Joyce Meyer - Jealousy - Part 2 (02/15/2026)
Joyce Meyer dives into the sin of jealousy, showing how it wastes time and energy through Bible examples like John’s disciples envying Jesus’ success, Peter’s jealousy toward John, and David’s brothers being overlooked while God chose the youngest. She stresses that we must focus on our own walk with God, rejoice when others are blessed, and trust His unique plan for each life—because comparing only robs us of peace and delays our own blessings.
Jealousy Among John’s Disciples
I want to talk to you today about jealousy. Mmm! So here in John 3:25-27 it says, “Therefore there arose a controversy between some of John’s disciples and a Jew in regard to purification. So they came to John and reported to him, ‘Rabbi, the Man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—and to whom you yourself bore testimony—here He is baptizing too, and now everybody is flocking to Him!’”
I love this stuff! It’s amazing how many practical things are in the Bible if you just look for them. And John answered… John didn’t care about any of that stuff. He’d been living in the desert eating locusts and wild honey and wearing rags. He wasn’t into things or reputation.
“John answered, ‘A man can receive nothing [he can claim nothing, he can take unto himself nothing] except as it has been granted to him from heaven. [A man must be content to receive the gift which is given him from heaven; there is no other source.]’”
Peter’s Jealousy Toward John
That’s a little better than your acting, but I’ll take it. You know, Peter was jealous of John. It’s interesting to me—I’m reading a book now on the twelve disciples. And it is absolutely hilarious the men that Jesus picked to carry on His ministry. I mean, probably the only one we would’ve chosen—if they’d sent in resumes—would’ve been Judas.
Because Peter sure had a lot of problems. And they were jealous of each other and wanting to know who was the greatest. And here Peter’s jealous of John. And you know, Peter, James, and John seemed to be a little closer to Jesus than some of the other disciples. He let them do things with Him that He didn’t let everybody do. So I’m sure everybody was jealous of them.
And then John was the disciple whom Jesus loved. And I can’t imagine how that irked Peter—because he said that about himself. “I’m the disciple whom Jesus loves.” Said it more than once. “I’m the disciple whom Jesus loved.” I would’ve probably thought, “Shut up!”
What About Him?
So now here Peter was jealous of John. And in John 21:14, “This was now the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples after He was raised from the dead. And when they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, ‘You know that I love You.’ And Jesus said, ‘Well, feed My lambs.’
“And Jesus said, ‘Simon son of John, do you love Me?’ And he said, ‘Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.’ And He said, ‘Well, feed My sheep.’ And the third time He said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love Me?’ Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ He said, ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.’ And Jesus said, ‘Well, feed My sheep.’”
So really the message to us out of that is—if you love Me, then help somebody… get busy being a blessing.
“Verily, verily, I tell you…” Now He’s still talking to Peter. “When you were young, you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted.” Or basically—when you were younger, you did whatever you wanted to do. “But when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”
He was actually talking to him about the kind of death he was going to die. And every one of the disciples—yes, they had the privilege of being a disciple—but every one of them died a martyr’s death. And Peter—I think they say—was crucified upside down at his request. He didn’t want to die like his Savior died. He didn’t think he was worthy of that, so he said, “Crucify me upside down.”
“So Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then He said to him, ‘Follow Me!’”
Lord, What About Him?
Now listen to this: “Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at supper and said, ‘Lord, who is going to betray You?’) And when Peter saw him, he said, ‘Lord, what about him?’”
Surely you have to see the humor. These are the great twelve disciples. And He just gets finished telling this guy how he’s going to die and suffer? Well, he wanted to make sure he was going to have to suffer too. “Well, what about him?”
And Jesus said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You follow Me.”
So isn’t He saying that really to all of us today? What I do with somebody else is none of your business. You follow Me. Mmm—got three people happy about that, and they were all over in this section.
We don’t have to worry about anybody else. We’re not going to be asked to give an account for anybody else. We’re all going to stand before God and give an account of ourselves. He’s not going to ask you about anybody else. He’s not going to ask me about Dave. Not going to ask Dave about me. He’s going to ask me about me.
Mind Your Own Heart
And instead of caring what everybody else is doing, we need to be more concerned with what’s going on inside of us—and what’s there that is not pleasing to God. And work with Him to be the kind of person that He wants us to be. Is anybody alive and well out there?
You know, judgment—judging people—it’s a no-no in the Word of God. “Just as you judge, you will be judged.” So when something happens to you that you don’t like—maybe there’s two questions you need to ask: Am I getting payback for something I’ve done to somebody else? Or is this just something God’s doing with me?
Let me ask you a question: When was the last time you got mad about something that was just so stupid? Yesterday—thank you! And you look back now and think, what a waste of time.
When I think of all the time I’ve wasted being mad at Dave for stupid stuff. I mean—stuff that just… I look back now and I realize now as a more mature Christian—that was just the dumbest thing. I mean, we get mad at people over… we’d fight over… or I’d fight—he didn’t fight much.
