Communication with God. God communicates with man through the Bible and his truth gives wisdom. Man talks to God through prayer. How should we pray? Communicating with others, we should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
- Biblical Principles on Communication
- Video on Communication
- Summary Statements
- Principles That Work
- Practical Actions
- Questions to Discuss About Communications
- Public Speaking
- Written Communication
Biblical Principles on Communication
2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a]may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
What is the main way God communicates with man?
Philippians 4:6
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
How does man communicate with God?
Matthew 6:5-13
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’
How should we pray?
List some ways man communicates to man
James 1:19
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
Everyone is to “ __________________ and ___________________”
Explain this verse in your own words.
Ephesians 4:15
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
What are we to speak?
How are we to speak?
Ephesians 4:29
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
“No should be coming from your mouth…”,
but instead “…what is _____________________________________.”
Write the verse in your own words.
Video on Communication
Summary Statements
- God communicates through His Word. His truth gives wisdom (Proverbs 2:6).
- Man talks to God through prayer (Matthew 6:5-13).
- In communicating with others, we should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger (James 1:19).
- Words either produce calm or chaos. (Proverbs 18:21)
- We have the power to communicate love and care in our homes, in our workplace, and in our community.
- Make a commitment to communicate truth in love and thus conform to the character of Christ in your life, whether at home or at work.
Practical Actions
- Give the initials of three people who have poor communication skills.
- How do you rate your own skills in communication? (1 being poorest to 10 being best).
- Give two ways you could improve in this area (i.e., not lying, being a better listener, not getting angry, etc.). At Home At Work
Questions to Discuss About Communications
#1: Without giving their name, give an example of a person you know who has good communication skills.
#2: Without giving their name, give an example of a person you know who has poor communication skills.
#3: How would you rate your own communication skills on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being poorest and 10 being best?
#4: Give two specific ways you could improve your communication with others.
#5: How can you improve your communication at home?
#6: How can you improve your communication at work or in a ministry?
Career Skills
Public Speaking
Exercise 9.3 – Presenting Your Elevator Speech
Using the elevator speech that you prepared in Exercise 6.2 – Template for Writing Your Elevator Speech and presenting it in two-minutes.
Include the following components:
- Your name
- Who you are today
- Your top 3 skills and top 3 traits
- What makes you unique
- The areas you have experience in and a few key accomplishments
- What you can do for an employer
- Your career goals and target job
- What steps you are taking to reach your goals
Apply Best Practices for Effective Oral Communication:
- Before you begin, take a deep breath and relax
- Show your enthusiasm and confidence!
- Use your body language to help you, not hurt you.
- Connect with your audience. Draw your audience in by changing your tone and facial expressions.
- Be conversational
- Focus on your audience needs
- Keep it simple by concentrating on your core message
- Smile and make eye contact with your audience (if in a room, make eye contact for at least one phrase or sentence with as many people as possible in different parts of the room).
- Do not overuse your hands or keep them at your sides the entire time.
- When presenting with a screen behind you, try to keep facing the audience.
Be sure to practice this many times so that you will not need to refer to any notes or script. This is a very important and practical exercise. You will likely use this often during your job search. For additional learning on this topic, visit http://www.toastmasters.org/
Written Communication
How to Communicate Effectively in Your Writing
- Know your goal and state your goal clearly
- Put yourself in the place of the reader
- Use the correct tone for the purpose of your communication
- Keep language simple
- Stay on topic and keep concise
- Use active voice
- Proof-read and spell check your writing (or have someone proof-read it)
Best Practices for Better Writing in Business
- Focus on clarity. Use short sentences
- Avoid the latest “jargon”
- State your information in a condensed form
- Always be professional and polite
- Never write anything in anger or be disrespectful
- Use correct grammatical structure
- Insert a “call for action” – end the communication by making it clear what you hope or expect (e.g., suggest setting a time or appointment)
- Focus on correct genders, names and titles (you don’t want to offend the reader)
- Use courtesy (e.g., use the term “please” whenever you want something)
- Your signature should include your contact information so the reader can reach you
- Proof-read your work (read what you wrote “out loud”)
- Use spell check on your computer
- Confirm that your reader has received your communication whenever possible
- Save your copy to use as a template for future communications
Developing your Computer Skills
Most of your written communication will be done on a computer, tablet or phone. It is critical that you develop your keyboarding, data entry, email, and Microsoft Word skills. Microsoft offers a free version of Word (visit Microsoft.com). You can search “typing skills” on Google and go to one of the free online courses. To learn Microsoft Office applications, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, ask Work&Learn to refer you to local courses that are available, some free of charge. Google “learn google docs” for tutorials in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.
Please see the page on Public Speaking.
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