Hercules fighting Archelous in serpent form... he wins. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/846184217466240212/
[I was taught growing up to be quiet and reserved when we pray, praying with your head bowed and usually silent. It was alright to get emotional in prayer but we usually didn’t. Scriptures suggests that on occasion we need to harness our anger in prayer. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, provides commentary on Psalms 4:4 and through the power of the Holy Spirit provides a clearer revelation on anger in prayer.]
[Psa 4:4 NKJV] 4 Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah
[Eph 4:26 NKJV] 26 "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
[I was taught growing up that “not letting the sun go down on your anger’ means do NOT go to bed while you are still angry with someone but seek forgiveness and restoration. That is always a good idea, we are commanded to forgive others as Jesus Christ has forgiven us. However, when you look at Psalms 4:4, as quoted by Paul, clearly we are to “BE ANGRY, and not sin.” We are to not stop being angry, but while we are on our bed meditate and pray, quietly in anger, not letting the sun set on it, meaning not ceasing in anger.
But if it is wrong to hold un-forgiveness, how can we remain angry and not sin? The answer is to never stop being angry at Satan for the injustice, pain, suffering, stealing, killing and destruction he has wrought on the world through his lies and deception. We are to love the sinner, but be angry at the one who deceived them into sin, or caused the evil circumstances of our fallen world. Jesus modeled how to be angry and not sin better than anyone.]
[Mar 3:2,5 NKJV] 2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him….5 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched [it] out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.
[Jesus healed the man in anger with grieving, in spite of men who were hoping to accuse Him of illegally healing on the Sabbath. The men had been deceived by Satan so much that their hearts were hard to the miracles they had already witnessed and Jesus was grieved, and probably hurt about this. However, He was also likely angry and the one who deceived them, causing their hearts to be hardened. Still in anger and through His still, quiet command “stretch out your hand” He destroyed the work of Satan, which according John:]
[1Jo 3:8 NKJV] 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
[He healed the man with the crippled hand and destroyed the works of Satan in accordance with His purpose. The healing was performed with a quiet, gentle, meek spirit.]
[1Pe 3:14-15 NKJV] 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, [you are] blessed. "And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled." 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always [be] ready to [give] a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness (from Gr. praus meaning tame, gentle] and fear;
[Meek (Gr. praus) is a word used by the Greek historian Xenophon in his short work “On Horsemanship” about the military training and taming of wild horses for war. He used the word meek to only describe horses that had passed the conditioning required to become a war horse. A meek war horse responded to ‘the slightest touch of the rider, thundered into battle, and stopped at a whisper. A meek war horse was power under control. Similarly, in The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates writes: meekness, according to Aristotle, is the middle standing between two extremes, getting angry without reason, and not getting angry at all. Therefore, meekness is getting angry at the right time, in the right measure, and for the right reason. It is a condition of mind and heart which demonstrates gentleness, not in weakness, but in power. It is a balance born in strength of character. (p. 1209-1210)” https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/624/Meekness.htm.
The Apostle John records another instance of Jesus being angry when He drove out what might have looked like an animal swap meet in the temple court yard.]
[Jhn 2:13-17 NKJV] 13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!" 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."
[Jesus’ anger and zeal had eaten Him up. In this instance He wasn’t calm and quite but shouted at those who had been deceived. Yet we know He didn’t sin. Mark and Matthew record another time He cleared the courtyard to His Father’s House revealing what His anger was directed at.]
[Mar 11:15-17 NKJV] 15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it a 'den of thieves.' "
[They had made the temple courtyard a den of thieves, a den of Satan, and we know from John 10:10 it is Satan who comes to steal.
[Mat 21:12-14 NKJV] 12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' " 14 Then [the] blind and [the] lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.
[His directed, condemning shouts of anger cleared the court yard of the adversary of His Farther’s house of prayer and He immediately held a healing service. Jesus’ anger was harnessed to destroy the works of Satan. Anger directed at Satan and those who are being deceived by him is a powerful way to resist the Devil, and when we do, he flees.]
[1Pe 5:8-9 NKJV] 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
[Jas 4:7 NKJV] 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
[Resist means to actively fight against. Satan walks about “like” a lion but he is not anything like a king of beasts. He can devour no one without their permission and he does this through deception. One way to resist him is to actively fight against him with our directed, meek and powerful anger under control, and Satan will flee every time.]
[Psa 90:11 NKJV] 11 Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, [so is] Your wrath.
[We need to harness our anger toward Satan without sinning, not bury it. It will keep us hot and on-fire for serving Jesus, not lukewarm or cold.]
[Rev 3:15-16 NKJV] 15 "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
[Getting angry at Satan works. I mentioned in tip 36) How to Pray for Peace, about shouting and praising in the car.I would even beat the steering wheel with my fists, getting angry at the anxiety Satan was putting on me.I find that praise directed at Jesus combined with anger directed at Satan is powerful at destroying the works of the Satan.]
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