So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Romans 10:17.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלוהם) says:
My righteous one shall live by faith and if he draws back I have no pleasure in him. Why? Because I want each of you to have full manifestation in your life of all My good promises. I want My people filled to overflowing with My goodness. Jeremiah 31:14. I want you to be able to say with Joshua that not one word of the good promises I spoke to you failed, all came to pass. Joshua 21:45. Not all who started out with Joshua from Egypt would have said that, but all who walked by faith said it with complete conviction, for what they heard with faith came to be their reality in sight.
But how do you get this strong faith that will carry you through any trial and cause you to be an overcomer with My Son? We will begin to answer that today in this Life Lesson No. 2 in our series “How to live by faith,” and it is called, “How does faith come?”
I tell you how faith comes to you quite clearly in My Word. Many people, however, think they have a better way to get faith so they pray and beg Me to increase their faith. The disciples tried that with Jesus when they witnessed the results He obtained by faith. He let them know you do not increase your faith by begging Me for it, you increase your faith by the amount of diligence you expend in hearing My Word. Because faith comes by HEARING, but be careful what you hear! Because this will work in any area, and that is the technique used by commercials for products and by military regimes in brainwashing. You are programed by what you keep hearing and hearing. You hear something long enough and you take it in and it begins to work on you to change your mindset. My Son counseled His disciples after He told the parable of the sower sowing My Word to take care what they listened to. By the diligence and respect you give to hearing My Word, the measure you measure with, more will be given you besides. The more you value My Words the more revelation you can receive. For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Mark 4:24-25.
So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by My Word, but I put that in a particular way which is explained by the context in which that verse is written. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of Christ.” Romans 10:17. In translation, you sometimes lose definition, for in languages like English, there is only one word for “word,” but in Greek that is not the case. There is the word “logo” and there is the word “rhema.” Rhema (ῥῆμα) is the spoken word. Rhḗma is from the word rhéō, “to speak,” i.e., a spoken word, made “by the living voice” and is the word used when I am speaking My dynamic, living word in a believer to inbirth faith (inwrought persuasion). You know when you receive a Word that is for you whether it comes by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, from another who is preaching the Word, or as it did to Mary, by a messenger angel. But one thing for SURE it will always line up and usually be a quote or paraphrase of a Scripture already written, logo, but it will set off a light in your heart. That is the enlightening with the Light of Life. The opening of My Word gives light and gives understanding to the simple, proud and complex people have difficulty hearing anything but themselves. Like the Pharisee who stood praying to himself though it was outwardly addressed to Me.
And I name a particular Word, the anointed Word of Christ. I direct you to go and TELL the good news, speaking the good news fulfilled in Christ—the news of salvation in every situation—forgiveness of sins, healing, provision, peace, goodness, love, and eternal life. You need to hear My promises and you need to know they are “yes” to you in Christ. You are not still in your sins, if you receive Him, you become holy, blameless and beyond reproach. This gives faith to come with confidence to My throne of grace to receive (take legally) mercy and find grace for help just when you need it. And faith to come and take it with joy and thanksgiving. Faith comes by knowing My Will and you can only learn that by hearing My Word and receiving it. You must let it implant in your heart and grow so that you can glow with the Light of Life in you.
Receive, grow, and glow. That is what Moses did and his face became radiant. He heard My Word directly from Me. Rhema. Jesus told you that man does not live on bread alone but on every Word (Rhema) from My mouth.
Do you remember how John the Baptist knew to come out of his seclusion in the desert and preach the good news of the Kingdom? “The Word (Rhema) of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Luke 3:2. But that was not enough for him to act for sure, he also found the written Word that confirmed that, “as it is WRITTEN in the book of the words (logos: λόγος) of Isaiah the prophet, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make ready the way of the LORD, make His paths straight. Every ravine will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be brought low; the crooked will become straight, and the rough roads smooth; and all flesh will see the salvation of God.’” Luke 3:4-6. You hear the Word and you match it with a Scripture. When the angel Gabriel came to Mary she did the same. She called the Word to her “rhema” but she found the virgin with child who would bear Immanu -El (God with us) in the written Word given Isaiah by My Spirit and the written Word of My covenant with David that the Messiah would rule from the throne of David forever. And I gave Joseph the Rhema and the Logos. “An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanu-el,” which translated means, “God with us.” Matthew 1:20-23.
