Prayers to Overcome Jealousy/Envy
copyright Priscilla Van Sutphin
Feb 2004
In the Old Testament envy and jealousy are the same word qin'ah
OT:7068 qin'ah (kin-aw'); from OT:7065; jealousy or envy: KJV - envy (-ied), jealousy, sake, zeal.
OT:7065 qana' (kaw-naw'); a primitive root; to be (causatively, make)
zealous, i.e. (in a bad sense) jealous or envious: KJV - (be) envy (-
ious), be (move to, provoke to) jealous (-y), very, (be) zeal (-ous).
The Greek has mainly two words for jealousy and envy:
NT:5355 phthonos (fthon'-os); probably akin to the base of NT:5351; ill-will (as detraction), i.e. jealousy (spite): KJV - envy.
NT:5351 phtheiro (fthi'-ro); probably strengthened from phthio
(to pine or waste); properly, to shrivel or wither, i.e. to spoil (by
any process) or (generally) to ruin (especially figuratively, by
moral influences, to deprave): KJV - corrupt (self), defile, destroy.
NT:2205 zelos (dzay'-los); from NT:2204; properly, heat, i.e. (figuratively) "zeal" (in a favorable sense, ardor; in an unfavorable one, jealousy, as of a husband [figuratively, of God], or an enemy, malice):
KJV - emulation, envy (-ing), fervent mind, indignation, jealousy, zeal.
NT:2204 zeo (dzeh'-o); a primary verb; to be hot (boil, of liquids; or glow, of solids), i.e. (figuratively) be fervid (earnest): KJV - be fervent.
NT:2206 zeloo (dzay-lo'-o) or zeleuo (dzay-loo'-o); from NT:2205; to have warmth of feeling for or against: KJV - affect, covet (earnestly), (have) desire, (move with) envy, be jealous over, (be) zealous (-ly affect).
Prov 27:4 NIV Anger is cruel & fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?
Father, Your word describes jealousy as more than cruelty & overwhelming fury. Father remove from me any of the feeling components of jealousy, or the covetousness, hatred, fear & insecurity that fuel it!
I renounce all jealousy, fear & insecurity & pray You will uncover any of the root causes in my past that would keep me walking in unholy Jealousy towards others. I want to be holy as YOU are holy Father. Remove from my heart all cruelty & any murderous attitudes that accompany jealousy!
Ps 78:58 NIV They angered him with their high places; they aroused His jealousy with their idols.
Ps 79:5 NIV How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
Father, even as You are jealous over us, help me to be jealous for My time with You. It is only in Your presence that I can be healed from the ungodly kind of jealousy that eats away at my spiritual attitudes. Fill me with Your LOVE & KINDNESS, that I may love others as You love them Lord!
Prov 6:34-35 NIV for jealousy arouses a husband's fury, & he will show no mercy when he takes revenge. 35 He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse the bribe, however great it is.
Zeph 1:18 NIV Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the LORD's wrath. In the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live in the earth."
Thank You Father, that you are jealous like this over ME! Help me to remember that YOU love me so much, that I do not need to defend myself for YOU are my Defender! Help me to remember how Your love is on fire for me & help me to LOVE you with that same love Father.
Song 8:6-7 NIV Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.
Jealousy is unyielding it says Lord, but I want to be completely yielded to YOU! Please give me the GRACE to surrender completely my whole life to you! Help me to surrender my time, my thoughts, my will, my heart to Your ways & Your will! Bind My mind to your mind, & my will to Your will, & my heart to Your heart,in Jesus' name!
Ezek 35:11-12 NIV therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I will treat you in accordance with the anger & jealousy you showed in your hatred of them & I will make myself known among them when I judge you.
Oh Lord forgive me for the times I have been jealous of others. Forgive me for trying to obtain what others have, for selfish ambition & trying to make myself prominent out of my own insecurity & need for affirmation or attention. Help me to submit to YOUR WILL completely in all areas of my life & change my HEART Lord to reflect Your heart!
Acts 5:17-18 NIV Then the high priest & all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles & put them in the public jail.
Acts 13:45 NIV When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy & talked abusively against what Paul was saying.
Father, jealousy nailed Your Son to the cross & tortured Your Son, along with My sins. Free me Father from all the jealousy including any generational curse in my family! Forgive my family for setting an ungodly example of how to cope & deal with life's problems. Help me to change & be more like YOU. Help me not to compare myself to others & what they have. Help me to be CONTENT with the gifts You have given me, & the life You made for me. Help me to appreciate what I have, & all You have done for me. Fill me with thankfulness instead of jealousy & envy of others. Help me to rejoice with those who rejoice.
Rom 13:12-14 NIV Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
Father,Please give me the GRACE to overcome any immoral fleshly activity in my life that would fuel dissension and jealousy. Remove any pride that would cause me to think myself more deserving or better than others. Help me to "Put on" the Lord Jesus by coming into Your presence daily and worshipping You, and communicating with You in prayer and studying Your word, that My mind would be renewed.
1 Cor 3:3 NIV You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?
2 Cor 12:20 NIV For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.
Gal 5:19-21 NIV 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.
