Kenneth E Hagin - Leaflet - God's Medicine

"My  "My  son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not not depart depart fro m thine eye s; keep them in the midst of thine heart. Fo r they are life unto unto those that find them , and health to all their flesh ."

GOD'S

-Proverbs  4:20-22

MEDICINE  — by  by  Kenneth Hagin Kenneth  Hagin

In the mar gi n of my my   Bible the above above ver se r ead s, "...an d medicine to all their fl esh ." God is not not only inte res ted in healing us when when we we are si ck , but but He is als o inte rest ed in keeping us well. If you want to stay well, then just keep taking   God's  medicine. What actuall y belongs to us rega rdin g phys ical healing and and health ? How How can we asc ert ain exactly what what was se cur ed for us ? T her e is only one way to know: know: by constant, care ful , diligent,  reverent,  prayerful study of  God's   God's  Word. Faith and heal ing is a subject  that  has greatly interested me, perhaps more than any other subject in the  Bible. The re is a re aso n why. I was born sic k and never had a nor mal ch il d hood, never ran and play ed like other litt le chil dren,' never had had a well day in my  life  until I was seventeen ye ar s old. I never had a goo good d night 's sleep in my  life  until I was seven teen after after God healed me. For seventeen year s I was not not normal phys ical ly.

A s a litt le chi ld, and then then as a teena ger , I would would sit around around watching nor mal child ren with my mouth mouth open and my ey es almo st bugged. It was the gre ates t consuming des ire of my heart— to play lik e other ch il dr en . I be lie ve if God had come down down from Heaven and sai d, "Son, I am going to  to  give you two two ch oi ce s, eithe r go to Heaven right now now and and walk walk the the  streets of   gold, or be we ll ," I think I would have sai d I want want to be well we ll , becau be cau se I had never nev er known known what it was to be well. But, thank God, He offered me both.

 there  was That was the reason for my great  interest in this s ubjec t, becau se I knew knew  that if  there any help for me it had to be in the  Bible.  It had to be with  with   God.  God.  Medical  Medical  science had already turned the ir bac ks away away say ing, "Th ere is nothing nothing els e we can do." I cam e to the brink of the grave before I turned to  God's  Word in a constant, careful, diligent,  reverent,  prayerful manner and discovered what  God's Word had-to had-to s ay on on the subjec t. I almost waited too late. If   I had had something a cute, I probably would have been ca rr ie d out into into eter nity . But fortuna for tunately tely,, I had time to do a litt le study s tudying. ing. I did not not find find over ove r night what what God had to sa y on the subje ct. And, I had to unlear n some things before I could lea rn the the right things. Our minds can be clouded and  and  filled  filled  with a lot of things  that  are not really so. Everytime I would get a good pr om is e in  God's  Word, the devil would be right   there  to tell me, me , "That jus t belonged to the  Jews,"  or, o r, "Tha t is not for now," and I didn't know know whether it was or not. I would would have to look a long time to find some Scr iptu re  that  would prove  that  it did belong   to me. The vers e sa ys , " My son, attend attend to my my word s.. ."  God's  Word does not belong to the  the  Jews  Jews  only. Thank   God, it belongs to all of Hi s peo ple.

He said , "M y son, attend to my wo rds ... " If your doctor gave gave you you a pres cript ion  that  read, "Take  three  capsules  three  times a day before meals," and you expected  that  to work for you you would would take it acco rdi ng to dir ec tio ns. In the vers e above God giv es us direc tion for taking His Hi s pre scr ipti on. He pr es cr ib es His Word Word for our health: "My words are  life  unto those  that find  them, and my words are health to all, or, they are healing to all their flesh."

The  latter  part  of the twenty-second ver se say s, "...and health (medicine) to al l of their fle sh." Medicine, in the nat ura l, would not help unl ess you took it. Ju st so ,  God's  Medicine is not going  to work simply because you have the   Bible  lay ing on the chest of drawer s in your home . It is not even going to work just bec aus e you have memo ri zed a few scr ip tu re s. It i s not going to work just bec ause you say , " I beli eve the   Bible  is so." It is not going to work just because you say, " I bel iev e in the ve rba l inspira tion of the Word of   God." But it  will  work if you  will get it down ins ide of you, into your   heart.  The way to do that  is not by believing it and for getting it, but by med ita ting upon it, by thinking upon it, by feeding upon it—until it bec omes a  part  of your inward man.

