Hey everyone. This is Troy. Today I want
to talk about dealing with anger. If
anger is something that you have dealt
with in your life, I want you to know
that you're not alone. This is an area
that I specifically have dealt with
myself before and I wanted to say that
the most powerful thing that I have ever
done to combat my own struggle with
anger in my own life is to say out loud
to God and to confess to Him that I need
His help. And that I need the power of
Jesus Christ to break the authority
of anger in my life. Until we reach
that point when we admit it openly to
God, I feel like we can admit it to
somebody else and we can even admit it to
ourselves, but we haven't given God
permission to help us deal with it.
I understand that it can be hard to
admit. it was hard for me to admit.
Especially when you grew up
underneath the effects of somebody
else's anger. For a long time I told
myself that—you know—I would never have
that problem. You see, a problem that you
grow up underneath, it's very easy to say,
"That's something I'm never going to have
to deal with. That I just decided
that's never going to affect me." But then
when you grow up and all of a sudden
you find yourself in the same situation
dealing with the same struggles, it can
be very hard to admit. Proverbs 22:24-25
says, "Do not associate with a
man given to anger; Or go with
a hot-tempered man, Or you will learn his
ways And find a snare for yourself." So I
honestly believe we can use this verse
an encouragement. Yes, it says don't hang
around with people who are angry all the
time or else you're going to learn to be
angry, but at the same time I believe we
can look at this and say "Okay, if I grew
up experiencing anger a lot of the time
then it's not weird that I struggle with
this. It's not unexpected."
So I want to give you three strategies
from God's Word that I believe are
essential to dealing with
anger. And the first is to not let your
anger turn into sin. I know a lot of
people say, "Well, getting angry is a sin."
But the Bible clearly states that it
doesn't have to start out that way.
Ephesians 4:26 says, "Be angry, and yet do
not sin;
do not let the sun go down on your anger."
Did you know that Jesus got angry and yet
He never sinned. I think that's a great
example for us that when we get angry we
can know that it doesn't have to lead to
sin, and that no matter what temptation
we face in that area that God has
already provided a way out. Now, on the
other hand there's been times in my own
life when I've used that verse, "be angry and
do not sin" to justify the sin in my
life that has been born from anger. And I
think that's a really bad thing to do,
but at the same time we cannot discount
this verse and say that all anger is sin.
Another verse that deals with this is
Romans 12:21. It says, "Do not be overcome
by evil, but overcome evil with good.."
The anger that Jesus experience was
righteous anger. II think a lot of
times we put so much passion in our life
towards the things that we want—the
things that we think we need—instead of
towards the things of God that we, a lot
of times, we experienced unrighteous
anger instead of righteous anger. And
that leads me to my next point. The
second strategy that I want to give you
for dealing with anger from the Word of
God is to deal with the source. Don't
just let anger rule your life and yet
never try to figure out why it's there or
where it's coming from.
I think a really big cause of anger in
a lot of people's lives and especially
in my own life has been unmet
expectations. I'm not talking about
good expectations either. I'm talking
about the expectations that I have put
on myself or the expectations I have
allowed the culture or other people to
put on me—
even people who are our meaning to
influence me for good. When I let their
expectations are my own expectations
from my life rule my life, then all of a
sudden I've let go of the expectations
that God has for me. Then when it
doesn't work out and when I feel like
"God you haven't come
through." I get mad at God. I get angry at
life.
Proverbs 19:3 addresses this and it says,
The foolishness of man ruins his way,
And his heart rages against the Lord.."
Have you ever gotten mad at God for
something that you did? I know I have.
That's where humility comes in. We need
to be humble enough—we need to allow the
Lord to humble us enough—to admit when
the problem is with us. Because, I
guarantee that one hundred percent of the time
the problem might be with somebody else
or it might be with us, but it's not with
God. Colossians 3:2-3 says, "Set your mind
on the things above, not on the things
that are on earth. For you have died and
your life is hidden with Christ in God."
What are God's expectations for us and
for our lives? We know from Scripture
that He has a plan for us and it is a
plan to prosper us and not to harm us.
But if we want to know His expectations
and we want to get those
hidden deep inside our heart, we have got to
read the Word of God. We have got to pick it
up and we have go to read it. We have go to let Him—
we have got to humble ourselves enough to let
Him replace whatever it is that we're
seeking with whatever He wants us to
seek. And the thing that He wants us to
seek the most is Himself.
