ANGER

KJV Dictionary Definition:

What is Anger?

Anger is a violent passion of the mind excited by a real or supposed injury; usually accompanied with a propensity to take vengeance, or to obtain satisfaction from the offending party.  Consequently, anger is an emotion projected toward someone the person feel has deliberately or indirectly done them wrong. 

Anger A Defiler

Among the sins that “so easily besets us;” anger is the most publicly defiling. Why? because is operates like an explosive. Yes! you read correctly, just like an explosive that can cause so much damage; as it scatters fury everywhere. The bible is full of scriptures warning us against anger. In fact, the bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 7:9 that those of us who allow anger to rest become fools. Anger will cause more damage than what caused the person to become angry in the first place. Anger is a deadly trap; so we are wise to stay away from anger and release all that cause anger to God. Let’s ponder the following quotes about anger.

• Temper is what gets most of us into trouble. Pride is what keeps us there – Anonymous. 
• When you resort to shouting in conflict, you are reacting in the flesh. You have lost control of the only person you can control: yourself –Neil T. Anderson.
• No matter how just your words may be, you ruin everything when you speak with anger – John Chrysostom.
• The proud man hath no God; the envious man hath no neighbor; the angry man hath not himself. What good, then, in being a man, if one has neither himself nor a neighbor nor God – Joseph Hall.
• There is nothing that so much gratifies an ill tongue as when it finds an angry heart – Thomas Fuller.
• Just as the winds whip up the sea, so does anger stir confusion in the mind – John Climacus.
• I choose gentleness… Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself –Max Lucado.
• Sometimes it is easier to hide behind self rejection and loathing rather than deal with specific areas of sin that the Lord points out to us. But what is easier often becomes a snare, never allowing us to truly take personal responsibility for our actions. For example, it can be easier to say, “I am a horrible person and utterly hopeless, so why even try?” than to say. “I repent of my selfish anger and with God’s grace, choose to work with Him so I no longer live in this anger any longer” 
  –Katherine Walden.
• What we need today is not anger but anguish, the kind of anguish that Moses displayed when he broke the two tablets of the law and then climbed the mountain to intercede for his people, or that Jesus displayed when He cleansed the temple and then wept over the city. The difference between anger and anguish is a broken heart. It’s easy to get angry, especially at somebody else’s sins; but it’s not easy to look at sin, our own included, and weep over it – Warren W. Wiersbe.
• Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savour to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back – in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you – Frederick Buechner. 

What Does The Bible Say About Anger (Got Questions.Org)

Christian counselors report that 50 percent of people who come in for counseling have problems dealing with anger. Anger can shatter communication and tear apart relationships, and it ruins both the joy and health of many. Sadly, people tend to justify their anger instead of accepting responsibility for it. Everyone struggles, to varying degrees, with anger. Thankfully, God’s Word contains principles regarding how to handle anger in a godly manner, and how to overcome sinful anger.” Anger is not always sin. There is a type of anger of which the Bible approves, often called “righteous indignation.” God is angry (Psalm 7:11; Mark 3:5), and it is acceptable for believers to be angry (Ephesians 4:26). Two Greek words in the New Testament are translated as “anger.” One means “passion, energy” and the other means “agitated, boiling.” Biblically, anger is God-given energy intended to help us solve problems. Examples of biblical anger include David’s being upset over hearing Nathan the prophet sharing an injustice (2 Samuel 12) and Jesus’ anger over how some of the Jews had defiled worship at God’s temple in Jerusalem (John 2:13-18). Notice that neither of these examples of anger involved self-defense, but a defense of others or of a principle.”

Anger can become sinful when it is motivated by pride (James 1:20), when it is unproductive and thus distorts God’s purposes (1 Corinthians 10:31), or when anger is allowed to linger (Ephesians 4:26-27). One obvious sign that anger has turned to sin is when, instead of attacking the problem at hand, we attack the wrongdoer. Ephesians 4:15-19 says we are to speak the truth in love and use our words to build others up, not allow rotten or destructive words to pour from our lips. Unfortunately, this poisonous speech is a common characteristic of fallen man (Romans 3:13-14). Anger becomes sin when it is allowed to boil over without restraint, resulting in a scenario in which hurt is multiplied (Proverbs 29:11), leaving devastation in its wake. Often, the consequences of out-of-control anger are irreparable. Anger also becomes sin when the angry one refuses to be pacified, holds a grudge, or keeps it all inside (Ephesians 4:26-27). This can cause depression and irritability over little things, which are often unrelated to the underlying problem.”

We can handle anger biblically by recognizing and admitting our prideful anger and/or our wrong handling of anger as sin (Proverbs 28:13; 1 John 1:9). This confession should be both to God and to those who have been hurt by our anger. We should not minimize the sin by excusing it or blame-shifting. We can handle anger biblically by seeing God in the trial. This is especially important when people have done something to offend us. James 1:2-4, Romans 8:28-29, and Genesis 50:20 all point to the fact that God is sovereign over every circumstance and person that crosses our path. Nothing happens to us that He does not cause or allow. Though God does allow bad things to happen, He is always faithful to redeem them for the good of His people. God is a good God (Psalm 145:8, 9, 17). Reflecting on this truth until it moves from our heads to our hearts will alter how we react to those who hurt us” (GotQuestion.org).

