There is a deadly spirit at work in the earth today. It is a force that is doubly dangerous because it is so subtle. Allow it to operate unchecked in your life and it will destroy everything God wants to do in you. It is the spirit of competitive jealousy.

The spirit of competitive jealousy has been seducing God's people since the beginning of creation. It is vital that you understand this spirit because of its insidious cunning and its potential to do enormous damage if allowed to work its destructive way.

In fact, it could be harming your life right now without you being aware of it, because you do not know what the problem is or what is causing you to do the things you do. The spirit of competitive jealousy is a deceptive enemy that steals in unnoticed, and does great damage to your soul and your relationship with others. Yes, even if you are a Christian. First, let's define terms.

Competition
The words competitive and competition come from the root word "to compete," which simply means "to seek or to strive for the same things as another; to carry on a contest or a rivalry for a common objective."

It is competition or rivalry to seek to obtain the same goal or the same objectives as another. Competition, in and of itself, is neither good nor bad. Like anything else, it depends upon your perspective or context. For example, there is a correct context for hate. I pray that God would give me a hate for the presence of sin in my life. When I hate sin, I am walking in the fear of the Lord. In this context, hate is acceptable. If, however, I hate my brother or sister, then I am walking in sin.

The same is true for competition. At the most basic level, competition or competitiveness, is striving for the same things as another or carrying on a contest or a rivalry for common objectives. This is neither good nor bad. It is the context that makes the difference.

Jealousy
Jealousy is the sense of uneasiness or anxiety that stems from the fear of preference being given to another. If, for example, a mutual friend invited you over to his house for dinner and not me, I might become uneasy. I could get into fear trying to figure out why he preferred you over me.

Why is this dangerous? Because as I begin to compare myself with my brother in Christ, an uneasiness creeps in, stemming from the fear that someone else was preferred over me. A rivalry has developed. There now exists a contest between me and this other person to gain your attention and win your approval.

Competitive Jealousy
Take the powerful drive of competitiveness, combine it with the volatile poison of jealousy, and you have a lethal combination. But competitive jealousy is more than an emotion, it's a spirit. A spirit that has been confronting God's people since the very beginning of time.

It was competitive jealousy that triggered Satan's forcible ejection from heaven. Cain killed his brother Abel in a fit of competitive jealousy. It was competitive jealousy that separated Jacob and Esau for so many years. And, it was the force that moved Joseph's brothers to sell him into slavery in Egypt.

The objective of this very subtle spirit is to deceive you and keep you from reaching your full potential in God. Child of God, please understand this. When you allow the spirit of competitive jealousy to control your life, it will stop you from being all that God has designed you to be. The spirit deceives you and that deception blinds you from seeing what God has prepared you to be. It hinders you from being all you can be in Christ. If I am concentrating on why I don't measure up to Brother Jones, then I am not fulfilling nor reaching my full potential that God would have me achieve in the things He has called me to do.

Competitive jealousy urges me to compare my clothes, my house, my financial position or my ministry with others. Competitive jealousy drives me to compare myself with someone else. It always provokes me to compete for favor, for position, for power, for authority, for influence. Ultimately, the spirit of competitive jealousy will compel me to criticize others in order to make myself look better.

The Comparison Trap
The media is constantly bombarding us with images of the so-called "perfect man." We're told what we're supposed to look like and how we're supposed to dress. All are part of the false image of what it takes for a man to have the right to feel good about himself.

Then, when you look at yourself and compare yourself to that image promoted by television and to your great surprise, you discover that you do not measure up, you bust your gut in a quest for that firmer physique, knowing full well that you will never have bulging biceps or a washboard stomach like those body-builders on television. You waste a tremendous amount of time and effort chasing an illusion in an attempt to raise yourself to the standard to which you are comparing yourself.

The same is true of women. There is in the mind of the popular culture, the idea of the perfect woman. She looks nothing like anyone I know in real life. Starving yourself cannot create what nature has not supplied. As a result, many women are trapped in a cycle of guilt and denial concerning their physical appearance. This not only affects the body, but the mind and emotions suffer as well.

Who knows how much depression among women in this country is caused by trying to compete with the false images of Madison Avenue? It is simply not fair. In fact, it is not God's will for you to get caught up in a devastating quest to measure up to phony standards of perfection. He did not intend for us to endlessly compare ourselves with these images. These are not His standards.

Many Christians, frustrated by the lack of success in measuring up and the real inner knowledge that such standards are false, resort to criticism. We say, "Look at that girl! She's probably anorexic. Who needs such a tiny waist anyway?" We think if we cut others down it will make us look better at their expense.

The spirit of competitive jealousy is a subtle, but very active enemy of the people of God. It will provoke a person to compete for favor, position, authority and influence. This unnecessary competition sidetracks us from seeking the true goals God desires us to achieve.

Competitive jealousy causes us to lower our standards from the divine to the false and corrupt images which this world promotes. The end result of chasing the artificial dreams of this fallen world is always ruin and despair. Thank God that we do not have to remain in such a state. There is a way of rescue from the destruction of competitive jealousy.

Before we examine the way out, we must realize how we got in. It's essential that you understand how this insidious spirit operates.


Source: The Spirit of Competitive Jealousy by Creflo A. Dollar, Jr.
Excerpt permission granted by World Changers Ministries