SATAN’S TRAPS: JEALOUSY (2 of 4)

Satan’s trap of “Jealousy” (2 of 4)

THE NATURE OF JEALOUSY
1. It is a work of the flesh (earthly, natural, demonic).
    If someone accused you of being jealous,
     and you admitted that you were…
     and then they said, “That’s a demonic attitude”,
     most people would be defensive and reply with,
     “I am not demonic. I am not full of demons”.
     Note:
         It’s not to imply someone is full of demons,
         but jealousy is a demonic attitude.
             – It is an earthly, worldly and natural attitude.
             – It flows out of a natural tendency to sin
                against God, and to sin against each other.

    – Galatians 5:17 (“strife”, “jealousy”, “envy”)
          – The scriptures say this
              does not fit who we are as believers.
          – When the scriptures include these with other
              vile sins, then it is a serious matter for us.
          – God knows the destructive power
              jealousy can have in our lives.
                  – It can cause us to do things
                     we ordinarily wouldn’t do.
                     These things affect:
                          – Our family, our friendships, our attitudes.
                             our relationship with the Lord,
                             and possibly our health.

    – Romans 13:13 (“not in strife and jealousy”)
          – It is an uncontrollable lust or envy for:
                – Something someone else has.
                – The possibility of what someone else may attain.
                – Our perception of what someone else has, or may attain.
          – This does not fit who we are.
                – We are the children of God (Who promised
                    to fulfill every need we have).
          – This attitude is worldly and should
             not be a part of the life of a child of God.

2. It springs from something within us.
     – When we are jealous of someone else,
         it is something that springs from within us.
     – A lot of the time the person we are jealous of
       doesn’t even know that we are jealous.
     – We make ourselves sick and miserable
        (creating strife around us), while they
        go about their way un-impacted by our jealousy.
     – They sleep well at night;
        and others may enjoy being around them, etc.

3. It arises from comparison.
     – We compare ourselves to each other.
     – We compare what we have to what others have.

    It arises from competition.
     – We compete with those around us.
     – When they start to get ahead in any way (status, money,
        position, friends, etc.), then we become jealous.

     It arises from a fear of being replaced.
     – When we are fearful of being replaced in any capacity
        (job, friendship, spouse, etc.), we become jealous.

4. It implies that we know better than God.
     – If God chooses to give someone else something that we
        don’t have, and we start to complain and become jealous,
        we are in disagreement with God.
            – This is a distorted attitude and a distorted view.
            – We are saying that God is being unfair (based solely
               on our thoughts, perceptions, knowledge, and ideas).
            – God is omniscient (all knowing) – He knows exactly
               what everyone needs, and when they need it (because He
               knows all the facts, and the situations past, present and future).
          Question:
               How could we ever claim to know better than our
                omniscient God what another person needs?

5. We think we deserve it.
     – For some reason, we think
        we deserve it more than some other person.
     – The scriptures warn about these things spewing out of us.

6. It can absolutely engulf us and put us in a state of bondage.
    Note:
    Jealousy begins as a spark,
         – From something that happens.
         – From something we see.
         – From something we feel.
         – From something we interpret.
         When this happens, we can choose to:
              – Put out the spark, or…
                 let it become a low, slow burn (it burns and burns
                 on the inside until it eventually engulfs us, and we
                 find ourselves in a state of bondage to jealousy).

    Imagine waking up every morning (or during the night)
    and the first thing that comes to mind is:
        – The person you are jealous of (or the possessions
           of another person that you wish you had).
               – This has to create anxieties and strife in a person’s life.

    We can make ourselves sick when we become
     focused on how we are going to act around them:
         – what we will say
         – how we will react to what they say
         – how what they say or do will fan our flame of jealousy

7. It’s divisive.
     – If we are jealous toward someone:
           – There’s going to be strife in our lives.
           – There will be strife in our relationship
              with the other person.
                   – We find ways to hinder or hurt the other person,
                       because we refuse to deal with
                       what’s going on in our own life.

8. It can grow from a legitimate desire into a fit of rage.
     – We can have a legitimate desire
        (there’s nothing wrong with it),
        but if it gets out of control, it becomes like a fanned
        flame (all of a sudden we are obsessed with it).
        Example:
            – We work hard to get promoted.
            – Someone else gets promoted.
            – We get jealous.
            – Now we have to prove something.
            – We are determined to get promoted, no matter what.
            – We are obsessed with being promoted.
            – Our conduct can become disastrous
               (to the point no one would consider promoting us).

9. It can show evidence of a corrupt heart.
     – When we are jealous of someone else, our heart is corrupted.
     – Our heart is not right with God.
     – We can’t defend being right with God when we have jealousy
        in our heart (because we are in conflict with God).

10. It does not fit who we are in Jesus Christ.
       – If God says that jealousy is natural, earthly, and demonic,
          then we can’t have those attitudes toward anyone else,
          and have a right relationship with a Holy God (who says
          we are to follow the pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ).

Question:
Being honest, is there someone that you have jealousy toward?
     – If you say, “I wouldn’t call it jealousy, but….”
        The use of the word “but” says that you are at least a little jealous.
     – It’s one thing to have certain wishes, but it’s not right to be
        envious that someone else has what we want, or wish for.

The consequences of this slow burn (of jealousy)
results in anger, bitterness, etc.
Some may say, “These things won’t happen to me”,
but where there is jealousy, there is strife.

Note:
It’s one thing to have an isolated incident,
but when we succeed in extinguishing the flame,
then we are winning the battle with jealousy;
and when we don’t deal with it, we are allowing it to enslave us
(it affects our attitudes, our habits, our relationships with others,
and with God).

Galatians 6:7-10
Whatever we sow:
we reap what we sow, more than we sow, and later than we sow.
    – The world wants to deny that.
    – Nations want to deny that.
    – Individuals want to deny that.
    – Businesses want to deny that.
    But, the scriptures do not lie.
    If we sow jealousy, then we can expect to reap the effects of
    jealousy, and it will have a negative impact on our lives.