adminWE closed our discussions last week encouraging you to unpluck the roots and not the leaves of your anger. It is a painful process. You should rather choose which pain you would rather have. Your life is too precious to dwell in a rotting, stinking arena of anger. It is toxic to yourself and others. Anger is worse than ebola let us deal with it!
Peter tells us to be well-balanced and temperate, withstanding the devil at his onset (1 Peter 5:8-9). When you begin to feel anger, it is the perfect time to exercise the fruit of self-control. You may have a good reason to be angry, but do not use it as an excuse to stay that way. Instead of denying or justifying it, ask God to help you deal with it in a positive way. Romans 12:21 gives good advice: Do not let yourself be overcome by evil, but overcome (master) evil with good. When Satan attacks you, instead of getting mad, go out and bless someone. Responding in a positive way is the direct opposite of what the enemy wants you to do, defeating his plan to keep you upset. It does not come naturally, and it is not always easy, but when we do what we can do, God will do what we cannot do. Do not be quick in spirit to be angry or vexed, for anger and vexation lodge in the bosom of fools (Ecclesiastes 7:9). If we hang on to anger, we are just being foolish. We must turn the anger and the people who caused it over to God and let Him take care of it. “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (requite), says the Lord (Romans 12:19). Trust God and He will take care of you and protect you. You cannot change your past, but when you give it to God, He will use it to bring you a better future.
You may ask if all anger is sin. No, but some of it is. Even God Himself has righteous anger against sin, injustice, rebellion and pettiness. Anger sometimes serves a useful purpose, so it is not necessarily always a sin. Obviously, we are going to have adverse feelings, or God would not have needed to provide the fruit of self-control. Just being tempted to do something is not sin. It is when you do not resist the temptation, but do it anyway, that it becomes sin. God sometimes allows us to feel anger so we can recognise when we are being mistreated. Yet even when we experience true injustices in our lives, we must not vent our anger in an improper way. We must guard against allowing anger to drag us into sin. Ephesians 4:26-27 tells us: When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down. Leave no (such) room or foothold for the devil (give no opportunity to him). Refuse to give the devil any opportunity to get a foothold in your life through anger.
All anger, regardless of its cause, has the same effect on our lives. It upsets us, causing us to feel pressure. Keeping anger locked inside and pretending it does not exist can even be dangerous to our health. Most of the time we are only hurting ourselves, and the person who angered us is not even aware of it. So we must take responsibility for our anger and learn to deal with it, process it and bring closure to it, and that will relieve the pressure. I have been through some rough times in my life, and for many years those experiences caused me to feel miserable.
When you face your anger and decide to deal with it God’s way, you can overcome it. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to be stable and walk in the fruit of the Spirit. We have the power to forgive those who do injustices in our lives and to love the unlovely.
Take strides to your liberation. People are born to be free; it is a gift from God. We are not to be free from responsibility, but free to be led by the Holy Spirit. Any time our freedom is taken away or given away, we experience anger. Are you willing to go through whatever it takes to be free, or do you want to stay in the mess you are in for the rest of your life? If you want to be free, just start doing what God wants you to do, one step at a time, and you will eventually walk out of your mess. When we are battling anger, we must realise that “. . . we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12 KJV) When Satan makes you angry, remember that he is trying to keep you from accomplishing the will of God in your life.
In 2 Timothy 4:5, Paul told Timothy to be calm, cool and collected and to keep performing the duties of his ministry. That is good advice for all of us. When we get angry, we should calm down and start doing what God has called us to do. You can be bitter or better it is up to you! If you are mad about something, instead of letting it ruin your life, turn it into something good. Overcome evil and anger by praying for those who hurt and abuse you. Forgive them and be a blessing to them. It may not be easy at first, but when you make the decision and stick with it, God will take care of the rest.
I am not asking you to be saints or sheepishly move in unjust and bad relationships. Instead I am saying it is possible to deal with the circumstances you are in in a godly and beneficial manner for yourself and your community. Life is meant to be an enjoyable time that is why in creation God always saw that it was good because it is meant to be good and never otherwise. Deal with your anger! Let go and let God take over! Take responsibility by doing good even to those you think do not deserve good because of the ill they cause you. Take love a little further by loving even those that you find hard to love, not expecting them to love you back! Ngena ngeheart and love! Shalom!
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