COMMUNICATION

COMMUNICATION

Part 1

Some of you will think that I write about something that isn’t spiritual enough, but I have wanted to teach on this subject for a long time back. Lack of good communication is a reason for many divorces and there have been a lot of misunderstanding both among friends, family and in working situations. God can definitely use communication. He actually wants to communicate with us all the time, but this is also an area where the devil can play. Do not give him room.

I will start by writing about communication with the Lord. Praying is a form of communication. When I think about communication, I usually think about two people talking to each other, but some people manage to keep talking without listening. Many have that kind of communication with the Lord. They might praise Him or coming with a long list of demands. They do not expect the Lord to talk to them. When I am with the Lord, I talk to Him, but I also take time to wait for Him to talk to me. “I can’t hear God talk”, you might say. I have only heard God speak with an audible voice a couple of times, but He talks to me in many other ways all the time. He might remind me of a verse from the Bible or talk to me with a silent voice in my spirit. I might get thoughts that come from Him that I didn’t have before I prayed. Some people think that all their impulses come from God. That might not be so. We have three sources: God, the devil and ourselves. I knew a person that thought she was a prophetess. She could get wonderful messages from the Lord and then she could write terrible things about people. She thought everything was God. We must ask the Lord about the source. It has to be in accordance with the Word and the Spirit.

    The closer you get to the Lord, the easier it will be to know the source.

When you are with the Lord, how do you talk to Him? Do you come to Him merely for help or do you come to be together with Him? We say today that we should seek His face. If we think about Jesus as our Bridegroom, we really want to be with Him. Many people are seeking experiences, but not the One giving the experiences.

The Bible is saying that the Lord knows our needs even before we come to Him. He has already prepared how He is going to fill our needs. Even if that is a fact, He does want us to be concrete in our prayers. He is working together with our will and He has great respect for our free will. If our prayer requests are unclear, the answer might also be so.

I will now start writing about communication with children. We must teach children to be clear in their communication. Just think of a child that comes crying. You are asking why it is crying, but you get no answer. It just continues to cry. You feel very helpless then. Some children explain that they have hurt themselves or somebody took their toys or maybe they were hit. It is much easier to help them then.

The more concrete the child is, the easier it is to deal with the problem.

A small child cannot think abstract and must have everything concrete. If you are going to explain something for a very small child, you must be very accurate and precise. If you are going with the child to the doctor, explain what the doctor is going to do as far as you know. It is important to say that you are going to be there and take care of the child. You can also ask Jesus to be there. It is good for the child to get used to share everything with Jesus, good things as well as difficult things.

When the child is getting bigger, you might be met with the words: “Everybody else is allowed, but not me”. If you have said no to something, this is quite common. Be concrete in your questions then. How many and who and have you asked them? Usually they only think that everybody else gets permission or they might know one or two.

We are in the middle of vacation time now and every vacation needs good preparation and lots of communication. If you are going somewhere by plane, talk a lot about the place where you are going. Explain what happens when you fly. Give a time and say that you can hold their hand. I am sure that they have questions about eating and food. A small child cannot receive too much information at the time. I think that every vacation needs a family planning. Everybody should be allowed to say their desires and expectations. A one- year toddler is naturally too small. What do the children want to bring along? All desires cannot be met since it is a question of giving and taking, but with the help of The Holy Spirit and creative thinking, I believe that there are a number of possibilities. The family members could also do different things. Maybe some want to spend the day on the beach while others want to go to museums and see things. Others favor shopping.

                                 Be honest about your desires.

BE OPEN, DIRECT AND CONCRETE!

 

Mother Else