He who has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding has a cool spirit. Proverbs 17:27 (AMPC)
A cool spirit implies self-control. You’re as strong as you’re able to control yourself.
The strongest person isn’t the one who rules everyone and everything but the one who rules his spirit. When you’re in control of your emotions, when you take charge of your passions, when you own up your actions you are of a cool spirit.
A cool spirit is like a boat safely anchored. When a boat is cut free of the anchor it becomes a prisoner of the tide, so is a person without self-control.
If you don’t control yourself anything and everything will control you.
It is not true that we can’t control ourselves. There’s no one who can’t control himself. There’s no situation, no condition, too overwhelming for us that we are not able to control how we respond to or deal with it.
God has given us the ability and wisdom to control ourselves and all of creation.
James 3:3-5 (NLT) 3We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.
According to this scripture a cool spirit or self-control doesn’t take a lot of straining hard on our part but something very little. For example a large animal like a horse is controlled by a little bit put in its mouth and a huge ship in the midst of strong winds is controlled by a small rudder and both of these devices can be turned even by a baby.
Likewise for us it takes a very small member in our body to be possessed of a cool spirit. Self-control is largely a result of taming our tongue. The tongue cannot be tamed by natural human strength or intelligence. James 3:8
The tongue can be tamed by the Word of God. Psalms 119:172 (NKJV) My tongue shall speak of Your word, For all Your commandments [are] righteousness.
You can tame your tongue by yielding it to the living, powerful, active Word of God.
Make it a daily habit to have your tongue speak the Word of God. It will be disciplined and tamed which is the root of a cool spirit, one which is under the influence of God’s love, power and wisdom.
Lastly when we yield to God’s Word by habitually listening to it we train ourselves to be quick to hear even in our conduct and conversations with other people.
A habitual hearer of God’s Word is also a ready listener in interpersonal communication.
When you’re quick to hear or a ready listener, you will not be quick to speak, you will not be too quick to get offended and you will not be too quick to lose your temper. In other Words you have a super cool spirit. James 1:19 (AMPC) Understand [this], my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear [a ready listener], slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry.