone.   So get in the Word and start that training today.  It is the best investment of time you will ever make.