Anger

Anger is a strong feeling of displeasure. Spiritually, it is a response to an event where we feel violated. The origin of the word comes from the Old Norse angra, meaning "to grieve, vex, distress; to be vexed at, take offense with”. Both God and the enemy have a goal for anger. God’s uses anger to expose the things that we care about.  God got angry at the Israelites for turning against Him, exposing just how jealous He gets when we turn against Him. Jesus got angry at the money changers in the Jerusalem temple, exposing how angry God gets when we turn our service to Him into an opportunity to earn money.  The enemy uses anger to convince us to respond to life in ways different from how God has told us to respond.  When we choose to respond in our own way, we show that our way of dealing with life is more effective than how God has told us to do it.

Since the enemy cannot kill, steal, or destroy God’s covenant, he will use our emotions to drive us away from His covenant instead. The more decisions we make in our anger, the further we get away from God’s Will. The further we get away from God’s Will, the further we get away from the life He has planned for us. The more we get away from His Plan, the more we regret our decisions and move towards a place of self-condemnation, self-doubt, and sometimes even self-hatred. We can also begin to feel like God has abandoned us.

It is important to understand that anger is not necessarily a bad spirit, but it is does make us vulnerable against the enemy. Like happiness or heartbreak, it is a natural emotion. But, like heartbreak, it leaves a hole in our spirit for demonic spirits to try and take vacancy.  All spiritual vulnerability creates spiritual vacancy.  Decisions and thoughts are the most important things to protect when experiencing anger.

Positive Ways to Deal With Anger:

Validate yourself.  Anger is more about what are we thinking rather than what we are feeling. I once heard somebody say, “I am mad, but the fact that I was right helps me feel better.”  It is okay to validate yourself for being mad.  After all, we are mad for a reason.  Remember: God’s goal for anger is to expose what we care about the most. It is not the world’s job to uphold your values; it is the world’s job to pull you in the direction of its values.

Get understanding.  Remember that everyone does not think the same.  Your reason for being angry may not be at the front of your offender's mind (no matter how much it makes sense).  God made us all differently and with different backgrounds.  Thank God that everybody does not think the same, and use take this as an opportunity to explain to your offender why you are upset.

Anger is a strong emotion often backed by strong values, but we can secure ourselves against the enemy's attempt to use it against us.  We are more than what our past mistakes in our anger say about us, and we can begin to foster positive ways and positive thoughts to handle it.

By: Minister Micah