Our old adversary, Satan, has one goal in each of our lives. That is to keep us away from the Lord. He wants to do anything he can to insure that not only are we unable to maintain ourselves in good relationship with the Lord, but also that we are rendered ineffective in the work of the Kingdom of God.

Some of the ways that the devil works in our lives are obvious; trying to get us to fall into the obvious sins. But, there are others that are not so obvious. Unfortunately, even believers who work hard to protect themselves from the obvious traps can fall prey to the more subtle attacks.

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: ²⁷ Neither give place to the devil.

Ephesians 4:26-27

One of the more subtle attacks that the enemy uses in our lives is that of anger and bitterness. Many otherwise saintly believers struggle with feelings of anger, sometimes over big things, and sometimes over things that are so small as to seem ridiculous.

Notice what Paul said there in Ephesians; "Be ye anger, and sin not…" This actually raises more questions than it answers. Some take this to mean that being angry is not sin. But, Jesus didn't seem to see it that way in His famous "Sermon on the Mount."

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: ²² But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment…

Matthew 5:21-22

Notice the two underlined phrases in the verses above. The words used in these two verses are exactly identical, both in English and in the original Greek. The word "judgment" refers to being brought before a court of elders to determine if one had committed the crime. If so, their punishment was death.

Obviously, Jesus wasn't saying that the earthly court would have to try everyone who was angry at his brother. Nor, do I think that He was saying that a person who was angry had to be killed. It is much more likely that He was talking about being brought before the Judgment Seat of God.

There is an escape clause built into this statement however. Jesus didn't apply this to any type of anger, but only anger "without cause." The question then becomes, what is reasonable cause for anger, and what isn't.

I'm sure that every time someone is angry, they think they have good reason for their anger. I am equally sure that we are all experts in lying to ourselves to justify our actions. It doesn't seem reasonable to me that God would let us be our own judges on what justifiable anger is, and what isn't justifiable.

However, Jesus didn't go on to clarify what is justifiable anger and what isn't. All He did was tell us that unjustifiable anger is worthy of judgment by God. So, we must look elsewhere to find our answer.

Let's be honest for a moment. Just about all the time we are angry, it is because we feel that someone has treated us wrongly. Whether it is by their action, or inaction, we feel that we have been treated unjustly, and become angry. In fact, in a lot of these cases, our only justification to become angry is that we feel that someone hasn't treated us as well as we deserve to be treated. That isn't justification, that's pride. If we were truly humble, we wouldn't become angry for what others did to us; we'd leave that in the hands of the Lord.

So, if being angry about people mistreating us (according to our point of view) is unjustifiable, what is justifiable anger?

I would have to say that the only things that justify our anger are those things which justify the anger of our Heavenly Father; that is, sin and injustice. Anything else is actually unimportant compared to those two.

Okay, now that we've identified what is justifiable anger, let's go back to our original verse. It says, "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath" (Eph 4:26). How do we make sure that we don't sin when we are angry?

The obvious thing is to make sure that our anger doesn't cause us to do anything that would be sin. What kinds of sin? Well, we can start at the top of the list with murder, and work our way down to hurting someone, stealing, slandering, and many other things. This isn't the type of thing where making a list is going to help us, it's more the type of thing where we have to guard our heart. Many things aren't clearly labeled as sin in the Bible can be just as much sin as murder.

For example, stealing is clearly labeled in the Bible as sin (Ex 20:15). But, stealing someone's time isn't. So, while someone might try and use that as a loophole, I don't think that would go over very well with God. Stealing is stealing, whether it is money, a car, time, or someone's joy.

Likewise slander isn't mentioned anywhere in scripture as a sin (I just did a computer search to verify). However, one of the Ten Commandments is "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor" (Ex 20:16). Most of the time, when people are making slanderous statements, they claim to be telling the truth, but are they really? Or, are they stretching and modifying the truth in order to make the story better? When they do that, it becomes false witness. Remember, the best lies contain some truth.

Okay, that's one way we can take the verse, but there's a further understanding that we can get from it. Paul doesn't stop the verse we're studying in Ephesians by telling us not to sin, he goes on to say: "let not the sun go down on your wrath" (Eph 4:26).

What Paul is doing here is giving further definition to what he said in the first part of the verse. In other words, allowing the sun to go down on our wrath is sin. "Okay," you might say, "that's just wrath. I don't every get that angry, just good and irritated."

Wait a minute. What's the difference between wrath and irritation? It's really just the size, or intensity of the emotion. Wrath is a great big irritation; and irritation is a little wrath. They're really the same thing. So, we can just as easily apply that verse to say, "Don't allow the sun to go down on your irritation."

That sheds a whole new light on things. If irritation is the same as wrath, and if allowing the sun to go down on our wrath is sin; well then, it seems like a lot of us go do bed at night in sin.

Okay, so how do we get rid of that problem? There's plenty that happens every day to give us all ample opportunity to be irritated. At least, for those of us who are still alive. I suppose we could die, then we wouldn't have any opportunity to get irritated, but that seems like a rather drastic solution for something that's just an irritation.

The only true solution for irritation, or wrath for that matter, is forgiveness. Many people, even believers, never get around to forgiving, and hold wrath, irritation, and bitterness in their hearts for years. Those feelings destroy one's ability to walk with the Lord, to feel His presence, or even to experience His joy. Instead of living a victorious life, because of unforgiveness they stay in defeat, sickness, and sorrow.

Let's get something straight here, forgetting isn't forgiving; nor is just ignoring the problem. There are lots of people who think they've forgiven, but never really have. Instead of saying "I forgive you" they say "don't worry about it," or "it's not important." If it causes irritation, or bitterness in your heart it is important. Saying those other things won't get rid of it. You can only get rid of it by forgiving.

