HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE - Logos vs Rhema

Hospital Experience

 

(I had an experience while I was in the hospital for 3 weeks in October/November 2009 that blessed me so much. I want to share it with you so that you may be blessed as well.  It demonstrates how solid & unalterable the plans & purposes of God are on our behalf, and how little impact satan’s attacks on our lives make on God’s will regardless how devastating they may be in actual experience from our perspective.  I have shared this with several who have visited with me, but most of you are unfamiliar with it.  This will be long & I will not apologize for it.  Enjoy!)

 

First of all, I seldom ask ‘why’ questions b/c I know why.  Satan hates God; he hates us as His prize creation to reflect His Honor & Glory; and he hates God’s plans to bring us to a place of total restoration.  Saint Iranaeus said, “The Glory of God is man fully alive.”  In other words, John 10:10: us living the abundant life; fully restored & multiplied 7-fold (for those who are familiar with my restoration teachings).  Can you imagine how it drives him nuts to see any of us acquiring any degree of that!!??

 

Thus, he is always devising & designing schemes to trip us up, distract us, discourage us, cause us to doubt, fall into all kinds of sin…most of it petty sins of the flesh, though we’ve done an incredible job over the past years in allowing him to drag us, as believers, into sins that at one time were totally relegated to sins of the world & unbeliever.  Shame on us, and God have mercy on us.  So I understand that every day, at every turn of the road satan lies in wait to literally “take us out” (Pilgrim’s Progress).

 

I have no doubt whatsoever that’s exactly what’s happening to me.  When I first received my diagnosis of hepatitis B & possible pancreatic cancer, I knew it was a death knell.  But I didn’t ask, “Why ME?”  I knew why me.  I just thought, “The dirty rat. He’s trying to kill me.”  I now knew why & how.  I had just returned from Rwanda, THE most single successful ministry experience of my life.  God told me 25-30 years ago the ministry of my latter years would be teaching & training foreign pastors & leaders.  On 2-9-09 God called me to the nation of Rwanda to do just that.  God confirmed & launched the beginning of that fulfillment thru a Pastors/leadership conference in April.  Satan was attempting to put an end to it in its embryo stage.  I say, “NO WAY, HOSEA!!!!!”

 

On Monday, October 12, lying in the hospital bed after being brought in by ambulance the night before with pneumonia, I asked the Lord the question, “With all the hundreds, maybe thousands of people praying for me, many of them seasoned intercessors, HOW was the enemy able to sneak in & broadside me again?”… for what appeared a second major setback from my receiving treatments.

 

The next day I had been scheduled for a liver biopsy to determine at what stage my hepatitis B was.  We had been confronting doctors over & over again as they focused only on the cancer, “What about the hepatitis?  Shouldn’t we be checking it out & doing something to treat it?”  The response was standard, “There’s nothing we can do about it.  It’ll just have to run its course.” 

 

Now that my oncologist was ready to start treatment b/c everything else was lining up, the liver specialist pulled the plug & said my oncologist could actually kill be by causing the hepatitis to flare up…if she started the treatments on the cancer too soon.  He needed 2-3 weeks to run tests starting with the scheduled biopsy.  Setback #1.  Now I couldn’t keep the appointment for the biopsy & was the hospital with pneumonia.  Setback #2.

 

This is where it starts getting really interesting.  After my question to the Lord, He began sharing some things with me.  First of all, He said that no circumstance as an attack from satan, regardless how devastating in experience & appearance to us can ever affect the Plans & Purposes of God once He sets them in motion.  This is so huge a truth it needs to be hi-lighted, circled, printed up and hung up all over the walls of our homes. 

 

I know you don’t understand what I’m talking about right now & neither did I when God first told it to me.  He then showed me a vision of an old bus going 60 mph down the freeway with me sitting on that bus as a young boy, looking out the window.  Debris was flying everywhere on & off the freeway, but the bus did not veer off course or slow down one iota the entire time. 

 

I understood the bus to be the Plan & Will of God that He sets in motion (whether that be the security of our salvation, specific things in our lives we’re praying about & He confirms to us He definitely will accomplish, etc.…this is an extremely important statement & I will probably re-visit it to explain, later [*see below]) & nothing would/could affect the forward motion of that Purpose until we arrived at the destination…ON TIME!  And He ministered to me that when we did, the circumstances would actually catch up & arrive at the station at the SAME TIME.     

