A. LOGOS AND RHEMA
If you know both the Scriptures and God’s power — it will cause you and your church to grow up.
In our English Bibles, the term “word” is represented by two Greek words: “LOGOS” and “RHEMA” (pronounced ray-mah). The term Logos typically refers to the written or inscripted “word,” while Rhema is often associated with the living or life-giving “word.”
[Editor’s note: The examples provided below are illustrative and not intended to represent precise uses of these Greek terms, but rather to convey the concepts the author aims to explain regarding logos and rhema.]
For instance, Jesus stated, “It is written [logos], ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word [rhema] that comes from the mouth of God'” (Matt 4:4).
Regarding the Bereans, it was noted: “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word [rhema] with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures [logos] daily to see if those things were so” (Acts 17:11).
These passages highlight the essential connection between logos and rhema; they always operate in harmony.
To discern whether the Rhema we receive is indeed from the Lord or from another spirit, we must be well-versed in the Scriptures (logos). The Holy Spirit (rhema) and the Holy Bible (logos) are in perfect agreement. Jesus pointed out the error of the Pharisees, saying,
“Your error is due to your ignorance of the Scriptures [logos] and of God’s power [rhema]” (Matt 22:29). The Pharisees of Jesus’ time were unfamiliar with both logos and rhema. Similarly, many church leaders today lack knowledge of both the Scriptures and God’s power, which displeases God (Rev 3:15).
Some church leaders may be knowledgeable about Scripture but lack an understanding of God’s power, leading them to become spiritually stagnant.
Others may be well-acquainted with God’s power yet remain unfamiliar with the Scriptures, often resulting in an explosive approach. Conversely, when one is knowledgeable in both the Scriptures and God’s power, it fosters growth for both individuals and their congregations.
1. A Rhema From God
A rhema is a message from God that is intended to be relevant and powerful for a particular circumstance. When we read the Bible and a particular verse resonates with us profoundly, we are experiencing a rhema—a living word that addresses our individual needs.
Similarly, if we have been seeking God’s wisdom or answers for a seemingly unsolvable dilemma and suddenly receive a clear, practical insight from Him that resolves the issue, that is also a rhema.
When we are engaged in a ministry task and feel an immediate prompt to take a certain action that leads to significant blessings, that too is a rhema.
However, it’s important to exercise caution; we should not take every impression, urge, or feeling to be a rhema. True rhema will always align with Scripture (logos), which is God’s eternal Word.
For example, if I am unwell, I can turn to my Bible and read, “… by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). This Word (logos) assures me that it is God’s desire for my healing. Nevertheless, I may not experience healing at that moment when I read the verse.
a. Peter And The Lame Man.
The crippled man, mentioned in Acts 3, had been sitting at the temple gate for many years without experiencing healing, even though Jesus had walked by him numerous times.
After his transformative experience during Pentecost, Peter went to the temple to pray. When the beggar requested money, Peter received a specific message from God for him. “Look at me! I have no silver or gold, but what I do have, I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk!” (Acts 3:6).
Immediately, the man jumped up and followed Peter into the temple, walking, leaping, and praising God. Although the man may have been familiar with the scripture, “I am Jehovah Rapha who heals you” (Exodus 15:26), he did not receive healing until Peter heard from God and declared that life-giving word (rhema) to him.
“So faith comes from hearing…the word [rhema] of God” (Romans 10:17). When God speaks to you, faith arises. If you respond faithfully to what God has said, you can experience miracles in your life just as they did in biblical times.
b. Miracle In Mexico.
About fifteen years ago, while in Hermosillo, Mexico, I was collaborating with Evangelist D’Sousa from Panama. He suggested we visit a man who was bedridden due to illness.
Upon arriving at the man’s home and beginning to pray for him, I felt the Holy Spirit provide me with a message for him. I told him, “Unless you repent, you will die.” In an instant, the man broke down and began to weep uncontrollably.
He prayed so intensely that his bed shook beneath him. Again, I received a word from the Lord (rhema): “Take the man by the hand and tell him to rise up and walk in the Name of Jesus.” I grasped his hand and gently encouraged him to get up. Slowly, he stood, albeit unsteadily.
