How to Re-Energize Your Life Overcoming Anger

An Un-Resolved Conflict drains your passion for life

To re-energize your life, you must first discern what may be stealing your passion

God wants you to live a full life of joy and abundance!

John 10:10 I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly . 

3. AN UNRESOLVED CONFLICT WILL CAUSE YOU TO LOSE YOUR PASSION

 An unresolved conflict will destroy your passion for life through resentment and anger Would you be more like the woman who was bitten

by a rabid dog, and it looked like she was going to die from rabies. The doctor told her to put her final affairs in order. So the woman took pen and paper, and began writing furiously. In fact she wrote and wrote and wrote. Finally the doctor said, "That sure is a long will you’re making." She snorted, "Will, nothing! I’m making a list of all the people I’m going to bite!"

 When you are involved in a conflict with somebody, this can severely strip away your passion

When you get into a fight with your spouse or a co-worker it takes the wind right out of your sails

In an instant your attitude tanks, and if you can't resolve the conflict, your passion begins to slip away

Some of you may be in constant conflict right now with someone at home, or school, or at work, and it is burning your up inside with anger or resentment

Your conflict is like a leaky tire – your passion keeps leaking out of your life

If you want to keep your passion alive, you’ve got to deal with the conflicts of anger in your life.

To overcome the conflicts of anger you must learn to forgive.

You must learn to release your anger if you are going to maintain your passion for life

Resentment and anger allows people to continue to hurt you because of something they have done in the past

They may be out of your life, but they’re still hurting you because you have not forgiven them for what they did

Resentment drains away your passion as you keep thinking about what they did over and over again

Tom Jefferson wrote on how to handle anger in his "Rules of Living." "When angry count 10 before you speak. If very angry count a hundred."

Mark Twain, 75 yrs later, revised it a little. "When angry count 4. When very angry, swear."

God gives you Wisdom to protect your passion for life

Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 2:7-12 1. Outward protection – v7

He is a shield to those who walk in integrity , I need God to help me protect my place of serenity and

peace in my heart and mind.

2. Inward preservation – v8And He preserves the way of His godly ones .

I need God to help me preserve my inner peace and tranquility

Proverbs 14:30 A tranquil heart is life to the body

3. Mental discernment – v9Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity and every good course.

I need God to help me understand the right way to handle conflict and to know how to walk “every good course”

4. Emotional health – v10For wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul

I need God to help me have wisdom in my heart and know what to do in life that will be “pleasant to (my) soul”

5. Spiritual protection – v11-12Discretion will guard you , Understanding will watch over you, 12  To deliver you from the way of evil , from the man who speaks perverse things;

There are so many in life who will speak and do perverse things to destroy my sense of calm…

I need the Holy Spirit of God to give me His peace that will guard my heart and mind

and give me understanding on how to navigate life;

and especially to deliver me from the way of evil that would want to destroy my passion for life

What is this “way of evil” that will try to crush me and drag away my joy and personal peace?

1. The know-it-allProverbs 13:1 A wise son accepts his father's discipline, But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

Proverbs 26:12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

2. The one who is never at fault – it’s always someone else’s faultProverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.

3. The careless tongue thrasherProverbs 12:18 There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

4. The person who is always causing problems

Proverbs 27:3 A stone is heavy and the sand weighty, but the provocation of a fool is heavier than both of them.

Late one summer evening in Broken Bow, Nebraska, a weary truck driver pulled his rig into an all-night truck stop.

The waitress had just served him when three tough looking, leather jacketed motorcyclists - of the Hell’s Angels type - decided to give him a hard time.

Not only did they verbally abuse him, one grabbed the hamburger off his plate, another took a handful of his french fries, and the third picked up his coffee and began to drink it. How would you respond?

Well, this trucker did not respond as one might expect. Instead, he calmly rose, picked up his check, walked to the front of the room, put the check and his money on the cash register, and went out the door. The waitress followed him to put the money in the till and stood watching out the door as the big truck drove away into the night.

When she returned, one of the bikers said to her, "Well, he’s not much of a man, is he?" She replied, "I don’t know about that, but he sure ain’t much of a truck driver. He just ran over three motorcycles on his way out of the parking lot."

Remaining angry destroys your passion

1. You destroy your own self with Anger In one of the episodes of the old "Amos & Andy Show",

Amos had tired of Andy alsway hitting him in the chest and asking, "Ain’t thta right, Amos ?" One day, Amos goes to see the Kingfish. "Look, Kingfish," Amos asks, showing several sticks of dynamite strapped to his

chest. "The next time Andy slaps me on the chest, he’s gonna blow his fool hand off !"

Isn’t that the way anger is ? In attempting to hurt another, we always hurt ourselves.

Job 5:2 anger slays the foolish man

Job 18:4 O you who tear yourself in your anger

2. You will add passion to your life by overlooking that thing that causes you anger

Proverbs 19:11 A man's discretion makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression.

3. Anger rubs off on you and othersProverbs 22:24-25 24  Do not associate with a man given to anger; Or go with a hot-tempered man, 25  Or you will learn his ways and find a snare for yourself.

4. Remaining angry ends up in wrecking your lifeProverbs 30:33 For the churning of milk produces butter, And pressing the nose brings forth blood; so the churning of anger produces strife.

5. Remaining angry is the way of foolsEcclesiastes 7:9 Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, for anger resides in the bosom of fools.

6. Remove your anger from your heart – life is too precious to waste it

Ecclesiastes 11:10 So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain (evil) from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting. 

Who do you need to forgive?

What did they do to hurt you? What pain do you still carry with you? Or what are they doing now that continues to hurt you?

Jesus on the cross while in severe pain “Father forgive them”

Ask God to help you let go of the hurt.

Tell God, “Lord, I want to forgive, please help me do that. I want to let it go.”

Write down whatever comes to mind and continue to take these things to God asking for His help throughout the process of life.