12 Key Scripture Verses Warning Us About Anger

• Proverbs 22:24-25 NLT “Don’t befriend angry people or associate with hot-tempered people, or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul.
• James 1;19-20 “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
• Proverbs 29:11 “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.”
• Ecclesiastics 7:9 NLT “Control your temper, for anger labels you a fool.
• Proverbs 15:1 ” A gentle word turn away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
• Proverbs 15:18 NLT “A hot-tempered person starts fights; a cool-tempered person stops them.”
• Colossians 3:8 NLT “But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language.”
• James 4:1-3 NLT “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.” 
• Matthew 5:22-24 NLT “But I say, if you are even angry with someone,you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot,[e] you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone,[f] you are in danger of the fires of hell.So if you are presenting a sacrifice[h] at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.”
• Psalm 37:8 NLT “Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper— it only leads to harm.”
• Proverbs 16:32 “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.”
• Ephesians 4:26 “BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger.”

Dealing With Anger

Ephesians 4:26-27 gives us some very valuable steps for dealing with anger. “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, And give no opportunity to the devil.” Anger can be poisonous to the person who is angry and to those around. “The toxic poison of persistent anger enables satan to build a stronghold. Once this satanic stronghold has become established, then the devil, whom Jesus referred to as the father of all lies, proceeds to deceive the one filled with the anger. “He (the devil) was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is not truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). “When we chooses to hold to yesterday’s anger, the devil is given legal license to come in and establish his foothold and whisper his lies. He convinces the angry person that it is all right the way they are feeling because a wrong or supposed injustice was done. Paul, in Eph.4:28-32, continues giving practical direction for resisting the foothold and schemes of the devil. He writes, “…Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Unresolved Anger (Sermon Index)

Unresolved anger results in grieving the Holy Spirit who lives in each believer (Romans 8:9; 1 Cor.16:19). The Holy Spirit, can experience grief like Jesus, the Son of God, did. (Matt.23:37, John 11:35) As followers of Jesus when we let the sun go down on our anger, then we give the devil a foothold in our lives. Anger produces such un-Christ-like actions that the Holy Spirit is grieved. Such grieving of the Spirit is dangerous because it leads to resisting the leading of the Holy Spirit and also resisting conviction (Acts 7:51). As Paul warned the Thessalonians, “Be joyful always; Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). We are commanded to: “Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” We must also, “Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1Thess.5:22-23). To willfully persist in rage and anger very is dangerous both spiritually and physically.“Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us. For we know the one who said,“I will take revenge.  I will pay them back (Hebrews 10:29-30).“When we refuse to forgive and insists on angrily holding a grudge, such an individual is in essence trampling the forgiveness that Jesus provided through His death and resurrection. Jesus says in Matt. 6:15 the result is, “If you do not forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will not forgive your sins.” To refuse to forgive is to directly insult the Holy spirit and to refuse the God’s grace. We must let go of the anger, leave the offence behind, and cancel the debt we believe the offender owes us. The Bible clearly state as we saw in Matthew 6:15, and in the parables that Jesus taught, such as the one we find in Matthew 18:23-35, that if we want to be forgiven by God, we must forgive others. If we insist on refusing to forgive and extend mercy to others, it will block the flow of God’s mercy and forgiveness to us” (James 3:11,14). Consequently, unforgiveness is totally incompatible and devoid of all that it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

God wants us to release all our hurt and pain to Him. That’s why He encourages us to “cast all cares upon Him because He cares for us.” As Christians, we should have a love for the offender just as Christ loves us. This cannot be done in our own strength but we call upon God who is able to help us in everything. Jesus says, “with man it is impossible but with God all things are possible.” Therefore, the spirit of God compels us to go humbly to those who hurt us on a one-to-one basis and point out the error of their ways. In James 1:19 we read, “Wherefore, my beloved, let everyone be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” The poison of unresolved anger keeps this from happening.  Because of Satan’s deceptions, such action seems totally justifiable to the one filled with the anger. For that reason Heb.12:15 warns, “see to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” The root of bitterness, deepen inner unresolved anger. Personal tragedy or the hardships encountered in daily living. Such difficulties can actually result in anger towards God. Heb.12:5-8 warns, “Do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and chasens everyone He accepts as a child! Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and every child of God undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children.”

We are also promised that no matter what problem or trouble we may face, we do not go through it alone, for “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’”(Hebrews 13:5,6). As you face hurt, pain and injustice, never forget you are not alone. Don’t let anger fester within. Ask the Your Heavenly Father God to show you any unresolved anger. Then by faith release the offender through forgiveness. Be set free from the prison you have been placed in of bitterness and hatred resulting from the anger upon which many suns have gone down on. When someone has angered you, go to them and “speak the truth in love,”(Eph.4:15) following the direction given in (Ephesians 4:26-32). Jesus has come to set us free from all that holds us in bondage. That includes unresolved anger and its toxic poisons of the past; which will easily beset us. Confess this anger which has been with you for so long as sin. Believe that Jesus will set you free from it, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be entangles in the yoke of bondage. Give no space or occasion to anger; release everything to God. If you do not, it is only a matter of time before anger and rage explode without warning. Just like the background picture above which appears to be calm. However, unsurrendered angry feeling will erupt like this waterfall below; flowing everywhere; touching everything. It is in our best interest to resist anger and release all rage and fury to God today and remember “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9).