Quotes About Communication

The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak. — SPINOZA DUTCH PHILOSOPHER

Kingdom praying and its efficacy is entirely a matter of the innermost heart's being totally open and honest before God. It is a matter of what we are saying with our whole being, moving with resolute intent and clarity of mind into the flow of God's action.

Why is it," comedian Lily Tomlin asks, "that when we speak to God we are said to be praying but when God speaks to us we are said to be schizophrenic?" Such a response from ourselves or others to someone's claim to have heard from God is especially likely today because of the lack of specific teaching and pastoral guidance on such matters.

Hearing God cannot be a reliable and intelligible fact of life except when we see his speaking as one aspect of his presence with us, of his life in us. Only our communion with God provides the appropriate context for communications between us and him.

People are meant to live in an ongoing conversation with God, speaking and being spoken to.

in the progress of God's redemptive work, communication advances into communion, and communion into union. When the progression is complete we can truly say, "It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20) and "For to me, living is Christ" (Phil 1:21).

I don't believe God messes with our minds. He is not mean, and if he has something to say to me, he will say it.

Christ is the only one capable of communicating to and developing within the believer an accurate image and idea of God.

The life and words that Jesus brought into the world came in the form of information and reality.

But—for good reasons rooted deeply in the nature of the person and of personal relationships—his preferred way is to speak, to communicate: thus the absolute centrality of scripture to our discipleship. And this, among other things, is the reason why an extensive use of solitude and silence is so basic for growth of the human spirit, for they form an appropriate context for listening and speaking to God.1

Seek not to speak, but that you might have something to say.

Most families would be healthier and happier if their members treated one another with the respect they would give to a perfect stranger. C. S. Lewis's discussion of storge, familial love, is endlessly instructive on this point and is required reading for all who intend to have a decent family life.1 He notes that he has "been far more impressed by the bad manners of parents to children than by those of children to parent.

It is always a personal negotiation, as

Practice in not speaking can at least give us enough control over what we say that our tongues do not "go off" automatically. This discipline provides us with a certain inner distance that gives us time to consider our words fully and the presence of mind to control what we say and when we say it.

Nowhere is it more important to be in a conversational relationship with God than in our prayer life.

God, I want to give You every minute of this year. I shall try to keep You in mind every moment of my waking hours. . . . I shall try to let You be the speaker and direct every word. I shall try to let You direct my acts. I shall try to learn Your language. —FRANK LAUBACH

But there is nothing in Scripture to indicate that the biblical modes of God's communication with humans have been superseded or abolished by either the presence of the church or the close of the scriptural canon. This

Too often our "love" for family members is domination in disguise.

Prayer and speaking with God must be carefully distinguished from superstition in how they work.

There were some, naturally, who would understand, and he wrote for them, or for himself. Anyhow, some idealised reader who would accept everything, and forgive.

It is not presumptuous to ask, 'What is it that you see in me that brings you delight?

Even the technology that promises to unite us, divides us. Each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone.

When in doubt, just spit it out. That all challenges can be overcome by speaking the truth, no matter how itcomes out.

Please accept this humble fax. My love for you is without wax.