Why vote, he wrote about it. His 'revelation' about Grace and Faith came from the Holy Spirit and an objective reading of the Scriptures. Brother Martin was baptized, he had been born again. If you submit he had a 'revelation' then it had to come from God as God is the source of 'revelation'. The Word was always before him, the Holy Spirit illuminated, for lack of a better term, the text so that he could understand it.
My question to you is this: What makes you think that Confessional Lutheranism isn't about a personal relationship? The words used in the Bible, brothers, sons of God, heirs, Father all describe relationships. Through Christ we are sons, God is our Father, though infinitely better than our earthly fathers. In Luther instruction for determining fitness for the Lord's Supper he emphasizes that the prospective communicant understand 'given and shed FOR YOU' (my emphasis). Sounds personal to me.
My LCMS experience. I have had 5 major LCMS Pastors that have had an influence on my life. Pastor #2 was the one who introduced me to my Lord Jesus Christ. Pastor #1, a wonderful humble man and very similar to most LCMS pastor's I have met, felt miracles and such were confined to the apostolic church, sort of like what Walther says. He was my Pastor through college and taught me Luther's Small Catechism.