by Sue Detweiler

Learning to Walk in Love

Every Life-Giving Mom knows she needs to walk in love for her child. How do we turn our angry emotions into a life-giving force? As a mom, how can I be angry and not sin against my children? It is helpful to begin to memorize what God’s Word says about anger. These verses are helpful to keep in mind.

“And ‘don’t sin by letting anger control you.’
Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry,
for anger gives a foothold to the devil.” Ephesians 4:26-27, NLT

 When you or I become angry, we give a foothold to the enemy. When I walk in unrestrained anger I might as well open the doors to my home and say, “Devil, come on in and torture my children.” The presence of evil invades our homes when we don’t resolve our anger.

A practical approach I found to replace my anger with God’s love was to speak God’s Word out loud in moments of exasperation. I would practice when it came time to discipline our children.

Wayne and I began to facilitate family devotions when our children were small. During this time I began to teach them Scriptures that I needed to meditate on and memorize. One of those Scriptures was the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23 which says:

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against
these things!” Galatians 5:22-23, NLT

The times when I felt angry, I began to send our children to the designated place for discipline. I would send them ahead of me so that I could cool down. During the family devotion time we had instructed them that because we loved them we would discipline for three things:

  1. Disobedience
  2. Disrespect
  3. Dishonesty.

We had them memorize these “3 D’s” for discipline.

While I was cooling down, I asked my children to think about what they had done and why they needed discipline. Sometimes, I would stand by myself saying out loud: “I have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” By the time I said this out loud God’s presence was again ruling my heart and my home.

See Your Heart and Home Transformed as you Walk in Love

You may not have a personal struggle with anger, but all of us are tempted to walk in the flesh rather than the Spirit. LOVE is the fruit of walking with God infused by His Spirit.

Today, whatever situation you are in learn to walk in love and see your heart and home transformed.