Anger Gives the Devil Access
(Rev. Barry Johnson and Rev. Rodney Johnson)
NOTE: New Light Faith Ministries and Barry Johnson Ministries, founded by Rodney V. Johnson and Barry O. Johnson, respectively, are partnering to offer Bible studies for Christians who are seeking to grow in their relationship with Jesus. This is a Bible study lesson, not a sermon. The Bible studies teach foundational truth that are designed to challenge, encourage and, most importantly, flame the fire of hunger in the Christian who wants to learn more about who they have become in Christ Jesus. The Bible studies you find on this site contains the written version of the lesson. However, these lessons also include a video and an audio file of the study, a PDF version of the lesson and a sheet for note taking. If you would like any of the additional resources for these studies, please email us at newlightfaithministries@gmail.com or bjteachingltr@gmail.com for more information or contact us at the email provided on both of our Sermon Central pages. Please visit our YouTube Channel (Barry Johnson Ministries; New Light Faith Ministries, Inc.) to watch or listen to these lessons as well as other available sermons. Be blessed.
Introduction
Hello everyone! This month’s Bible study is titled “Anger Gives the Devil Access.” Anger is a weapon the devil uses against us to hinder our walk with God while at the same time enhancing our availability to him. Before we get started, let’s open with a word of prayer.
Isaiah 54:17 tells us the following, and I will be reading from the Amplified Bible, “No weapon that is formed against you will succeed; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you will condemn. This [peace, righteousness, security, and triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from Me,’ says the LORD.” (Isaiah 54:17, Amplified Bible) In this lesson, our focus will be on anger, but there are weapons being formed against us each day for the sole purpose of subtilty opening “the anger door,” the most destructive weapon that we carry within us. What you will hear in this lesson is how our enemy seeks to cause anger, an emotion that every person has, to explode within us with the express purpose of ruining our witness for Jesus and diminishing our authority in the kingdom of God. Today we will be examining this “weapon” to gain an understanding on how to manage it.
Paul wrote to the Church in Ephesus and again I will be reading from the Amplified Bible, “(26) BE ANGRY [at sin – at immorality, at injustice, at ungodly behavior], YET DO NOT SIN; do not let your anger [cause you shame, nor allow it to] last until the sun goes down. (27) And do not give the devil an opportunity [to lead you into sin by holding a grudge, or nurturing anger, or harboring resentment, or cultivating bitterness]….(31) Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence.] (32) Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:26-27, 31-32, Amplified Bible) We can take away from these verses that there are appropriate times to get angry, but it is what we do when angry that can cause us problems. This is why Paul wrote in verse twenty-six, “(26) BE ANGRY [at sin – at immorality, at injustice, at ungodly behavior], YET DO NOT SIN; do not let your anger [cause you shame, nor allow it to] last until the sun goes down.”
As we think about the title of this lesson, the one point we want you to understand and remember is that God has promised us that no weapon formed against us will succeed (Isaiah 54:17). That does not mean that the weapons will not hurt or cause us pain. But it does mean that the result will be that they will not succeed in their purpose – unless we help them. Paul told the church in Rome, “And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.” (Romans 8:28, Amplified Bible)
This is why the Bible tells us to be angry and yet do not sin nor allow the anger to fester and grow by holding a grudge and/or harboring resentment. To begin our study, we want you to pause and answer the following questions. Do not rush but think about your answers and keep them close as you continue the lesson. We suggest that you document your responses.