 

I also understood this bus to relate to my healing.  That God had planned to heal me, set it in motion & no amount of circumstances & attacks of the enemy, regardless how devastating & distracting would affect the final outcome & the timing.

 

On Wed., two days later, the liver specialist called my oncologist & said he could find little to no trace of hepatitis in my system.  How he could determine that, that quickly, w/out the biopsy or anything else, I have no idea.  But I was at the destination: miracle #1 had been accomplished.  The bus was undeterred till it got there…on time; and it was as if Jesus, driving the bus, opened a window, snapped His fingers, and all the circumstances came flying in to meet us at the station…right on time as well!

 

(Now stop & take a deep breath, & try to absorb all this & what it means.  Make sure you really get it.)

 

We have now left the station & are heading down the freeway for miracle #2: my healing from lymphoma.

 

(*From above.  The Bible is what we know as the Word of God.  In that context the original word for ‘Word’ is ‘Logos”, which simply means it is the general revealed will of God.  It basically spells out the parameters of God’s Plans & Purposes for us His children & His Promises that these things are possible for us…some conditional; some not.

 

I say ‘general’, b/c even though these are things we can expect, there is no ‘guarantee’ that every time we have a need, we don’t necessarily just locate verses in Scripture that Promise the Provision, ‘stand’ on it & confess it mechanically over & over, hoping that eventually it will come to pass.  The Logos is a general provision of what if possible.  Based on that we can go to the Lord in obedience and ask (1Peter 5:13-16).  But there is one more process that must take place before true faith & confidence can be exercised in knowing that God is actually going to make it happen.

 

The partner word to the ‘Word’ of God that goes along with Logos is ‘Rhema’.  The original meaning of this word is the specific (you get the comparison?!) Will, Plan & Purpose of God for you for the specific need that have.  What is God saying to you about the nature of your need, and what He plans to do about it; and (maybe) how, when, etc.?

 

The process is simply this.  When a need arises, we go to the Word (Logos) to determine what God says about that need in general.  Once you determine it’s in God’s Plan to provide for that need, you then go to the Lord & begin to seek His specific direction (Rhema), in detail, as to what His specific Plan is for you & this need, so that you have a tailor-made plan you can walk out in confidence b/c you heard from God specifically…and you’re not just trying to force something to happen just b/c it’s a Logos provision.

 

Let me explain what happened to me in my journey thus far.  (A disclaimer here, is that I always caution people to not use what I experienced, or anyone else has experienced, as a pattern for themselves.  Every situation is different; and each must be walked thru between the person in need & Lord for their own specific plan.) 

 

When I was first diagnosed with hepatitis B & possible pancreatic cancer,  there was no panic, fear, etc…even though we knew that both were extremely serious, and that type of cancer is often terminal.  God had imparted to us a certain level of confidence in our spirits that everything was going to be okay.  That special gift of Grace that God gave us, & we had nothing to do with producing, carried us for a period of time.  We knew from the Logos that God could heal me, but we did not know that He would b/c we had not received a Rhema to that effect.

 

From day one we shifted gears to pursue medical treatment while we would wait on the Lord for a possible specific word as to what He was going to do. Over time the diagnosis changed to lymphoma, which was good (better) news.  Our prayers were not aggressive all the time.  We had this Peace of God in our spirits, so many times we were in a rather neutral, waiting mode…just waiting on the Lord.  ‘Terminal’ was still on the table, but not a serious issue or pre-occupation.

 

In time people began to receive dreams, visions, ‘words from the Lord’ (from local to Rwanda) seeing me totally healed & restored & doing ministry & real estate just as before.  I don’t always recommend people rely on “other’s” ‘hearng’ from God on their behalf, but rather get their own word. 

 

However, after a while I noticed something had changed in my spirit.  I now did not have just that certain level of Grace & confidence I had before.  I realized God had imparted into my spirit a ’Gift of Faith’.  All of a sudden something would start welling up within me that I knew that I knew that I knew I was going to be totally healed & restored.  I didn’t know when or how, but ‘terminal’ was now off the table completely, and my focus was divine healing.  NOW, I could boldly confess & declare that God was healing me, and I would eventually experience the finished product.

 

Part of it undoubtedly was the vision of the bus, and that God had healed me from hepatitis B…no small thing.  I am now back on the bus heading for the remainder of my healing.

