LIVING BY EVERY WORD
Matthew 4:4 (AMPC) “But He replied, It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”
We are to live by faith every day. There are four Scriptures—one in the Old Testament and three in the New Testament—that tell us, “The just shall live by faith.” Being justified by the blood of Jesus, we are now required to live by faith.
How does faith come? It comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). We know that this “Word of God” is not referring to the logos, or the written Word alone, but to the rhema—the quickened and spoken Word. Faith comes when the Word becomes rhema. In order to receive a rhema, it must come from the logos; there is no other way. Without the logos, a rhema is not possible.
Jesus said that just as we must have natural bread—food for our physical bodies—to live and survive, we must also have spiritual food every day or we will not make it spiritually. We must have a rhema from God. This is how we live by faith every day. We live by faith by hearing from God daily.
How can you hear from God every day? We must do certain things daily so that we can receive rhema from God daily. We must hear the Word of God every day—not just with our physical ears, but with our spiritual ears. We must hear sermons, and there are many sermons available. No other generation has had more access to good preaching and teaching than we do.
Another great way to hear the Word is to speak it out loud yourself. Take one Scripture and speak it aloud whenever you get the chance. Read the Word of God out loud. Listen to others reading Scripture. You must study. Take a Scripture and study it by looking up other Scriptures that relate to it. Meditating on the Word of God is extremely important. God told Joshua to meditate day and night; to me, that sounds like all day. God told Joshua—and He is really telling us too—that when we meditate on Scripture day and night, we will make our way prosperous, and we will have good success.
As you do these things, God is able to speak to you by the Holy Spirit. It is not an audible voice, but a knowing—a revelation, an insight, an illumination, an unction, or a perception. As you position yourself for a rhema, God will accommodate you. The Holy Spirit is the revealer, and He is always ready to give you the revelation—the rhema—you need so you can live by faith every day.