In my line of work, my teaching ministry is largely limited to men who have little or no knowledge that a personal relationship with God is even possible, much less likely for them. One question that invariably is on the minds of those men is how one hears the voice of God. It is often phrased something like, "You mean you actually hear God speaking to you?" It is almost never asked in a belligerent manner. The man asking sincerely wants to know if it is possible to hear God speaking. The short answer is an unqualified, "Yes."
When one has been around as long as I have, if he is paying any attention at all, he learns things. One of the things I have learned is that God does indeed speak to His people, clearly and distinctly at times. Sometimes He even speaks so clearly and distinctly that one wonders if this time he actually heard an audible voice. God more often speaks to our spirits than to our ears. I will never forget something I heard the late John Wimber say at a conference when referring to a specific experience he had. "I think God spoke to me in an audible voice. My theology allows for that, but I am a little short on experience."
My personal experience is much the same as John Wimber's. I can recall a few times when God's voice was so clear that I wondered if I had heard an audible voice. One time I even looked around to confirm there was no one there who could have said what I heard. There was no one there, but I am still not going to affirm that I know I heard an audible voice. It may as well have been because, in my mind, I heard words. In case you are wondering, those words were later confirmed by another person as being true.
That brings us to a basic, physiology lesson. We do not hear sounds with our ears anyway. We hear them with our mind, which is part of our soul. Sounds enter our ears and cause our eardrums to vibrate. Those vibrations in the air are first converted to mechanical vibrations in the bones of the middle ear, hydraulic vibrations in the inner ear, and finally to electrical impulses in the auditory nerve. All that to hear a simple sound. Sounds mean nothing unless they are translated. That translation occurs in the brain, the physical part of the mind. So, again, we hear audible sounds with our soul.
There is another way to get information to our soul. God does not work around our ears, so to speak, when He wants to communicate something to us. He can speak it into the other part of our being, our spirit. From there the physiology is much more simple than that described above. There is no physiology. God speaks into our spirit and the impression, the thought, the idea, the concept, or possibly even the words, are sent directly to our soul. Throw your science out the window on that one. It is not quantifiable. It cannot be demonstrated by research or experiment. It is not an hypothesis, theory, or law. Well, not in the scientific sense anyway. Let's call it a law of the Kingdom of God. (Someone ought to make a list of Kingdom Laws sometime. Any volunteers for that assignment? Maybe it has already been done and we have not heard about it.) You know, like the Law of Death, and the Law of the Spirit of Life from Romans 8. Spiritual hearing is a Law of the Kingdom of God.
That is probably not all that helpful for those of you who think you have never heard God speak to you. Think of it this way. I have been told many times I have a distinctive voice. Were I to call you on the phone right now, would you recognize my voice? Your answer would have to be "No" if we had never talked before or if we had talked only infrequently. However, were you to talk to me on anything like a regular basis, you would immediately recognize my voice. The difference is familiarity. If you are familiar with me, you recognize my voice. The more familiar one is with the voice of God, the easier it is to recognize it.
When asked what the voice of God sounds like, I often tell the men in my classes that, while they are in my classes the Holy Spirit will most often speak to them in a voice that sounds very much like mine. That is only partially tongue in cheek. Sometimes because of what I say, and sometimes in spite of what I say, they do hear God's voice. It sounds possibly evasive to some, but the truth is that when you hear God's voice, you will know it. The more you hear it, the better you will recognize it. Jesus said His sheep hear His voice. If we follow Him, we will hear His voice. (John 10:27)
But what does His voice sound like? I doubt it sounds the same to any two people. We each hear God individually. There is one thing to keep in mind that is supremely important. Whatever God says to you will always agree with the Word of God, the Bible, always. The Bible is God's entire revelation to mankind on this earth. Should you hear something you are not quite sure about, go back to the Bible and see what is says on the subject. If you cannot find anything that seems quite right, consult with someone who is further along in his or her walk with God than you are.
