Godly Love

In this episode of the Bible Gal podcast, we dive into the verse 1 Corinthians 13:4, and we talk about envy and boasting and what the Lord has to say about that, and how we can have Godly love

In this episode we cover: 

1. 1 Corinthians 13:4 (main scripture for the message)
2. James 3:16a
3. Proverbs 14:30
4. Jeramiah 9:23-24
5. 1 Corinthians 1:31 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Baba Gat podcast, and I'm Miguel Amber. I'm just a Proverbs 31 woman empowering women to step into their on-the-fire for the Lord mentality. I encourage us to live out our faith, to grow, and to believe in the calling that God has for us.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

My vision is to help women break the chains of their past of inner struggles and fears to create new chapters that only our Father can write for us. I'm on a mission and passion to empower you and all the women out there.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

This is going to be your new favorite podcast for daily devotionals and Bible study chats.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Hey guys, welcome back to um another episode of the podcast. Today is episode 29, um, and I'm back. I know I've been taking a little bit of a break, but I am um back and ready to get in it. I've just had so much going on. Um I've had my mom move in with me. I've had to help her um pack up her house and sell her house and move in with me, and I've had to help my brother-in-law um pack up where he was living and move in with me and get adjusted to that and help them um look for a car and jobs, and so it's been a lot. Um, but I um, if I'm being really honest, the Lord had uh kind of corrected me and laid it on my heart that I need to get back to um doing the podcast and you know spreading the word of God and remembering to um not forget about that. Um so before I get started, I just want to start in prayer like I always do before we get into it. Dear Heavenly Father, I'm just so thankful uh that you laid it on my heart to uh restart doing my you know podcast again and getting back on track with that. And I just ask that you open our hearts and our minds today, that you fill us up with your Holy Spirit, that you help me deliver this message, Father, that um your words speak through me today, and I just pray over every listener here today, Father, um, that they get a takeaway from what is said. Amen. Alright, so recently I was in a devotional topic and I just really resonated with um the the subject in a whole, and I just really felt like this was such a good point that is so often overlooked. Um, something honestly we all struggle with and that we should look at more carefully. Um, and so as the Lord had really led and spoke me through um writing up this message, I I hope that I'm just not the only one that was convicted today. Um so first I really want to look and read the the focal point scripture today, which is 1 Corinthians 13 verse 4, which is pretty a famous one. Um, love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. So, the Lord really um helped me see this in in these multiple dimensions here, and so we chunked it up, and um, so first we're gonna look at the word envy because um you know we talk about it does not envy, boast, or proud. So first we're gonna like really chunk up envy and what that looks like um and how love is not that. So, you know, on that deeper level, um, you know, we compare our lives. Envy is when honestly we just we compare ourselves to other things and we, you know, have that like jealousy, or you know, we wish our lives were better, like, you know, blank, right? Like we wish we had certain gifts like other people, we wish I had, you know, more money like that person, or looks like that person, or blessings like that person. Um, I know as women often like I will definitely say I'm very envious of other girls, you know, who are skinnier than me, you know, or they just have this. I don't tan. So like, you know, when I see a woman who's like just so beautifully tan and she's just glowing in the sun, you know, it's summertime, and I'm like, uh, you know, like I wish, right? You have that envy, and that's envy. Um, you know, when you say things like, oh, I wish I had money like them, or I wish I had a clean house like them, or you know, oh, I wish I had the gift of being confident, and you know, when like blah blah blah when they're leading prayer, or you know, I wish I could give a message like you know that pastor does, or like she does, or you know, I wish I had the gift of healing, you know, these are all examples of like, you know, I wish I could, I wish God would bless me with that kind of money, like He did to them, and you know thinking things like that. Um, you know, if I'm being honest, like I am envious of the stay-at-home moms who can financially be able to be a stay-at-home mom, and they look great, like their bodies are in great shape, like they do Pilates and like yoga with the moms, and like they go for walks. Like, I would love to be that mom that's just like so healthy with her kids at home with her kids, be able to financially support it, physically support them, and just like live my best life. Um, so I am envious of that, and so you know, like that's another example. Um, and you know, we pull ourselves apart and we