God Loves Us
It is clear from the Bible that God loves us,
- John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”.
God’s love is demonstrated for us, not by words, but by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins. It was our sins that separated us from God, now through Jesus that separation has been removed. God’s love for us is so unique that it is said that God is love,
- 1 John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love”.
In other words, He doesn’t just love, He is love! This love He has for us is not a sentimental or emotional kind of love. His kind of love is unconditional, in Greek it is called Agape. This kind of love is unearned and undeserved. His love is a gift of Grace. Show More
I’ve said all of this to make this point- interpersonal love involves communication. For instance, in a human love relationship, the deepest communication is an exchange of ideas about living your lives for each other’s good. This loving communication is a dialogue, which means that as one speaks the other listens and then the other speaks as the other listens. This is genuine communication it is a dialogue between two, not a monologue.
It is reasonable then to believe that God wants to communicate with us. As He speaks to us, we should be listening, when we speak to Him, He is listening. Because God is Spirit and we have a spirit our communication with God is Spiritual.
- Gospel of John 4:24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
When we hear the word worship most people think of music as in worship music, but in truth, worship of God means to surrender or submit to Him and His direction for your life.
- Rom 12:1 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (worship)”.
God knows what you need!
Because God is omniscient or all-knowing and He loves us we understand that God knows best what we need in order to live the abundant victorious life. As we mature in Christ, we begin to recognize what pleases God and what displeases Him. We begin to understand that God is at work, through His Holy Spirit, to make us more and more like Jesus in character. After all, Jesus is God with flesh on. Jesus represents God for us, and Jesus has given his life as an example of unconditional love. He has also given us His words which are found in the Bible so that we might have a handbook, so to speak, for Godly living.
Faith opens the door to spiritual life
We learn that the Bible is filled with God’s promises to us and that we receive those promises by faith. Now faith is not just believing with your mind, faith is acting or doing what you believe has been done in the spirit realm! Listen to the definition of faith found in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.
An appropriate question here is, how do I get that kind of faith? Well good news, the Bible shows us the way.
- Romans 10:17 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (Rhema) of God”.
Hopefully, you now can see how important the Bible is.
- It contains the message of the Gospel, or salvation.
- It gives us “objective” direction for life. In other words the teaches what pleases God for everyone.
- It reveals what God has promised us. Some say over 5000 promises are found in the Word of God.
- It shows us that the only way to please God is by faith and then He tells you how to get faith.
- Finally, God can use it to “speak” to you, subjectively, for your situation or circumstances.
Remember faith is the key to the spiritual realm.
- Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Receiving Jesus into our lives means that there has been a spiritual re-birth and we are now destined for Heaven. However, our soul or mind is being renewed and that takes time. It can take a lot of time or a short amount of time. It really depends upon your willingness to “press into His Word” and learn to hear the voice of God. After all, God’s spirit lives in you, as a matter of fact, God says that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. (1 Cor 6:19)
It’s almost like we are bringing our mind and soul into alignment with what has happened in the spirit. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”.
As Christians we are all eager to hear the voice of God in our lives. We want to walk in His blessings We realize that God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours and because we want to see change in our lives.
Recap illumination
One of the ways that God speaks to us, as I mentioned in the last post, is through the “illumination” of scripture. This means that while you are “reading” the Bible a scripture verse or phrase seems to speak to you as a personal message about a question, thought or decision. The word illumination is used because it is as if the Holy Spirit causes the scripture to be a light to our decision.
- Psalms 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path”.
Obviously, you can’t walk around with the Bible in your face throughout the day hoping for illumination, but the Holy Spirit can also bring to remembrance something you have read in the past. When this happens, it is called a Rhema word. Let me explain.
The Word
The Bible or Scriptures if often referred to as the “Word”. The word “word” can have several meanings in the New Testament. It can stand for the Living Word- Jesus.
- John 1:1-2, 14 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”. In this sense the scripture is clearly equating Jesus with the word, the living Word!
Logos and Rhema
Then, of course, the word “word” can also stand for the scriptures themselves as in the “Word of God”! When the word “word” is used to stand for the Bible, you need to know that there are actually two words that are translated from the original Greek of the New Testament as “word”; and they are “Logos” and “Rhema”.
Both of these Greek words are translated as “word” in English. You really can’t tell which word is being used in the English version of the Bible. A really simple, and I mean simple, definition of the two words are; Logos is the written word and Rhema is the spoken word.
Keep in mind that the Holy Spirit wants to build the character of Christ into your life and He will do that using the Logos and Rhema of God.
Logos – objective
The logos word is the “objective” truths that apply to all Believers of Christ. They describe the character and nature of God. What pleases Him and what doesn’t. It describes His faithfulness to His people and the fact He wants to bless them.
Rhema – subjective
The Rhema word is “subjective” it is still truth, but now it is applicable to circumstances, situations, and decisions a Believer is facing at the moment.
Some scriptural facts:
We are promised, by Jesus, that the Helper- the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and bring to remembrance all the things Jesus has taught and said (John 14:26).
- The following verse in Romans 10:17 states that, “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (Rhema) of God”.
- Also, in Matthew 4:4 Jesus said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word (Rhema) that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” So, as you can see Rhema is spoken, whereas Logos is written.
- In John 6:63 Jesus says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words (Rhema) that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life”. The Rhema word is spiritual and life giving!
When you read the Bible, you are reading the Logos Word. When you are in a situation that requires an answer, solution, encouragement or decision… and then you recall a scripture that provides direction, that is a Rhema Word! The Holy Spirit is speaking to you through the recalled scriptures.
Obviously the more of the Logos Word you put in your mind and spirit the more the Holy Spirit can draw on in everyday life. Hence, the importance of spending time in the bible every day.
Your spirit never tires
Now I know that there are times when we read, and we are bored or distracted and can’t remember what we read ten minutes later… your mind may be a thousand miles away. Nevertheless, your spirit is absorbing the spiritual food found in the Word! Your spirit never tires, gets sleepy or bored! Don’t underestimate the power of the written Word-Logos to come back as a spoken Word-Rhema by the Holy Spirit.
A personal example.
Remember I said that the Holy Spirit wants to build the character of Christ into your life. A long time ago before I entered into the ministry, I was one of those persons that felt obligated to speak whenever there was a pause or silence in a meeting. The result was that people rarely listened to what I had to say. Then the Holy Spirit would help me “catch my tongue” by recalling a verse I had read in Proverbs 10:19, which states that talking too much leads to foolishness, but a person who is silent is viewed as wise. So, I decided to trust the Rhema word and began to listen more and speak less and over time, as the scripture promised, I found that people would wait for my input and most of all value it. Now, this is a simple example, but the Rhema word works! If you will trust the Logos word!
As you continue to spend time in the Bible you will find the Holy Spirit applying His Rhema Word to you in more and more situations in everyday life. As it says in 2 Peter 1:3, He has given us everything we need for life and godliness.
God Bless you as you allow the Rhema Word of God to speak to you this week.