Then, suddenly, he erupted with shouts of joy and began to leap around the room, having been miraculously healed in just moments. Later, I learned that he had been a backsliding church member who, prior to his conversion, was a notorious gangster with a violent past. His return to sin had resulted in an incurable heart and kidney disease that left him in such poor condition that doctors had advised against moving him, fearing it could be fatal. (It’s probably for the best that I didn’t know this beforehand—I might have hesitated to act on God’s direction.)
That evening, he attended the evangelistic meeting and shared his testimony. Given his prominent reputation in the community, his story had a powerful impact. As a result, many people came to faith in Christ and experienced healing.
B. RELATIONSHIP — NOT FORMULA
We must understand that God’s life-giving words often do not align with religious rituals or methods. For instance, Jesus healed a blind man by mixing dust with saliva to create mud, which he applied to the man’s eyes.
The man was then instructed to wash in the pool of Siloam, resulting in his healing (John 9). If I were to mix dust and spit and apply it to the eyes of a blind person, all that would happen is that they would end up with mud in their eyes.
However, if God directed me to do it—as He did with Jesus—the blind would indeed receive their sight. It’s not about the method or technique but about hearing God’s voice and taking action in obedience to His guidance.
At other times, Jesus employed different ways to restore sight to the blind (Matt 9:29; Mark 10:52). The key to Jesus’ ministry lay in His deep relationship with His Heavenly Father.
Jesus said, “I do always those things that please the Father” (John 8:29). Because the condition of Jesus’ heart was always right with His heavenly Father, He could easily hear and obey His Father’s voice.
Jesus made it clear, “The Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing, and in the same way he sees the Father doing it” (John5:19tlb).
1. Spend Time With God
Jesus had a deep understanding of the Scriptures, impressive enough to astound the scholars in the temple when He was just twelve.
However, the true essence of His ministry lay in His ability to attune Himself to the Father’s voice—mirroring the Father’s actions exactly as He observed them. Whenever Jesus sought guidance from the Father, He often withdrew to pray and fast.
It’s noteworthy that His ministry commenced with forty days dedicated to fasting and prayer. Throughout His life, we frequently see Him spending entire nights in prayer, especially prior to significant decisions like selecting His twelve disciples.
He often stepped away from the crowds, retreating to the wilderness for quiet prayer. This committed devotional life equipped Him with the sensitivity to hear the Father’s voice.
Have you taken the time to nurture your relationship with the Father through prayer and fasting? If you haven’t, consider trying it and observing the changes that unfold—there may be unexpected surprises waiting for you.
C. THE REAL THING — NOT SUBSTITUTES
I wish co-workers’ meetings and training materials would place greater emphasis in their curriculum on teaching students how to move in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and how to hear God’s voice.
1. God’s Word And Spirit, Not Academic Knowledge
We are grateful for individuals like Dr. John Wimber, Dr. Peter Wagner, and Dr. Donald McGovern—brave servants of God who hold a prominent place in our nation’s history for recognizing the vital role of the Holy Spirit in evangelism and church life.
Unlike their contemporaries, who often prioritized philosophy, literature, history, psychology, and various other disciplines over the Bible, these men instructed others on how to engage in spiritual warfare against Satan and his demons.
They equipped their students to heal the sick, cast out evil spirits, and share the gospel, supported by miraculous signs that affirmed the message of the Word. Rather than simply producing graduates with theological degrees, they nurtured individuals filled with the Spirit, capable of dispelling the pervasive demonic influences in our society.
We are in need of more men like Philip, who boldly shared the message of Christ in the city of Samaria.
The Bible says, ” The people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them, and many that were lame were healed” (Acts 8:6,7).
Our training should be turning out men of faith like Stephen and Philip — men who will challenge the powers of darkness and triumph in the process. Then we will see
“this gospel of the kingdom preached in all the world, for a witness to all nations “(Matt 24:14).
2. Faith, Not Pride
If we continue substituting academic knowledge for the rhema of God, we are destined to failure. One of the great dangers of higher education is turning out men of pride instead of men of faith. To paraphrase Paul, “Knowledge puffeth up, but love buildeth up ” (1 Cor 8:1).
Let us not worship at the altar of worldly knowledge. Let us not put our faith in academic wisdom and technology which can only provide a convenient, but ultimately fruitless, substitute for God’s power in our lives and ministry. Rather, let us seek to be hearers and doers of God’s Word. Let us learn to hear from God.
