Self-Centered Anger
by Steve Arterburn
“Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.” – Titus 1:7
A good deal of human anger springs from selfishness. A man may get angry with his father for not including him in the business; with his wife for not serving the dinner he expected; with his daughter for telephoning in at midnight for a ride home from a party; or with his son for not weeding the garden when he wanted it done.
In the book entitled, Caring Enough to Confront, David Augsburger describes this self-centered anger as “a demand that also demands others meet your demands.” Simply put, self-centered anger erupts when you don’t get what you want, when you want it.
Self-centered anger isn’t what Jesus expressed. He didn’t get angry when someone snubbed Him, but he did when someone cast a slur on His Father or treated others unjustly. He wasn’t ticked at the money-changers for offending Him but for desecrating His Father’s house and disrupting the worship of His people. Jesus never got angry at the wrongs done to Him—including the ultimate wrong—His crucifixion. Instead, He forgave.
We all struggle with self-centered anger. And when we compare ourselves to Jesus, we must learn to call this type of anger what it is: sin. (Remember though, not all anger is sin.) Ask God for forgiveness and ask Him to help you to practice the habit of examining your motives when you become angry so that you can discern self-centeredness from God-centeredness.
“Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind.” – Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899)
The First Ressurection
What an interesting time that we live in! Not a good time as we see more and more persecution of the followers of Christ across the world. And yet a time that must occur in order to fulfill the prophecies laid out in the Bible. And yet with the horror of seeing those who are killed, we must as well remember the promise. Always looking to God and not to man, to the future and not to relive and renew the past. What has gone before is not what He has plans for in the future and it is the future that we desire to be a part of.
English: Resurrection of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Revelation 20
Good News Translation (GNT)
4 Then I saw thrones, and those who sat on them were given the power to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been executed because they had proclaimed the truth that Jesus revealed and the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image, nor had they received the mark of the beast on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and ruled as kings with Christ for a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were over.) This is the first raising of the dead. 6 Happy and greatly blessed are those who are included in this first raising of the dead. The second death has no power over them; they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they will rule with him for a thousand years.
The Soul
Though we share immortality, our individual traits, talents, trials, opportunities, and circumstances vary widely. Even so, it is ever the case that whatever the particular, passing mortal situation, all of the individuals involved are immortals with immense possibilities…
C. S. Lewis put this so well when he said:
It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit. [C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (New York: Macmillan, 1980), p. 19; emphasis in original]
Update on Posting
Until I can get I can get another site set up I will be posting at The Christian Gazette and A Needed Word along with posts at Grumpy’s Opinions. I hope all my loyal followers will read these, as I intend to keep my other sites up regardless of what happens with Loopyloo’s. If you haven’t checked out the other sites, please do and God bless you all! The Christian Gazette and A Needed Word are both wordpress blogs so you can just click follow and read them along with your other follows. Updates from Pastor Kerry Mauldin will be at the Christian Gazette, and is currently in India and I have a new post up for him today! Joy Among the Gypsies is his newest letter. A Needed word is simply a short daily (mostly daily) needed word. Grumpy’s Opinions is a daily news magazine and opinion digest that has many wonderful authors and is well worth your time if you have never read it. Please do check it out.
House of the Stone Breakers
Stained glass at St John the Baptist’s Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus’ description of himself “I am the Good Shepherd” (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: “To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
First day in the villages!!
We went to Ramnagar to see construction on church by Fairlland
Assembly of God. Church is coming up well, and plaque looks nice, but
in Oct. when we shared and gave for church, a villager gave double the
land and so instead of a small church, this is coming up much
bigger–seat 150-200. Pray they have enough to complete it. A joy
was the woman, Elishamma that came to Christ and we were there when
she held hands with her husband and he also accepted Christ.
Both are in church and growing stronger!
Cherlagoraram Village- We sit in front of simple home of people who
break stones for 4 rs each and the whole village is stone breakers.
The first believer in the village is Inkula, now 60 and has 6
children. They have all come to Christ and are now about 30 believers
of 1000 in village, but growing and good spirit!!
They spoke up quickly that 1 of 10 stones broken belong to God. All
children have come and “Naga Raju”, “snake King, now called Daniel, 25
was the last to come 2 years ago.
It was blessing to hear and see a large family sitting on the mat in
front of the house sharing how God has changed their life since coming
to know Him. The debts and misery are gone since they have learned to
tithe and give… Daily, the whole family sits and reads the Word of
God together. The younger ones whoa can read, read to all.
We look where they have been building a stone church the past 5 years,
but have no more money. Publicly we stood and committed among
themselves, one by one to give 24,000Rupees, then we matched it and a
nice church will be complete.
The joy is this pastor, Paul, who came 9 years ago was only 20, but
has led them and 3 other villages to Christ. These are the only
churches in the villages.
