{"id":8496,"date":"2016-12-25T18:01:31","date_gmt":"2016-12-25T18:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pjhmail.wordpress.com\/?p=8496"},"modified":"2016-12-25T18:01:31","modified_gmt":"2016-12-25T18:01:31","slug":"the-worst-anger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/8496\/the-worst-anger\/","title":{"rendered":"The Worst Anger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pastor John,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I was thinking this morning about something that the Lord showed me many years ago. That was this:<\/span>\u00a0The most fierce anger that a person will ever feel, is anger that was once pain.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

No one wants to hurt, and in this world it is a common occurrence for a person, once they have been hurt and experienced no reconciliation, to allow that pain to transform itself into anger.\u00a0<\/span>It seems that anger is more bearable for a person than a hurting heart.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But that is not the way for the saints of God. When we are hurt, and there is no immediate reconciliation, we must leave that wound open, bear the pain and take it in humility to Jesus, knowing that He is the “lifter up of mine head”, and that His joy is greater than any pain that we humans can administer to one another.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are not permitted to defend ourselves, and that includes allowing anger and bitterness to serve as the salve that binds up a painful wound inflicted on our heart by another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Such anger and bitterness is no cure at all, it is a cancer and it consumes the soul.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jerry\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

============\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you for that, Jerry. \u00a0I have seen that happen. \u00a0Let’s pray for those whose pain has turned into anger (or even hatred, which can also happen), that they will take their pain to Jesus and let him heal their hurt. \u00a0He will do it if they (1) are willing to feel the pain again, and (2) this time, be willing to forgive the one(s) who hurt them.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor John<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

============<\/span><\/p>\n

John,<\/span><\/p>\n

Jerry’s thoughts about anger made me think of something that happened not long ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You recently mentioned receiving a call from a backslidden brother wanting you to ask a sister in the Lord to compromise the truth “just one time” in order to satisfy a relationship that doesn’t even exist anyway.\u00a0 When I heard about the way he went about this, I felt anger towards him.\u00a0 It also brought up angry feelings from the past by the way he has manipulated, and deceived, and hurt many people.\u00a0 I started praying about how I was feeling.\u00a0 These scriptures came to mind from Psalm 139:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0Surely thou wilt\u00a0slay\u00a0the\u00a0wicked, O\u00a0God:\u00a0depart\u00a0from me therefore, ye\u00a0bloody\u00a0men.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. For they\u00a0speak\u00a0against thee\u00a0wickedly,\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0thine\u00a0enemies take\u00a0thy name<\/em>\u00a0in\u00a0vain.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Do not I\u00a0hate\u00a0them, O\u00a0LORD, that\u00a0hate\u00a0thee? and am not I\u00a0grieved\u00a0with those that rise\u00a0up\u00a0against thee?<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. I\u00a0hate\u00a0them with\u00a0perfect hatred: I count them mine\u00a0enemies.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I asked the Lord to show me what it means to hate with a perfect hatred because I don’t want any ungodly anger or bitterness towards anyone, no matter what they have done. What came to mind is this. God is “angry with the wicked everyday”, but he is not bitter.\u00a0 Jesus is ready to forgive any true repentant heart.\u00a0A bitter person on the other hand does not forget or forgive, and sometimes seeks revenge. Bitterness can cause strife among the brethren.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    These thoughts gave me peace because I knew if Jesus stands ready to forgive, so can I. After all, he forgave me of my sinful life. \u00a0Do you have any thoughts on what David meant by hating with perfect hatred or my thoughts about bitterness?\u00a0 I welcome any instruction on this matter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Thank you,<\/span><\/p>\n

    Tom<\/span><\/p>\n

    ============ <\/span><\/p>\n

    Hi Tom.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    Perfect hatred and perfect love are two sides of the\u00a0same coin. \u00a0Perfect hatred of the ways of man is perfect love of God.\u00a0 When we love God perfectly, we are hating the ways of our flesh perfectly, just like Jesus.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    Perfect love and perfect hatred are holy things.\u00a0 God feels them both, as do all those who are like Him.\u00a0 Perfect\u00a0hatred of the wicked is simply choosing to live your life without them being in control of it.\u00a0 It is choosing to please God rather than man.\u00a0 The brother you mentioned wanted me to talk to a sister in\u00a0Christ and to persuade\u00a0her to hate Jesus with perfect hatred and choose his way instead.\u00a0 I\u00a0couldn’t do that, though I did pass on his request to her.\u00a0 She chose to love\u00a0God perfectly and continue to follow Jesus, as I knew she\u00a0would.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    Thanks for the question, Tom.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    In perfect love,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    Pastor John<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Pastor John,\u00a0 I was thinking this morning about something that the Lord showed me many years ago. That was this:\u00a0The most fierce anger that a person will ever feel, is anger that was once pain.\u00a0 No one wants to hurt, and in this world it is a common occurrence for a person, once they have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8496"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8496\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}