 

I trust this helps all of us in our praying & speaking.  There is nothing wrong with saying you have an illness or need, providing you have heard from God as to what His Plan is for the Provision.  (You can’t be saved unless you confess you are a sinner.)  I believe the enemy has hoodwinked a lot of believers into being dishonest by convincing them they must not make ‘negative’ confessions.  And many believers are walking around making confessions based on what the Logos says & what their desire is, but they have not received a Rhema from God, & their confession is not based on that.  I trust this will help many of you.  And God bless all.

 

This is just one teaching of many that the Lord has shown me will come out of my journey…dealing with proper Scriptural understanding of illness & healing.  Of course, all according to…

 

Mike Bernadsky

THOU ART THE CHRIST

Thou art the CHRIST…

 

Matthew 16:15-21

 

Years ago I read something that shed revelatory light on this passage, and really blessed me.  Recently, I believe additional revelation has been slowly coming to me, and finally hit home.  So I want to share it with you.

 

There really are a lot of misconceptions & misinterpretations (again in my humble opinion) that unfortunately distract from powerful divine truth that could be a part of our daily lives if we really knew what Jesus was saying here.  And that’s the POINT for all this.  We’ve been ‘robbed’ by the enemy AGAIN…of something God has intended to be a source of blessing to us.

 

And it doesn’t take a lot to get us off course.  Just this morning I heard someone on the radio I thought was of evangelical persuasion say that Jesus declared He was building His Church on Peter.  How ludicrous that Jesus would build His Eternal Church on a fallible human being.  But I can understand how someone might arrive at that conclusion…maybe.

 

You see, for years we have said that Jesus’ referencing that his name was Peter meant that, in that natural he was like a little pebble, being swept to & fro with every wave that washed over the beach.  And that’s true.  However, the fallacy comes in the next part of the statement, in interpreting it as still referring to Peter & that now Jesus was going to make him a solid rock on which He was going to build His Church.

 

I believe there are two separate thoughts here that need to be separated from each other except in comparison.  The first thought is who Peter is.  And I guess it all depends on how you interpret Peter, ‘Cephas’.  Some say the Greek means a pebble; some, a big rock.  It could actually be both & refer to both Peter’s vacillating past & the rock-solid leader of the Church he would become after Pentecost…that would still not qualify him to have the Church built on him.

 

But the second segment of Jesus’ statement is referring to Peter’s confession: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  Now there’s a foundation on which to build the Church.  Jesus said, upon the ”(Gibraltor-type) Rock” of this confession, I will build my Church.”

 

So what’s in that confession that makes it qualify for such a solid foundation?  That statement embodies two powerful & central truths of the Gospel:

 

1. It declares everything about Who Jesus was & is.

 

2.   It declares everything that Jesus came to accomplish by His Birth, Life, Death & Resurrection.

 

When we as believers make that declaration (confession) over a situation, we invoke & release all the power of these truths into it to destroy the work of the enemy where he has robbed, killed & destroyed; remove his ruler-ship; & establish the Church of Jesus Christ in that area.

 

Now I’m going to try to explain something here that some people may not totally grasp.  Remember in my last article where I talked about the difference between ‘logos’ & ‘rhema’?  What I’m talking about here does not require a rhema to make that confession.  It’s part of the logos (scripture), and yet it’s a powerful truth by itself without a rhema anointing…simply by virtue of what it means: “Jesus, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!”

 

This is one truth of logos that can be confessed all the time, over & again, over every situation where you need God’s intervention.  But it’s still not a ‘name it & claim it’ or ‘confess it & possess it’ kind of thing.  And it’s not a rhema where you have a gift of faith that you know that you know something will happen.  It’s just a powerful declaration of confidence, releasing what you know to be true about Jesus Who has defeated satan & disarmed all his principalities & powers, made us more than conquerors & is leading us in triumphal procession of victory…that you’re believing will transpire in your specific need over which you’re confessing.

 

The big bugaboo in all this is: this confession, any rhema gift of faith, and in every aspect of our Christian walk…there are no guarantees.  Otherwise, our trust would be in the confession, or the rhema, or something else, and not in a Sovereign God.  I know this is a shock to a lot of people, but it’s the truth: there are no guarantees.

 

Let me try to explain it using my own situation.   I just know that I know I’m being divinely healed, with certain aspects of it already manifesting (the hepatitis is gone, and I knew I’d be in remission after the petscan, even seeing clear lymph nodes in my mind for several days beforehand).  But I don’t know exactly when & how I’ll be healed…maybe even IF I’ll be healed. 

