“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 First Step Involves The Word
The first step in God’s recipe for life and health is found in Proverbs 4:20: “attend, listen to my words.” God tells us that we can only find life and health through His Word. The Bible says Jesus is the living Word of God. The written Word is given to reveal the living Word— the Lord Jesus Christ—to us.
Jesus didn’t come to give mankind new rules to use to climb a heavenly stairway to the glory world. Jesus didn’t come to give man a new code of conduct. He didn’t come to bring man a system of teaching that would enable him to become God-like.
Jesus came to bring life. He came so we might have life more abundantly.
The Bible says we need to attend to God’s Word. God’s Word doesn’t just mean the words Jesus actually spoke as recorded in the Gospels! Yes, we need to listen to what Jesus Himself said. But the entire New Testament, particularly the epistles, also unveils Jesus to us.
We need to attend to all of God’s Word.
The Four Gospels Alone
No one could study the four Gospels alone and be a successful Christian. The four Gospels are a history of the life of Jesus: His works, His sayings, and His deeds.
In the Gospels we see Jesus dying, but if we don’t go further than the Gospels, we won’t know why He died. Even after Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead, His disciples didn’t understand why He died. They asked Him, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).
They were still looking for an earthly kingdom. It is only in the epistles where we learn what this living Word, Jesus Christ, wrought for us in His death, burial, and resurrection. For instance, 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that we were made righteous in Christ: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
And it’s in the epistles where we learn that Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the Law and made us partakers of the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant. It’s also in the epistles where we read, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).
These are just a few of the many references in the epistles that tell us what belongs to us through Jesus Christ. We need to attend or listen to these truths in God’s Word, for they will bring us life and health in every area of our lives.
The Second Step Involves Listening to The Word
The second step in God’s recipe for life and health is also found in Proverbs 4:20: “incline thine ear unto my sayings.” If you want to walk in the fullness of life and health, give God’s Word your undivided attention.
Put everything away from your mind that contradicts what God’s Word says. Accept God’s Word and act upon what it says.
We are to open our ears to God’s sayings and close our ears to everything else. We are to listen to what God has to say. By believing the Word and accepting it, His Word will work for us.
Knowing God’s Word has a twofold application because Jesus is the living Word of God. You begin to know Jesus personally by accepting Him as your Savior. But you will never know Jesus, the living Word, in His fullness without knowing the written Word of God.
Too many people try to understand God by feelings. Smith Wigglesworth said, “I cannot understand God by feelings. I cannot understand the Lord Jesus Christ by feelings. I understand God, and I understand Jesus through the Word of God. God is everything the Word says He is. Get acquainted with God through the Word. Get acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ through the Word.”
If you want to walk in the light of life and find health for your body, continually listen to God’s Word, and give God’s Word your undivided attention. Why are these 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.