#5 of a 5 part series: SEASONS OF TESTING
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
Kyfingers@aol.com
If you lack any part of the series, have a comment or a point to add contact me: Kyfingers@aol.com
This is part #5 on Being tested.
TEXT:
Gal. 5:15 warns of this testing process -- But if you bite and devour one another, TAKE HEED THAT YE BE NOT CONSUMED ONE OF ANOTHER.
James 1:19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath --
Proverbs 15:1 A SOFT ANSWER TURNS AWAY WRATH.
"Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man ... or you may learn his ways" (Prov. 22:24-25).
Even God is slow to anger -- Neh. 9:17.
Proverbs 15:18 warns -- a man full of anger stirs up strife, but he that is slow to anger appeases strife.
33. WE CAN BE TESTED BY NOT UNDERSTANDING NOR GETTING THE FACTS STRAIGHT.
Often we don’t communicate clearly, this can be accidental or purposely, but either way it can be deadly.
Frozen communication lines have destroyed many families and churches.
We need to know how to communicate.
Good communication lines can help keep peace and control fires that brew in anger.
A good coach keeps his team informed, else there be an undermining anger that creeps and brings disunity.
Anger can be contagious?
In his autobiography, Number 1, Billy Martin told about hunting in Texas with Mickey Mantle. Mickey had a friend who would let them hunt on his ranch.
When they reached the ranch, Mickey told Billy to wait in the car while he checked in with his friend.
Mantle’s friend quickly gave them permission to hunt, but he asked Mickey a favor.
He had a pet mule in the barn who was going blind, and he didn’t have the heart to put him out of his misery. He asked Mickey to shoot the mule for him.
When Mickey came back to the car, he pretended to be angry. He scowled and slammed the door.
Billy asked him what was wrong, and Mickey said his friend wouldn’t let them hunt. "I’m so mad at that guy," Mantle said, "I’m going out to his barn and shoot one of his mules!"
Mantle drove like a maniac to the barn. Martin protested, "We can’t do that!" But Mickey was adamant. "Just watch me," he shouted.
When they got to the barn, Mantle jumped out of the car with his rifle, ran inside, and shot the mule.
As he was leaving, though, he heard two shots, and he ran back to the car. He saw that Martin had taken out his rifle, too.
"What are you doing, Martin?" he yelled. Martin yelled back, face red with anger,
"We’ll show that son of a gun! I just killed two of his cows!"
Anger can be dangerously contagious.
As Proverbs puts it, "Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man ... or you may learn his ways" (Prov. 22:24-25). -- Scott Bowerman, Bishopville, South Carolina. Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 1.
34. THE BIG TEST OF TEMPERS, KEEP YOUR TEMPER, NOBODY ELSE WANTS IT. WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR MOUTH WHILE YOU ARE ANGRY WILL BE A BIGGER TEST!
Often slander and cruel words come because someone has failed the temper test.
The Holy Spirit would love to control many uncertain tempers. Even God is slow to anger -- Neh. 9:17.
Proverbs 15:18 warns -- a man full of anger stirs up strife, but he that is slow to anger appeases strife.
We have a serious failure of the testing process of anger.
We must identify the root of the problem, the root is often anger.
We can never lower strife until we get healing to the source of the anger.
Anger is a seedling that soon grows into the tree of hatred.
Have you heard it said, count to 10 before you speak when you are angry, this truth is good; but maybe it be wiser to count to 100.
The Bible states: Proverbs 15:1 A SOFT ANSWER TURNS AWAY WRATH.
Would not nature teach that anger shortens life as well as lowering the quality of living.
Temper often causes a man to speak his mind when he ought to be minding his speech. If your anger is in gear, put your mouth in neutral.
Eccles. 7:9 Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
Hotheads often set the world on fire. Then the flames get out of control.
James 1:19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath --
When we talk too much and listen too little, we fail the test before us, we communicate to others that we think our ideas are much more important than theirs.
There is an answer, James wisely advises us to reverse this process.
Put a mental stop watch on your conversations and keep track of how much you talk and how much you listen.
Your test will be to make adjustments and correct this.
We must make others feel that their viewpoints and ideas have value?
These verses speak of anger that erupts when our egos are bruised—
“I am hurt;” “You don’t care, my opinions are not being heard.”
We should not become angry when we fail to win an argument or when we feel offended or neglected.
Selfish anger never helps anybody.
SO WHAT IF YOU WIN AN ARGUMENT AND LOSE A FRIEND, WHAT HAVE YOU WON?
We must see the test of an angry mouth, and learn to CONTROL IT. Close the back door!
35. THE TEST OF POOR ATTITUDES THAT ARE CONTAGIOUS AND CANNIBALISTIC.
We are social individuals. Habits, sin, and bad attitudes are often communicable. We learn by example, similar emotions and conduct.
I have seen churches get a TASTE OF BLOOD, and turn cannibalistic
-- Gal. 5:15 warns of this testing process
-- But if you bite and devour one another, TAKE HEED THAT YE BE NOT CONSUMED ONE OF ANOTHER.
We are not to tolerate cannibalism. The test is in honor preferring one another.
Proverbs 22:24 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered,
25 Lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul. People tend to become like those with whom they spend a lot of time.
Even the negative characteristics sometimes rub off.
The Bible exhorts us to be cautious in our choice of companions. Choose friends with characteristics you would like to develop in your own life.
We should build friendships that would not tolerate others talking in negative ways. I see the test area not just negative tongues, but EARS THAT WILL YIELD TO hear what they should not tolerate to hear.
Truth can be gossip.
HOW DOES YOU MOUTH AND EARS HOLD UP TO THE TEST OF THE WORD? You shall give an account! Don’t forget YOUR MOUTH WILL BE ACCOUNTABLE! Mat. 12:36.
David would not allow his men to discuss Saul’s failures and death. It is very easy to fail this test area. We become trapped by our own words.
His servant,
Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
Kyfingers@aol.com
This is part #5 of a 5 part series, if you need a part contact me..
