Tag Archives: trusting God

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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February 27, 2014

Striving Raven or Abiding Dove?

By altarofheaven

Jesus Christ is LORD!

Imagine entering into an ark, a vessel of safety for you and your family in which you built obediently with the wisdom and direction of God. You know God will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights just as He has said. But you don’t know how LONG you will have to WAIT for the surface of the ground to be dry and when God will allow you to ‘go out of the ark’.

There were two birds that were sent out to see if the flood water were abated. These birds can represent how our minds might behave when we wait for the ‘flood’ of our circumstances to subside: the Striving Raven or the Abiding Dove.

“Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made; and he sent out the raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth.”     Genesis 8:6-7

Since the raven never returned to the safety of the ark, Noah sent out another bird, the dove:

“Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land; but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself.” Genesis 8:8-9

Do you see the difference between the raven and the dove? The raven is like our flesh, striving and flying, never resting in the ark of safety that has been given but being self sufficient to the point of exhaustion.

The dove represents abiding peace, life and rest which comes when we RETURN to the safety of the ark. There is rest for your soul in Jesus Christ!

Are you like the raven, flying ‘to and fro’ striving to fly above this sin flooded world in your own strength? Or are you like the dove returning to the place of abiding rest in Christ?

“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace…” Romans 8:6

If you are a Christian, you have entered into an ark of safety–you have peace with God through Jesus Christ. No matter your circumstances, be still and don’t try to ‘save yourself’ but continue to place your trust and faith in Jesus Christ. May you rest in the finished work of Christ being an ark, a vessel for the Holy Spirit to rest in by continually abiding in Christ.

**This dove also brings a message of abiding hope…{this post is to be continued….}

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