1. What are some of the things that tend to make you angry and that you struggle to release?
2. How can we be angry without committing sin?
3. What is the impact of forgiveness on our anger?
4. How does forgiving those who hurt us affect our anger towards them?
5. Who benefits most when we forgive?
As I thought about my answers to these questions, I realized that there were things that made me angry when I was younger that still anger me today. For example, it angers me when someone with power uses that power to hurt someone they believe is beneath them. Whether it is a bully picking on a smaller child in school or a boss mistreating a subordinate on the job – my response is the same. Whenever I witness that behavior my blood boils and I get angry and sometimes I do not handle my anger appropriately. There have been times that I have made situations worse with my responses. It is difficult to be angry and not let that anger control you. But you know what – the most powerful force that I have found to combat my anger is forgiveness. Being willing to forgive closes the door to the anger before it is released. And here is the key point to our forgiving others: we are the true beneficiaries when we forgive. Yes, you heard us correctly. We benefit the most when we forgive others. So, with this background, let’s take a closer look at anger.
Understanding Anger
Anger is an emotion that is a part of all of us, but it affects some more than others in how it manifests. I want you to think about what you see when a cartoon character gets angry. Have you seen the movie “Inside Out?” It’s about emotions within a person. My favorite character was anger. When you see a cartoon character get angry, you see steam coming out of the ears, red creeping over the body from head to toe and then there is an emotional explosion. While it might be funny to watch in a cartoon, it's not as entertaining to witness in real life; in fact, it can be extremely scary. There have been reported cases of anger causing premature deaths. Anger can increase the risk of death, particularly from strokes and heart attacks. Usually, a single outburst of anger is not fatal for most individuals, but over time, frequent or intense anger can negatively impact cardiovascular health.
Anger triggers the release of stress hormones like adrenaline and noradrenaline, causing a surge of chemicals in the body. These hormones can lead to increased heart rate, blood pressure, and electrical instability in the heart, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Studies have shown a temporary but significant increase in the risk of strokes and heart attacks following angry outbursts, particularly within the first two hours. There is a reason that the word of God stresses to us to control our anger. The psalmist wrote in Psalms 4:4, “Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah.” This is great advice. Instead of immediate action, pause and be still.
Anger is defined as a “state of indignation and outrage, often resulting from distress caused by a perceived injustice or insult.” People will experience anger, but as we said earlier, the problem is what we do with the anger and one of the keys to understanding this weapon is to determine what triggers it in you. We oftentimes get angry over the wrong things and subsequently do not get angry over those things that should make us angry.
I want to share a personal story with you. There were times growing up when I walked around the house angry. I would purposely make sure that my family knew I was mad. My mother would look at me, smile (which angered me more because she was not responding the way I wanted her to) and say “Boy, why you walking around this house looking all swolled up?” I know the word “swolled” is not a word, but that’s what she would ask me. When I was a teenager, I was angry and expressed my anger in different ways which sometimes got me in trouble at home and at school. Once when I was in the 10th grade I was almost kicked out of school because of my anger but my grades got me a second chance. During this time, I did not really understand why I was angry all the time, but it seemed like it was always there ready to manifest itself at the least provocation. I believe that Ecclesiastes 7:9 (Amplified Bible) was true of me at that time in my life: “Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, for anger dwells in the heart of fools.”
As we said earlier, we are to be angry but not sin. To better understand how we can be angry and retain our relationship with the Lord and keep our blood pressure under control, we need to understand the difference between righteous anger and unrighteous anger. It is important to understand the distinction because unrighteous anger opens the doors wide for the devil to influence what we say and how we say it. But, when we are experiencing righteous anger, our responses tend to be biblical and more measured because we take the time to weigh the potential outcome of our actions. This does not mean that we always get it right, but at least there is an opportunity to quiet and harness that emotion and then pause and consider our options, which agrees with Proverbs 19:11 (Amplified Bible) which says, “Good sense and discretion make a man slow to anger, and it is his honor and glory to overlook a transgression or an offense [without seeking revenge and harboring resentment].”
Now, let’s examine two situations that demonstrate responses to unrighteous and righteous anger.
