Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 9
The teacher says one antidote is praying for the person who triggers envy—asking God to “bless and prosper him in that very thing,” because you “cannot possibly despise” someone your prayers commend to God; what would obedience to this look like with a real rival (ministry gifts, money, reputation, looks), and what resistance in you would reveal you prefer envy over love?
Another way to ask: What would it look like to pray for God to bless the person you envy (money, gifts, reputation, looks)? What pushback in your heart would show you’d rather hold onto envy than choose love?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Obedience, as the speaker describes it, means deliberately praying blessing over the exact area that stirs your envy—asking God to prosper your “rival” in their gifts, reputation, or success until your heart learns genuine love. Resistance shows up when you can’t bring yourself to ask for their good, or when you secretly want them to lose what you wish you had.
- He calls this “counterintuitive” but ties it to Jesus’ command: “love your enemies… pray for your enemies.”
- He reframes the envied person as an “enemy… because it’s causing us to Envy… we are stumbling because of what he has.”
- The prayer target is specific: “pray for him that he actually will succeed.”
- He claims incompatibility: “You cannot pray for somebody and have hatred and dislike… They do not go together.”
- William Law’s prescription: pray “to bless and prosper him in that very thing which raised your Envy… best antidote… expel that venom.”
- The aim is heart change: prayers “recommend to the love and favor of God,” making despising/ridicule harder.