“Angry Inside”

“When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beck, and be silent”. Psalm 4:4

Is anger sinful? No, though it can certainly lead to sin. The above scripture depicts anger springing form anxiety, which proves especially troublesome on sleepless nights. The psalm prayer suggests that, rather than venting your worry in outbursts against others, you should examine your own heart.

As I read God’s word, learning that in this life we will never be as close to God as we ought to be or desire to be. Because of our Sin. So, my question is, “What am I loving so much right now that my heart is moved to feel angry? “If you ask that question, it maybe because many, many times the thing you’re defending is your ego, your pride or your self-esteem; and not understanding that God will never fail us, so that we can Trust and Forgive others.

” Leaving me with the help of the Holy Spirit, this thought, “Have a Life of obedience.” “If you Love me keep my Commandments”.

The new man may, get angry, but he does not sin. The new man knows, how to let go of his wrath, thus giving opportunity to the devil. The devil’s work is to accuse and divide the family of God, and sow discord among then. When we harbor anger in our heart, we do the devils work for him. 

The observable explanation to jumbled love is tidy that love. But we can’t flip a switch for that. We can’t just stop loving one entity wrongly to start loving the most lovable object rightly — that is, unless we’re strengthened by the Spirit to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Ephesians 3:14-19 

We have all live through anger at some point in our lives, and it can be a real problem. Though it starts out as an innocent feeling, it can quickly grow into something critical that’s hard to manage.   

But with God’s help, we can learn how to deal with our feelings, walk in His peace and grace.   

I’ll admit, years ago I pretty much did and said anything I felt like. I have a pretty strong personality, so if you said something to upset me, there was a good chance I would let you know about it with bad intentions and incredible meanness.  All the while, brushing off my rude behavior by saying “just kidding” even though knowing I was not joking.  Why?  Was its self-center ness or no regard for others? You see as a young man born decades during the heyday of the Civil Rights movement; I saw victimhood as my defining element of my existence. I used anger to fight this fear of disenfranchisement that fueled my anti-social behavior. 

Do anger people have a sense of fulfillment by being mean, and engaged in mean behavior, to gain attention and power? Maybe or do they confuse respect with fear, believing that they will gain respect by mistreating others. Who has the control the weak or the powerful? A plaguing of my immature childish mind, of yesterday servitude in mind. but now my conscious eye’s view, victimology as not a spectator sport, but as an enlightening tragedy.

“When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well? “’ (John 5:6). How easy can it be for a victim mentality to creep in? 

The first thing we can see here is that Jesus knew that this man did not get sick a week ago. This disease had gripped this man for most of his life. One thing Jesus could know is that someone who has a disease for a long time can end up wrapping their identity around their disease. What comes against us can end up becoming a part of our identity if we are not discerning.

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong”.  

2 Corinthians 12:10

Thank God, over time He changed me through His Word and helped me begin to manage my emotions through the power of His Holy Spirit.  “Anger is not a sin—it is what you do with it that becomes sin.”  

I learned how to operate in self-control, which means I didn’t always say everything I wanted to say. Now, that’s Free from being dumb!

The Bible says, When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down. Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him].

These verses don’t say, “Don’t get angry” or “If you ever get angry.” They say, “When [you are] angry.”

point of not being able to control yourself “and do not give the devil a foothold”. Ephesians 4:27

Stay Cool, Calm & Collected.

 2 Corinthians 10:5 instructs us to take every thought captive into the obedience of Christ before it becomes a stronghold in our mind. In other words, we can choose what we are going to think and dwell on.   

So, when you feel yourself getting upset, the sooner you say “No!” to those thoughts and feelings, the better. Instead of letting the anger control you, you can pray something like:   

“God, please help me. I know being upset is not going to get me anywhere. This person hurt my feelings and that was wrong, but I’m not going to act on this. With Your grace and strength, I’m going to control myself, and I’m going to trust You to take care of the situation.”   “Do you really want to be healed?

We cannot control how others act or respond, but we can make the changes that need to be made on our part. Overcoming a temper is not accomplished overnight. But through prayer, Bible study, and reliance upon God’s Holy Spirit, ungodly anger can be overcome. We may have allowed anger to become entrenched in our lives by habitual practice, but we can also practice responding correctly until that, too, becomes a habit and God is glorified in our response.

