What do you want to communicate?

This article is  from my April 26, 2010 ezine on communication. 

What did these paintings in the ezine communicate to you?  Scroll back up a minute on your ezine, and reflect a few moments. Did the first one affect you emotionally? What does the basket half filled with peaches represent to you? I really want her basket filled to overflowing!  What other details stand out – her hat, her black curls, the dress, the door behind her?  Did you like these pictures?  Were you puzzled by the bottom picture with the three heads?  Did these paintings say anything to you, or were they just pictures? What is the artist trying to communicate through his or her work?

Communication is vital in our relationship with God and with other people. I am communicating with you through this ezine.  What message am I trying to get across to you in my ezines? What main thing do I want to encourage your heart with? 

My passion is to encourage women (and men, when they’re in the reading and listening audience, too!) to have a deep, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, using their spiritual gifts for His glory. 

I want you to fulfill your purpose, your destiny in Him!  I want to exhort you to have that daily quiet time with God, to be refilled, refreshed, lifted up, strengthened, and empowered so that you can do the things God has called you to do for His Kingdom.

What message is burning in YOUR heart? What do you want to communicate to others?  What legacy do you want to leave here?  What is your purpose and your calling from God? Do you know? 

As believers we can see the sure signs that we are in the end times. Time is short now. We want to fulfill our destiny in Christ for our appointed time in history. What eternal mark are you leaving as you walk through this journey of life?

The mark Jesus left is one of abundant, eternal life with God the Father. Jesus always pointed everyone to God the Father, emphasizing their need to have a close relationship with Him.  When a man asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”, Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good? Only God is truly good.” (Mark 10:17-18)

Jesus preached the kingdom of God wherever He went, communicating the good news of God’s unconditional love and forgiveness to all He met, whether it was through His merciful words to the woman caught in adultery, through healing the blind and the lame, through raising the dead son for the widow of Nain, through addressing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the scribes, or through delivering the man who had the legion of demons.

Jesus was the master communicator. As we study the gospels, we can learn much about the way He communicated with God (often pulling away to be with God in solitude in the mountains), and about the way He communicated with people – what to say and what NOT to say (my big problem!).  

We see the words He chose, the gentle, loving, encouraging way He said them.  Jesus always saw the best in people – their potential.  He was never condemning. 

Even with His correction, He was extending the person a new chance of mercy to repent.  He also taught us the power of silence in communicating (when He was falsely accused).  Let’s begin to practice communicating with God and others like Jesus did.