Love- It Does Not Envy...

God's Word

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. Proverbs 14:30

Encouragement Shared:
Envy leads to bitterness, bitterness leads to a hard heart. Saul lost everything because of his envy. God’s spirit departed from him. There are times when we may feel envious of a person, circumstance or even a thing. A wonderful opportunity for a promotion comes up at work. You apply for the position after all you deserve it you been with the company nine years and are practically doing the job yourself. You interview for it twice, and you immediate supervisor shares in your excitement. You pray about and you feel confident that God will honor your prayer. A couple of weeks go by and you finally get called into the hiring manager’s office and it is presented to you with sincere apologies, but they have chosen a more qualified candidate within the company from another department. In fact you may have even trained that individual.

It is in those moments we need to guard our hearts, because it is the wellspring of life. Out of the abundance of the heart mouth speaks… Remember the Lord searches us and he knows us. He knows when we sit and when we rise, he perceives our thoughts from afar. He is familiar with all our ways. Before a word is on our tongue God knows it completely. Psalm 139- Paul states; Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Romans 12:9 There is no good thing that comes from envy, the bible states it rots the bones! When ever I think of envy I think about King Saul and how his envy of David became the beginning of his demise.
Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance,
Love in Christ,
Jennifer Pettiford

1 Samuel 18 Saul Becomes Jealous of David
6 When the victorious Israelite army was returning home after David had killed the Philistine, women from all the towns of Israel came out to meet King Saul. They sang and danced for joy with tambourines and cymbals. 7 This was their song: “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands!”
8 This made Saul very angry. “What’s this?” he said. “They credit David with ten thousands and me with only thousands. Next they’ll be making him their king!” 9 So from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.
10 The very next day a tormenting spirit from God overwhelmed Saul, and he began to rave in his house like a madman. David was playing the harp, as he did each day. But Saul had a spear in his hand, 11 and he suddenly hurled it at David, intending to pin him to the wall. But David escaped him twice.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, Thank you for your love, and faithfulness. Thank you for your mercy and grace. Lead us to the rock that is higher than us which is Jesus. Father you have searched your people and you know them. You know when they sit and when they rise; you perceive all their thoughts from afar. You discern their going out and lying down; you are familiar with all you people’s ways. Before a word is on our tongue you know it completely, O LORD. Help us to focus on those things that are lovely, and true, Your word is truth, let us focus on things that are praise worthy and honorable to you. Thank you for the victories you give your children, your faithful ones. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom and in love. In Jesus name I pray…Amen!