Lord of the Mind

"God's love has no point of failure."

JEALOUSY IS a horrible green monster, fueled by envy and bitterness and consumed by anger. It is the high point of Satan’s kingdom. Created by God for God’s purposes, to serve mankind, he grew jealous of man (adam) made in God’s image and seeing them so much like God and with God’s authority and power, said to himself, “I will exalt my throne above God’s.” He has been dominated by anger and hatred, jealous of the work of God, ever since.

He must be known by us, but He must not be highlighted. We are to walk powerful over him, through the Spirit of God (dunamis) which lives within us and in the authority of God (exousia) given to us by Jesus Christ on the orders of the Father.

Jealousy has consumed mankind since the beginning. Cain killed Abel, jealous of God’s acceptance of Abel’s sacrifice. Rachel was jealous of her sister, Leah, for having children by their husband Jacob, when she had none. Joseph’s brothers were jealous of their father’s affection for him, and their jealousy turned to murderous hate when Joseph spoke of his dream.

King Saul was jealous of David, after he killed Goliath, and the people sang his praises. “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands (1 Samuel 18:7).” Jealousy allowed to develop caused him to seek to murder David for all the years afterward. David, on the other hand, refused to give into hate. Even when given an opportunity to kill Saul, he refused, honoring the office of the king which Saul still held despite God’s promise it belonged to David.

“When Rachel realized that she wasn’t having any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister.” (Genesis 30:1 MSG)

“So from that time on King Saul kept a jealous watch on David.” (1 Samuel 18:9 TLB)

Haman was jealous of the influence of the Jews and targeted Queen Esther’s uncle Mordecai, causing a tower to be built which should have hanged Mordecai at the King’s edict. But instead, God used Queen Esther to reveal Haman and rescue her people. It was Haman who hung there instead.

The Pharisees and other religious leaders seethed with jealousy over the authority and influence of Jesus, refusing to see Him as the Christ or to give Him honor. In their hate and bitterness, they had Him condemned to die, knowing He was innocent, in a plan set in motion by God from before the beginning of time. But God raised Jesus from the dead as our Savior and Lord. He is King of Kings forever. Praise His name.

1 Corinthians 13:4 says Love “refuses to be jealous (TPT)” of other people and other people’s things, jobs, or positions in society and the church. Love is, instead, incredibly patient and kind. It “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things (1 Corinthians 13:7).” God’s love has no point of failure. Instead it is our human emotions and carnal (fleshly) thinking that cause us to hate. Minister Bill Johnson pointed out “the mind, not under the Lordship of Jesus, … is at war with God.” This is the truth written in Romans 8:6-7. Jealousy is a lordship issue. It shows we are not submitted to God (the first step to resisting the devil) but are giving into the devil. Through jealousy and envy, we are giving the devil a place that he created, eons ago (Ephesians 4:27).

“The rage and anger of others can be overwhelming, but it’s nothing compared to jealousy’s fire.” (Proverbs 27:4 TPT)

God knows each of us by name. He knows our thoughts and our motives. He hears all the conversations in our head. Nothing is hidden from Him, not even in the darkest darkness. He knows us intimately and even greater, for us who are His children, He has a good plan for our lives. He desires each one of us to live successfully, in health, with all of our needs met, and even beyond that, for us to have our wildest dreams. But His plan for me may not look like His plan for you, and His plan for you may look nothing like your best friend’s. His love in us celebrates others’ lives. It rejoices over our differences, finding beauty in them, and it refuses to criticize or complain, to cause strife, or spread hate.

He makes us confident in who we are, not as arrogance but as satisfaction. This is the promise of Psalm 91:16. We can live until we are satisfied. We can have a long, wonderful life, unmarred by evil. His life in us is big enough for that. But to rise above jealousy requires renewing our mind. We must change how we think so that our viewpoint is God’s and not selfishness or any “survival of the fittest” belief. For those lie at the foundation of jealous rage and envious striving. They say we must one-up the other person and “rise higher” than them or we’ll be swallowed up and forgotten. They say we must “out do” them and “it’s okay” if they are hurt a little in the process. A little becomes a lot when you feed it. One step in the wrong direction soon becomes two.

The fruit produced by our relationship, our connection to, the Holy Spirit, are the love of God, the joy of heaven’s perspective, permanent peace of heart in all situations, incredible longsuffering and patience for ourselves and toward people, a gentleness of manner in handling everything, the incredible goodness of God in all our actions, a firm belief in God’s faithfulness, as well as meekness of character, and continual self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). That’s saying “no” when those covetous feelings surge upwards, when we see what the other person has, and frustration rises. Even greater is the day when we don’t have to say “no” because those things are just not in us.

The Scripture says God is a jealous God, but this is not envy or anger at what anyone has. He is the Creator of all things and has all wisdom and all power. Instead, it is His protective love for us, that anyone would cause us to stray through their behavior and that we would give into it. I like the idea that He is jealous for me, to the point He’d send His Son to die to win me back. For Him, I will put away the devil’s thinking and treat others as better than myself. What we see of this is what we lose by giving. What God sees is how much He now can give. What we gain is peace of mind and fruitfulness. We hear His voice clearly because no longer is it clouded by our senses or any deception of the devil. There is no greater benefit than that.

“What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Isn’t it because there is a whole army of evil desires within you? You want what you don’t have, so you kill to get it. You long for what others have, and can’t afford it, so you start a fight to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. And even when you do ask you don’t get it because your whole aim is wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.” (James 4:1-3 VOICE)

“What is the cause of your conflicts and quarrels with each other? Doesn’t the battle begin inside of you as you fight to have your own way and fulfill your own desires? You jealously want what others have so you begin to see yourself as better than others. You scheme with envy and harm others to selfishly obtain what you crave—that’s why you quarrel and fight. And all the time you don’t obtain what you want because you won’t ask God for it! And if you ask, you won’t receive it for you’re asking with corrupt motives, seeking only to fulfill your own selfish desires.” (James 4:1-3 TPT)

Image by Setia Mulyana from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com