Examples of Unrighteous and Righteous Anger
The first example is one of unrighteous anger. Do you remember the story of Cain and how in a fit of anger he killed his brother Abel? Genesis 4:3-7 (Amplified Bible) says, “(3) And in the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground. (4) But Abel brought [an offering of] the [finest] firstborn of his flock and the fat portions. And the LORD had respect (regard) for Abel and for his offering; (5) but for Cain and his offering He had no respect. So Cain became extremely angry (indignant), and he looked annoyed and hostile. (6) And the LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you so angry? And why do you look annoyed? (7) If you do well [believing Me and doing what is acceptable and pleasing to Me], will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well [but ignore My instruction], sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you [to overpower you], but you must master it.’”
When we read this story, we see several emotions flowing through Cain. First, he was disappointed that God did not accept his offering. At the same time, he could possibly have also been disappointed or even angry at himself. Regardless, whatever he was feeling festered, and his brother became the reminder of God not accepting his offering. Whenever he looked at his brother, he was reminded of his failure versus his brother’s success. God recognized what was going through Cain’s mind and He attempted to guide him. God was trying to get Cain to realize, for himself, that the anger he was feeling was on the verge of becoming a sin, especially since it was being targeted at his brother. God warned Cain that if he did not get control of his feeling (anger) that sin was crouching at the door waiting for the opportunity to consume him. We know that Cain did not get over his anger which led him to kill his brother.
Cain experienced unrighteous anger, in that it was not the type of anger that Paul said was okay as children of God. Remember he wrote to the church in Ephesus to be angry “….at sin – at immorality, at injustice, at ungodly behavior….” None of these describe Abel, which could probably have justified Cain’s anger at him. No, Cain was mad at Abel because God accepted his offering and rejected his. Cain’s anger at Abel had absolutely nothing to do with anything that Abel had done. Again, the psalmist wrote in Psalms 37:8 (Amplified Bible), “Cease from anger and abandon wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evil.” Cain obviously spent a lot of time fretting – thinking about what the Lord had said, and, as a result, his anger slowly increased towards Abel. When it got to the point where he could not control it, he rose up and killed his brother.
Now let’s look at an example of what many would call “righteous” anger. In this example most people would experience anger, but we want you to consider if the response to the anger was justified. In Genesis 34 the following story is recorded: “(1) Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. (2) And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her. (3) His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman. (4) So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, ‘Get me this young woman as a wife.’” (Genesis 34:1-4) Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, was seen by Shechem and he was so infatuated with her that he raped her. After committing the act, he realized that he loved her and wanted to marry her. The phrase “spoke kindly to the young woman” in the Hebrew is “spoke to the heart of the young woman.” Shechem had asked her for permission to ask her father, Jacob, for her hand in marriage and Dinah had said “yes.” He goes to his father and begs him to get her for his wife. So, his father went to Jacob to get permission for his daughter to marry his son. Let’s continue at verse seven.
“(7) And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved and very angry, because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, a thing which ought not to be done. (8) But Hamor spoke with them, saying, ‘The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. (9) And make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves.’” (Genesis 34:7-9) Shechem’s father pleaded with Jacob and his sons to allow Dinah to marry his son. Her brothers were extremely angry about the rape of their and wanted revenge. The Hebrew says, “very angry” means “burned to them greatly.” The brothers did not hide their anger.
When Hamor agreed to do whatever was necessary for his son and Dinah to marry, the brothers gave the condition to which they would agree to allow the marriage. Genesis 34:13-16 records, “(13) But the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father, and spoke deceitfully, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. (14) And they said to them, ‘We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a reproach to us. (15) But on this condition we will consent to you: If you will become as we are, if every male of you is circumcised, (16) then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us; and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.’” (Genesis 34:13-16)
Jacob’s sons were so angry that verse thirteen states that they spoke deceitfully with Shechem and Hamor, his father. We must remember that when God brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt, He commanded them not to marry anyone in the lands they would journey to. Jacob and his sons knew this but his sons, in their anger, saw an opportunity to exact revenge on the man who raped their sister. Their anger was boiling. They told Shechem and Hamor that if all their men would become circumcised as they were then they would agree to intermarry with them.