Jesus  said, "Man shall not   live by brea d alone, but by eve ry word   that  proceedeth out of the mouth of G od ." Her e He is using a natural human term to explain a spiritua l   truth.  He is  just si mp ly saying   that  what bread or food is to the outward man, the Word of God is to the inward man . In thi s scr ip tu re , He gi ves the d ire cti on for taking Hi s med ici ne. I think if we were to  give the  Bible  another name we could  call it  "God's  medicine." It is His Word. The dire ctio n for taking Hi s medi cin e are , " My son, attend to my wor ds. " What does He mean when He s ay s "attend to my w ord s?" Let me il lu st rat e: If I see a freind downtown and I say to him as he walks down the   street, "Wait a minut e, I want to talk to you," and he answ ers , "Oh   no, Brother  Hagin I can' t tal k," and he looks at his watch and sa ys , "I am alre ady l at e. I  have a busin ess appointment down the   street that  I must attend to." He does not mean to slight me , he li kes me , and he would like to talk and fellowsh ip with me, but   there  is some thing else  that  he has to put fir st. Ther e is something els e   that  he must  give  his undivided attention to . That is what G od mean s when He sa ys , "attend to. " He means PU T   MY WORD FIRST.  He expects us to  give  our undivided attention to His words.

belie ve God wants Hi s child ren to grow spir itu ally . Peter, through the  Holy  Spirit, said to "Desire  the sincere milk of the Word   that you may grow ther eby." God wants us to grow. God wants Hi s chi ldren to grow s piri tual ly and develop in their praye r   life,  and faith  life so they can stand on thei r own two feet. I do not believe He wants us to be spi rit ual babies al l  of our   lives. I

Several ye ar s ago, my wife and I were attending a   Bible  Conference. There I met a young woman I had previ ous ly past ored who sai d to me ,  "You  were my pastor for about a year, and as a teenag er I gra spe d somet hing. Yo u taught faith and heal ing, but now I do not under stand it. It l ooks to me like Ch ri st ia ns ought to grow spiri tua lly and should grow in faith and be able to  trust Go d more after being a Ch ri st ia n thir ty ye ar s than they could when they were youn ger. It is the other way around in our ch urc h. None of the older C hr is ti an s ever get heale d includi ng the pas tor . The o nly people who eve r get healed in our church are some of the young people." The point she was maki ng was th is : Ch ri st ia ns ought to grow and develop and the older they get the more they should be able to be lie ve Go d. They should have mor e faith and it should be easier for them to receive healing.

Then why don't the y? Be ca us e they have fail ed to put  God's  Word fir st . I would be conce rned if  I did not know about pray ing and i f I did not have more faith today than I had thirty ye ar s ago. I would gre atl y be conc erne d about myse lf. I would become fearful about what might happen to me. The Word of God say s, "L et eve ry man be swift to hea r, slow to speak, and slow to wr ath." Most of u s pr ac ti ce the oppos ite; we are slow to hear ; quick to speak, and quick to wrath. That is not what the Word says.

Another pass age sa ys , "Incline thine e ar. " If you are quick to hear, you are inclining your ea r. Incl ining to wh at? "T o my sayin gs" —to what God has to say . To open your ear s to hear

what  God's  Word says is to close them to what somebody else says. You  say,  "Well, I know, but I jus t do not unde rsta nd it. " Di d you know  that  God does not ask us to understand it ? Al l He asks us to do is belie ve it. Fr om the natural  standpoint,  you cannot  give  people  an explaination  of how  the new birth works or  how believing  on the  Lord Jesus Chr ist and receiving Him as Saviour and confessing Him as  Lord,  can result in your being born again.  Neither  can you  explain how the  Spirit  bears  witness  with your spirit that you  are a child of   God,  but thank God you know it!

rea d an ar ti cl e in a prominent maga zine some time ago written by a med ica l doctor on the subject of heal ing and heal th. He sai d, "In these days we are not clo si ng our e ar s to any kind of   he alin g. In fact, we have gone back in modern t ime to som e 'o ld wive s fab le s' and old Indian re med ies and h ave studied them in the lab ora tor y just to see how they work and we have discovered  that some of them are very benef icial for the physi cal body." I