distort our view on you know everything, honestly, by picking our lives apart and comparing it to everybody else around us. Um, and this envy turns into jealousy towards that person or towards those type of people or towards the situation, um, towards whatever we're being envy about. And like honestly, jealousy refuses to view somebody else's life, you know, or successes or, you know, blessings as genuine love and support. You know, it's not like this genuine, unjudged love or this, you know, unconditional love, you know, it's it's conditional because we're envious of whatever it is that we're envious of. Um, and you know, we say we do, like, oh yeah, I do love them, and you know, uh uh to a certain extent maybe you do. But deep down because of the jealousy or because of that envy that's living in you, you're not loving wholeheartedly, unconditionally, and honestly. And that's when the Lord says our love should not be envious. And that's definitely like a hard thing. Um the Lord has to say uh uh quite a few things about envy. I pulled from some other scriptures. So in um James chapter 3, verse 16, uh A, because it's a long verse, he says, For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder. So he straight up says, where you're jealous of somebody, when you're envious of somebody, where you have selfish ambition, where um you're doing things for the social climb, or you're doing things for recognition, you know, s because you're envious of somebody else who has that, so you want that too, you know. On social media, it's such a popular thing these days, like uh you are envious of influencers on Instagram and influencers on TikTok, and you want to be that girl, you want to be the it girl, and so because of that jealousy, because of that envy, you then create the selfish ambition to try to become that, to try to be better than that, to try to become one of those. Um, and so he says straight up when we do that, there's disorder in our lives. Um, he also says on Proverbs um 14, verse 30, a tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot. Honestly, that really hit me home. Like when I read that verse, because I was like, dang, like make my bones rot. Like, okay, like envy's not good. I shouldn't be doing it. Yes, Lord, I understand. I definitely am convicted and I'm gonna work on it. But when I read that verse, like make my bones rot, I it hit me like a little, it hit me a little differently when I first read that. Because I was like, dang, like my bones rot, like just picture that, like your bones rotting. I was like, oh my gosh, yeah, that definitely like convicted me like ten times more. Um, but yeah, so you know, how can we practice changing this? How can we fix this about ourselves? You know, it's such an easy thing that we do without thinking, you know, we do it without trying to be envious, like it's not like we're intentionally like being envious to hurt God's feelings and sin, right? Like we we just are sinful creatures and we we do it without realizing it. And so how do we change that? How do we change and rewire that? Um, and I am gonna say I want to open this up and I'm gonna lead us in a prayer. Um, first, and then we'll we'll and we'll talk a little bit more about how we can fix that and how we can change that because um always, always, always pray about it. Um, you know, as that's always the obvious answer, is praying about it. Um, yeah, so I'm gonna lead us in prayer. Um, and I encourage you to, you know, say a prayer with me, you know, to yourself out loud, whatever. Um, yeah. Dear Father, forgive me for the times that I was jealous over somebody else's life and that I wish that it were mine. Please forgive me. I repent for missing my own blessings and for missing out on your love and having your love because I was too busy envying somebody else. Um, and I just I really repent for that. And I please heal me in the places that are in my heart that I feel not good enough, and that I feel um unworthy, and then I feel like I want to improve. Father, please heal me in those places. Help me celebrate other people's successes and help me see love the way you do. Help me love those people that I want to be envious about and truly love them in my heart, and you know, just please remind me and please ensure reassure me that you love me deeply and you don't ever forget about me or overlook my prayers, amen. Um, so how can we fix it, right? We can identify a person. Um, let's start there. Let's identify somebody that we're feeling envious about in one way or another, and reach out to that person with real support, really checking in on them and saying, Hey, how can I pray for you? How are you doing? Um, you know, find something about them that you can be thankful for. That's like a really good thing that when I first um was going over this subject, I was like, huh, like that's a really good point. I forget where I seen it or heard about it. Um, but I was like, huh, like thinking about something that you're thankful for and and kind of the concept of um, you know, we fight our our spiritual battles with with the word and we fight our fleshly thoughts with the word. And so that's kind of like a similar thought, you know. Like when we feel fleshly and we feel envy, we instead find something of them to be thankful for, you know, like okay, I'm so thankful that they