Lesson 20: A Merry Heart

 A Healthy Lifestyle for Your and Your Family

Lesson 20: A Merry Heart

1. What does a merry heart have? Proverbs 15:15

2. If a merry heart is good, what makes the heart merry or happy? Proverbs 29:18

3. What offends those who love the law? Psalm 119:165

4. What are we to avoid about the law? Titus 3:9

5. What can stir up strife? 

A. Proverbs 10:12

B. Proverbs 15:18

C. Proverbs 28:25

D. Proverbs 29:22

E. Acts 14:2

F. Psalm 31:20

G. Luke 22:24

H. Proverbs 16:28

I. Proverbs 22:10

J. Proverbs 26:20, 21

6. What does Solomon say about wrath and anger? Proverbs 27:4

7. Where does anger rest? Ecclesiastes 7:9

8. What can wrath and anger lead us to do if not controlled? Genesis 4:3-8

“Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him” 1 John 3:15. Anger leads to hatred and hatred can lead to murder. But the Bible says that if we hate someone we are guilty of murder.

9. What are the effects of wrath and envy? Job 5:2

Cynicism, anger, and aggression have toxic effects on the body. A person who becomes angry over all kinds of things: a driver who is going slow, long lines at the supermarket or the bank, or someone who “messes up” is an individual with a high hostility quotient. Reacting to such situations as listed above by a torrent of angry words and expressions can focus the anger or even increase it. The reaction of the body to anger is increased blood pressure, and an increase in the release of the hormone adrenaline, as well as other hormones, into the blood stream which prepares the body for fight or flight. Studies done at Duke University and elsewhere have shown that hostile people are more likely to be smokers, have higher alcohol consumption, and overeat. A person given to frequent bouts of anger and aggression are 4-5 times more likely to have coronary (heart and blood vessel) disease that can lead to death before age fifty. They also show a higher incidence of cancer.

10. If a man says he loves God, but hates a member of God’s family, what is he? 1 John 4:20

11. If we love the Lord what will we hate? Psalm 97:10

“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” Romans 12:9.

12. How can we be better than a man of might? Proverbs 16:32

13. The Bible says, “Be ye angry and sin not” (Ephesians 4:26).  What examples of sinless anger does the Bible give us? 

A. Proverbs 25:23

B. Exodus 32:19-20

The anger spoken of in these texts is the not the anger of fools, but of someone who is pained by the disobedience to God’s law. It is not an anger that causes people to lose their senses, as Cain’s did, and seek revenge.

“And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof” Ezekiel 9:4.

14. What turns away wrath? Proverbs 15:1

15 Why are we not to seek revenge when we have been wronged? Romans 12:19

“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord” Leviticus 19:18.

16. The tongue can stir up strife. How much harm can something so small do? James 3:5

17. What does it do to the body? James 3:6

18. Where do the words the tongue speaks originate? Luke 6:45

19. List the evil things that are often expressed by the mouth. Mark 7:21-23

20. Rather than evil things, what should we think on? Philippians 4:8

21. For us to grow up in Christ, what kinds of thoughts and feelings must we put aside? Titus 3:3; 1 Peter 2:1, 2

22. What is the rule that is to govern all our thoughts and actions? Matthew 7:12

23. What do our thoughts say about us? Proverbs 23:7 

“The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity” Psalm 94:11 

Man’s character is made of his thoughts and feelings. Thoughts lead to feelings, and feelings lead to actions.

24. What problems does a double minded man have? James 1:8

A double minded person is someone who is trying to have something both ways. He can’t really decide which path he wants to follow. He can be “two-faced,” speaking out of “both sides of his mouth.” Such a person is truly unstable, for no one can trust him.

25. What is the double minded person counseled to do? James 4:8

26. What can spring up in the heart, trouble us, and cause us to be defiled? Hebrews 12:15

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice” Ephesians 4:31.

A bitter person is harsh, disagreeable, and severe. Bitterness is like slow poison to spiritual and physical well-being. A bitter person is often holding a grudge against another person or persons they believe have wronged them in some manner.

27. If a person has bitterness in his heart, what two things should he not do? James 3:14

28. What direction regarding grudges has God given us? James 5:9.

“Use hospitality one to another without grudging” 1 Peter 4:9.

Next Lesson: Dried Up Bones