Day 9 — What Is a Rhema Word? | Hearing from God Series

A rhema word is God’s spoken, personal word to an individual believer — distinct from the logos, the written and settled Scripture — and FaithNFreedom founder Rick Rene’s Day 9 teaching in the Hearing from God series walks through exactly what it is, where it appears in the New Testament, and how any believer can begin receiving it. This post covers all three segments of that teaching: the definition and biblical foundation, the practical process for making room to hear, and what to do with a word once it arrives.

The full Hearing from God series — nine voices across nine days — is housed at the series hub on FaithNFreedom.org. This post covers Day 9. For context on the rapture and end-times framework that shapes Rick’s broader teaching, see the Rapture Series.

Segment 1 — What a Rhema Word Is: Definition and Biblical Foundation

Two Greek Words, One Very Practical Difference

The New Testament uses two Greek words that both appear in English as “word.” The first is logos — the written Word, Scripture, settled and finished and true for every reader in every generation. The second is rhema — the spoken word, the utterance, the thing said right now to a particular person in a particular situation.

That distinction carries enormous practical weight the moment a believer faces a decision Scripture does not name by chapter and verse. The Bible declares that God is provider — that is logos, universally true. But it does not specify whether to take the job in Dallas, which child to call before the lights go out, or whether to get up at eleven at night and pray over the house. According to Rick’s teaching, that is precisely what the rhema word is for: God speaking specifically into an actual situation, in real time.

The critical boundary Rick establishes immediately: a rhema word never overrides the written Word. God does not contradict Himself. The logos is the fence; the rhema is His voice inside the fence. Any word that jumps that fence did not originate with Him.

Jesus described the ongoing mechanism the night before the crucifixion:

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” — John 16:13 ESV

Guiding is not a one-time act. It does not mean handing someone a map and walking away. It means speaking to them along the way. Jesus does not say the Spirit might speak — He says the Spirit will speak, receiving from the Father and delivering to the believer.

The Term Appeared in the Journal Itself

Rick reports that the Lord used the word “rhema” directly in a journal entry dated July 5, 2025, titled Prepare to receive great gifts!. The relevant portion as recorded in Rick’s journal reads: “However, I will also speak directly to most of you through my Rhema words, if you expect to hear from me and learn to listen to my spontaneous flow. Yes, you have to test these words, as I will not give you direction outside my written word, but the evil one will try to do so. So learn to hear my voice. Write down what I am saying to you. Confirm it and move forward.”

Rick highlights three elements embedded in that single passage: the promise extends to most believers, not a gifted few; the condition is expectation, not talent; and the fence — no direction outside the written Word — is stated by God Himself in the same breath as the promise. The instruction that follows is compressed into eleven words: write down what I am saying, confirm it, and move forward.

The same entry opened with a renewed mind and submission before any mention of technique — an ordering Paul states explicitly:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” — Romans 12:1-2 ESV

The renewed mind in this passage is not about self-improvement — it is the equipment needed to test a spoken word against the written one. A person cannot test a rhema against a logos they do not know.

The Capacity Already Belongs to Every Sheep

The assumption that hearing God directly is reserved for prophets, pastors, or platform holders is flatly contradicted by the grammar of a single verse:

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” — John 10:27 ESV

Present tense. A description of what sheep do, the same way one would say sheep eat grass. The capacity for a believer to receive a rhema word is not a spiritual promotion — it is a baseline description of belonging to the Shepherd. What most believers are missing, according to this teaching, is not the ability but the expectation.

Rick traces his own entry into this practice to Nathan French’s book It’s Not Meant to Be a Secret: God Wants to Speak to You, which he read in morning quiet time before a trip to Israel. On a flight to Tel Aviv he turned to the appendix and found French’s practical steps: get quiet, communicate with the Lord, expect to hear and prepare pen and paper as an act of faith, write down what He says, share as led. The next day alone in a Tel Aviv hotel room, Rick opened his laptop, closed his eyes, placed his hands on the keys, and typed four words — Speak to me, Lord — and reports that God answered, sentence by sentence. That journal has continued ever since.

The act of faith Rick identifies is this: the pen and paper were out before the voice arrived. Preparation preceded reception. That is not technique — it is a small physical declaration that God meant what He said. And He has been holding the conversation open ever since, waiting for the invitation.