were put into my life, I'm so thankful that they encouraged me to be a better person. I'm so thankful that they are always later there to listen to me, or whatever. Um, you know, try to think of ways that we can be thankful for that person or thankful for that situation that we were envious about. Um, and so then really in the next scripture, or not in the next scripture, but next he says it does not boast. So we go into boasting because boasting is again something deeper we need to look at and and look on a deeper scale, because when we boast, it's either our insecurities being disguised as confidence, or it's just our desperate attempt to be like heard and seen. Um and so true love really walks quietly in strength. When you're truly loving somebody you you do it. Uh-huh. And in you know it takes strength, and it takes real spiritual strength, but it just happens quietly. It's not it's not boasted about. You don't have to brag about what you did for that person. You just do it wholeheartedly, quietly, and you move on. Um and uh true love has the self-control to listen and to support and to value. Um and so when we boast, we're really comparing, we're really applauding ourselves, we're shifting the spotlight to ourselves in a selfish way, seeking approval. Um, and boasting is only done in a selfish light, right? Like m it's moving the seat from the center stage that was for Christ or that was, you know, and and we come steal that seat on stage and we make it about ourselves, right? You know, and we often do this maliciously without realizing we do it when somebody is talking about how their week is stressful and you know they're maybe unloading on you at time that you can think of somebody who is like giving you a mental breakdown, you know, they're they're confiding in you, or how they didn't get any sleep, right? How often do we rebuttal in the conversation and be like, oh yeah, me too? I blah blah blah blah, right? Like you all of a sudden make the conversation shift to be about you. Oh, you know, I didn't sleep either last night, and I had a drink of Celsius. Um how many times have you been convicted? Like, how I want to say, like, I'm I'm convicted myself because I do that sometimes. Um, you know, when somebody comes over to vent to you, maybe instead start the convers, you know, instead start oh my gosh, you can't talk. Instead starting the conversation, like, oh, did I show you this new Bible my mom bought me? Like, I absolutely love it. Like, do you want to take a look at it? You know, but like answering the phone with somebody who called you and talking about yourself, boasting about an accomplishment, like, oh, I lost two pounds this week and I'm so excited I lost weight. I don't know, just think of an example, right? Like, we call somebody up to why do we call somebody? We're thinking about them, right? Like when we call somebody, we thought about that person, but then we call that person and we start talking about ourselves, and we start boasting about ourselves, and we start making it about us and shifting the spotlight. And that's not love, that's true, just selfish ambition. We just want to talk about ourselves, talk about you know what went wrong in our lives, why we didn't get any sleep last night, or why we're irritated, or why we're in a good mood. Maybe we got a free cookie at Panera Bright, I don't know. Like, you know, we just shift it to be selfish, and um the Lord has a lot to say about us being vain and boasting. Um, so I pulled some scriptures and um in Jeremiah chapter 9, 23 and 24, he says, Let not the wise boast of their wisdom, or the strong boast about their strength, but let the one who boasts boast about this, that they have the understanding to know me. So he says, If you're gonna boast, boast about me. Bragg about me. You know, say how cool I am. Don't be bragging about anything else or making you know any selfish conversations unless you're talking about me, and you're giving your testimony and you're talking about me, and you're boasting about how cool I am and how powerful and holy I am, right? Um, that then obviously it's acceptable because we want the whole world to know about Jesus. Um also in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 31 says, Let the one who boasts only boast in the Lord. So again, you know, let's let's boast about the Lord here. Um and so how do we fix that? How do we stop ourselves from doing that that we do without meaning to do it? You know, like let's be a little bit more self-conscious about those things. Um and choose that godly behavior, you know, and often the sin gets in the way of it, and so we pray and we repent and we ask for help and we make a real effort to change, and we don't just pray about it and be convicted and repent and then do it again, but we actually ask the Lord for help and we actually make a real effort to change that. Um, so again, I do want to lead a prayer um for the for that to start that off. Dear Father, I just repent for all the times that I've been boastful and all the times that I um made things about me and I was vain and selfish and I just couldn't only think about what I've done for that person or you know what I um what I've done, you know, when I'm having, you know, I call somebody up and I I just repent for the times I've made things about me. Please forgive me when