Some anger is caused because our goals and possessions have become idolatrous. Bill Gothard said it is because we haven’t yielded our rights. Think about that. If we get angry because another has wrecked our coat, it's because we never yielded that coat up to God; we saw it as our own and not belonging to God.

When we are angry at a person for not doing what we wanted them to do, its sinful because anger says you believe that this person is in charge of your future and life. Somehow you believe that they are determining what you can be. That their cooperation is key to your life becoming happy and successful. No, your life and fulfillment is not determined by anyone else but you and God. Whose goals in life are you pursuing; whose will do we want to do? |If God gave you the goal, no one can stop it.

And here is the one goal God has for all of us.... to be conformed to the image of Jesus. So traffic jams, screaming kids, etc are all working toward His goals as we need to develop patience and character. That is why the lady Elizabeth young wrote disappointments are his appointments!

Friend, when our goals become more important than His goals, it is an idol and we will tend to become angry!

The man goes to work wearing a suit and sits in the nice wood paneled room filled with expensive leather chairs. Nobody would guess that it is not his title or position that shape his life the most, but his heart.

It always will be, until he is healed and set free. He will always be affected in some way every day by his past. The father who committed adultery and left the home or the time when his friend died after he gave him too much to drink or the trip overseas when he visited a prostitute, nags away at his heart and the devil will keep him captive to that secret shame, till he is set free.

When there are unresolved or un-confessed issues in our life, it gives a place in our lives, for him to occupy areas in your life; it gives him a foothold and it may ultimately affect those in the family and around you. The devil prowls around seeking who he can devour. And the only way Satan gets a place and keeps a place in our lives is by places of brokenness and damage in our lives through our sin, or others sin or his lies about us or about others.
Friend, every person either looks back or looks forward. We are either more conscious of our past or more conscious of our future. And while our brokenness is not healed and the devil still has hooks into our life because of the wounds, we will be hindered in some measure to be able to go where Jesus wants to take us.

When God comes to Cain after he killed Able, Cain lied, “I don’t know where Able is! It was not me and I don’t know about it . People are healed when they take responsibility for their sin.

When God came to Adam in the garden after he had disobeyed there was no words of judgement - only inquiry "where are you ?" If Adam had of said I have sinned, please forgive me God would have done so.

It is a principle. If we confess our faults God forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

Adam blamed Eve. This is the Adamic nature; our fallen behavior and while we blame anyone but us, we cannot be healed.

Cain could have repented and been forgiven. David repented and found forgiveness. Paul repented of murder and found forgiveness.
Friend, trust in Gods unfailing mercy and forgiveness that is offered to everyone who repents and confesses their sin. Only faith will move you forward to your future and receive the cleansing you need. Don’t allow your future to be limited by the past and don’t let your past determine your future.

The sun was setting behind the palace gardens as king Nebuchadnezzar walked along the balcony of his fine house. (Daniel 4) The prophets of Jehovah had told him that his royal authority would be lost if he didn’t stay humble. It was not long before he was eating grass and growing feathers.

God resists the proud and prospers the humble. The devil was in heaven until pride was found in him. He took the longest journey from heaven to hell because of pride.

In Acts12.22, the crowd had barely stopped chanting that Herod was a god before the man dropped dead and the worms began to eat him. God hates pride. Nothing is more horrible to God than pride. Nothing has the power to warp the human soul more than pride. Pride turned an archangel into a devil; imagine what it can do to us. Pride in the heart is what caused the fall of Lucifer and Adam and Eve. It is the grossest of sins and the hardest to eradicate from our lives.

Paul said that men would be proud in the last days. Pride means a high opinion of oneself; it means to appear above another; disdainful, or arrogant in the heart. (Mk 7.19)
Friend, as our chest swells with pride it really only demonstrates, that our intelligence and our hearts understanding of reality, has shrunken.

God is compassionate and His compassion is based on his understanding of our frailty. He knows we are weak and prone to failure. It doesn't make our failures right; some will never be right but he does understand why we do things. People do things for reasons. C. S. Lewis said, “To a starving soldier, bad love is better than no love at all.”

We can understand why men go to pubs and why young men drink. It’s a religious feeling they get from drinking called transcendence. They feel there isn’t enough of themselves to be worth anything but when they drink, they feel bigger in the universe. We can understand it and so can Jesus. It doesn't make it right but then nothing is right outside of Jesus. Even a tee totalling Pharisee is not right outside of Jesus. Sometimes we beat ourselves because we don’t understand that salvation is not a “cure-all”; it doesn't remove our weakness so there is no longer any risk. There will always be a risk and some temptation; a bias toward sin, the pull will always be there while we live in the flesh. Though the power of sin is broken the penalty of sin is cancelled sin can still launch an attack in our flesh.

God has not taken away the risk of sin from our life. We can minimize the risk but we can’t eliminate it. Recently when two men decided to row from Australia to NZ, they could minimize the risk by preparation but they couldn't eliminate risk entirely.

Friend, there is no “zap” to cure your human weakness. God works through human weakness not through human strength. We can rebuke the devil and we should, but the weakness stays along with His great and free Grace in our time of need!

David was ashamed of his sin but thankful that he could be forgiven. Still, he had to live with the promise of trouble in his home. Forgiveness was granted but the consequences were massive. He suffered in his life because of the wrong choices he made. Christianity is not magic; it doesn’t dissolve all your problems and potential problems. You will still suffer for your sins, in this life.

Sin repented off will not be mentioned or brought up in the next life but in this life, you will live with the consequence maybe for all your life. We have two choices as believers; not whether we will suffer but whether we will suffer for doing good or doing evil. A man may choose to suffer at work for being honest or he may suffer in his soul if he chooses to be dishonest, but suffer he will. It is not easy being a Christian, but it is always better to suffer to obeying than to suffer because of sin.

