Is Jealousy a Sin? Make it Strengthen your Faith, change it!

 When we think about Jealousy as related to Prayer, we can begin to see how it can be sinful, and is related to envy and covetousness. Many the world presents "7 deadly sins", however, biblically speaking there are many sins, and none in the Bible are actually called "deadly" nor are the referred to specifically as "The Seven Deadly Sins" 

Proverb 6:16-19 describes 6 sins that are an "abomination" to God

"These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren."

Also Sins are deadly, and actually are the cause of death which the Bible does scripturally support. 

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

And if we look for lists of Sin in the Bible we can find many but those that are related to Jealousy we find these. 

Romans 1:29-32 "29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." 

I highlighted "covetousness" because it relates to jealousy, and I highlighted "unloving" because it is the opposite of envy, love is a virtue which is anti-envious. 

Galatians 5:19-21 "19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

I highlighted "jealousies" for obvious reasons but, also "envy" as it relates to jealousy. If we review the difference between each we can see that envy is when you want something someone has, and jealousy is when you feel someone is trying to take something you have. The reason for these to be correlated is because sometimes envy, is the result of jealousy, because what someone has, is sometimes believed to be something you should have had. You wanted it, they got it, so not only do they have it and you want it but they have it and YOU should have gotten it to you think they took it from you. 

Now, to the reason it is not only a Sin but also a very evil way of thinking of something and a way to blaspheme God in the process. Prayer. 

Imagine that you are neighbors with someone, you know that they are going through something tough, or are having financial struggles, or are going through some trial, or trouble. You as a good Christian are praying and you pray for them to come through their trouble, you pray.

God, please help my neighbor with the struggle that they are going through, I pray that Your will be done in their lives, that You help them through this trouble and You send your Holy Spirit to show them the way and the truth of Your will. 

The struggle is God does is asked, God makes things right, God hears your prayers and answers them. rather than be happy for your neighbor, and happy that God's will was done, you are jealous, envious, covetous. Why? If you truly prayed for them, and you truly wanted God to intercede for them you should NEVER be jealous, or envious, or covetous. What you should do is praise God for what he has done. You should be happy, joyous, thankful, knowing that your faith and God's good grace has been shown. The faith you had in God to pray, was answered and demonstrated. 

Don't let your faith be weakened by praying and then being upset because good things happen, Pray, Listen to what God wants, and then be thankful and faithful that God will answer those prayers. When he does, hold it up as an example of his awesome and unending power. Let the success of others that you have prayed for be a source of strengthening your faith. God is Good! 

How do we Pray? (PRAY/LISTEN)

Have you ever sit down to pray, or laid down at night and you close your eyes and you are about to go to sleep and you start to pray and then, blankness, nothing comes to mind? In my daily prayers I sometimes struggle with how to pray. I think of a few things a few people that come to mind and then my mind seems to go blank. However this is when I need help. The good thing is Jesus sent us a Helper. 

John 14 is a great place to draw inspiration. Because it contains the message of the greatest inspirer, the Holy Spirit! He who indwells in all believers, He who Jesus sent to us from the Father to intercede, provide comfort, to compel and guide us. He is our Helper. 

John 14:16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—"

John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."

John 14:18 "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."

John tells us that the Holy Spirit will be our guide. 

John 16"13 "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come."

During a recent Bible Study on the Holy Spirit, there was a section on Praying and while reading through it and thinking on the guidance is was providing it hit me that there are a lot of people that struggle with praying, not just when we are sitting around the dinner table, but with their own prayers at night. 

The section provided some scriptural references and examples but, the basics of it were to ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and help. "If you want to receive the Holy Spirit's help in prayer, all you need to do is ask for it."

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 "But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God."

I would also add 1 Corinthians 2:11-12 "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God."

Charles F. Stanley tells us. "First, the Holy Spirit understands the situations we are facing. Second, the Holy Spirit understands your needs within the situation." And. "Third, the Holy Spirit understands the Plan of God." These words really resonated within me as I studied, they gave me a deep understanding that I do not have to be alone when I pray, and I don't need to know everything that I should say. It also brought to remembrance what Jesus said about praying and what NOT to do while praying. 

Matthew 6:7-8 "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words."

with all this guidance and scripture to point us in the right direction I think all of this combines into what Charles Stanley said in a lengthy set of instructions. but it comes down to a simplified set of instructions which is; PRAY and LISTEN. 

