Five Signs You May Be Serving An Angry Displeased God
“This is my Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). This is the message the Father spoke over Jesus that launched Him into public ministry. If you think about it, Jesus got a “well pleased” before He did any of the miracles He was famous for.
Discovering our Fathers pleasure is the most empowering thing a Christian will ever do.
The opposite is true, believing Father God is angry or displeased will lead to an insecure and survivalist faith walk.
Here are five signs you may be serving an “Angry Displeased God.”
1) You feel shame or condemnation when your devotional life is inconsistent.
Feelings of shame or condemnation are often the evidence that you believe God’s opinion of you is determined by how much you have pursued Him or obeyed Him, or loved Him…
First, God never uses shame or condemnation – those feelings come from elsewhere…
Second, you get no say in how God feels about you. God is love and His heart toward you is perfectly displayed in the life, death, and resurrection of His Son.
Third, “we love because He first loved” (1st John 4:19). Your devotional life is always meant to be a response to your revelation of His love and good pleasure.
2) When you pray for someone, you use the phrase “If its Your will…”
When you are not convinced in your Heavenly Father’s pleasure, you believe life’s hardships may have been sent by God to discipline or to teach a person how to be more kind, or patient, or giving or… When you serve an “Angry Displeased God,” you are forced to pray cautious insecure and even desperate prayers for others and for yourself.
God’s will isn’t a mystery, Jesus told us how to pray and it started with – “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).
Jesus also told us in Luke 12:32, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for the Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom.”
Therefore, anything that is in the Kingdom of heaven can be prayed to earth with confident faith.
3) You believe the scripture “take up your cross and follow me” is an invitation to suffer for God.
When you serve a “Angry Displeased God,” you often find your focus primarily on the pain and death of the cross – as though suffering equates with holiness and a Godly life.
While the verse in Matthew 16, “take up your cross and follow me” is certainly an invitation to follow Jesus in every way, pain and death were never the objective of the cross-resurrection life was always the destination. “For the joy set before Him he endured the cross…” (Heb 12:2).
“Take up your cross” is not a celebration of suffering with Jesus; it’s an invitation to live in the power of the resurrection.
4) Whenever the pastor preaches, you feel inadequate and determine new ways to try harder.
Jesus didn’t live, die, and live again so you could try harder. He overcame in every way so you could be transformed.
Feelings of spiritual inadequacy are often the evidence that you may be serving an “Angry Displeased God.”
As I stated in the introduction to this article, Jesus lived 30 years without doing any miracles. Then, after He is baptized, His Father declares, “This is my Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17). It begs the question, what was the Father pleased about? Jesus hadn’t done anything yet.
It was the Father’s pleasure that empowered Jesus to do all the things He is famous for.
Discipline and principles are very important, but the Christian faith was never meant to be about “trying harder,” it’s about becoming sure in Gods love. Only through the discovery of Gods pleasure are you empowered to do the “greater works” Jesus promised and the pastor is preaching about.
5) It feels authentic to sing, “Prone to wander” from the famous Hymn, Come Thou Fount
A sign you may be serving an “Angry Displeased God” is you believe that confessing sin proves authenticity. Authenticity isn’t just about confession but also transformation. Confession without transformation is actually inauthentic.
The idea that God is angry or displeased goes hand in hand with the idea that this side of heaven you are forever “prone to wander.”
But when we discover His good pleasure, we discover the powerful truth about what Jesus purchased for us through His death and resurrection – repentance, the gift of both confession and transformation.
You can read more about this in my new book, Prone To Love.
Jason Clark is a singer/songwriter, author, speaker, and pastor. Jason’s passion is to know the love of God more each day. He lives to see a generation step into their identity as sons and daughters of the King and establish His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Jason’s new book Prone To Love is available now.
Great post Jason, thanks for the check up and reminder! Love it.
You really need to validate your statements with scripture a lot better. In your point #2 above you say, “When you are not convinced in your Heavenly Father’s pleasure, you believe life’s hardships may have been sent by God to discipline or to teach a person how to be more kind, or patient, or giving or…”
Consider, though, Hebrews 12:7-11 – “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
While we should not walk around thinking God is just looking for any excuse to “zap” us, we also cannot, as many Christians have, use God’s love as an excuse to live as we please. Yes, God does love us deeply, but that love does NOT mean God cannot be either angry or displeased. Unconditional love does not equal unconditional approval.
Thanks for the life-giving reminder, Jason!!
Thanks Jason, Dear Lord please make everyone succseful and whoever reads this I hope you will have all your dreams come true
you made my night!
Jeff
I appreciate your point and the necessity to investigate ALL Scripture to have a complete picture. While it is obviously true that God loves us enough to discipline us…I am concerned with your comment “we also cannot, as many Christians have, use God’s love as an excuse to live as we please.” That comment connects behavior with discipline. I don’t believe God disciplines us based on behavior. Scripture also clearly states that God is concerned with our heart. I believe the discipline is meant to bring us to a place of blessing, of favor. God disciplines me to make my heart more like his….not my behavior. Look at the context of the passage you quoted, it cites Esau as an example as a godless man because he rejected his sonship. Not because he “sinned” or behaved poorly. He chose to put his trust and sustenance in a meal rather than the security of knowing he is a son. God disciplines for good, for righteousness, to make us more like him because it is in that place that we receive our inheritance of sonship.
