Friday, November 20, 2009

Where Freedom Begins

Have you ever, or do you ever feel jealous?

If we are all being honest, I think it would be fair to say that at some point in our lives, we have all felt the feeling of jealousy. When I was a kid I used to get jealous when one of my friends wanted to spend time with someone besides me. I felt jealous when someone got the new boots that I had been wanting for 4 months. I felt jealous over a lot of stuff.

I think as kids, we trick ourselves into thinking that when we "grow-up" we won't feel jealous anymore. We trick ourselves into thinking that when we grow up we will be more confident, bold, satisfied, etc...but, that's not really the truth, is it?

No matter how much older we get the only way we truly "grow-up" is to "grow-in" the Fathers love. If this doesn't happen we will be just as jealous and insecure at 35 as we were at 15.

The Father has been teaching me a very freeing lesson about jealousy. It has changed me, and it has helped me to truly be happy for others when they are blessed.

I have always had this tendency to feel jealous when other people get to travel to wonderful places. Well, truth be told I used to be jealous over many things, but this is what Father used to teach me in a big way, so, this is my example.

Anyway...

One day I found myself saying, "I am so jealous! I wish I could go there!" When I felt Father speak to my heart in the following way.

Father "Daveda, don't you know how much I love you?"

Me "Sure, I know you love me."

Father "You must not REALLY believe that I love you or you wouldn't feel jealous. You would know in your heart that my desire is to bless you. Give your heart to me"

Me *lightbulb* "Ahhhhhh, I see"

Do you see? The only reason we have to feel jealous is if we believe that Father loves someone else better than us. We only feel jealous when we believe that's why they got this wonderful blessing, and we didn't. He must like them, love them, more than me.

But, that's not the truth, it's a lie.

The truth is, God wants to bless us too. We just don't believe that He does, so we don't think to ask Him.

Shortly after the Lord spoke to my heart about this, I was looking through some pictures that were posted online of a wonderful trip overseas, taken by a friend, and I found myself thinking "Wow! This must be really amazing, I wish I could go somewhere like this." When I felt this overwhelming peace come to my heart as I turned to Jesus and said "Thank you Jesus that you love me, just as much as this person, and if you can send her to this wonderful place, you can send me somewhere someday too. I know you love me Lord"

You see, we only feel jealous when we do not know Fathers love and His heart to give to us. We only feel jealous when we believe the lie that says - God must love them better than me-.

The truth is that God loves you and wants to bless you. This work of being set free and experiencing life in abundance starts in our hearts as we begin to believe in His love for us, as we begin to turn to Him and ask Him to help us trust in His love, His power, His favor at work in our lives.

Freedom from jealousy is found in Jesus. It is found in learning to live in the wonderful gift of right standing He gave to us!

Turn your heart to Jesus and ask Him for a fresh revelation of His love for you today!

This is where Freedom Begins!

12 comments:

Warren Baldwin said...

Very good post, Daveda. I've learned two things that help me deal with jealousy or envy of some one else's good fortune or success.

One, be glad for them. That is what you did toward your friend who traveled. You prayed a thanksgiving prayer for her. It is hard to be envious of one you are praying in earnest for!

Two, learn from them. Sit at their feet. Ask them how they became so good at baseball or biblical exegesis or making friends. It is hard to be envious of someone you are learning from! In fact, you will probably become their friend.

Jealousy and envy destroy life (James 3:16), so it is good for us to destroy that jealousy and envy in our hearts.

Again, very good post. wb

christy rose said...

Daveda,
The freedom that knowing God loves us brings can enable us to be happy for anyone who has been abundantly blessed in an area that we long to be blessed in as well. You are so right that jealousy stems from thinking that we are not going to be able to get a blessing that compares to what we are seeing someone else receive. We are thinking that God is doing something for someone else that He is not going to do for us. As we become aware of those lies in our heart and extinguish them with the truth of God's unconditional intense love for us, we can be happy for others and excited about what God has in store for us as well. Great post!!
Christy

RCUBEs said...

I was about to say before I came to know the Lord's love, I was I'm sure...But you talked about it at the latter part of the post. He gives me a sense of contentment eversince I came to know Him. Blessings.

Loren said...

Great post Daveda!

It took me years to stop being jealous of others' spiritual gifts! The sad thing was that I allowed it to keep me from operating in mine! The Lord brought a Prophetic Word to me and pointed it out and WOW It touched me deep! I had to repent for my jealousy! Now I can see others and I am thankful that together we each are a necessary part of the body and working together to accomplish HIS WILL :)

Love ya! Thanks for sharing about this today

Heart2Heart said...

Daveda,

Thankfully God has blessed this part of my life and made me appreciate what we all bring to the table, if not our jobs would be so much more difficult to win people to Christ if we worked alone.

Love and Hugs ~ Kat

Tana said...

This really speaks to me. I don't have any jealousy that I'm aware of but it teaches me to ask the Lord with a different heart. it def. has more peace involved. Thank you for blessing me today!

Joyeful said...

So much truth! I just love the conversation you had with our Father! He definitely spoke to my own heart through those words as well. Thank you for sharing this and for speaking the Truth!

Wonderful to meet you!

kc bob said...

Maybe embracing the love of God is so difficult because we seek to know it with our heads and not our hearts. Our head is simply incompetent in dealing with pain and the hardships of life.. trusting God in these times is an issue of the heart.. that beautiful new heart that He gave us :)

Karen Hossink said...

Just because someone else has something we do not have doesn't mean God loves us less than them.
Right on, sister!
I have to tell you - you had me praying through this entire post. Did you ever see the video of Oprah Winfrey talking about when she was in church and the preacher said God was 'jealous' - and that totally turned her off to HIM? Well, a year or two ago God laid it on my heart to pray for Oprah whenever I come across the word 'jealous.' So, you have caused her to be prayed for a lot this morning.
Father, please speak to Oprah today about Your amazing love for her. Let her understand that Your jealousy is a good thing!

Thanks for the prompting. *grin*

Deborah Ann said...

You picked the perfect subject! I think everyone struggles with this to some degree. You also nit the nail on the head with figuring out that we are all jealous of God's love. We fret that He loves other people more than us. I think He's okay with that, though. Our jealousy for Him speaks of our great love for Him. And that He loves...

Ruth said...

Great idea! I love hearing others stories and I loved yours. I'll try to put something together to join in.

sanjeet said...

It is hard to be envious of someone you are learning from! In fact, you will probably become their friend.


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