Tag Archives: Spiritual Growth

September 19, 2026

Let Anger Warn You, Not Rule You

By altarofheaven

Anger is danger.

Anger should be an indicator, not a dictator of our actions. It alarms us that something is wrong, but it does not have to control our response. There are levels of anger that begin with irritation and can progress to rage. Anger can reveal:

  • Hurt
  • Offense
  • Disappointment
  • Fear
  • Injustice
  • Unmet expectations
  • Betrayal
  • Deeper wounds

Anger can be stirred when someone cuts you off, cuts you with their words, or maybe cuts you deeply and causes a soul wound. Maybe they cut and hurt someone you love. 

Anger tells us something is happening inside us, it doesn’t tell us what to do next. We have a choice.

When we allow anger to take over and remain unresolved, a progression can occur:

  • We are offended
  • We are angry
  • We are bitter
  • We are unforgiving
  • We say harsh words
  • We may retaliate
  • Destruction can occur, beginning within our own hearts

Anger is not a sin, and there are times we should be angry. Serving at a ministry that helps young ladies that have been deeply wounded, I have heard stories that have pushed me to the point of deep anger. There have been times I wanted to avenge them. 

With angry tears I have asked God many times to teach me how to “Be angry and yet do not sin…” (Ephesians 4:26). 

So what do I do with this anger before it comes sin?

I am learning to give my anger to the Righteous Judge. 

Psalm 7:11 says:

“God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day.” 

Indignation is “anger aroused by something unjust, unworthy, or mean.” 

If God sees and is angered by the injustice in this world, why do I believe I need to carry the weight of it too?

When I choose to stay angry it’s usually because I feel something is unresolved, I want the person to apologize, I want to see the justice, or I want someone to acknowledge what happened. 

For 33 years I carried anger and didn’t know what to do with it. It was killing me softly. 

Today I’m learning vengeance and justice are too heavy for me to carry. I need to make sure I am yoked to the One who told me to learn from Him (Matthew 11:28-29). 

His name is Jesus Christ. 

Jesus not only tells us what to do with injustice He showed us what to do:

 “…He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly… “(1 Peter 2:21-25)

That truth confronts me with a question: 

Am I entrusting this offense to God? 

I have had to admit that sometimes beneath my anger was unbelief. My anger was exposing places where I struggled to trust God.

  • Will God handle this?
  • Will He protect me?
  • Will justice ever come?
  • Why should I forgive if they didn’t apologize?
  • Why did God allow this?

Confessing these doubts and questions to God allows me to admit my inadequacy and call on Him for help. 

That does not mean ignoring that an offense has taken place. It does not mean allowing an unhealthy relationship to continue without boundaries. I can acknowledge that someone sinned against me while still asking God to give me a heart willing to forgive and he wisdom to know what steps to take next. 

So what can we do with our anger?

  • Identify the trigger 
  • Name what is beneath the anger 
  • Tell God honestly what we feel
  • Surrender vengeance to God
  • Recognize that forgiveness may require repeated surrender
  • Establish boundaries when needed
  • Choose our response before anger chooses it for us

What if we began to see anger as an early warning signal, an invitation to go to God and ask for His help? We can bring our anger to the Righteous Judge, trust Him with what we cannot carry, and ask the Holy Spirit to help us remain vessels of mercy and grace in this world, instead of vessels of wrath. 

*I also published this on my substack Thanks for reading!

May God be glorified, Christ magnified and the Brethren edified.

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December 31, 2025

Revisiting & Reviving Convictions

By altarofheaven

How often do you visit your habits and behaviors?

It’s a good practice to examine them daily, and even better to set aside intentional time before the beginning of a new year. Our habits and behavior are shaped by our convictions. A conviction is, “a firmly held belief or opinion.” Our belief system drives our thought, choices and plans.

Sixteen years ago, my husband and I embarked on an adventure with God when my husband said, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Our new conviction was simple but seismic: God is real and can be trusted. He was calling us to move from comfort and convenience to trust and obedience.

Yesterday we were given the gift of spending the final hours of 2025 being still, dwelling with God alongside a seasoned saint of Jesus Christ who asked us thoughtful and probing questions. “A plan in the heart of a man is like deep water, but a man of understanding draws it out” (Proverbs 20:5). This gentleman drew out living water in us. As we shared our stones of remembrances, the many ways God had been faithful, even before we acknowledged His existence, something awakened again.

