Post 4 A promise about anger

Post 4 A promise about anger

Proverbs 16:32 NKJV

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Proverbs 16:32 NLT

Better to be patient than powerful;
better to have self-control than to conquer a city.

How are you with this one? I have to admit that although I don't get angry very often I do sometimes get angry and I am not happy about that. Anger is not a really good thing to let get the better of you. I remember the last time I got angry I had just been told that I was lazy and I did not like it one bit. I had a steaming tirade and made quite a noise in our community centre in the Salvation Army that I am part of.

These verses commend the person that is patent and therefore slow to anger. Some people are simply a  great example when it comes to patience. Some people can have the most annoying people in their life and they just seem to float along with the grace of God and nothing seems to get them in a fluster. People like this are people that are greater than a person that conquers a city this verse says.

So much can be achieved by grace. Love and patience are such wonderful fruit and they can be used in a mighty way. Some people could really learn what patience is when it comes to terrible posts on Facebook. People would be best served to take a breath, pause, think and pray before they return a post on Facebook when someone gets nasty. I admire people on Facebook that simply ignore hurtful comments and have the patience just to let someone vent and not argue with them.

One time outside a bar in Brisbane a guy said that he was going to fight me. I had a lot of stored up anger and I rushed down the stairs at him and said, "I promised myself the next person I fight I was going to kill and it looks like it is you." The guys cousins quickly grabbed me and pulled me away and apologised for their cousin. They told me he had a big mouth and wasn't worth fighting with. Later on in the bar, one of the men that pulled me away came up to me and said that he was the cousin of the big mouth. He gave me fifty dollars and told me to have a good night on him. He said he was always pulling his cousin out of fights. I remember that night twenty years ago because I really meant what I said. I had gone through a lot of pain in my life and honestly wanted to do that man damage. That is a not way to be going through life wanting to kill someone.

Many people in leadership have to have a lot of patience. Satan likes to press the buttons of people who have anger issues and will use anyone to do that. To progress into any form of leadership in life we need to be able to be slow to anger. The good news is that once you begin to control yourself and work on your patience, God is sure to help you get better and better at it.

This is such an encouraging promise for me. As I have shown, sometimes I struggle with anger. It is not Satan's first attack in my life, he more often chooses depression and other things, but he has it in his arsenal to try me with. I can testify personally that it gets better and better over time, the more you  exercise restraint. The Holy Spirit can be a real and present help in your time of need and what may be impossible for you in more than possible with God.

Prayer

Father,

I lift up those that are reading that struggle with anger and lack patience. I ask that you mend their hearts and minister to the pain in their life and help with those things that make them angry inside. I ask that you do a work of patience in their life and show them little by little how to overcome in this area. In Jesus name I ask this. Amen.