What is Rhema? Hear First, Speak Second
If you truly hear from God, then God speaks through you as you speak. That is quite a statement, isn’t it? This type of thinking can be dangerous or used wrongly by power-hungry leaders. But I’m not referring here to adding or subtracting from the Bible or the logos of God. Rather, I’m talking about a specific, timely, wise, faith-infused utterance from God for a specific occasion.Some people go too far in claiming to speak for God. They think everything they hear is from Him. I have a friend who, as a teenager, thought he was Jesus Himself. Doctors had to sedate him to bring him back to reality. Fortunately, this teenage “Jesus” has developed into a faithful pastor in the Phoenix area. It’s one thing to hear from God, but it’s another thing to think you are God or Jesus. So the statement, “If you truly hear from God, then God speaks through you as you speak,” is worth exploring. A heap of people in our world need Christians to give God a voice within the community in which they live.
Communication Without Illumination
We must hear from God first and then speak what God has said after He’s said it to us. Did you get that? Hear first, speak second. Enthusiastic people often speak before hearing from God. They think they speak in the name of the Lord, but they just speak in the name of themselves. Usually, everyone knows it except for those doing doing it. Talk about awkward.Jesus emphatically said in Matthew 6:32-33, “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things [money, clothes, material possessions, prestige, long life, position, and power]; for your heavenly Father knows that you need these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Jesus’s point is that we first seek the kingdom of God for God’s sake, not for our own sake's. God’s kingdom is not self-serving. It is not about finding a means to our own end. God’s kingdom is about His will being done on earth as it is done in heaven: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done...” (Matthew 6:10 KJV). This means God’s will for our lives is attached to us advancing His kingdom. Our purpose and reason for existence is a kingdom purpose. If we aim at earth, then we get nothing; if we aim at Heaven, then we get earth thrown in too.As a result of other people using God’s kingdom principles for their own purposes, many believers have shrunk into silence. They don’t want to speak for God at all, not even to quote the Bible. They don’t want to be tagged as spiritual kooks who make a mockery of God. These believers think they are wise, but unbelief is not wisdom. Wisdom knows whose voice you are hearing, when to speak, and when to listen. If you haven’t heard anything from God, it’s better to not speak at all. But if you have heard something from God and you don’t speak, that is unbelief—probably even disobedience. Because of hesitation, we have lost a voice, a necessary voice, in engaging our modern culture. Part of our purpose here on earth is to give God a face and a voice in every place we go and with everyone we meet.
Do you see the problem here? One side is too enthusiastic, narcissistic, and ridiculous, while the other side justifies silence in the name of wisdom. The voice God gave to us to reveal His voice—His wisdom, power, and values—is either silent or discarded. If no “God voice” exists within the community, then another voice will take its place, and thus we will have many voices competing for the culture’s ear. The culture will only get worse, lost in the rhetoric of agenda-driven media. This is because people were created to listen. They will listen to something. They will turn on the “Tell-A-Vision” and let it tell them a vision; they will go to universities and listen to the professors Tell-A-Vision. They will go to politicians and let them Tell-A-Vision; and they will go to their friends and let them Tell-A-Vision.The apostle Paul said it best: “And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14-15 ). With what have they been sent? They have been sent with a word from God about the gospel and Heaven, wisdom for a better life, common sense, and the power to back it up. How do churched people respond to this? Extreme actions create extreme reactions. If they feel they can’t or decide they won’t speak for God, then why should they listen to Him in the first place? This produces Christians who don’t listen to God and won’t speak for Him.
Look at our culture. The results speak for themselves. Many competing voices have marginalized God’s voice, at least God’s voice spoken via Christian voices. Those voices don’t know what to say because they have nothing worthwhile to say. Christians aren’t hearing from God, so they can’t speak for God; rather, they speak only for themselves. But that voice is flesh-based and erased because it’s not graced with God’s voice.
Illumination Then Communication
The truth is that both of these positions are untenable. Both are equally impotent. One moves from faith to presumption, while the other moves from faith to unbelief. The result is that the church and the community both underachieve. The blind lead the blind, and the deaf lead the deaf. But where do we go from here? Is there a better way than presumption or unbelief? Of course, there is. And you can be a part of moving the church towards the picture of repentance and returning and restoration described in Acts 3:19-21:
Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.
Could it be that hearing first and speaking second is one of the priorities needing to be restored in Christians today in order for Jesus to return? We believe it is. We believe a time of refreshing is coming to not just freshen us but to refresh us to accurately, powerfully, and profoundly hear from God and speak for God. As God speaks to Jesus (see John 8:26), Jesus speaks to the Holy Spirit (see John 16:13-14; Romans 10:17), and the Holy Spirit in turn speaks to us (see 1 Corinthians 2:10-12).
By talking about hearing the voice of God, we do not mean adding to existing Bible scripture or the logos of God. Rather, we mean using the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit to give the “now” word for the occasion. The “now” word is both biblically correct and spiritually accurate. It brings a connection that gives direction for the best outcome for all parties involved. God’s “now” word is what is best for both the individual and the community. It’s not about having our way, but about having God’s way, which is the best way for all parties involved. It’s a word of wisdom that is clear to all. Some people may not receive it as valid, but it is undeniably from God. And all concerned parties have a far better voice to listen to than someone else’s voice. That voice is God’s rhema—fully from God and wholly personal and appropriate for a specific person or persons in a precise situation.