HAPPY for ... or … JEALOUS of

This may seem like an unusual title, but as you may already see, it gets the point across. As examples will clearly show, if you ever want to judge your own heart, there are many situations where you are ‘happy for’ or ‘jealous of’. It is really a tremendous principle that I will do my best to make living and real for you.

First, let us define an emotion which most people are unaware of when it is working within them. Let's go back in the Old Testament and take a look at a verse in Numbers. We are now just beginning to lay our foundation for this teaching.

And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled: -- Numbers 5: 14

Most Christians today do not realize that Satan's arsenal of devil spirits consists of a devil spirit called jealousy. This emotion is not of the true God, but is of the god of this world who is presently the devil.

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. -- II Corinthians 4: 4

Whatever the subject matter of Numbers 5: 14, that is not important to us right now. The verse clearly establishes that there is a spirit of jealousy and it is evil in nature. A good concordance to the Bible will illustrate at least 20 other examples pertaining to jealousy.

We all know what it means to be happy so it should not be necessary to give an example. However, I have learned never to make assumptions and you too should follow suit. So let's look at an example of what makes people happy and go to Philippians.

But [So] my God shall supply all your need [material things] according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. -- Philippians 4: 19

Now this verse, when believed, would make any Christian very happy. Of course, everything we do for God is based on a condition and that condition is that we keep Him first and then we can experience the more than abundant life. God here makes a promise that He will supply all our needs (not our greeds). So that I don't have to explain every small detail that I have worked in the Word of God, I will ask you to trust me that the word ‘need’ is referring to material things. So that's quite a promise by God to us. I believe it would make anyone happy.

Now almost all of us knows what it means to be jealous of someone else and of course we all know what it means to be happy for another person. This teaching is very simple, but I want to point out a movement today that is taking place and is a new device or one that has been revised, in the world today. You need to know and believe that you have a personal adversary and he adjusts his methods and devices according to situations in the world today. He is flexible and one of his greatest movements today is something referred to as ambitious rivalry. I have done a teaching on this subject and you may want to refer to it at some time. What the devil has done lately is to increase the negative emotion of being jealous of others which decreases the positive emotion of being happy for others. This teaching and it’s purpose is for you to gauge your own heart. Is it right with God? Or is it evil in some way? We are going to go into some real life examples pertaining to our subject. I want you to see what the enemy is up to and I want to expose him for his evil ways and methods that may trick you and make you think that it's okay to think his way. You can be fooled. Any man can be fooled. Sometimes the greatest trick that the enemy can pull on you is the one that is so simple that you miss it for years and years. Its happened to me at some point in my life. Only by putting on the light of God's Word by your own free will, will God be able to show you what's wrong in your life. Since we have laid a foundation for this teaching, we will now get into the heart of God's Word and let God speak to you.

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; -- I Corinthians 13: 6

This is one of the emotions that many people give in to. It is really a terrible and evil way to be. What the verse is actually saying is that we should not rejoice in another person's problems. But we are to rejoice in the truth. What is truth?

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. – John 17: 17

God's Word is the only truth in the world. Everything else may be designated as fact. Facts can be disputed, but the Word of God cannot be argued -- it can only be believed and acted upon to see results.

I Corinthians 13: 6 is, in the context, talking about one of the attributes of the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. And prior to this the Word teaches us that without the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation, we are nothing.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. -- I Corinthians 13: 1

And though I have the gift of [delete ‘the gift of’ added by the translators] prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. – I Corinthians 13: 2

Literal translation according to usage: And though I can prophesy, and have seen or perceived mysteries of the Word, and have all knowledge, and though I have great believing so that I could remove mountains, but have not the Love of God, I am absolutely nothing. – I Corinthians 13: 2

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. – I Corinthians 13: 3

Everything that we do without the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation, whether its good deeds or not, amounts to nothing. Now those people who rejoice in iniquity, those are the people who will relish also in jealousy. How does it work spiritually? When a person has joy because another person is suffering, in the first place, the person rejoicing in another’s suffering cannot have or be in fellowship with God. When you're out of fellowship with God, you are out in left field. Everything will appear to go wrong and actually will go wrong. Sometimes you know that you should change, but something holds you back. That's something is the god of this world. You must fight and resist him and eventually he will leave you alone.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. -- James 4: 7

But if you don't, you'll become extremely frustrated with everything in your life and you will be happy to see someone else suffer. So you will get worse and worse and now you will have opened the door to a spirit of jealousy.

You may ask, how does a person find happiness and how does a person be happy? Look at Romans 12: 1, 2 regarding the renewed mind.

I Beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. -- Romans 12: 1, 2

We must change our thinking to line up with God’s Word and then we will be happy and experience joy. We need to learn to be happy for people that have good fortune. Happiness for others is a virtue of a righteous person. Let's see what the Word of God again says about happiness and about its source.

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. -- Proverbs 3: 13

Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. – Proverbs 3: 7

I have tried to teach you how the Bible interprets itself and one of the ways is in the context. If we look only at verse 13, it will tell us that a happy man is one who finds wisdom and also the man that gets understanding. But the verse does not tell us the source of this wisdom and understanding. We need to go back six verses to understand where to get these qualities.

