Cool thoughts for hotheads

"A hot-tempered person commits all kinds of sin" - Proverbs 29:22.

A hot temper :
(1)drives a wedge between you and your loved ones. Esau's resentment
of Jacob led to the latter's exile in Haran (Genesis 27:41-43). As a
result,the family was separated. (2) can drive you into murder,like
Cain and Lamech((Genesis 4:1-24).

Here's how to control your anger:
(1) Think before you react. Our reactions are often based more on
feelings than facts . Someone says or does something and we suddenly
feel angry and assume they "made" us feel that way. No, you made
yourself angry by telling yourself,"Who do they think they are?", "I
don't have to take that","I'll show them who's in charge",etc. James
1:19 says," Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become
angry". To break anger's negative cycle, practise saying to
yourself,"Stop!" Then don't react until you ask the person to clarify
their words or actions. By stopping and listening to understand, you
interrupt your anger build-up and gain self-control. (2) Don't "speak
your mind" when you're angry. An old Irish poem says: 'We're
constantly hearing O'Flannagan say,"I gave him a piece of my mind" And
it isn't surprising with so much gone, that so little remains behind!'
Read Proverbs 15:1. (3) Avoid angry people. Like a bad virus, they
infect you, especially if you have a problem with anger (Proverbs
22:24-25). If you are in a conflict with someone who is currently
inplacable, take your leave (Proverbs 17:14). You can talk things over
later.

The sin of omission

We tend to focus on sins of commission - the wrong we do. But what
about the sins of omission - the good we fail to do?

At Matthew 25:41-45, some people were judged righteous for the good
they did to others, and others condemned to eternal damnation for
refusing to do good. So when you've a chance (and the resources) to do
good - do it.

"If anyone knows how to do good, but refuses to do it, it is a sin for
him" (James 4:17).

Does drinking water break a fast?

To answer this question,let us take a good look at how Jesus Christ
fasted in the Bible. (See Matthew 4: 1-11;Luke 4:1-13). After
all,Jesus Christ should be our example.


At the end of his 40-day fast,"he felt hungry",not thirsty. The Devil
asked him to turn stones into bread,not into water. Jesus evidently
drank water during his fasting period.


Science has shown that while humans can do without food for 40
days,they can do without water for only 3-5 days
( www.theguardian.com/science/ 2005/dec/03/ thisweekssciencequestions. uknews
; mentalfloss.com/article/52480/ how-survive- without-water)

How modern science corroborates the Bible

*Do you find it difficult to believe in Mary's virgin birth? It may
interest you to know that scientists can clone a new human being from
a woman's egg and her skin cells. (
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_cloning ) . If humans can do it NOW,why
couldn't God THEN?

* In an era when people believed the earth was borne by four
elephants, Job 26:7 said the earth was "suspended on nothing".

*Ecclesiastes 1:7 describes the water cycle.

* Isaiah 40:22 says God "dwells above the circle of the earth".

Quotes

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Foluso Adeboye <foluso.adeboye@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2013 04:43:11 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Quotes
To: Adeboyefa@gmail.com
Cc: foluso.adeboye@gmail.com

You have something to keep after losing your virginity

It is every woman's dream to get married as a virgin and have only one
husband for life,but factors like rape,child abuse and deceitful
relationships truncate this dream.

Many ladies become promiscuous once this happens. They feel they have
nothing to keep again after losing their virginity. This is not true
and here are the reasons.

To begin with,even if you "asked for it", God has forgiven you once
you repent and turn over a new leaf. (2 Cor . 5:17) . Jesus'
ancestresses included both Mary the virgin and Rahab the
harlot(Matthew 1:5,16) ; Rahab's past did not disqualify her.

Secondly,loose living only vindicates the men who abused you and gives
you a very bad reputation. Every rapist would want people to believe
that you willingly gave in, and a playboy would happily say "That is
why I dumped her" if you misbehave later.

Thirdly,a broken hymen returns to its virgin state if allowed to lie
fallow through abstinence. If you doubt this,experiment with
abstinence for about 6 months and then check yourself with a mirror.
You will be pleasantly suprised.

Moreover,faithfulness in marriage is more important to any sane man
than premarital virginity. Some virgin brides become wayward later,
while some non-virgins have learnt their lessons before marriage.

To round up,you have your reputation before God and man,your
self-respect and your secondary virginity to keep. Your future husband
will never believe any stupid male gist about you if you repackage
yourself. The ball is in your court.

How should we pray?

The only Biblical requirements for our prayers to be answered by God are compliance with His commands and faith that He hears us ( Proverbs 15:8 &28:9 ; James 1:5-8).

Consider the following Biblical examples. Jesus prayed alone on a mountain at Matthew 14:23 and in public during Lazarus' resurrection at John 11:41,42.

Do you always have to pray out loud? No. Hannah prayed silently to God. "Her lips were moving but her voice was not heard". Yet, God heard and answered her.(1 Samuel 1:12-2o) . As a matter of fact,silent prayers allow you to communicate freely with God without hurting others. You can thank God for giving you an A in that course without offending the person standing next to you who failed. You can ask God to punish your enemies without putting those you quarrelled with recently on the defensive. If you pray silently to God to give you a sign,as Gideon did(Judges 6:36-4o),no human can overhear you and manipulate events.

What is the best praying posture? Do you always have to kneel down when praying? Jesus knelt at Luke 22:41,42 but stood up facing heaven at John 11:41.

What should we pray about? At Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus listed some prayer points. However,we do not have to repeat the Model prayer(or any other prayer) by rote. (Matthew 6:7). The Model prayer was never repeated outside the Sermon on the Mount, either by Jesus himself or by any of his disciples. "No matter what we ask according to his will,he hears us "(1 John 5:14; Matthew 26:39).


You can use any language to pray, since God accepts people from all nations,tribes and languages(Acts 1o:34,35 ;Revelation 7:9,1o). Pray in the language you understand best, to avoid making blunders and probably cursing yourself.