Anxiety

Fear of Rejection

The fear of rejection is something that most of us encounter through different seasons of life. We have a need to be liked, loved, and wanted. And in and of itself, there is nothing wrong with this desire, but the problem comes when the fear of others matters more to us than what God thinks. We want to follow God, but as soon as it begins to cost us social status or hinders the pursuits of our career, we bail. We’ve all seen negative things happen to other people and we chose to not do anything because we didn’t want the negative attention focused towards us. But this fear will be a stumbling block for us becoming the person God intended us to be.

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MESSAGE NOTES

What we fear changes over time but not the fact that we have things we’re afraid of.

 

Fear isn;’t necessarily the problem – it’s what we fear and how it affects us that could be the problem.

  • Fear convinces us the worst will happen
  • Fear exaggerates our problems
  • Fear leads to discouragement and hopelessness
  • Fear keeps us from living by faith
  • Faith is the confidence that God is good, is prepared whatever happens, will write it in the story of my life and that my life ends with His glory and my good.

Today, we are talking about the fear of rejection.

  • Completely normal
  • This is MORE than the need to be liked by everyone

Ultimately, you have to choose where your validation comes from.

  • Your identity doesn’t come from the value others assign to you.
  • Your security isn’t dependent on how “needed” you are by others.
  • Your provision doesn’t come from others.

 

Choose to place the approval of ONE over the approval of all.

 

Joshua 24:15

Galatians 1:10

 

Choose who you disappoint ahead of time.

 

1 Kings 12:3-9

 

Fear is seeking the approval of others at the expense of the approval of one.

Faith is seeking the approval of God and lets the others hate or get in line.

 

The problem is that the fear of rejection says that God’s approval isn’t enough for us.

 

1 Kings 22:2-5

 

There will come a day when I won’t care what anyone else in the world thought.

  • All I will care is whether I did what I was supposed to do or not.
  • Will my kids say I followed Jesus and loved my neighbor?
  • Jesus said the right path was narrow because of how few chose it (Matt 7:13)
  • Jesus said if people were going to hate him, they would hate you.

 

Where do you find your value? Your boss, coworkers, promotion, income, teammates, boyfriend, family? Or does your value come from the one who created you, to know and be known by Him?

 

Every single day, I make a hundred choices. At the end of the day, I want to know that I pleased God and did my best.

 

Verses To Help With the Fear Of Rejection:

 

Psalm 118:6

Matthew 6:31-33

Matthew 7:11

 

God will make sure you have what you need. God brings the opportunities.

  • You don’t need their approval, you want His.
  • They don’t control your future, He does
  • They didn’t make you, they have no idea what you’re worth. He does because He did.

 

There’s something a lot worse than not being liked – missing the entire reason for which you were created.

The fear of rejection is something that most of us encounter through different seasons of life. We have a need to be liked, loved, and wanted. And in and of itself, there is nothing wrong with this desire, but the problem comes when the fear of others matters more to us than what God thinks. We want to follow God, but as soon as it begins to cost us social status or hinders the pursuits of our career, we bail. We’ve all seen negative things happen to other people and we chose to not do anything because we didn’t want the negative attention focused towards us. But this fear will be a stumbling block for us becoming the person God intended us to be.

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