Prayer Note #64: Anger and the Fruit of God’s Spirit

God, my Father, as I look around me,
as I see the news
and read my social media feed,
anger wells up in me.
I am offended by what I see.
This world is not as it should be.
In my anger, I want to lash out.
In my offense, I want to call down
fire from heaven.
Then, I find in your word
that human anger—
my anger—
will never accomplish
your purposes.
Even worse,
my anger,
you warn me,
will give the devil a foothold in my life.
I don’t want that
My anger isn’t worth that to me.
Help me to abandon my anger,
my resentment, my lashing out.
You don’t want your people to be known
for our wrath and indignation.
I repent of my anger and resentment,
my outrage and my lashing out.

Grant that love and joy might
shine out from my every word.
May peace, patience, and kindness
shape all of my dealings with others.
Make me gentle
and full of faith toward everyone.
If any of this is ever
going to actually take place in my heart,
so prone as it is to take offense,
I will need to have
the grace of self-control
implanted in me by your Spirit
so that I might bear
the fruit of your Spirit
in my words and my actions
always and everywhere.
And so, in that way,
let me be
the light of Jesus Christ’s goodness
in this broken and troubled world.
Amen.

See: James 1:19-20; Ephesians 4:26-27; Galatians 5:22-23; Matthew 5:16.

See also: Pastor Note #132: Anger and Following Jesus