Hollywood Prayer Network On Jealousy And EnvySample

THE RIGHTEOUS JEALOUSY OF GOD 

"That passion of peculiar uneasiness which arises from the fear that a rival may rob us of the affection of one whom we love, or the suspicion that he has already done it"  Webster's 1828 Dictionary

"Suspicious caution or vigilance, an earnest concern or solicitude for the welfare or honor of others." Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PRAY:    Lord, I want to fully understand the positive side of jealousy by learning how You're a jealous God. According to these scriptures, You love me so much that You get jealous when I spend more time, effort, and emotion on other things, and I know You want us to worship You alone. Help me to keep my eyes on You, to spend more time with You, to read the Bible more, memorize verses, and learn in a Bible Study or Community group. Help me to fall more in love with You so that You don't have to fight for my attention or my commitment. Help me want to spend time with You, obey You, and worship You, Lord. Knowing how much I want the people I love to spend time with me, makes me understand how You want me to spend time with You. Thank You for loving me SO MUCH. Amen and Amen.

REFLECT:  The dictionary definition of Jealous says: "feeling or showing envy of someone or their achievements and advantages." or "Of God demanding faithfulness and exclusive worship" That's insightful to see that the word itself has no value placed on it. It can be used in different contexts to be either a negative emotion or a positive emotion. Many words in our language are like that and we have to learn the full meaning of some words in order to understand God. Here, God is demanding that we are completely faithful to Him and that we exclusively worship Him. He gets jealous when we have other idols that we worship, or other priorities that take us away from Him. That should be both extremely touching for us, to realize how much He loves us, but it should also be jarring enough to re-evaluate our time, our focus, and our priorities, to make sure He really is first in our lives. What do you need to do to satisfy a jealous God?

ACT:  Are you spending so much of your time, your allegiance, your priorities, and your heart with the things of this world that you're not fully committed to God? How can you satisfy a jealous God? Do you worship Him alone? Do you want to be with Him, talk to Him, memorize His word? God is a gentleman and will never demand that you put Him first, but He longs after us and rewards us for our faithfulness in ways that the world can never do. What is one thing you would change in order to please your jealous God? Tell Him that you want to make a change so that He knows your intentions and can help you to refocus more on Him than on the world. Remember, the world will never satisfy you, but your jealous God is waiting patiently for you with open arms and a generous heart. Tell Him the one thing you're going to change, adjust, or begin right now, and then ask Him to help you stay committed to that change!