I try to gain recognition and steal your spotlight. And please forgive me for trying to make everything about me because honestly, it's just really about you. It's all about you. All the glory is to you. And so praising you and loving others the way that you love others, please, Father, help me. I am asking for help, help me, reveal to me how and where I'm being boastful, and help me to change my heart, change my heart, you know my heart, seek my heart, open my heart, and show me where I need to change and where I need to reflect your character. Amen. Um, and so you know, with that, we know we prayed, we were asking for help, and we're repenting, and so where is this real effort coming into to make a change? Um, maybe you choose a day this week to serve or support somebody without needing to be seen. Call that somebody, you know, listen to only their life, don't make it about you. Just truly call to check in on them. Or maybe you choose an offering of love that doesn't need to seek a selfish reward. Maybe you know somebody who recently had a baby and um you want to cook a meal for them or you want to go over and clean for them and go do it genuinely and don't do it and then come home trying to tell other people what you did. Just do it honestly, wholeheartedly. You know? Um Yeah, so I'm really gonna pretty much wrap this up. Um, pretty much that's all I have for today. You know, just really thinking about you know those things and saying, you know what? You know, love God's love isn't envious and it's not boastful and proud of myself, but it's patient and it's kind and it's unconditional. And um how can we do that? How can we have more of godly love? How can we cut out you know the flesh? Um obviously we pray about it and obviously we repent about it. Always, always repent. We can never repent enough. We always need to repent for everything that we do, but please never think that you don't need to repent. Um and then after that, where can you make a conscious I think I said that wrong effort to make it change, to not do that anymore. It's not gonna just newsflash, let me just say this because I've been working on Envy for a really long time. And I've been struggling with it. I'm gonna be honest, I wrote this message about a month or so ago, maybe a little bit more than that, it was about a month and a half ago, and then crap hit the fan with trying to move all these people in and out of my house, and it went just from me and my husband and my baby to five people in my home with my mom and my brother-in-law, and it was a lot of adjusting and a lot going on, and um, so I as I said earlier, I dropped the ball anyway. I'm getting off the subject. I wrote this message, and the Lord spoke to me heavy about me being envious because I'm definitely super envious, and I was really, really trying to work on that for a hot minute, and I was doing pretty good with it, and if I'm being honest, I fell off with making conscious effort, and then you know, as I reread this recently, I was like, you know what? I need to remember that, I need to re-repent for that, and I'm not only I need to re-repent for for saying that I'm gonna make a difference, and then I didn't. Um, and where is that real conscious effort coming in? So, as I'm honestly just saying myself, I'm all just another broken person, um, finding my way with the Lord, where you know, where's that conscious effort coming into? Because it's not gonna happen overnight. It's gotta take work. Um so I hope that I'm helping somebody today. Before we go, I want to close out in prayer. Um before we go. So before I go, I just want to say, dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for being with me during this message, guiding and leading this message, Father. And I just pray over every single listener. Father, I just lift them up to you, and I just pray complete peace and protection over them wherever they're going. Amen. Um, with that being said, I hope that you guys all get to where you're going safely. I don't know if you're driving. I know a lot of my listeners are driving, usually. Um, but I hope you have a great day, or that you had a great day if it's in the evening and you're listening to this. Um, I would absolutely love if you send me a prayer request. I really like to connect with people. Um recently I I did that, and it's been so awesome just to hear about other people's lives and to like connect and grow in in faith. Um, so I have a form on my um links in the show notes, or you can also just email um in my email. It's it's in there too. Um, that's like a little form you fill out of like, you know, a prayer request that you want to sh that you are asking to, you know, and um go from there. So yeah, thank you so much for listening, and I will see you guys next time.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. If you'd like to hear more, there are new episodes that drop every Monday and Thursday. If you liked what you heard, please help your gal out by leaving a review. You can also give using the link below. I'd love to pray for you. If you have any prayer requests, please send me an email to your Biblegal at gmail.com, which is also in the links below, along with all my other social media so you know where to find me. And remember, sisters, walk fully in faith this week. God is with you every step of the way.