There is one other thing you have to do if you really want to hear the voice of God. It is possibly the most difficult thing for most of us to do. Are you ready? Be quiet! God speaks a lot more than most of us listen. There is no way to know how often we have missed a word from God because we were being too noisy, or listening to the wrong things, or the wrong people. (Make your own list.) Talking to God is only half of praying, or praising, or worshiping. You would not consider it fellowship if you did all the talking while the person you were talking to did nothing but listen. Prayer and worship are the vertical equivalent of fellowship. Perhaps that makes a little more sense. Hearing the voice of God is not magical, mystical, or even difficult. It is a Christian discipline we all need. Please allow me to exhort you that if you have not, are not, or are not often hearing the voice of God, ask Him to help you. He wants you to hear His voice.
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Weapons of Our Warfare, Part 10
Praying in the Spirit can be a controversial subject in the church. Many people think they are praying in the Spirit because they think they are being directed in their prayers by the Holy Spirit. We will not enter into a debate as to whether those prayers are, in fact, directed by the Holy Spirit. Undoubtedly some are, and equally as undoubtedly, some are not. (This sounds a little like it might get ugly already doesn't it?) Trust me when I tell you, I have pretty much heard all the arguments on both sides of this issue. I used to be a Methodist and then a Baptist. I attended a Nazarene church for a period of time. I embraced Pentecostalism, much to the chagrin of my maternal grandmother who was in eastern Kansas when Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of the Foursquare Church came through there on her way to California. I graduated from a Pentecostal Bible College and an Evangelical (non-Pentecostal) seminary. If, after you have read this post, you think you have an argument I did not do justice here, please call, send an email, or post a comment. That way we might all learn something.
Praying in the Spirit is part of the armor of God. It must be. It says so right there in the Bible. (Ephesians 6:18) Ok, so I had not thought about it quite that way before today. It is obvious really when we think about it. Before we discuss that, though, perhaps we should define exactly what praying in the Spirit really means.
One thing I do know from the discussions I have had about the present day working of the Holy Spirit is that anyone who is willing to discuss the issue with me has as strongly held beliefs as I do on the subject. They also, as I do, hold those beliefs based on their understanding of scripture. It is really not productive to exegete the scripture to show why anyone with such strongly held beliefs is wrong. They have already done that and decided they are right. I am including myself in that. The better way to approach that kind of issue is to just present the teaching and, if it makes sense, let them go back and look at the scripture with a different understanding of the big picture.
Without doubt, as we Pentecostals know from scripture and personal experience, praying in the Spirit means praying in tongues. The vast majority of us know (still talking about Pentecostals) there are two different gifts of speaking in tongues. Most of us know that because someone older, and wiser than us told us so. Rarely did those older, wiser people tell us how they knew that and show us the different gifts from scripture. The dirty little secret there is they probably did not know both of the gifts are shown in the Bible. They simply believed it because the older, wiser people who told them believed it. The term for that is unsconscious competent. They are right, but they do not know why they are right.
Most people, including most Pentecostal ministers, only know about speaking in tongues as the charismatic gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:10. We should make the distinction right now that in this gift, God is speaking to His people through one of our own. Again, research this and get back to us so we can discuss it if you disagree.
The other gift of speaking in tongues in the Bible is sort of tucked away and almost hidden apparently. It must be because almost no one seems to know about it or teach it correctly. Most of that problem is our English translations. We will explain that shortly. It is the gift given to believers at some point after they are born again. According to Pentecostal theology, this happens at the time the believer is baptized in the Holy Spirit. That is not what we are discussing right now.
