Day 1

Expressions of unhealthy anger are everywhere. You just need to switch on the news to see the destructive results all around us. Our whole nation seems angry and violent. People are just mad, many of them all the time, either filled with an internal rage that seethes and burns, or controlled by sudden outbursts that can be unleashed at any moment.

We shouldn’t be surprised. Scripture says that in the last days perilous and scary times will come. And it’s getting pretty scary, isn’t it?

Let me tell you about a Saturday morning several years ago. Deb and I were headed out for a nice breakfast, driving down the street, when we came to a stoplight and noticed two men getting out of their trucks, one in front of us and one behind. They were shouting at each other. The next thing you know, they were squaring off, about to fight right in the middle of the intersection.

It didn’t last long. One man took the other down and started kicking him in the head. Then they both jumped back in their trucks and drove off like nothing had happened. I sat there thinking, “What just happened?” Deb was saying, “Call the police, call the police!” My head was spinning. Really? On a Saturday morning, two grown men duking it out in the middle of an intersection?

Maybe you heard about the fights that broke out, even a death, over at a fast-food restaurant, people all stirred up and brawling over a fried chicken sandwich. You’ve heard of road rage. Well, that was chicken rage. We have lost our minds.

But anger isn’t always so obvious as a brawl in an intersection. For many people, anger is something deep down inside that has quietly turned them into a different person. They have no peace. Instead there’s a constant strife, an anger that boils internally, hidden from almost everyone.

Here’s what you need to know before we go a step further: anger can originate from many sources, from simple learned behavior all the way to childhood abuse. And breaking free from debilitating anger can feel like facing an unconquerable mountain. Whether your anger is obvious and outward, or quiet and internal, it can become a controlling, devastating stranglehold, not only on individuals, but on whole families and even communities.

If that’s you today, if anger has its grip on you, I want you to hear this at the very start: there is hope. You do not have to stay where you are. Over these next days we’re going to walk through God’s solution together, and I promise you, freedom can be yours. Not by trying harder in your own strength, but through the power of Jesus Christ.

So don’t look away from the problem. Name it. Admit that the times are hard and that anger has found a foothold. That honesty is where the healing begins.