08/05/11

Envy

Mark 15:10 - For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.


The English word 'envy' is simply defined as a feeling of discontent because of the success or advantage of another.

The Greek word translated here as envy is 'phthonos' and comes from the root word 'phtheiro' which means corrupt. In the Bible the feeling of envy is simply put as corruption in between the relationship of 2 or more persons.

If one understands, the purpose God created man was not that He wanted someone to worship Him, if that was the case then it would make God a selfish God. We worship Him not because He needs our praise and worship but because we need to. He also did not make man because He was lonely and needed someone to love. God existed in fullness and lacked anything. He created man with only one main purpose and that is to prosper him.

God has great plans for man and has set forth great abundance for him. When darkness came through Satan the nature to obstruct prosperity in the life of another was born. After greed and pride was born envy.

This nature of Satan which infected Adam when he sinned has been passed on from generations to generations. A mother or father does not need to teach a baby the feeling of envy for it comes in its DNA. Having envy is considered normal by worldly man and is part of the understanding of the Cosmos (worldly system). Advertising Industry flourishes not because they do their work of giving information of a product to people far and wide, but mainly because they give air to this fire called envy.

Even in Churches people are taught to be competitive to another brother or sister by envying that person.

One does not need to stop excelling and being better to stop envy, the nature of Satan.

The Nature of God teaches us to get behind another and encourage him or her to go ahead even more than ourselves. This is what we learn from Jesus Who was also given the title of 'Servant King'.

I would love to see not only one Church member helping another Church member to be better than himself, but also see one Church help another Church to increase in blessings all with the purpose of the increase of God's Kingdom.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord ,You are God and You lacked nothing yet You made man for it is in your Nature to bless. You plan to bless man with abundant spiritual treasures but man has been struggling to let go of the temporary earthly treasures which are not even worth pennies. Lord, help us overcome the nature of envy by applying the Sacrifice of Jesus in that area and by walking in His Name...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scripturesr ]
Ezekiel 28:12-19
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

Genesis 4:3-8
3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

John 8:42-47
42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.
43 "Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.
44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
45 "But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.
46 "Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?
47 "He who is of God hears God痴 words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)