Segment 2 — Making Room: The Practice of Quiet Time with God

Inventory the Time-Wasting Activities

In a July 10, 2025 journal entry, Rick records this word: “The enemy has a process to keep you so busy that you won’t have time to listen to me. He makes so much noise that my voice is often drowned out. So, how do you combat the enemy? By choice. Inventory the time-wasting activities that keep you from hearing my voice. The enemy has many methods, and this is why you have to make a choice.”

Inventory is a business word used on purpose — the instruction is not to feel bad about a crowded schedule but to count it. The enemy described in this entry is not pulling the believer toward obvious sin but toward noise: busyness, distraction, time-consuming trouble. Nobody repents of a schedule, which makes this a more effective strategy than temptation toward visible wrongdoing.

Rick ties this to Jesus’ words about the narrow gate:

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” — Matthew 7:13-14 ESV

Applied to a calendar, the wide gate is easy because it never asks for a no. The narrow gate requires giving something up. But the narrow way leads to life — not deprivation, but arrival somewhere worth arriving.

It Is About Wanting Him, Not Performing for Him

From the same July entry, Rick records this clarifying word: “This is not rocket science, as some would say. It’s also not about spiritual discipline. It’s about loving me and desiring me. It’s about wanting to get close to me and prioritizing your life so you can actually live for me.”

Hearing God is not a skill to be mastered or a bar to clear. The practice that follows — quiet time, armor, journal — is not how a believer earns the conversation. It is what wanting God actually looks like once the wanting is real. The Lord also indicated He is not asking for four hours a day in the manner of Martin Luther — He asked for some dedicated quiet time where a person can record what He is saying.

Counsel in the Quiet Hours

Rick describes being on the Tom Homan Border Tour in Israel — a full, loud, demanding schedule alongside Amanda Grace, her husband Chris, B2T Show scheduling producer Gus, and journalist Sara Carter. The clearest word of the week came alone in a hotel room before anyone else was awake, which Rick connects to a pattern David identified:

“I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.” — Psalm 16:7 ESV

David’s word for what arrives in the quiet is counsel — not a warm feeling but specific guidance from someone who knows more than you do about the decision in front of you. It arrives in the night, when the schedule has stopped making demands. The border tour was the important part of the week by any external measure. The counsel came in the quiet part.

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” — Psalm 46:10 ESV

“Be still” is a command aimed at the busiest part of life. Stillness is not the opposite of action — it is where a believer finds out what the action is supposed to be.

How Rick Opens a Listening Session

Rick’s practice, in his own words from this teaching, runs in this order: prayer and the full armor of God spoken aloud, piece by piece; Bible Memory App to anchor the mind in Scripture; going to his knees; closing his eyes, placing hands on the keyboard, and beginning with specific thanksgiving; then the prayer: Put me in a secret place where I can only hear from you. No spirits, but the Holy Spirit, the Father, and the Son. I submit my eyes and ears to you.

The middle line — naming who is permitted to speak — is the most important sentence in Rick’s practice. Opening the ears deliberately is opening a door, and doors work both ways. Naming the permitted voices is not superstition; James instructs believers to submit to God before resisting the devil, and submitting before listening follows that order. Eyes are submitted as well as ears, because what a person has been looking at all day shapes what they are able to hear.

After confidential direction and specific questions, Rick asks the two questions that produce what appears in the public journal: Lord, what do You want me and Your people to hear today? — or simply, Lord, how are You today? That second question, Rick says, changed the relationship more than any technique, because it moves the whole thing from transaction to friendship.

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” — James 4:8 ESV

The direction of movement in that verse is the believer moving first. Not because God is distant, but because He will not force a relationship on someone who has not turned toward Him. Drawing near and submitting are the same motion described two ways.

The armor is not decorative in this sequence. Paul is specific:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” — Ephesians 6:10-11 ESV

A believer deliberately opening their ears is in a room where more than one voice would like to be heard. The armor goes on first. And Paul ends the same passage with an instruction to pray at all times in the Spirit — the armor and the conversation were never two separate disciplines. They belong together in the same moment.

