“Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.”Proverbs 3:7-8 NLT
“So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.”
Exodus 23:25 NKJV
There are two very important takeaways from those verses as it pertains to walking in divine health. 1. Fear the Lord. 2. Serve the Lord. (You mean there are no hurdles to jump over, no special diet regimen to follow? That’s it!?) Yup. But we all suck at doing those two simple things at times. But that’s God’s program for walking in divine health.
Our best diet plans and boasting of our exercise programs will never give us divine health. We may be “healthy” but we’re not protected. The way to have both health and well-being begins by admitting we don’t have the full picture and we do not possess all wisdom in that area. Knowledge puffs up and boasts of what it knows, but the fear of the Lord gives pure wisdom in all things. What we may consider an excellent diet may be the very thing that is destroying us physically.
Think of all the major diet options being sold today. They all say they’re good for us. Keto, mediterranean,vegan, atkins, low fat/salt/sugar diets. I’m sure I’ve missed a few. But none of these can promise what reverencing (fearing) and serving the Lord produces in our lives. One diet builds one area and destroys another. Not so with what the Lord is offering to those who belong to Him.
Health to our flesh, no diseases. Strength to our bones, no osteoporosis or poor bone density. The food we eat no matter how it is farmed or produced Will not harm us because the Lord Himself will bless that which we have no control over how it’s processed, and remove its ability to harm us physically. Does this mean we can load up on McDonalds and Burger King as our daily diet with a bottle of Diet Coke and not get diabetes? Absolutely Not! We have the wisdom of God to help us make wise choices in our dietary habits as well as the discipline to do some form of exercise and help maintain what the Lord has wrought in us.
Reverence and service to the Lord brings His super alongside our natural, to receive the blessings mentioned in those two verses. It requires that we walk in obedience to His Word. People who boast of good health without the fear of the Lord or service to Him, live with a fear of losing what they’ve labored to produce in the flesh. Believers in Jesus Christ have a different approach. We acknowledge that our health and wellness is from Him alone. Our human efforts cannot produce divine health. He’s our health, He’s our life, He’s our sustainer, He’s our wealth, He’s the very foundation and fabric of our total wholeness.
He specifically said it’s fearing Him that gives us health and strength. And that in serving Him our bread and water is blessed, and that HE WILL take sickness from the midst of us. I take communion every day. I also make this good confession: I’ll never be sick a day in my life because by His stripes I was healed-Isaiah 53:5 I also remember His benefits of Psalm 103:1-5. His Word is medicine to my flesh. His Spirit brings the manifestation to my confession. If I come under attack in my body I never speak the symptoms I speak the Word. As a matter of fact I declare I’m not sick. It's an opportunity to speak of His faithfulness. Ask my family, I don’t hold sickness, I resist it. I go against it with every fiber of my being. And it doesn’t hang around. The Word coupled with my reverence and service to the Lord, brings His results to my situation. It’s the same way in my daughter’s life. I’ve raised her to reject sickness having dominion over her life.
The same applies to poverty and lack. If the Lord says He gives us power to gain wealth, and teaches our hands to profit, then we need to get His mind on the situation and find out how to tap into His divine supply. If you’re sick in your body today-Watch your confession. Death and life is in your tongue. Are you reverencing and serving Him? Then His Word is supposed to work in your life. Our problem is, we don’t believe what we say when we’re going through the storm. We have a mixture of faith and doubt in our confession. We tend to repeat what the doctor says and the diagnosis more than the promises of God. Lookit! He said it -I didn’t! He is obligated to every Word He speaks. But He is not obligated to doubt, unbelief, irreverence or Sunday-only christians.
He said “I Am the Lord, I change not!” He says “I will not alter or change the Words I’ve spoken from my lips.” He says He watches over His Word to perform it. He says, “My Word will not return to Me void.” He says, “I’m not a man, I don’t lie!” He said all this and more. Go google it if you don’t know where to find these verses and meditate on their truths.
Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established;
II Chronicles 20:20b NKJV
Listen to me. When you take those prescription drugs, Confess that they’re not your healer-Jesus Christ is? When symptoms present themselves, deny their right to remain in your body. You own what you give thought and saying to. Once you say it, you own it. Jesus said; take no thought saying. When Covid came to my body I told it what the Lord told me in Luke 10:19: Nothing, shall by any means hurt me. I refused to give it my attention. I Went about my routine. In less than twenty four hours it was gone! Taking all its side effects with it. Reverence and serve Him, believe and confess His Word, don’t waffle don’t waver, and He will do what He’s promised. Proverbs 3:5-6 comes to mind.
The secret is no more secret. Proverbs 3 says His secret counsel is with the upright. The requirements are doable. All that is required is our willingness to do what He has asked. He will always come through. He may stretch us a little, even delay His intervention as with Lazarus. But He still raises the dead. What did He say to Martha? “Didn’t I say if you would believe you’d see the glory of God?” He’s saying the same thing to us. Did He not raise Lazarus? Divine health to all your flesh and strength to your bones. Such a deal. Simply by reverencing Him, departing from evil, and serving Him. Nothing spells evil like unbelief, pride and arrogance. O taste and see that the Lord is good!
“My son/daughter, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.”
Proverbs 4:20-23 NKJV
Sound words for a healthy life. Guard your ears, eyes, heart with the Truth of scripture. All that’s needed is our participation. He’ll make good on every promise.
Written by permission of the Holy Spirit
W. Tennant
January 11, 2022