 

I know that sounds totally contradictory and I say that cautiously & not in a negative confession.  What I’m saying is that I DO KNOW, from my subjective perspective & the rhema in my heart, that I WILL BE TOTALLY HEALED.  But lest my confidence be in that rhema, I must objectively TRUST God implicitly, and His sovereignty, by leaving an open door for God to be God, without taking anything away from Him. 

 

Some will find this hard to reconcile, but I have no conflict with it whatsoever. And it does not change the rhema in my heart or my confidence in my healing one iota.

 

The other truth in this passage is this…

 

“The gates of hell shall not prevail against it (the confession).”  Most believe, regardless of how they interpret what I previously explained, that this means that we have protection against satan making inroads into our lives…in a defensive stance.  Whereas this may be true to a certain extent, the greater truth here is that when we identify areas where satan has robbed/killed/destroyed & we make this confession as Jesus intended we should make it, it is an offensive strike against the enemy over these areas to reclaim them back for the Kingdom…and as we do so that he has no power to defend himself & resist against the power of this confession.  

 

Sooner or later, he needs to give up that territory.  We believe that the truth of this powerful confession is manifesting in some way in that situation whether it is evident or not.  We do not set the time frame of when it will happen, how it will happen, or even IF it will happen.  Our responsibility is to ‘just do it’ & trust God with the rest.

 

Here’s where a lot of believers struggle.  They pray believing.  They confess this truth believing.  And yet they see no results…sometimes for a lengthy period of time. I agree that is difficult to understand & accept.  But that’s just part of no guarantees & trust.

 

I want to share an example of what I mean by no guarantees that hopefully will bring things into a more understandable perspective for some.

 

A very prominent minister with a huge church, a debt-free campus worth 33 million, and an extensive TV ministry, was diagnosed with lymphoma in October.  He was one of the more balanced Word/Faith movement ministries, and had hundreds of thousands of people praying for him.  But in a matter of weeks he experienced complications & died.  And here am I, a mere nobody, still kicking & well on my way to total healing & restoration.  Go figure.

 

Here’s a word from Luke 18:1-8 about the persistent widow coming to a judge to deliver her from her oppressors.  He refused at first because he had no reverence for God or consideration toward men.  But because of her persistence he finally agreed to do it lest she wear him out.  Verse 7-8 state…

 

“And will not (our just) God defend and protect and avenge His elect (His chosen ones), who cry out to Him day and night?  Will He defer them and delay help on their behalf?  I tell you, He will defend and protect and avenge them speedily.  However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find (persistence in) faith on the earth?”

 

That’s our part.  To believe that Jesus IS “the Christ, the Son of the Living God”, and everything that means, confess it over every of situation of need we run into, believing it will happen.  But  we cannot dictate God’s part as to how speedy He responds.  Time is not a factor with God…just us.  Our part is to trust him implicitly….and allow Him to do whatever, whenever, IF ever.

 

And that’s all according to Mike Bernadsky.

 

 

P.S….                          Speak It Out Loud

 

An important aspect of making the confession that “Jesus is the Christ”…along with all our praying, praise, worship, intercession, etc., is that it be vocal…verbal, audible.  We are instructed to meditate on the Word day & night & thereby be successful & prosperous.  By confessing it audibly takes it to a whole new level, releasing a powerful dynamic into the atmosphere around & above us.

 

In Ephesians 3:9- Paul talks about the “mystery kept hidden through the ages and concealed until now in (the mind of) God …(the purpose is) that through the church the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere.”

 

Now it goes without saying that the means by which the mystery of God would be accomplished would be through the audible, public reading of the scriptures and the preaching of the gospel to all the peoples of the world. 

 

But he refers to something very curious here, including the angelic rulers, authorities, principalities & powers in the heavenly sphere.  This normally refers to satan & his angelic hordes that have been relegated by God to the upper atmosphere of the earth. 

 

The dynamic here is that as we verbalize our confessions, and as they travel to the throne room of God, they pass through the demonic abode in the upper atmosphere of the earth, causing them to hear the TRUTH we’re declaring.  That in turn weakens and/or destroys their stronghold over the situation we’re confessing.

