05-01-12 / Overcoming Anger

http://godtalklouisvilleky.blogspot.com/2012/04/05-01-12-overcoming-anger.html


Proverbs 29:11 - A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.

"I FEEL PRETTY" by Westside Story

Lyrics to "I FEEL PRETTY" by Westside Story
http://www.metrolyrics.com/i-feel-pretty-lyrics-westside-story.html


Today's message is a humorous discussion of a very serious topic - the topic of anger.  Oh, how some people have the ABILITY to get under your skin!  Oh, how you give them so much power over your emotions!  Who is in charge anyway when you let people rile you up so easily - you, or them, or someone else?


I am not perfect in this department - God is still working on me!  But I know that God has a good plan to help me overcome letting another man's anger become a part of me.  Why let their gloom steal my joy?


I referenced Anger Management, a movie I watched a few years back.  I remember the scenes of how Adam Sandler had so much built-in anger, and Jack Nicholson worked so hard with him to help him come to terms with his anger.  Although the Bible doesn't advise us doing some of the crazy antics they did, it was an interesting movie about a man coming out of his shell, as it were.  The song "I FEEL PRETTY" is a reference to a song that Sandler had to sing as part of his "deliverance" from anger.  


What does the Bible ask of us?  To not let another man's anger become ours.  Anger is a fruit of the flesh.  Galatians 5:19-20 / ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

 ²⁰Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies...

Where does this anger come from?  It is actually a part of us when we are born - the Bible teaches that we are born in sin.  We inherited it from the word "go".  Some might say, "How is it fair for God to judge us if we are born this way?"  However, you have a choice to remain in that state, or to be healed from it and grow up.  If you choose to embrace your anger, then you stand accountable for the punishment that your anger, and all the fires it creates, entails.

This does not mean that the Bible is against anger.  It is against UNHOLY ANGER.  Jesus was filled with zeal and went into the temple of God in John 2:14-17 with a whip to drive out all of the greedy moneychangers from the house of God.  He HATED how they abused God's people who had to pay for animals to bring sacrifice to the Father, and therefore He proceeded to clean the temple.  In this, He did not sin - His will never departed from the Will of the Father.  However, we often depart from God's Will when our anger rises up.

You and I both know it - we don't have to hear a lecture on how we let our anger get out of control.  We know that it happens.  If we don't put a bridle on our anger, it escalates out of control, and the next thing you know, you are justifying bashing someone's head into a brick wall for mouthing off at you.  Come on, be real - you have never felt this type of anger?  If not, you are a special person!  

I testify that I have let my anger rule in my heart for a lot of my life, but I don't want to remain in bondage any longer!  I pray that you will likewise awaken to righteousness if anger is a curse that dominates in your life.  Let God begin to cleanse you from the desire to take out your anger on someone else, and let Him fill you with wisdom from above, which is "...first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy" (James 3:17).

God bless!