Jealousy Destroys

When you have a stronghold, do not think it is a lost cause. It is still possible for your soul and spirit to line up. As was said before, submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Submit your thinking to Him; line your thinking up with His. You may think you are worthless, but does God? No, He most certainly does not! To view yourself as worthless, invaluable, and unworthy is indeed an insult to your Creator. Therefore, match your thinking up with His as you try to demolish thoughts from the devil and strongholds that develop from them. Remember that when you have been delivered, it is not “over and done with.” Lining your thinking up with His is a daily battle. You have to allow Him to transform your mind. Don’t go back into your old way of thinking.

Also, remember that temptation is not the same as sinning. James 1:14-15 explains the process of sin and destruction. “but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed [lured]. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” Do you notice the process? We can choose not to give into the temptation. If you think something ungodly, it does not necessarily mean you are sinning. We can choose to line our thoughts up with God’s right away, or we can linger on such thoughts and allow them to lead to sin.

For example, I may enter a store one day and after purchasing my groceries, I see something I’ve been wanting for a long time. However, I have exceeded my budget and cannot afford to purchase the item. A thought runs through my mind, “How hard would it be to steal this? You deserve it!” I can choose either to erase such a thought from my mind and line my thinking up with His or I can go through with the thought and allow it to lead to sin, which would be actually stealing the item. Do not let the devil deceive you into thinking that you might as well go through with an action because you’ve “already sinned by thinking it.” Remain obedient.

Another important thing to remember is to separate the strong hold from the person when you want to help them. Discern the difference. See them as Christ sees them. Ask Him to open your eyes to see where the stronghold is and who they are.

Strongholds build upon each other. Bitterness can lead to jealousy and envy. Another stronghold that has held me, personally, captive is jealousy. What is the difference between jealousy and envy? Jealousy is more of a fear that someone will take (or has already taken) something that you were in the process of achieving or have already achieved. Envy desires something that isn’t yours. You may admire something about someone and jealousy can distort that admiration into hatred of them as you see them succeed before you.

What does jealousy and envy do to you, physically? In Scripture, it says that it “dries up your bones.” (Proverbs 14:30) When we choose to think as God does, perhaps we won’t experience as much physical pain.

Some of the biggest crimes have stemmed from jealousy. Many people struggle with it. It’s seen quite often in the Bible. Here are some examples of events that may cause you to become jealous: Someone gets promoted before you when you have worked long and hard for their position; your hard work/spiritual gift goes unnoticed while another’s is highly praised; someone else’s ministry is bigger than yours; etc. Does God want us to feel this way? Aren’t we hurting Him when we don’t trust Him to supply our every need? I am equipped in Him. He supplies for my every need. He has a plan for me! It’s not really about the other person when we feel jealous and envious. It’s actually about God and our trust of Him.

He has plans for me; I don’t need to look at other people’s success. If I’m jealous, I’m really not trying to further His kingdom, anyway. What does it matter who succeeds at what if my true desire is to further His kingdom? Are my motivations selfish? Do I want to be recognized before He is? We should be happy that someone else is furthering His kingdom rather than becoming jealous because it’s all for Him anyway! We can’t have all the glory, especially when it’s not due to us in the first place.

We need to learn to get our satisfaction in Him. He knows our needs and can fulfill them. True joy doesn’t come in our own success; true joy is found in Him. When we’re jealous, we’re telling Him that He can’t make us happy. We begin to seek happiness within ourselves and we think we know what we need. Idolatry is when we place our trust or hope in anything else but Jesus.

Are you serving God when you have this jealousy and envy in your heart? Are you stopping at the temptation to feel jealous and envious? Or are you going through with the actions that come with it: slander of the person you feel such feelings towards, hatred of them, going outside of His will for your life, competing with them, etc. Don’t allow yourself to think that jealousy defines who you are. Such thoughts are from the devil and we must send them back to where they belong.

What must we do when we feel jealous or see others becoming jealous or envious of us? Repent, resolve, reconcile and restore. These steps are crucial. Sometimes we think that it isn’t our problem if someone else is feeling jealous of us. However, we must help them to turn around so they can live in His will for their own lives. Don’t seek satisfaction from others feeling jealous of you. It isn’t godly.

Pity often comes after jealousy and envy. We want others to see that we don’t have what we “should have” gotten. Pity is most definitely dangerous. We want affirmation that our feelings are expected and appropriate.

Don’t allow jealousy and envy to hinder you from being where God wants you to be in His kingdom. Trust His plan for your life! Know that the story He wrote for your life matches up with you perfectly. Realize that our services should be to glorify Him and further His kingdom, not for our own glory. Know that He is faithful and will give you what He says He will. Don’t allow strongholds to hold you back from His perfect plan for your life! Submit to Him, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Daily line your thinking up with His. It’s a daily battle. Pray that He will strengthen you as you put on your armor to face each day.

Dear Jesus,
I’m sorry for not trusting You. I choose to accept Your amazing plan for my life. Everything I need to further Your Kingdom is within me. I choose to use the tools You have made available to me. I loose myself from the Spirit of Jealousy and Envy. I bind myself to satisfaction in You and faith that You are holding up Your part of the plan for my life. I’m sorry for judging others because of the jealousy I held towards them. I’m sorry for being angry at You for giving them what I wanted and what I thought I needed. Help me to feel satisfied in You. This life isn’t for me, Lord. It’s all for You.

In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.