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Jealousy

Posted March 22, 2010 by Renee Brown

 

Imagine for one moment you’re at an event with your friends and family, when a pretty young woman (around your age) walks in.  Her hair is styled to perfection and her make-up is flawless.  She’s dressed as if she has her own personal stylist and she carries herself with such grace and confidence.  She looks like a million bucks!  All of a sudden after one long stare, the thoughts enter your mind, “She thinks she’s all that.  I don’t know what it is but it’s just something about her I don’t like.” This, my dear friend, is a perfect example of how quickly and easily jealousy can enter a person’s heart.

 

Perhaps, the pretty young woman walked in at a time when you were feeling bad about yourself.  After all, you didn’t take the time to get to know her (hypothetically speaking). Has this ever happened to you?  Chances are most of us have felt like this at some point in time. Many women battle with jealousy, which is why I decided to tackle this issue in today’s blog entry.

 

So what exactly is jealousy?  According to webster’s dictionary jealous means being hostile toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage (see http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jealous). Jealousy is seeded in insecurity and competition. As women of God we must be sure of who we are in Christ.  “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” I Peter 2:9  A woman who knows who she is can easily celebrate the success of others.

 

I believe we’re all tempted at times to compare ourselves to others.  However, by doing so, we cause ourselves to be in competition with one another, which provokes the spirit of jealousy. The bible states, “they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise,” II Corinthians 10:12.  

 

It is my prayer that God will transform us into wise women. Let’s use wisdom and stop comparing ourselves to others. Let’s take time out of our hectic schedules and find out who God says we are, by reading his word.  Let’s celebrate the blessings and gifts of others.  Let’s cast out the spirit of jealousy and release the spirit of love and encouragement.

 

Jealousy is such a broad and serious topic.  I really want to take my time in writing about it. Therefore, I am going to write a second blog entry about the cruelty of jealousy this week. So keep visiting the site. You don’t want to miss it!

 

I Can Do All Things Through Christ

 

Do you ever feel your goals are unachievable?  Maybe you’ve made the mistake of sharing your ideas with someone and he or she replied, “You can’t do that.”  Perhaps you’ve even told yourself, “There’s no way I can do that.”

It is true one can do nothing without God.  However, if you are a born again believer you can do all things through Christ.  “I can do all things through Christ who strengths me,” Philippians 4:13. Nothing is impossible for God. We must simply believe. “Jesus said unto him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes,” Mark 9:23.  

The following is a you tube video of Twinkie Clark singing, “I Can Do All Things through Christ that Strengthens Me.” I pray it ministers to you today. It truly blessed me when I watched it.

 

 

 

 

 

You Can Learn a lot from a Dummy!

I went somewhere the other night and noticed there were about three or four people, who were behaving very inappropriately.  Mind you these people were all fully grown adults.  They were acting like high school kids.  They were being very rude and inconsiderate. It was obvious that several people around them were extremely annoyed by their behavior. One person actually expressed his annoyance but they continued to behave foolishly.

Later, I thought about the old popular seat belt commercial. You know the one with the two dummies in a test car that were not wearing their seat belts.  The car crashed into a wall and the dummies went flying out the window. At the end of the commercial, the announcer said, “You can learn a lot from a dummy. Buckle your safety belt.”

Oh how true is the moral of that commercial! While experience is sometimes the best teacher, you don’t have to experience everything in life.  You can learn a lot from the experiences of others. That night, I learned a lot from watching those people act immaturely. I learned one must always use discretion, even while he or she is among people who are familiar. Remember the old saying, familiarity breeds contempt! Always try to respect others and if you don’t want to be treated as a fool then don’t behave foolishly.

 

The Power of Words

 

 

Have you ever thought about how powerful words are? God literally spoke this world into existence.  He said, “let there be” and it was.  How awesome is that! The bible says life and death are in the power of the tongue (see Proverbs 18:21).  In other words, we can choose to speak life over a situation or death.  Think about it.  As born again believers, God has given us the ability to speak or declare a thing and consequently it will happen (if we believe). Jesus said, “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he says,” Mark 11:23.

 

If you’ve ever been in the company of negative people, you probably know how draining they can be. However, if you’ve been in the company of positive people then you know how uplifting they can be. Once, during a really tough time in my life, I called a close friend (at that time) for advice.  I was hoping she would encourage me but that wasn’t the case at all.  By the time the conversation ended, I was so upset and confused.  Her words were so negative that it made the situation worse. Needless to say, I was definitely discouraged. This experience helped me realize our words can often make or break a person. As a rule of thumbs, I try to stay way from negativity.

 

I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve been guilty of speaking negatively. Nevertheless, I am learning how to let my speech be seasoned with grace.  I’m learning to speak life instead of death. As one prolific preacher stated, “If you transform your language you will transform your life. If you transform your life you will transform your world.”

 

 

 

“Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man,” Colossians 4:6

 

 

Do you agree with the old saying, “If you don’t have anything good to say don’t say anything at all?”