Section 01 - The Art of Communication

This book begins a whole new series on the use of The Arts in ministry and in the church. I am cutting new ground here. It is an area I have never been in before. This is an introduction to the subject, and we will add additional teachings over time as the Lord gives revelation.

I am going to try and keep it Biblical all along the way, because everything we do must be based on the Word. Much of what I share will also be common sense and basic human psychology.

It will not be taken from the study of psychologists, but rather from the study of life. It will be from my own personal experience and from what I have seen from the lives of others.

It is time for us to take back the land that the world has taken; for us to reclaim The Arts for the Kingdom of God. It is time to use the talents and abilities that God has given us to extend His Kingdom in the earth.

I want to start by considering two fairly well known Scriptures. The first is from 1 John 1:7

But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.

The second one is from Matthew 18:2 and 3 which says,

So Jesus called a little child, and placed him in the middle of them,

And He said, Let me tell you something. Unless you change your attitudes and become like little children, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

You can see clearly that this is the GBM translation of the Bible. I am sure you didn’t know that Jesus used to say, “Let me tell you something,” did you? But Jesus did it all the time. He would say,

“Assuredly I say unto you...”

That is really what He was saying. He was saying, “Let me tell you something,” and I think it is the best way to translate it.

There are only two ways to communicate what is inside of you. If you have studied any of our previous teachings you will know that they are words and actions. Each of these has a lot of variations depending on what you wish to communicate.

Personal Convictions

Now I grew up in a Christian home, and from an early age I knew the Lord. I don’t even remember when I accepted Him.

I had sound Christian principles built into me and certain convictions from my parents. The convictions probably came from their parents because they were also Christians, but there were certain things that you just didn’t do.

From my mother’s side there were two very strong things that were not allowed. You didn’t smoke and you didn’t tell lies. Those were two sins that would take you to hell - amongst all the other thousands of things you weren’t allowed to do. They were bred into me.

The closest I ever came to smoking was when I took one puff on a cigarette once. I did it just to see what it tasted like. I was too afraid to try it a second time in case the thing grabbed me and I couldn’t give it up.

I also couldn’t tell a lie, even though it would get me into trouble again and again at school. I really was quite lazy. I did not do my homework and didn’t do things that I was supposed to do. But I could never lie to get out of it. I always had to tell the truth.

This concept of telling the truth was so bred into me. It was such a part of me that I could never withhold information and pretend to be what I was not. I was as transparent as a piece of glass. You could see right through me.

There was unfortunately not much good stuff to see inside, but you could see what I was like. I showed the whole world,

“Here I am - useless, weak, frail and insecure.”

I could not hide what was inside, and I couldn’t wear masks because that was a lie. I thought,

“How can you pretend to be what you are not? How can you tell somebody something that is not true? It is a lie.”

I would hear my grandfather’s words ringing in my ears:

“God hateth he that liveth and maketh a lie.”

It struck terror into me! I was more afraid of telling a lie than telling the truth and getting into trouble. It did get me into a lot of trouble though, and I just didn’t have friends.

I was always alone because people didn’t hang around with the weak, frail and useless people. They hung around with the tough guys. They were the guys who had a reputation. But they were wearing masks, because every one of them was insecure even though they pretended not to be.

My Dilemma

I grew up eventually wondering whether I had just missed it. I thought,

“Maybe if I had learned to put on some masks and pretended to be who I was not, I would have made a few friends. Maybe people would have liked me. I mean they didn’t have to know my background or to know all about me.”

It is like an old saying that says:

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

It seemed that I was the one who always opened my mouth and removed all doubt. But then I discovered something important.

I thought that being transparent and open was a real weakness; something that had caused me so many problems in my life and had stolen so many things from me. But I found out that it was one of the biggest assets that I had.

Why was this? It was because I found out that from an early age I could express my heart without restriction. When I got to school and began to do creative writing, the teachers raved about my creative writing essays.

This was because when I wrote I did the same thing as when I spoke. I poured out everything that was inside. There was nothing to hide. The strengths, the weaknesses and the muck - the whole lot came out, but it was real.

Become Like a Child

You cannot relate to somebody wearing a mask because they are not real. Jesus said,

“Except you become as a little child I can’t do anything with you. You are false.”

So here is the first key to being successful in The Arts. You must become like a child again.

Let’s look at what happens from childhood and as we grow up. You will see why some people just seem to be naturally talented in The Arts. They seem to be able to write and they seem to be able to act.

You know I could do that, as insecure and afraid as I was of being rejected by people. We used to have drama lessons at school, and I would just get in there and act and be stupid. The teachers said to me,

“You know you should seriously think of maybe taking drama as a career because you are so good.”