Acts chapter 10 records the beginning of Peter's ministry to the gentiles. In verse 45, the men with Peter acknowledge that a gift was given to the gentiles and 46 tells us they recognized the gift as speaking in tongues. If you have ever heard a teaching on these verses, you have probably heard the gift is the Holy Spirit, or perhaps even that it is salvation. Reading verse 45 in English we see, "the gift of the Holy Spirit". It is almost always taught that the Holy Spirit is the gift. That is what the English text looks like it says. It does not say that in the original Greek. What it says there is, "the Holy Spirit's gift". Does that make a difference? Can you see it? Either phraseology is correct in the English, possessive case. We just do not get the correct meaning as easily with the translation we usually see in English Bibles. For your reference the Greek is in the genitive case which equates to the English possessive case. When we know that, there is no question the gift is given by the Holy Spirit rather than the Holy Spirit being the gift. The gift He gave is the gift of speaking in tongues that Peter and his companions heard.
Now that we understand that, we can see that praying in the spirit is an invaluable piece of our spiritual armor. With this gift we are speaking to God things we would not otherwise know to speak. The Holy Spirit directs our prayers in a different language so that they are perfect prayers. Our minds are set aside as our spirit prays. (1 Corinthians 14:14) Note that this is the same whichever gift of speaking in tongues we are talking about. If you are inclined, as I am, to have your mind get in the way at times, you will appreciate all the more being able to pray in the spirit.
There is no way for us to really understand in the natural what happens when we pray in the spirit. Imagine being in the heat of a battle with danger all around. As you pray in the spirit, you know which way to move and what to do. The Holy Spirit is guiding you away from danger to safety. He tells you when to be still and when to attack, things you could not possibly know for sure regardless of your experience in battle.
Put on the armor of God, and do not forget to pray in the spirit on all occasions. It will protect you even if any of the other armor fails. Our success in battle will be guaranteed.
Praying in the Spirit is part of the armor of God. It must be. It says so right there in the Bible. (Ephesians 6:18) Ok, so I had not thought about it quite that way before today. It is obvious really when we think about it. Before we discuss that, though, perhaps we should define exactly what praying in the Spirit really means.
One thing I do know from the discussions I have had about the present day working of the Holy Spirit is that anyone who is willing to discuss the issue with me has as strongly held beliefs as I do on the subject. They also, as I do, hold those beliefs based on their understanding of scripture. It is really not productive to exegete the scripture to show why anyone with such strongly held beliefs is wrong. They have already done that and decided they are right. I am including myself in that. The better way to approach that kind of issue is to just present the teaching and, if it makes sense, let them go back and look at the scripture with a different understanding of the big picture.
Without doubt, as we Pentecostals know from scripture and personal experience, praying in the Spirit means praying in tongues. The vast majority of us know (still talking about Pentecostals) there are two different gifts of speaking in tongues. Most of us know that because someone older, and wiser than us told us so. Rarely did those older, wiser people tell us how they knew that and show us the different gifts from scripture. The dirty little secret there is they probably did not know both of the gifts are shown in the Bible. They simply believed it because the older, wiser people who told them believed it. The term for that is unsconscious competent. They are right, but they do not know why they are right.
Most people, including most Pentecostal ministers, only know about speaking in tongues as the charismatic gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:10. We should make the distinction right now that in this gift, God is speaking to His people through one of our own. Again, research this and get back to us so we can discuss it if you disagree.
The other gift of speaking in tongues in the Bible is sort of tucked away and almost hidden apparently. It must be because almost no one seems to know about it or teach it correctly. Most of that problem is our English translations. We will explain that shortly. It is the gift given to believers at some point after they are born again. According to Pentecostal theology, this happens at the time the believer is baptized in the Holy Spirit. That is not what we are discussing right now.
Acts chapter 10 records the beginning of Peter's ministry to the gentiles. In verse 45, the men with Peter acknowledge that a gift was given to the gentiles and 46 tells us they recognized the gift as speaking in tongues. If you have ever heard a teaching on these verses, you have probably heard the gift is the Holy Spirit, or perhaps even that it is salvation. Reading verse 45 in English we see, "the gift of the Holy Spirit". It is almost always taught that the Holy Spirit is the gift. That is what the English text looks like it says. It does not say that in the original Greek. What it says there is, "the Holy Spirit's gift". Does that make a difference? Can you see it? Either phraseology is correct in the English, possessive case. We just do not get the correct meaning as easily with the translation we usually see in English Bibles. For your reference the Greek is in the genitive case which equates to the English possessive case. When we know that, there is no question the gift is given by the Holy Spirit rather than the Holy Spirit being the gift. The gift He gave is the gift of speaking in tongues that Peter and his companions heard.
