The art of listening

THE ART OF COMMUNICATION A BOOK WRITTEN BY PASTOR STANLEY KUJOKERA.Chapter 1: The art of listening.Ephesians 4:29 KJVLet no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.Communication is to a relationship what blood is to the body. The key to success in life is healthy, relationships. It is easy to do well when your relationships are doing well. So once your relationships are broken, your joy and success are undermined. Broken relationships limit progress and hinder growth. Do the best you can to live at peace with all men.The enemy of your soul has a plan and that is to steal, kill and destroy. He will steal your focus, kill your relationships and destroy your soul in the process. Don't lose focus on the things that matter in life. What matters is for one to show the love of Christ. Do the best you can to listen when a loved one is sharing his or her story. One of the most important things when it comes to communication is empathetic listening.The only way you can stop the enemy from killing your relationship is learning to listen with the intention to understand. Your mission in a relationship should not only to be understood ,but to understand the next person. Imagine a relationship in which a person is trying to understand the person and not necessarily trying to prove a point that he or she is better than you.The most important thing in a relationship is not either the two of you but the relationship. You never know what you had till it is gone. Avoid losing and then regretting afterwards saying if only I had. Your mission should be to save and maintain the relationship. This can be a relationship between you and your family, your spouse and children.Some people who are raised by single parents or grandparents are often angry towards their guardians. Please note I said some not all. I was raised by my grandparents and yet I am the happiest person on planet Earth. I stand to be corrected but I think the cause of the anger is because they think that they are not loved as much as they should be loved. Whenever the guardian speaks before he or she is done the child has already run to a conclusion that he or she is not loved without having listened to the heart of the guardian.This happens also in many other relationships where people think that their input is not acknowledged. In such relationships people assume that they are judged negatively before they have even spoken. They are convinced that no one is listening to them and nobody cares so hence they too listen to nobody. Take time today to listen and hear the heart of your loved ones. What they have is your best interest at heart, they are not your enemies but you do have a common enemy. The devil sets out to sow seeds of discord, doubt, suspicion and mistrust in people so that they are unable to relate to others.Some people genuinely want to see you make progress, but you are convinced otherwise. You don't listen to their line of thought because you think you know it all but guess what the Bible says there is wisdom in the multitude of counselors. Listening is an attribute of Wisdom and a great display of humility. Therefore you need to develop the art of listening.Pray- that you may have healthy relationships that lead to a prosperous life.- that you may develop the art of listening to understand the next person.- that you will not lead a life of assuming without accurate Knowledge.- that you function and operate in love