And by this combination comes unshakeable faith. You have heard and you have verified. Two or three witnesses establish a fact. And I give you so many witnesses in My Word of every one of My promises to you. And the ultimate witness is Jesus Christ—the faithful witness who is faithful and true. He is My Logos made flesh (“And the Word (Logos) became flesh and dwelt among us.” John 1:14) and He spoke to you only My Words, and for those who had ears to hear, they became Rhema words—the Logos spoke and Rhema came forth. He is the true Light that enlightens every man, the Light of the world, and no follower (disciple) of His will ever walk in darkness but will have the Light of Life. My Word is a light to your path and a lamp to your feet.
And what is a disciple? Jesus, My logos, defines that for you, “If you continue in My Word, (that is, abide, remain, listen to, speak, live, obey My Word) you will KNOW the truth and the truth will set you FREE.” Faith is freedom from all that would enslave you, put you in fear, and hold you back from walking in the divine goodness and power of a righteous, sinless life. For as He is (My Word made flesh) so are you in this world. Yes, you live by faith by living by My Word!
And look back at the context where My definition of how faith comes to you is set. “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Romans 10:13-17. It does not come by seeing, but by hearing. The Pharisees, priests, and scribes of Jesus’ day saw astounding miracles of healing, even the raising of the dead, but they did not believe, faith did not come to them by seeing My Works. Why? They shut their ears to what He was saying and rather took offense at Him. Blessed is the one that finds no stumbling block in Him, that is, in My Word. They were not impressed by Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, in fact, they got so angry that it made people follow Jesus as Messiah that they planned to kill Lazarus too! But this had already happened by My people Israel in the wilderness coming out of Egypt, they saw My works but they never learned My ways. They did not listen. If today you hear My voice, harden not your hearts as they did in the desert.
There are none so deaf as those who harden their hearts to My Word. When Stephen, who was full of faith and the Holy Spirit, was on examination before the Sanhedrin, he began preaching the good news of salvation in Jesus to them, and do you remember what they did? I tell you that as they heard, his anointed words were cutting them right to the quick but instead of taking in the word he was planting in their hearts “they cried out with a loud voice and COVERED THEIR EARS and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” Acts 7:57-58. They yelled him down and covered their ears so they could not hear and then stoned him to silence the Word that was cutting into their very being like the sharp two-edged (two mouthed) sword that it is. Hebrews 4:12. My Word spoken by Stephen was going to work on them but they shut it out with their own voices and covered their ears. And then, just as they did with Jesus, they killed My Word. But Jesus backed up His Word and Stephen looked into the Spirit and saw Jesus standing with Him ready to receive Stephen to Himself.
Today, if you would hear My voice, do not harden your hearts. Psalm 95:7-8. You cannot put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined. No, you put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved. Matthew 9:17. What am I telling you? You must renew your mind to My Word and stop your old patterns of thinking. Do not just see My works, learn My ways. Do not lean on your own understanding, learn from Me, hear My Word. Jesus said His disciples were clean, cleansed, already by the Word He had SPOKEN to them. My Word will clean you, wash your brain. It will create in you a clean heart and a steadfast spirit renew within you. It will give you the joy of My Salvation. My Words are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh.
There is only one way faith comes and that is by hearing, and hearing My anointed Word, the good news of your Salvation, of the Christ. The Law was based on your performance but today My grace has appeared for all mankind in Jesus Christ, My logos made flesh, and He preached shalom to those near and those far, and put enmity to death on the cross. You are forgiven, healed, beloved, favored, redeemed, sanctified, glorified, restored, and renewed in Him. You need to know that before you can have faith for it and faith comes by hearing My Word. Hear it and then match it up with what is written. You will always be able to match the rhema and the logos. Like John, like Mary, like Jesus. Remember? He found His mission that I had spoken to Him at the Jordan River in the prophet Isaiah and told the astonished crowd in His hometown synagogue that today that passage from Isaiah was fulfilled in their hearing. And there is a passage that is fulfilled in you. In fact, it is the same one that Jesus read that day, for as I sent Him into the world, so He sends you. Wherever you are My Spirit is upon you and I have anointed you and appointed you to preach the good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, and to proclaim My favorable year, the jubilee. Luke 4:18-19. And you can do this in any place, job, assignment, or work to which I have called you.
I love you. Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted My kindness. 1 Peter 2:1-3.