Paul, we helped with his first village church in RA Nagar in 2011.
Dr. Mast and I pulled up early AM in Feb 2011 and no one met us and
small concrete stone church. Today, we visit and the church regularly
has 80 members that totally overflow the church and is growing so so
much!!
6 took baptism today. One woman who was Laxmmama and is now “Saramma”
stepped in for baptism. She is about 26 and the power of God hit her
and she shook and cried as she went under. Then she shared how 1
month ago, she worshipped hannamun, the monkey. She got a tumor and
had no hope, but a brilliant light filled the room she was in and a
man stood there that she came to know was Jesus. She said “all I
could do was shout HALLALEUJAH and shake”. Jesus healed her last
month and now she follows in baptism.
She stood with her 2 small 2 year old boys, tears streaming down her
face and thanking the Lord for all He is doing in her life!! We named
her Sarramma.
Christ is revealing himself to many in this way. Miracles are
happening and so many are coming to Christ!
Another man, Ramalu, 28, rode motorcycle, wanted baptism. After he
took baptism, his name is now Phillip. He shared this one year since
accepting Christ, everything he does is prospering, even as Phillip
kept being blessed and prospering everywhere he went…
We had an easier day today. JUst 4 villages after the drive from
Hyderabad.!! Our team of Jeff Oaks, Melody, “superwoman” Mauldin and
myself!! We are blessed and so so thankful for your prayers!!
With so much thanks, prayers and joy to serve the Lord,
Kerry, Melody and Jeff
Related articles
Thought for the Day
“If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as always God discovers Himself to “babes” and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent.” A. W. Tozer
Source: Uploaded by user via Maria on Pinterest
Broken but Made Beautiful via Becoming Like Christ
Anne was a special person in my life. I first met her when I asked her to teach clay modeling to our group of campers at a summer Bible camp. She told me about how she loved her work with clay and how she had just recently purchased a kiln to bake her clay creations. When I asked her how she got started in her work of clay modeling she told me her story.
Her son, who was born mentally challenged due to brain damage at birth, had passed away at the age of 15, several months before I met her. She told me how working with the clay had helped her to get through those difficult days of caring for him during those years. Her life had been broken through this difficulty but God had made something beautiful out of her brokenness. While working with the clay God had been at work molding her life and now I was seeing the beauty created by God the master potter. Read the rest at: Broken but Made Beautiful.
Prayer Request from a Friend
Source: Uploaded by user via Megan on Pinterest
A friend of ours here on the blogs, Right Hook, is asking for prayer for her sister “My sister has been fighting breast cancer for about a year. She responded so well to treatment, and they thought they got it all after surgery. The last couple of months, she’s been having a lot of hip and back pain. She got some new scans today, and was devastated to learn that it is now in her bones, and all through her body. It has become very aggressive, and it is literally eating away at her bones. They are so fragile, the doctors said they could just snap. Her condition is “guarded”, and they are starting radiation tomorrow. This is in God’s hands. I would so appreciate your prayers.”
Please take time to pray for her! This is devastating news for all of them, but we know that our God can work miracles.
Psalm 6
King James Version (KJV)
6 O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
2 Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
3 My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O Lord, how long?
4 Return, O Lord, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
6 I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
8 Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.
10 Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.
John Piper on prophecy via Adrian Warnock
By
John Piper has been sharing a series of short videos on him speaking about the gifts of the Spirit. The first was on tongues. I now want to share what he had to say on prophecy. Here are some excerpts to whet your appetite:
“I have been significantly influenced by Wayne Grudem’s book on prophecy . . .I think our tendency is to despise what the New Testament treats as prophecy . . . Prophecy in the New Testament doesn’t seem to have the same scripture quality, inerrant, inspiration and authority . . . you don’t go up to Isaiah and say I am going to test what you say . . . but you do do that with New Testament prophecy. . . Prophecy in the New Testament seems to be down a notch from prophecy in the old testament and is exposed to testing. . . God brining something to mind that you would not otherwise have thought of in the moment for the sake of upbuilding, encouragement, consolation. . . the way I personally appropriate this for myself . . . I pray as I am sitting there, God grant me a gift of prophecy in this preaching . . . bring to my mind things about yourself, and about this text, and about the truth, and about this people that I will be able to say in such a way that they will pierce with unusual, I might say, prophetic power into their lives. . . it happens very regularly that people say “have you been reading my mail, you looked at me and you said” I didn’t even know that I was looking at you . . . I was preaching on small groups . . .and I looked to my left and said “you might be working on the 34th floor of the IDS tower, maybe you should call people together and have a small group. . . a woman comes up afterwards and said “I work on that floor and I have been praying about whether to start a small group.”
Read the rest:
Related articles
