Feeling Rejected Prayer
Rejection healing prayer is an effective way to receive God’s healing for your hurt. Rejection healing prayer helps you gain God’s helping power to nurture self-worth, confidence and being loved and accepted.
Here are ways to connect with God’s help in getting over rejection.
One: Mediate on what rejection is and how it affects you to start your rejection healing prayer.
Rejection healing prayer is extremely important because scientists have found that rejection is experienced through the same pathways in our brains as physical pain. Added to this misery is the fact that you can vividly re–feel rejection when something reminds you of the painful experience.
Rejection is defined as the turning down or spurning of a person’s affections, ideas or efforts. We often feel excluded by others, our sense of wellbeing is destroyed, we feel unwanted, unappreciated, dishonored, left out and ostracized. We can feel that the work we have done is not good enough and it makes us feel personally rejected. These feelings affect our emotions, thinking, behavior and our sense of wellbeing. Particularly in the case of a romantic rejection, we may feel that it’s all our fault and it may cause our self esteem to plunge.
Feelings of rejection can follow a romantic break up, being turned down by a college, employer or for a promotion, by feeling disrespected and unwanted in a family or social setting. Other things that might make us feel like outsiders include illness, disability, lack of education, physical appearance, social status, ethnic group, religious beliefs, gender, age and marital status.
Social media can add fuel to the fire of rejection by making us painfully aware of gatherings we weren’t invited to and people who seem to be accepted and admired by everyone.
Two: Don’t try to pretend not to feel rejection. God created us to want acceptance
Rejection healing prayer is extremely important because scientists have found that rejection is experienced through the same pathways in our brains as physical pain. Added to this misery is the fact that you can vividly re–feel rejection when something reminds you of the painful experience. Rejection healing prayer is crucial because you can’t just “forget about” rejection because humans are wired to be social beings.
Psychologists theorize that the reflexive desire to avoid and fix rejection has been a part of being human since the beginning of time when it was extremely important to be a part of a tribe or a family in order to survive danger and outside threats. Being ostracized could lead to deprivation and death in primitive societies. Psychologists point out that we are social beings and we have an innate need and deep desire to belong.
According to the Bible, we were indeed created to belong with others. When humans were first created, God said, “It it not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.“ (Gen. 2:18) And Psalms says “God sets the lonely in families.” (Psalm 68: 5)
Although we try to logically tell ourselves that rejection doesn’t matter, our emotions are wired to be uniquely alert to it. We remain in a state of stress long after the actual act or event is over where we felt rejected. We can re–feel the trauma and become hypersensitive to early warning signs that it might be happening to us again.
Three: Rejection healing prayer is powerful because God identifies compassionately with your feelings of rejection
The reason that praying helps bring healing power for rejection is because it helps assure us that we are not alone. God cares. God identifies completely with our feelings of rejection because it has happened to God himself since time began.
Rejection is the central theme of the ongoing human drama of being estranged from God by ignoring him and of God then patiently calling us back and forgiving us so we can have our relationship restored. In the Old Testament, God’s people constantly went astray and rejected God’s teachings and his prophets.
When God’s son Jesus came to earth, Jesus’ life dramatized this cycle of being rejected by humanity. Jesus was rejected by his own hometown and by the religious leaders of his day. In his moment of greatest need, Jesus’ friends even abandoned him. (See John 1:11, Mark 6:4 -6, Matthew 26: 34) Jesus was mocked, disrespected, persecuted, bullied, arrested and crucified. The Bible says, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.” (Isaiah 53:3 )
The good news is that Jesus triumphed over both death and rejection by allowing God to show his power through the way Jesus obeyed God and believed God cared about him even when others rejected him. Jesus had the strength to be true to who God called him to be, even when others ostracized him because of it.
Four: Pray this Rejection Healing Prayer to connect with God’s healing power
The following is a guided feeling rejected prayer with blanks in it for you to add your specific thoughts, feelings and needs. You might want to write down some of your thoughts and feelings as they come to your during this prayer. You can pray this prayer all the way through or do it a few steps at a time as you feel led.
