You Do Not Have an Anger Problem

I’ve had a few opportunities over the past couple of weeks to become angry.  Really angry.  A couple of times, I gave in to those opportunities.  It was not pretty.  I think I resembled something like the female version of Yosemite Sam.  On one of those instances, I even went to bed angry.  I know better.  (Thank God for grace!)

I finally started questioning the things that had upset me, basically stepping outside of my own emotions, and looking objectively at each of the situations.  What did they have in common?  Was there a pattern?  Were these random occurrences, or was there a possibility that I was being tested in some area?

And guess what?  There WAS a pattern.  It WAS a time of testing.  Once I understood what was going on, I actually laughed out loud!  When the next test came, I hung up the phone, and announced to the enemy (not the person on the phone, but the evil one behind the attack), “Bring it on, loser!”  I’m really glad I was alone … some people might think I’m a little nuts!

Here’s the point.  No one can MAKE me angry.  IF someone else can MAKE me angry, or sad, or happy, for that matter, then that person is in control of me.

So why do we become angry?

Anger is one of two instinctive responses to fear.  The other is to run away.  It’s called, in psychological terms, the FIGHT or FLIGHT response.

Fight-or-flight response, response to an acute threat to survival that is marked by physical changes, including nervous and endocrine changes, that prepare a human or an animal to react or to retreat. The functions of this response were first described in the early 1900s by American neurologist and physiologist Walter Bradford Cannon (Britannica, 2016).

Anger, then, is not the problem; it is only a response, a symptom.  The real problem is fear.  When there is a threat, real OR perceived, anger is a natural response.

YOU DO NOT HAVE AN ANGER PROBLEM

Do you have a fear problem?

The good news is, we have NOTHING to fear!!

The Apostle John tells us in 1 Jn. 4:18 that there is no fear in love, because perfect love completely drives out fear!

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  Just as it is written, ‘FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.’  But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:35-39).  If the Apostle in this passage could be assured of God’s love to him, and write such words, in the middle of the persecution that they were enduring, why can’t we?

Jesus Himself told the 12, whom He had just appointed as Apostles, and to whom He had just given authority over unclean spirits, diseases, and sicknesses, ““Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul…” (Matt. 10:28)  He told them, “You will be tortured, but DON’T BE AFRAID!”

Our final word of encouragement comes from the Old Testament, a verse that is one of my personal favorites:  “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

The Lord is with you.  Regardless of your circumstances, regardless of what the people in your life may do or say, regardless of what hurdles you may face, you do not have to fear!  Be strong!  Be courageous, because THE LORD IS WITH YOU!

Peace,

Davina

Works Cited

Britannica, T. E. (2016, April 13). Fight-or-flight response. Retrieved from Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/topic/fight-or-flight-response