Me: How is Alyson?
Prodigal: She’s thinner than store-bought thread.
Me: Don’t be jealous of her though.
Prodigal: I will try not to be.
This is from the book Slaying the Giants in your Life by David Jeremiah
The city of London had both F.B. Meyer and Charles Haddon Spurgeon, two living legends. London was barely big enough for the two of them. But then in 1904 the great preacher G. Campbell Morgan came to town. Morgan was a world-class Bible expositor, and all of London was buzzing with his arrival.
“It was easy,” said Meyer, “to pray for the success of G. Campbell Morgan when he was in America. But when he came back to England and took a church near to mine, it was something different. The old Adam in me was inclined to jealousy, but I got my heel upon his head, and whether I felt right toward my friend, I determined to act right.” Meyer began to pray for his pulpit rival, day and night, even as he worried about losing members to the hot new preacher in town.
F.B. Meyer later explained, “My church gave a reception for Morgan, and I acknowledged that if it was not necessary for me to preach Sunday evenings I would dearly love to go and hear him myself. Well, that made me feel right toward him. But just see how the dear Lord helped me out of my difficulty. There was Charles Spurgeon preaching wonderfully on the other side of me. He and Mr. Morgan were so popular, and drew such crowds, that our church caught the overflow, and we had all we could accommodate.
God not only rewards us when we pray for our enemies and (as Meyer did) act upon the feelings we intend to have, He often brings miracles about in our lives. The weed of jealousy is deep and firmly entrenched, but if you want to drive it out quickly, simply do this: Pray for the person you envy. Pray for him daily. Pray for him even if your teeth and fists are clenched. See if God doesn’t honor your faith and change your heart.
Proverbs 12:20
Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org