Angry at Change, Process, others? Part 5

Angry at Change, Process, others? Part 5

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

How to Handle Anger in Godly Ways:

1)      Acknowledge it. We all get angry and so recognize it for what it is. Pour out your thoughts and feelings to God.  Psalm 55: 1-3

Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me.

My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught at the voice of the enemy, at the stares of the wicked; for they bring down suffering upon me and revile me in their anger.

2)       Learn to get angry slowly. Angry words spoken quickly are usually regretted later. Make sure you have good reason to be angry. Listen and ask questions.

                What did I feel angry about today?

                Where is my anger coming from?

                Why did I feel so threatened that I believed my anger was justifiable?

                Is my intense anger over something that’s actually insignificant?

                Is my anger for the benefit of another? Or is it directed against another?

                Did my anger further God’s interests or my own?

                Did I provoke anger in someone else today?

3)      Change your beliefs about God. Where is our anger rooted? Most of our feelings are based on deeply held beliefs about where life and security and significance are found. Most often our anger is not rooted in feelings, but in what we believe about God.

The challenge is not to change our feelings, but to change our thinking. Paul urges us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is- his good, pleasing an perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

4)      Confession. Praying to God not just that you were angry, but that you need to live life on God’s terms not yours. It also means repent of the angry resentment you have held against God and all the anger you inflicted on God and on others.

It also means turning toward God and choosing to live by the belief that he exists and that he rewards those who look for him, even when things don’t turn out the way you think they should.

5)      Under New Management. We can change what we believe by giving ourselves to the Spirit of God and under his influence, we will find our anger increasingly shaped and restrained by a new kind of self- control. By placing our anger under God’s care we will not dissolve and lose all anger. But we will be free to express and new and godly anger toward the kind of sin in ourselves and others that slowly angers the heart of God. How we respond to God determines how we work through the more immediate issues of our anger. How we ultimately answer God’s call, and respond to him determines our eternal destiny.

Anger is such a part of our world today- we don’t like something, someone, some person’s actions we get angry. Yet what does this mean about how we are called to love. Yet there are moments when anger is the ideal response. But how we control that anger is what this series of reflections have focused upon. Growing angry slowly enables us to collect our feelings and thoughts and then we are able to put them alongside each other.  After discerning the reason for the anger we can act accordingly and through prayer we may be able to control this anger.

PRAYER

Loving God help us to grow in wisdom as we seek to have you control our anger. We know we will get angry but as we seek to live like Christ help us and show your way to respond in love and with hope. Amen.

RESOURCE  “When Anger Burns: A Biblical View on Handling Anger” by Tim Jackson. Grand Rapids, MI: Our Daily Bread Ministries. (p.28-0323-27)  Watch for a new topic next week!