I’m not implying this was your intention by any means, I just have a deep concern for the Christian mentality that once we “pray the prayer” we should get to work on our behavior in order to “live like a Christian” rather than continually putting our trust in Jesus and the Holy Spirit to make those changes for us. It’s almost as if we become sons, accept his righteousness…..then go right back to trusting in ourselves to modify our behavior rather than focus on the heart of God.
Heath, you really need to study the scripture alot more. If you think Jesus and the Holy Spirit are going to make the changes in your life that will lead to godliness, you are sadly mistaken. We are empowered by the Spirit, but we must make the effort (1 Pet 2:1, Eph 4:31, Col 3:8, 2 Pet 1:5-9, Col 3:15, Rom 8:13, Jas 1:22, Rom 6:19) You put the word sin in quotation marks like it’s not serious. The actual context of the Esau passage is talking about holiness – Esau was godless, and that influenced his behavior and caused him to sell his birthright for a meal.
I have a deep concern for the mentality that says that once we “pray the prayer” we don’t have to do anything else and it’s up to God to make us what He wants us to be. God is very concerned with our behavior (Rom 13:13-14) and we must see to it that we don’t use the grace of God as an excuse to sin (Jude 1:4). And, if you read Hebrews 12 carefully, you will see that God does punish us if necessary (Heb 12:6).
How come Christians conniver ever agree on the basics, and are always calling each other out ? This is true of many well known pastors, teachers, speakers. Especially in America ! Why is this the case ? So tiresome !
Hey,
Sorry for the late reply. We are working on a new site that will host all my articles in one spot.
There is an “us” and “them” culture within the church that doesn’t exist in the revelation of Jesus. “Us” and “them” will create a defensive approach to everything, including God and family and theology… Jesus prayed we would be one as He is one with His Father. I believe when we move from intimacy, from being one with our Father, we will find ourselves living like Jesus. The gospel isn’t about defending an idea it’s about revealing His love.
Anyway, that’s a quick thought in answer to you question.
Blessings over you today!
I have 3 grown boys. I love them dearly. The oldest was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The middle son is now in prison. The youngest was always the good one.i noticed when he was expecting his first chid he changed. He was sinning alot. He was doing a bad drug. I prayed that god would help me stop his behaviour. He got sick with pneumonia and now congestive heart failure. Is that his way of answering my prayer. Did i not have the right to ask . now my son is dying and i feel so hopeless. I asked god to let me take his place. I feel im being punished along with my son. I really dont understand why this is happening. Anything ive worked for and the people i love has been taken from me. I grew up without a family. Now i have one and its being taken. I need one answer. Why?
Hello,
These are heart-rending stories and I am sorry for your loss and your great disappointment. When my wife and I have faced brokenness and deep disappointment (in our lives or because of the lives of family or friends) we have discovered that choosing to believe God is good and He plays no part in our pain gives us the trust to climb into His lap and experience His peace. David said it this way, “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for You (God) are with me. God is with you now. He loves you. He played no part in your sorrow. He is with you and even now He is moving on your behalf.
I pray wholeness now over your son. I pray that he would be healed in body and mind. I pray that he would know the love of our heavenly Father. I also pray that you would know the peace that surpasses understanding. I pray for grace to cover you and His love to envelop you. I pray for wholeness over your mind, heart, and body now in Jesus name.
I think god just is, can it be that god is never mad at us even when we sin? Since nothing can catch him by surprise, this will mean that he was just waiting for the momment of our sin so he can go from happy to angry, as if we can affect gods mood. I heard that there is nothing we can do or not do to make him love us more or less, that he just loves us no matter what. If he lives thru all time past present and future and sees all and knows all how can god be happy at me know that I was gona sin in the future. I think god just is (love ,grace , compassion etc.) Just my thoughts.
Good thoughts Edmond, I am with you!
Hello I’m Skyler and im 13 years old and lately iv been so scared and iv been so fearful because lately, I can’t shake the feeling that I’m going to die soon, iv sinned and I don’t know what to do every day I wonder is God punishing me for my sins or is the devil working is magic on me making me feel hopeless like I’m nothing but I’m too scared to talk to my mom or dad about it I’m scared because I don’t know what there going to think of me are they still going to love me or are they going to think I’m going crazy please give me an answer as soon as possible.
Hey Skyler, I missed this email. I’m sorry for the late response. You are loved by God and nothing can separate you from His love and great joy. He is pleased with you and there is n sin that He hasn’t forgiven. You are His favorite.
I pray grace and life and that you would know God’s great affection over you today. Talk to your parents and let them help you. I pray grace over them as well.