Sometimes people don't forgive, because they feel like they are hypocrites in saying they forgive, when they don't feel it. Other times, people don't forgive, because they feel so much hurt that they don't think they can forgive. Both of these are false reasons to avoid forgiving.

Forgiveness isn't a feeling, nor is it an act of the emotions; it is an act of the will. One decides to forgive, whether they feel like it or not. Don't worry about the feelings, God will take care of them, make a decision to forgive. As part of that decision, give voice to the words, "I choose to forgive ______." You don't need to get into details about what they did, when they did it, or why they did it. Just say those words, putting the person's name in the blank. Do it today; don't let the sun go down before you do it.

Do you realize that not forgiving is one of the gravest of sins? In fact, it is so serious; it will keep us from being forgiven. Jesus said:

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: ¹⁵ But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 6:14-15

I can't think of anything else, except the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, or lack of repentance, that prevents us from being forgiven. But, Jesus clearly tells us here, and in other places as well, that if we don't forgive, we won't be forgiven.

That seems like too big a price to me. No matter what somebody else has done to me, it isn't important enough to lose my forgiveness over. I'd much rather forgive them, and leave them in the hands of the Lord. After all, He'll take care of them much better than I can; whether it is to change them, or to judge them.

Now that we've gotten all that out of the way, let's go on to the next part of our original Bible passage. When we are studying the Bible, we must always be sure to take what we are reading in context. That means we must read what comes before it and after it, and take into account the setting, time period, culture, and who is being spoken to.

We've already talked about Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 26, where it says, "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath." Now, let's add verse 27 to it: "Neither give place to the devil."

Remember now, there are no accidents in scripture. Things aren't put together without reason, or just because the author didn't know where else to put it. When God says two things together, that means they go together, even though it might not seem that way to us.

It is clear, when we put those two verses together that anger gives place in our lives to the devil.

"Wait a minute! You mean that when I'm angry, I'm giving place to the devil in my life? Why, I'm a believer, or an elder, or a deacon, or a pastor, or whatever you might say. How can that be?"

It's easy. I'm not saying it, I'm just showing you what scripture says. But, let's take a moment to think about it. How many times, when you were angry, did the devil come along for the ride, giving you thoughts that you would never have had if you hadn't been angry? Thoughts about doing your brother harm, for example. Or, thoughts of sin? Hmmm?

When we are angry, we think things that are totally unreasonable. How many times have you heard someone say they "wanted to kill someone," just because they were angry? Of course, once they cooled down, they didn't carry through with that thought. Or, how about a man who thinks about going to a prostitute, because he's mad at his wife? Any other time, he would reject the same thought as being sinful. But, because of his anger, he actually entertains the thought, even if he doesn't follow through.

Remember what we read in Matthew 5:21-22 above? According to Jesus, thinking about sinning, is just as bad committing the sin. Why? Two reasons. First of all, it is the thought that brings us to the act of sin. Secondly, He is concerned about the condition of our hearts.

We must constantly strive to protect ourselves from allowing the devil this entrance into our lives. Otherwise, the world will give us ample opportunity to enter into anger, and open the door to the devil. The more anger we allow, the more we allow our adversary right to come into our lives.

How do we keep ourselves from anger? The answer is simple; we need to die to self. After all, you can't hurt a dead man. Paul wrote to the Galatians:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

Paul knew what it meant to die to self, that's how he was able to go to Rome without worrying about dying. If they killed his body, it didn't matter, he was already dead. Likewise, many of the great preachers throughout the ages have known what it meant to die to self. Therefore, when God told them to do things that were contrary to their normal desires, it didn't matter to them. They were ready to lay down their lives, so that Jesus might be glorified through them.

God can always work better through a dead vessel. I'm not talking about dead in any way other than that the person has killed their own will, and accepted the will of Father God as their own. That's what it means to die to self.

A person like that can't be hurt, because they aren't focused upon themselves. Since they can't be hurt, they won't become angry over trivial things. Or, in other words, they won't give place to the devil in their lives.

Personal note: As I was writing this study, in Toluca, Mexico, I received a text message that my daughter had destroyed the power steering pump in the car she drives for the third time. So, when I retuned home, I would have to spend two days repairing the car again (to change the pump on that car requires taking out one of the axles). I hate doing mechanic work, and was furious.

I actually had to stop working on this study for a while, to deal with my emotions, because I was so mad. But, after a couple of hours I was able to return to it, and finish it. However, that night, I couldn't sleep, because my thoughts kept returning to her, and what I was calling her irresponsibility.

It was obvious I had to put into practice my own writings. However, even though I forgave her, I couldn't get the thoughts to shut off. The only thing I could do was pray, seek the Lord, and forgive her over and over until I was at peace.

The great importance of my dealing with this situation at that moment wasn't so that I could sleep, but that I had to minister in a church the next morning. How could I bring the people of that church a word fresh from the throne of heaven, if I couldn't get myself out of my flesh, and into the spirit?

There is no way to minister in the spirit while we are walking in the flesh. Anger, jealousy, pride, and a whole list of other emotions and attitudes are pure flesh. As ministers, we must thrown them out of our lives as part of our preparation to minister. Yes, they will try and return, but at least for the moment that we are behind that pulpit, bringing forth the Word of God, to His people, we must get rid of them. Otherwise, all we are going to do is throw our own problems at the people.

Glory to God I was able to put that behind me that night, and He moved powerfully in the service the next morning. I would hate to see what would have happened if I wasn't able to apply my own writings to my life.