BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

3 0 : B V O V those that find them, and health to all their flesh" (verses 20–22). The Hebrew word translated health there can also be translated medicine. So I call these verses "God's prescription for divine healing." But like any other prescription, it won't do you any good just sitting on your bedside table unopened. For the medicine of God's WORD to become life and health to you, you must get it into your system. You must attend to it by giving it time and attention; submit to, or agree with it; keep it in your ears; and keep it before your eyes. One time, I inadvertently let that last instruction slip. The devil had attacked my body with some alarming symptoms, and instead of opening my Bible and reading them, I just started declaring them. When the symptoms not only persisted but became worse, I finally said, "LORD, I know You can't miss it so the problem must be with me. Where am I'm missing it?" Immediately, He spoke to my heart. In a voice so loud it seemed almost audible, He reminded me of Proverbs 4:22 and said, You're quoting all your healing scriptures by memory. The memory of a potato never nourished anybody. You can remember exactly what it tastes like and how you enjoyed it, but for a potato to do you any good you have to put it in the system. As He went on to explain, the same is true with The WORD. For it to nourish us spiritually we must have a steady diet of it. We must put it into our system by keeping it in our ears and not letting it depart from before our eyes. One way you keep the scriptures about healing before your eyes is by reading them regularly. Another way you do it is by seeing yourself in the light of what they say about you. You look at the verses that say you're healed and see yourself healed. You don't do it just every once in a while, either. You make living according to God's prescription for divine health a lifestyle. As Proverbs 4:23 says, you "keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life" (New King James Version). The Hebrew word translated issues can also be translated forces. Divine healing is one of the forces of life, and it isn't outside you somewhere. You don't have to go someplace else to get it. It's inside you, in your heart, ready to be released by faith into your physical body. "Brother Copeland, are you saying I shouldn't ever go to the doctor?" Certainly not. I thank God for doctors! What I'm saying is the Great Physician is still in business, and you need to go to Him first because He can do what medical science can't. That's why one time a very good friend of mine who is a doctor himself called me after his wife was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She was in the hospital and he wanted me to pray for her and anoint her with oil before they operated on her. When I arrived, she was already being prepped for surgery. I prayed and anointed her, and after they wheeled her away, I sat with her husband in the waiting room and we prayed in tongues. (That's the kind of doctor you want, the praying-in-tongues kind!) When the operation was over, the surgeon came out to talk to us with a concerned look on his face. "When I got in there," he said, "I found a dent in her brain where the tumor had been, but the tumor itself was gone." God's medicine works! It doesn't matter how old you are. It will work for you whether you're 30 or 90. Don't wait till you're 90 to start taking it, though. Begin now. Start living according to God's prescription for divine health and stick with it. It will add to you "length of days and years of a life [worth living] and tranquility [inward and outward and continuing through old age till death]" (Proverbs 3:2, Amplified Bible, Classic Edition). It will enable you to live by faith on this earth until you've finished your race and then take off for heaven shouting, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?...Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:54-55, 57). God's medicine works! It doesn't matter how old you are. It will work for you whether you're 30 or 90."

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