Monday, May 29, 2006, 06:57 PM
I have had a very hard time down through the years understanding God’s jealousy. But I have just finished reading an article by S.J.Hill in the “In Touch” daily reader. And I must say Mr. Hill has explained it all very well. So even though this is not direct quotes I am taking a lot of my information from what he wrote.For the sinful man jealousy has a different definition then it has for God. Man is jealous due to suspicions because of his insecurities. A jealous person wants to possess and control the other person. He is very demanding and he could care less about the desires and emotions of the other person. All he can see are his desires. Jealously is a power trip. It is a cruel and a hard master to the victim. Jealously does not want the best for someone else. It is totally for self. It is taking the freedoms of others away.
We are to be like Jesus. Jesus is God and God’s jealously is full of love. “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deut.4:24). God is morally perfect. He hates sin. God’s jealousy is defending His Word and high honor. He will not have any other gods before Him. He wants to enjoy us fully and detests anything that gets in the way and blocks our love and affection for Him. God does not play games (Josh. 24:19, 20). For the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you and He will destroy you from the face of the land” (Deut. 6:15). And He will be very aggressive to take it out of our lives. Or He will just take our lives (Joshua 24:19, 20).
Jealously for man is evil but for God it is against evil. Jealously for man is anger but for God it is love and it never leaves. God wants to win us over with His love. He does not desire that we try to obey and serve Him out of duty. He does not desire that we view Him from a distance. He does not desire that we cringe in fear of Him. These are things He is jealous of. He desires that we only want Him. He wants all of our day to be filled with Him. Then God’s jealously will subside and he will fill us with His glory. Our love and devotions is to be for Him (James 4:5). Christ paid a very high price for our salvation. He took our sins and He forgives us our sins. We are bought and paid for by the blood of the Lamb. The high price God paid gives Him the right to desire our total love and commitment to Him. God is the only one to be jealous and to carry out vengeance. God’s goal is always the same. It is to remove sin and restore people. When a people continually refuse God he will and does destroy them. “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished” (Nahum 1:2, 3).
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we want to express this to others. We want them to have this beautiful gift that we have. True love is shearing. It is giving the most precious gift we have. And that is Jesus Christ. Where would this world be if everyone was jealous of someone having the gift of salvation? What if we wanted to control it and not share it? It is so sad to say that so many do this very thing. They are thinking of themselves and the affect that it may cause in their life with the person they could witness to. They are not thinking of the other person and what will happen to them. God wants all to come to the knowledge of the truth. His jealousy is righteousness.
When we put God first in our lives He fills us up with Himself and then He takes that love and adoration we have for Him and He showers it abundently upon others that touch our lives.
When we are jealous it is sin. There is always a cure for sin. Repent and ask God to cleanse you of all unrighteousness. He does. We all struggle with certain sins. And many people struggle with the sin of jealousy. We must focus on Christ and what He has done for us. We cannot be rid of jealousy by our own power or desire. We must take it to the foot of the cross and lay down there and let God work it in our heart. This is what we must do with all sin. We are to desire and strive to stop sinning but in the end it is always Christ that is the answer. He took that sin into Himself. We are free of it. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
You can reach Nancy at:
Crossing the GAP
PO Box 384
Marshall IL. 62441
art@nancysgallery.com
Monday, May 22, 2006, 06:04 PM
Our Lord hears every prayer a Christian utters. But so much of the time we must wait for him to answer. We live in a fast world. It is a world of instant everything. So we come to God with our petitions and requests and tell God that we want it right now. God will not jump to our tune.We may only pray a prayer once and want it right now. When we do not receive the answer when we think it should happen we decide we will make it happen. Usually there is a lot of regret when we step out on our own. If there is no immediate answer there is a very good reason. God does not play waiting games with us to tease us. God knows everything and how it will affect many more lives then our own (Job 34:21-23). I have related a story about the North and South Koreans several times to many people but I would like to do it one more time to explain how God can work half way around the world with what would seem to be a useless unanswered prayer for some families.
I heard on the news on the radio a couple of years ago about the North Koreans killing about 10 Christian South Koreans. Instead of it just passing by me like it does in so many cases due to hearing this type of thing so much on the news it struck me very hard. I did not know it at the time but God penetrated my heart with this to lead me down a path I never dreamed I would go down. I experienced extreme hatred for the North Koreans and God revealed to me that I was as bad as they were and due to my hatred in my heart I had killed too. I repented and I knew I was forgiven but the hatred was still there and so I cried out to God to take it away. A thought went through my mind and it asks this question, “Would you hate them if they too became Christians?” The answer was no I would not. It was a very emotional moment for me. In that incident God taught me to separate the sin from the sinner. And a few months later GAP Prison ministry was born. But here is my point in telling this again. The families of the men that were shot are probably still asking God why he allowed their loved ones to be shot when they were working and doing God’s will. They do not understand why God did not save their loved ones from death. But half way around the world I hear a news report and a ministry is born. We are missionaries helping men in prison to grow in their faith to take God’s Word to others in prison. These men take God’s Word to their family’s friends and to other countries (II Tim.4:17, 18). They have Bible studies and make books of knowledge from the articles I send them. God is working very great and beautiful message to so very many people. You see, the weeping of the Korean families is heartbreaking and they will never know what the death of their loved ones has set in motion. All they see is that their prayers are not answered. God has a plan but we struggle so with the idea that He does not care or hear. But God’s plan is so far outreaching that we will never know what He can and will do with our heartache and pain and what we might consider unanswered prayer. We never know how many people God will reach through our heartache and pain.
So, when we pray we must totally trust in God to know what He is doing. Trust is the answer to seemly unanswered prayer. Pray in faith that God knows best (Heb. 10:22). Pray in faith that God has a better plan (II Tim.4:7). Pray in faith that God may be reaching out to people you do not know and may never know (Heb.12:2). The big picture for God is His Word going out to the whole world (Mat.28:18-20). Our picture is very small and very self-centered. But God wants all to come to the knowledge of His truth. That is God’s goal and that is God’s only goal.
So, when we pray for some very righteous need for yourself or family or friend please always try and remember that God loves you and them so very much that He went to the cross and bore all of our sins. It is a free gift that He offers all of mankind. That is the most beautiful gift that could ever be given to us. So, when we pray we should always remember that God’s main goal in all peoples lives are that they know the price that was paid for them in Jesus Christ. There are many that suffer and die for God’s life saving message to reach people we do not know and my never know. But God knows and God is all wise in His decisions for our lives. Our main prayer should be that all come to the knowledge of the truth. And then we wait patiently and watch God work His grace in us and in others. When bad things happen, good is happening someplace else. God works all things together for the good of those who love Him.
Crossing the Gap
Po Box 384
Marshall, IL 62441
art@nancysgallery.com
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