He  said,  "Medical doc tors and sc ien tis ts ar e not opposed to divine hea ling . It is my ob  ligation to get ov er to the people whatever wo rks for the healing of the body. I have , and we "have, as sci enti sts , reputable proof of people being divine ly healed of eve ry known malad y. Hands  were la yed upon them and pr aye r was made over the m and som e of them were anointed with oil ." He continued, "Our only trouble is th is : we can take the Old Indian re me die s and put them under the micr os co pe and put them through different  tests  and we know just what is in them and ju st what mak es them work, but we cannot put divine heali ng through the  test to see what mak es it work. We know it works but we do not know what make s it work. If  we could  find out, we could shar e it with every one ." I 

can tell him what makes it work, it is faith in  God's  Word. Because faith comes by hearing and hear ing by the Word . When the Word gains entr ance into the  heart  and into the spi ri t, faith  will be  there automatically. You will  not have to seek, you  will  not have to search,  there will  be no effort necessary on your  part.  Faith  will  unconsci ously come into your spirit as you  feed upon and accept His Word. That is the clue,  that  is the secret. That was the secret in the healings that  J es us performed when He was on the eart h. Thank  God , we can walk with God and  trust  His Word and His Word can be more real to us today than it was last ye ar . We can lea rn to pra y mor e effe ctive ly this ye ar then we did las t ye ar . Our faith c an be gr ea ter thi s yea r than it was las t ye ar ; and God can be mor e re al to us today than He was last year. He will  if we do what His Word says, "My son, attend to my words."

We  no longer have to be spiritual babes depending on someone else to do our praying for us, or exercising faith for us. We can stand on our own two feet, even if we are the last Ohristian left  in the world. To sum mar ize , the ver se in Prover bs sa ys , "Attend to my word s." That means put  God's words first,  give Hi s Word your undivided attention. Second ly, it sa ys , "Inc line thine ea r unto my sayings*—"In cline thine ears"—open your ea rs to  God's  Word. Jesus sai d to the cent uria n, "G o thy way, and as thou  hast  believed, so be it done unto thee" and in the same hour the centurian's servant was healed.

The woman with the iss ue of blood came and touched Je s u s ' garme nt and He said , "Daughter thy faith  hast made thee whole. Go in peace and be made whole of thy pla gue ." J a r iu s had come on behalf of hi s lit tle daughter who was si ck and lay at home at the point of death and He  said to Jesus,  "Come and put thy hands on her  that  she may be healed." And as Jesus started  toward Jarius' house, this woman came and touched His garments. Then some individuals came from Ja ri us ' home and told Ja ri us , "Don't trouble the Mas ter

anymore, your lit tle daughter i s alrea dy dea d." What could be mor e hel ple ss and hopele ss than that? Je sus   turned to hi m and s aid to him , "Fe ar not, only bel ie ve. " "F ea r not, only believe!" And Je su s went Hi s way to   that  house and  that  little maiden was raised up and Healed. Matthew  9:27-29 te ll s about two bli nd men who ca me to Hi m. They had followed Him from Jarius' house, crying, "Thou Son of David, have mercy on us." And when He came into the house, the blind men came too and Je su s said to them,   "Believe ye  that  I am able to do this?" They said, "Yea, Lord." So He touched   their ey es , saying, "Ac cor di ng to your faith be it unto you." They left, being able to see. Faith  is the thing   that  makes divine healing work.   Medical  scientists have said, "We know it works becau se we have med ic al cas e hi sto rie s of indivi duals who have been heal ed." But, they do not know what makes it work. We know,—faith makes it work. You  cannot put divine healing   under  the microscope.   Medical  science  tries  to perceive it with the phy sic al se ns es . You cannot per cei ve God with your phy sic al se ns es . You cannot per cei ve the Word of God with your phy si cal s en se s. You cannot per cei ve faith with your physical sen ses . You can see the   results  of it after it works, but you cannot perceive faith with your ph ysi cal se ns es . Hebrews 11:1 sa ys , " Fai th is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not s een. " You cannot see fait h with the natural ey e.

Romans 10:17 te ll s us exa ctl y how faith c om es , " .. .b y hear ing, and heari ng by the Word of God." Fait h does not come by feel ing, it does not come by seei ng, it com es by hear ing. Hearing what? The Word of God! When my son K en was about twelve year s old , my wife and I were holding a re vi va l meeti ng One evening the telephone rang . It was   Ken's Ken was stayin g with my wif e's moth er. grandmother.