It's Him. The three strategies I'm
talking about our: to not let anger
turn into sin, to deal with the source
of the anger, and the third one is to
remain in His love. When Jesus was
hanging on the cross, He had every right—
He had every right to be angry with His
crucifiers and to be angry with us, but He
did not.
Instead of being angry, He forgave those who
were crucifying Him, and the reason is
because He was One with the Father and He
was completely connected to the love of
the Father. I want to go back to
Colossians 3 and I want to read a couple
verses. Verse 12 to 15 says, "So, as
those who have been chosen of God, holy
and beloved, put on a heart of compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness and
patience; bearing with one another, and
forgiving each other,
whoever has a complaint against anyone;
just as the Lord forgave you, so also
should you. Beyond all these things put
on love, which is the perfect bond of
unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in
your hearts, to which indeed you were
called in one body; and be thankful." This
verse talks about remaining in the love
of Christ and to have the attributes and
also the characteristics of our Lord. And
one of those characteristics is
thankfulness. When we remain in the love
of Christ and we are grateful for what
He has done for us,
it allows us to humble ourselves and to
take on the attitude of, "I do not want to
be angry at you. I do not want to hold
anything against you, and the reason is
because my Lord hung on a cross and He
had every right to be angry against me,
but he did not. He was not. He forgave me. When
God had the right and He was justified
in sending Gis wrath, instead He sent His
love in the form of His Son.
When we remain in the love of Christ, it
replaces the unrighteous anger in our
lives with thankfulness. And that thankfulness
is a thankfulness that comes from the
forgiveness of sins—that we have been
forgiven. If you are watching this
today and there have been sins in your
life that have been born out of anger
and out of a habit of anger, and yet you
feel guilty about them and you feel like
you have not received forgiveness for
that, I want to tell you that Jesus
understands.
First off, He understands what it is like
to be angry. He did not sin when He was
angry.
That is true. But He understands the
emotion. Second off, He has
forgiveness for you today. He wants to
forgive anything that you have done, and it
does not take you or I living up to some
standard. It takes us asking out of faith
for forgiveness. Anger does not have to
rule your life. Anger does not have to
ruin your life. You have a Friend who was
already forgiven you if you simply
confess and ask for it.
Jesus told us that He did not come to
destroy men's lives but to save them.
Anger wants to destroy your life today,
but Jesus wants to save it.
I want to pray with you real fast. This
is not something I do very often, but iI
feel like I need to, especially because
this is something that—this is a
bondage that I have faced in my own life—
something that I felt like I could not
get out of.
Yet the authority and the power of
Jesus Christ came in and set me free
from it. And I want you to be set free
today. I am not telling you have to get
off of this video and then go and be
perfect, because God knows we are not
going to be perfect. But He does want you
to be set free today. He wants to begin
to make a change in your heart and in
your attitude and in your life. And it is not
a change that comes from you trying your
hardest or trying to be better or trying
not to be angry anymore. It is a change
that comes from His love entering your
heart through the Holy Spirit and through
Him working inside of you. So I would
just ask you, if you have dealt with
anger—
if this is something that you feel like you
need help with,
I would encourage you to confess it to
the Lord, to ask for help, and then to
agree with me in prayer right now. Dear
Jesus, I just ask that whoever is
watching this video, that You would enter
their hearts right now in the Name of
Jesus. I command any anger, any bondage, any
spiritual bondage of anger that has been
in their life to be removed right now.
I take authority over that in Jesus
Name. By the blood of the Lamb, we are
washed white as snow, and I believe that
when we confess our sins before You, we
are forgiven. We get to be set free. You
said "He who the Son sets free, is free
indeed." The anger does not get to rule in
our lives any longer, but rather we get
to seek You first, Lord. You get
to be the ruler of our life.
Lord, I just asked for Your love to fill
our hearts right now in Jesus Name, and
for thankfulness and joy to lead us, Lord,
and to give us strength through Your
Holy Spirit. We love You and we thank You
for this day God, and I thank You for
freedom
through Jesus Christ. In Jesus' Name I pray.
Amen. I love you guys and I thank you for
watching these videos, and thank you for
supporting me. I just want to encourage
you to go today and remain in His love.