Rejecting Rejection

by Ginger

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

Rejection loves to lie to us. Has it ever lied to you? Maybe it has caused you to think, No one cares about me, or, It’s all my fault, or even, I will never be truly accepted. Pray against the tentacles of those thoughts. Don’t allow them to wrap around your heart and take root. You get to choose how you will respond and how much power you will allow rejection to have over your life. It is a matter of separating the lies that your pain bombards you with from the truth of God’s Word.

Here is the strategy: We will learn to recognize the ploys of rejection and take those lying thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). We can reject the rejection that is working to derail our joy, our confidence, and our purpose!

Now, you may be asking, “Can it possibly be so easy? Can I just reject rejection, and it will never bother me again?” That would be nice, but the honest answer is no, of course not. This is war, and the enemy is determined, so we must be even more relentless in resisting the enemy’s lies and believing God’s truth. Here are a few ways to get started:

Know Your Enemy: The first step in winning any battle is understanding who you are fighting. We must identify our true enemy. When we are in pain, the blame game begins, and the people who have wronged us become the obvious targets. We ask, “How could they?” We blame ourselves, asking, “What’s wrong with me?” There may be lessons to be learned in those questions, but we don’t need to camp out and stay there, because there is a real villain lying in wait to do even more damage: Satan. Unless we address his lies directly, he will simply find someone else to work through and continue his war against us.

Reject Rejection, Not People: When we say “reject rejection,” we don’t mean rejecting someone before they can reject you. Rather, it is refusing to allow rejection itself to have power over you. At the same time, to reject rejection doesn’t mean you should deny or hide from it. Give yourself time to feel. Acknowledge the hurt. Deal with it in a healthy way. We fight against rejection, not the person who is rejecting us. We deal with them, but as we do, we remember that at times, they are simply tools the enemy is using against us.

Pick Up Your Weapons: The enemy may fill our minds with lies about who God is, but the Bible reveals God’s true character to us. When the enemy’s lies lead us to feel bad about ourselves, we discover in God’s Word who He created us to be. One of the best Scripture passages for this is Ephesians 6:11–18, about the armor of God. What are the pieces of this armor?

·The belt of truth (v. 14)

·The breastplate of righteousness (v. 14)

·The shoes of peace (v. 15)

·The shield of faith (v. 16)

·The helmet of salvation (v. 17)

·The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (v. 17)

Prayer: The armor of God goes hand in hand with prayer. It is yet another weapon that God has given us. Ephesians 6:18 (NIV) says: And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Prayer focuses our attention on the source of our strength and invites Him in. Simply ask, and God will go before you. If you go up against the devil in your own strength, you’re fighting a losing battle already. But, through prayer, submit yourself to God, and the enemy will run.

I wish we outgrew the opportunity to be rejected, but we don’t. Rejection still hurts, and those wounds can build a tough armor of scar tissue, hardening your heart and changing your view of who God says you are. Deal with the pain of rejection quickly, one by one. Let the healing do its job as early as possible and put on God’s armor to combat rejection’s lies.

Remember, as Joyce says, the enemy’s favorite battleground is our mind. We must guard it diligently. When our thoughts are swirling and we feel ourselves believing something negative, it most likely does not line up with God’s Word. See what the Bible says. Get out your sword and begin swinging!

Adapted from the book Healing the Wounds of Rejection by Joyce Meyer and Ginger Stache. Copyright 2025 by Joyce Meyer and Ginger Stache. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.

Study Question: How can you reject rejection in your own life? Begin by looking at verses like, Romans 8:1, 2 Corinthians 10:5, and Ephesians 4:31-32.

Let’s Pray: “Dear God, I have listened to some of the lies the enemy has whispered to me. Please show me Your truth and who I am in You. Remind me of Your plans and purposes for me. Show me how to reject rejection, not people. In Jesus’ name, amen.”