In verse seven of the same chapter, we see that we are not to be wise in our own eyes. This means that we are not to think only with our five senses, but we are to respect or reverence the Lord and depart from evil. You must look closely at those two verses. If we are not to be wise in our own thoughts and the next part of the verse says to respect the Lord, the conclusion should be obvious. If we keep God first and respect Him after we depart from evil, we will then find wisdom and we will then get understanding. And if we do that, we will be happy.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. -- Matthew 6: 33

Taking it a step farther, if we rejoice in iniquity -- wrong things that happen to others -- we are evil in our hearts and in our understanding. It just goes to say that when we rejoice or are happy for others when they prosper in some area of their life that we are now righteous believers respecting God. Why not think this way? Have you ever tried it? You will be surprised and amazed at how good and happy you will feel about being happy for others. This teaching could not be any simpler. But these principles could not be any more important to the renewed mind and to your successful walk regarding spiritual matters with God. Let's take a look at a verse in Philippians.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. -– Philippians 4: 8

There is so much in this verse that pertains to our teaching especially to the ‘happiness’ part. According to God, these are the things that we are to think on and to speak about. It takes great renewed mind effort on your part to adhere to Philippians 4: 8. I myself, have worked this Scripture for many long years and I am still working at perfecting this type of thinking. If you can master this Scripture, you will be happy not only for yourself, but for others when they run across good fortune.

Now before we get into a real-life factual examples, which will clearly illustrate to you what has already been mentioned, we will first balance our teaching, by teaching a little more about jealousy. We are going to let the Word speak for us.

And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him [God] to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. – I Kings 14: 22

Let's take advantage of the lessons that we will learn from this verse. In the first place, when you feel the emotion of jealousy, it is usually the result of some type of provocation. In other words, you are provoked to be jealous. You may see your girlfriend speaking with another guy and you will become angry. Simply stated, you are provoked from your anger to become jealous. This will only happen to a man or woman if he or she lacks the spiritual benefits which are referred to as fruit of the Spirit. This particular fruit is called temperance, which is self-control.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. -- Galatians 5: 22, 23

Now remember that the Bible is loaded with figures of speech which emphasize points that the Holy Spirit feels is important and there is an obvious figure of speech in the above verse. Can you find it? The example of Judah doing evil in the sight of the Lord is a good example for this particular part of our teaching. We can see that there were more people than just Judah who did this evil because the pronoun says “they provoked him to jealousy”. We always have to watch our pronouns and who they are referring to. In this case, the pronoun is referring to the closest noun. ’They’ is referring back to the ‘Lord’ and the verse states that He [God] was provoked to jealousy. God loves us so much that he uses a strange way of putting it many times. It is not put in an evil way here and this is the only type of reference I know of in the Bible that I can say this type of example exists. God often says that He is a jealous God. He is trying to say to us how much he cares for you and me. But you can see from the verse that the use of jealousy here is not the same as its usual usage. God was provoked to jealousy by the sins which they had committed. The last part of the verse emphasizes that these sins were rather great. So we will see from the way this verse is worded that jealousy is not a righteous thing, but it is evil and it stems from the god of this world who is the devil. Figures of speech explains the why of God’s usage of jealousy here.

What I'm going to take advantage of in this verse is to teach you about figures of speech. Did you find the figure of speech in this verse? It is a figure that is very common throughout the Bible and it is referred to as Condescension. This means the ascribing of human attributes or characteristics to God. In the last verse that we have studied, you can see that it says ‘they provoked him [God] to jealousy.’ Well, God is a Spirit and can't be provoked to any type of emotion. God has written His Word in this verse to emphasize the importance of the point that He is trying to get across. He will always do this by using figures of speech. This figure of speech, again, is very common. We have heard before that we are to go to the arm of God and not the arm of man. God doesn't have an arm so when things like this are said it is the figure of speech Condescension or Condescensio.

In the above we had some good study time and it took some deep serious thinking to understand certain points. Now we will exemplify those points in real-life situations. These types of examples have always made the Word very living and real to me, so I prefer to teach you in the same manner, hopefully with the same results.

When I was much younger, I was finally able to purchase a brand-new motorcycle. It was a most beautiful machine and very fast. Now I was able to ride with almost 30 other bikers at a pool hall where I spent most of my time as a teenager. I took the motorcycle up to the pool hall for the first time when it was brand-new. It was a very beautiful metal flake color with a lot of chrome and it was about as fast as I wanted it to be. I never forgot this night because I had sensed as a child that this world was extremely evil and I was constantly looking for an escape. The following is why.

As I parked the motorcycle on the road in front of the pool hall, a number of people came out to see it -- these were people I thought were my friends. Most of them had a lot of compliments, but there was a small group that were obviously jealous of the fact that I was able to have this brand-new motorcycle and they rode around on a bicycle. What three of these so-called friends did made me somewhat sick to my stomach and I became quite angry. One of them actually found fault with the color and said that they didn't care for the color that much. A second person and a third person also went out of their way to find fault with his sparkling brand-new beautiful motorcycle. I couldn't believe I had the nerve to do this, but I got off the bike and I pointed at the three of them and I said to them: “If just one of you finds one more thing wrong with this motorcycle, I’m going to punch you right the face.” I had no idea that I had the nerve to do this and stand up to three people at one time, but I did. The three of them shut their mouths and walked away.