PRAY, pray for the things you remember when you start, pray for the things that are in your mind. 

BUT THEN, 

LISTEN, stop when you feel you have prayed for all you can think of or remember, Stop, be silent and listen, listen for more, listen for additional things, words thoughts. When you are quiet focused on God, focused on the good that God is, you can hear what he says. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, He will give you more. in the quiet is when GOD WILL SPEAK TO YOU. The Holy Spirit will add to you the things that are of God, God's will God's plan. Those things you remember, those thoughts that you think are from you are not, they are the manifested will of God given to you from the Holy Spirit as guidance to you. The direct words of God, "... freely given to us by God."

PRAY --- LISTEN!

The Word of God is Truth!

 The statement that God's Word is truth is exemplified in the Bible. The Bible being the inspired Word of God, written by his prophets and the men of God who witnessed events and documented historical elements that have been verified in other sources outside of the Bible and through a science of verifying and proving the accuracy and reliability of ancient texts. This science is Textual Criticism and the Bible is probably one of the most scrutinized of the ancient writings and many people have tried to find fault, find contradiction, or find proof of falsified information contained therein. And to date none have been able to successfully do any of these things, there are definitely articles that have been written refuting it, and there have been books, blogs, and other writings, and even many ramblings of an atheist or agnostic, however many of these do not stand up to serious consideration and many are influenced by those who read them and "want" them to be true, but with deep study and research most will be shown to not hold up to any arguments put towards the claims made. 

I am presenting here that there is another book that is outside of the Bible which can be added to the list of sources that verify the truth of the Bible and the contents therein. The Quran. 

I know this is an unlikely source to say look here for proof of the Bible's truth, but there is a Command within the 5th Sura in the Quran, that says. 

[5:46] And in their footsteps We sent Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming the Law that had come before him: We sent him the Gospel: therein was guidance and light, and conformation of the Law that had come before him: a guidance and an admonition to those who fear Allah. [5:47] Let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allah has revealed therein. If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah has revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel. [Emphasis mine.]

What exactly does this say, the good thing is it does not need much interpretation, the Quran is a guide to the followers of Islam of how to live their lives. In this specific source it tells the people of Muslim faith to a "Let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allah has revealed therein." The two things I will point out in this statement are this. 

1. Allah is God, He is the same God of  both the Jewish and Christian faiths. 

2. "The People of the Gospel", are the people who follow the Gospel, those people are typically called Christians. 

This is amazing, because it gives Muslims the guidance to let Christians follow the Gospel, and in the previous section 5:46 it reaffirms the other elements of the Bible that were contained in the previous writings of the Bible. Additionally, it specifically is stated that it is "guidance and an admonition". 

What is important about this section. It means that as a Christian, I do not need to be concerned about what the Quran says because it says that even the Muslims are not to interfere in what we as Christians believe as presented in the Gospels. The real question for me as a Christian is this.

QUESTION: is the Quran True?

I believe the following explains my answers to this Question. 

If the answer is YES, then that means that the truth in the Quran is that Christians are to be guided by the Gospels and what is written in them, as was revealed by God. 

If the answer is NO, then it is of no concern one way or another. 

However ultimately as a Christian the words of the Quran are irrelevant because of the above answers. 

1. It is Irrelevant because the Quran is true and therefore Christians should follow the Gospels. Which in turn means that the Quran should not be used by Christians to determine the truth of God. 

2. It is Irrelevant because the Quran is NOT true therefore Christians should follow the the Gospel because it is true.

Jesus died and was Resurrected

 I see a question asked many times and it sparked my interest because I was myself unclear of what the right answer is. I felt I needed to explore this and find all the information I could. I am very much unconvinced that Jesus died and went to hell for 3 days. But I have seen arguments that lean in this direction as an answer to the question. 

What did Jesus do for 3 days between his death and resurrection?

Jesus Christ is God, he allowed himself to be crucified, he died and then rose again as was his plan to gain salvation for all of mankind through his acceptance of man's sin onto him as the spotless lamb. In order to understand this more I had to capture all of the verses that may help explain the answer to the question. 

Luke 23:42-43 - "42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” 43  And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.""

1 Peter 3:18-20 - "18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water."

Ephesians 4:8-10 - "Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” 9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?"

These three verses give some reference to Jesus dying and ascending to heaven. There can be applied some theistic interpretive assessment to attempt to determine the meaning of these verses and there have already been some scholarly interpretations that have put forth their assessment for each. 

