Praying Against Jealousy

You know there are some that say if someone is jealous of you then you must be doing something good or you’re going places.  The reason people look at this emotion so nonchalantly is that they think of it as something that will pass and that jealousy stands all  by itself.

This is so very far from the truth because the spirit of Jealousy NEVER travels alone.  You will see it first but what follows are many other spirits which are incredibly diabolical.

We’re going to show you just how dangerous this is and then give you some prayers to pray if you are struggling with this spirit as well as prayers to pray if others are jealous of you.

Jealousy is not something to take lightly.  This is a very dangerous spirit.  It is not cute or something that you should brush off.  You should take it seriously.

When someone is jealous, they are jealous for:

someone elses’ possessions, wealth, assets – (greed, coveting), position, placement, job, advancement, other’s authority, power, leadership, recognition, praise, prestige, abilities, talents, skills, accomplishments, achievements, success, intelligence, logic, knowledge, personality, social standing, relationships, communication, intimacy, marriage, loyalties, devotion, attachments, other’s age, youth, maturity, experience, looks, appearance, beauty, health, other’s clothes, style, sophistication, other’s opportunities, privileges, advantages, good fortune.

People can even be jealous of your spiritual gifts.

The bottom line is this spirit is insatiable.  Also, this spirit has no boundaries with age.  Grown married women, even mothers, can be jealous of orphaned children if they have one thing more that what these womens’ children have.  The spirit has no boundaries or limits.  It just wants what someone else has.  It has no regard for what anyone had to go through to gain what they have, it just wants it.

One of the main things that you need to understand about the spirit of jealousy is that it travels with other spirits.  These spirits show up afterwards if we allow jealousy to continue unchecked within us or around us. If you have a spirit of jealousy, here are the other spirits that will follow it and how they will manifest themselves in your life:

• Murder – literally wanting to get rid of the person so that you can get what they have. Evil thoughts that something bad will happen to that person.
• Strife – constant tension between you and that person and everyone else around.
• Greed/Lust – insatiable desire to have what the other person has even though if you were to stop and think about it you have more than they do.
• Envy –  you want what others have without having any legal, biblical or covenantal claim to it.
• Destruction –  constantly speaking evil of the focus of your jealousy, hoping secretly that what they have comes to nothing. If you can’t get it then they shouldn’t have it either.
• Competition – trying to compete to show them and others that you are better and deserve what they have.
• Selfish Ambition – doing things not out of a love for God and others but to get attention so that everyone looks at you and not the person you are jealous of.
• Anger – this spirit is usually hidden and comes in the form of outburst against the focus of your jealousy
• Division – you start to form teams of people around you who will agree with and justify your feelings so that you can all gang up against this person
• Slander – speaking half truths or complete lies in an attempt to discredit the person or damage their character
• Striving – working like crazy out of the flesh instead of an anointing.  This will mean that you have to work twice as hard to do what they are doing.

Let’s look at a few of instances in the bible of jealousy.

1. Adam and Eve

The first one recorded was Eve who took the fruit that God told her was forbidden and ate it as well as gave it to her husband Adam.  (Genesis 3) Why did they do this?  Because they wanted to be like God.  They wanted His power.  They were envious.  They were also greedy because it wasn’t enough that they had communion with God that they could speak to Him face to face.  It wasn’t enough that they had all provision.  It wasn’t enough that they lived in perfection. They didn’t have to work for anything it was all given to them.

Jealousy will cause you to lose sight of the blessings that you already have and focus on the smallest of things that you don’t have.

2. Cain

You can read the entire story of Cain’s jealousy in Genesis 4

Genesis 4 (NIV)

Cain and Abel

4 Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod,[f] east of Eden.

17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of[g] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

23 Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.

24If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

Jealousy removes you from under the blessing of God and when not put in check you can pass this on to your generation.

 3.  Joseph’s brothers

You can read the entire story in Genesis 37-38.  We know that Joseph’s father gave him a colorful coat because he favored him over his brothers.  We also know that Joseph had a dream where God showed him that he would be a great leader.  When Joseph shared the dream with his brothers they became jealous and intended to kill him.  Even in the midst of all the adversity and opposition that Joseph had he was still able to fulfill everything that God said he would.  His brothers on the other hand suffered under the famine because they were put under a curse.  In the end, the brother that they tried to kill became their salvation and they ended up serving him.

 When we aim our jealousy at someone we may delay their blessing but we will never stop it.  We put ourselves under a curse and forfeit our own blessing.

Let’s look at how we defeat the spirit of jealousy using Joseph as an example:

• Joseph extended forgiveness to his brothers
• Joseph blessed his brothers through his kind words and through his actions by helping them even after what they did to him
• He gave God all glory in that he said what they meant for harm God turned it to good
• He was not prideful in his accomplishments.
  

Why is Jealousy so offensive to God?

