Well... the forum seems to have been kind of dead lately... I found myself facing two things in my life and my relationship with God and fellowship with believers that I did not like.

1. I have not had much opportunity in my busy life for Bible study which is very bad... and I am determined to MAKE time.

2. I truly miss the fellowship and in depth posts on this site where we discussed God's word and how it affects all our lives.

So......... I decided to start a thread once a week to do a bible study - either on a particular subject or on a particular chapter or verse of interest, and invite EVERYONE to study it with me and provide your thoughts and feelings on it.

AND, I hope you'll start some of your own. You'll see that I named this one "Bible Study 1" for this week......... that means I'm inviting YOU to start Bible Study TWO!

I'll reply to my own post with the subject I've chosen to start with, and I truly hope you'll all pipe in with your own observations, thoughts, feelings, things you've heard on the subject, etc..............

God Bless You All!
Amy

BIBLE STUDY 1 - WEEK OF JAN 5, 2009

SUBJECT: ANGER

DEFINITION
Anger - n. The strong feeling of being very annoyed.

SCRIPTURES
Genesis 4:6-7 - Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you but you must master it."

Psalm 37:8 - Refrain from anger and turn from wrath.

Proverbs 15:1 - A gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 22:24-25 - Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared.

Ephesians 4:26-27 - "In your anger do not sin" : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

James 1:19-20 - My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

See also:
Proverbs 14:17a, 29
Proverbs 15:18
Proverbs 29:22
Ecclesiastes 7:9
Ephesians 4:31

DISCUSSION:

In reading the scriptures above, and drawing on sermons and bible studies I've read in the past, I am reminded that we are to follow the lead of Jesus Christ. We are to live our lives trying to follow in HIS footsteps.... to be like him.

How many times in scripture did he become angry? I'm no scholar...... I don't know 100% certain the answer to that, but the only time I recall off the top of my head is when he threw the folks out of the temple for defiling God's house.

Anytime He witnessed some lesser sin, He was miraculously able to "keep his cool."

So when my son leaves his bike in the driveway, and I'm in a rush and I have to move it, and I get angry...... I believe I'm sinning. Sure it's "natural" or "normal" to get angry at such things, but it's not Christlike or OK.

Whenever I read these scriptures my first impulse is like anyone else probably - I am reminded of someone hot tempered or easily angered (like my husband sometimes since he came home from Iraq), and at first I focus on someone else.......... then as I read further I am reminded that I should be applying God's word to MY life.

PRAYER
I hope you will pray this prayer with me now, for your own life:

Lord, I pray now that you will speak to my heart with peace and calm as I live day to day, and remind me to follow in the footsteps of your Son. Help me to remember to slow down and keep a check on my anger so that I may better serve you in all that I do.
In Jesus holy name I pray, Amen.

ANYTHING TO ADD??????
Please post. I'm sure there is much more on the subject of ANGER that we can gently remind one another of, to help us better live according to God's word.

Thanks & God Bless You!
Amy

is there a bible study for this week?

Sorry....... there wasn't much response to the two bible studies I posted, so I slacked up.

But, I have a great book for Bible study, and I might could pull one out to type tomorrow....

We just got home from a Crabb Revival concert...... it was great! (Gospel group). I just got the kids in bed and popped on here to see if anyone had been around.

Glad to see you joining our little group. We are not as active as we used to be, but there are still what I've come to call "the faithful few" who pop in when we get a chance.

I'll try and get on here tomorrow and type up a bible study... unless you want to volunteer to do one?

God bless you!!
Amy

Feb. Bible discussion groups;

Esau and Jacob and other tricky guys that God picked for their Oriental mind set, and their ability to follow His word at the same time!!

This is ALWAYS a fun study!!

Fer instance, the LOOONG passage about Jacobs twelve sons and daughter Dinah and the gyrations of his two wives and the two handmaidens, and how exhausted he must have been, but ever the trooper, he cowboyed up and did what had to be done.....poor guy!!!

I have found in my years that adding humerous things is a great benefit.

I found it out accidentally a long time ago. The little church where we gathered in the noon hours was always busy and people would come into the fellowship hall and some times ask directions to other functions.

Well, we usually were found laughing about some absurdity or other, by Biblical characters and when people found we were the Bible study group, they used to give us the strangest looks!!

Hmmm....You're NOT supposed to have fun studying the Bible!!! Silly us, we didn't know that!!!

Well, that lesson stuck with me all these years and I USE IT!! If you don't find humor in Jacob's being hornswaggled by Laban over Leah and Rachel or when he decided to conduct the first genetic experiment with goats and ewes. and later how Rachel hid the "gods" she had stolen, well then, your funny bone's broke!!

Try it, it will definitely add to your experience and the size of the groups.

T