We want to make a few observations before continuing. (1) Based on the wording of verse 13, we don’t believe that Jacob was aware of his sons’ plans. (2) This proposal itself was sinful because they had no right to offer the sign of God’s covenant to a heathen people. (3) They had even less right to use it merely for human agreement. (4) They dishonored the covenant of circumcision by using it as a mask for their treachery.
Shechem was so smitten by Dinah that he immediately agreed to it. Let’s pick the story up at verse twenty-five, after the men had been circumcised. “(25) Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males. (26) And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem's house, and went out.” (Genesis 34:25-26) Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, killed all the men while they were recovering from their circumcision. Now, was their anger justified? Based on the situation we believe that it was. But were their actions justified? Here is where we see how anger caused them to sin. Their killing of all the men of that city was not justified. Even if they had focused on just Shechem, it would not have been justified after they made an agreement with him and his father. We see in them what we read in Proverbs 24:29 (Amplified Bible): “Do not say, "I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for his deed.”
We know that they sinned because of Jacob’s response on his death bed. When he was blessing his sons, this is what he told Simeon and Levi: “(5) Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place. (6) Let not my soul enter their council; let not my honor be united to their assembly; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they hamstrung an ox. (7) Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.” (Genesis 49:5-7) Simeon and Levi were brothers in temperament; but, unlike their father, they were revengeful, fierce, and uncontrollable. Their swords, which should have been only weapons of defense, were weapons of violence, to do wrong to others, and not to save themselves from wrong. Simeon and Levi would not take the advice of their aged and experienced father; no, they thought they knew what needed to be done and they acted on their own passion rather than by his prudence.
Anger is the cause of most sins and exposes us to the influences of the devil and the judgment of God that results from that influence. Jesus says in Matthew 5:22 from the Amplified Bible, “But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice against him shall be guilty before the court; and whoever speaks [contemptuously and insultingly] to his brother, Raca (You empty-headed idiot)!' shall be guilty before the supreme court (Sanhedrin); and whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of the fiery hell.” Simeon and Levi took revenge on the man that raped their sister. But not just him, they killed all the men of the city and then took the spoils (property that they had). Their act of vengeance was so repulsive that Jacob on his death bed refused to bless them with a traditional blessing. In fact, he cursed their anger.
Anger is a profoundly serious problem in the Church. There are people in Church who are angry and are struggling to move beyond it to forgive the one who hurt them. Sadly, anger is a weapon pastors often use to intimidate and control their families and Church members. Parents may abuse children out of anger and believe that biblically it is okay. And then we have Christians who curse (use foul language) at others in “righteous” indignation believing that God approves of their actions. As we said earlier, we have Church members who get angry with other members and stop speaking to them or stop coming to Church or even leave the Church. Christians put on the happy face on Sundays while a volcano (anger) is waiting to erupt internally. And all of this is coming from the adults who are responsible for teaching the younger members how to walk with Christ.
Be Angry and Sin Not
Paul wrote that we were to be angry but not sin. This gets to the question about the weapons formed against us and how not to let those weapons influence us to get so angry that we sin. It is okay to be angry about being mistreated or facing injustice, but the issue is not getting angry. The issue is about what we do with that anger. Paul tells us how to deal with anger when it arises. He wrote in “(26) BE ANGRY [at sin – at immorality, at injustice, at ungodly behavior], YET DO NOT SIN; do not let your anger [cause you shame, nor allow it to] last until the sun goes down. (27) And do not give the devil an opportunity [to lead you into sin by holding a grudge, or nurturing anger, or harboring resentment, or cultivating bitterness]….(31) Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence.] (32) Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:26-27, 31-32)
In verse thirty-one Paul tells us what we need to remove from our lives and then in verse thirty-two he tells us how to do it. You cannot remove anger from your life without replacing it with something else. Paul tells us the things we are to remove from our lives which will enable us not to sin when we are angry:
Bitterness: It refers to feelings of sadness and anger, especially anger accumulated over time. It is likely a consequence of not feeling valued or appreciated in past situations and relationships. Because feeling bitter involves a mix of emotions, it can often be difficult to identify and express in simple terms. If you find yourself getting frequently irritated (another feeling/emotion), triggered by trivial things that in the past didn’t bother you, then you have probably become bitter. The writer of Hebrews wrote, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: (15) looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.” (Hebrews 12:14-15) The next thing we must remove is wrath.