Father, uproot in me any of the works of the flesh, that would war against Your holiness in me ! Bring to me, the Spirit of burning and burn off all the flesh that would yield to jealousy and envy, cruelty and hatred. Father do not allow your turtledove to be turned over to the wild beasts of the earth ! Rescue me from all darkness ! Fill me with more of Your love, peace, kindness and patience. Overwhelm me with YOUR LOVE, that I would not think or act in worldly ways. Give me GRACE to deny my flesh and to walk in the light as You are in the light.
Ex 20:4-5 NKJV "You shall not make for yourself a carved image
any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Ex 34:13-16 NKJV (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice,
Father, it seems there is an alignment of jealousy with IDOLATRY. So I ask You to remove any idolatry to self or things in my life, that I would not yield to covetousness and envy. I renounce all idolatry in me, and in the generations before me. I ask for forgiveness for any ancestral idolatry and pray You will destroy any generational curses over my life.
I renounce agreement with any of the lies of jealousy demonstrated in my family growing up, and as an adult. I ask YOU to speak TRUTH to me, when I am tempted to jealousy or envy of others. I pray You will keep me from harming others with my own insecurity and petty jealousies. Destroy every lie of the enemy over my mind Father, that I can walk in wholeness and complete my quest for holiness in YOU.
Deut 4:23-24 NKJV For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Deut 6:15 AMP For the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and He destroy you from the face of the earth
Father, come and be the all consuming fire in me ! Consume all my flesh Lord, that I will be free from all envy and jealousy, that I will only look to YOU for all I need; that I will serve only an audience of ONE. I pray I will be more and more like YOU, and walk and talk like You . Conform my mind and thoughts to Your thoughts Lord. Take complete control of me Holy Spirit that I will not do my own will,
but only Yours !
Nah 1:2-3 NKJV God's Wrath on His Enemies
God is jealous, and the LORD avenges; The LORD avenges and is furious. The LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies; 3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. The LORD has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.
Job 5:2 NKJV For wrath kills a foolish man, and envy slays a simple one.
Prov 3:31-32 NKJV Do not envy the oppressor, and choose none of his ways; 32 For the perverse person is an abomination to the LORD,
Father, help me to be slow to anger or wrath. Remove any pain in my heart that would lead me to anger. Expose any pain I am unaware of Lord that still needs forgiveness. I only want to be like YOU. I refuse to give in to anger and envy of others. Remove from me all discontentment even with the way I am. Help me to love myself. Give me a pleasant personality, that I might be an encouragement and blessing to others, instead of always looking at how I fall short of the mark compared to others or envying them. Help me to appreciate who You made me to be. You said godliness with contentment is great gain. So grant me the GRACE Father, to walk in that contentment.
Prov 14:30 AMP A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones.
Prov 23:17 AMP Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord all the day long.
Father, You state that jealousy and envy are like causing rottenness to the bones. It gives me a picture of fruit spoiling on a dish, rotting away to nothing. Father, Your Son came to bring me LIFE and that abundantly. Release me from all that has caused me to walk in envy and jealousy that I may have that abundant life. I want freedom Lord, so I can be and do all You have called me to be and do ! Help me never to look at what is on the other person's plate, with envy. Give me a heart of forgiveness and thankfulness and gratefulness and remove the roots of pride in my life, that I will not give in to envy or jealousy any more. I am seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and nothing can snatch me out of Your hand Father. Help me to TRUST YOU MORE and to let go of any control in my life, to fully YIELD to Your ways and accept that anything that happens, You allow for my benefit. Fill me with gratitude of heart for all You have done for me !
Eccl 9:5-6 NKJV For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun.
Father, when I am tempted by the enemy to envy or jealousy, remind me that this life is temporary. This is not my home. Heaven is my home, and that I have an ETERNAL inheritance that is much greater than anything in this life. Remove from me all striving and fill me with MORE of Your love and GRACE.
Isa 26:11 NKJV LORD, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see.
But they will see and be ashamed for their envy of people; Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them.
Father, I don't want to stand before you and have to explain how I was
full of envy for others ! Help my unbelief Father. Open my eyes to the roots of envy in my life. RELEASE ME ! Do not allow me to be deceived by the enemy anymore. Help me to die to SELF and what I want, and to love what YOU want for my life ! Kiss me with Your wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You. Fill me with more of Your love, that I would overcome any pride, arrogance, ego-centricity in my life. I renounce all of that and all self-sufficiency ! My sufficiency is in YOU Father ! I dedicate my life to YOU and yield to YOUR will in my lifeALL of my life. Order my days and help me to be dependent on You for what I 'm to do. Keep me from presumptive sins Father !
Matt 27:18 NKJV For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.
Mark 15:10 AMP For he was aware that it was [ because they were prompted ] by envy that the chief priests had delivered Him up.
Acts 13:45 AMP But when the Jews saw the crowds, filled with envy and jealousy they contradicted what was said by Paul and talked abusively [reviling and slandering him].
