Monday Morning Devotion-May 20, 2013
Rhema
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4
I
remember once hearing evangelist John Riley say that he could be reading a
passage of
Scripture from the Bible and
even though he might have read it 90-times before he would get something new
from it. There would be some message
that had been hidden from him in previous readings that would be revealed in
the current reading.
That's why the Bible is such a marvelous book. That's one reason it is the Best Seller of
All Times!
I have experienced what Riley was saying many times. That's one of the reasons I keep on reading
the Bible every day. As you may recall
I've written before about doing my SOAP journaling daily. That's reading Scripture (S); thinking about
it's objective (O), just what is the purpose and meaning of that scripture; (A)
analyzing how it can be applied to my life---hopefully that day; (P) praying
about it and whatever else I need to pray about.
Today was my 1,172nd day of being blessed by SOAP
journaling. One thousand one-hundred and
seventy-two days of blessings from God's word.
That's a lot of blessings! Many
of those blessings have been shared with you through these weekly
devotions. That's just one way God's
word is spread.
This week, reading in Richard Foster's book- "Prayer:
Finding the Heart's true Home" I learned about "Rhema". So what is Rhema?
Wikipedia says on the internet: "Some modern usage distinguishes Rhema from
Logos in Christian Theology with Rhema at times being called 'a Word from the
Word' i.e. an utterance of Jesus Christ.
Here's what Foster says and in some part explains how we
receive new blessings from the same scripture.
"When reading the Bible, people commonly experience a special "word in
the Word," in which a particular passage seems to apply to an individual
situation in a new way. Sometimes I
wonder if in such experiences God is working through the creative factor of the
brain to bring to the conscious mind wonderful new combinations of ideas and
insights. At any rate, this 'quickening
of the Word' encourages us that God is near and deeply interested in the
particular circumstances of our lives."
What it boils down to for me is I think that God reveals
new things to us as we reach a point where we are able to handle them or a
point where we need them.
Of course God is not limited in how He works in our
lives. He certainly isn't boring as we
constantly are discovering new and exciting experiences through which He is
working, if we make ourselves available to Him.
One of the ways he works is through other people. Foster says: "A special Rhema also comes to
us frequently from other people, in which a divine revelation from God is
applied to the specifics of our lives.
The result of these experiences is to draw our hearts more and more
deeply into the heart of God."
Foster's revelations about Rhema are couched in a chapter
of his book on The Prayer of the Heart." This is a "prayer of intimacy. It is
the prayer of love and tenderness of a child to Father God."
This tenderness and love for His people is described in
Luke 13:34 when God says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often I have longed to to
gather your children together as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her
wings, but you were not willing."
Is that a beautiful analogy or what? I can certainly identify with it when I just
want to give my lovely little granddaughter a hug and she is not in a hugging
mood. Like the children of Israel she is
not willing. I have the best of
intentions. Feelings of love and
protection, but at the moment she might not want to have anything to do with
them.
Prayer of the Heart is sometimes called the "Abba Prayer"
because it "may help us remember that we are to receive our understanding of
how a human father (parent) is supposed to function by learning what God
(Abba---our Heavenly Father) is like."
Our scripture today comes from Matthew and the setting is
the desert where Jesus had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. Obviously he would have become very hungry,
so the Devil saw what he thought was a good opportunity to tempt Him.
So often when we are tempted to do wrong it is something
that appeals to our ego. That's not a new
trick of the Devil. He has been using it
for a long, long time. Unfortunately he
has had a lot of success with this tactic.
But, in the wilderness he met his match. When he tried to appeal to the ego of Jesus
by saying "Hey you are hungry. No need
for that to continue. If you are the Son
of God just command those stones to be turned into bread."
But, Jesus didn't fall for it. He said that bread is not what sustains us,
but the Word of God does. He was
referring to an Old Testament passage---Deuteronomy 8:1-3-when the Israelites
were admonished, as they prepared to leave the wilderness and enter the land
'promised to their forefathers,' to not forget some things.
"Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today
so that you may live and increase…Remember how the Lord your God led you all
the way in the desert these forty years to humble you and to test you in order
to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His
commands. He humbled you causing you to
hunger then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had
known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word
that comes from the mouth of the Lord."
QSB says this testing of God's people is allowed not for
Him to see if they pass the test. He
already knows the outcome. It is to
enable the people, through these tests, to see their own nature. It reveals to them what is actually in their
own hearts.
I think that's why we sometimes get a new understanding
of a familiar scripture. Our hearts are
ready for it. Then it is up to us as to
what we will do with this newfound Rhema as the
"Word in the Word" speaks to
us.
Monday Prayer: Lord
thank for the Rhema that has the power to change us, reform us and mold us in
your way. Amen!
***author's
note: God is good. All the time!