MEMORY VERSE: A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. Proverbs 15:1

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 John 4-5

As I mentioned in part one of these series, how you handle situations matter. One thing I ask God for, from time to time, is wisdom. Wisdom will teach you how to handle a conflict situation. Wisdom will tell you that you don’t have to shout to resolve that issue. Proverbs 15:1 says: “a soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” The fact that you are right and the other person is wrong is not a license to be rude or intimidating. The fact that you had a terrible day at work is not a license to shout at everyone that come your way. Be nice to people you meet. Be nice to that bus driver, that gate man, your secretary, that customer adviser, that cashier, that policeman, etc. A man, in a high-powered Mercedes sports car, was stopped by the police sometimes back. It was a random check; the police officers just wanted to check his insurance details and all that. Instead of being polite, he started giving the police officers attitude and they decided to teach him a lesson. A check that should have lasted for three minutes took for over ten minutes. They did everything to waste his precious time; there was no way he won’t be late if he had an appointment. If you try to make people feel small, they will respond by making you feel worthless. The police officers had nothing to lose but he had a lot to lose because he was standing doing nothing whilst the police officer wasted his precious time.

Learn to resolve issues in a non-violent way. Kohath, Abiram, Dathan and co felt the sharing of tasks in the house of God needs to be reviewed; they wanted more assignments (Numbers 16). Instead of meeting with Moses and Aaron to ask for more tasks, they rebelled. Verse 3 says: “And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?” That rebellion led to their death (Numbers 17). Whenever a man handles a matter wrongly, the matter will be blown out of proportion and at times, they may even lose out. A brother was owed 3000 pounds. The borrower had been promising to pay for a while but for one reason or the other, he could not keep to his word. One day, he gave his lender 500 pounds and promised to pay 2,500 pounds later. Instead of accepting the 500 pounds first and then get angry later, the lender got angry first - he refused the 500 pounds. Somehow, I heard about it and I advised the lender to take the 500 pounds because a bird in the hand is worth 10 in the bush. Grudgingly, he took the 500 pounds. Do you know the borrower has not paid the balance of 2,500 pounds till date and this happened five years ago? Thank God the borrower accepted the 500 pounds. Had the lender not accepted that 500 pounds that day, he would not have received a dime out of the money. In your anger, be wise. If someone owes you money and brings part of the money to you, please accept whatever he brings first before getting angry because that could be all that you will get.

PRAYER POINT: Father, please fill me with the spirit of wisdom.

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world