Let the Man Drive
You know, I couldn’t just let him drive. I had to always tell him which way to go. “Well, the hardware… if you go this way, you’ll get there faster.” “No, I won’t.” “Yes, you will.” “No, I won’t.” “Yes, you will.” Then I’d sit on my side of the car and pout because he didn’t go the way I told him to. And I’m still sure I was right. But he went the way he wanted to go.
One day the Lord just said to me, “Why don’t you just let the man drive?” Come on, guys—how many of you, your wife tells you how to drive all the time?
On Instagram they got this funny thing—sometimes this guy’s in his car by himself and his wife’s not with him—and he’s like, “I don’t know if I can do this. I’m not going to know where to park. I’m not going to know which way to turn. I’m not sure I can get there by myself.” Because his wife told him all the time how to drive.
“Lord, what about this man?” I think that’s our question a lot of times too. “Lord, what about this man?”
God Looks at the Heart
All of David’s brothers were rejected when Samuel was sent to their home to anoint a new king. Now you know everybody had to—“Well, I hope it’s me, I hope it’s me, I hope it’s me!”
And in 1 Samuel 16, “When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, ‘Surely this is the Lord’s anointed…’” Because he was tall and handsome and good looking. “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Don’t consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’”
Man, that’s good advice for all of us.
“Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, ‘The Lord has not chosen him either.’ Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, ‘Nor has the Lord chosen this one.’ Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has not chosen any of these.’ So he asked Jesse, ‘Are these all the sons you have?’ He said, ‘Well, there is still the youngest. He’s tending sheep.’ Samuel said, ‘We’ll send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.’”
So the one they didn’t even bother to consider was the one that God was choosing.
Keep a Good Attitude
So see—sometimes you may feel rejected by everybody else, but you could be the one that God’s choosing. What you have to do is keep a good attitude and let God do what He wants to do in your life. So often it’s our bad attitude that discounts us from the blessing that God wants us to have.
Well, jealousy is a problem that if we don't deal with it properly, it can cause major problems in our relationships. Ginger joins me today with a few questions from you on this topic.
Ginger: This is a great topic.
Joyce: Now, we didn't have any jealous people, did we, right?
Ginger: Nope, nobody had any questions because everybody's fine. No, but nobody really wants to admit that they're jealous.
Joyce: No, it sounds like such a nasty...
Ginger: It does. It just sounds so, you know, it just sounds terrible. But we all deal with it at different times in our life, so I think it's great to talk about. I don't think we talk about it very often...or enough in the world and in the church.
Joyce: I know I've had to deal with it in my life. And you do have to deal with it, because if you don't, it'll just keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And, you know, so I'll wait for your questions before I give my answer.
Ginger: Okay, this comes from Marlo, "I struggle with deep rooted jealousy and envy. I had a childhood like yours, Joyce. I know this is wrong and it's affecting my relationship with my husband and family, but what do I need to do to change"?
Joyce: Well, you know, I do...in addition to studying the Word, I do a lot of talking to myself. And of course, the simple answer is, be thankful for what you have, instead of wanting what somebody else has. You know, when John's disciples, of course, they'd been baptizing, and then some of Jesus' disciples were baptizing, and John's disciples got jealous and concerned, "Well, what if he's baptizing more people than you are"? And John said, "You must be content with the gift that is given you because there's no source other than heaven to get a gift from". And so if we finagle around and get things ourselves, they're only gonna make us miserable. I don't believe that they can ever come with joy and happiness. But James 4:2 says, "You have not because you ask not". And that if we try to go about it the other way, we just end up causing strife when we try to get what we want our way. And really, I would say that jealousy may not be Marlo's problem. It may be a lack of confidence. And she thinks that...
Ginger: They really go hand in hand, don't they?
Joyce: She thinks that having what somebody else has, will make her feel good about herself. God won't bless that. The Bible says, "Jealousy rots the bones". And it is very dangerous. You know, I guess "rots the bones" means it could give you arthritis or some other thing. And we do sometimes open the door for sickness by doing things like that. Puts a lot of stress on you when you have to be jealous of everybody else. And I think that we have to catch it just when it tries to get hold of us and say, "No"! I'm learning. It's amazing, you know.
Ginger: 'Cause, it'll keep trying.
Joyce: Yeah. "Submit yourself to God," James 4:7, "resist the devil and he will flee". So, you know, I've been walking with God for 50 years. So some of my answers are on the other side of having gone through all the nonsense that people are going through. And I love God very, very much. And I wanna please him. I want to be obedient to him. And so some things I just won't permit in my life because I know he doesn't like 'em, and they don't do any good anyway. You know God, God puts gifts... he puts...like say, if I'm jealous of a singer. You know, I used to wish I could sing.
Ginger: Uh huh.
Joyce: Well, I can't sing. Nobody even knows what key I sing in. So, you know, but God put on my heart one time. He said, "I put that gift in them for you". The gifts in other people are for us to enjoy, not to be jealous of. And the gifts in us, like I always say, my gift that God has given me to teach, it doesn't do anything... it doesn't do anything for me, makes me work, but it's for everybody else. But jealousy and greed and envy, kind of all go together. And so if we're happy and blessed, we focus on what we do have, it helps us not to be jealous of what somebody else has. And it's just really, to be honest, a nasty spirit.
Ginger: It is. I have learned so much what you've just been saying, because I've always been a very driven person, right? I like to accomplish things. I like to set goals. I had things that I wanted to do in my career. And therefore, you know, you go after those things, you do those things. But I really had to learn along the way a couple things that when somebody else gets something that you were working for, there's enough good to go around. Like I, okay, then there'll be something else for me, and that will be good for them. And that's a hard lesson to learn, but I really had to learn that. And the other thing is just what you said, if God doesn't give it to me, I will not be happy in it. I will not want it. Because I have worked really hard and gotten some things that were not probably what God wanted for me. And I wasn't as much at peace. I didn't have as much joy, until I got back in that lane where God's blessing was.
Joyce: If God doesn't give us something, then there's no grace on us to have it.
Ginger: Yeah.
Joyce: And without that grace, it's just gonna end up being something that causes you more problems.
Ginger: Yeah, and that's where that jealousy gets stirred up. Okay, here's another question. This is from Mary. "I've heard you speak on the insecurities that you experienced in your relationship with your husband. I have the same overwhelming feelings of distrust, jealousy, etc. I'm learning not to let those thoughts guide my actions. But it's difficult. What do I have to do to change that jealousy attitude"?
Joyce: Well, I think that she's on her way. She seems like she's going in the right direction. You know, you can't fix anything until you know it's there. And facing truth is so important. And it's really hard for a lot of people to do. Like, I've come to a point where when the Holy Spirit shows me something I've done wrong or something I'm doing wrong, I used to just hate that. It was like, "Oh boy, another thing wrong with me". And I really come to realize that, that's a blessing. When he shows us something that's wrong with us, it's not to make us feel bad. It's...we can't do anything about something we don't know anything about. And so facing truth... I think sometimes... I remember one time I was having a problem with jealousy with someone, and I just felt like I needed to swallow my pride and tell somebody and that maybe that would break the power of it. And so I went to Dave and I just told him, I said, "I wanna tell you that I've been having a problem being jealous of blah, blah, blah". Well, Dave's never been jealous of anybody in his life. And he said, "Well, why are you jealous of her"? But it helped me just to own up to it, just to say it. And I can promise her that if she keeps going in the right direction and making the right choices each time she feels that...you know, it's not...temptation is not sin. Temptation is only sin if you take the temptation and go the wrong way with it. And so because it's a weakness for her, I'm sure that Satan tries to tempt her with it in a lot of situations. But saying, "No," and saying, "No," out loud is very helpful. We do have authority over Satan. So you submit to God. "I don't wanna be jealous. Now, I resist you, Satan, in Jesus name, I refuse to be jealous".
Ginger: Yeah, that's good. Sherry from Arizona says, "Jealousy is a struggle for me. I always want more and compare my life against others. I see my jealousy. I try hard to make it leave me, but it's always in my mind. How do I get these awful emotions off my heart and..." truly this is a key, "feel happiness for others who I perceive have more than I have"?
Joyce: You know, nobody gets everything, but everybody gets something. I think about Rachel and Leah. And Rachel was beautiful, but she couldn't bear children. Leah, the Bible says she had weak eyes, which I think must be a nice way of saying she wasn't very good looking. But she could just have baby after baby. And so, I saw from that story that not everybody gets everything, you know. The ideal situation would have been for Rachel to be beautiful and be able to bear children, or for Leah to be beautiful and be able to bear children. But I don't have it all. You don't have it all. There are lots of people that can...I see some like ministers, they can sing, they can play an instrument, they can preach. And I'm like, you know, "I could just be a one woman show if I could do all that," but I can't and it's not gonna happen. And so, we need to give ourselves to the things that we're good at. And greed, you have to fight greed. And the way I fight greed... and I don't even really feel greedy. I'm sure there was a time that I did. But I fight greed with purposeful generosity. I refuse to be greedy and always want more instead of being thankful for what I have. So I recommend studying the Word in that area. Have scriptures and then just... if you keep it up long enough, "the diligent," the Bible says, "will bear rule".
Ginger: Yeah.
Joyce: And so if you're diligent...you know, all these things that I have victory over now, I got 'em the same way she's getting it. You just have to stand your ground. You know, even just sending her question in was a step.
Ginger: Yeah, 'cause she says, "I know I'm dealing with it".
Joyce: Right. I'm glad that she brought it out 'cause I think a lot of people consider jealousy to be an acceptable sin.
Ginger: Well, thank you. We all need the advice and the help.
Joyce: Alright. Don't let jealousy have control over your life. Do what you know is right, not what you feel like doing. Thank you for sending in your questions. God bless you. Please enjoy your day.