“My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh” (Prov. 4:20-22).
Two things people strive for above everything else are life and health. In His Word, God has given us a four-step recipe for attaining both of these blessings.
The third step in God’s recipe for life and health is found in Proverbs 4:21. It says, “Let my words not depart from thine eyes.”
We are to look as well as to listen to God’s Word. The Bible says to keep our vision fixed on Jesus (Heb. 12:2). How do you do that? Continue to feed upon the written Word, and Jesus, the living Word, will become more real to you every day.
We should also keep our vision fixed on Jesus when it comes to the healing of our bodies. Romans 4:19-21 says that Abraham “considered not his own body now dead, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what God had promised, he was able also to perform.”
Abraham had God’s promise that Isaac would be born. In fact, God didn’t say He was going to do it. He said, “I have made thee the father of many nations.” (Gen. 17:5) That’s past tense.
God sees the future better than we see the past. He speaks as if it is already done, because in His sight it is done.
Abraham’s physical senses told him it was impossible to father a child at his old age (he was about a hundred years old). Yet he “considered not his own body,” and remained strong in his faith in God and what God had promised him.
Many would agree that God is interested in our spiritual life and health. But I am so glad our text says God’s words are “life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh” (Prov. 4:22).
God is interested in our physical health, as well as our spiritual health. But God gave us the remedy for every sickness and disease when He sent His Son, Jesus, into this world. Jesus was a revelation of the Father’s will, the living Word of God to mankind (John 1:1).
The writer of Hebrews said, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son.” (Heb. 1:1-2).
Jesus is God speaking to us. If you want to hear God, listen to Jesus! If we follow the Holy Spirit, He will always lead us in line with the Word of God. And the Word is Spirit-anointed and Spirit-inspired (2 Tim. 3:16). So the Spirit and the Word will always agree (John 16:13; 1 John 5:6,7).
The fourth step in God’s recipe for life and health is also found in Proverbs 4:21: “Keep My words in the midst of thine heart.” Walking in life and health always starts in your heart or spirit. For instance, I knew in my heart that I was healed before my body responded to that knowledge.
Also, a person knows in his heart he is saved even before there is any outward evidence of salvation. Why? Because he has received by faith God’s promise of salvation and believed it in his heart.
That’s what causes the outward evidence of salvation to be manifested. It is first by believing the Word in one’s heart.
In regard to salvation, many have put “the cart before the horse,” as the saying goes. They want to have some kind of feeling first before they believe they have received. They want some kind of external evidence so they can know they are saved.
But salvation starts on the inside—by believing in the spirit or heart. As a new Christian believes the Word and keeps it in his heart, it causes the life of God to spring up in him. The more he feeds upon the Word, the more he’ll be able to walk in the light of the Word that is in him.
You have the living Word, Jesus Christ, dwelling within you by the Holy Spirit. Paul said, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).
The more you feed upon the written Word, the more real the living Word becomes in you, and the more you learn how to appropriate what He is in you.
If you want to walk in the light of life and find health for your body, continually listen to God’s Word. Give God’s Word your undivided attention.
Fix your vision on Jesus, the living Word. Keep God’s Word in the midst of your heart. Why are these four steps so important? Because God’s words “are life unto all who find them and health to all their flesh!”
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications
Rev. Hagin served in Christian ministry for nearly 70 years and was known as the "father of the modern faith movement." His teachings and books are filled with vivid stories that show God's power and truth working in his life and the lives of others.
Rev. Hagin was born on Aug. 20, 1917, in McKinney, Texas, a son of the late Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin.
Rev. Hagin was sickly as a child, suffering from a deformed heart and an incurable blood disease. He was not expected to live and became bedfast at age 15. In April 1933 during a dramatic conversion experience, he reported dying three times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of hell and then returning to life.
In August of 1934, Rev. Hagin was miraculously healed, raised off a deathbed by the power of God and the revelation of faith in God's Word. Two years later, he preached his first sermon as pastor of a small community church in Roland, Texas.
In 1937, Rev. Hagin was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began ministering in Pentecostal churches. During the next 12 years he pastored five churches in Texas: in the cities of Tom Bean, Farmersville (twice), Talco, Greggton, and Van. In 1949, he began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist.
During the next 14 years, Jesus appeared to Rev. Hagin eight times in visions that changed the course of his ministry. In 1966, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he opened a ministry office. That same year, he taught for the first time on radio—on KSKY in Dallas. In 1967, he began a regular radio broadcast that continues today as Faith Seminar of the Air. Teaching by his son, Rev. Kenneth W. Hagin, is also heard on the program.
In 1968, Rev. Hagin published the first issues of The Word of Faith magazine, which now has a monthly circulation of more than 250,000. The publishing outreach he founded, Faith Library Publications, has circulated more than 65 million copies of books by Rev. Hagin, Rev. Hagin Jr., and several other authors worldwide. Faith Library Publications also has produced more than 9 million audio teaching tapes and CDs.
Other outreaches of Kenneth Hagin Ministries include RHEMA Praise, a weekly television broadcast hosted by Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth W. Hagin; RHEMA Correspondence Bible School; RHEMA Alumni Association; RHEMA Ministerial Association International; RHEMA Supportive Ministries Association; the RHEMA Prayer and Healing Center; and a prison ministry.
In 1974, Rev. Hagin founded RHEMA Bible Training Center USA and in 1976 moved the school and ministry offices to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where they remain. To date, RHEMA Bible Training Center USA has 23,000 alumni, and RHEMA Bible Training Centers have opened in 13 other nations: Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Samoa, Singapore, South Africa, and Thailand. Together, the 14 schools have more than 28,000 graduates worldwide.
RHEMA Bible Church, pastored by Rev. Hagin Jr., began holding services in October of 1985 on the RHEMA campus in Broken Arrow and has since grown to become a thriving congregation with more than 8,000 members.
Rev. Hagin's daughter and son-in-law, Pat Harrison and the late Doyle "Buddy" Harrison, founded Harrison House Publishers in 1975 and Faith Christian Fellowship International Church in 1977. Both organizations are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Until shortly before his death in September 2003, Rev. Hagin continued to travel and teach throughout the United States and into Canada conducting All Faiths' Crusades and other special meetings.