Rom 1:28-29 AMP And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome, 29 Until they were filled ( permeated and saturated ) with every kind of unrighteousness, iniquity, grasping and covetous greed, and malice. [They were] full of envy and jealousy, murder, strife, deceit and treachery, ill will and cruel ways. [They were] secret backbiters and gossipers,
Father, uproot everything in me that would lift itself up against You ! Open my eyes to anything I am not aware of in my life that is only self-serving and expose any judgments I have made that keep me in bondage to jealousy or envy ! I want total freedom Father ! Expose any bitterness in my heart that would keep me in sin.
1 Cor 3:3 AMP For you are still [ unspiritual, having the nature ] of the flesh [ under the control of ordinary impulses ]. For as long as [ there are] envying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men?
Father, kill the old man in me, that I can be filled with Christ and walk as He walked, talk as He talked, and live as He lived for doing only what You want ! I will not be satisfied Lord till I awake in Your image ! Continue to burn off the chaff of my flesh that I can be all You have called me to be ! Grant me entrance into that place of intimacy with YOU, that I can be filled with Your love till I am able to receive all that You have for me and can walk in the fullness You have for me.
1 Cor 13:4 AMP Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
Father, again I askFILL ME WITH YOUR LOVE ! Overwhelm me with Your love. Take over my thought processes Holy Spirit. Have all of me ! Do not leave anything left that is of me ! Perfect me in Your love ! Help me to renew my mind by speaking Your word. Help me to meditate on Your Word, that I can walk in the Spirit and not according to the flesh.
Gal 5:21 AMP Envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Rescue me Lord from all that would destroy my life in You ! Your promise is to deliver us from all evil You said Lord ! Let me not envy those who oppress and so not let me envy those who have more than I do. Keep me from that would deceive me ! Give me discernment when the thoughts I am having are NOT from me, and help me to take EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE, that I would not give in to ruminating on things that are unhealthy for my spiritual life. You are My Deliverer, the Rock upon which I stand ! I trust YOU to deliver me from all that encompasses me about and hinders me from the fullness of YOU !
Phil 1:15 AMP Some, it is true, [actually] preach Christ (the Messiah) [for no better reason than] out of envy and rivalry (party spirit), but others are doing so out of a loyal spirit and goodwill.
1 Tim 6:3-5 AMP But if anyone teaches otherwise and does not assent to the sound and wholesome messages of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and the teaching which is in agreement with godliness (piety toward God),
4 He is puffed up with pride and stupefied with conceit, [although he is] woefully ignorant. He has a morbid fondness for controversy and disputes and strife about words, which result in (produce) envy and jealousy, quarrels and dissension, abuse and insults and slander, and base suspicions,
5 And protracted wrangling and wearing discussion and perpetual friction among men who are corrupted in mind and bereft of the truth, who imagine that godliness or righteousness is a source of profit [ a moneymaking business, a means of livelihood ]. From such withdraw.
Titus 3:3 AMP For we also were once thoughtless and senseless, obstinate and disobedient, deluded and misled; [we too were once] slaves to all sorts of cravings and pleasures, wasting our days in malice and jealousy and envy, hateful (hated, detestable) and hating one another.
Father, remove all hatred, anger, murder, envy and rebellion from my heart, that I will NO longer give in to envy and jealousy. Uproot any and all unforgiveness in my life for any pain I endured. Help me to forgive those who abused me. Help me to forgive DEEP in my heart, that nothing of the enemy would be found in me Lord ! Heal me in my inner man, that I can be free Lord to be like YOU ! Help me to walk in intimacy with You, always looking to YOU and not depending on my own self or selfishness.
Give me a peaceful spirit Lord and overwhelm me with YOUR GOODNESS.
I worship YOU Father and lay down my life before you.
I surrender my thoughts and opinions to YOU. I give You permission to
burn off all that cannot withstand the test Lord ! Make me a new person.
You said, that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. So make me new and pleasing to You Father. GRANT me GREAT GRACE to fight the good fight, to speak Your Word and to BELIEVE all You have told me.
James 3:14 AMP But if you have bitter jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry, selfish ambition) in your hearts, do not pride yourselves on it and thus be in defiance of and false to the Truth.
Help me Lord to LOVE my brother and sister, even as You have loved me.
Thank You Father, that you rescued me from a life of sin and death. Thank You that you brought me into the light and will keep my by the power of Your grace. Speak truth to my inner man and and help me to LOVE the Truth for YOU are TRUTH Lord and nothing is hidden from You. Create in me a pure heart oh Lord and renew a steadfast spirit within me !
1 Peter 2:1-2 Amp SO BE done with every trace of wickedness (depravity, malignity) and all deceit and insincerity (pretense, hypocrisy) and grudges (envy, jealousy) and slander and evil speaking of every kind.
2 Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto [completed] salvation,
Father, remove any PRETENSE over my life. Open my spiritual eyes to see me as You see me Lord. Remove any false images I have of You Father. Heal my heart and help me to see myself as You want me to Lord. Reveal to me any areas of pretense that I can be REAL and integritous in my walk with You. Come Holy Spirit and renew my heart and mind, and give me YOUR EYES to see with Lord ! In Jesus' name AMEN !
