When Anger Fills Your Heart

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. - James 1:19-20

5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind,

8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. - James 3:5-10

What is anger?

It's a feeling of hostility, annoyance and displeasure.

It's one of man's most evil temptations.

Many of us struggle with anger.

That is not what God wants from His people.

What then is the answer?

Prayer.

Be humble.

Repentance.

You can't change alone but God can change you.

I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; - 1 Timothy 2:8

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.  - Proverbs 15:1

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.

8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices

10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. - Colossians 3:5-10

God Works Through Good Resolves

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power. (2 Thessalonians 1:11)

Seeking the power of God to fulfill our good resolves does not mean that we don’t really resolve, or that we don’t really use willpower.

The engagement of God’s power never takes the place of the engagement of our will! The power of God in sanctification never makes us passive! The power of God engages itself beneath or behind and within our will, not in place of our will.

The evidence of God’s power in our lives is not the absence of our willing, but the strength of our willing, the joy of our willing.

Anyone who says, “Well, I believe in the sovereignty of God and so I will just sit back and do nothing” does not really believe in the sovereignty of God. For why would someone who believes in God’s sovereignty so blatantly disobey him?

When you sit back to do nothing, you are not doing nothing. You are actively engaging your will in a decision to sit back. And if that is the way you handle sin or temptation in your life, it is blatant disobedience, because we are commanded to wage a good warfare (1 Timothy 1:18) and resist the devil (James 4:7) and strive for holiness (Hebrews 12:14) and put to death the sinful acts of the body (Romans 8:13).

Second Thessalonians 1:11 says that it is by the power of God that we will fulfill our good resolves and our works of faith. But this does not nullify the meaning of the word “resolve” and the word “work.” Part of the whole process of walking worthy of God’s call is the active engagement of our will in resolving to do righteousness.

If you have lingering sin in your life, or if you keep neglecting some good deed just because you have been waiting around to be saved without a fight, you are compounding your disobedience. God will never appear with power in your will in any other way than through your exercise of that will; that is, through your good resolves — your good intentions and plans and purposes.

So, people who believe in the sovereignty of God must not fear to engage their wills in the struggle for holiness. “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (Luke 13:24). Only strive in the faith that in and through your striving God is at work to will and to do his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).

John Piper 

Are you willing to admit you’re bankrupt?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

What does it mean to be “poor in spirit”? To live so downcast, you could qualify as cruise director on the Titanic? No. Jesus is talking about someone who recognizes they are spiritually bankrupt in the sight of God.

Do you remember how God created this world? He spoke and swung this world into space. Let me tell you something about the nature of God: it is God's nature to make something out of nothing. When you finally say, “I am nothing in and of myself. I am morally and spiritually bankrupt,” then God says, “Now, there's some raw material I can work with.” So come to Him in brokenhearted repentance.

ACTION POINT:

Some don’t want to admit this, but have you ever come to God and admitted that you're a lost sinner in the sight of God? Have you said, “In my hand no price I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling”? Many of us sit in churches headstrong, unbroken, unbent, unbowed, thinking we're doing God a favor. You will never discover the true riches of the Christian life until you first admit your bankrupt condition before heaven.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Arm Yourself with Promises

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

When Paul says to put to death the deeds of the body “by the Spirit” (Romans 8:13), I take him to mean that we should use the one weapon in the Spirit’s armor that is used to kill; namely, the sword, “which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).

So, when the body is about to be led into a sinful action by some fear or craving, we are to take the sword of the Spirit and kill that fear and that craving. In my experience, that means mainly severing the root of sin’s promise by the power of a superior promise.

For example, when I begin to crave some illicit sexual pleasure, the sword-swing that has often severed the root of this promised pleasure is, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). I recall the pleasures I have tasted of seeing God more clearly from an undefiled conscience; and I recall the brevity and superficiality and oppressive aftertaste of sin’s pleasures, and with that, God has killed the conquering power of sin.

Having promises at hand that suit the temptation of the hour is one key to successful warfare against sin.

But there are times when we don’t have a perfectly suited word from God in our minds. And there is no time to look through the Bible for a tailor-made promise. So, we all need to have a small arsenal of general promises ready to use whenever fear or craving threaten to lead us astray.

