We can learn how to pray when we are angry by looking at how Jesus prayed during His time here on Earth. He would oftentimes get away from other people to go be with God by himself and commune with Him just as it is expressed in Mark 1:35, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
When I get angry or upset, I have found it is best if I take a step back and get by myself to process and calm down. This does not mean giving the silent treatment to someone, but it can be a preserver and extra guard of my words so that later regrets aren’t necessary. Being in isolation with God in prayer can help us to center our thoughts and keep distractions at bay.
When thinking of the prime example of prayer, I am taken back to Matthew 6:9-13 for the Lord’s Prayer: “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”
So we see that praise comes first, then asking for God’s will, thanking God for our blessings, asking Him to forgive us our sins and for help in forgiving others (where anger can begin to leave our bodies), and finally asking Him to guide us away from temptation so that we don’t fall into sin. When I pray, I may feel anger at first but thankfulness, humility, discernment, and finally, a countenance of peace is left within my soul.
Some of you might be saying, “That’s great, Mandy, but I’m still going to have to deal with the circumstance that upset me to start with or what if the person that upset me does it again the next day?” I hear you, brother and sister in Christ. The world, as we know it, is full of trouble and we are not promised to walk through it unscathed.
But we are promised to walk through it with Jesus if we take the hand He offers us. I pray that as you move throughout your days ahead, you can become more mindful and in more control of your thoughts and responses that might lead to anger, and instead, focus on hope, patience, love and faith.
I pray that both you and I can be "...joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" (Romans 12:12).
Related Resource: Listen to our FREE podcast, Teach Us to Pray with Christina Patterson. You can find all the episodes on LifeAudio.com. Listen to our episode on desperate prayers right now:
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