Peace be Still

I watched a sermon by Pastor T.D. Jakes and it made me think really deep, hard and long about finding peace and letting go of anger. Peace is soooooooo important to have. When you have peace it makes it easier for you to stand firm in the mist of the storm, in chaos and it helps settle your uneasiness.  Ecclesiastes 7:9, The New International Version (NIV) Be not quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools. What does that mean? New Living Translation: (NLT) Control your temper, for anger labels you a fool. Know that anger can only rest in the heart of a fool.  Don't be so quick to ACT or even REACT! Do not let anger reside in your heart. Do not be permanently angered by something that happened in 5 minutes but you've been angered for 5 years. That anger harbors in your heart and bleeds out through various vessels. 

Understand: "You cannot be healed if you cannot admit you have an issue. It's hard to acknowledge you have an issue when the issue is your normal." Pastor T.D. Jakes. You cannot find peace until you acknowledge and understand what has disturbed, moved, and altered your peace and happiness to begin with. However, not taking time out to understand and acknowledge you harbor anger and rage that you may not even realize you are harboring. 

You have obvious anger that is expressed through our facial expressions, tears, words, posture, etc. But its the anger that is not obvious we must learn to acknowledge, cope with and eventually heal. In-obvious anger is scary because it creates bitterness and we end up internalizing that anger. We become overly confrontational. Any little thing triggers an emotion that causes ANY type of anger. You become so consumed by anger and you become this person that's hard to talk to, love, communicate with, be with, etc. After a while that anger then turns into rage. Pastor T.D. Jakes explained that their are 3 different types of rage:

Physical rage: physical rage includes more than just putting your hands on someone. Physical rage is about control. You want people to listen to what you have to say, how you feel and respond according to how you want them to. Physical rage can also come in the form of a tantrum. You throwing things, flipping tables and breaking things that you spent YOUR money on. You have no limits on how far you will go to be heard. 

Emotional rage: Emotional rage is the result of not finding a way to communicate what's wrong. You shut down and eventually you're mind & heart is like a locked door, where nothing gets in and nothing comes out. Emotional rage eventually turns into emotional abandonment to the people that we love. They no longer feel safe and secure in us. They no longer find peace, comfort and stability in us. It's like loving a break wall that you can't get through, get under or over.

Verbal rage: Verbal rage is just saying things to the ones we love that we KNOW will hurt them. You allow vulnerable people to confide in you. In a moment of rage you expose me (using what I expressed to you); in order to belittle me. You make that person feel small, insecure and hurt by the very thing that expressed to you to find comfort and relief about. Eventually you end up tearing down people God placed in your life to build up.

This is why PEACE is so important. You cannot have peace without faith. You have to have order and trust in God to have peace. When you trust God it allows you to just be sure about any and everything regardless of how hard and trying the situation may be. Be confident enough to have peace because you are able to stand firm on God's promise, his word and ability to move and work things out.