Category: I’m Angry!

Romans 8:1-2 NIV
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,  2  because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Psalm 30:5 NIV
For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.

“At the heart of anger is this idea of ‘condemnation.’ When we think of righteous anger, we think of a righteous cause, a worthy reason for being angry, and condemnation that is deserved. For those who are in Christ Jesus, there is now no condemnation, because we have been set free by the Holy Spirit who gives us life, and leads us into life. We may be affected by patterns of anger around us or from others, or perhaps, old habits and thought patterns from our past erupt in our present living, and we might struggle with angry responses. Today, the Good News for each of us, is that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and we have been set free to live by the Holy Spirit. This is the big picture for us!” [excerpt from P. Nate’s Sunday Message]

We have been rescued out of a world of hostility, outrage and death. Even more so, we are led by the Spirit, to bear the fruit of self-control and love, so that we experience “rejoicing in the morning.”

Prayer: Lord, thank you that you loved the world so much, that you gave your only Son, so that I can experience eternal life with you.

Let’s worship to the song, “Unto Him” by Shane and Shane (click here).

-LB

Ephesians 4:31-32 NRSVUE
³¹ Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice. ³² Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Matthew 5:23-24 NIV
²³ “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

“What is perturbance that is left to soak overnight? Over days? Undealt with for months? Years? That turns into bitterness. Bitterness grieves the Holy Spirit, because it soaks into all our relationships. It affects our lives, it is the wrong control of anger on our lives. The language here for ‘make room for the devil’ is literally to give him a place to stay and work. Bitterness is allowing the enemy to use our anger to form our relationships from ‘there is no condemnation’ into ‘I say there is condemnation.’ Instead, we are commanded to give grace and forgiveness as we have been forgiven by the Lord. And we can, because there is now no condemnation, and we have been set free by the Holy Spirit.” [excerpt from P. Nate’s Sunday Message]

Prayer: Lord, you are our Shepherd; with you, we lack nothing. Lead our churches into your holy rest. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s come before the Lord again and worship in song to “Here Again” by Elevation Worship (click here)

-LB

Galatians 5:16, 19-21, 22-26 NRSVUE
¹⁶ Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 
¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are obvious… ²⁰ anger… and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
²² By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

“We have a choice. We can respond according to our old flesh patterns by having an outburst of anger, or we can respond by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit… The fruit of the Spirit is love, and the love of God is not dependent upon the object. We may not be able to control others, but whether we love them or not is not dependent upon them. It is dependent upon us. It is a measure of our character. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control, not child-control, or spouse-control, or staff-control.” Neil Anderson, Managing Your Anger: Resolve Personal Conflicts, Experience Inner Peace, and Win the Battle for Your Mind, pp. 24, 64-65.

Prayer: Lord, I am yours and your Spirit lives in me. Today, I will live by the Spirit, responding by faith and the power of the Holy Spirit so that the love of God would flow through me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to the song “Take You At Your Word” by Cody Carnes (click here).

-LB

 

Ephesians 4:26a NRSVUE
²⁶ Be angry but do not sin…

2 Kings 13:18-19 NIV
18 Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. 19 The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”

Ephesians 4:26 tells us, “Be angry!” This surprising command is coupled with an important direction – “but do not sin.” The Bible teaches us that there is a good way to be angry, to be upset at the things that the Lord calls us to be upset about. One example is in 2 Kings 13:14-19, where the prophet Elisha directs the king to strike the ground, signifying the victory that the Lord had given Israel. Although the king had been given the victory, he only struck the ground three times. But Elisha was angry!

We have been given the victory in Christ, but there are areas in our lives where we need to experience breakthrough, that requires us to be rightly angry. We are called to strike the ground more than three times! The Lord has given us this battle, may our anger be pure, be justified and for the upbuilding of another.

Prayer: Lord, thank you that you have promised us the victory in Christ! Fill me with your heart to strike the ground in victorious prayer today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to the song “Mighty God (Another Hallelujah)” by Elevation Worship (click here).

-LB

 

Let’s read aloud together the following passage:

Romans 5:6-11 NIV
⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

God sent his son into a world filled with anger and wrath, so that we might experience the Father’s love and believe in him.  We are no longer powerless to anger, allowing it to control and dictate our words and actions. Instead, we now boast in God who has overcome the world.

Prayer: Lord, thank you that you have overcome the world! I praise your holy name, for you rescued me, washed me, and gave me a new heart. Fill me with a new song today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

With this reality of what Jesus has done for us, let’s worship to the song “Nothing But the Blood” by Charity Gayle (click here).

– LB