Sometime in 2021, I started to notice little things that annoyed me greatly.  Slowly, these things built up and I became indignant… and then angry. For the past two years, my anger has felt justified… Of course, I have been wronged by so and so person… how inconsiderate of them! For a period of time, I was even angry at God! But while I have  been harbouring and  justifying my anger for these many months, it has become like a canker that has eaten away at my peace of mind and has made it difficult for me to realize God’s purpose in my life.

For the past few months, I have been praying  and asking God to help me find my way back and a few days ago, I had a dream. In the dream, I saw someone I have been upset at for almost a year, who looked at me  in the eye and asked, “why are you so angry at me?” I thought hard and long and realized I was unsure of exactly what I was mad at. When I  woke up, I asked God (well if I am honest, I was probably just asking myself) to show me why I was so angry. And to my surprise God answered and this is what He told me:

Anger is a seed that grows and becomes a deciduous tree. It forms deep roots in the heart of a person and with each anger-inducing incident, the roots get deeper and then it starts to bear fruits. The fruits include resentment, malice, hatred, depression, anxiety, rage, and murder.  To illustrate, God reminded me of the story of the impure spirit in Matthew 12: 44-45 that finds a conducive environment and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself to come and occupy, making the final condition of the person worse than the first… anger works just like that. It starts as something small but if left unchecked, will slowly gain a foothold and occupy your heart; slowly pushing out the spirit of God from your heart and replacing the fruit of God’s spirit with its own fruits.

Anger in and of itself is not a bad thing, it has its good side too. It can be a very potent motivator but when we allow it to take control of us it becomes an inhibitor. That is why God admonishes in Ephesians 4:26-27, “In your anger do not sin; Do not let the sun go down while you are  still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” Anger should run its course for a short period of time and then the issue must be resolved so the devil does not use that anger as a gateway into your heart.

So, what should we do when the time limit of anger is reached and the feeling of anger still persists? 1 Sam 15:11  gives us a clue: “Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the LORD all that night”. He recognized God’s sovereignty over everything and turned over the situation to God in prayer but he did not stop there. we read in verse 12 that he rose up early in the morning to confront King Saul (the object of his anger). After praying, Samuel took  tangible steps towards resolution.

 So, I asked God, “now that I am stuck in this funk of being angry all the time, how do I get out of it?” A good starting place is Psalm 51 (particularly verses 10-12):

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Confess the anger to God and ask for a renewal of His spirit in your heart. The spirit of God will illuminate the areas where anger has brought darkness and restore joy back into your life. God’s spirit will continue His work of restoration and renewal by manifesting His fruit in your heart. You will experience more love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23) in your life and the anger that has taken root will slowly start to dissipate. You will find that you will become more forgiving and will start to become more oblivious to why you were angry, allowing you to let go of any ill-feelings towards others. The fruit of the Holy Spirit will help you deal with anger at its very roots: the more love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control you have, the less angry you will become at people and circumstances. And one day, you will wake up and realize you are not angry anymore. This will take some work and a willing heart. That is why God admonishes us with these words:

“… walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these… Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (emphasis mine).

Galatians 5:16-21; 25 KJV

Keeping in step with God’s Spirit  is a daily affair. God’s spirit will help us know when to be angry and when to let go. The Holy spirit will help us set limits and healthy boundaries for our anger. His work is to ensure that our lives reflect Jesus Christ and if anyone knows when to be angry and when to relent, we have an example in God through the pages of Scripture. What those limits and boundaries are will vary for each individual and each circumstance but the constant will be that  it will be spirit-led!

I would like to conclude with a prayer for more of God’s grace to be even-tempered and spirit-filled. Here is a compilation of some scriptures that caution against anger for your reading pleasure https://www.bible.com/search/bible?query=anger

Yours Truly