Segment 3 — What to Do With What You Hear: Testing and Acting

Delayed Obedience Is Disobedience

Midway through the Israel trip, Rick reports being woken early, physically exhausted, and hearing a clear word to get up and get his hands on the keyboard. He reasoned with God, laying out why sleep was the responsible choice. The response, he reports, was four words: Delayed obedience is disobedience.

Rick identifies what made that phrase land with authority: God had spoken those exact words to Nathan French on multiple occasions — the same Nathan French whose book had started this entire practice. The phrase arrived carrying a recognizable signature. Rick got up. On June 16 he received the first word not intended for him but for someone else — the day a private devotional practice became, in his words, a ministry. He describes what would have been lost: not a feeling but a message God intended to deliver to another person, through him, that morning, nearly traded for two hours of sleep and a good reason.

“And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” — Isaiah 30:21 ESV

The timing in that verse is precise: the word comes at the moment of turning, not while the believer is still comfortable. Guidance that specific is worthless filed for later. The heading over that passage — the Lord will be gracious — means the correction is not severity. It is God being kind enough to speak before a wrong road goes further.

Hear, Write, Test, Get Used to It

From an August 9, 2025 journal entry, Rick records this sequence: “My sheep hear my voice, so I invite you to hear from me clearly and with no confusion. Therefore, write down what I am saying. Record it, test it, and get used to being able to hear from me hour by hour during your day.”

Four verbs in order. Hear. Write. Test. Get used to it. The last one is the one most people skip — He is not describing a special occasion but a habit that becomes normal, a running conversation hour by hour. Writing is not optional in that sequence and is not a modern trend:

“And the LORD answered me: ‘Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.'” — Habakkuk 2:2-3 ESV

The writing is not for archiving — it is so someone can move on it. And the second half of that passage addresses why people give up: if it seems slow, wait for it. A word that has not yet come to pass is not a word that failed. Rick cites Timothy Dixon filing handwritten dreams in cabinets for years before speaking any of them publicly, and Donne Clement Petruska’s father writing a letter in 2015 that went unread until nine years later. Slow is not the same as wrong.

Testing Is Not Optional — Neither Is Continuing

Everything in this teaching is worthless — Rick uses the word dangerous — without testing:

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” — 1 John 4:1 ESV

John wrote that to ordinary believers, not specialists. Testing is normal Christian equipment. But Paul names both ditches:

“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 ESV

Believing everything will wreck a believer. Shutting the whole thing down out of fear of getting it wrong will also wreck them. The instruction is not to stop listening but to test everything and keep what is good.

Rick’s three-filter test, as presented in this teaching: Does it line up with Scripture? God never contradicts His written Word — if the word violates it, that settles the matter. What is the fruit? God produces peace or a clean, specific urgency, never panic, confusion, or self-promotion. Is it confirmed? Through Scripture, through mature believers, through circumstances that line up. Pass all three: move. Fail any: wait.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” — Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV

The promise in that verse is that He makes the path straight. The believer’s role is to acknowledge Him in all their ways — to keep talking to Him about everything — and the straightening is His work, not theirs. That is the whole posture this teaching aims at: a believer somewhere quiet enough to hear, expecting an answer, writing it down, testing it, and obeying without delay. He has been arranging that moment far longer than any of us have been looking for it.

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Questions About the Rhema Word

What does the Greek word rhema mean in the New Testament?

The Greek word rhema in the New Testament means a spoken word, an utterance — something said in the present moment to a specific person. It appears in contrast to logos, which refers to the written, settled Word of God as a whole. Rhema is used in passages like John 6:63 (“the words I have spoken to you are spirit and life”), Ephesians 6:17 (“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” — where the Greek is rhema), and Romans 10:17 (“faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” — again rhema). The distinction is meaningful because it highlights that God’s communication with believers is not limited to what was written in Scripture for all generations — He also speaks specifically and personally into present situations.

Is the rhema word different from personal prophecy?

A rhema word and personal prophecy overlap but are not identical. Personal prophecy typically refers to a word spoken by one believer over another through the gift of prophecy. A rhema word as described in this teaching is received directly by an individual believer in their own listening prayer — God speaking to that person in their quiet time, not mediated through another human voice. Both require testing against Scripture. Both can carry guidance, encouragement, warning, or direction. The mechanism is different — one is corporate and mediated, the other is direct and private — but the testing standard is identical: does it align with the written Word, does it produce godly fruit, and is it confirmed.

