Living from Rhema, a Subcategory of Logos

Mark Virkler's picture

I awoke with an example of a clear distinction between Logos and Rhema (two Greek words) which are translated as “word” in the New Testament. Here is the distinction. May I share it with you?


Revival Update: 26,000 baptized in one day in America. Click here.


If I say “I communicated with my son” that could include any modality of communication: I wrote him, texted, emailed, spoke to, drew a picture for, wrote a song to, sang to him, winked at him, I gestured, I painted a picture for him, I sculpted a creation for him, etc. Logos is like the word communicate. Logos is a big umbrella word that includes many forms of communication within it.

However, if I say “I spoke to my son,” that involves a specific way I communicated with him. I communicated through spoken words. The Greek word “rhema” literally means "spoken word."

The overlap is this: Since Logos is the big umbrella word, it could mean I communicated by speaking. However, since rhema is the specific word for speaking, rhema NEVER meant “written down words” when used in the New Testament. So, logos includes rhema, however, rhema does not include all aspects of logos.

Implications for my life

If God connects a promise in the Bible specifically with rhema, it means that promise is available to me only as I am living out of the words He is speaking to me. On the other hand, if God connects a promise in the Bible with Logos, it means this promise could be connected to either written or spoken words. This is an important distinction to be aware of.

I have written out for you in this blog all 62 verses in the NASB that contain the word “rhema” in them. In addition, I have highlighted in yellow a dozen of these verses which include life-altering promises. The point is these highlighted promises are ONLY available if I am hearing and obeying the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Note: You can easily discover if a verse contains logos or rhema by using the free download E-Sword and looking at the KJV+ version, which will give you the exact Greek words in every verse. Here’s how I use E-Sword.

How we use logos and rhema (think computer hard drive versus software)

  1. Memorization: I create a solid foundation for my life by using logos: I hide the word in my heart by memorizing Scripture.
  2. Meditation: I gain revelation insight into Scriptures by coupling logos and rhema together. For example: "Were not our hearts burning within us as He was opening Scripture to us?" (Lk. 24:32). As I prayerfully meditate upon Scripture (Josh 1:8), I am asking the Holy Spirit to grant me insight, revelation, and understanding (Eph. 1:17-19) just as Jesus did for the disciples as He walked with them on the Emmaus Road.
  3. Daily walk: I live and walk by the spirit (Gal. 5:25) which would mean living and walking by rhema. In the moment I am living in, I am asking the Holy Spirit to guide me, and with my eyes fixed on Jesus at my right hand (Acts 2:25), I am tuned to flow. I honor this flow as the River of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 7:37-39), or as the Fountain of Living Waters (Jer. 2:13), and I discover that the Spirit is selecting the right piece of information for the moment I am living in. Wow! What a wonderful and easy lifestyle.

I need both a well-filled hard drive (brain) coupled with software that does great searches (indwelling Holy Spirit).

  • If I fill my brain (hard drive) with daily meditation on the Scriptures, I will have good content for the Holy Spirit to draw upon.
  • Then, when I ask Jesus for divine wisdom and guidance, the Holy Spirit FLOW (software) brings to my attention the exact piece of information that is right for the moment I am living in.
  • Various terms that describe this experience of flow: words of wisdom, words of knowledge, discerning of spirits, revelation, the mind of Christ, anointed thinking, and prophecy. All these come as flowing thoughts, flowing pictures, and flowing emotions that light upon my mind.

How did Jesus live?

