Dear Fellow Believers in Christ, (The Rhema Word of Christ is Given by the Spirit for Life to Us) 

Why has the Father placed His creative power in His rhema Word? Why does the Holy Spirit speak the rhema Word of Christ to produce faith in us for Salvation and Life? How does the Holy Spirit use the rhema Word to renew the mind and the message of Christ? What does the Bible say about a war of words that we have with the devil? Are not Satan's lying and deceiving words coming like a flood to keep us from the rhema Word of Christ? How do you put on the whole armor of God? How do we appropriate that armor of Christ and how does it defeat Satan? Let us look into the Logos Word of God and see what it says about the rhema Word of Christ!

THE WORD OF CHRIST

"Then the faith comes out of hearing, and the hearing through the Word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17, author's translation).

First, Genuine Faith Comes by the Holy Spirit Speaking a Rhema of Christ
The Apostle Paul declares that faith comes through our hearing of the Word of Christ. As the J. B. Phillips translation states, "Faith, you see, can only come from hearing the message, and the message is the word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17). Phillips says it best and succinctly. Faith only comes through a message of the Word of Christ. There is much so called faith teaching, that is built or founded on all portions of the Word of God. However, it is the specific rhema word spoken to us by the Holy Spirit who teaches or reveals the message of Christ to us that flows through to produce genuine faith in us as we hear and believe it. While the KJV and NKJ uses "the Word of God" for Romans 10:17, the p46 papyrus manuscript (approximately 200 A.D.) and Sinaiticus the oldest complete text of the Bible (approximately 400 A.D.) both state "the Word of Christ." Also, the NIV, NAV, Phillips, Williams, Wuest, Wade, Rotherham, Moffatt, and Goodspeed translations all use "the Word of Christ" for Romans 10:17. For genuine faith we need to center on the message of Christ.

Second, The Holy Spirit Rebirths Us Through the Rhema Word of Christ
The Greek word Logos – use for Word is used for the entire encompassing Word of God. Jesus Christ is the Logos Word of God. "In the beginning was the [Logos] Word, and the [Logos] Word was with God and God was the [Logos] Word" (John 1:1). Peter tells us, "having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the [Logos] Word of God which lives and abides forever" (I Peter 1:23). When we are born again by the Holy Spirit we receive all of Christ – the entire eternal Logos Word of God in that eternal incorruptible Seed. However, our rebirthing came through the Holy Spirit speaking the Greek word rhema – use for word to us. Rhema is used for a particular portion of the Logos Word spoken or revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. Peter goes on to tell us, "But the [rhema] Word of the Lord ever remains for eternity" (I Pet. 1:25). The Rhema Word of Christ is the Christ-life message that Paul preaches to the Church and teaches in his Epistles. bThe rhema Word of Christ is used by the Holy Spirit to provide the rhema Word of faith in our mouth and heart for Salvation (Rom. 10:8). We are rebirthed with Christ in us as our eternal life.

Third, The Holy Spirit Renews the Mind Through the Rhema Word of Christ
Paul tells us to, "Let the [Logos] Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col. 3:16). We need to let the fullness of Christ live, reign, and flow through us in His love-for-others expression through us. Christ – the Living Word, lives in us and is expressed by the written Word that the mind is renewed with. The Holy Spirit continues His role as teacher and revealer of the rhema Word message of Christ and fills the mind of Christ that we have within us (I Cor. 2:12-16).

Fourth, The Rhema Spoken Word of God is the Container of Creative Force
The Rhema spoken Word of God is the container of creative force that He uses throughout the universe. "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the [Rhema] word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible" (Hebr. 11:3). All things were created through the Rhema Word of Faith that the Father spoke in and through Christ, the Living Word. "Who ever being the radiance of His glory, and the express image of His essence, and ever supporting all things by the [rhema] Word of His power, having once then made purification of sins, once then sat in the authority of greatness in high places" (Hebr. 1:3, author's translation). The rhema spoken Word is the eternal Word and the eternal creative force that God uses to make a permanent change in the universe. The rebirthing in Christ is an eternal creation.

Fifth, Satan Comes to Deceive Us with a Flood of His Lying Words
Satan and all created beings are presented and described in enough detail in the Word of God, so that you clearly know they are neither omnipotent, omnipresent, nor omniscient. Only God, manifested in the Trinity is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient. The devil can hear your thoughts, as well as he can watch your actions and reactions and see what you say and do. These are done within the soul and body realms, of which Satan has been granted abilities to function and operate. We are in a war of words with the devil. Satan is pictured as a serpent that "spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood" (Rev. 12:16). Satan sometimes follows our thoughts with a flood of his interjected words to carry us away from the truth of Christ in us as our very life. We better be sure that our life is founded on the rock of Christ through revelation by the Spirit. When the floods of the devil's words and the winds of adversity come against us, we will not be moved by Satan's lying words of self-deception (Matt. 7:24-27).

Sixth, The Whole Armor is Christ Expressed Through Us and Defeats Satan
Paul told us we need to "be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" and strength (Eph. 6:10). We cannot wrestle against the devil in our own flesh and strength (Eph. 6:11). We received the whole Christ at our Spirit rebirthing which also included the whole armor of God. You once then put on the whole armor of God at Salvation in Christ. While you may appropriate and use the armor daily, you only put it on once. "You are complete in Christ, who is the head of all principality and power" (Col. 2:10). Christ is the center and circumference of our life (Eph. 6:14). It is only the righteousness of Christ that protects me (Eph. 6:14). Christ lives in me and is expressed through me with His finished work and Spirit of life (Eph. 6:15). The rhema Word of the message of Christ will quench all the fiery darts and the flood of the devil's lying words of a "self" substitute for Christ (Eph. 6:16). We have to let the mind of Christ operate and let Christ speak in and through us with the sword of the Spirit, which is the [rhema] Word of God (Eph. 6:17). Christ's Word of authority flows through us to defeat Satan.

Seventh, We Should live by Christ in Us and the Rhema Word of Christ
Paul's apostolic message from the heart of the Father is centered and focused on "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (I Cor. 2:2). Christ is the life in us and through us as us that is to be now lived (Gal. 2:20). Christ's work on the cross put to death any enemy claim. We should live by the rhema Word of Christ.