Luke 23:42-43 is about the clearest of all of the verses as to the event, and timing directly from Jesus himself. Jesus saying that he would see the thief, who professed his belief in Jesus, that day in paradise. I believe that this is a very clear and believable position that indicates that Jesus was going to Heaven (His kingdom) and he would see the thief there as well. 

1 Peter 3:18-20 explains that Jesus died and was made alive in the Spirit and it seems to indicate that he went and preached to the "spirits" in prison. It would seem that this may indicate that Jesus went somewhere other than Heaven, and it is described as "prison". Some would say that this could be a word used in a similar manner to Sheol (Ancient Hebrew word for Hell), or Hades (Ancient Greek word for Hell). However there is an additional piece to this which may add some context to the entire verse which says "when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared..." Which seems to give pose that the preaching of Noah about the salvation of the ark and the preaching of Jesus about the salvation He offered from the cross. While it may not be clearly stated that Jesus went to Hell to preach to spirits that existed there it does seem to compare the preaching Jesus did to a similar situation that Noah experienced in which very few souls were saved. 

Ephesians 4:8-10 says that prior to ascending Jesus descended into the lower parts of the Earth. While this has been viewed by other scholars to mean that the lower parts of Earth might be considered Hell. This coincides with an Ancient Greek belief that Hell was  either at the edges of the limits of the oceans, or that it existed under the Earth. Given the times that the Bible was written and the original languages of Hebrew and Greek as the primary authorship medium then it is logical to consider that perhaps "lower parts of the Earth" may be interpreted as Hades. 

There is another element that is important to consider and that is the Catholic Apostles Creed. This creed  

The creed was as indicated by the history of the Catholic Church was written around 341AD. It was found in a letter that Marcellus of Ancyra wrote in Greek to Julius, the bishop of Rome. The wording of which indicates that "Jesus descended into Hell, and then rose from the dead and then ascended into Heaven. 

“The Apostles’ Creed is so called because it is rightly considered to be a faithful summary of the apostles’ faith. It is the ancient baptismal symbol of the Church of Rome. Its great authority arises from this fact: it is ‘the Creed of the Roman Church, the See of Peter the first of the apostles, to which he brought the common faith'” (CCC 194)"

The verses cited, the Apostles' Creed, and the interpretations all lend to give credibility to many different potential answers to the question posed, however in my opinion I believe that it comes down to two potential happenings. 

• Jesus either went to Heaven and the was resurrected
• Jesus went to Hell and then Heaven and then was resurrected 

The ultimate answer resides within the knowledge of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. To seek a personal understanding of this question, I find it essential to engage in prayer, hoping for enlightenment in my interpretation.

Considering all the research, my familiarity with the Bible, and the information presented, my response draws significantly from the Bible's teachings and the words of Jesus Christ. In my view, Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven as promised, remaining there to fulfill both his own prophesied death and the scriptural prophecies, only to rise again three days later. I regard the other verses as having a comparative and symbolic nature.

It is inconceivable to me that Jesus would be in Hell, for it contradicts his nature and serves no meaningful purpose, as it would not attract followers nor align with God's overarching goal of strengthening humanity's faith and devotion to Him.

5 Things Jesus Never Said

 Here are 5 things Jesus never said but many people in today's world would believe he did if someone told them. 

- Follow your Heart! Jesus never said this. What he did say is "FOLLOW ME". 

Jermiah 17:9 - "“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?"

- Be true to yourself! Jesus never said this. What he did say is "DENY YOURSELF"

Matthew 16:24 - "Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."

- Believe in yourself! Jesus never said this. What he did say is "BELIEVE IN ME"

John 14:6 - "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

- Live your truth! Jesus never said this. What he did say is "GOD'S WORD IS TRUTH"

John 17:17 - "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. "

- Make yourself Happy, because that is all that matters! Jesus never said this. What he did say is "IF BEING HAPPY COSTS YOUR SOUL WHAT WILL IT PROFIT YOU"

Mark 8-36 - "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?"

When worldly pursuits take precedence over God in an individual's life, human inclinations tend to lead the way. God's love is characterized by His respect for free will, refraining from imposing His will upon us. Instead, He extends His guidance, illuminates the path, and provides all the knowledge required to embark on a fulfilling life with Him in the present and throughout eternity.

I.H.R.S. - In His Royal Service.