I’ve been thinking about jealousy a lot lately. Many of the wounds I’ve suffered at the hands of others were driven by jealousy, I now realize. Many of the things my children have suffered at the hands of others, have also been borne from that same root. Much of the bad advice we receive also comes from this root…others pretend to want the best for us but will sabotage us with bad advice because they really don’t want us to do better than they are doing. They act like we are wrong for celebrating our families and lives when God’s blessing us, because they may be going through a hard time…but the courage to face difficult seasons can come from observing God’s goodness resting on another person, therefore reminding us that it won’t always be this way.
Jealousy.
What’s the deal?
Then this morning I read the Scripture below and it really made me think…the whole way of the world is based on a jealous root. The same root that led the devil to stand against God, therefore, giving him and his demons a one-way ticket out. He was jealous for God’s glory.
Jealousy…
Read this Scripture…
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you do ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong- you want only what will give you pleasure. James 4:1-3
We have not because we ask not…
That’s what I’ve been dwelling on lately.
Dwelling and then opening my heart to openly ask. Ask without restraint or apology. Looking into the Father’s heart and asking Him to reveal my motivations and allowing Him to weed out my requests and change me, all at the same time.
Why do I desire success in this life?
I know my answer with certainty, do you?
I desire success because God has shown me what He has planned for my family. In desiring success, I’m simply agreeing with what He’s shown me.
It’s much easier to walk in abundance when you’ve taken time to see what God desires for you as an individual and as a family.
Asking for what He’s revealed isn’t selfish, it’s an act of gratitude. Allowing Him to work it out for you is also an act of gratitude.
The whole attitude of, “I’m gonna get what’s mine.” Is the worldly spirit of poverty. It’s the opposite of trusting in the goodness of God.
He is always and forever more than enough.
Jealousy is unnecessary.
I encourage you to evaluate your heart today. Ask God to show you if you are operating from jealousy in any area. If you are, then repent, and move forward. Give the poverty spirit to God and in return receive a spirit of abundance!
365 Days in the Presence 