Let’s be clear about the running part of this conversation… there is no actual running at this point, just a running through my mind. 
3.) Knowing Christ is knowing His voice. To know the voice of God is to know His Word by His Spirit. His voice is in his word; it’s not just his words, it’s his voice, his tone, the Spirit and heart of his words. When you learn a voice you don’t forget it and you trust a voice you know. You may trust that a particular voice you know is dangerous and hurtful or you may trust that it is love and full of goodness, but you trust that you know who you are dealing with every time you hear words associated with a known voice. When I hear my kids voice on the phone, they don’t have to identify themselves, I know their voice. If I hear the voice of one of my kids and they said they wanted me to teach a CrossFit class for them I would know this wasn’t my kid or they have no idea who they are actually talking to. It may be something that would come out of their mouth sometime, but not to me. If I hear the voice of my kid and they say they want food, I trust they are my kid and they know who they are talking to and I can start coming up with a food plan. When we know Christ and we hear His voice and we know His word, we can trust and obey His voice when we hear it. When we go a long time without hearing a voice our trust can begin to fade. We hear that voice and say… is that really you? Because we can’t believe our ears, and we aren’t believing what we think we hear. The voice and trust has faded in our memory. To know Christ we need to read His word, pray and listen to his voice consistently so our ears stay tuned in and we trust who we are hearing and what He is saying. John 10:27My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.