I want to encourage you to forgive those who have hurt you. Let go of any angry feelings you’re holding on to and place those situations in God’s hands as we join Jesus of his mission, with the mindset of a rescuer. God is bigger than our emotions. 

God Bless You and This Ministry!

   

“Blowin in the Wind”

 “When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent.” Psalm 4:4

Our Lord tells us, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3). What does that mean? This statement is full of meaning and yet is subject to misunderstanding especially when you are gloomy. We not only have to redefine our notions of the word blessed, but also have to understand the puzzling phrase “poor in spirit”, that blows in the wind.

“Poor in spirit” means you recognize your poverty before God. It’s an attitude toward yourself that says you know and affirm that you haven’t lived the life to which God has called you and that you’re incapable of doing so now. 

Sometimes it takes a song to get us to meditate on God and have nothing to fear.  My objective here is to help you think about God as I did when I first heard the song, “Blowin in the Wind” by Bob Dylan. At the time my thoughts were non-spiritual, treating it as reading biblical verses in a place full of rush hour traffic, roaming around with no obedience. 

Here I was, in the midst of a bitter depressing place, Allen House, an orphanage in Cincinnati, Ohio, sitting in frustration. Sometimes we draw parallels between dated situation and the struggle we are having while in the airstream of our loving Father, screaming, “Can we find peace”?

I was experiencing a moment sensing some kind of presence – that God was near, especially in my heart and mind? Thinking, “fear of people is unnecessary if you “Trust” God. What do you Fear when you are angary?

“A fool give full vent to anger, but the wise quietly holds it back”. Proverbs29:11

Have you prayed for guidance and felt you received it?  Or have you had spiritual experiences of a different kind? To me this was the first mark of a person who walks with God.  But was the ear listening? The supervisor began to play this rock and roll song on his guitar. It was a time in my life where I was questioning everything and struggling with my anger.  Had I given up on living a happy normal life? I was in survival mode. So, the last thing I wanted was a pious experience, I thought.

I was like a restless piece of paper Chasing in the pointless of the wind, things at that time which do not have eternal significance— only chasing problems after the wind. Those youthful utterances as the chorus’s sound, vertebrate back, “just blowing in the wind.” There isn’t much more I can say about this song, except the following verse resonated in my mind even today:

Romans 10:17 says that “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” 

Yes, and how many times must a man look up

Before he can really see the sky?

Yes, and how many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people, cry?

Yes, and how many deaths will it take ‘til he knows

That too many people have died? It’s in the wind

Is anger sinful? No, though it can certainly lead to sin. This prayer depicts anger springing from anxiety, which proves especially troublesome on sleepless nights. The psalm suggests that, rather than venting your worry in outbursts against others, you should examine your own heart. 

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) Any pursuit that does not have as its aim the furtherance of God’s plan is merely chasing after the wind (1 Corinthians 10:31).

“In your anger do not sin”^: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” Ephesians 4:26 

The new man may get angry, but he does not sin. The new man knows how to let go of his wrath, thus giving opportunity to the devil. The devil’s work is to accuse and divide the family of god, and sow discord among then. When we harbor anger in our heart, we do the devils for him. We have all experienced anger at some point in our lives, and it can be a real problem. Though it starts as a harmless feeling, it can quickly grow into something dangerous that’s hard to control.

In a world where personalities materialize as big and God is often regarded as a prop on the stage of our own performance that’s, all about me. People who are poor in spirit know that they’re a small blip on the radar screen of eternity. They know God is wonderful and awe-inspiring in His holiness. They know He owes them zilch and they see that, even if viewed at their best, they’re unworthy servants who completely depend on His mercy.

Meditating on God’s awesomeness greatly affects our ability to be poor in spirit. But this Beatitude, Matthew 5:3, offers something else that should humble us: the promise of heaven. Interestingly, that’s a promise for the present. All the other blessings promised in the Beatitudes are future promises. Take a look:

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
MATTHEW 5:4-6

God wants you to speak His word to your own ears, and as you do, your faith arises, “He will restore my soul”; “He is my provider” … Learn to say what God says: in your mind, in your life, and in your world. And as you confess His word, it embeds in your heart instead of Blowing in the Wind! 