  • Jesus said 11 times, “I only do what I hear and see My Father doing" (see this blog).
  • Since Jesus felt a need to repeat this 11 times, I am comfortable that I am once again being instructed by God to write another blog on living out of rhema. It takes constant repetition of this truth to overcome satan’s lie in the Garden that… “YOU can KNOW,” meaning you don’t need to abide in Christ, be a branch grafted into the Vine, or drink from the Fountain of Living Waters. Satan is glad to have you drinking/living from a broken cistern (Jer. 2:13).
  • However, Jesus has a different view: Apart from Me you can do nothing (Jn. 15:5). My words (rhemas) are spirit and life, the flesh profits nothing (Jn. 6:63). Jesus' lifestyle modeled living by the Spirit.
  • If living from flow (Jn. 7:37-39) and beholding Jesus with me (Matt. 28:20 Modern KJV), were difficult or hard, I would be asking for a lot. However, this lifestyle is NOT hard!
  • It is living as a child lives – in intuition, freedom, flow, joy, laughter, and insight beyond my years.

Confession: I choose to live the way Jesus lived, from flow/rhema, allowing the software of the Holy Spirit to select the right piece of information from the stored data in my mind (hard drive) for the moment I am living in. I choose to live as a child does – in intuition, vision, laughter, joy, and flow. (Matt. 18:1-4).

Two-way Journaling Application

Hearing God's voice is as simple as: 1) quieting myself down (Ps. 62:5), 2) beholding Jesus at my right hand (Acts 2:25), 3) asking for His input and tuning in to flowing thoughts and flowing pictures (Jn. 7:37-39), and 4) journaling out His words and visions (Rev. 1:9-11). These are then tested, and they must line up with Scripture (Ps. 1:2) and be affirmed in the hearts of my spiritual advisors (2 Cor. 13:1).

  • Lord, what would You speak to me about the lifestyle of memorizing Scripture and living in flow?

Additional Resources

  1. Living from Rhema, a Sub-category of Logos
  2. Logos vs. Rhema and Hearing God’s Voice
  3. Distinguishing Logos from Rhema (Communication from Speech)
  4. All Uses of “Rhema” in the New Testament
  5. Promises that are specifically linked to rhema
  6. Jesus Sets the Pattern for Living Out of Divine Initiative
  7. Speaking Your Journaling Back to the Lord as Your Personal, Present-Tense Reality
  8. Western Study vs. Biblical Meditation
  9. How to Meditate on Scripture & Receive Life-Transforming Revelation
  10. Hebrew and Greek Definitions of Meditation
  11. Biblical Meditation Involves Imagination!
  12. By Your Stripes I AM Healed and Symptoms Are Disappearing
  13. Heart Prayers: Seven Elements which Compose the Language of Our Hearts
  14. Alignment allows for the fullest release of Christ's wisdom and healing power
  15. Miracles Occur When COMPLETELY Aligned with Rhema and Vision from God
  16. How Is Perfect Peace Achieved?
  17. Training on How to Hear God’s Voice and See Vision

Free Video Event: June 12-25, 2025
Hearing God’s Voice
Register now

CLU Course of the Month:
REN103/503 Communion With God

Request 40% tuition discount until June 30th when ordering here.

Add any second course for 40% tuition discount

What if you already own the “Course of the Month”?

Order ANY COMBO of two courses for 40% tuition discount on each!

Payment plans are available and start dates are flexible.

Master the Bible and Spirit-filled living.
What are you waiting for? Enroll in CLU today.


Fan the flames of revival by sharing this blog with your friends on social media! 


 

Add new comment

Add new comment

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Results

Results 451 - 460 of 487

Pages

Fulfill Your Financial Destiny MP3s

Fulfill Your Financial Destiny MP3 Download

by Mark Virkler | 22 Sessions

Newly recorded for 2023! Though the economic system (mammon) of this world is under a curse, we have received instructions for how to move out from that dominion and into the blessing of the Kingdom of God. God’s promises to His children have not changed with the whims of government or Wall Street, nor have His directions for how to walk in those promises. We can “choose not to participate” in the economic recession that is around us if we instead choose to obey the logos and rhema of the Lord and enjoy the blessings that result.

Price: $59.95

Healing Waters MP3

Soaking music by Jim French | 37 Minutes

If you enjoy soft soaking music in the background as you journal or throughout the day, you will love the Healing Waters MP3 by Pastor Jim French. Jim is an anointed musician, and this music is pleasant to the ears and soothing to the spirit. As a matter of fact, there is a short clip to listen to at the bottom of this page. See if it doesn't minister healing to your heart!