Now that we understand that, we can see that praying in the spirit is an invaluable piece of our spiritual armor. With this gift we are speaking to God things we would not otherwise know to speak. The Holy Spirit directs our prayers in a different language so that they are perfect prayers. Our minds are set aside as our spirit prays. (1 Corinthians 14:14) Note that this is the same whichever gift of speaking in tongues we are talking about. If you are inclined, as I am, to have your mind get in the way at times, you will appreciate all the more being able to pray in the spirit.
There is no way for us to really understand in the natural what happens when we pray in the spirit. Imagine being in the heat of a battle with danger all around. As you pray in the spirit, you know which way to move and what to do. The Holy Spirit is guiding you away from danger to safety. He tells you when to be still and when to attack, things you could not possibly know for sure regardless of your experience in battle.
Put on the armor of God, and do not forget to pray in the spirit on all occasions. It will protect you even if any of the other armor fails. Our success in battle will be guaranteed.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
The Weapons of Our Warfare, Part 6
We are not entirely sure how blogger works, and it really does not matter all that much. The way we hope and pray this blog works is that we hear what the Holy Spirit is saying, write it down, and it becomes some kind of semi-permanent record on the internet. We mention that only to say, this post, we think, is going to show it was published on a Saturday. In reality it is barely Saturday by the clock. We are morning people, but this can hardly be considered morning at all.
Watchman Nee, who is one of our heroes in the faith, said every day was a spiritual battle while he was writing his classic The Spiritual Man. I was talking about that with my neighbor across the fence just yesterday. When we look back at the dates of these posts, we note we were publishing much more frequently when we started. Then something happened. The warfare became a little more intense. Trust me when I tell you this whole, past week was one distraction after another.
For most of the past twenty years, as we have alluded to previously, we have been unsure of what we were called to Santa Maria to do. We are embarassed to say most of that time we spent in ignorance can be directly related to spiritual deception. Not only were we unable to see what we were supposed to be doing, we thought we were doing what we should be. We know, that sounds sort of cryptic, but that is how spiritual deception works. One wrong turn, one false piece of information, one lie that we believe can send us down the path toward deception.
At this time, however, we can tell you, we are doing what we are supposed to be doing. In the past three months, more or less, we have moved out of that period of ignorance and deception, into a period of apathy, where we did not really care what happened, to peace. We now understand, with more than head knowledge, God is at work in us to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13) Looking back over our lives, we see sometimes very clearly, sometimes less how God was bringing us to this time and place.
In the beginning, this blog was as effortless as anything ever has been in my life. Of course, most of the early posts were simply personal history so the most difficult part of writing them was remembering that far back with a brain that may have passed it's prime. It has become more difficult recently. We are aware of Satan's schemes. We also understand a little something about how God works in our spirits.
This is a real time update. I just learned what I am about to share, and I do mean "just" as in moments ago. It is also one of those "duh" moments as in, how have I been missing that? Let me explain what "just" happened. The Holy Spirit dropped a word into my spirit. The word is "schemes". I knew it was in the Bible, but I get a little fuzzy on addresses sometimes. I almost always blog with another tab open to http://www.crosswalk.com/. What a blessing that site is to The Church. Anyway, as we said very early on, we always quote from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted. So we search in that translation. Nothing came up. Maybe it was in the Authorized Version, a.k.a The King James Version. Not there either. Sometimes we do use the New International Version. Might as well try that. There it is, two times. The word "schemes" appears in 2 Corinthians 2:11 and Ephesians 6:11. Both times the scheme of Satan being talked about is division amongst God's people. For your information, the other two versions mentioned use the word "devices" instead of schemes.