D. THE MESSAGE — NOT THE MORTAR
In Western nations, church leaders often attempt to compensate for their diminished influence and their struggle to discern the voice of the Lord by pouring millions into constructing grand cathedrals and opulent sanctuaries.
They believe that such impressive buildings will grab the attention of the world and draw people to their congregations. A closer examination of Church history reveals that as the church becomes more complacent, its leaders tend to invest heavily in large structures that do little to aid the community or promote the gospel.
These edifices often serve a primary purpose: to indulge the pride of both church leaders and wealthy members. One might conclude, upon observing the current state of the Church, that Jesus’ final command was to “Go into all the world and erect cathedrals for every creature.”
For many church leaders, the main focus appears to be on “building a bigger barn.”
1. God’s Priority
What Jesus said was this: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature ” (Mark 16:15). God puts the priority on the message — not on the mortar.
God puts the emphasis on helping people. Man puts the emphasis on more mortar (buildings).
One cannot help but contrast this behavior of church leaders with our Lord. He chose a stable for His birthplace, lived as part of a poor carpenter’s family in Nazareth, and told us He had come to preach the gospel to the poor. He had no place to lay His head during the years of His ministry. At His death He was wrapped in a borrowed shroud. His body lay in a borrowed tomb during those hours of glorious conquest over death, hell and the grave. For our sakes He became poor.
From whence then do church leaders receive authority to wantonly waste the resources of the Church on gaudy cathedrals and lavish church sanctuaries when two billion people still wait to hear the gospel?
There is no record of church buildings going up until the third century when Constantine, the first “Christian” Roman Emperor, merged church and politics.
Constantine’s influence was spiritually detrimental and disastrous for the Church.
Once the Church became respectable and affluent, her power with God was gone. What had been a living organism — spreading life and blessing everywhere — became a dead organization, proliferating “form without the force” — devoid of God’s Word and power.
Paul admonishes us, “From such turn away” (2Tim 3:5).
2. The Church In China: An Example
China provides an interesting case study for what can happen when a church is freed from infatuation with cathedrals and elaborate church buildings.
Since before the changes in 1950 God raised up indigenous works that recognized God’s special hand upon China and its culture.
Rather than relying upon the Western way of doing things, they began to see that many aspects of Chinese culture were in harmony with the Scriptures, such as the strength and structure of the Chinese family and the importance placed upon the home as a place of worship.
So even from this time many movements began whereby Chinese believers met in their homes to worship and pray to the Living God as families.
Now too, we can understand why after the changes in 1950 (when all Western missionaries were forced to leave China) millions of brothers and sisters from all over the country have found spiritual fulfillment not through the Western-style cathedrals, but through an ever-growing network of house churches.
After the changes in 1950, the Chinese Christians began sharing their faith with their relatives and friends. Through “relational evangelism” (that is, evangelism that spreads from relative to relative) an amazing miracle of church growth began to take place in the church in China.
After 120 years of Western missionary activity, there were about two million Christian believers in China in 1952. Twenty years later (1972), when China opened up again to the West, it was discovered there were over twenty million Christians in China.
Today (1990) knowledgeable sources place the Christian community in China at fifty to sixty million believers.
Why this dramatic growth? Freed from Western missionary money (which is often a controlling influence) and Western missionary ways of doing things, the Chinese church adapted quickly to methods much more compatible with its culture. Shut out of the cathedrals, they reverted back to the New Testament practice of meeting in homes.
The believers then began functioning as a family, with dramatic results in evangelism.
Because the church in China was relieved of the economic burden of massive buildings, they could put their money into helping people and spreading the message. The priority became “spreading the message” — not “spreading the mortar” (building more cathedrals).
3. Spread The Message
The New Testament does not have one word to say about building physical church buildings. (Neither does the Old.) Yet that is one of the highest priorities in most Western churches or organizations. In China, they have a better way.
The emphasis in the New Testament is on “spreading the message.” “And the disciples went everywhere preaching, and the Lord was with them and confirmed what they said by the miracles that followed their messages ” (Mark 16:20 tlb).
“For I am not ashamed of this good news [the message] about Christ. It is God’s power-filled method of bringing all who believe it into heaven” (Rom l:16pph).
“Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel not where Christ was named… but we
preach Christ crucified… Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (Rom 15:20; 1 Cor 1:23,24).
Lavish church buildings will not cause sinners to believe or the lost to be saved.
Only God’s power can save the lost.
