All the other gods are dead. They are not gods. They are made of wood or stone, or data, or concepts, or ideas. We have a God who is real, and we have a God who speaks.
In the evangelical world we talk, rightly so, about having a relationship with God. We push back against nominal Christianity, or simply theoretical, theological Christianity. There has to be a place where your relationship with God becomes real, becomes personal, becomes something that is actually real to you — not just a bunch of concepts. Yet I meet so many people who have a relationship with God. Frankly, the vast majority, 99% of Christians, have a relationship with God and yet would really struggle to hear His voice.
I am not putting into question their relationship with God. What I am calling into question is whether it is functioning in the way God wants it to be. A lot of people have a long-distance relationship with the Lord, a long-distance romance with Jesus, if you will. This is not how things should be.
**Who Do You Say That I Am?**
*He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”* (Mark 8:29, NKJV)
Remember when Jesus said, who do men say I am? Then He said, who do you say I am? So much of what we know in Christianity — our knowledge of Him — is second-hand. It does not mean it is wrong or inaccurate. You can grow as a Christian. You can be a Christian for many, many years and have a whole collection of concepts and theological ideas and things you know about God. You heard them through somebody else.
I want to suggest to you there is something different about me coming to you and saying, hey, let me show you something here. God loves you. If I tell you God loves you, you can go around saying, I know God loves me, because Graham told me. If you read it in the Bible, that is good. You can say, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. When God actually speaks that into you, when you hear Him personally saying to you, My son, My daughter, I love you, something different happens. You do not just get the information.
If I tell you that, you store it, hopefully, in the reference library of your brain and memory, ready for recall later. When God speaks it to you, it is another matter. Jesus said the words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. As written in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” I tell you God loves you, you get information. When God says, I love you, you get the love. The word becomes a vehicle to the Spirit. The word actually carries what God is saying, right into the heart of you.
**Not Only at the Major Junctures**
*Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!* (1 John 3:1, NKJV)
So often people come to this topic of hearing from God and think about some prophet speaking to a president, or about God speaking at the major junctures of life. People come to the subject and think about leading, guidance, protection, direction. Amen. Those things matter. The piece I would really love you to capture is this: you have a Father. You have a Father who loves you. You have a God who is real. You have a God who made you.
I remember the day my daughter was born. I stood in the hospital room in Paris, France, singing the song, I want to hold your hand, holding that little hand in mine. That is what a father does with a child. That is the relationship God wants with you. That is the exact relationship — a walking, talking, communicative relationship, one that is real, one that at times He rebukes you.
The Bible says those whom God loves, He upbraids. The old word is, He gets on their case. As written in Revelation 3:19, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.” I know I am walking with God when quite often He will say, hey, Graham, you are out of line. That attitude is wrong.
I have had this experience so many times. My church office is about three miles from my home. I get up busy, in a rush, with a bunch of stuff to do, and I may be rude with my wife — not in a big way, but brusque, annoyed because I am busy, not giving her the love and respect I need to. I go to work. I go to my office. I am chilled out, cup of coffee, Bible out, beginning to worship the Lord, spending time with Him. Hallelujah. Suddenly the Lord says to me, Graham, text your wife and apologize to her. I do not want to do that. I try to push out that voice. It is as if He is saying, I am not talking to you till you talk to your wife. Which is a good thing.
That is the relational interaction God desires to have with us, His people.
**Grace, Then Start**
*Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.* (Philippians 3:13, NKJV)
If you are listening and thinking, Graham, I feel like I have missed it — that is not my current lived reality with God — I have two words for you. Grace, grace, grace. This one thing we do: forgetting that which is behind, we press. Forget what you got wrong. He was not mad at you for that. The second word is start.
God wants to walk and talk with you all day long as you walk and talk and circumnavigate your day. The best way to learn to speak to God is not in a prophetic conference. It is not having a pint of scented oil poured over your head. It is by speaking to Him. Speak to Him, and listen. Speak to Him, and listen. Do not begin by asking Him for major life decisions. Ask Him to tell you He loves you. Give Him permission to guide you. Then act upon what you think you are hearing, and begin to grow in that journey.
Simply put, second-hand truth can be accurate and still leave you at a distance. Information sits in the library of the mind. When the Father speaks, the word carries life into the heart. You already have a relationship. Let me challenge you to let it function. Let Him say I love you. Let Him say text her and apologize. Let Him walk the ordinary road with you.
Selah
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**Scriptures for Study**
John 6:63, Mark 8:27–29, Matthew 16:15–16, John 10:27, John 10:3–4, 1 John 3:1, Revelation 3:19, Hebrews 12:6, Proverbs 3:12, Philippians 3:13–14, Romans 8:15–16, Galatians 4:6, Jeremiah 10:10, Psalm 115:4–8, Habakkuk 2:18–20, Isaiah 44:9–20, John 15:9, Zephaniah 3:17, James 1:22, John 14:23, Psalm 32:8, Isaiah 30:21, Proverbs 3:5–6, 1 Samuel 3:10, Revelation 3:20.
**10 Questions for Reflection**
1. Is your relationship with God personal and functioning, or is it a long-distance romance with accurate theology?
2. How much of what you know about God came through somebody else, and where have you heard Him say it Himself?
3. When did information about His love last become the love itself spoken into your heart?
4. Have you limited hearing God to major junctures, prophets, and presidents, and ignored the Father in ordinary hours?
5. What would it mean for you that the God who made you also wants to hold you the way a father holds a newborn hand?
6. When did the Lord last rebuke you, and did you receive it as love or as rejection?
7. Is there an apology, a text, a repair He has already asked you to make before He will keep talking?
8. Where has shame over missing it kept you from starting again?
9. What would it look like to speak and listen through an ordinary day instead of waiting for a conference?
10. Will you ask Him first to tell you He loves you, before you ask Him for the next life decision?