How is a rhema word different from general impressions or intuition?

The teaching on the rhema word distinguishes it from vague impressions in several ways. A rhema word arrives as specific, sentence-level content rather than a general sense or mood. It can be written down in coherent sentences at the time it is received. It carries a clarity that general impressions do not — which is why the instruction is to write it down in real time rather than reconstruct it afterward. The test of fruit also helps distinguish it: God’s rhema produces peace or a clean, specific urgency rather than anxiety, confusion, or self-serving motivation. Intuition or the flesh tends toward what a person already wants to believe; a genuine rhema word often contradicts what the person would prefer or expects.

Can a rhema word be received in writing, or only through an audible voice?

This teaching presents the written journal as the primary form Rick Rene’s rhema words take — he types what he hears while his hands rest on the keyboard, in a practice sometimes called contemplative or listening prayer with written output. No audible voice is described. The words arrive as thoughts or impressions clear enough to transcribe in real time. Nathan French’s appendix, which Rick credits as his entry point, describes preparing pen and paper as an act of faith, implying that writing is not a secondary recording method but the primary act through which the word is both received and preserved. God’s instruction to Habakkuk — write the vision plainly — models the same posture.

What is a rhema word for today — is it still for modern believers?

The teaching answers yes directly. Jesus’ promise in John 16:13 is stated in ongoing present-tense terms: the Spirit will guide, will speak, will declare. The promise in John 10:27 — my sheep hear my voice — is a description of the present state of every believer who belongs to the Shepherd, not a description of a past era. The July 5, 2025 journal entry Rick cites uses the words “most of you” in describing who would receive rhema words, with the condition being expectation rather than spiritual seniority. The teaching explicitly confronts the assumption that direct communication from God is reserved for a special tier of Christian, arguing that Jesus did not speak that way and that the grammar of John 10:27 forecloses it.

What is the rhema word in Scripture — specific Bible verses?

Key passages where rhema language bears on personal hearing from God include: John 6:63 (the Spirit gives life; the words — rhema — Jesus speaks are spirit and life); John 15:7 (if his words abide in you, ask whatever you wish); Romans 10:17 (faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the rhema of Christ); Ephesians 6:17 (the sword of the Spirit is the rhema of God, used in the armor-of-God context); and Matthew 4:4, which Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3 — “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” where the Greek for “word” is rhema. That last verse is the foundational claim of the entire practice: God’s ongoing spoken output is itself life-giving.

What does “quickened word” mean in charismatic and Pentecostal teaching?

A “quickened word” is a term used in some charismatic and Pentecostal circles to describe the moment a Scripture verse seems to lift off the page and land with specific, personal application — it becomes alive in a way it had not been before. This is effectively a rhema experience through the logos: the written Word becoming a spoken word to a specific person in a specific moment. The Holy Spirit illuminates a passage that, read in another moment, would pass without that weight. The testing standard is the same as for any other rhema — does the application align with the broader context of Scripture, does it produce godly fruit, and is it confirmed. The term “quickened” comes from older English translations of passages like Romans 8:11 referring to the Spirit who gives life.

Why is quiet time with God necessary for hearing the rhema word?

The rhema word arrives as a voice-level communication — specific, sentence-form content — and that level of reception requires conditions where other signals are not drowning it out. The July 10, 2025 journal entry Rick Rene cites states directly that the enemy’s strategy is noise: “He makes so much noise that my voice is often drowned out.” Psalm 46:10 commands stillness, and Psalm 16:7 identifies the night — the quiet hours — as when counsel arrives. Rick’s own Israel experience illustrates the same dynamic: the loudest and most externally important week of the trip produced activity, while the counsel that proved most consequential came in a hotel room before the day started. Quiet time with God is the container the conversation requires.

How does discerning God’s voice differ from discerning other spirits?