Rejection Healing prayer
Dear God,
The rejection I am feeling is terribly painful. I’ve tried to get over it by thinking logically and by trying to forget it, but it doesn’t work. Some painful reminder always brings the feelings of rejection back to me, and I feel extremely hurt all over again.
God, here is what happened to me to makes me feel so rejected_________________________________________________________________________
I am comforted knowing that you understand my feelings of rejection because it happened to Jesus when he was here on earth. I pray that the triumph and the resurrection power of Jesus Christ will become effective in my emotions, beginning at this very moment. I pray for new life for my crushed emotions. I can’t get over this on my own. I submit my heart, mind and emotions to you believing that you have the ability to create your good will and restore my sense of well being after this bad thing that has happened to me.
As I’ve described this rejection to you I have felt all kinds of emotions. Here are some of the emotions I give to you now
Confusion _____________________________
Hurt_________________________________
Anger_________________________________
Disappointment ________________________
Depression _____________________________
Stress_______________________________
Unworthiness________________________________
Isolation __________________________________
Other feelings_____________________________
God, my self esteem has taken a beating. You know deep down in my heart my fears and anxieties, the ways I feel that I don’t measure up. My self confidence has been shaken. I feel turned down and I feel like a failure. I ask you to work inside of me to help rebuild my self esteem. I claim the following promises you have made in the Bible about your love and confidence in me.
“But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the Lord, because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares.” Jeremiah 3 0:17 NIV
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness. I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt… “ Jeremiah 31:3,4
“So do not throw away our confidence; it will be richly rewarded.” Hebrews 10:35 NIV
I thank you that you are the God who takes those who have been rejected and use them for your glorious purposes. The Bible says about Jesus when he answered to those who were rejecting him, “’Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.‘?“ (Matthew 21: 42 NIV) I pray that you will take that which has been rejected about me and use it to build me up and to build up my faith and my trust in you.
I thank you that the moment I began this prayer, your healing process started in my heart, mind and spirit. I pray your restorative power and redeeming work.
I now pray for your specific guidance in how to move forward past this rejection.
I pray that you will bring to mind some of the many good qualities to encourage me today. Here are some of my blessings and good qualities I thank you for now_________________________________________
I pray that you will bring to mind any past rejections in my life that have not fully healed so that you can begin healing them and prevent them from affecting me now and in the future_______________________________________________________________
I pray that you will restore my sense of belonging and my sense of being appreciated, loved and welcomed. I pray that you will guide me to someone who will help me believe that I belong again somewhere in this world. I pray that you will open my eyes to the good people who accept me as I am and who are there for me. Please bring their names to my mind now as I meditate______________
Thank you for bringing these caring people to my mind and show me a specific way to reach out to them for the comfort of their presence in my life _________________________________.
Please show me any ways that I have misread situations and felt rejected when that wasn’t the intent of others. Help me not to allow my past rejections to make me hyper-sensitive to any hint of rejection, whether it be real or imagined. Instead give me the grace to give other people the benefit of the doubt. Show me the truth about this situation that I’m wondering about today______________________
God, sometimes I’ve been so hurt that I‘ve imagined doing something to get back at those who rejected me or to let them see how badly they’ve hurt me. It doesn’t seem fair that they seem to be doing fine and I feel so awful. There have been times I’ve been angry. I’ve imagined others suffering like they’ve made me suffer. I confess the specific feelings of anger and ill feelings toward those who have hurt me now__________________________
Thank you for hearing my complaint. It feels good to express it. Please show me a positive way to deal with my anger and hurt feelings _________________________.
