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Talking

Learning Proper Communication With God Saved My Relationship

by Faith Khosa August 13, 2019

Christianity entrenched in me the belief that communication with God is of paramount importance. And in retrospect, a lack of communication with God for certain longer periods had me taking some carnal steps in life. Steps that I know I would not have taken had my communication with God been on a par with expectations. Without having to sound clichéd, every relationship is strengthened with communication. Sincerely, I encourage relentless communication in our pre-marital and marital relationships. Not just communication but open communication.

One of our mishaps is in thinking that our partners know exactly how we feel at all times and that they fully know how to treat us. But I just want to remind us that knowledge is progressive and that there really is no end to the journey of learning. In that same vein, we must make room for the reality that our partners may not know everything at once. And that they are not immune to making mistakes. Instead of assuming that our partners know that the words they uttered or that what they did does not sit well with us, rather sit them down and openly talk to them about it, in a peaceful manner. Open communication is a necessary tool in relationships and it allows misunderstandings to be rectified much more quickly and it sure does bring the point about it.

Communication is Key

We are doing away with the habit of hopping from relationship to another and we are aiming to curtail separation and heart-breaks. This without a doubt needs us to understand and embrace fundamentals such as open communication in our relationships. Open communication is not arguing. If you want to be heard, then purport to communicate to your partner in a well thought out way without having to stir up unnecessary disputes or to arouse anger. Also, your motive for openly communicating to your partner should by no means be a way to make them feel bad. The resolve should plainly be to fix issues and to improve your union.

So go on ahead, be specific in openness and honesty, let your partner know how you feel about certain things and be open-minded to also hear their views. Encourage them to also be straight up with you and be careful not to take offense. Remember, the intentions are not to make the other person feel bad but to improve your union and to increase its splendor. Your relationship can thrive and be what you want it to be. You have that power within you to make it thrive. Instead of getting worked up over challenges in your relationships and determining to let go and to move on. Work on it and specifically work on the communication factor. It is possible to boast of a peaceful and successful relationship, it all starts with a desire and then corresponding actions!

August 13, 2019 0 comment

Share With Your Spouse: 6 Ways to Effectively Communicate Within Your Marriage

by Vance K Jackson June 5, 2017

written by Vance K Jackson

6 Ways to Effectively Communicate Within Your Marriage

1. Season Your Words With Wisdom

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭4:7‬

Handling your spouse’s heart with Godly care and wisdom will always prove to be fruitful over wanting “to be right”. The Bible states that “Wisdom is the principal thing”, therefore, as you seek wisdom and God’s direction – throughout your marriage – you’re choosing to prioritize God’s Word and instruction over how you may “feel” in the moment. Abruptly speaking out of “your flesh” (your emotions), ultimately harms your spouse and plucks down the integrity of your marriage. When you seek out Wisdom before responding to your spouse, you’re deliberately choosing to engage God, thereby accessing Grace to handle the heart of your spouse and the heart of the matter God’s Way. When you choose to engage God to lead your heart and to guide your conversation before releasing a response you’ll get His Results. By engaging God with every aspect of your spouse, seasoning your words with wisdom and handling their heart with care, you’ll gain Godly insight and revelation as it relates to the matter and in understanding your spouse before recklessly responding in haste and out of your emotions.

2. Submit one to another

Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5:21‬

Submit means to “subject yourself to” or “to serve”. When you choose to serve your spouse, out of the reverent fear of The Lord, you’ll be mindful to choose words that will both, edify and build them up, instead of tearing down their heart with your words. When speaking with your spouse, it is your choice to either, respond out of Love, (submitting to God) or yield to your flesh by responding out of your emotions. Responding with grace and seasoning your words with wisdom, patience, and love, in times of tension and pressure, builds character and establishes the maturity of your marriage – ultimately reflecting the Heart of God. Together, it’s important to ask yourselves, are you building each other up together or are you killing one another and even your marriage with your words.

