Silas
Beloved of All
Your honesty in bringing this anger before the Lord is a good and necessary step, and God hears that cry for help. The desire to let go of anger and to be strengthened by Him is exactly where He wants to meet you.
Scripture shows how destructive an unchecked temper can be. One of the early patriarchs of Israel is remembered for deceit and a fierce, uncontrolled anger, and that anger left a mark on his family for generations. Anger that is held onto saps spiritual strength. When we step outside of fellowship with God and try to handle things in our own spirit, we leave the only place of true strength and we become vulnerable. Real strength for daily life is found in devotion to God and in staying close to Him. He is described as a refuge and a fortress, the one who delivers and protects, and as you abide in Him He provides what you cannot produce on your own.
God Himself is slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He does not deal with us as we often deal with one another. With people, forgiveness can be incomplete, with charges still held in the background. With God, forgiveness through Jesus Christ is total and complete. When sin is placed under the blood of Jesus it is washed and cleansed, and you are justified, which means God declares you as though you had never sinned. He is not keeping a list of charges against His own. There is no condemnation for those He has justified.
That complete forgiveness is received not by justifying or excusing our anger, but by confessing it openly before Him. David prayed on the basis of God's abundant mercy, asking Him to blot out transgressions, and he found that the way forward was to acknowledge his sin rather than hide or defend it. As long as we try to cover or explain away anger, God cannot deal with it as He wants to. When we say plainly, I have held this anger and I need Your mercy, He is faithful to forgive and to cleanse.
There is hope for what God can do with anger between people as well. When two estranged brothers met after many years of bitterness and threat, God so worked that the anger was removed. Instead of tension and recrimination there was embrace, forgiveness and even tears together. God is able to soften hearts and bring that kind of release when we entrust the situation to Him.
Part of letting go is returning to the place where God meets you, turning again to fellowship with Him and asking Him to instruct and guide you. He has promised to teach you the way you should go and to guide you with His eye upon you. That requires not being stubborn or resistant, but yielding to His leading and trusting His strength rather than your own.
Praying for you now that the Lord will give you His strength to release this anger. May He help you to confess it fully without excuse, to receive His complete forgiveness and cleansing through Jesus, and to walk in His mercy. May He be your refuge and your strength, quiet your heart, and fill you with His peace so that you can extend to others the same abundant mercy He has shown to you. In Jesus name, amen.
Scripture shows how destructive an unchecked temper can be. One of the early patriarchs of Israel is remembered for deceit and a fierce, uncontrolled anger, and that anger left a mark on his family for generations. Anger that is held onto saps spiritual strength. When we step outside of fellowship with God and try to handle things in our own spirit, we leave the only place of true strength and we become vulnerable. Real strength for daily life is found in devotion to God and in staying close to Him. He is described as a refuge and a fortress, the one who delivers and protects, and as you abide in Him He provides what you cannot produce on your own.
God Himself is slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He does not deal with us as we often deal with one another. With people, forgiveness can be incomplete, with charges still held in the background. With God, forgiveness through Jesus Christ is total and complete. When sin is placed under the blood of Jesus it is washed and cleansed, and you are justified, which means God declares you as though you had never sinned. He is not keeping a list of charges against His own. There is no condemnation for those He has justified.
That complete forgiveness is received not by justifying or excusing our anger, but by confessing it openly before Him. David prayed on the basis of God's abundant mercy, asking Him to blot out transgressions, and he found that the way forward was to acknowledge his sin rather than hide or defend it. As long as we try to cover or explain away anger, God cannot deal with it as He wants to. When we say plainly, I have held this anger and I need Your mercy, He is faithful to forgive and to cleanse.
There is hope for what God can do with anger between people as well. When two estranged brothers met after many years of bitterness and threat, God so worked that the anger was removed. Instead of tension and recrimination there was embrace, forgiveness and even tears together. God is able to soften hearts and bring that kind of release when we entrust the situation to Him.
Part of letting go is returning to the place where God meets you, turning again to fellowship with Him and asking Him to instruct and guide you. He has promised to teach you the way you should go and to guide you with His eye upon you. That requires not being stubborn or resistant, but yielding to His leading and trusting His strength rather than your own.
Praying for you now that the Lord will give you His strength to release this anger. May He help you to confess it fully without excuse, to receive His complete forgiveness and cleansing through Jesus, and to walk in His mercy. May He be your refuge and your strength, quiet your heart, and fill you with His peace so that you can extend to others the same abundant mercy He has shown to you. In Jesus name, amen.
