Breaking Up The Stronghold Of Cemented Anger

Anger is more than emotion. It's a defiling sin of the spirit. Scripture tells us that the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God (James 1:20).

Even what some believers call righteous indignation is often a fleshly reaction from a heart not fully submitted to God. They are impulsive to react rather than respond from a position of grace and mercy. The same grace God has shown in forgiving them of great sins and extending His mercy which triumphs over judgment.

James does not dismiss that there will be things which will anger us but cautions, "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" (verse 19, KJV). When we don't listen attentively and quick to get our point across we will accelerate to a state of anger.

The word anger in the Greek is very interesting. The word is orgḗ which means a settled anger that steadfastly opposes someone or something based on extended personal exposure (Strong's Concordance).

Beloved, we must be careful when we are offended that it does not get lodged in our hearts. Soon enough the angry will become cemented, settled or firmly fixed. The danger of unresolved anger will cost us dearly. Think of Moses who observed the mistreatment of his people. One day he saw an Egyptian beat a Hebrew slave. Moses murdered the Egyptian and buried him in the sand (Exodus 2:12). Later in the wilderness Moses struck the rock in anger rather than speak to it as the Lord directed him. As a result, he was not able to enter into the Promise Land (Numbers 20:10-12). How many blessings have we missed because we refuse to let go of our anger?

There is a one way God can break up the stronghold of cemented anger. We must surrender our will to God and ask Him to give us a willing spirit. A willingness to move from our fix position of anger no matter the reason. Such surrender requires us to move our hands away from our heart like Christ who hung suspended on the cross. He died with an unprotected heart with hands stretch wide.

God knows how to restore our footing on what we have so long rested on. Beloved, when he removes the premises of our anger we are not going under with no ground to stand. Let Him do the work of vindicating and justifying as He so determines.

Here is a promise we can firmly stand upon. The Scriptures say, "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." (I Peter 2:6, NIV). The cornerstone is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure (Wikipedia ).

Our settled anger will only cause us to be deformed and corrupted from the inside out. Eventually it will cause the structure of our lives to fail. But we can rest on Christ, our Cornerstone, from whom our fixed position makes a difference. We are truly free from the spirit of anger when the weight rests on Him to act as the Judge of the all the earth and to do what is right (Genesis 18:25).