In the last
bible study, we looked at how Jesus is the Word of God and how God sent Jesus
to heal and deliver His people from the beginning. Then we looked at how
powerful God’s word really is because it is alive and working for whoever
speaks it.
Luke
21:33 Heaven and earth will pass
away, but My words (logos) will not pass away.
We can see
once again just how powerful God’s word is. It will last forever, beyond
everything that we can see.
The Greek
word used for “word” in this scripture is logos, which means “something said.
Now let’s
dig a little deeper into God’s word:
1 Peter
1:23-25 You have been regenerated (born
again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one that is AMPC immortal by the living and
lasting Word (logos) of God. For all flesh (mankind) is like grass, and
all its glory
(honor) like the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower drops off.
But the Word (rhema)
of the Lord (divine instruction) endure forever. And this Word (rhema) is
the good news which
was preached to you.
When you read this in the Amplified Classic Version, you can see that
verse 23 is referring to us being born again in Jesus and Peter uses the Greek
word “logos” to describe Him. Then in verse 25, Peter uses a different Greek
word in reference to “the word”, he uses “rhema” in this verse twice. This can
be a little confusing because the English translation for both “logos” and
“rhema” is word, but they have different meanings.
The best description that I have found to help in understanding this:
Logos is a word (spoken/written) given generally – the general
word of God that communicates His ability to do something or His general will
on a matter.
Rhema is a word (spoken/written) given specifically – the word
the Holy Spirit quickens to a specific person for a specific situation.
Logos & Rhema are always in alignment with one another.
Peter is
stating that the apostles were teaching and preaching the word that was given
to them directly from God. God was guiding them in their teachings using the Holy
Spirit. Paul confirms this when he states, “all scripture is inspired by God”
(2 Timothy 3:16). When Paul said this, all scripture had not been put together
yet, so this was from God for us today.
Jesus gave
His disciples a very specific word about communion in John 6:52-58 and they
were having a hard time receiving it because it was like nothing they had ever
heard before. Later they understood what Jesus was saying because He
demonstrated the drinking of His blood and eating of His body during the last
supper. But in the moment that Jesus first made this statement the disciples were
grumbling which led Jesus to say the following:
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life;
the flesh profits nothing; the words (rhema) that I have spoken to you are spirit and
are life.
Jesus used
the word “rhema” in this scripture which tells me that this was a specific word
from God to the disciples. Jesus is telling them that in our flesh or natural
mind, we will not be able to understand the specific word that God wants to
impart to us. We will get frustrated because we don’t understand, that happens
at times when reading the bible and we don’t understand what it is trying to
say to us. The only way to understand is with the help of the Holy Spirit, we
can ask for help in understanding and God will assist us every time.
A great
example of this for me is when Jesus is talking about receiving the Holy Spirit
and the following scripture was one that I didn’t fully understand:
John
16:12-15 He will glorify Me, for He will
take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine
therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.
I know that
disclose means to reveal or uncover, but how would the Holy Spirit reveal what
belongs to Jesus?
Jesus is the
Word (Logos), which is God’s general will and ability on things.
The Holy
Spirit brings us the word (Rhema), which is God’s word given for a specific
situation.
Which means
that the Holy Spirit will:
take from Logos (God’s general word) and give
you Rhema (God’s specific word for your situation).
When we
allow the Holy Spirit to speak into our lives, we build up our faith and trust
in the finish work of Jesus.
Romans
10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and
hearing by the word (rhema) of Christ.
This is
telling us that the specific word from God is going to strengthen us and keep
us in our time of need. I’m not saying that we should not rely on the written
word of God, but I am saying that asking God to give us greater understanding
of His word will bring His written word alive in us. Just like Jesus said in
John 6:63, His rhema word is spirit and life.
Another
instance when the rhema word of God is important is during spiritual warfare.
Paul is telling us here that our sword is a specific word from God for our
situation.
Ephesians
6:17 And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word (rhema) of God.
Reading and
declaring the written word of God over our lives is very important and there
may be times when you don’t have a specific word from God. Continuing to spend
time in God’s written word is important while you seek God for His specific word
over your situation and that can only be done by asking Him for it.
Jesus used
His sword when He was being tempted by the enemy in the wilderness. As you can
see, Jesus’ words are from the logos word of God in the old testament but became
the rhema word of God when the Holy Spirit quickened them to Him to say at just
the right time. This is also why Jesus used the word “rhema” when He spoke.
When we are feeding on the written word of God, the Holy Spirit will bring to
mind the specific word that fits our situation and that is what we use as our
sword.
Matthew
4:4 But He (Jesus) answered and said,
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word (rhema) that
proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”
God will
give us His specific word when we ask, seek or knock:
Matthew
7:7-8 Ask, and it will be given to you:
seek, and you will find: knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone
who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be
opened.
I don’t
believe this scripture is telling us that we need to do all these things in
order to get an answer from God. This
covers all the bases because these are all the different ways that we might
come to God in prayer and He will respond. God is a gentleman and He will not
force an answer on us, He is waiting for us to ask, seek, or knock. He is
graciously waiting, with the answer, for us to approach Him in the way that is
most comfortable to us.
Maybe you
are waiting on a specific word from God on your situation, you can have peace
in knowing that all of God’s word has power and authority. This means that
spending time in the bible, reading and speaking God’s logos word over your
life is also very powerful.
Luke 4:32 And they were amazed at His (Jesus)
teaching, for His word (logos) was with authority and ability and AMPC weight and power.
Jesus spoke
the word of God throughout His time here on earth and that is where He drew His
power from.