Dead religious rituals will not bring men to the living Christ, Who triumphed over death. Hell and the grave. But fully preaching the gospel will. Paul wrote, “… through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God… I have fully preached the gospel of Christ” (Rom 15:19). I want to add: The gospel is not fully preached until accompanied by the miraculous displays of God’s love through mighty signs and wonders.
4. A Spiritual Graveyard
Years ago, I walked into a great cathedral in Australasia. It had seating for 2,500
people, choir boys who could sing beautiful medieval hymns, a great pipe organ to fill the place with majestic sounds, highly educated ministers who recited the sermons and prayers. On the surface, it was very impressive. There was only one problem — they had everything but people! And this was in a city of over five million.
I attended the regular Wednesday night service in that great cathedral. The choir boys sang, the organist played, the priest read the prayers and the sermon. All in all — it took about one and a half hours.
Beside myself, there were only two other persons in the church building, two very old sweet silver-haired ladies. We three sat through this ritualistic relic of a dead Christianity which pretended to be the representation of Christ. The cathedral occupied land worth multiplied millions of dollars.
It would have been better to sell the whole lot, shut down this spiritual grave-yard and bury this insult to the powerful, living resurrected Christ Whose eyes bum as flames.
Whose feet shine as burnished brass, Who holds all power in Heaven and earth and Who promises to vomit out every church system that propagates a lukewarm gospel.
In that same church, a priest was saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. He began conducting healing meetings and hundreds started flocking out to his Tuesday night prayer/healing service. Church law would not allow such meetings in the cathedral. He was refused permission and had to conduct his services in a parish hall — far too small to accommodate the sick and infirm who came for salvation and healing.
5. Re-Prioritize Resources
Church leaders — believe me! It is an unholy infatuation those in the Western church have with cathedrals (be they crystal or otherwise). When they construct elaborate sanctuaries at the expense of spreading the gospel, they are an offense to a God Who commissioned us nearly 2,000 years ago to, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Until we align with that priority, all else we do is “wood, hay and stubble ” (I Cor 3:12).
Two billion still wait to hear! God says, “Their blood will I require at thine hand”
(Eze 3:20).
After fully preaching the gospel throughout the Roman Empire, Paul could testify,
“I am pure from the blood of all men ” (Acts 20:26). Are we? I think not! We must re-prioritize our resources to do what God has said in the Bible, and what He is telling us by His Spirit to do.
I am not against modest church buildings for necessary uses. I am against investing dedicated resources for elaborate ego fulfilling projects that could and should be used for helping the poor and spreading the gospel.
E. CONCLUSION
The Africans tell a story about a mouse who teamed up with a lonely elephant.
The mouse always rode on the elephant’s back, just behind his right ear. There he could sit and chat happily with his friend the elephant, keeping him company as they walked along.
One day they came to a bridge over a river. It seemed sturdy enough, so the elephant stepped out on it, and they crossed the river. When they arrived on the other side, the mouse said to the elephant, “Wow! We really shook that bridge, didn’t we?”
You and I are like the mouse. We have teamed up with an all powerful God. By ourselves — like the mouse — we couldn’t shake anything. But working together with God, learning and listening to hear His voice, we can bruise that old serpent, Satan, and set the prisoners of sin, sickness and poverty free (Rom 16:20).
Remember:
1. Academic Knowledge,
while useful in some arenas, cannot produce saving, healing power of God, nor the kind of leaders needed in the Church today. Remember that most of Jesus’ disciples were described as “unlearned and ignorant men. But they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). So take much time to be with Jesus by prayer and fasting. See what a difference that will make.
2. God’s Word (Rhema) And His Plan Are Unique …
for every situation, person and organization. Patterns, methods, formulas and traditions — unless energized by the Holy Spirit — can be great hindrances to our hearing and obeying God’s voice.
3. God’s Plan For Your Life Is Much Bigger Than Your Own-
Wait on the Lord in prayer until you have a clear understanding of what God’s plan is.
Let us pray
Lord Jesus, I want to hear Your voice. Let faith come to me now by hearing Your voice. I surrender my life, my church, my ministry to You. Guide me by Your –word (rhema) and truth (logos). AMEN!
Now quietly listen! What is He saying to you? You just asked Him to speak to you. Stop and listen for one or two minutes.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, said something we should take heed to. “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” (John 2:5).
