“For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war according to the flesh. For
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down
strongholds.”—2 Corinthians 10:4-5
For many years, when I became angry
with a person, I would strike out either verbally or physically. Although this was a spiritual battle, and had
the appearance of being a learned behavior; I wanted it to change, no matter what
the root cause was. At first it was a
nudging of the Holy Spirit that I should not act this way, later He directed me
to a couple of scriptures that helped me to dig up the root and overcome this
weakness. “For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James
1:20), and “Now the works of the
flesh are evident, which are:…outbursts of wrath…” (Galatians 5:19-20).
We must follow Jesus’ example and go
to the source when there is evil spiritual powers behind the spiritual
battle. Jesus had no problem putting Satan
in his place, and neither do you when you use the authority that is in the Name
of Jesus. However, some people use anger
as a tool to put others in their place.
Anger against people causes us to fall into the pitfalls of the enemy. The way to overcome the spiritual powers that
come against us through people is to forgive and turn the other check (Matthew
5:39). We are to humbly submit ourselves
to God. When you sincerely submit to
God, self-righteous anger will always leave.
The rest of James 4:7 says, “Resist
the devil and he will flee from you.” I
had a spiritual battle in my life for a number of months as I resisted the
enemy when my flesh would rile up. I did
not merely train a spirit of anger to calm down using anger management tools,
but I had to deal spiritually with a spiritual problem that produced spiritual results.
Some people believe that the higher echelon
demonic spirits take more power to rebuke or remove; this is not true. There is no demonic power, including the
devil himself that will not flee when the name of Jesus is spoken in faith.
Prayer—Father
I submit myself to you and the authority of Your Spirit and Your Word, and thus
I know that I will win every spiritual battle in my life, in Jesus Name. Amen.