3. Borders of Safety

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
‭‭James‬ ‭5:16‬ ‭

As you trust God with the handling of your heart and your marriage, God will consistently pour out and reveal Himself to you both as you both are led and guided by His Word. As you begin to confess your faults to your spouse, it establishes an environment of intimacy, maturity, and transparency where you both can learn and grow together, trusting each another with the most intimate parts of your life. As you both submit to God, you’re casting down pride within the walls of your marriage and opening your hearts to Him. It is in these intimate moments between you, God and your spouse where God is able to release healing and reveal more about Himself to you both. As you submit your heart and marriage to God, you build a relationship that will consistently build trust in the handling of your heart, life, and family. As any good Father, God leads and handles His children with care. The emotional and spiritual safety of your home is established, secured and developed in how you handle the hearts of your spouse.

4. Practice Exhorting

“But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭3:13

Exhortation is the environment that produces healthy, productive and fruitful communication. As you exhort, (the strategic imparting and deliberate building up of your spouse through and with the Word of God), you’re able to spring up life within your marriage and the borders of your home. Exhortation is saying what God says about your spouse. It is the outpouring from the Heart of God and speaking directly into the life of your spouse, reflecting The Heart of God within the borders of your marriage.

What are you speaking in the environment of your home? What are you saying about your spouse? What has God said about your spouse? What is God currently saying about your spouse? When you say what God is saying about your spouse your heart and mouth are intentionally being aligned to speak and release into the life of your spouse. If you’re not receiving revelation concerning your spouse and unable to pour out, there may be a blockage caused by a previous offense…a condition of heart hardening. To remove the blockage from a previous offense, simply forgive. Ask God to give you the strength to forgive the past and to move forward freely into His future.

5. Forgive Consistently

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:32‬ ‭

Forgiving your spouse will produce an environment of peace within your home. Maybe the tension or the emotional friction you’re experiencing within the borders of your home is produced by and from the seeds of past or current transgression(s) that you’re clinging on to. As you let go of the past and embrace God’s future, you’ll relinquish the pain and enslavement of the past and propel into His plans for you both. Embracing God and refusing to respond out of your flesh is a maturity process. Your flesh wants to hold on to the past when God wants you to let go and move forward, embracing His future. It’s your decision to either submit to His Word or stay enslaved to the pain of the past.

6. Peace Production

“He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭147:14‬ ‭

God relinquishes peace to those who ask. God is peace. Engage God consistently within the borders of your home and He’ll continually fill your heart and home with His peace. Practice producing peace by filling your words with His Word. The Word that God releases is Life and has the power to build up the emotional and spiritual integrity of your home. Watch your words with diligence and with care. Watch your thoughts and fill your house with peace. His Peace.

Mediation Scripture: “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5:31‬ ‭

June 5, 2017 0 comment

Faith

God Has Burning Bushes Set Up In Your Life! Are You Seeing Them? Are You Listening?

by Jermaine Francis April 6, 2017

written by Jermaine Francis

God is Trying to Speak a Particular Message to You

Are you really listening?

At times I have had a conversation with my wife where she says “What do you think about that?” Then I hesitate for a moment and realize I have no idea what the last thing she said was. I sometimes smile and nod, hoping that will do. Then she says “You don’t know what I just said, do you?” I’m like nope, not at all. Then I realize I was on my phone or thinking about something else. She was communicating. And maybe I thought I was listening at first. I just was not listening intently. I am the one that missed the communication. She did her part.

That can happen between God and us sometimes. He may be speaking, but we are not listening with intention and can miss what He is saying to us. God’s heart is always to communicate to us. God loves us and loves to talk to us. We are on a journey with God. He is leading us day by day.

We can sometimes be oblivious to the fact that God is speaking to us. We can get so busy with life, task, family, work or projects and miss what God is trying to communicate. To receive what God is speaking to us, all we’ve got to do is pay attention.

Are there burning bushes in your life?

