Give No Place

Anneta Pinto-Young 2 Minutes
“And do not give the devil an opportunity [to lead you into sin by holding a grudge, or nurturing anger, or harboring resentment, or cultivating bitterness]” (Ephesians 4:27).

We know that the devil is the accuser of the brethren and Paul spoke in his letter to the Ephesians about the dangers of anger which leads to sin. The letter says, ‘be angry but do not sin.’ In other words the emotion of anger itself is not sinful but if we act upon the feelings of anger, then we have acted sinfully. Some of the behaviours that result from anger are retaliation against others, filthy communication and taking vengeance. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord”” (Romans 12:19).

I know that it is not easy to take insults and ill-treatment from others without the desire to retaliate. We have to remember that we do not war in the flesh and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (2 Corinthians 10:4). “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). As hard as it is, we have to keep this in mind when people are coming against us. We take the fight out of the flesh and take it into the realms of the spirit. The devil will try to keep us in the flesh because he will wear us out and beat us every time.

We do not have the physical strength to win earthly battles and the days when the people of God waged physical wars are in the Old Testament. Even then, the men of God relied on heavenly intelligence and strategies to give them an advantage over the enemy. If we struggle with anger and it remains unresolved then it leads to bitterness. Bitterness and resentment separates us from God and hinders our prayers. “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18). We have to forgive if we want to be forgiven and remember that God does not hold our sins against us.

It is not easy when we are hurt by others, especially when they are unrepentant. This is when we have to pray for them because it is difficult to forgive them without the grace of God. If we struggle with anger and bitterness, we have to ask the Holy Spirit to show us the root causes. We often treat the fruits when some emotions are deep rooted. We can carry roots of anger from our childhood and hold bitterness towards our parents for example. This can result from abuse, neglect or disappointment. The reality is that if we do not resolve these hurts then we will transfer these emotions into other relationships.

Tell God where it hurts and trust him to heal you. My Dad always says that, ‘God is a healer of mind and emotions.’ In the same way that we need physical healing for ailments when we are ill, we also need emotional healing from past hurts. Some emotional wounds if left untreated can also result in physical ailments. The Holy Spirit will show us where we have unhealed wounds and he will reveal in order to heal.

A.P.-Y.

Published by Anneta Pinto-Young

I am a trained Social Worker who currently provides professional leadership on a programme to support Social Work students and Newly Qualified Social Workers entering the Social Work Profession. Born and raised in Jamaica in a Christian family where my father is an ordained Pastor and Deacon who has served for over 50 years in the ministry. My father is also a trained musician and our family can be described as a musical family. I grew up in a small farming community in St. Peter’s, St. Andrew and my parents also have a small farm. I credit my gift of writing to my father who I watched and listened to over the years as he wrote sermons, poems and other recitals in his capacity in ministry. English has always been an easy subject for me and over the years I have developed an increased interest in writing. I am a Trainer, I sing and have a passion for worship, the spoken word and the free flow of the prophetic anointing. I am married to my best friend Andrew Christopher Young who is an advanced Musician and whose music you can find on YouTube and Facebook. I am a trained Coach and Mentor and I love experimenting with food so I love cooking. I enjoy trying cultural dishes from across the world and I view food as an entry into cultures and languages.

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23 thoughts on “Give No Place”

  2. When I was younger, I had a really mean steak! I was not an instigator, but if someone did something mean or bad to me…I was determined to get back at them. I thank God that His Holy Spirit fills me with his fruit, so much that I don’t have the desire nor the energy to entertain those ‘spirits’ anymore. And yet I know, that if I fail to feed daily on the truth of God’s word, that ‘unclean’ spirit is still lurking about, waiting to pounce! I had a old Pastor that always reminded the members to ‘Stay with the Lord!’

    Liked by 5 people

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    1. 😁 That was a beautiful reminder.
      We thank God that you left that habit. I too only recently realised that it’s not a very good thing to always retaliate. Sometimes, you just have to allow and be the ‘fool’
      It is more Godly and peaceful.

      Liked by 4 people

      Reply

      1. Amen! I Love God, and I no longer want to grieve the Holy Spirit with such foolishness. Scripture tells us that we should obey Jesus’ teachings because we love Him!💕 I will be a ‘fool’ for Christ😎

        Liked by 4 people

  4. Forgiveness is a choice. I think, even as Christians we want to hold it against them. We will even tell God how angry we are, and perhaps he will hurt them back for us! But we need to remember what Jesus said…

    “…But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of…” Luke 9:55

    God knows our hurt, but we’re not the only ones hurting. What if we were the ones doing the hurting, would we want God to punish us for others?

    God bless you

    Liked by 3 people

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  6. One of my favorite Dallas Willard quotes says (not quoting directly, here) that anything done in anger can be done better without it. It’s okay to be angry, sometimes, but when we act in that anger, we are not in control of ourselves.

    Liked by 2 people

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