RHEMA TODAY

Elizabeth picked up her bookbag and slung it over her shoulders. Mickey looked up from her textbook surprised that she was preparing to leave the room again.

“Where are you going?”

“I have a meeting in 10 minutes.”

“What meeting?”

“A church meeting”

“Girl! you just got back from a prayer meeting.”

“Yes, this next meeting is a discussion group.” 

Elizabeth hurriedly slipped through the half-open door without another word to perplexed Mickey. Mickey shook her head. She felt pity that the young woman was losing herself to religiosity. She is a Christian too but unlike her roommate, she has no motivation, whatsoever, to be involved in extra-religious activities and has stayed true to her choosing. Nevertheless, something about her roommate tugged at her heart; something extraordinary yet beautiful, but at the same time difficult to explain.

Two hours later there’s a gentle tap on their door. Mickey rose to get the door but before she could reach it, the handle turned and the door opened. Mickey winced for forgetting to lock it. A neighbor popped her head through the open door and smiled at Mickey.

“Is Lizzie home?”

“Hi Gee. She’s not. Is there a problem?”

“Oh no!” Geeti pushed the door open and entered properly. “It’s time for youth Bible study and I wanted to know if she is ready.”

“I guess she would if she were home but she’s not.”

“It’s okay, I’ll just dial her number.”

“She’s at a meeting. I don’t think she can take a call.”

“Okay, I’ll send her a text then.”

“Can you guys not go on without her today? She’ll join another time.”

“We can but she’s a coordinator; we need her to lead the teaching today.”

Mickey was going to reply when Elizabeth walked in. 

“There you are!” Geeti exclaimed. “We were just talking about you.” 

“Welcome back Lizzie.” Mickey waved nonchalantly and walked back to her desk.

Elizabeth turned to Geeti. “I’m sorry I’m late. My meeting went overtime today.”

“It’s okay. Glad you’re here.”

Elizabeth kicked off her shoes and picked a set of comfortable flats. 

“Are the youths gathered?”

“Yes. I left them in front of apartment C to get you.”

Elizabeth finished putting on her shoes and bounced out of the room with Geeti in tow. Again, forgetting to properly shut the door. 

Mickey looked at the door left ajar and sighed. Sometimes it took all the virtue of patience she had nurtured to put up with this habit of her roommate. She was shutting the door when a force pushed it open from outside narrowly missing her face. The next few seconds she watched, alarmed, as a group of young teens and a couple of older youths filed into the room waving a brief hi and hellos and taking up the space in the single room. Mickey’s mouth flew open. She was gearing up for an angry outburst when Elizabeth pulled her aside and explained quickly that the other space they booked had been taken by another group. Begrudgingly, Mickey let them stay but knowing she couldn’t concentrate any longer on reading, she gave it up and watched the meeting unfold while laying on her bed. 

Elizabeth directed everyone to be seated. As little as the space was, everyone found a seat, and the conversation started. 

“Who knows about the burning bush?” Elizabeth asked 

Hands shot up. She randomly selected from the raised hands. In bits and pieces,, the young people happily described the biblical story of Moses in the burning bush and God’s messages to him about rescuing Israel from Egypt. 

“Very good. When I read Moses’ encounter and the other books of the prophets like Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel in the Bible, I wonder at the word of God that was so present at the time to those people. The word of God was so tangibly present with those men of God that when they say “Thus says the Lord.” The words following that sentence will surely manifest in the physical realm. Those words were called prophecy – which could be about tragedy or deliverance. That is why those men were called prophets. 

Also when something was about to happen, God told it to his prophets first who went ahead to either proclaim, warn, instruct,, or comfort the people about what God had said was about to happen. Now when I look at those impressive communications and compare them to today when ‘Rhema’ which is the spoken word of God is not as common, I wonder what changed? We still do have prophets, of course, but why is the spoken word of God not as common? Is God no longer near humans? Or He just doesn’t wish to talk to this generation? Or maybe He does not find too many worthy messengers among the people of today? Or can we say He has nothing to say to us? 

The thing is, in this dispensation of the new covenant, we have the written word of God called ‘Logos’ which is contained in the Bible you have in your hands. Let’s have the Bible itself explain. Can someone open his or her Bible and read the book of Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 please?” 

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. ‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭3:16-17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Did you pay attention to the first part that says the words are inspired by God? That means that the words contained in the Bible are the words of God. So when you carry around your bible you carry around God’s word.

Next, there’s the Holy Spirit who is the spirit of God. Do you know where to find that spirit? I’ll show you. Open your bibles to the book of John chapter 14 verse 17 please?” One of the boys among them opened to the place first and read aloud.

He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him because he lives with you now and later will be in you. John‬ ‭14:17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Please read chapter 14 verse 26 too.”

But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. ‭‭John‬ ‭14:26‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“This portion explains that the Holy Spirit lives inside you, I, and everyone who has faith in Jesus. The work of this Spirit is to interpret the Logos to us and remind us of them daily. The Bible in Hebrews 11 tells us that the prophets of the Old Testament longed to see this day — that is the days of the dispensation of the new covenant where the spirit of God is indwelling in man. They hoped but never got it until their death. Meaning that even we have something far better than they did – which is that God Himself is dwelling inside every one of us. The question is do we recognize this advantage we have over the prophets of old times and utilize them?

For example, what time do you spend reading and meditating on your bible, the Logos? Sometimes it is the amount of Logos that you have in you that the Holy Spirit will interpret and use in guiding you. Also, when last did you let the Holy Spirit lead you? Do you even know how to follow His lead?

Child of God, if these two means of communication are not alive in you, you have little options left to hear from God and your spiritual growth may likely be stunted. Our time is up. So I’ll just take questions. Any questions?” 

Again, hands went up, and Elizabeth answered their questions. A few minutes later the meeting wrapped up and the gathering was dismissed. 

Long after the meeting dispersed, Mickey remained in the same position very pensive. She thought it would be interesting to hear from God; at least to clear some of her questions but when she reads her bible, it is hard to understand and mostly boring to her. 

“Elizabeth.”

“Yes?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. What is it?”

“You talked about reading the Bible to know the mind of God. But what if you don’t understand what you read?”

“Well, you can do two things. First, use a bible written in contemporary English then ask the Holy Spirit to interpret what you read.”

“Ask the Holy Spirit?”

“Yes. Ask the Holy Spirit.”

“How do you do that?”

“If you recall, during the Bible study, I said that the Holy Spirit lives in you. So what you have to do is close your eyes, look within and sincerely ask the Spirit for help understanding what you read.”

“Just like that?”

“Yes. Just like that.”

“What if He doesn’t listen?”

“He always listens. Once you ask just believe that He has heard you and start reading. You’d be surprised at how you understand what you read.”

“Wow!” Mickey exclaimed and stared at her roommate like she was meeting her for the first time. So that is what is extraordinary about this young woman. She thought to herself.

“I will try it. Thanks, Lizzie.”

“You’re welcome.”

THE END

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