Here are three prayers you can pray now about anger:
1. A Prayer to Be Free from Anger, Resentment, and Bitterness
Oh, Lord, we know from Your Holy Word that anger can well up inside us, turn our thoughts from You and channel them into destructive, evil notions that lead us astray. We are often brimming over with emotion. From happiness and surprise to anger, fear, and disgust, our feelings are natural and by design. Some of these feelings are glorious and blissful, but others, left unchecked, can steer us away from You and all the good You intend. Sometimes they fester so long and so deep they begin to rot inside of us.
Anger can turn from a dull flare to a throbbing flame and eventually to a wildfire, reaping only destruction in its wake. Help us, Lord, to remember Your instructions throughout Scripture about anger. Help us to honor Your words to the Apostle Paul: “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” (Ephesians 4:26) and, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice” (Ephesians 4:31). Help us to stamp out anger before it becomes a fiery flare, and help us choose to remain calm and talk things out in love with the spirit of correction and accountability, rather than fighting. Instead of resentment and bitterness, let seeds of love and reconciliation grow in our hearts seeds that point to You and Your way, not our own.
Lord, hear our prayer. Amen.
2. A Prayer to Control Your Temper and Frustration
Lord, You are all-powerful and almighty. You created the sun and the stars, the seas and the heavens above, the earth and all creatures upon it—the very universe and time itself. Who then are we to stand in Your way and let our tiny flares of rage ignite? Help us to step back and allow You and only You to reign supreme. Help us to know and take comfort that You will dole out Your holy wrath justly and completely.
Enable us to rest in the peace of being Your child, Your people, knowing You will handle all things in Your perfect time. Help us set aside the fury and the frenzy, the angst and the nascent seeds of hate beginning to sow. Let us remember the wisdom you gave us through Your servant, James, that everyone should “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires” (James 1:19-20).
Let us remember the proper motivation—not pride, not prejudice, not personal insult or attack, not fear, but rather a deep and pure affront to God and all You hold dear. Allow our anger to make room for You at the center to honor You and to care for Your people above all. Give us a spirit of peace and rest in You. In Your holy name, we pray, amen.
3. A Prayer When You Feel Righteously Angry at Injustice
This world can be like a tidal wave—swirling with hate and rage and fury and disgust, ripe with injustice, oppression, intolerance, blindness, persecution…and evil. Deep, deep evil. Our hearts cry out to You, Lord! Our anguish rails and roils like waves lashing against the shore! Help us to remember how You reacted when You saw injustice. You gave us Your son, Jesus, “The way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6) to be our example, to show us the path to You, to show how we could work to reign in our frail and faulty human weaknesses. Confronted with the sin of ignorance and pride, of obstinance and rebellion, You show us the way in Your Holy Word: “He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored” (Mark 3:5).
Help us remember the words You gave us through the Apostle Paul: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:3-7).
You are our Father. When injustice arises, help us remember: You are in control. You will prevail. And we are Yours. In Your holy and precious name, we pray, amen.
(These prayers are originally published in crosswalk.com)