You Won’t Like Me When I’m Angry
“The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”
—Galatians 5:17 (NLT)
This part of my Christian walk as a young man was hard. I loved the grace, the mercy, the forgiveness—loved the unity with God and with the body of Christ. But the battle of opposing desires? That felt like an unanswered question in the church.
From “just say no” to “resist the devil and he will flee,” I was handed a lot of clichés that didn’t seem to cut it when I was in the trenches.
The two forces inside of me—the Spirit and the flesh—didn’t care about my pre-packaged answers.
The war was real.
And more often than I’d like to admit, it ended in regret and shame.
But if you’re a man or a young person struggling through this same tension, I have some good news:
The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.
And here’s the image that helps me—Bruce Banner, a.k.a. The Hulk from The Avengers.
(If you haven’t seen the movies… seriously, go watch one, then come back.)
There’s this shift that happens in Banner before he transforms. An agitation. A tension. And then the release—the unleashing of something stronger than the enemy he faces.
In my own struggle with sin, I used to fight like a weak human. I’d stay passive. I’d wrestle in my flesh, trying to win spiritual battles without spiritual power. I wouldn’t tap into the reality of who lived inside me—the Spirit of the living God, deposited into this fragile, mortal body.
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“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”
—Galatians 5:24–25 (NLT)
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There comes a time in the fight where we need to stop being reserved—and start being agitated in the Spirit.
We don’t passively tolerate sin. We don’t reason with it. We don’t coddle it.
We crucify it.
We treat sinful desires as foreign invaders—not as part of our identity.
And we let the Spirit lead us—because He is the one with the power to demolish strongholds, to pull down thoughts and intentions that war against our soul.
You will be amazed at the strength, confidence, and authority you walk in when you stop fighting like Bruce Banner and start fighting like the Hulk—the Spirit-led, empowered version of who you really are.
So today, take a moment.
Acknowledge the Holy Spirit who lives in you.
He is the only part of the Godhead physically present on earth right now—and He is here to bring the fullness of the Father and the Son into your daily battles.
When foreign desires rise up within you, ask yourself:
Do I give in, or do I get angry in the Spirit?
Bruce Banner said, “You won’t like me when I’m angry.”
But for us in Christ?
The enemy won’t like us when we’re Spirit-agitated and fully awake.
—Gabe Voorhees