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by Kaka Lucas. July 21, 2021

Have you ever had an experience of One STORIES, Two Presenters, but different Hit on you? Do you believe that two persons can give same story and it hits differently in one person? 

My friends Words have power to build or break.  

I once wanted to do public speaking course because I found it fascinating how two persons can give same topic speech and it affect the audience differently. One with a forceful impact and another one with no impact? Is it not weird? 

A priest and public speaker were once delivering a message on the prayer of Our Father. After the public speaker had finished speaking the whole auditorium went wild with claps and cheering.

He must have really delivered his speech well. When the priest come over to deliver the whole crowd stared at him wondering how his will be. In the middle of his speech, he noticed that the whole auditorium was sobbing in tears with the same eyes they were looking at him with. After he finished, the whole auditorium stood up and pay respect to him. When he was asked what really happened, he said ….” One can deliver a good speech out of their mind and intellect, which is not wrong, but for him he used his heart out of his own experience with the message he was delivering.” 

I had the similar experience this week. A presenter come over to deliver document discussion with our group. It was interesting how each one of us first before the main presenter went ahead and did a reflection of each part of what we were doing that day. Some of us had beautifully, well put PowerPoints while others had well gathered thoughts that they stood and delivered. After we did our part, the main speaker come over to not only point the main point we did bring up but also what we may have left out. To my amazement, the presenter went wild with his talking, he spoke with bitterness and hunger and a torn of revenge and authority that threw all the audience off.  

A week later another presenter come to deliver similar topic. This time the audience didn’t do anything apart from listening. He kind of started boring but when it come to delivering from his heart, the whole room went silent to listen to him. His voice was composed, and the tone of his voice was convincing. Like the crowd during Jesus’ time, the audience were amazed by the way he did it. He was interesting and no one knew when it was time to stop.  

Wherever life may take us, we all get a chance to deliver a speech in a meeting or presentation in front of an audience, we all have a chance in life to speak in public from time to time. Yes, we may all have the butterflies in our stomach especially if we are not outspoken or used to speaking in front of people. With such a reaction, our speaking my come out good or we can do it so badly that the outcome strongly affects our audience. Depending on the spirit we choose to deliver with. It needs practice, reflection, and intention in speaking to people of all ways of life, big and small young and old, professional and those who have no profession. It doesn’t matter if they come from uptown or downtown, countryside or rural and will they be foreigners or local. Filter your word and most importantly, watch the TONE of your delivery. As good as your speech may be prepared and reflected upon…it may land differently on people’s ears depending on the words you choose and the tone you deliver with.  

Jesus too was a public speaker and before him were the scribes and Pharisees who helped people understand the word and ways of God. But in the ears of the people when Jesus come into the picture, things were different. Jesus taught with purpose while the Scribes and the Pharisees spoke with their shoulders erect due to the position of authority they held. It was their way of delivery of their speeches, to lend credence to whatever they said by appealing to others.

For example, we do this in the university where we make points in our writing, speeches and essay and pin those points with “according to, as noted by (showing our sources) as though that somehow it will helps our point to be grounded and ‘truthful’ or to have more impact to our audience.

And this was the same issue with Scribe and the Pharisees. When Jesus spoke to the people, the highest authority he spoke with was himself. The fact that he did not source his sources by naming who said what, where and when was what strike his audience, His speeches stood out from that of Scribes and Pharisees.  

Now that I contemplated on these two speeches that were delivered by two chosen men of God, I have come to understand that there is power is the words delivered to people and the tone used. In those words there is power to build or break. There is power to transform people’s lives or stagnate them.

To bring a change in people’s life your words must be filtered and your tone must be checked on. Your words does not count so much as the Word of God, and the Tone of God. My friend, if you will instill God’s Word into the lives of people, then your WORDS AND TONE you deliver that word with really counts. Just watch your month as Jamaican would say, filtered your words and with a genuine smile deliver.