James : 1:19 “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow
to wrath”
Let us think about what is listening and how it affects us. I would like to explain how our God listens to
us as he keeps his ears open to our cry.
In our professional life we know that Good listening is a an essential part of being an effective leader. It
enables us to building relationship, ensure understanding, solve problems and improve our output.
Listening is a critical part of Curiosity and of " being here now" and will help you to get better results in
all that you do.
In the Spiritual life also as the word of God has said in the passage shown above in James we must be
having a prompt thinking and desire to listen to others. Also we must be slow and thoughtful before
reacting to what we hear from others. From what we hear and listen, if a wrathful thought comes up we
must be more thoughtful and slow before we react with an answer. We must be aware of the fact that
we are created by God with two ears and one mouth which ought to remind us to listen more than we
speak. Prov.10:19 says “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his
lips is wise.” Even though God has given us a life of freedom with freedom to think and act
independently, we must be doing it standing within the limits set by God.
Active listening also allows you to understand what is being said by others. It is the ability to listen to
more than just words being spoken. Listening to a meeting and listening to a sentence are different.
When you are seeing and listening, you will find that you notice messages sent through gestures, facial
expressions, posture, noise tones, underlying emotions and the speakers energy. More than half of the
message is carried by these non-verbal gestures and we only notice then when we quiet our minds and
listen at a deeper level. Most successful people do more listening than talking. Real understanding of a
talk happens when we listen to the words and watchful of the physical actions shown by the speaker.
• Reinforce the concept of listening in our lives than speaking. Speaking is good when it is positive and
encouraging to others and proclaiming the commandments of God.
• Practice a higher level of Listening. Be aware of listening to understand rather than to judge the merit
of the speakers words. When the word of God is spoken we should not take into account based on the
merit of the speaker but should be based on the truth of the word of God.
• Be patient; we all have different paces and styles. Focus on the moment and the feeling behind the
words and situation that made you to speak like that. If your primary concern is problem solving, you
will probably not be listening as clearly as you can. The way you listen often tells a person more than the
words you say. The way you listen makes an impact on the speaker more than what you talk back.
• When you are the leader of a team Encourage your team to participate in the voice of the others in
the ream also. In a professional organization one way that managers can listen to their team members is
by paying attention to the results of the regulations laid out by the organization and adjust where
appropriate. In our spiritual life listening just like the way the word of God has said and reacting based
on the commandments given in the word of God with a fast and fervent listening and slow and intelligent speaking as a reaction.
