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