We neglected to mention earlier the Lord has been working overtime dealing with us about our love walk. In fact, our pastor sent an email just yesterday reminding us that loving one another is one of the life principles of our church. That also came up in the conversation with the neighbor yesterday. He is a Christian man. We briefly noted that some people are just easier to love than others.
There is no way to over-emphasize the importance of loving one another. The Bible is God's love story to mankind. From Genesis 1:1 where God began His work of creation to provide a perfect place for man to live to Revelation 22:20 where He wishes us the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible is the expression of a Father's love for his children. Jesus prayed, "...that they may all be one...that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." (John 17:22-23) We truly will show God to the world by loving one another as He has loved us.
I started writing this over an hour ago because I felt led to write. At that time I did not know what weapon I would be writing about. By now it should be obvious. The weapon is unity and it works by love. It seems I remember some historical figure saying, "United we stand, divided we fall." or was that just a song lyric performed by Sonny and Cher? (We do hope you recognize our sardonic comments that appear in this space from time to time.)
Now I had better get back to bed. Our grandson is here for the weekend and we would hate to miss any time with him. He is, after all, the cutest little boy in the world.
Work on your love walk and we will be "perfect in one".
Watchman Nee, who is one of our heroes in the faith, said every day was a spiritual battle while he was writing his classic The Spiritual Man. I was talking about that with my neighbor across the fence just yesterday. When we look back at the dates of these posts, we note we were publishing much more frequently when we started. Then something happened. The warfare became a little more intense. Trust me when I tell you this whole, past week was one distraction after another.
For most of the past twenty years, as we have alluded to previously, we have been unsure of what we were called to Santa Maria to do. We are embarassed to say most of that time we spent in ignorance can be directly related to spiritual deception. Not only were we unable to see what we were supposed to be doing, we thought we were doing what we should be. We know, that sounds sort of cryptic, but that is how spiritual deception works. One wrong turn, one false piece of information, one lie that we believe can send us down the path toward deception.
At this time, however, we can tell you, we are doing what we are supposed to be doing. In the past three months, more or less, we have moved out of that period of ignorance and deception, into a period of apathy, where we did not really care what happened, to peace. We now understand, with more than head knowledge, God is at work in us to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13) Looking back over our lives, we see sometimes very clearly, sometimes less how God was bringing us to this time and place.
In the beginning, this blog was as effortless as anything ever has been in my life. Of course, most of the early posts were simply personal history so the most difficult part of writing them was remembering that far back with a brain that may have passed it's prime. It has become more difficult recently. We are aware of Satan's schemes. We also understand a little something about how God works in our spirits.
This is a real time update. I just learned what I am about to share, and I do mean "just" as in moments ago. It is also one of those "duh" moments as in, how have I been missing that? Let me explain what "just" happened. The Holy Spirit dropped a word into my spirit. The word is "schemes". I knew it was in the Bible, but I get a little fuzzy on addresses sometimes. I almost always blog with another tab open to http://www.crosswalk.com/. What a blessing that site is to The Church. Anyway, as we said very early on, we always quote from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted. So we search in that translation. Nothing came up. Maybe it was in the Authorized Version, a.k.a The King James Version. Not there either. Sometimes we do use the New International Version. Might as well try that. There it is, two times. The word "schemes" appears in 2 Corinthians 2:11 and Ephesians 6:11. Both times the scheme of Satan being talked about is division amongst God's people. For your information, the other two versions mentioned use the word "devices" instead of schemes.
We neglected to mention earlier the Lord has been working overtime dealing with us about our love walk. In fact, our pastor sent an email just yesterday reminding us that loving one another is one of the life principles of our church. That also came up in the conversation with the neighbor yesterday. He is a Christian man. We briefly noted that some people are just easier to love than others.