She  said, "Kenneth, what am I going to do with this   boy?" I 

said, "What is the matter?"

She sai d, "Ken has got the mump s. Hi s jaw is all swollen and he has a fev er. " She asked, "Do  you want me to take him to the doctor?" "Certainly not," I said, "There is no need of him having the mumps."

She  said,  "Well, he ha s cr ie d and cr ie d, and near ly worried me to death wanting me to   call you." I  asked

her to let me talk to him.

He  came to the phone and said, "Dad,   that  i s the only way I coul d get her to do anything. She  did not want to   call you and I knew if I cr ie d long enough and agg rav ate d her , she would call  you." I  said,

"Now, son, you do not have to have the mumps."

He  said, "I know   that, I told her al l she would have to do is   call you. and you would pray and God  would heal me." told him , "A s soon as we hang up we   will  pray and God  will  heal you. Put Grandma back on."  I then told her  that  we would pray and   that God would heal him. I

She  said,  "Well, I hope so." If we had been going on her faith we would not have made it, would  we? We  bed and had

hang up and prayed. She said later   that  after we had ca ll ed, Ken layed down ac ro ss the and went to sl ee p. Af ter about fo rty -fi ve min ute s, she woke hi m. He got up, stret ched, al l the sw elli ng was gone. She check ed hi s   temperature  and it was all gone. He has not any signs of mumps since   that  day.

Some think it i s natur al to have thos e childhood di se as es . That is not so . God say, "Incline thine ear to my say ing s." He al so said way back in the Old Testament , " I will take si cknes s away fr om the midst of you. " That means mumps too! He said , "...an d   there  will be no sick ness among y ou." Some think   that  prom ise is just for the  Jews.  It is not just for the  Jews! —it belongs to the people of   God.  It belongs to those who believe today. This  is the very thing   that defeat s us . Instead of liste ning and opening our ea rs to what God has to say , we lis ten to what everyone el se has to say . I learned a long tim e ago, unle ss a person give you the Word of God on it, you cannot even li ste n to what pre ach ers say . If   I had listened to several  Full  G ospe l prea cher s during my illn ess , I would be in my grav e. It is  pretty  easy to  fall back into the natu ral. Fo r   that  reason you will very seldom he a nn e tel l people what I thi nk. If I do not know, I will jus t say I do not know. I will te ll them what I know and then te ll them to do the ir own thinking. I te ll them what   God's  Word has to say on  the subject and   that is the thing   that  counts.  Good  men can give you natural advi ce and cause you to mi ss "out spi ri tua ll y. But God sa ys , "Incli ne'thi ne ear unto my sa yi ngs ." If you are going to li ste n to Go d, you have to   shut  other things out. We are not doing some things becau se we ^ant to do them but becaus e God said to . We must list en to what God says in His Word if we are going to enjoy the bl es si ngs   that  God has for us .

Li st en to what God has to sa y. Does He have anything t o's ay about "Incline thine ea r. " sickness?  Thank God He does. His Word says,   "Himself   (Jesus) took our infirmities and bare our si ck ne ss es whose ownself bar e our sins in Hi s own body on the   tree,  that  He being dead to si n sh al l l ive unto rig hte ousn ess by whose st ri pes you were heal ed." The Word als o says in  Acts 10:38, (Pet er speaking) " God anointed J es us of Naz are th with the  Holy Ghost and wit h power : who went about doing good, and healing al l   that  were oppressed of the devil..."   He called sickness Satanic oppression. Someone said to me , "Yo u forgot about J ob ; God made him si ck ." He did not—the devil made him si ck . The f ort y-s econ d chapter of Jo b te ll s how God turned his captiv ity. Job did not go through  life si ck and su ffer ing. The whole book of J o b , and al l   Bible  scholars agree, covers about nine mont hs. It c ould not have been over a year and it s ay s, "God turned J o b ' s captiv ity. " He  was in captivity to Satan, but thank   God,.God  turned his capt ivity and set him free . If you say you are like Job, you are going to'be healed because Job was healed. Pro ver bs 4:21 say s, " Le t my words not   depart from thine ey es .. .. " Here He says you are supposed to look as well as li st en . What does He say to look at? "My words ." You are supposed to look as well as listen.

