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. James 1:19-20
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do His just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord. Zephaniah 2:3
O Lord, according to all Your righteous acts, let Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Daniel 9:16
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see Me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. John 16:7-10
Anger, justice, and righteousness. Righteous anger stems from an anger that arises when we witness “an offense against God or His Word.” Righteous anger doesn’t seek to hurt. Love doesn’t retaliate. Righteous anger stems from love because it recognizes that someone’s actions or words stray from the path of righteousness. And love desires to bring someone back to the truth. Nehemiah experienced righteous anger when he discovered the abuse of poor people in his community (Nehemiah 5:6). When one experiences or sees terrible evil against innocent children they can experience righteous anger.
In this late hour when evil is dominating so much of society and government, righteous anger and natural anger are both on display. How can one know the difference? God actually displays His anger (Psalms 7:11). When we display our anger it most often is without self-control and not of God or the Holy Spirit. God is very slow to anger (Psalms 145:8). God obviously has much more patience than we do. Man’s anger is on display everywhere.
We also must understand where the offense is really coming from so that we don’t harm the wrong parties. Ephesians 6 says — we wrestle not against flesh and blood; …well that would be all humans and animals. The source of the evil and rebellion against God stems from the ‘fallen’ who have corrupted the world with sin.
So the real question is …what do we do with righteous and unrighteous anger? Righteous anger must be guided and directed by the Holy Spirit for proper dissemination. This must be done through direct involvement with the Holy Spirit with Him guiding and directing. It cannot be utilized within ourselves — for we do not sit on God’s Throne of judgment. Unrighteous anger is something that must be filtered through the fruit of the Holy Spirit and never directed at any human. So many utilize their anger to accomplish their selfish goals and wants, excusing their behavior as ‘righteous’ because it accomplishes what they see as ‘good’ for them. Human anger can be defined in many ways — like explosive, brewing, or embittered. All anger must be brought before the Holy Spirit for discernment and guidance. The Holy Spirit will then personally instruct us in how to deal with our anger.
Anger can lead to vengeance — which is God’s territory and not for us… as again it leads to us sitting on His Throne of judgment. Often man’s vengeance leads to many innocent being hurt or killed in the pursuit of the unrighteous judgment. We’ve seen this in war —over and over. The Holy Spirit is the One to guide us in righteousness and convict us or our sin and put us in the right standing with God.
So in summary what should a person do when anger is present? Pray… asking the Holy Spirit for direction and guidance for the immediate situation. Does He want you to defend the defenseless with your life? Does He want you to defuse the situation with His Word? Does He want you to speak to the spiritual forces, demons, and powers directing the incident in front of you? What exactly does He want you to say? What exactly does the Holy Spirit want you to pray? This is why a person needs to have developed a close and ongoing intimate relationship and conversation at all times with the Holy Spirit, which has been the main theme of my devotionals. In the moment of crisis that we are experiencing we need Him to instruct us.
Is your anger righteous or from your past hurt and injuries? If your anger causes you to sin – then you’ve acted on that anger BEFORE conferring with Him. Anger is NOT sin — but what we do with it can lead to sin. This means we must learn from the Holy Spirit and allow Him to develop His fruit within us (Galatians 5:22-23), beginning with self-control.
What is your track record with your anger? Could you have done better?
When facing our normal reactions and emotions – we must learn to filter them through the Holy Spirit – immediately – in the moment. What should our response be? Do our responses look like the nine fruit of the Holy Spirit? (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control) Does He then give you guidance on what and how to pray?
Our fleshly reactions can become our biggest nemesis in our lives — causing any ‘good’ that we might have accomplished to be made null and void in our relationships. This is why the disciple of Jesus must be “in counsel” with the Holy Spirit at ALL times of their day.
Do you carry on a conversation with the Holy Spirit throughout your day? Do you bring all your decisions to Him? Do you bring all your thoughts before Him?
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 2 Corinthians 10:5
What is He asking you to do now?