Jealousy

A symbol of moving from languishing to flourishing.

Have you ever been provoked to jealousy? When I first think of the word “jealousy” I think of something that needs to be quenched, done away with, or removed from me. It connotes a lack of harmony and inner turmoil. On the surface, it’s something I just want to get past, but like any emotion—toxic or otherwise—it points to something deeper. For this reason, jealousy is a gift in the spiritual realm.

There are heroes of the faith and anointed individuals who have wisdom,  understanding of truth, and relationship with God that often provoke me to jealousy. There are people you can read about and personal writings you can study from these people that display a closeness with God that stirs up something in my spirit to yearn and pine for my own experience of closeness with God. It causes something in me to refuse to settle for a life lived less than near to God. It makes me jealous.

Some may decide that this restless feeling needs to be removed and do all they can to suppress it and say that it is gone, but that’s not healthy. Jealousy should provoke you to action. The blessing of jealousy is that, when channeled properly, it is not a dead end race—it is the beginning of the pursuit, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) Jealousy is the beginnings of hunger pangs, and to hunger for God is a blessing. If you do not hunger, you will never know true satisfaction.

This is also the beauty of God’s expansiveness: there is so much of Him that the more we know, the more we are awakened to the increasing depths of Who He is. Spiritual hunger increases with the knowledge of God as does our experience of satisfaction.

Sometimes we are awakened to the reality of our own parched state. The landscape of our soul is dry and barren: then we hear of the deep things of God in and through the life of another. We are provoked to jealousy for their flourishing land. The hope in this situation is that you don’t have to conquer the territory of another to have it for yourself: God will meet you in your own land and bring you to flourish in your own walk. All you have to do is ask Him to.

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done

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Oh boy. This week has been the best week of summer so far. Encouraging text messages, singing the Scriptures, convicting sermons… it’s like God’s trying to tell me that He loves me or something. =D

Allow for me to share with you one of the convicting ideas floating through my mind this week: Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In his message series entitled “The Supernatural Power of a Renewed Mind,” Bill Johnson explains that when Jesus told his disciples to pray this phrase, He was basically saying that God has dominion over all things because He made them, and whatever goes on in heaven should go on in earth because He has the dominion, and whatever is not allowed in heaven should not be allowed in earth because He has the dominion. You see, this prayer is really an invitation for God to break into our reality with the power of His kingdom. Can I get an amen?

Okay, so another thing: do you want to understand any trying circumstances in your life? Whatever situations may be in your life, try to see them from God’s perspective. Literally ask God to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation and ask Him to show you how He sees your life! He gives graciously and abundantly to those who hunger for it. Let the deep in your spirit cry out to the deep in God’s spirit. He is moved by our cries.

God has been showing me that He cares for me this week, and He wants me to continue to seek Him in and honor Him through music. He is pleased that I am using the knowledge He has given me to bring Him praise and He will be faithful to reveal to me the full extent of all that He has for me to know in order to love Him more and more. He wants to do that for you too. He wants to reveal to you the full extent of all that He has for you to know in order for you to love Him more and more. Are you hungry? Can I get an amen? Oh Jesus, thank You!

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This is where I come to sing God's Word.