Here are four of my most oft-used promises in fighting against sin:

Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Philippians 4:19, “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

And the promise implicit in Philippians 3:8, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

And, of course, Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Be constantly adding to your arsenal of promises. But never lose sight of the chosen few that God has blessed in your life. Do both. Be ever-ready with the old. And every morning look for a new one to take with you through the day.

John Piper 

What counts is what you are

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. Psalm 1:1-2

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

In the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments teach us the principles of how we are to live. In the New Testament, the Beatitudes teach us the heart of how we’re to live. The key word in all of that is the word “are,” as in who we are. Unfortunately, our world is more interested in the word “have”—what we have.

That’s what the secular world emphasizes: what we have. “Blessed” in the original language means to be “congratulated” or “successful” or “happy.” The world says you're congratulated, successful and happy not because of what you are, but because of what you have. If you have “things,” then the world says you’re “blessed.” The world also thinks happiness comes from your abilities, money, cleverness, possessions, good looks, power, or fame.

But we all know people who have a lot of all of that, yet are perfectly miserable. Happiness, the Bible says, comes not from what you have but from who you are. 

ACTION POINT:

Look inside. What’s the source of your happiness? Does it come from superficial things? Or from knowing your heavenly Father and that He is aware of all your needs, even before you ask Him? (Matthew 6:32)

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Where Our Comfort Comes From

He [Pilate] entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.” (John 19:9–11)

Pilate’s authority to crucify Jesus did not intimidate Jesus. Why not?

Not because Pilate was lying. Not because he didn’t have authority to crucify Jesus. He did.

Rather, this authority did not intimidate Jesus because it was derivative. Jesus said, “It was given to you from above.” Which means it is really authoritative. Not less. But more.

So, how is this not intimidating? Pilate not only has authority to kill Jesus. But he has God-given authority to kill him.

This does not intimidate Jesus because Pilate’s authority over Jesus is subordinate to God’s authority over Pilate. Jesus gets his comfort at this moment not because Pilate’s will is powerless, but because Pilate’s will is guided. Not because Jesus isn’t in the hands of Pilate’s fear, but because Pilate is in the hands of Jesus’s Father.

Which means that our comfort comes not from the powerlessness of our enemies, but from our Father’s sovereign rule over their power.

This is the point of Romans 8:35–37. Tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and danger and sword cannot separate us from Christ because “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Pilate (and all Jesus’s adversaries — and ours) meant it for evil. But God meant it for good (Genesis 50:20). All Jesus’s enemies gathered together with their God-given authority “to do whatever [God’s] hand and [God’s] plan had predestined to take place” (Acts 4:28). They sinned. But through their sinning God saved.

Therefore, do not be intimidated by your adversaries who can only kill the body (Matthew 10:28). Not only because this is all they can do (Luke 12:4), but also because it is done under the watchful hand of your Father.

“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:6–7)

Pilate has authority. Herod has authority. Soldiers have authority. Satan has authority. But none is independent. All their authority is derivative. All of it is subordinate to God’s will. Fear not. You are precious to your sovereign Father. Far more precious than the unforgotten birds.

John Piper 

Is God enough?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company. Psalm 55:14

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The church has the sweetest fellowship this side of Heaven. There are brothers and sisters who are loving, encouraging, and exhorting us as we serve alongside each other to the glory of God.

But suppose God took you out of that precious fellowship. What if you became so ill you had to be hospitalized with no visitors for days on end? What if you were transferred to Siberia and there wasn’t a Christian around for 250 miles? Or what if you decide not to smoke pot when all your friends are? Or decide to abstain from premarital sex? Or choose not to go drinking with your college buddies?

Is God enough when your dearest friend on earth forsakes or fails you? Is He enough of a friend that you can stand with Him alone? Corrie Ten Boom said, “You can never learn that Christ is all you need until Christ is all you have.”

ACTION POINT:

God is enough, but you won’t realize it until you have begun to cultivate sweet fellowship with Him. How? Someone once said the best way to spell “relationship” is T-I-M-E. Spend time with your Savior in prayer and meditating on His Word.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers