QUESTION #2
**Do we get angry? Are there any uprisings within? Is it true that we still lose our temper? Does wrath hold us at times in its grip?
Angry?! Me?! A redhead?! NO! NEVER!! Ha ;-) According to stereotypes, redheads have short fuses and are known to be angry. Often times if we aren’t aware, we can use labels the world gives us as an entitlement to sin.
Anger can creep into our lives in such small ways and there are always justifications we can use as an excuse if we don’t keep a close check on our hearts. Currently as I’m typing this, a tree is being chopped down in my neighbor’s yard and that started as I battled a migraine this morning on little sleep while construction rerouted morning school traffic down my street. There are unpreventable situations at times that can cause us to lose our cool if we don’t pay attention and control our uprisings. Has anyone stood in long lines yet this holiday season? Was your patience and peace tested? Surely someone has cut you off in traffic recently right? What was your outward reaction? How about the reaction in your heart? It’s obvious when we outwardly react in anger and throw a fit, but what about the tumultuous tantrums in the quiet of our hearts?
You see it’s not everyone’s personality to be outwardly angry, but the thoughts and meditations of anger in our hearts are just as costly to our intimacy with Jesus. King David was a man who expressed righteous and unrighteous anger. And might I add, he was a fellow redhead ;-) He sinned in his unrighteous anger, but with his righteous anger he was able to obey God. God LOVES when we are warriors for His kingdom, but He can’t corporate with an enraged heart as it doesn’t fit His kingdom. There are many horrible unjust situations that occur in our world and can happen in our personal lives. God’s will is to bring healing to our angry hearts for every injustice against us and to fill us with a heart of justice combined with mercy. Evaluate your heart today and again, ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. Anger is an area we all must deal a death blow to if we are to remain in our love walk with Jesus.
APPLICATION:
1. What triggers (events, words, people, situations) cause anger to rise up in your heart? What is the cause of you losing your cool? Take inventory of the last time you remember feeling this way and ask God to help you understand what caused it.
2. Write your experience down and ask for His help to replace that ungodly anger and associated experience with His love that brings healing.
3. Make an effort the next time you feel yourself expressing anger to ::STOP::, to pray, and to choose a healthier and holy perspective.
SCRIPTURES:
Proverbs 19:11 Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
James 1:19,20 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God
Ephesians 4:26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil
Proverbs 15:18 A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.