Discerning God’s voice involves recognizing His consistency with Scripture, His characteristic fruit (peace, specific urgency, truth that serves others rather than self), and the confirmation that comes through the written Word and mature believers. Discerning other spirits — which 1 John 4:1 commands explicitly — involves applying those same tests in the negative: does the voice contradict Scripture, produce fear or confusion or self-promotion, or fail to hold up under confirmation? Rick Rene’s practice includes naming out loud who is permitted to speak — the Holy Spirit, the Father, and the Son — before opening his ears, which he frames as submission before resistance, the order James prescribes. Both discernments are active, not passive, and both are described in this teaching as normal equipment for any believer, not advanced skill.

How did Rick Rene begin hearing from God directly?

Rick Rene reports that his practice of receiving and recording rhema words began on June 9, 2023, in a hotel room in Tel Aviv, Israel. He had read Nathan French’s book It’s Not Meant to Be a Secret: God Wants to Speak to You in his morning quiet time in the months prior. On a flight to Tel Aviv he turned to the appendix, which laid out French’s practical steps: get quiet, communicate with the Lord, prepare pen and paper as an act of faith, write down what He says, and share as led. The following day, alone in his Tel Aviv hotel room, Rick placed his hands on a laptop keyboard and typed: “Speak to me, Lord.” He reports that God responded, sentence by sentence, and that the practice — which became the public journal known as Rick’s Alone Time with God — has continued from that day forward.

What is the armor of God’s role in listening prayer?

Rick Rene’s practice begins with praying the armor of God aloud, piece by piece, before any listening takes place. The reason is explicit in Ephesians 6:10-11: believers stand against the schemes of the devil, and the armor is the equipment for that standing. A believer deliberately opening their ears is opening a door, and doors work both ways. Praying the armor before listening is the act of naming the authority under which the session takes place and putting in place the protection that makes the listening safe. Paul ends the armor passage by instructing believers to pray at all times in the Spirit — the armor and the ongoing conversation belong to the same paragraph in Scripture and were never intended to be separated in practice.

What does “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” mean for hearing Him today?

Jesus’ quotation of Deuteronomy 8:3 in Matthew 4:4 — that man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God — uses the Greek rhema for “word.” This indicates that the mouth of God is in the present tense: it is producing, proceeding, active. Life comes not only from the words God spoke and had recorded in Scripture, but from the ongoing output of His voice. This is the biblical foundation for expecting God to speak in the present moment to present believers. The practice of listening prayer, keeping a journal, and testing what is received is an application of this premise: if God is still speaking, the believer’s job is to be somewhere quiet enough and attentive enough to receive it.

How do you spell “rhema word” — common misspellings and variants?

The correct spelling is r-h-e-m-a. Common alternate spellings that appear in searches include “rema word” (without the h), “rhemma word” (with a double m), and “reyma word.” All of these refer to the same biblical concept — the Greek word rhema meaning a spoken word from God — and none of the alternate spellings reflect the Greek original. If you encountered this concept spelled differently, you are looking for the same teaching: God’s personal, spoken word to an individual believer, tested against Scripture, received in quiet listening prayer.

Does God speaking to you mean audible words, or is it different from that?

In Rick Rene’s experience and in the broader practice described in this teaching, God speaking to a believer most often does not involve an audible voice — it involves thoughts and impressions clear enough to transcribe as sentences in real time. The threshold is not volume but specificity and clarity: a general mood or vague sense is different from sentence-level content that can be written down word for word. The practice of preparing to write before anything is heard is designed precisely for this: the pen and paper are out before the voice arrives, and the writing captures what comes without filtering or reconstructing it. Some believers report audible experiences; this teaching focuses on the written-journal form.

What is the relationship between ways God speaks and the rhema word?

Scripture describes multiple channels through which God speaks: His written Word (logos), the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, Scripture illuminated in the moment (the quickened word), dreams and visions, circumstances, the counsel of mature believers, and the direct spoken word (rhema). This teaching focuses primarily on the last category — the direct, personal, sentence-level word received in quiet listening prayer. The other channels are not excluded; they function as confirmation. A rhema word received in listening prayer that is also confirmed by Scripture, by a circumstance that lines up, and by a mature believer’s affirmation has passed through multiple channels simultaneously. The whole teaching assumes God is not stingy with His voice and is using more than one method to reach believers who are paying attention.