Price: $4.95

Heart Physics EFT - Biblically-Based EFT Training MP3s

By Charity Kayembe and Jim Richards | 22 Audio Sessions + 2 Video Downloads

Scripture tells us that we comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have received (2 Corinthians 1:3–5). To the degree that we are healed and comforted, we can offer those same gifts much more freely to others.

Price: $74.00

How Could I Have Been So Wrong? MP3s

Mark Virkler | 16 sessions of MP3

This is my story of how my cardiac event was resolved by combining the best in medical care, Christian spirituality, and nutrition. 

I was NOT supposed to have a cardiac event. I ate a healthy diet, exercised several times a week, consumed lots of great nutrition and sought to live destressed by abiding in Christ. This story contains the lessons I learned in the months of healing after having emergency surgery which involved five heart bypasses.

Price: $14.95

How Do YOU Know? MP3 Downloads

by Mark Virkler | 12 Audio Sessions

How do you know? What is the process you use to discover truth? I did not ask that question during the first 25 years of my life. I used eleven different methods for discovering truth including: if my parents said so, then it was so. If my teacher said it was so, then it was so. If my pastor said it was so, then it was so. If my theology said it was so, then it was so. I have discarded them all and adopted a twelfth method, which is in harmony with what the Bible teaches. We teach you this method in this series.

Price: $59.95
How to Build a Winning Team MP3

How to Build a Winning Team MP3

by Mark Virkler | 1 Session

Can I succeed like others have? What do I need to do? How do I go about it? What if I don't have the gifts necessary to do something great?  The wonderful truth revealed in Scripture is that God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary feats, especially when they say, "Yes, Lord" to the destiny He has prepared for them!

Price: $6.95
How to Receive Revelation Knowledge MP3

How to Receive Revelation Knowledge MP3

by Mark Virkler | 1 Session

Knowing God's thoughts! It is possible. His thoughts are not our thoughts; His ways are not our ways. However, we can learn how to "reason together with God" (Isa. 1:18), and receive His insights and His revelations on each and every area of our lives. The process really is quite simple.

Price: $3.60
How to Speak in Tongues MP3

How to Speak in Tongues MP3

Speaking in tongues involves a miracle wherein you yield your vocal cords to the flow of the Holy Spirit, trusting that God is forming the syllables you speak into a language. It may be a language of men or of angels (1 Cor. 13:1). You choose to speak (Acts 2:4) but you choose not to form the syllables consciously, and instead let the Spirit give the utterance (Acts:2:4). The goal of this short teaching is to help people understand the part they need to play and the part the Holy Spirit plays when it comes to the miracle of speaking in tongues.

Price: $3.60
How to Walk by the Spirit MP3s

How to Walk by the Spirit MP3s

by Mark Virkler | 12 Sessions

Are you like many western Christians who have been taught little about how to sense their spirits? Do you have trouble even defining what spirit sensations feel like within you, much less recognizing them? This training was birthed from Mark’s passion to live out of his spirit, and thus release the anointing of God. The problem he faced was lack of clear biblical definition as to what his spirit felt like. So Mark looked up every verse in the Bible on heart and spirit.

Revised & Expanded 15th Anniversary Edition

Price: $59.95
Mountain-Moving Faith MP3

Mountain-Moving Faith MP3

by Mark Virkler | 62 Minutes

God is our Dream Maker! He has placed a dream within the heart of each of us that only He can supernaturally bring to pass. God gave an impossible dream to Abraham, our Father of Faith. In this powerful message, Mark will show you how God filled the five senses of Abraham’s spirit with His truth and birthed a miracle out through him. And you will learn how you can walk in the same faith while you hear, see, ponder, speak and act out of the Father’s initiative, allowing Him alone to fill the senses of your spirit.

Price: $7.95

Pages