The difference between the Greek words Logos and Rhema is that the first is a word which has been spoken at some time, whereas the second is a word which is being spoken in Real Time. Matthew chapter 14 provides us with perhaps the best example of a Rhema, and it is the word “Come.”
That one word had within it the power for Peter to walk on water, which no one but Jesus his Lord had ever done. Think of the Bible as the Logos and a Rhema as a word which leaps out of the Logos and has within it the power to enable us to do as it says. A military command is the closest example that comes to mind, in that it carries a great weight of authority; but a Rhema word carries within it the authority of Heaven.
There are times when we are unable to maintain a Rhema word of faith that we began with, and our heart sinks and our faith with it. It’s then that we call out to Jesus and he lifts us out and back up to the level of the word on which we were walking before thinking twice (which is what the NT Greek word “doubt” means).
He did that for Peter, when the impulsive disciple “began to sink” after he looked away from the Lord and onto the stormy wind and waves around him, and thought twice about the situation he had got himself into (Matthew 14).
Much is written and preached about faith, but the word that Peter asked Jesus for was really an order, a command to come that would enable him to step out of the boat and walk to his Lord on the water.
Like Peter, we will find ourselves unable to finish a thing we started, but when we do we call out to Jesus and his hand reaches out, raises us up, and puts us back on our feet again.
Such failures heighten our sense of conscious dependence on the Lord when we forget the word of command that we ‘walked out on’ had within it the power needed to take us to our goal had we not turned our eyes elsewhere. But our Lord Jesus is not only there for us in our successes but also our failures.
If you have failed to ‘go the distance’ — call on the name of Jesus as your heart sinks, and along with it your hopes (not to mention your health or your bank balance).
Jesus loves us not only when we are successful but also when we fail. Not only when we have more than enough but also when we have less than expected. Matthew records Peter’s aspiration, his partial success and his shortcoming — and the Lord’s gentle chide while rescuing him, so it will be of help to us in ‘start up’ ventures that began well and but for God’s intervention would have become misadventures.
If you can’t rise to the height of your faith, then sink to the depth of your need and call on Jesus for his helping hand. The Lord’s arm will extend and his hand will lift you up and out of your situation. You are only human and we all make mistakes. But that will never happen after our humanity has been caught up to mistake-free and fail-safe immortality!