THE DAILY RHEMA WORD

I have mentioned a couple of times recently that most Believers have regrets especially in relation to their lifestyle pre-conversion, and sadly our lapses post conversion. the enemy loves to remind us of our past, and we must be strong and remind him, that our past is FORGIVEN AND FORGOTTEN. God has this awesome ability to be able to totally forget (oh that we had that ability too).
I have other regrets like “why was I so slow and unresponsive when God has so often sought to reveal truth to me”? I often wonder whether I would have been open to what Jesus calls the Baptism with the Holy Spirit Acts 1:5 NKJV “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” if it hadn’t been because the book explaining it was written by William Booth-Clibborn, the grand son of the Founder of The Salvation Army the church of which I had come to Christ, and where I was serving the Lord. I am so glad I did embrace the truth and then the experience as it has been a continual life changer for me.
We have said in the past, that in Church History every time God restored truth to the Church, sadly, it seemed at times to come across as extreme and unbalanced, and so it was often rejected by some and they did what Martin Luther described as “throwing the baby (the truth) out with the dirty bathwater”. This, sadly I have done on a number of occasions, I am so glad that we read in the Word of God a n umber of times in Jeremiah & Jonah  And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, (Jer.13:3) The Lord wants to bring truth and revelation to us so He comes again a second and I am sure if we are so “thick” He will come a third time, so we get the message.
A truth that I rejected for years that  is now so real to me is the awesome truth that the Word of God is living and dynamic, and powerful, and that God wants to personally speak to me and let the Word of God become revelation to me, and work in me.
There are two Theologies that I simply love to teach (over and above all the Systematic Theologies) is Ecclesiology and Bibliology. Ecclesiology is the Doctrine of the Church (and I will refer to that more in a later blog, Bibliology is the Doctrine of the Bible. Sadly some aspects of this truth (although I loved to teach it) was simply information to me.
I have no doubt God raised up a man called Kenneth Hagin to bring to us The Word of Faith message which includes a broader understanding of the Rhema word.
There was much opposition to his teaching, and slogans developed like, he preaches “blab it and grad it” or “confess it and possess it” I have not personally seen anything in writing by Hagin that confirms this, but many of his “disciples” sure took the teaching to extreme. Some teachers recognise over emphasis and balance out over time. (Sadly, damage is done in the short term). So many Believers looked at the “dirty bathwater” and threw the truth out (including me). Many Theologians also concluded that as the 2 words for the Word of God  (Rhema & Logos)  were sometimes used interchangeably in the Greek text so therefore one could not build a truth on the Rhema Word. So again I rejected the teaching, and for years I believe I missed out so much not letting The Word work in me.
In the Old Testament the Psalmist especially speaks of letting The Word be quickened in me. (At least 14 times) Asking God to make the Word of God so come alive in them and let the information become revelation, and change their lives.
I don’t know when this truth got through to my heart, was it second or third time?? but I thank God it did.
Interestingly, many believers have had that isolated (once in a blue moon experience) when they were quite casually reading the Word and something happened, the bells rang, the thunders roared, the lights flashed. God very clearly spoke to them from the Scriptures. Sadly through lack of teaching they are happy for it to be occasional.

I BELIEVE WE CAN AND SHOULD BE PROACTIVE AND EXPECT GOD TO GIVE US A RHEMA WORD EVERY DAY.

So what do we need to do?

• Do not open your Bible until you have prayed and prepared your heart to receive.
• We must learn to meditate on the Word of God
• Of course read a number of chapters of the Scripture (Old & New Testament).
• Choose a separate Book of the Bible to meditate in, particularly a New Testament book.
• Begin at verse one chapter one and chew over every word in the verse,
• Read it in other translations.
• Ask the Holy Spirit TO TURN THE LIGHT ON  AND GIVE YOU REVELATION
• Expect and anticipate receiving a personal quickened Word from the Lord
• The Rhema Word will never be contrary to the Logos Word, but it will be personal.

Paul describes the Rhema Word as the Sword of the Spirit Eph.6:17 NKJV And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word (Rhema) of God; There will be times when you will have to use this sword against the evil one, he hates the Word of God.
Paul tells us that faith is received as a result of receiving a Rhema Word Romans 10:17 NKJV So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (Rhema) of God. I need more faith don’t you ?
I wrote recently about maintaining a “good confession” I love Romans 10:8 NKJV The word (Rhema) is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”. Don’t keep your Rhema Word to yourself, share it out, let it become truth and blessing to others.
The Rhema Word has a sanctifying ministry in your life Ephesians 5:26 NKJV that He might sanctify and cleanse her (YOU AND THE CHURCH) with the washing of water by the word, (Rhema).
May I encourage you to do a Word study in your Bible using your Strongs Concordance, the Strongs number is 4487 for Rhema and see how often it is used and of course look at the context, I am sure it will bless you greatly. May the Lord help you, to learn to meditate and take your time “chewing” over the Word of God and letting it come alive in you.
The only time I do not receive a Rhema Word daily is never God’s fault, it is because I have let my body call the shots and let it tell me “I am tired” really it is because I am simply  lazy and undisciplined (pray for me please).
Some may say as they read this, I have heard all this before, hasn’t John got anything new to say? I do actually, but have you got a hold of this truth above, I know it will change your life.
Please feel free to comment on this truth.