Want to know how to hear God’s voice? What does it mean to be God’s son or daughter and receive him as a loving Father? How does that change how you relate towards him? In this episode Gina talks to Roy Cochran about his personal journey from servant to son. Roy is a pastor, mentor, worship leader and co-founder of Third Chair Ministry.
For more information about Roy and Christine Cochran and Third Chair Ministry you can visit them at roycochran.com
Click below to listen starting at 12:12 to follow along.
Learning God’s Voice
Roy:
Clearly there’s some mystery involved, because we’re not getting the audible voice of God. Although I believe that happens at times. For the people who would say that it happened to them, it seems to be a few and far between.
But as we listen, there are some other voices that can get into our hearts as well. When we would be doing this, our Bibles would be open. We would search out to see the correlations of what we believed God to be speaking into our hearts.
He was teaching me the scriptures that say “Where two or more gathered I’m there in their midst.” It’s because he believed in the culture in which that was written, they were getting words of knowledge. God was speaking to their hearts.
But because our hearts also have some other things attached to them. They would bounce that off of each other and go, “Do you bear witness? Does this sound like the Lord to you? Is the Holy Spirit bearing witness with this?
Is it in alignment with who we know Him to be in the Written Word. I love that aspect of freedom. Every idea that comes across your head is not the Lord, because there are a lot of weird stuff that will go across our hearts. If we’ve learned anything in life so far about what it means to be in a relationship, communication is at the heart of everything.
Poor communication, good communication, learning and developing new communication. And so it is with God, if He’s alive, and He is, and He is love, and He is, and He wants to enjoy a relationship with us, communication is at the heart of that.
When we were trying to think, “What does our life manifest? What is our life who He made Christine and I to be? What would that look like if we lived that out?” And Third Chair was the picture of us moving from talking about God to talking with God, from doing things for God in Jesus name, to doing things with God.
It was a completely different paradigm. I would even go so far as to say in my current understanding of my relationship with God, much of my Christian life was, I would put in the category of I was saved. I had a new heart but I was living somewhat of an orphan.
My position in my relationship with God was I was saved and rescued. So I upgraded my position, but I still wasn’t enjoying what Jesus enjoyed, that was what it was to be a Son, to be loved by God, as a Father. And I believe that that’s what Good News is, there’s a Father who desperately wants relational life with His kids, all of His kids.
Jesus’s life, death and powerful resurrection was the picture of what lengths God would go to, to have this relationship. But I feel like for so long I lived the enjoyment of salvation, but I didn’t understand the beauty of sonship and even the power to live, “What would Jesus do?” Or how do I live like Jesus?”
I believe the key to all of Jesus’ power was His ability to receive love, not the positional, “There’s a grace for the world. God loves the world” but He actually tangibly, practically and realistically received love from His Father every day, to where He would say things like, “I’m only doing what I see and hear my Father doing.
If you’ve seen Me, We are so one in our communication and the way He loves Me that I can say, if you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father. I’m the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but through Me.” That speaks of a journey and a destination. And I felt like Jesus had paid a price for a relationship with Me that I was not enjoying.
Gina:
It’s the fulfillment of John 17. The prayer of Jesus for His disciples of us, “Father, thank you that they’re in Me, like I’m in You. And would they be in Me and would they experience the oneness and would they experience My glory?”
That’s His prayer, that we would have that communion, that intimacy, that abiding. That’s the vine and the branches analogy. All of those things that we’ve turned into these stories or teachings that we almost know by heart that we aren’t fully receiving what they mean.
Your phrase “How do I do life with God, not for Him?” That separates the Pharisees from the disciples. The Pharisees was a list of four, “We need check off all these boxes. You’re not doing this. You need to do this. You need this.” Jesus with His disciples, it was “Come with Me. Be with Me.”
From Orphans to Sons and Daughters
Roy:
I found that in my Christianity, when I was coming from what I would call an orphan hearted saved person, experiencing the power of God, being used by God, all over the world. I had fruit in my life as what I would call still having an orphan hearted saved position, an orphan. I say that with respect, not as a derogatory term.
But in my family of origin, I had a broken family, which is like probably 90% of the people who are listening. And at one point in my life, I closed my heart off to my parents, because it hurt too much. And some of the woundedness in our family spilled over into how they parented and how they didn’t parent.
When you cut yourself off from your parents, in a sense, you’re setting yourself up for an orphan hearted reality. So I would be able to go to friend’s houses and join the family and they saw what was going on and they had compassion and, I think some of the parents liked me better than their own kids in some cases.
But I would be adopted into that family, so to speak. I remember there was some Christmases that I was with families on the street. I jumped into that family. I found value there. I found love there. I found a picture of what life could look like, but at the end of the day, I wasn’t any of their sons, I was a visitor.
And I think a lot of my Christianity felt that way, that I got invited to an upgrade and Jesus paid such a price for me. He gave me His life. Why wouldn’t I give him mine? This is such an upgrade for my life. It’s such an honor. So I became a very good servant and orphan-hearted people can be great servants.
But what I found is when you are loved as a son, you will serve. But servants don’t necessarily all enjoy the life of sonship or as a daughter. For me, that’s been the biggest paradigm shift in my life, on my journey. It’s probably been over 20 years learning how to receive love from God.
In my process with Jeff, I began to be seen, understand how seen I was by the Father and by Jesus and Holy Spirit. The more I felt seen and heard the less I needed those things that seemed to represent that, but weren’t necessarily true. All kids want to be seen and heard by those who are important to them, especially their parents. And we’re no different.
If you’re reading this and you don’t feel seen and you don’t feel heard, then that’s a very lonely place. God hates that you’re there. I have friends who say, “God picks up the phone for you, but He doesn’t pick up the phone for me.”
I would suggest that maybe there’s something wrong with the receiver. Because what we know of Him in Scripture, what we know of Him historically, what I know of Him personally, is that He is never going to ignore anybody.
Gina:
There is nothing more true. Jesus is never going to ignore you. You are seen, you are known, you are loved. And if anything that Roy shared resonates with you, that orphan-hearted, “I don’t belong. I’m not worthy to receive the love of God. I need to prove that I belong here. I need to work to pay my way.”
Jesus is saying “No.” He paid it all. He’s made a way. Our job is to receive. And that is probably the most difficult thing for most people to do: to receive. Father God, I thank you that You are good and You are loving and You are kind. I thank you that You are pursuing us.
I thank you that You see us and that You love us. Lord, I pray for anyone who has felt like they didn’t belong, who has felt that other people have access to a loving relationship with You, but they somehow don’t qualify.
Father, would You break the lies in Jesus name, would You pour out Your presence and Your love. That that love would reach into the far corners of hearts and minds and spirits, and that You would bring restoration And dependence on you. Thank you for your presence. Thank you for being here. Thank you that you are good. I ask all this in your name. Amen.
Check out Roy Cochran
Check out the rest of the conversation Making Space For God To Speak
Check out the Dwell Meditations