I didn’t really think I was trying to be good. I was just being me. But everybody else was trying to be what they were not. I was being real and the natural talent came out.

How Communication is Developed

How do you begin to develop communication? When a child is first born it only has one means of communication and that is noise. The only way it can communicate is to cry.

Then the child learns to gurgle and smile and do different things. It begins to interact with the world round about it. You see how from the beginning a child communicates everything that is in its heart.

Children don’t think - and that is sometimes an embarrassment to us. Visitors come in and they blurt out everything that has been happening in the home. The child says,

“Did you know that my dad drinks Frans beer every night?”

“What - your father drinks? I thought he was a minister.”

“You should see my mom...”

The mom nips it in the bud and says,

“Hold it right there.”

“What’s wrong mom? Can’t I tell them about it?”

“No, not right now. It is not a good time.”

We have to think like adults. But children just open their heart and their mouth and let out everything that is inside. They don’t think of the consequences.

Maybe you are thinking right now,

“So should we become like that?”

No, I’m not saying we should become like that. I am saying that in order to express what is in your heart, you need to return to the openness and freedom that you had as a child. You need to be free to just let everything out without thinking,

“I can’t say this because they might think that. I can’t say that in case they misinterpret it. If I do that there could be a problem.”

You start thinking so much like an adult that you can no longer open your heart and pour out what is inside. Where does the artistic ability that God has built into you come from? It comes from deep within. And it must be expressed in the same way the anointing is expressed: through words and actions.

You have to be careful what you say and what you do. You have to change the way you behave in front of certain people; put on masks and perform to get love. As we grow up we learn all these things through our lives.

As a child grows up he realizes that sometimes it is not good to tell the truth because the truth gets you into trouble. It is easier to pretend.

Kids Can Express Freely

Kids are great at pretending. They just have such liberty. If you want a child to express its artistic ability, just call one of them and say,

“Come and tell me a story.”

“What kind of story?”

“Tell me a story about this and that.”

Give them a plot and ask them to tell you the story and they will say something like,

“Jack did this and he went there. He did this and that.”

They will talk on and on with a load of nonsense and tell their story. But in the middle of the story you will hear all their heart. You will discover their aspirations and desires, their failures and their weaknesses.

You will see a child taking their doll and giving it a smack because mommy gave them a smack. You see it and you know that somewhere along the line they have seen some smacking.

They are expressing it in actions. They have taken in everything that they have learned and they are pouring it out and expressing it.

It is amazing to watch kids trying to act like adults. I am sure you have seen it. They start using adult expressions, and they pull their face in a certain way just like their parents do. They just let it out because nobody told them,

“You can’t do that. You shouldn’t do that because people will laugh at you. They will mock you and reject you.”

Nobody is going to tell you those things, so what happens now? Somebody comes and gives you some sage advice and says,

“You are not supposed to tell everybody what is in your heart. Hold it back. Don’t share everything because people will misunderstand you. And when they misunderstand you they will be horrible to you.”

Transition to Adult

The child learns especially through bad experiences in life. He goes to school and everybody mocks him and laughs at him for being himself.

We learn to be so big and adult don’t we? Then we get to adolescence which is a very important and special time. You are getting involved with members of the opposite sex and becoming more aware of yourself.

You can’t express that childhood naivety anymore. You become boring, because now what you are showing is not the real you.

People seem to think that actors are simply putting on a mask. But you can’t put on a mask unless you have seen and have lived the real thing.

The only thing you can really portray in life is what you have lived and seen and what burns inside of you. All of your emotions, feelings and desires have to be expressed as the real you.

By the time we get to adulthood most of us have learned that the real you is not acceptable to the world. Don’t ever show the real you. The real you is weak, frail and stupid. People will laugh at you and mock you and you will lose your sense of humor.

A child can laugh at himself. He trips and falls and says,

“Oh dear that was stupid.”

Everybody laughs with him. But an adult has to try and make excuses and say,

“You shouldn’t have tripped me. You made me fall.”

He has to blame somebody else, and he gets all angry and serious.

Adults Are Serious

We can’t laugh at ourselves anymore. We don’t want people laughing at us because it makes us feel insecure. We have to put up a front and a big mask so that people will take us seriously.

It is pitiful isn’t it? But we all get into it. We lose our childhood exuberance.

It has nothing to do with temperament. Take any child and any temperament. You will see that they are free to be themselves and to express what is in their heart.

But adults don’t do that. And when you stop expressing what is in your heart you are failing to communicate. Your words and your actions have begun to change.

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