13th November 2019
TEMPERANCE
David Abankwah
READ: Ecclesiastes 7:9
²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³Meekness, TEMPERANCE: against such there is no law.
-Galatians 5:22-23 | KJV
There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence! Over the next few weeks as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily, gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.
The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one.”
You can put a knife in someone and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound will still be there. Make sure you control your temper the next time you are tempted to say something or act improperly which you will regret later on.
One of the determinants of someone who has the Holy Spirit is not tongues speaking but Temperance. Someone can have the Holy Spirit but he may not speak in tongues. Someone can speak in tongues but he or she may not have the Holy Spirit. In fact, there are people who learn tongues speaking from others and there are others who are taught by Pastors. But one character that can make us know for sure that this believer has the Holy Spirit is his practice of always controlling his actions, thoughts, or feelings so that he does not become angry no matter what you say or do to him.
Paul and David said in Ephesians 4:26 and Psalm 4:4 respectively that we should be angry and sin not but Jesus Christ whose words are important than anyone and who is the One who will judge us said in Matthew 5:22 that: But I say to you that EVERYONE WHO IS ANGRY WITH HIS BROTHER WILL BE LIABLE TO JUDGMENT. So if we don’t want to be liable to judgement, then we should never be angry at all because the likelihood of you sinning is high when you lose your temper. There are people who are fond of marking the mistakes of people down and remember them anytime they offend them, but if God marks down our past sins without forgiving us, who will be able to have eternal life then?
Prayer Diary: Lord Jesus, please change my stony heart of temper and give me a fleshy heart of temperance so that I can curb any infuriation in Jesus name, Amen.
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David Abankwah 