There are some words that when spoken stirs up negative feelings in a person. Words such as pissed, stress, chronic, mess, chaos, not forgetting anger. Anger is an emotion; one can’t humanly live without it but one can overcome it spiritually which in turn manifests in the physical – this means knowing how to handle oneself when situations arise that causes one to be angry. Anger is a very powerful emotion that when left unchecked, its roots grow deeper into a person’s soul, engulfs the total existence of that being, hardens the heart and slowly steals that person’s light. Here are 5 ways that anger steals your life.
Your Conscience: when you are angry, pissed, mad you can’t reason or be reasoned with. Do you remember that last time you got really upset and blurted a few distasteful words or tailgated that driver because he cut you off on the highway? Yeah that time there was no reasoning going on! At the point when you can’t think straight you know anger has stolen your mental capability to reason. But this is changeable…in the moment when you are overcome with such emotion, best practice is if you are in a conversation – to not say anything immediately; if you are with another person – to take a breather, walk away (briefly); if you are engaged in an activity such as driving – to slow down and slowly talk through the anger. These are just a few practical ways but ultimately, there is only one thing to do – praise God through the difficult emotion. He will give you the ability to reason.
Your Waistline: when you are angry you stress which causes you to consume foods and drinks that you would otherwise not consume in large portions. When that cortisone level goes up, our waistline increases thus a slew of health problems and before you know it, anger has stolen your physical being. Instead of eating away the negative emotion, best practice would be to increase physical activity such as take a stroll, take a walk, go for a run to clear your mind, or have healthier foods that may be your ‘little bit of heaven’ – try dark chocolate.
Your Joy: Ever met someone who is always moody? Morning, afternoon, evening – just moody; nothing makes them smile, always negative. You might ask ‘where is their happiness’ or ‘why are they so moody this early in the morning?’ The goal in moving on from anger isn’t to get to a ‘happy place’ rather to find joy – that peaceful content feeling you have no matter your situation. Superficial happiness is short lived; when that happiness wears off, your emotional being is challenged. Don’t let anger steal your emotional capacity. Remember in your anger do not sin and do not give the enemy a foothold Ephesians 4:26 – curb whatever negative emotions you have as a result of the anger and deal with the root (why you are angry) first.
Your Relationships: No one wants to deal with your stank attitude! And if they do, they tolerate you but who wants to be tolerated? Anger steals your relationships because that negative feeling you have manifests in your actions towards others around you. Have you ever been mad at a partner and he/she didn’t want to be around you .i.e. ‘I’ll call you back when you are in a better mood’ or your child says ‘mom stop talking too loud’ and so on. When your anger affects your relationships/social connections with others, you must make a conscious effort to repair these relationships through asking for forgiveness and having the willingness to change and do and be better.
Your Time with God: The flesh (hardened heart) in partnership with Satan (the enemy) compounds your problems…as expressed during a class session at Victory World Church (ATL) on strongholds and moving forward from them. And this is absolutely true. When you are angry, you don’t have time for God; or you have time for him but your heart doesn’t. To be able to have time for and with God, your heart has to be light, clean from sin. If it is hardened, you are bitter and when you are bitter you attract negative energy in; darkness and light cannot coexist. By opening up your heart and allowing the light in, darkness eventually becomes light.
Like the parable of the sower (see Matthew 13), growth in the Lord doesn’t occur in untilled soil; for there to be growth the soil (heart) has to be tilled so that as you receive his word, as you open up to spending time with him, you begin to shell the real reasons behind your anger. When you let it go, and begin to expel more light – that’s where freedom is. At the point where you can let go of the little things, you know you have overcome anger. So next time when anger creeps up on you (and you will get angry) show it the FREE woman you are.
Stay FREE, Stay Blessed.
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