I Love Talking to You. God Speaks to Adam and Eve in the Garden. Genesis 1. There is a famous picture of Jesus that hangs in just about every small church in Oklahoma. I bet you have seen it too. It''s a portrait of Jesus with soft light-brown hair and a trimmed beard, looking up toward heaven. This guy looks quiet. He looks like the type of man who would walk into a room and sit silently, not speaking but just taking it all in.

You know--pensive Jesus. The thing is, whether or not we''ve ever seen that particular picture of Jesus hanging on the wall, many of us picture Jesus with the same quiet demeanor in our hearts. Many of us have been taught to remember that He is always in the room with us, but we don''t usually imagine Him walking around talking to us in that room. What if He is? What if we''ve forgotten that Jesus was a storyteller who loved to sit around the fire and talk with His friends. What if instead of imagining Him looking upward toward the heavens with perfectly combed hair, we imagined a friend standing in our kitchen while we washed dishes or sitting in the passenger seat while we ran errands? What if instead of calling our best friends or our moms or our mentors, we started a conversation with Jesus in the middle of the day? While it might sound strange, that''s the type of relationship that God intended for us to have when He originally created us. Let''s go back to the Garden of Eden. God spoke the world into existence. He created everything with His voice, by the power of His word.

And then, Scripture says, God had a conversation with Himself. I imagine the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit standing in heaven saying these recorded words, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness." So He did. God made man and woman and then placed them in a perfect garden and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Look at what we just read. God designed humanity with the ability to hear His voice and respond to His commands. God created us to be in communication with Him.

So my question is this: Why would we ever dare to believe that the same God who spoke the world into existence, who says in His Word that He "is the same yesterday and today and forever," suddenly decided to stop talking? We often imagine a conversation with the Lord being very one sided. We speak. He listens. Occasionally, He answers. But the Truth is, God started His conversation with His creation in the garden, and our hearts still crave this type of relationship with Him. The good news for us is that God still speaks to us today, and as we listen, I believe He is always reminding our hearts, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them." I know you. I made you and I love you.

I want to lead you, love you, and let you in on the secrets of My heart. This conversation was My idea. You were designed to be in communication with Me. My Word is alive and active. It is living. Read My Word anytime You want to hear My voice, but as you do, listen closely. Because I reveal throughout My Word that I speak to the hearts of My people in many different ways. Let''s talk.

I''m free anytime you are. What kind of relationship would we have with the Lord if we started to have conversations with the living God? What would our mothering look like if we remembered that we had unlimited access to a parent''s greatest resource? God is ready to reveal His Truth; we just need to tune our hearts to His voice. Lord, thank You for being the God who desires to talk to us. We value Your written Word. Through Your Word, we know what You say and what You sound like when You speak to us. Help us hear Your voice speaking to us throughout the day. Change the images we have of You in our hearts if they are not accurate representations of who You really are. Help us get to know You so personally, God.

Give us ears to hear Your Truth. In Jesus''s name we pray. Amen.