Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Don Moen singing the old hymn … Wonderful Peace … poignantly singing of how God’s peace is His promise to replace the fires of anger in our hearts.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Ephesians 4:31-32 [NLT] … 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
… if we take Paul’s advice, we can avoid the bitterness which is inflamed by our anger.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Ephesians 4:15, 26-32 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul is trying to get fellow Christians to avoid the confrontational fires of anger by exhorting them to confront their anger with love and God’s grace.
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … Isaiah 26:3 [NLT] … 3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all those whose thoughts are fixed on You!
… When we fix the eyes of our heart on our Lord, we cannot avoid His peace. But when our hearts burn with anger we can avoid the fires of bitterness.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 2nd Corinthians 12:9a [NLT] … 9 Each time He [Jesus] said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”
… Jesus told Paul (and us) that He grace was sufficient to overcome our weakness; and this works to quell our anger as well as to deal with pain.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Hebrews 12:14-15 [NLT] … 14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. 15 Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
… Paul trying to help fellow Christians avoid angry root of bitterness, which is a fire which often rages out of control when lit in ones heart.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Linda Washington, uses a personal story to illustrate how anger can lead confrontational anger can lead to bitterness. The ODB author wrote: As I had dinner with a friend, she expressed how fed up she was with a particular family member. But she was reluctant to say anything to him about his annoying habit of ignoring or mocking her. When she did try to confront him about the problem, he responded with sarcastic remarks. She exploded in anger at him. Both parties wound up digging in their heels, and the family rift widened.
What is our natural reaction when someone wrongs us? To get angry, right? And where then does the anger lead when we don’t confront it in the way the Apostle Paul was trying to instruct his fellow Christians in the highlight passage. It often leads to bitterness, doesn’t it? And when our hearts burn with bitterness (see photo), it becomes very difficult - and often improbable - to let the fires burn out and find the peace promised by Isaiah 26:3 when we’re able to focus on God’s will/way rather than our own.
Dear one, maybe you're thinking of someone in your past, or perhaps right now, whom you’ve let the fires of anger burn way too long. Well, if so, why don’t you set your heart in motion to get with that person and - with God’s peace in your heart - tell them how you feel and that you want to douse the fires of anger by doing all you can to explain your feelings, pursuing Christ’s love rather than letting the fires of anger burn into the hell-hole of bitterness.
Trust me, friend, … you’ll never be able to let God’s grace quell any bitterness you hold onto if the fires of anger continue to burn in your heart! So, let’s take in the Don Moen song linked above and then go out and pursue God’s peace to put out any fires that burn in our hearts today.
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Dear Lord, … Your love and peace quells all the fires of anger in my life. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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