A revival stirred in our hearts, reminding us of convictions we hold dear:

  • Our lives are not our own.
  • Everything we have is not ours.
  • We are stewards.
  • This world is not our home.

We must stay the course and remain obedient to the daily assignments of God.

This post-it note and prayer card from my husband, written almost sixteen years ago, is a treasure to me. It serves as a quiet but powerful reminder that we are still walking on the path of righteousness for God’s namesake.

When we first moved here, someone once said, “I used to be on fire for Jesus Christ like you, but it will fade.” That comment used to haunt me. Now I understand how it can fade, if we do not dwell daily with the Lord. Without time in His word, confession and repentance, we begin operating in our own strength. Weariness sets in.

This world is dark, demanding and discouraging. If we’re not careful those conditions can cloud the place where our convictions live. We begin to hear the voice, “Did God really say?” Doubt creeps in about God’s faithfulness, His presence and even His existence. Left unchecked and un-exchanged for Truth, we can become forgetful hearers, living in quiet delusion.

May we be people who revisit and revive our convictions daily so that we are not only hearers of God’s word but doers of it. May 2026 be a year of GROWING in the Grace and Knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The best is yet to come.

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November 8, 2025

Garlic and the Gospel: Becoming the Fragrance of Christ

By altarofheaven
Photo of a loaf of bread, garlic cloves, and a Bible on a wooden table illustrating the devotional theme “Garlic and the Gospel: Becoming the Fragrance of Christ.”

Garlic is one of my favorite ingredients in food. I absolutely enjoy garlic! The thing about garlic is that when you eat a lot of it, it begins to seep out of your pores. You quite literally carry its fragrance with you. The more you eat, the more you smell like garlic.

This reminds me of what our lives should look like as Christians. We should be partaking of the Bread of Life so often that we carry the fragrance of Christ. That’s the only way to truly bear His aroma. Sermons, devotionals, podcast and commentaries all have their place, but they are kind of like processed food. 

If you want the purity of the Bread you must sit still in the presence of God, you must ingest His Word for yourself.  When you do, you’ll carry His fragrance wherever you go. Just remember, just as not everyone enjoys the smell of garlic (and it even repels insects), the fragrance of Christ can also repel some. Yet to those who are being saved, it is the sweetest aroma of all.

So may you ingest and digest the Word of God today, and bring the fragrant aroma of Christ into every space you enter.

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” John 6:35

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?” 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

Prayer: May I ingest your Word daily sitting at Your presence ready to be Your fragrance wherever I go so that I might make you known. 

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April 19, 2025

Deadlifting Burdens

By altarofheaven

Deadlifting is a weight exercise that trains multiple muscle groups at once. It’s the kind of workout where you’re encouraged to train to failure because that’s where growth happens. In pushing through the resistance, strength is built.

Lately, I’ve felt like I’ve been deadlifting burdens. I’ve done it to the point of failure. I know I’m called to the place I’m serving, but that doesn’t make it easy.

I hear confessions, witness pain, and sit with sin, both the kind done to others and the kind they’ve committed. Yes, Jesus bore the weight of the sin of the world. But we still live with the consequences. Broken hearts. Shattered dreams. Lingering wounds. We pick up and gather the broken pieces which feel heavy, even while yoked to Christ. 

Jesus said His burden is light, but that word “light” is relative. After all, what’s light to the One who bore it all, can still feel crushing to me.

So, I ask myself, am I carrying it the right way while yoked to Jesus?

Maybe what Jesus meant by His “light burden” is what Paul called the momentary light affliction, because it’s producing in us something eternal. A weight of glory.

When I reflect on the weeks, I’ve spent feeling as though I am deadlifting emotional and spiritual burdens, I realize God is using it to strengthen me for what’s next. That doesn’t make it easy. But it reminds me, it’s worth it.

If you know someone in ministry, reach out. They may be lifting more than you know. Your encouragement could help them carry it to Jesus.

As for me? I’m holding on to the promise that glory outweighs grief, and that rest is found in Christ alone. I am not to be deadlifting burdens but remaining yoked to the One who died for them, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

“For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

“Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2

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