Anger and Wrath: Anger is a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility. Mild anger that continues to fester and grow becomes wrath – intense anger. Anger is an intense emotional state involving a strong uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt, or threat. Psalms 37:8 says, “Cease from anger and abandon wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evil.” Wrath is intense anger (usually on an epic scale); belligerence aroused by a real or supposed wrong. Wrath is personified as one of the seven deadly sins and develops when a person doesn’t deal with his anger. Also Proverbs 15:1 (Amplified Bible) says, “A soft and gentle and thoughtful answer turns away wrath, but harsh and painful and careless words stir up anger.” Finally, Proverbs 27:4 (Amplified Bible) says, “Wrath is cruel and anger is an overwhelming flood, but who is able to endure and stand before [the sin of] jealousy?” Next on the list is clamor.
Clamor: The word means to make a demand loudly; to utter or proclaim insistently and noisily. The Amplified version describes clamor as the “perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, and fault-finding” that some Christians have refused to put away. When we see clamor, what we are seeing is unforgiveness. Proverbs 22:24-25 (Amplified Bible) says, “(24) Do not even associate with a man given to angry outbursts; or go [along] with a hot-tempered man, (25) or you will learn his [undisciplined] ways And get yourself trapped [in a situation from which it is hard to escape].”
Slander: Following clamor Paul mentions slander (evil speaking). If you are bitter, full of wrath, anger, and constantly making demands, is there any conceivable way that you will be able to speak in a form other than evil? How can you speak in a loving manner when you’re bitter, full of wrath, angry and constantly clamoring? Proverbs 20:19 says, “He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with one who flatters with his lips.”
Malice: It is described as spitefulness, verbal abuse, and malevolence (unkindness, wickedness, evil and nastiness.) Malice is defined as “the intention or desire to do evil; ill will.” When you get to the point of having malice in your heart towards another person that is anger that has transformed into wrath which if left alone will act. We have seen this play out repeatedly during the last few years when kids come to school with guns because they have been bullied. They had reached a point where they had had enough and believed that they had to act and put an end to it. We have also seen this with adults. So, what do we do?
How do we stop it from getting to that point? Well James gives us a clue when he wrote in James 1:19-20 (Amplified Bible): “(19) Understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving]; (20) for the [resentful, deep-seated] anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God [that standard of behavior which He requires from us].” (James 1:19-20, Amp) We also see this same truth in Proverbs 14:29: “He who is slow to anger has great understanding [and profits from his self-control], but he who is quick-tempered exposes and exalts his foolishness [for all to see].
Paul gives us an idea of how to act in verse thirty-two. He is what he says: “(32) Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you.”
Be Kind: The first thing he tells us to do is to be kind to one another. He is not saying be kind only to those who treat you right, we must be kind to one another regardless of how we are being treated. Sometimes this can be hard to do in our flesh. But we are not supposed to be walking in our flesh once we accept Christ. We have been empowered to do and be better.
Tenderhearted: Next Paul said we are to be tenderhearted – compassionate, tender, and benevolent to one another. It is hard for anger to fester and develop into wrath when we take on the disposition of being tenderhearted. Finally, he tells us to forgive people. Before we get into forgiveness, we want to remind you of what Paul said to the Church in Corinth from First Corinthians 13:4-7. It says, “(4) Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. (5) It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. (6) It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. (7) Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].” (First Corinthians 13:4-7, Amplified Bible) Before we close we want to touch on the impact of forgiveness on our anger.