There is no way to over-emphasize the importance of loving one another. The Bible is God's love story to mankind. From Genesis 1:1 where God began His work of creation to provide a perfect place for man to live to Revelation 22:20 where He wishes us the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible is the expression of a Father's love for his children. Jesus prayed, "...that they may all be one...that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." (John 17:22-23) We truly will show God to the world by loving one another as He has loved us.
I started writing this over an hour ago because I felt led to write. At that time I did not know what weapon I would be writing about. By now it should be obvious. The weapon is unity and it works by love. It seems I remember some historical figure saying, "United we stand, divided we fall." or was that just a song lyric performed by Sonny and Cher? (We do hope you recognize our sardonic comments that appear in this space from time to time.)
Now I had better get back to bed. Our grandson is here for the weekend and we would hate to miss any time with him. He is, after all, the cutest little boy in the world.
Work on your love walk and we will be "perfect in one".
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The Weapons of Our Warfare, Part 3
As mentioned in the previous post, many people think the word of God is our only offensive weapon. Also as mentioned, it is not. It is, however, the most effective. To understand why we have to understand what the word of God really is; facts that are not often understood or taught.
The primary Greek word for "word" is logos. Logos means everything that can be known about a given subject. It is used to refer to both Jesus and the Bible. Jesus and the Bible are each full and complete revelations of everything God has revealed about Himself to mankind. We cannot know anything about God aside from His word. Jesus is His living example of the life we are to live on earth. If we were able to do everything Jesus did, we would fulfill God's will for us. Similarly, if we were able to do all that is written in the Bible, we would be perfect before God. He did not leave anything out that we need to know.
Hebrews 4:12 tells us, "The word of God is living and powerful...piercing even to the division of soul and spirit..." The Bible works on us every time we read it. It shows us the difference between what is spirit and what is soul in us. Additionally, we can put it to work by speaking it out loud. In doing so we are imitating the acts of God in creation and the works of Jesus in restoring life and health to mankind as He did throughout His ministry.
When we talk about speaking the word of God out loud, the less frequently used Greek word, rhema, comes into play. Rhema is defined as "the spoken word". It is a part of the logos. It is the word Paul used in telling us to take up the "sword" of the Spirit. (Ephesians 6:17) The word spoken from our mouths becomes an offensive weapon. The spoken word carries power to change things in the spiritual realm. It cuts through spiritual darkness and deception bringing light and understanding. Romans 10:17 tells us the spoken word is the thing that produces faith in us.
As we will find in continuing our discussion on the weapons of our warfare, we use all three parts of our being simultaneously when we wield the weapons. God speaks into our spirit what He wants us to do. We process His instructions in our soul according to what we think of them and how we feel about them. We then use our will to decide what to do. If our decision is to fight, we engage our bodies to fight. Of course we can also engage our bodies to flight, but that is not what we are about here.
The word of God has intrinsic power. When simply spoken it changes things. The word of God changed the dark and formless void that was earth into a world teeming with all kinds of plant and animal life as He spoke it. (Genesis 1) Psalm 107:20 says God sent His word and healed them. Although the word in this verse for word is in the Hebrew language, it is equivalent to rhema in Greek. He spoke the word and people were healed. What he said is not even important. The word of God has intrinsic power. (I read that somewhere recently.) The same Hebrew word is used in Isaiah 55:11 where God assures us His word will never return without accomplishing what He sends it forth to do.
Let us jump into something that can be extremely controversial within The Church today. There are segments of The Church that believe we can have anything we desire if we can find it in the Bible. This group teaches that any portion of scripture can be used as seed which, when properly planted and cared for will produce a crop yielding fruit after it's own kind. Pastor Bill Winston from the Chicago, IL area tells a story about a pastor who was visiting his church from Africa. As Pastor Winston relates the story, the pastor stopped practically in mid-sentence and said, "Pastor Winston. Your airplane is in Ecclesiastes chapter ten." He then resumed preaching his sermon. Pastor Winston looked through that chapter and found the phrase, "a bird of the air may carry your voice" in verse 20. In context, this phrase has nothing to do with an airplane, but the word of God has intrinsic power. When Pastor Winston used that phrase as seed and planted it into the spiritual realm with his voice, his airplane was on the way. Believe it or do not. Believing is harder, but so very much worth the effort.
