Trust comes from knowing God; faith comes from hearing God.
—DAVID LAKE
Here’s a question for you: Of the five senses—seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, or tasting—which sense is the most imperative for you? If you say that your answer depends on the situation, then you’re correct. But from a spiritual perspective, hearing would be the most important sense. Why? It is because we were designed by God to listen to Him.
In Genesis 1, the first thing we learn about the person of God is that He speaks. The Bible is called the Word of God. Creation was brought into being through the vehicle of speech. This idea is important because navigating today’s complex, tumultuous, chaotic, and unpredictable world without God’s direction makes us candidates for a shipwreck.
Look around you. There is a whole lot of shaking going on. Read Second Timothy 3:1-7. In times like these, you need to hear from God first. God is the ultimate hearing aid. He is not just a resource; He is the source. God is broadcasting all the time. If people aren’t hearing from Him, the problem is not the broadcaster but the receiver. We need to tune in to God’s channel for decision making, direction, and discernment. This book is about getting a revelation on the often-addressed subject of hearing God. But this book is not going where you think it’s going. It’s different. We (Ed Delph and David Lake) call the concept “hear first, speak second.”
Did you know you can know something but not really know it? Did you know you can see something but not see it? Did you know you can hear something but not hear it? Jesus said to His disciples, “Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?” (Mark 8:18). In other words, you can have cognition of a Bible truth but not re-cognition of that truth. Cognition is knowledge, but re-cognition is understanding. This is why people can know something profound and powerful without it affecting their attitude, faith, or behavior. A shift in behavior happens after re-cognition, not cognition. It takes an aha moment; it takes light and truth. It takes an epiphany.
Do you remember the story in Mark 8:22-26 about the blind man Jesus had to pray for twice for him to see? The first time Jesus prayed for him, He asked, “Do you see anything?” The man replied, “I see men like trees walking about.” That was the wrong answer. People don’t have branches and leaves growing out of their heads, and neither do they have bark for skin. The blind man saw people, but he didn’t see them clearly. He had cognition of others, but not re-cognition. Jesus touched him again…a second time. The result was that “he looked intently, and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.” He got an aha. Shift happened in him after the second touch. God speaking through Jesus opened the eyes of the blind man’s mind in the first encounter, but God speaking through Jesus opened the eyes of the blind man’s heart in the second encounter. The result was that the blind man transitioned from information, to revelation, to transformation.
We have written this book because of our deep concern we see in the church today. Too many Christ-followers resemble this blind man after Jesus’s first touch—they see the truth of their need to hear from God before speaking or acting, but they see like trees. They see it, but not clearly. They hear it, but not clearly. They know it, but they don’t know it clearly. They don’t know the implications, so they are weak in the applications. How do we know this? By their words, by their actions, and by the outcome in their lives.
This book is about the second touch, the aha moment, when you begin to see everything clearly. In today’s world, clarity is a rarity. There’s a difference between believing in Jesus and believing Jesus. Clarity helps you make that shift.
This book’s mission is nearly impossible. First, we must address the biblical reality of hearing first and speaking second. Then we must move our readers from knowing about this principle to knowing it by revelation and thus acting upon it. We desire, with the Holy Spirit’s help, to create a shift in behavior much like Jesus did with the blind man. How? By the second touch! Our desire is for you to grasp at first touch, clearly, one of the most powerful and fruitful truths in the Bible: hear first, speak second. In fact, it’s a pattern throughout the whole Bible, as we will see.
Psalm 43:3 gives insight into this concept: “O send out Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill” (KJV). In other words, it takes both light and truth to lead you to that elevated place where you can look out on the spiritual landscape. The light is the Holy Spirit and the truth is God’s Word. To clean yourself thoroughly, you need both soap and water. Soap without water won’t clean you, but neither will water without soap. The same holds true with truth and light. Both working together is what gets you clean. So let there be light empowered with truth!
This book is about transformation; it’s not just a transaction. It is not about information; it’s about revelation. It’s about the Greek word RHEMA. RHEMA is a faith-infused, biblically correct, and spiritually accurate utterance from God to a person or persons for a specific occasion, reason, or revelation. You don’t find RHEMA; rather, RHEMA finds you.
We will seek to redefine and refine RHEMA. We will uncover RHEMA and discover RHEMA so you can recover RHEMA. This is an upgrade from what you may have heard before. We believe the first time RHEMA became a popular subject, people saw it like a tree. But this book is about the second touch. It’s about listening. It’s about clearly and accurately hearing utterances spoken to a present situation, and, most importantly, applying it God’s way. It’s a key to the kingdom, but the key still needs to be turned the right way to open the gates of Heaven. It’s relevant for times like these. It’s current. It’s clarion. It’s better than a smartphone app for how to live in shifting and ambiguous times.