Being a Christian doesn’t protect us from all suffering but it does help us to endure suffering, and if we will obey God it will help us avoid having to suffer for sin.

Friend, Jesus suffered in the flesh; meaning that there are things that are right but not easy to do but any difficult thing we need to do will be better than suffering for doing the wrong thing.

David was ashamed of his sin but thankful that he could be forgiven. Still, he had to live with the promise of trouble in his home. Forgiveness was granted but the consequences were massive. He suffered in his life because of the wrong choices he made. Christianity is not magic; it doesn’t dissolve all your problems and potential problems. You will still suffer for your sins, in this life.

Sin repented off will not be mentioned or brought up in the next life but in this life, you will live with the consequence maybe for all your life. We have two choices as believers; not whether we will suffer but whether we will suffer for doing good or doing evil. A man may choose to suffer at work for being honest or he may suffer in his soul if he chooses to be dishonest, but suffer he will. It is not easy being a Christian, but it is always better to suffer to obeying than to suffer because of sin. Being a Christian doesn’t protect us from all suffering but it does help us to endure suffering, and if we will obey God it will help us avoid having to suffer for sin.

Friend, Jesus suffered in the flesh; meaning that there are things that are right but not easy to do but any difficult thing we need to do will be better than suffering for doing the wrong thing.

It was a wet stormy night and our children were out with their friends. Like most other nights fear fleetingly came and went through my mind as I thought about the worst-case scenario.

Fear is one thing that allows the devil to get a hook into our life. Our fears for the future or our health or that our kids might not be saved, but the devil is a liar. The devil is the source and father of every lie and he is not speaking for God. We should reject his every thought and Gods answer to the devils lies, is always His Truth.

We are prone to worry about our children. We love and care for them most of all but there is one who loves them more. The key to getting free of fear is to declare God love and kindness around your children and trust the angels who are ministering spirit for the heirs of salvation. Next thing to do is consecrate them to the Lord. If there is a fear it’s usually a sign that there is something, in our life which is not yet completely consecrated to the Lord. The Bible says that fear and worry is sin which is hard to understand because to us to worry seems like a parental responsibility. When we fear losing things they maybe have taken on idolatrous importance. Consecration means, there is nothing between you and God. Love for God determines what we do with our life, what we do with our money and what we do with our time and mind. Therefore the devil is happy for you to have any god except the Lord Jesus Christ.

Friend, that relationship with Jesus is of prime importance - anything that comes between us is an idol which the devil is able to use to get a hook of fear into our minds. Consecrate all matters to Him and trust Him to do what you can’t do and to keep what you cannot keep.

The funeral ended and the crowds moved outside to comfort the family. Tears flowed as they embraced the grieving; the family received strength. We are designed to need other people, even when it comes to grieving properly. We cry more freely at funerals when people hug us. The hug tells us, that it is alright to let go because there is still someone here for us. We need others to hold us through the process. Rom 12.15. We mourn with those who mourn.
Tears come in the eyes, not in the souls of our feet, so people can see our need and hold us up.

We can experience grief whenever we lose a family member when a dear relationship ends or even when we lose a cherished job. When hopes are smashed, we need someone to hold us and help us through to a new life. As the natural body heals itself, so it takes the spiritual body of Christ to heal us too. The Body can take a load from us; it can compensate and take away infection from our soul. God brings people into the church body to be healed, who are emotionally wounded, rejected or damaged by life and relationships.

Friend, when people first come into a loving church body, they are nearly always dulling the pain in their heart but when they are healed by the Body, the pain and even destructive cycles of sin can be broken. Didn't someone sing "Love the one your with"? Maybe they meant at Church!

The funeral ended and the crowds moved outside to comfort the family. Tears flowed as they embraced the grieving; the family received strength. We are designed to need other people, even when it comes to grieving properly. We cry more freely at funerals when people hug us. The hug tells us, that it is alright to let go because there is still someone here for us. We need others to hold us through the process. Rom 12.15. We mourn with those who mourn.
Tears come in the eyes, not in the souls of our feet, so people can see our need and hold us up.

We can experience grief whenever we lose a family member when a dear relationship ends or even when we lose a cherished job. When hopes are smashed, we need someone to hold us and help us through to a new life. As the natural body heals itself, so it takes the spiritual body of Christ to heal us too. The Body can take a load from us; it can compensate and take away infection from our soul. God brings people into the church body to be healed, who are emotionally wounded, rejected or damaged by life and relationships.

Friend, when people first come into a loving church body, they are nearly always dulling the pain in their heart but when they are healed by the Body, the pain and even destructive cycles of sin can be broken. Didn't someone sing "Love the one your with"? Maybe they meant at Church!

People are designed to need God and to need people as well, in fact, there are many important things we can’t fully receive apart from people.

We all need acceptance; it is the cry of everyone to be accepted. We try to dress right, look right and talk right just to fit in. We know we are accepted by God but often we struggle to know it in our heart. What can help us is the acceptance of people? When acceptance also comes from Gods people, we can feel love. We need God with skin on; someone who Jesus is “wearing.”

Often people that live in isolation, nearly always feel bad about themselves. Often they feel guilty. They reason, if I feel lonely, I must not be loved and if I'm unlovable it must be because I'm bad.

Grace is the foundation of all true success and life from God. Everything we receive; everything you have; including grace itself is by grace. 1Peter 4.10 Grace is something that has to come from outside of us; from God or others. God uses His Body to dispense His grace. Many of Gods gifts to His children, come to us through the Body. Knowing God’s love and forgiveness also goes from our head to our hearts, when we experience it through His people.
Friend, we receive Life from God only, but often He dispenses it to us, through His body the Church. Find a true friend today or reach out to the one you trust already.