GOD’S APPROVAL IS OFTEN REJECTED

Breakthrough | Freedom | Freedom.

One of the most hurtful experiences that anyone can have is rejection from those you love. When you study the Bible thoroughly, you will discover that most of the people God commissioned to preach or release His word were either rejected, threatened or even killed.

Imagine God commissioned you to a people to proclaim the good news of the message of the Kingdom, to heal the sick and to set the oppressed free. Imagine you fasted forty (40) days and forty (40) nights before you step into this mandate that God has given you. Now, imagine you arrived at the destination where God Has sent you and the people gladly received you but at the moment you started to proclaim the good news and release the Word of God to them, they violently rushed towards you and attempted to throw you over a cliff to kill you. That is what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ during his first interaction with those to whom He was sent as recorded in Luke 4:14-28.

When you study the life of Apostle Paul, especially in the book of Acts, you will discover that while he was persecuting Christians and causing havoc to the church, he was very much accepted by the religious sector, that is the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin who were in charge of the Jewish temple rituals and ceremonial activities.

When Paul had an encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9), he decided to obey the voice of the Lord who commissioned him to go and proclaim the gospel of grace to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:8). The Pharisees and his friends immediately turned against him, rejected him and even threatened to kill him (Acts 23:12-35). Why? Simply because He was sent by God. Anyone who is truly sent by God will face rejection.

In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet Jeremiah was sent by God to declare His word to the people of Judah (Jeremiah 43:1-3). They rejected him and called him a liar and a false prophet.

In Ezekiel 3:7, God informed the prophet Ezekiel that He was sending Him to a people to declare His word. God warned Ezekiel that He will be rejected.

When Joseph was given a vision from God that he will be a great man and that many people will bow before him. He was immediately rejected by his brothers and was rebuked by Jacob his father when he revealed his dreams to them (Genesis 37:5-10).

Jacob was an anointed man of God but was furious and upset to discover that Joseph’s dream indicates that the entire family including him will bow to Joseph in the future. It is possible for an anointed man or woman of God to reject the vision of God for your life. It is possible for your own Pastor, the Prophet or any of the five-fold minister at your local church to reject the anointing and calling that God has placed on your life. However, that doesn’t mean that God agrees with them. Although Jacob rebuked Joseph, it did not stop God from fulfilling His divine assignment that was placed on Joseph’s life.

Perhaps, you have heard from God and He has called you and commissioned you to step out in faith and serve, preach, teach or declare His word to a specific community, a region or the nations. Perhaps you have already stepped out in faith but was rejected. Remember that even the Lord Jesus Christ was rejected. Don’t throw in the towel just yet, God is not finished with you because He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion (Philippians 1:6). God is the author and finisher of our faith, that which He starts He will finish.

Men may give up on you, but God will never give up on you. Some people may reject the anointing on your life, that’s fine, it’s possible that you are not assigned to them. There are people, a region a territory which God has ordained you to.

God’s chosen vessels are often rejected by men. Let your focus be on pleasing God and Him alone and He will empower you to fulfill His mandate here on earth. Peter the apostle said a very profound statement in Acts 5:29. He said, “we ought to obey God rather than men”. Don’t allow the opinion of men to hinder you from doing what God has ordained and called you to do.

Whenever you purpose to honor the voice of God, someone will always be in opposition with you especially when you attempt to obey the direct voice of God. May the God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac strengthen you by His Holy Spirit in your inner man to move forward with courage to accomplish that divine assignment he has given you.

May the leading of the Holy Spirit be the only direction you follow, even when the voice of those around you contradicts the convictions of God within your heart. And then, the Lord will reward you for your faithfulness in obeying His Voice.

Author Andrew A. Osei.