Hello and welcome to Meditation Time.
My name is James Whitaker.
Anger is a difficult emotion to deal with.
Everyone gets angry sometimes and we often respond incorrectly to it.
It can damage relationships and cause immense amounts of stress.
Anger is an emotion defined as a strong feeling of annoyance,
Displeasure or hostility.
In Psalm 37 8 it says,
Stop being angry,
Turn from your rage,
Do not lose your temper,
It only leads to harm.
This verse tells us how God feels about anger and how He feels when we let it turn to rage.
And it comes with a warning that this can lead to harm.
The Christian speaker Joyce Meyer said,
Anger is not a sin,
It's what we do with it that becomes sin.
She based this thought off the Bible verse Ephesians 4 26-27,
And don't sin by letting anger control you,
Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry,
For anger gives a foothold to the devil.
These verses don't say don't get angry.
They say don't let sin control you.
Don't let that anger control you.
The sin isn't being angry,
It's what we do with it.
We're all going to be angry at times and it's not feeling anger that's a problem.
The problem comes when we act on those feelings.
Proverbs 16 32 says,
Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
And he who rules his spirit mightier than he who takes a city.
This means when we feel a certain way,
We can choose not to act on it,
If we know it's against the word of God.
God gives us a way of controlling our response to anger through the Holy Spirit.
In Galatians 5 22-23 it says,
But the Holy Spirit produces the kind of fruit in our lives,
Joy,
Love,
Peace,
Patience,
Kindness,
Goodness,
Faithfulness,
Gentleness,
Self-control.
There is no law against these things.
Self-control is a free gift to the Holy Spirit.
It means we have the ability to control our reactions and respond in the right manner.
It's easier to deal with anger at its onset than once it has had time to grow.
In 2 Corinthians 10 5 it says,
We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God,
And break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God.
We capture like prisoners of war every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the anointed one.
This means we should be proactive with our thoughts and feelings and take them captive and measure our response to them against the word of God.
Today is there anything or anyone that you feel anger towards?
If anything comes to mind,
View the situation under the lens of God.
Let's slow things down and do some breathing as we transition into a time of prayer and meditation.
We will pray together and then spend time in individual prayer and meditation.
We will close in prayer after 10 minutes.
Let's breathe.
In through your nose,
Long and deep.
Out through your mouth,
Long and slow.
In through your nose,
Long and deep.
Out through your mouth,
Long and slow.
Gently close your eyes.
In through your nose,
Long and deep.
Out through your mouth,
Long and slow.
In through your nose,
Long and deep.
Out through your mouth,
Long and slow.
Let your breathing return to its normal rhythm and let your eyes stay closed.
Let's pray.
Dear God,
Thank you for being with us today.
Thank you for sending your Holy Spirit with the gift of self-control.
We pray that we will remember to use this gift when we need it.
Let our anger be brought into captivity and let us view it through your eyes and respond accordingly.
Grant us peace as we spend time meditating on what your word says about anger and self-control.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for the time we were able to spend with you today,
Meditating on your word.
I pray that as we walk through our day that we would remember to pray and take our thoughts and emotions captive,
That we would practice self-control and not let it go beyond anger,
That we would be at peace and have ease in doing it all.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
I hope you have an amazing day.
God bless.
