Mark Virkler's blog

How are your communication skills? Have you taken a course on how to be an excellent communicator? Have you journaled, asking the Lord specific questions about how you can improve your communication style?

According to the Carnegie Institute, 85% of financial success is communication skills. My guess is this 85% success rate extends to every area of life, not just financial success. We need excellent communication skills with our spouse, our family members, at church, at the workplace, and in social gatherings. What are the skills that God would have you develop to become a better communicator? The two-way journaling questions below will allow God the opportunity to instruct you concerning enhanced communication skills.

God, I come today to offer my whole being to You. I want to do life with You today. I love hearing Your Voice and ask that You would teach me how to live out of it on a daily basis.

Steve is a friend and a graduate of Christian Leadership University. He has incorporated the 4 keys to hearing God's voice into his new book Inevitable Healing. I had the honor of writing the foreword, which is below, and gives you a good overview of what is inside. The book is available here and here.

This past year I’ve been doing extensive two-way journaling.  For a committed left-brain, analytical person, it’s been an eye opener.  Two-way journaling has addressed a long-standing desire of mine to hear the Lord’s voice, so I could not only have a deeper relationship with Him but also receive wisdom and guidance for the work He’s called me to do.  It’s helped me not only get in touch with the Lord’s heart, His love and compassion, but also better understand the desires and purposes God has placed in my heart; the good works He has called me to do.

During the worship time on March, 21, 2021, in the Sunday morning service, the Lord gave me a vision of a HUGE tidal wave of the Holy Spirit washing across the United States from coast to coast. It was moving fast. It was wide and deep and covered all 50 states. It quickly washed away all wickedness and evil and left the nation pure and holy. It was like the nation was born again.

It is amazing how polarized the nation is over COVID and the “COVID Vaccine.”  It is hard to determine “truth.” The Bible says we should listen to both sides before making a decision (Deut. 1:17; Prov. 18:13). I am going to present several video links and one article for you to consider. I can guarantee you that the videos below WILL teach you things you do not currently know, allowing you to make a more informed decision for yourself and your loved ones. 

The best way to learn a new language is to immerse yourself in the culture of the country of that language.  God speaks the language of the heart which involves seeing, hearing, sensing, and feeling Him using the spiritual senses of the heart.  Dialogue journaling is a tool that allows us to learn this language.  I had no idea how quickly and easily I could grow my faith and fruit-bearing until I began experiencing Jesus with all my senses in bite-sized pieces of the Names of God.  It is the fast track to literacy of the language of the heart and will increase your faith, hope, love, and impact with Christ.

The Names of God were so invaluable for my spiritual growth that it was a key focus study of my doctoral program. I wanted to know how to find God’s promises through His Names. Learning the skills of dialogue journaling and biblical research answered that prayer. Interestingly, I learned from this link that in the Hebrew Bible translations, there are 950 Names of God! They came from people Naming God according to their direct experiences of Him. Experiencing Jesus through the separate Names of God was so helpful to my own Christian journey that the Lord gave me a four-book series to write about the topic.

When I began to look with the eyes of my heart to see Jesus, Immanuel, God with me, I saw Him as King David did. I beheld Him at my right hand (Acts 2:25; Ps. 16:8). And the amazing thing is that He was laughing hilariously. He was having such a good time. His whole face was lit up with joy and peace and comfort and laughter. His word to me was, “Mark, lighten up, I’ve got it all under control.” You see, at that point in my life I seldom laughed. I lived with stress and fear and workaholism, so laughter did not appear very often.

Science has discovered that when my "relational circuits" are turned off, I will not succeed. I can’t grow, love, give or receive life. When I am judging rather than loving, people feel uncomfortable being around me and withdraw from the unpleasantness. Alone, I am stymied. The Bible adds to this the fact that I can’t experience the anointing of the Holy Spirit, have joy, health, or anything else God provides for me in His Kingdom. Jesus demonstrated that Kingdom power rides on the wave of Kingdom compassion (Matt. 14:14).