If   you ar e looking at  God's  Word and  that  Word does not  depart  from your eyes, they are life and he alth and medi cine to al l your fl es h. Find the words on healin g, find the words on heal th, find what God says and look at it . Do not ever let it   depart  from before your eyes.  Do not look at anything else. If   the Word does not   depart from before your ey es , and the Word sa ys , "By whose ,str ipes you  were healed,"   (past tens e), you were heal ed! (I Pet er 2:24). Then, if   that  Word does not  depart from before your ey es , you ar e bound to see your sel f wel l! You are bound to see your sel f with what God sa ys belongs to you if Hi s Word does not   depart  from before your ey es . If you see your sel f si ck , if you see you rse lf getting wor se, if you see your self

being  operated on,  that Word ha s departed fro m your eye s. He sai d, "L et them (My Words) not  depart  from thine eyes...." When I was on the bed of affl ictio n thi s  truth  was the turning point in my own cas e for r e  ceiving heal ing for my body. It is a maz ing how the  Holy  Spirit, if He is your Teacher, can lead you in line with the Word bec aus e He is the Author of the Word. I had no ear thly teach er and I did not realize until afterward  that the  Holy  Spirit was leading and teaching me.

lay elev en months and I saw m ys el f dead. I went through it at leas t ten ti me s. When you are bedfast twenty-four hour s a day with nothing el se to do except  live  with your physical symptoms, you think a l ot. I saw myse lf gettin g wor se . I saw my se lf dead. In the nighttime, when al l the lig hts were out I was left alone with my thoughts, many time s, night after night, I  say myself dead. I

I saw my body dead. I saw the unde rta ker s come and take it down to the funeral home. I saw it pre pare d for bu ri al , I saw them put it in the cas ke t, I saw them bring it back out to the house . I saw them put in in the liv ing roo m I saw the fam ily gather around and cr y. I heard their te ar s. I heard the things they sai d. I saw them go to the se rv ic es . I saw them ro ll the cas ket down the a is le . I saw the pre ach er stand before the pulpit, I hear d hi s ser mon . I heard the song s they sung. I saw them go around the last time and look at me in the ca ske t. I  sawmy  face,  cold and white. I saw them r ol l  that  caske t down the ais le . I saw the pall bea rer s carry it and put it in the hearse.

saw them d ri ve down the highway and  turn  off and go on out to the old Forrest  Grove Cemetery. I could see it before we eve r got th er e. I could see the newly dug gr av e. I saw them come down and have the gra ves ide se rv ic e. I saw the fam ily leav e and go hom e. I saw the cas ket lowered into the gra ve and I hear d the clo ds as they  fell  on the lid. I saw them  fill it  full of   dirt,  mound it up and lay the flowers up on it. I saw those flowers die until they were al l  gone. I saw myself dead! I

saw the leaves on the  trees  finally wither and die until the  trees  stood bare. I saw the rain and the co ld and even the snowy winter co me . I saw the spr ing co me and hear d the bir ds sing. I saw the su mme rti me with the sun beating down upon the gr av e. I saw mys el f dead! I 

After readin g this v ers e of scr iptu re, "Le t them not  depart  irom before thine eyes...", somehow I knew thi s worke d. I did not under stand it. I had never hear d it pre ach ed. I was  jus t a boy, si xt ee n year s old at the tim e, but I knew it was  God's  Word. I knew  that  He said, "My words ar e med ici ne ." I knew He sai d it is health to al l fle sh . I knew it from the top of  my head to the s ol es of my feet .  Even  though  five  doctors had said  that  I would die, I began  to see myself well. Afterwards,  when  heart  attacks .would co me and I would seem to get worse , I would laugh—  just lau gh right in the fa ce .of i t. I would se e my se lf right in the fa ce of it  WELL. I 

would ask m ys el f what would I do if I were up. I said, "B le ss God, I would be pre ach ing ." So I ask ed for a tablet and penc il and  started  working up ser mon s. Final ly, I had a whole box of these se rm on s. And I saw mys elf well ! Do  not let His Word   depart from before your ey es . They are  life.  "Keep  them", He said, "in  the midst of thine  heart." That mean s at the ver y cor e of your being, in your spir it, in your inner man. The Ps al mi st sai d, "Thy word have I hid in my heart, oh  God,  that I  might not sin against thee."

What  are the results?  God's Word produces r esu lts . The vers e in Prover bs sa ys,"... they (Thy  Words) are  life  unto those  that  find them and they (Thy Words) are health (or medicine) to all their fle sh. " «