 

A beneficial side effect to all this is that WE also hear our audible expression of truth, which enters into our minds & spirits, encouraging us & building up our faith.

 

Some of you are not accustomed to verbalizing your prayers or worship other than through public singing of hymns or reciting the Lord’s prayer in church.  So this will obviously be a stretch.  But there are many who have become comfortable in the quiet meditations, and the Holy Spirit is prompting you to break out & start speaking out loud.  It’ll take some courage & practice.  But you’ll be amazed how much spiritual power it releases.    

CALVANISM

Calvinism

 

(I had an old friend from way back contact me & comment on my recent articles.  For some reason it really got my wheels turning, & whereas I wouldn’t normally go into anything quite this steeped in doctrine, who knows why the Spirit is prompting me to respond in this fashion.  Comments & input are welcome.)

 

For many of you, you may not have a clue as to what Calvinism is…and don’t care.  Some of you are way more versed on this than I am, but hopefully this will be a practical application of some sort…as I try all my writings to be.  Some of this will challenge some of you to evaluate, maybe for the first time, what the dynamics of your relationship with God & trust in Him really is…doctrine aside.  I always like to put venerated ‘church doctrine’ on a shelf for a while, in an attempt to really understand practical truth.

 

Since our parting ways in the mid ‘80s my friend has embraced the Calvin doctrine, and was very impressed & pleased with my convictions on Sovereignty & Grace…two big issues in that persuasion.  I explained to him that I am probably not as Calvinistic as I sound.  Sovereignty has been a strong suite with me for decades, & Julie & I have rehearsed it many times over the years.  I had a very strong inundation in the truths of Grace Sunday after Sunday for almost 10 years in a Baptist church in the ‘90s that played a big part in my restoration & that of my family.  Julie & I were brought up extremely legalistically.

 

My friend used two words that I want to focus in on in my deliberations: monogistic & synergistic.   

 

Monogistic means that everything in our relationship with God is ALL Him & nothing us.  I think there is some intellectual dishonesty in this.  There is always the problem in most Christian belief systems of what I’ll call “The Galatian Syndrome”.  We  say salvation is “by Grace through faith…and not of works…”  However, the minute it comes to practice we always seem to want to throw in all kinds of rules & regulations in maintaining the Grace-imparted gift.  Paul states, “Oh foolish (Galatians) Christians!”  If it was truly momogistic we wouldn’t need to lift a finger in ‘working out our salvation…(Philippians 2:12-13).

 

Monogistic is a hardcore doctrine of Calvinism in that they believe God does it all: He chooses who will & who will not be saved, He picks you out & calls you , and imparts the gift of salvation in you sovereignly…want it,  like it, or not..  To me that messes with free-will.

 

Synergistic means that there is a cooperation between God & man.  God offers; we accept or reject.  By the way, I’m neither Calvinistic nor Baptist.  I believe in voluntary free-will to the point that it plays a part in our relationship with God to the very end.  I totally believe in the “eternal security of the believer”.  But the operative words are “the believer”.  As long as we believe (in the N.T. concept of total commitment) and actively love and serve God, we’re safe & secure in our legal position of children of God.

 

I also totally believe that no man or demon from hell can pluck us out of God’s Hand.  But I do believe that we can voluntary disinherit ourselves from God & walk out.  I do not believe it happens in a moment of time, or even over a short term; but I do believe we can come to a point in our lives through rebellion, disobedience, neglect, and a whole host of other things where we want nothing more to do with God, thread under foot the blood of Jesus, and turn our back on Him (Hebrews 6:4-8; 10:35-36, 38b-39).

 

Going back to the beginning now re our salvation.  For those of you who have read/studied my Restoration101 Lesson 1, you know that I believe that no man can come to Jesus unless the Father “draw” (John 6:44), not involuntary force, him.  I teach that we are all “dead in our trespasses & sins (Ephesians 2:1b), & therefore have no desire for God (Romans 3:11b).  And I use the natural birth process to show how our spirit (that part of spirit, soul & body) is our spiritual womb, that the Holy Spirit plants a spiritual egg in our spirit and starts a spiritual ovulation (the desire for God).  He then plants the spiritual sperm of the Seed of the Word; and if we respond and accept His invitation to spiritual life, we conceive…and new life begins.  If not, we continue in spiritual death.  Our choice.

 

This is total synergy/cooperation between God & man.  And that continues in the same dynamic all the days of our lives till our time here is up.