The 3rd of 7... part 2...

Envy is so evil a thing.  And it is so simple a thing, as well, when you think about it... you just say something along the lines of, "I wish I had," then throw in a something you wish you had, and if your motivations and thought process are not clear and pure, away from thinking about something you wish for that someone else already has, then you are envious.  Worse, though, is that you'll be envious and get nowhere.

"You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."

James 4:2-3, ESV

Granted, I don't personally know anyone who murders over things they don't have... but I am pretty certain that it happens, thanks to our ever-uplifting newscasts full of this kind of information.  Also, I don't know anyone who fights physically over things they see and want, but cannot get... but I think that is where the murder comes from, once it escalates enough.  Just for funsies, though, I would ask that you consdier that with this issue, just like all others, the heart of the matter is a matter of the heart.  If your motivations are wrong, then you are envious and jealous and covetous.

To finish out the verse, please know that I know TONS of people who don't have because they don't ask (in prayer).  And I know TONS of people who ask, but don't get, because they ask wrongly (not in prayer).  How do I recognize and know these people like I do?  Simple: I'm one of them.  I ask for things all the time, but I'm busy asking people for them.  I fail to realize that I am seeing what others have been blessed with, and that I am becoming covetous, and that I need to step back and humble myself in prayer.

You see, if you seek the will of the Father in your life, in all circumstances, and you push to know Him more than anything else, then He will bless you.  It may not be in the way you would choose, but let me tell you a secret... you and I weren't meant to run the universe.  God does that, and He needs no help from us. 

Free yourself from envy tonight, and do so honestly in prayer.  Ask the Father to step in and give you peace about whatever it is you seek, because your seeking is being done wrongly if it done without Him involved.  Know also that He might not answer in the way you wish.  There are bigger things going on than we can ever know, and it is high time we accepted that God knows what he's doing.

I was gonna make a joke about being "envious" of all of you for being able to pray it away tonight, and "envious" of people who don't wrestle with envy... but that's just not funny.  Go be unenvious tonight, and give thanks for wehat you have. 

God bless you all!!!