Anger and Forgiveness
The last thing Paul says we must do is forgive one another just as God in Christ has forgiven us. We will spend some time here because we must understand the importance of forgiving one another and anyone else who does something against us. If you cannot forgive, you cannot release the pent-up anger. If you cannot forgive, you cannot defeat the weapons formed against you as they will keep piling up. But most important, if you cannot forgive then you lock God’s hand on being able to forgive you. It does not matter how badly someone has done something to us, we must be ready to forgive.
Let’s examine what the Bible says about forgiveness. Please understand that we will not cover every verse, but just a few so that you understand how important forgiveness is when dealing with anger. Before we read these verses, I want you to keep in mind what God has said about His word. He said in Isaiah 55:11, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” And in Hebrew 13:8 we read the following: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” In other words, God’s word is true and everything He says in it pertaining to His action will be done.
Matthew 6:9-15: “(9) In this manner, therefore, pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. (10) Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (11) Give us this day our daily bread. (12) And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. (13) And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’ (14) For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (15) But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” If we are not willing to release our anger and forgive others, then God is not able to forgive us of our sins.
Matthew 18:21-22: “(21) Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ (22) Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.’” According to Jewish custom, a person only had to forgive someone three times, so Peter thought he was being generous, but Jesus tells Peter that we are to forgive for every offense; regardless of how many times the person offends us. We must be ready to forgive. That does not mean we have to remain in a hurtful situation but not carrying the anger within us to the extent that we cannot forgive the person. Luke 17:3-4 (Amplified Bible) says this about forgiveness: “(3) Pay attention and always be on guard [looking out for one another]! If your brother sins and disregards God's precepts, solemnly warn him; and if he repents and changes, forgive him. (4) Even if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive him [that is, give up resentment and consider the offense recalled and annulled].”
Romans 12:17-21: “(17) Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. (18) If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. (19) Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,’ says the Lord. (20) Therefore ‘IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM; IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP COALS OF FIRE ON HIS HEAD.’ (21) Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Do you believe God’s word as He does? Do you believe that God will enable you to manage situations with your supposed enemies if you allow Him? The Bible tells us to overcome evil with good – not with revenge or justified, righteous wrath, but with good. We will end this lesson with three more references.
Mark 11:25-26: “(25) And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. (26) But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
Luke 6:36-38: “(36) Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. (37) Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. (38) Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
Colossians 3:12-13: “(12) Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; (13) bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
It is okay to get angry, but what are we doing with the anger? As Christians, we must control our anger. Now you may be thinking, “That’s my problem! I can’t control it! Before I even think about it, I explode. I just have a short fuse!” But the truth of the matter is that you can control it as we talked about previously. We can control our anger because God commands it. Often in Scripture God commands us to control our anger. He would not do so if He had not already put inside of us the ability to do it. One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control, which certainly includes the control of anger. Not to control our anger is to deny the power of the gospel in our life and the principle of the one body of Christ and to be in sin. If you smash your thumb with a hammer, you don’t cut off the thumb in anger for getting in the way or whack off the hand that held the hammer for being so careless (while you are saying a few choice words). No, you nurture the sore thumb back to health because it’s part of your body. If we remember that we are members of the same body as other believers, we will control our anger.
One more point, we can control our anger because our experiences prove it. We have all been angry and hidden it when the need called for it. We have all had experiences where we controlled our anger, but it required the desire to do so. Remember the story of Jacob’s sons, Simeon, and Levi? What began as righteous anger got so out of control that it ended in cruelty, violence, and murder.
Close and Prayer
It is our prayer through this study on anger that you know and understand how it is a tool our enemy uses against us to keep us at odds with who we have become as a child of God. We can be angry and there are times when we should absolutely be angry. But we must direct that anger at the one who is influences us to be angry, the devil. Whenever we feel anger rising within us, we acknowledge it and then say “No” to it. That one word defeats the influence the devil is trying to work in our lives through anger.
