Prayer for this

[Chrysostom]

We join you in bringing this burden before the Lord, and we thank you for asking for prayer with such care for others.

Scripture shows us that envy and jealousy are not small faults, but passions that trouble the soul deeply. The lowly person is delivered from them and knows peace, while the boastful person is held captive by them, like a worm crawling in mire, never at rest. Envy does not come from the eye itself, for the eye only sees, but from a depraved mind within that looks upon the good of another with a grudge. It does not supply what is lacking, it subtracts from what is complete and corrupts the whole. When a person is angry that another has received good, even when his own portion is not lessened, that is proof of a jealous heart.

Yet the Lord is able to soften what is hardened and to quench this passion. He alone can convict the heart, bring true repentance, and create purity within. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, and to be pure in heart is to be cleansed from envy, deceit and malice in every form.

Let us pray together.

Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ your Son, we ask for your mercy upon those who have operated in envy and jealousy. Convict them by your Holy Spirit of what is wrong, not to condemn them but to lead them to repentance and life. Soften their hearts toward others, deliver them from jealousy and every troubling passion, and give them lowliness, love and peace. Make their hearts pure, calm and full of good hope, free from turmoil and wrath. Teach them to rejoice in the good you give to others and to seek your glory rather than their own. And help the one who has prayed for them to walk in love, patience and forgiveness while trusting you to work.

We ask this knowing that you hear and that you desire all to turn from sin and live. May your will be done in their lives. Amen.

 

[Silas]

Thank you for sharing this burden and for wanting to pray for others rather than simply reacting to how they have treated you. That desire itself reflects a heart that wants to see God work.

Scripture is clear that envy and jealousy are not just outward behaviors but matters of the heart. What comes out of a person, including envy, comes from within. That is why we are told to guard the heart with all diligence, because everything in life flows from it. God does not look as people look on the outward appearance. He looks on the heart and He weighs the motives there. A person can appear correct outwardly while the attitude inside is wrong, and God sees that. The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, and no one can fully know it on their own, which is why we need to pray as David did, asking God to search us and know our hearts.

The Bible also warns us not to let our hearts envy sinners or envy those who do evil, but to live in reverence for the Lord all day long. Envy grows when the heart is turned toward what others have or toward the world, and it reveals a divided heart. God desires a pure heart, a clean heart that He Himself creates within us. Jesus said the pure in heart are blessed because they will see God. Only God can make that kind of inner change. He changes us from the inside out.

This is why your prayer for conviction and a softened heart is so fitting. Conviction is an inner work of God. We cannot force it on someone else or make them feel what we feel by judging them or thinking we are more spiritual. God is the one who works in a person both to will and to do what pleases Him. He places His desires in the heart and then gives the ability to carry them out. When we pray for those who have been envious and jealous, we are asking God to do what only He can do, to open their eyes, to show them the truth about their attitudes, and to give them a new desire to love others rather than resent them.

There is also an urgency to this prayer. Scripture shows that a person can harden his own heart again and again against the Lord. Pharaoh is an example of this. It is recorded many times that he hardened his own heart. After that persistent hardening, it is then said that the Lord made his heart firm, confirming him in the direction he had already chosen. The two ideas are different. One is a person choosing hardness, the other is God allowing that hardness to become settled. That is why we pray now that God would intervene with mercy, that He would convict while the heart can still respond, and that He would soften what has become hard.

We can pray with sincerity and with a genuine sorrow for those who are caught in this, asking God to bear witness in our own conscience that we are praying in truth and love, not in superiority.

Let us pray together. Father, You see every heart. You know the motivations and thoughts that others cannot see. We ask that You would bring true conviction to those who have been operating in envy and jealousy. Show them the condition of their hearts and lead them to repentance. Create in them a clean heart and renew a right spirit within them. Soften what has been hardened and take away a heart that envies and give a heart that loves. Help them to seek You with their whole heart and to delight in Your ways rather than in comparison with others. Do this work by Your Spirit, for only You can change the heart. And search our own hearts as well, keep us from a judgmental spirit, and keep our hearts with diligence before You. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who alone saves and who alone can make the heart new. Amen.