Perhaps, aside from this spiritual battle we are discussing, you have problems that need to be dealt with spiritually. May we encourage you to put the word of God on your lips continually and see what God will do in response. At the very least it is good training for using the word of God in spiritual warfare. That can never be a bad thing.
The primary Greek word for "word" is logos. Logos means everything that can be known about a given subject. It is used to refer to both Jesus and the Bible. Jesus and the Bible are each full and complete revelations of everything God has revealed about Himself to mankind. We cannot know anything about God aside from His word. Jesus is His living example of the life we are to live on earth. If we were able to do everything Jesus did, we would fulfill God's will for us. Similarly, if we were able to do all that is written in the Bible, we would be perfect before God. He did not leave anything out that we need to know.
Hebrews 4:12 tells us, "The word of God is living and powerful...piercing even to the division of soul and spirit..." The Bible works on us every time we read it. It shows us the difference between what is spirit and what is soul in us. Additionally, we can put it to work by speaking it out loud. In doing so we are imitating the acts of God in creation and the works of Jesus in restoring life and health to mankind as He did throughout His ministry.
When we talk about speaking the word of God out loud, the less frequently used Greek word, rhema, comes into play. Rhema is defined as "the spoken word". It is a part of the logos. It is the word Paul used in telling us to take up the "sword" of the Spirit. (Ephesians 6:17) The word spoken from our mouths becomes an offensive weapon. The spoken word carries power to change things in the spiritual realm. It cuts through spiritual darkness and deception bringing light and understanding. Romans 10:17 tells us the spoken word is the thing that produces faith in us.
As we will find in continuing our discussion on the weapons of our warfare, we use all three parts of our being simultaneously when we wield the weapons. God speaks into our spirit what He wants us to do. We process His instructions in our soul according to what we think of them and how we feel about them. We then use our will to decide what to do. If our decision is to fight, we engage our bodies to fight. Of course we can also engage our bodies to flight, but that is not what we are about here.
The word of God has intrinsic power. When simply spoken it changes things. The word of God changed the dark and formless void that was earth into a world teeming with all kinds of plant and animal life as He spoke it. (Genesis 1) Psalm 107:20 says God sent His word and healed them. Although the word in this verse for word is in the Hebrew language, it is equivalent to rhema in Greek. He spoke the word and people were healed. What he said is not even important. The word of God has intrinsic power. (I read that somewhere recently.) The same Hebrew word is used in Isaiah 55:11 where God assures us His word will never return without accomplishing what He sends it forth to do.
Let us jump into something that can be extremely controversial within The Church today. There are segments of The Church that believe we can have anything we desire if we can find it in the Bible. This group teaches that any portion of scripture can be used as seed which, when properly planted and cared for will produce a crop yielding fruit after it's own kind. Pastor Bill Winston from the Chicago, IL area tells a story about a pastor who was visiting his church from Africa. As Pastor Winston relates the story, the pastor stopped practically in mid-sentence and said, "Pastor Winston. Your airplane is in Ecclesiastes chapter ten." He then resumed preaching his sermon. Pastor Winston looked through that chapter and found the phrase, "a bird of the air may carry your voice" in verse 20. In context, this phrase has nothing to do with an airplane, but the word of God has intrinsic power. When Pastor Winston used that phrase as seed and planted it into the spiritual realm with his voice, his airplane was on the way. Believe it or do not. Believing is harder, but so very much worth the effort.
Perhaps, aside from this spiritual battle we are discussing, you have problems that need to be dealt with spiritually. May we encourage you to put the word of God on your lips continually and see what God will do in response. At the very least it is good training for using the word of God in spiritual warfare. That can never be a bad thing.
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