Up until a few years ago, a spirit of rejection haunted me.

Growing up, I hated my tendency to be quiet. I used to grit my teeth when people would say to my mother, "She’s so quiet."

Here is an example I will always remember.

When I was in high school, my mother visited the school during an open house event. I was a good student and expected my mom to receive glowing reports about my performance.

However, most of the teachers pointed out my quietness and how they wished I would speak up more in class.

I’ll never forget what my math teacher said to Mom:

"She’s so quiet, I hardly know she’s in here!"

"Great," I thought, “Not only am I quiet, but I might as well be invisible!"

The truth was, I was quiet mostly because I hypersensitive to other people’s disapproval.

Even when someone gave me helpful feedback, it was like nails on the chalkboard. Because of my insecurity, I did not really hear what they said. Instead, I heard confirmation of my own low opinion of myself:

Not good enough.

Today, things are different. God delivered me from the spirit of rejection. For years, I sought self-esteem, but the Lord taught me to seek God esteem instead!

God-esteem means learning to see yourself through God’s eyes. He created you special and unique. You don’t have to try to fit into someone else’s mold. After all, God is not going to say to you, "How come you aren’t like Mary (or whoever you compare yourself to)."

Instead, God expects you to make the most of all that He has entrusted to you - your time, talent, and treasure.

If a Spirit of rejection haunts you, then you are not alone. Even Jesus was rejected!

I wrote the following Bible study of at least three times when Jesus faced rejection, besides the time that the apostle Peter denied even knowing Him outright!

How Jesus responded to people who rejected Him can teach us a lot about how to handle rejection in our own lives: