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“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” —Ephesians 4:31 We are in a culture that knows many different kinds of anger and even rage. You know, there’s road rage. Been there? Then there is sports rage! Listen to sports talk radio lately? There is voice mail rage. If you’ve ever been into the abyss of one of those voicemail systems you have perhaps known voicemail rage. There’s work rage and office rage and, end of semester test rage, right? Maybe you wrestle like we all do with how to get a handle on your anger, on your temper and your temperament. If that’s you, and really that’s all of us, and you said, “Pastor, do you get angry?” Of course, I do. We all battle this. It is frustrating, isn’t it? In fact, I’m mad about it! Well, the Scripture is clear that anger must be laid aside. Let it go. If your goal as a follower of Jesus is to reproduce the righteousness of God, then you must be willing to lay aside anger. Anger can be an ally when we control it. We ought to be passionate about some things in life. But we know that so much of our anger today is not disciplined or directed by God, but it is misdirected. God cares about our personalities. When Christ comes to live in our lives, He wants to transform the way we think, and therefore, the way we act. And so we need to let go of any addiction we have to anger. How do you do that? We confront it, we confess it, we control it, and we conquer it. You can, by God’s grace, Let go of anger!

Monday, November 26, 2018

A Solitary Place

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. And all the city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him. And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”

Mark 1:32–35

Jesus had many purposes for His time here on Earth. His overarching mission was to be the Saviour of the world, but He also spent a great deal of time touching the lives of hurting people, offering them healing and hope. And He poured years of His life into training a small group of disciples who would carry on His work after He returned to Heaven. Yet even with His busy days and nights of teaching and ministry and so much that needed to be accomplished while with others, Jesus often took time to be alone to commune with the Father.

We live in a hyper-connected world where technology has made it easy for us to be in contact with others pretty much around the clock. But while we must be invested and connected to others in order to minister to them, there must also be times of solitude and quiet when we are alone with God. Andrew Bonar wrote, “In order to grow in grace, we must be much alone. It is not in society that the soul grows most vigorously. In one single quiet hour of prayer it will often make more progress than in days of company with others. It is in the desert that the dew falls freshest and the air is purest.” The voice of God can easily be drowned out by the hustle and bustle of life unless we intentionally take time to be in His presence.

Today’s Growth Principle: 

Do not get so swept up in the busyness of daily life that you neglect spending time alone with God