• When we are jealous of others what we are saying to God is that He hasn’t blessed us with anything
• When we are jealous of others we are telling God that HE is not enough for us
• When we are jealous we lose sight that God has blessed us with things that He hasn’t blessed others with.  Remember we don’t all have the same blessings.  You are blessed in ways that were specifically designed by God just for you.  Please reflect on this point. Cain lost sight of the fact that he had a special blessing from God which was that of being the first born child.

What blessings are you not seeing because you may be jealous of what someone else has?

Consequences from God for Harboring a jealous spirit

•  You put yourself under a curse
•  God puts you away from him and you forfeit your blessing until you repent
•  You will pass that murderous jealous spirit unto your children. Jealousy begets jealousy (Genesis 4:24).  What’s even more frightening is based on the story of Cain, his desendant Lamech turned out to be even more cruel that he was.

The bottom line is absolutely no blessing comes your way when you are under the power of the spirit of jealousy.

God is a Jealous God

Now you may have heard that God is a jealous God, and He is!

So, what is the difference?  The motivation and driving force behind God’s jealousy is very much different from us mere humans.

Exodus 34:14 (KJV) “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:”

God has a right to be jealous because we belong to him.  We are in a covenant relationship with him.

Joshua 24:19 (KJV) “And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.”

We provoke God to jealousy when we practice idolatry and serve other gods.

In Zechariah 1:14, God again says that he is a jealous God but in verse 16 he says that he will restore us.  God’s jealousy leads us to restoration of true worship

This concept is also brought out in context of the last days in Joel 2:18: “the Lord will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people.” It is also used to describe a man’s jealousy for his wife ( Numbers 5:14-30 ) and God’s passionate anger against sin ( 1 Kings 14:22 ; Psalm 78:58 ).

So we see that Jealousy is an emotion of one taking ownership over another.  God is Jealous of his people because he owns us.  We are in a covenant relationship with him.  A husband and wife can be jealous when the other strays because the two have become one.  They are in a covenant relationship with each other.

When we are jealous of others’ success and of what others have, of someone else’s spouse then we are acting out an emotion which is destructive.  Since we don’t own them or have a biblical covenant relationship with them we are not suppose to feel that jealousy.  This would be an emotion of the flesh which then opens you up to more dangerous diabolical spirits.

God’s fruit of His jealousy for his people is to restore them to worship Him. It is not to harm but to heal and restore.  This is the main difference between God’s jealousy for us and the sinful human jealousy which has no good fruit.

So what do you do if you realize that you have a jealous spirit?

• You repent.  Ask God to forgive you for feeling the way that you do.
• Tell your mind, body and spirit that you are renouncing any association to that spirit or any of the other spirits that comes along with it.

Prayer for people struggling with a Jealous Spirit

Father God, now that I know how dangerous this spirit is I repent of it.  I ask you to remove this from me along with all the other spirits that travel with it.  I would never want to be lumped in with Cain or Joseph’s brothers because nothing good came of their lives.  You will never bless me for this behavior so remove this spirit from my midst.  Let me never be comfortable feeling this way.  Give me a heart that rejoices when others are blessed and mourns when others are suffering instead of glorying in it.  God wash and cleanse my mind, heart and spirit and purify me from this unrighteousness.  Move me from under the curse and put me in a place to receive your blessing. Remove any generational curses that may have been passed down to me from my forefathers.  Cut off this spirit from being passed down to my children. Forgive me for not appreciating all the blessing I currently have. Help me to be content with what you have given me today knowing that even more blessings that you have for me is on the way.  I trust that today I am free from this and I look to the blessing of your Holy Spirit to fulfill all my needs and desires, in Jesus Name, Amen.

Praying against Jealousy

Commander of heaven’s armies, I call upon you today to remove from me every spirit and principality of jealousy.  Send forth your warring angels to remove every diabolical spirit that comes with this spirit such as the spirit of murder, envy, strife, selfish ambition, slander, destruction, greed, lust, competition, anger and division.  These spirits shall have no part in me, my family, my generation, my inheritance, my finances, the ministry you have given me or the future you have planned for me.  Banish them from coming into my presence or from attacking any path that you have laid before me.  Remove the obstacles they have placed in my path.  Restore that which was stolen. Heal any woundedness. Restore any damage they have done to my credibility. Any door that You have opened Lord no man can close and that which you have closed no man can open. Any door that I have left open to allow these in please show them to me and close them never to be open again.  Any associations that I may have with others from the past whether in or outside of the family of God close those doors for good and don’t allow those spirits to ever have access to my life again. I break every unholy covenant that I have made with them. I cut every soul tie to my past which may have given these spirits access to my future life. I speak blessings over those who tried to curse me.  Cause them to see the blessings that you have already bistowed upon them. Show them the path you have for them and give them the grace to move on in the path you have established for them. I pray that my speech would be seasoned with grace and I would not be prideful when I give you glory in how you’ve blessed me. In Jesus Name, Amen.

We hope you see how serious this is and that you can come back at any time that you feel the need to reread these points and pray the prayers.

Here are some Bible Verses About Jealousy and some that you can meditate on if you are trying to overcome a Spirit of Jealousy.

Here are some other prayers for you