Peter was a professional, experienced, seasoned fisherman, and he had worked to the limit (toiled) all night without catching a sprat.. He was famished; He and his partners had already come to shore and cleaned their nets for the day. Bad day at the office: Bad night on the lake! But then Jesus came along followed by a large crowd , asked to use the boat as a podium and spoken such clear fresh anointed words of hope and mercy and authority: Wow! Exciting and enlightening: And then at last it was over and without word of warning he turned to Peter and said:
Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch (Luke 5:4).
By now Peter was exhausted for he had worked all night. He had already cleaned his nets. How greatly all of Peter’s being must have cried out for him to get home and into bed:! His professional experience must have cried, “No! His weary mind, body, heart – every core part of him must have demanded a compelling, “No!” After all, what does the son of a carpenter really know about fishing anyway? What would a teacher know about the hard slog of night fishing? What would his fishing buddies think if he messes up all the gear again!
But God-Faith stirred inside Peter and his response was ...! Let him speak for himself:
Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at Your word (Rhema and not Logos) I will let down the net (Luke 5:5).
The result was equally astounding. This teacher might just be more than Peter had ever imagined: maybe not such a bad day after all apart from a torn net: Who was this guy called Jesus?
And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink (Luke 5:6-7).
Now it's at this point the Sunday sermon normally takes a turn for Alice In Wonderland country: The preacher looks at the audience and says something like this:
"Here is a lesson for us. We, too, should believe the words of our Lord over everything else – over our training, our intellect, our experiences, our circumstances, and our feelings. Though the very core of our beings may cry and protest out to the contrary, we can respond, “Nevertheless at Your word …”
All sounds so appropriate and so theological: However it is far from satisfactory:
The believers who are listening today need to know clearly the difference between Logos and Rhema: It's just not fair to translate both with the same English word. People say "Well I had God' Word for it: See it here it is in the bible! I believed that And it didn't work. So I no longer believe in healing or miracles or any of that stuff anymore " This is sad as at the root of it is a misunderstanding : Of course it didn't work: You had the principle right (Logos) but you didn't have a Rhema!
In a separate article I am going to tackle this issue as the the only thing that will work is when the Logos becomes a living Rhema. Then there are fireworks of healing. revelation and changed lives. When the words of Christ become living words and personal and internal communications it's the prelude to major spiritual advances. Rhema the Bible calls them and it's the Rhema we live on, in fact we should be living on every Rhema that is proceeding minute by minute (Cont, present Matt 4:4) To really understand any of this you must be steeped or baptised or identified with God's Holy Spirit:
Every believer has probably had the experience of waking at 3 am one morning with a conviction of someone in need of urgent prayer: God was speaking to them: They need to be assured that that was a Rhema.: Or they heard a whisper in their souls that a family living in the Glen are short $200 for a Christmas meal: The Lord was again speaking his Rhema and how they knew it in the joy that came when they responded to that need. Or they have had a song or idea in mind all day and later at a meeting that very subject is under discussion: God's Rhema in your heart: Powerful!
And yes sometimes it may be a verse from scripture coming alive and as it were leaping out from the page at them. (BTW no Rhema will run contrary to the written word for God is not a God of confusion: The Logos is the yardstick or the plumb line that every Rhema is held accountable to)
.................................................................................................................................
N.B. Last week I was at a gathering and during the quiet time of expectancy God spoke a strange thing to me: Naturally (being perfect myself) I felt it was for those gathered or He would have spoken outside of the meeting. So I got to my feet and shared what I had heard from God: It was short and precise:
"The door is closed ...... but it's not locked"
Those were the words I heard
but I was also aware that
the door He was showing
me opened inwards towards
me: Many were blessed by
this word at the get together
and all seemed well! Seemed?
But later in the week that
word still lingered and it was
then I realised God was speaking
to me and it had not registered!
Only today did the penny drop and I took in the full import of what my Lord was saying to me last week: but why did it take a full week ...? Why was I such an omadhaun (stupid one) as we say in Mayo?
Surely God has chosen the weak and foolish of this world to confound the wise: And when Paul was penning 1 Cor 1:27 he must have had men like me on his mind: I was wondering did anything like this ever happen to you? You see that door is not locked but pressure against it won't force it open. I must step back, listen for the still small voice of God's Rhema and invite it in faith to open as it opens inwards when that Rhema comes: "Not by might nor by power but by His Spirit""
Some day I may get the courage to tell you the full story and how it all worked out: (V.M.)
Now it's at this point the Sunday sermon normally takes a turn for Alice In Wonderland country: The preacher looks at the audience and says something like this:
"Here is a lesson for us. We, too, should believe the words of our Lord over everything else – over our training, our intellect, our experiences, our circumstances, and our feelings. Though the very core of our beings may cry and protest out to the contrary, we can respond, “Nevertheless at Your word …”
All sounds so appropriate and so theological: However it is far from satisfactory:
The believers who are listening today need to know clearly the difference between Logos and Rhema: It's just not fair to translate both with the same English word. People say "Well I had God' Word for it: See it here it is in the bible! I believed that And it didn't work. So I no longer believe in healing or miracles or any of that stuff anymore " This is sad as at the root of it is a misunderstanding : Of course it didn't work: You had the principle right (Logos) but you didn't have a Rhema!
In a separate article I am going to tackle this issue as the the only thing that will work is when the Logos becomes a living Rhema. Then there are fireworks of healing. revelation and changed lives. When the words of Christ become living words and personal and internal communications it's the prelude to major spiritual advances. Rhema the Bible calls them and it's the Rhema we live on, in fact we should be living on every Rhema that is proceeding minute by minute (Cont, present Matt 4:4) To really understand any of this you must be steeped or baptised or identified with God's Holy Spirit:
Every believer has probably had the experience of waking at 3 am one morning with a conviction of someone in need of urgent prayer: God was speaking to them: They need to be assured that that was a Rhema.: Or they heard a whisper in their souls that a family living in the Glen are short $200 for a Christmas meal: The Lord was again speaking his Rhema and how they knew it in the joy that came when they responded to that need. Or they have had a song or idea in mind all day and later at a meeting that very subject is under discussion: God's Rhema in your heart: Powerful!
And yes sometimes it may be a verse from scripture coming alive and as it were leaping out from the page at them. (BTW no Rhema will run contrary to the written word for God is not a God of confusion: The Logos is the yardstick or the plumb line that every Rhema is held accountable to)
.................................................................................................................................
N.B. Last week I was at a gathering and during the quiet time of expectancy God spoke a strange thing to me: Naturally (being perfect myself) I felt it was for those gathered or He would have spoken outside of the meeting. So I got to my feet and shared what I had heard from God: It was short and precise:
"The door is closed ...... but it's not locked"
Those were the words I heard
but I was also aware that
the door He was showing
me opened inwards towards
me: Many were blessed by
this word at the get together
and all seemed well! Seemed?
But later in the week that
word still lingered and it was
then I realised God was speaking
to me and it had not registered!
Only today did the penny drop and I took in the full import of what my Lord was saying to me last week: but why did it take a full week ...? Why was I such an omadhaun (stupid one) as we say in Mayo?
Surely God has chosen the weak and foolish of this world to confound the wise: And when Paul was penning 1 Cor 1:27 he must have had men like me on his mind: I was wondering did anything like this ever happen to you? You see that door is not locked but pressure against it won't force it open. I must step back, listen for the still small voice of God's Rhema and invite it in faith to open as it opens inwards when that Rhema comes: "Not by might nor by power but by His Spirit""
Some day I may get the courage to tell you the full story and how it all worked out: (V.M.)
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