God Bless You and This Ministry!

“Unusual Logic”

Folks, do you assume you recognize what Christianity is all about? But then are your assumptions based on unusual logic accurate? Logic is math with ideas instead of numbers. It is a way of identifying the relationships between ideas. So, "Is God logical?" To interpret this question. One is to ask whether or not belief in God or the idea of God is logical. The other is to ask if God Himself is a logical being. The answer to both is, “A hard Yes, God is logical,” for similar reasons.

Logic is one of the natural laws God put into place at the creation of the universe. First and foremost, God acts in a logical way: He plans, communicates, discusses, and acts. God even speaks of “reasoning” with human beings (Isaiah 1:18). He distinguishes between truth and untruth, a core aspect of basic logic (John 7:18). God does not always act in ways human beings would desire, but this does not mean His actions are “illogical. “God created mankind with a mind and the ability to reason. Being a creation of God, logic is a good thing which, when used properly, can point us toward God. Unfortunately, it is easy to use logic incorrectly without empathy.

If you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding; if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures-then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God”.  Proverbs 2:3-5

Society will tell you that you should always make logical decisions. All decisions should be based on fact, on reason, on thinking, but not on emotion, they argue. I don’t completely disagree. But sometimes logic is only part of the equation. 

Once during a bible study, the question was asked,” DO ALL RELIGIONS LEAD TO GOD”?

Well now, thinking about the logic of this question, I thought,” Can I go into a phone booth and dial any phone number and get home? No, there’s only one number that’ll get me home. I could be sincere, but I could be sincerely wrong. The truth is, all roads don’t lead to Rome and all religions don’t lead to God”. You see, it all depends on which direction you take. Jesus said this: 

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). I’m betting my life on the fact that He was right because I ‘Trust’ Jesus and he knows more about it than I do.

 I thought to myself how could I view this only, logically, and see the truth plainly without clouding the issue with religious jargon or rules; without the heart being involved? The truth is, most people are not going to be significantly influenced by just logic to believe something contrary to their convictions. Usually, sentiment trumps logic. And, although neither Jesus nor the apostles were strangers to logic, it was not their primary tool.

Do you look at things with the Heart as well with logic”! What do you mean? The answer to the magnitude of the role of the heart in our decision making is this. Massive. It is a big role in our decisions, whether we want them to or not.  Where are those thoughts coming from? I mean where are those actions coming from? Well, they are coming out of the abundance of the heart. 

So, my assumption from this is not that we hold back our minds at the door when we enter the community of wisdom, like: Oh, logic doesn’t matter here, I have some emotions to deal with. No, that is not where I am going. But that we recognize that every result, the ones that God reveals to us by his word; every decision are an intricate response of heart, hand and the spirit of the mind. And that is okay. Because it seems to be a lot of concern that if emotions are involved that might mess things up. We are to be renewed in both. When Peter says to be "ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15), he didn’t mean to start with pure reasoning, for the existence of God. He meant to be ready with the story of our own relationship with God and the Biblical hope that has as its foundation faith in God.

The logic faculties are not perfect and the heart filled faculties are not perfect. And neither is useless. When the mind has done what it can do in discerning the pros and the cons of a situation that is when the heart comes in. That is what you should do as an example, weighs, the pros and cons of job possibilities and by all means spouse, who you are going to marry and so on, weighing the possibilities with your mind as the psalmist says, however, “Delight yourself in the Lord and the Lord will give you the desires of your heart.” 

But equally convincing is the "firsthand evidence" of the Christian life. We are “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14); the darkness may not like the light, but it cannot deny its existence. “In your Christian modeling show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us” (Titus 2:7-8). 

So, when you have done all the logic weighing you can; renew your mind deeply that is centered on delighting in God, therefore, those desires that go up, they are not unimportant. They should be paid attention to as they accord with God’s will committing our hearts to God: 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Truly our God is an awesome God...unchanging, eternal, unlimited in power, in majesty, in knowledge, in wisdom, in love, in mercy, and in holiness. May God help us to honor Him using both logic and the heart with dependence and trust in Him through the next “crisis” or decision we face, for He is a “very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). 

“Come now, let us reason together,”    says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,    they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,    they shall be like wool. Isaiah 1:18

God Bless You And This Ministry!