God created us with five senses: smell, taste, touch, hearing, and seeing. Most of us are born with these fully intact, and we use them to enjoy life and guide a lot of our actions. When we see things, they invoke a response of some sort. For instance, if I see a bowl of ice cream, it triggers a response by my saliva glands. My eyes trigger my brain to tell my mouth it would be good. Another means we have to impact others is to invoke the senses. We tell events in story form that they can relate to. Events that will cause a response in their brain and trigger their emotions. Jesus used this method of communicating and impacting others throughout His three years of ministry. We call them parables. They invoke the senses as we read and imagine ourselves in the stories. They are earthly stories with a spiritual application.
When my boys were young, my husband told them a story each night, usually about hunting or fishing. You could see the anticipation building in their eyes. They were engaged and there were usually interruptions of questions as all their senses were engaged in the story. When people can relate to what you are saying, the senses are awakened. It becomes personal, and they remember it.
God has given us the ability to visualize and feel emotions as we read His word. As we read, the anticipation builds. We cling to each word and begin to internalize the passage. We no longer read the words as if we are watching a movie that can be turned off and finished later; we are in the story, and it is no longer an external thing. It is internal. We now must determine the response we will have to what we have just experienced.
If we want to impact someone, we must find a common ground to effectively communicate. This is what Jesus did. He used easy to understand stories to illustrate a deeper, valuable lesson. Over and over in Matthew 13, Jesus uses ordinary things that the people could relate to. When He was telling these stories, they were sitting by the seashore. Many were fishermen or farmers. Just ordinary people that could relate to what He was saying. One such story was about a merchantman looking for pearls. In searching for pearls, he found one that was worth more than all the others. When he found it, he sold all that he had so he could obtain the one great pearl. The pearl was of great value because of its beauty and its size. This parable was designed to represent the gospel as something more valuable than anything else. It should impress upon us that it is so valuable, no sacrifice is too great to obtain it.
Matthew 13:45-46 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”
Jesus also taught in informal settings. Many lessons were taught on mountainsides or by the sea. He often taught as he walked with his disciples. He taught about living water to a woman as he sat by a well in John chapter 4. He was intentional with His teachings, but they flowed naturally so that the listener was drawn into the story.
The key to awakening the senses with our stories is prayer. We must pray that the Holy Spirit will bring things to our memory at the proper time and place to share with others and make a difference. We must pray for wisdom and pray for understanding of those with whom we are sharing. We need to pray for the Holy Spirit to allow the hearers to be awakened by what they hear, and be able to make application to their own lives. We must pray that God would help us to be vulnerable and fearless when trying to reach others. Pray that God would give you compassion on the listener so you can tell your story with passion. If you have someone you are trying to influence for salvation, pray for the time you have together that God would give you the wisdom to relate to them in a way that would prick their heart and allow them to understand the message of the gospel. If you are mentoring someone intentionally, or just as a friend, pray God would allow you to know how to share to impact their life for Him.
The stories that are the most meaningful are those you have experienced. When people can relate, they will be more inclined to listen. What is the story of your own salvation? Nobody knows it better than you, and it’s a great tool that God allows us to use to win others. Pray that God will give you the wisdom to know when He is opening a door for you to share a story that will teach truth and have an impact. We all have a story to tell if we are saved. II Corinthians teaches that truth. If you don’t feel you have a story, then you may not be saved. No matter your age or your background, there has to be a change for salvation to occur. Your attitude, your actions, and your thinking all change when true salvation takes place.
II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
What’s your story? I’m 63 years old so I have many. I have the story of salvation that happened when I was 10. I have the story of complete trust in God that happened in my 30’s, where God made Psalm 91 come alive to me in the middle of the night. That night I learned how to overcome fear and anxiety. I have the story of peace that God gave as I let a loved one leave this life and move to Heaven. I have the story of joy as I experienced the answer to many prayers. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. Once you are saved, you will continue to experience many stories that can be used to help someone else. You can awaken their senses to receive what God has for them.
