3 things you can do to reduce the effects of rejection and persecution!

As a disciple of Jesus, you may have tried to share the good news of the Kingdom of God with someone and they got offended!

How did you feel?

Maybe you felt like you failed! “I said too much”, “I did not say enough”. “I should have said that”…. All these thoughts float around in your head!

Then you find it challenging to speak to another person. In some cases you get some negative push back from the person and other people in the office or community.

I have been in these situations a couple of times and here are 3 thoughts I have for you.

Expect rejection and persecution

A lot of people will reject your message for different reasons. Although you and I have the best message in the world, some would still say no. It may be because they don’t know you enough. It may be because they are not ready. It may be any reason. Don’t worry too much about the reason just expect some rejection and some persecution because Jesus got rejected and persecuted and you are representing Jesus (Luke 10:16).

Expect God to touch some of those who reject the gospel!

If you are like me, I like the truth that we are called by God to reap the harvest. We are to find people who are ready and lead them to Jesus! However, the process of finding the people of peace who are ready involves sharing your love for God with everyone that God places around you to so that you can determine those who are ready.

Some of those who reject at first later become the most prolific disciples in terms of making other disciples. Think about Paul the apostle. (Gal 1:13)

Think of a process instead of a decision.

For years I thought that the fruit of a day out in the community sharing the good news was decisions made. And we got some decisions but only a fraction of those people remained in the faith.

A better way is to plan and pray that you find a person who will receive the message of the Kingdom of God and open up his or her family to the same message and you stay with that one as you meet them over a period of reading scriptures with them to discover God for themselves. So you take them through a process while building a relationship so that when they commit to Jesus, it is solid, and they are fully aware of what they are doing. (Luke 10: 1-16)

With this process, rejection is less because you are building relationships as well as sharing the good news of the kingdom! Many times you can continue to build the relationship even when the person rejects the scriptures at first! Read the story of Nora!

When you go out this week, look for people who will be willing to explore scriptures with you in a Discovery Bible Study. Whether they say yes or no, still go-ahead to explore building a relationship if they are open.