Many people pray and expect to hear an audible voice or see a flash of light or something in the miraculous that says God is there and He’s listening. Unfortunately, though, God does speak but they are missing His voice because they are not looking for Him where He can be found. As believers, we know where to look: we don’t need to ask, “Where are You, God?”

The fact is that God DOES make Himself quite visible to the ones who seek His face, and He does talk to us, and is very detailed, very clear and very specific in His responses to our concerns. He has given us a graphical history of our existence as well as the future He has planned for us. God spoke everything that He had to say once and it was recorded by His chosen servants and written as Scriptures on scrolls—we know these as the Bible.

The Scriptures were given as a whole for all believers, yet they are very personal. We can read them and get answers to all of our issues in life. Even though the revelations within the words have the same interpretation, we can apply them and receive God’s wisdom, instruction, and advice for our individual lives.

This is because God loves each of us personally. Jesus came to be the Savior of the world, but only those who receive Him personally in their heart will ever know Him. Everyone else will only know OF Him. Our hope in Jesus is not ambiguous; it’s personal, and it’s based on His love for each and every one of us as individuals. Jesus died for ME. He is MY Savior, MY Lord, MY God, and I am HIS child.

Many believers don’t read their Bibles. They leave studying the Scriptures to their pastor and are content to just receive what they are taught. But that is not how we get to know the heart of anyone. We can’t say that we know a person when our knowledge is based on someone else’s interpretation of who they are. Hosea 4:6 says that we are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

If we want to know someone, we need to befriend them, learn who they are and enjoy a two-way friendship with them through the good times and the bad, and THEN we can say that we know them. It is the same with God! We will only know Him by studying the Bible and learning who He is and how much He loves us. Then we can receive His side of our friendship.

But…there are two sides to a relationship!

• Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. —2 Timothy 2:15

We also need to spend time in prayer and worship so we can talk to Him. God speaks to us through the Scriptures, and we speak to Him through our prayers. As we pray, His Holy Spirit in us reminds us of what God has said (in the Bible) and we begin to experience something—a two-way relationship between God and us. Our friendship is now being established!

• Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.—1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

The more we learn from studying the Bible, the more we are drawn to God because He becomes real to us! And the more time we spend in prayer, the more we put ourselves in His care. Trust develops. Our faith in God grows. We begin to realize who we are—sinners saved by the grace of Jesus—and then our relationship turns into what God craves for—a Father and child relationship.

God does speak to us through His words in the Bible and He reveals Himself through His creation of nature that surrounds us. If we truly want to hear from God, then we are going to have to read the Scriptures prayerfully and listen! We are going to have to seek God’s face to know Him. There is nothing more precious than knowing God and allowing Him to live through us so we can share His love with others.

• My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.—John 10:27

Jesus is getting ready to call His children Home in what is known as the Rapture because after that He is going to pour out His judgment onto this sinful world. We need to seek God now while we still can. We need to open our mind and our heart and receive all that God has already spoken to us in the Bible. This is why it’s called, God’s Living Word! It is life to all those who read the Bible and find Jesus!

We will all face Christ one day and stand accountable for the things we did or did not do, and He won’t accept that we failed because in our ignorance we couldn’t find Him. God DID speak to us through the Scriptures, and it’s our responsibility to read them and know Him. After all, Jesus fulfilled His responsibility and died for our sins; the least we can do is read the Bible and hear God’s voice to us. It’s our choice as to whether or not we want to listen, and it’s a choice that will bring us into God’s presence or leave us asking, “Where is God?”