Spirit Controlled Temperament

Anger grieves the Holy Spirit; fear quenches the Holy Spirit. Sanguine and Choleric temperaments are anger prone, and Melancholy and Phlegmatic temperaments are fear prone. Lucky for me Melancholies are also prone to anger because of their tendency towards "foul thinking" patterns (yes, sarcasm is on the list of anger symptoms!).



Forms of anger:



bitterness*

malice

clamor*

envy*

resentment*

intolerance

criticism*

revenge

wrath

hatred

seditions

jealousy*

attack

gossip

sarcasm**

unforgiveness



Forms of fear:



anxiety**

doubts*

timidity*

indecision**

superstition

withdrawal*

loneliness**

overagression*

worry*

inferiority*

cowardice*

suspicion*

hesitancy*

depression*

haughtiness

social shyness*





In both lists, I've starred ones I personally have trouble with (some a little, some a lot).



I've found through introspection (another melancholy trait that can be overindulged in) that most of my anger stems from fear/anxiety. Being a Highly Senstive Person, often I feel like a little field mouse with an eagle's talons right at my shoulder, when the kids are simply "being kids" - i.e. one jumping on the couch next to me while two others argue in front of me while the baby's nursing (the hormones of nursing make me feel doubly weird). After reading this book, however, I'm wondering if some small part of being a HSP can be from overindulgence of my selfish nature, and not walking by faith and allowing myself to grieve/quench the Spirit. I understand that part of it is just being "differently wired" because I was like this since birth!



I'm paraphrasing, but the book explains: when you're angry, it's because someone in some way has violated your "rights" and you are interested in yourself (read: selfish!). And at least from my own experience, anxiety/fear is sometimes caused by selfishness - I am much more likely to spiral into out of control anxiety when things aren't going my way (i.e. being selfish!). At the very least it's caused by focusing on myself and not Christ.



As an aside - so I don't forget - they talked about the physical effects of excess adreneline (caused by chronic anxiety): stomach acids going out of whack, excessive calcium deposits, arthritis. The calcium deposits surpised me - I had never heard that before, but many years ago I went to a naturopath who was shocked at how much calcium I had in my hair! For some reason it was not where it belonged and was being thrust out of my body into may hair. I also tend to get little hard bumps in my skin, especially under my eyes which are supposedly calcium. Who knew?? Makes me want to stop and take deep breaths RIGHT NOW. ;-)



Now, when we grieve or quench the Spirit, we don't allow the Holy Spirit to strengthen our weaknesses. We can't show the nine Fruits of the Spirit if we are not allowing Him to work in us. The power of the Holy Spirit can strengthen the good points of your temperament, and make up for the weak qualities. So you could be trying very hard to be kind, gentle, joyous, etc, but if you are still showing anger and fear, you'll be doing all those things on your own strength and not the full strength of the Holy Spirit you could be enjoying.