As we said, this book is not going where you may think. It’s written from two different yet valid perspectives. David Lake, more prophetic by nature and calling, addresses RHEMA from a prophetic perspective, while Dr. Ed Delph, who is more apostolic by nature and calling, focuses on the absolute necessity and implications of hearing first and speaking second. With equal status and different roles, we provide both spiritual and practical perspectives. We start from Heaven and then bring truth to the Earth. Grafting our gifts, we bring a fuller perspective applicable to all, arriving at balance through fullness, presenting the whole picture of hearing first, speaking second. This blending of perspectives will enhance what you have learned about RHEMA.
It is our hope that this book will surprise you. It is not about a formula for success. It’s not about finding a path to prosperity. It’s not about receiving an early inheritance. There’s no formula to hear from God or to talk God into something you want or to get your breakthrough. We won’t tell you how to talk God into your timing or how to seek first His kingdom for your own benefit. This book is not about finding a new source or significance by saying, “The Lord just told me to tell you…” It’s not about showing off how much faith you have. And it is not about trying to please God. Rather, it is about knowing God by hearing God.
Redefining Rhema is about accessing God and what He is doing in the earth today. It’s about moving from a slave to a friend by knowing what God wants. This book is about being proactive rather than reactive. It’s not about adjusting to change; it’s about anticipating change in each season, and what to do in each season as you hear first and speak second. This concept works well in both perilous times and good times. It keeps you alive in the wilderness and it will keep you alive in the land of milk and honey.
It is our hope that Redefining Rhema will shift your spiritual reality. This book is about you—from a pure heart and mind—releasing spiritual shockwaves from Heaven into Earth after you hear God tell you to do it. This book is about, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 KJV). It is about hearing, speaking, and walking in the magnificent fear of the Lord. In fact, after you read and understand this book, the fear of the Lord should take on a whole new meaning for you.
Redefining Rhema is about you giving God a supernaturally natural and incredibly credible voice and face on earth. It’s about knowing whose voice you are hearing and engaging culture with a word of wisdom and clarity for such a time as this. This book is for everyone who desires to hear first and speak second. It is strategic for everyone working and ministering in the seven mountains (spheres of influence) of society—family, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, religion, and government. This book is about allowing the Word to speak His word before you speak a word.
Our twofold desire is that you will live your life in all areas by the “hear first, speak second” paradigm. Second, we desire for you to receive a RHEMA on RHEMA. It’s your birthright. As a result, God has a voice—your voice—on Earth as it is in Heaven. Here is a world-changing, society-transforming, giant-slaying, runaway culture-shifting statement for you: If you truly hear from God, then God speaks through your words a relevant, personal truth that is biblically correct and spiritually accurate for the hearer’s situation. That’s high octane. Use, but use it wisely.
A Special Note from David Lake
I was asked by my good friend Ed Delph to cowrite this book. At a home fellowship group in the early ‘90s, we had talked about the importance of hearing God first and speaking second. I was young in the Lord then. Until Ed recently brought up that conversation at breakfast, some twenty-five years later, I had forgotten about it. Ed pulled out a notebook and showed me notes and the date when that conversation occurred. Though we did not know it twenty-five years ago, that is when the idea for this book was conceived.
Through many lunches and breakfasts over the years, Ed and I have met and talked about God. Many of our discussions have been centered on hearing God. Lots of good books have been written about hearing God, so we knew this was not a new subject. Our desire was to bring a perspective that reveals the character of God. We want you to know Him. John 17:3 (AMP) says, “And this is life eternal: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus (as the) Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent.” Hearing God is imperative to knowing God. In fact, the most important reason to hear God is to know Him.
This world continues to manifest a wickedness and sinfulness that was hard to imagine just a few years ago. Trials and tribulations continue to increase at an alarming rate. Never has there been a more important time to know God and to hear His voice. Never has there been a time when faith has had to manifest itself so strongly as a light in a world that continues to grow increasingly dark. Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” We need to hear Him if we are to get faith.
I never seriously considered writing a book because it sounded so complicated, and I had no idea where to start. Besides that, who would read a book I wrote? I’ve been in the construction business my entire life. My life experiences didn’t seem much different from anyone else’s; I don’t have a big crowd that gathers to hear me speak weekly. But God put in me a deep desire to hear His voice and to know Him.
When I talk to people about hearing God, they usually admit the value of hearing but don’t connect that hearing directly to faith. I had never heard anyone speak on the dynamic that faith comes from God. I had a lot of good reasons not to write a book! The task was too big, too complicated, and impossible to imagine. But the process required me to listen to God as I never had before. It sounded to me like God was talking.
Note
1. Vance Havner, Pepper ‘n’ Salt (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1966).