The point of the story is that these people were ‘jealous of’ and not ‘happy for’ me. I am sure that many of you reading this teaching have been in this position.

I'm going to close out this teaching with two more true stories that happened to me. The overall point of the main teaching is so simple that there is no point in hammering it into the ground. I know you understand it.

The next two incidences took place after I gained much wisdom pertaining to situations dealing with jealous people. I learned never to react to what the adversary throws at me. That is what Satan wants you to do.

About three years ago or actually more than that, I began to search for a certain car. For one more time, I wanted to own a nice Corvette. It didn't have to be new, in fact, I bought one that was 15 years old. But if you could see this car, you would find it hard to believe, because I do. It is in almost perfect condition and it has every option you can imagine even some aftermarket options like a rosewood interior package. I keep the car like brand-new even under the hood. The car draws attention where ever I go even though I rarely drive it. Every option functions perfectly.

My next-door neighbor is an animal abuser and I reported him many times to no avail. Believe me people, go to God for your help and not to the arm of man. This person tried to get friendly with me after I reported him since he had just moved in next door. I saw through his façade and I will not fellowship with darkness, especially the degree of darkness that this person manifests. But yet, when a guy is walking up to you, and is trying to shake your hand, what do you do? I played along with his game even though it seemed like a trap, but one that I knew God would get me out of. Getting back to the point, he made a remark about the Corvette that was in my garage. So I did my best and I went the extra mile and walked him into the garage to show him the car. He began to make an issue of how difficult it was to get to the battery if it had to be changed. I knew immediately from a spiritual standpoint what was going on. He was as jealous as anyone could possibly be and I knew it. But I did not rejoice in it, I agreed with him. Do you see it? He wanted to agitate and he wanted to make me feel bad, but I said to him, you're right, it is a little difficult to change that battery. But I made sure that I told him I changed my last battery in a previous Corvette I had about five times and that it was not a problem at all. It just took a little bit more work -- something this person never did. He has children and his wife goes to work every day and he sits home most of the day and does nothing. I have concluded from my experience in a psychiatric hospital that this person is extremely dangerous. I now keep away. And guess what? He NEVER saw the Corvette again. I made sure he never came in the garage again but yet I had a smile on my face. Boy, if you can master this principle when you're young, you've got it made. I hope this example stays in your heart because someone someday will try to cut down and tear part something that you cherish and something that is precious to you. Smile and agree -- then get rid of them like they're the black plague and don't ever look back. Don't ever feel sorry for your personal adversary or he will melt your face. I have said that many times in these teachings.

Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt [mentally]. -- Psalms 70: 2

Strangely enough, my second and final example again relates, not only to my car, but to other situations that may be similar to your experiences. This story is a bit pathetic – at least to me.

My other neighbors make a good deal of money. Remember that ‘ambitious rivalry’ device of the adversary? Well, here is a good example for you. I paint my shutters – they paint their shutters (they hire someone). And they hire contractors to change light bulbs – if you know what I mean. I pressure clean my siding – they hire someone to do the same. Let me get right to the point. “Look Ma, we got hands!”. How I would love to put that sign out in my front yard.

The woman had a Volvo and her husband had a big Buick. ABOUT 1 OR 2 WEEKS after I rolled my Vette down the road, they went out and bought not only one Lexus, but two of them!!!

Were they ‘happy for’ me or ‘jealous of’ me? Satan can make a fool out of you without you even realizing it. Believe it or not, I WOULD NOT trade my Corvette for both of their cars. That’s the truth. A true believer does not live to impress other people. That’s the world’s way and its like a disease today.

YOU MUST KNOW AND APPLY THE WORD OF GOD FOR JEALOUSY NOT TO AFFLICT YOU. There is no other way.

We found a beautifully crafted and painted wooden mailbox. We bought and reconditioned a nice mailbox post. I painted and matched the color of the post to the color of the trim on the mailbox. The main color of the mailbox matches the color of my home and the mailbox trim is close to my home’s trim. It’s going up soon!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whooooooooo Weeeeeeeeeeee! What a stir that will cause. I can’t help that. Fellow Christians, you might as well laugh. Don’t let Satan get to you. His ministry is to steal, kill, and destroy and don’t you ever forget that.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I [Jesus Christ] am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. – John 10: 10

Remember, when you walk by the Spirit, there is a surprise around every corner. Don’t let Satan’s people get the best of you. Remember, the Spirit of God in Christ in you is always greater. Stand on the Word – don’t budge and you will ALWAYS win. Remember, God does things at the exact right moment in time.

God bless you and I wish you the best in everything that you do. I'm happy when you're happy.

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own,

is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; -- Ephesians 13: 5 [emphasis added]

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