God speaking to us can be like Moses and the burning bush. The bush was on fire, but Moses had to turn and see to receive the message. Moses stopped what he was doing to go figure out why the bush was on fire. The bush was burning whether or not Moses paid attention to it. God put the bush in his path, but he had to chose to pay attention to it. God has burning bushes to place in your life too.

God may be speaking a particular message to you, but you have to turn aside to now go and receive it. Pay attention to the burning bushes in your life. What things are showing up as you go about your day, that stand out to you?

Nothing happens by chance…

Have you read a scripture and then a friend has a conversation with you that is similar in nature to the scripture you just read? Or did you hear a sermon, then see a post on social media with a similar message? Or did you get on the GOD TV blog and see a post about just what you have been praying about?

This is God speaking to you through many different ways. He is getting your attention, like burning bushes. If you’re not getting it one way, He will come to you another, and another, and another. He can be very persistent. God can speak to you through the Bible, friends, social media, sermons, movies, songs, dreams, a prophetic word, art, a book and many other ways. He can speak to you through a donkey if He wants. God has multiple levels of communicating to you. He loves you and loves to talk to you.

Remember…

Pay attention to the messages that keep popping up to you in your daily life. That may be something God is speaking to you. Once you realize He is speaking, you’ll be able to listen more closely. It then becomes easier to hear Him. Once you have seen the message, ask the Lord exactly what He wants to communicate to you. God is faithful. He will answer you.

April 6, 2017 0 comment

Faith

God is Speaking to You: Are You Listening to Him?

by Jermaine Francis February 19, 2017

written by Jermaine Francis

Are You Listening?

Every believer has the ability and the right to hear God

Hearing God can sometimes seem mystical and spooky. Should I be looking for a burning bush to know He is speaking to me? Does God only speak to the spiritual elite? Or those who have accomplished great spiritual acts. No, none of this is true. God speaks to every believer. Which includes you. Yes, you awesome amazing person reading this blog right now. Don’t look around I am talking to you. Every believer has the ability and the right to hear God. The bible says my sheep hear my voice.

God is Speaking Already

Hearing God is easy and hard all at the same time. What do I mean by that? I mean it’s simple, but we make it hard. The easy thing is God is already speaking. The hard thing is for us to let go of control and believe that He speaking to us. It’s not the easiest thing for us humans to do sometimes.

How I Learned His Voice

This is a great exercise to build your confidence that God is speaking to you.

When I was first seeking to hear the Lord. I would go for long walks and pray pouring out all my thoughts feeling and complaints to the Lord. Then I would wait on God to respond to all that I poured out. He always would. This is what I did. I would take a journal and begin to write what I felt the Lord saying to me about the things I just brought to Him. I would start to write at the top of the page “The Lord says….” Then begin to write what I felt from the Lord. This is a great exercise to build your confidence that God is speaking to you. I would always be amazed at the respond the Lord would give back. It always brought so much peace and settling to my soul.
Start by journaling what you feel the Lord is speaking to you. Don’t over think it, just write what you are feeling from the Lord. When you get to the end, then go back and read it. Through this, you will see that God is already speaking inside of you this just give a vehicle to let it flow out.

Learn His Voice Before Crisis Comes

crisis is not the best time to learn how to hear

I see many people get frustrated when they cry out to God in a crisis and seem to not get an answer. I have found many times, God is answering, they just don’t know it. A crisis is not the best time to learn how to hear and know the voice of the Lord. When we are in a place of crisis our emotions and thoughts are all over the place. A crisis is not the best environment to learn. It’s best to learn before the crisis. When we are in crisis we will then know how to quickly respond to and navigate through the crisis by His voice.

Words of Wisdom: Don’t Wait

God is waiting for us to approach Him

Continually ask the Lord what He wants to speak to you. Then be open to receive and listen. The Bible says, if you seek Him, you will find Him. Sometimes were waiting on God to approach us and God is waiting for us to approach Him. Smith Wigglesworth said, “If the Spirit’s not moving, I’ll move him!” We must seek to hear God and know His voice. If we do we will learn it.

February 19, 2017 1 comment