Anger
This article is not intended to convince you that there is a problem with anger or that there are consequences that result from anger. I am starting with the assumption that you don’t have to be convinced about that or you wouldn’t be here already. My goal here is to give you real Bible answers for dealing with anger. As you read and make the application of these verses I hope you will consider learning more about what the Bible says by doing our free Bible study course. Here now are 5 Biblical steps to overcoming anger.
Steps to overcoming anger
Decide to stop anger – Psalm 37:8 “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.”
Step 1 may sound over simplistic but let me be clear, you will never make any headway on dealing with anger until you make the decision that you are going to eliminate it in your life. You do not need to just get better control of it, that is like having control of a wild beast, it may seem in control but if it ever gets out it will destroy.
You need to eliminate it from your life and you must make the decision that you are going to do just that. Until you make a full commitment to dealing with anger you will continue to struggle with it.
Let me give you my personal testimony here.
I had a terrible anger problem. I was constantly fighting with my wife, I would yell and scream, at times I got so angry I would punch the wall. I stomped my feet and even threw things, never at my wife but I believe that was just a progression away from where I was headed.
I knew that my anger was a major problem but I didn’t know what to do about it. One night in church God got hold of my heart about my anger issue. I don’t remember what the preacher was talking about, I do not believe it had anything to do with anger to be honest with you but that is what God was dealing with me about.
For the first time in my life I realized that I must deal with my anger or it was going to cost me my family. I went to the alter that service and confessed to God that I had an anger problem and I turned myself over to Him in that area. I made a commitment to God that I would not allow anger to have dominance over me any longer and that I would dedicate myself to learning how to deal with problems from a Biblical prospective rather than trying to solve problems in my anger.
The reality is that anger is deceptive because it does seem to aid in solving problems but it doesn’t actually accomplish what it seems to. If people stop an action out of fear they have not had a change of heart about the issue and thus we are going to have continued problems and now we have compounded them by anger.
I went home and I told my wife that I had made a commitment to God to get rid of anger in my life and I would not be fighting with here any more. I want you to know that my decision to remove anger and not fight any longer was sincere but that does not mean it wasn’t tested. I had allowed anger to become the normal way of dealing with conflict in my home and my wife had not made the same commitment that I had.
It took time to show her that I was serious about not resorting to anger to solve problems. I will deal with that issue more fully when we talk about restoring relationships damaged by anger.
Suffice it so say for now that you must make this decision and commit yourself to God in it.