I pray that you will direct me as to whether I need to seek professional help with my feelings of rejection ___________________________________________________________________
I pray that you will help me forgive the person who has rejected me________________________________
I pray that you will guide me as to where to go from here with the one who has rejected me. Should I try to reconcile with them?______________________________ Should I set boundaries with them to protect myself? ____________________________________________ Should I separate myself from them and pursue other healthier relationships? ________________________
I pray that you will show me positive things to do to bolster my sense of self-worth, lessen my stress, replenish my energy levels and improve my sense of wellbeing ____________________________
I pray that you will show me how to be more welcoming and accepting of others who may also be feeling rejected. Please bring a name to my mind now _______________________________________________________________
I pray that you show me how to ground myself in the Scriptures, strengthen my prayer life and worship you with joy. Here is one thing I can start with today _________________________________________________________.
I close my prayer believing that you have heard me and that you are there for me, even when no one else is. I am listening now to answering thoughts of comfort and acceptance you desire to personally give me _______________ .
I pray for your continued grace, favor and guidance as I go forward, leaving this rejection behind and seeking the arenas where I and my work will be accepted with open arms. Thank you for understanding. Amen.
Scriptures to claim for rejection healing prayer
Here are some powerful Scriptures to pray and claim for yourself when you are feeling rejected.
“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:15-17 NIV)
“What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?…who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angles nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31, 35-39 NIV)
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness. I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful.” (Jeremiah 31 :3,4 NIV)
“Blessed are the poor in sprit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3 NIV)
“He (Jeshurun) abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior.” (Deuteronomy 32:15 NIV)
“For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.” (I Samuel 12:22 NIV)
“But God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!” (Psalm 66:19,20 NIV)
“And he (Jesus) said, ‘The Son of man (Jesus) must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.’” (Luke 9: 22 NIV)
My personal experiences with rejection healing prayer
Recently I was turned down for a writing job I had done yearly for the past 20 years. Although the person informing me of the decision tried to reassure me that they would consider me for other projects in the future, I felt surprisingly intense feeling of loss and rejection. For days I grieved and mourned and my confidence was shaken.
I‘ve been a freelance writer for all of my career, and you’d think after the hundreds of rejections I’ve had that by now I‘d be immune to feelings of not measuring up when my work is rejected. But the fact is, rejection hurts. Every time. Yet I’ve discovered over the years that God cares. Every time. And he will help you get back up and go on. In fact, one time in particular I felt that God actually spoke to my thoughts when I was praying intensely to him about a horrible rejection. And those words have comforted me countless times since then.
The horrible rejection happened a number of years ago when I was trying to have my first book published. I sent my manuscript off to publisher after publisher. And one by one they rejected my book. Every time I felt devastated. I didn’t talk to others about it, it was more like my secret heartbreak. At night I lay awake feeling hopeless and like my dreams had been dashed to pieces. I would go through my day with this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that you might feel if you’d heard the news that someone was deathly ill and your world was falling apart with bad news. How could anything in my life feel right when this felt so wrong?
I prayed and tried to accept my rejections, but my confidence kept being eaten away little by little. Then one day my hopes were the highest I’d ever dared let them get because I’d heard from an editor that she liked my book. Oh the joy of hope! Then it all crashed and burned. She couldn’t convince the acquisitions team to publish my book. That night I lay awake crying quietly in devastation. I was pleading silently for my book to be resurrected, “ Please, God , please!”
And then, to my utter surprise, an answering thought formed in my mind that didn’t sound like me. The thought said, “I have always liked your writing.” This was such a startling thought that didn’t bear any resemblance to anything that had been in my mind that I had to consider the fact that it must be God speaking.
As I let the thought sink in, it astonished me. Was it possible that God liked my book even if the acquisitions team didn’t? And if God liked it, what higher form of acceptance was there?
This was a turning point for me – and my writing career. I ended up abandoning the book that had been rejected so many times and I wrote one called Ready, Set…Wait subtitled “Help for Life on Hold.” In it I shared my journey toward a life dream that kept getting rejected and how to live a good life in the meantime by receiving your affirmation and acceptance from God and not from circumstances. This devastating experienced of rejection formed the pathway to my success. Ready, Set…Wait became my first published book!
I have learned that God cares and he is there, even if it’s your first rejection or your thousandth. May you be blessed by his affirmation of his love and care for you today!
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Copyright Karen Barber 2016. All rights reserved.