Capturing our thoughts of jealously, anger, and hatred.

".....taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."
2 Corinthians 10:5

I know what it is to be so very, very hurt. It is easy to be angry at certain people and sadly, sometimes everyone else----plus angry at God.

I also I know what it is like to be jealous or even worse----to have the feelings of hatred because people have what you desire. ( I, personally, am not speaking monetarily, but it could be that for some people)

I heard a radio lesson recently concerning how to deal with this very issue (jealousy, anger, hatred because we have been unfairly slighted to whatever degree) and it was an answer to much prayer.

I am dealing with my own feelings in this area and recently could not see through the darkness enough to encourage others.

"Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy." Proverbs 14:10

These are the best parts of the program that I can remember:

1) Comparing ourselves to others: The subject is Peter at the beach with the resurrected Jesus. This is in John 21 (read the whole chapter) In verses 15-22 Jesus has just finished asking Peter if he loves Him. Then Jesus tells Peter pretty much what will happen and how he will eventually die. Peter goes from there into comparing himself to John. He says, "what about that guy?".  Peter wanted to know if John would have the same thing happen.

(After all it won't be fair, right?-----Oh, my----I can see myself asking this!) Jesus' answer is profound---it isn't any of your business.

"If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?  You follow Me!" John 21:22

John did not remain until Jesus returned the second time, did he?  Because that wasn't the point.  The point is that it wasn't Peter's job to know about John's future or to compare himself to John.

Peter's job was to FOLLOW JESUS. And this is also our job--- to follow Jesus.

Life may not be fair to any of us, but our job remains the same----to FOLLOW JESUS.

(Thankfully) we are not all the same and so we should never compare ourselves to others no matter if it is---- "they have what I desire---why is that? That’s not fair!" ----or "look at me! I am not like them! I am better than them!"

To Follow Jesus we need to keep our eyes on Him (PRAY and READ HIS WORD ) and do what He wants us to do no matter what anyone else has or does.

2) Capturing our thoughts: -----Thinking Biblically wrong thoughts? Just don't go there.

God doesn't want us to be going down wrong roads, especially if they are feeding our desire to hate, become more jealous, and angry.

If we do not stop ourselves now when the pain is so very great--------then when we are finally blessed with solutions, we will just continue with that sin cropping up EVEN when we finally get the blessing of what we really desire.  This sin will overshadow our joy in some way----because we will have fed this sin all along, practicing it so very often that it has become an incredibly ugly habit.  Avoid this sin! 

We need to capture our thoughts all day long and follow Jesus.

"See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." Hebrews 12:15