Restoration: Walls: Anger

If we keep with the mindset that we are restoring a home, then we have examined our foundation, repaired it where necessary, and we have taken our place under our right and proper covering.  But what about the walls?  The walls support the roof.  The walls provide the space for you to hang your mementos, such as photos, etc.  What we display on the walls in our homes is obviously important enough to us that we wish to share it with others. 

The condition of the walls are easy to see in  a physical home.  You can tell if the paint is chipped, if the sheetrock is cracked, and whether they are dirty or not.   There are hidden dangers in walls that can often be hidding from the naked eye and one must begin to break into the wall to see the damage.  Termites are pesty creatures and can destroy a home before the owner even knows it.  Termites are small pests that nest in the wood of a home and eat away at the structure.  The wood , particularly if it is painted, can look perfectly okay from the outside and as though there is nothing out of sorts. 

People work the same way.  Often we have built walls around ourselves for protection.  Walls of anger, bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, unworthiness, and even selfishness can eat away at our hearts and our spiritual health until we crumble.  To repair and restore our hearts, we must be willing to give up the anger, bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness... and whatever may be preventing us from fully receiving...and freely giving...the love of Jesus Christ. 

Anger - An entry way for the devil

Ephesians 4:26-27

26 - "Be angry, and do not sin" do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27-nor give place to the devil.

Wow...so we can give the devil a foothold by going to bed angry.  Holding onto anger gives the enemy an opportunity to put a foot in the door of our hearts.  All he needs is a point of distraction to begin whispering to us all kinds of bad and negative thoughts.  All those negative thoughts just provide fuel to already smoldering embers until we can become so enraged that we lose control of our emotions altogether.  Holding onto anger can begin to cloud our vision and damage relationships.  We tend to punish those that make us angry.  The human race is not naturally a forgiving people.  We hold grudges and make those that hurt or wrong us pay dearly for those hurts and wrongs.  My personal belief is that allowing our anger to be fed by the enemy we let in a spirit of manipulation (which has it roots in witchcraft) by continuing to remain angry at the person or the situation.  We become angry when we feel we have been dealt an injustice and the anger when directed at someone is designed to bring about the response we want from the person it is directed to.  That is what makes our anger a form of manipulation.

God does not do that.  Hallelujah He does not stay angry with us.  He forgives us and throws our sins as far as the east is from the west, so why can't we do the same?

Psalm 103:8-10

Psa 103:8 Jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and of abundant mercy.
Psa 103:9 He will not always chasten, nor will He keep His anger
forever.
Psa 103:10 He has not done to us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

How can we do anything less but forgive those that wrong us?  How can we not drop our anger and begin to practice the art of forgiveness? 

We must also be careful of our relationships and influences in our lives.  People that are angry and bitter people are not healthy for us to spend time with on a regular basis.

Pro 22:24 Do not feed a possessor of anger, and do not go in with a man of fury,
Pro 22:25 lest you learn his ways and take a snare for your soul.

We can actually learn the way of anger by spending time with angry people.  We see this every day in our workplaces.  We all have co-workers that complain constantly.  They always feel as if they are being treated unfairly, and let the entire office know about it.  Or what about the co-worker that is the office gossip?  These types of people do one thing and one thing only: Foster a spirit of strife and angst. There is no peace involved with people spreading rumors or constant complaining.  What those attitudes and actions reflect is what those people have "displayed on their walls."  We should be seeking peace and spreading love in our workplaces not participating in a deadly game of gossip.  Why is it a deadly game?

Pro 18:20 A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; he shall be satisfied with
the produce of his lips.
Pro 18:21 Death and life are in the hand of the tongue, and those who love it shall eat its fruit.
James 3:8 - But no man can tame the tongue.  It is an unruly evill, full of deadly poison. 

Wow...our human nature is so vile that our tongue is full of deadly poison.  How does this relate to anger?  Often, what we hear makes us mad at one thing or another...one person or another.  In anger, we have the tendency to not "think before we speak."  What is in our hearts also tends to be revealed through our words.  What we meditate on, what we fill our thoughts with, even something as simple as the music we listen to, all settle in our hearts.  What are you filling your heart with?

So, how do we break down the wall of anger? 

1Co 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I have become as
sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
1Co 13:2 And if I have prophecies, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
1Co 13:3 And if I give out all my goods, and if I deliver my body that I be burned, but I do not have love, I am not profited anything.
1Co 13:4 Love has patience, is kind; love is not envious; love is not vain, is not puffed up;
1Co 13:5 does not behave indecently, does not pursue its own things, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil;
1Co 13:6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth.
1Co 13:7 Love quietly covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love covers everything.  Everything we do, say, think, and feel should first be filtered through love.  This does not mean we will never experience anger.  How we handle the anger determines what is displayed on our walls to share with others.