23 Jan 09 (Week 1 on the theme "Standing on God's Word")

God's Medicine Bottle (Derek Prince)
Wan Chung

Recently, Michael gave me a book called "God's Medicine Bottle" by Derek Prince. Some of you may have heard of this book before. When I received it, little did I know that it's going to impact me in a rather significant way. Derek writes with such powerful simplicity and exhorts us not to be double-minded as we read God's Word but to take it as meaning exactly what it says.

The whole book is written based on Proverbs 4:20-22. Herein lies a whole treatise of what standing on God's Word is about. In a moment of inspiration, and through a quick round of confirmation amongst some of us last evening, we all agreed to move on to our new theme "Standing on God's Word". Michael will lead us into this new theme next Friday.

The following are some of the key ideas in this wonderful little book. A detailed summary of my sharing is also provided below. The best thing would still be to get yourself a copy of this book and be blessed!

a. God’s Word works in us insofar as we receive it. If we don’t receive it, it doesn’t do us any good.

b. God is bigger than all our understanding and prejudices. Don’t make God so small that He can’t help you.

c. If your eyes are simple or sincere, you see things the way they are. This is just the way to read God's Word and take it simply as it says.

d. Keep God’s Words in the central place of your life and personality. They are going to affect the whole way you live. (Amazing!)
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Proverbs 4:20-22
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.

1. Attend to my words.

· Firstly, reading God's Word requires our ‘Undivided Attention’
· People nowadays suffer from a disease called undivided attention. (mass media of today pervades our time and space)
· It’s important what we listen to as well as how.
· Mark 4:24 – Take heed what you hear
· Luke 8:18 – Take heed how you hear
· Exodus 15:26 – If you will diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God,…
· Diligently heed, in Hebrew, is to ‘listen listeningly’
· What does it mean to ‘listeningly listen’ – to listen to God with both ears, not one to God and another to something else (worldly influence)
· Consider the interesting Chinese Character “to listen”. (Just google "Chinese Character to Listen" through the Google 'Images' search engine)
· Primary instruction on God’s Medicine Bottle is to give God undivided attention – it matters what we hear and how we hear. Listen to the Word until we hear God.
· Hearing is key to receiving not just Biblical Healing but Faith as well.
· Romans 10:17 - Faith cometh by hearing (Derek earlier felt he didn’t have faith). Doesn’t matter. Faith cometh when we hear the Word of God.

2. Incline thine ear

· “Incline” – Old English. Means to bend down. Incline is a hill that slopes down.
· Fact of the human body is that we cannot bend ear without bending head down.
· This means Humility and Teachability.
· Derek felt God’s promises were too good to be true. (pg 31) Derek had a deep-seated belief that being Christian is equated with a miserable life.
· Until God asked him “Who is the pupil and who is the teacher?”
· He wasn’t letting God teach him. His preconceptions were in the way.
· Incline thine ear – means to give up our prejudices, bend that stiff neck of ours, and He will show us how good He is and how wonderful is the provision He has made for us.
· God’s word works in us insofar as we receive it. If we don’t receive it, it doesn’t do us any good.
· Lay aside naughtiness. Don’t answer God back. Let Him teach you.
· Essence of the inclined ear – God you are the teacher, I am the pupil. I am willing to let you teach me. I bow down my ear and listen.
· God is bigger than all our understanding and prejudices. Don’t make God so small that He can’t help you. Incline your ear and let him tell you how much He’s willing to do for you.

3. Let them not depart from thine eyes

· Key thought – “focus”
· Unique about humans – we have 2 eyes, but when we focus we can form 1 image
· Incorrect focus produces blurred vision.
· This is the problem with many in the spiritual realm – not yet learnt to focus their spiritual eyesight, so their vision of spiritual things is blurred.
· Most people have impression that the spiritual world is misty, half-real, vague, unformed.
· Luke 11:34 – The light of the body is the eye, therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body is full of light; when thy eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
· ‘When thine eye is single’ – we form a single focus or image. Not looking in 2 directions
· Beautiful Promise – Thy whole body is full of light. Body full of light does not have room for sickness. Health comes from light – Malachi 4:2 – But unto you that fear my name, shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healings in his wings.
· “Single” in Greek means “Simple” or “Sincere”. If your eyes are simple or sincere, you see things the way they are.
· Barriers to simplicity and sincerity – rationalization and sophistication.
· Derek – I could be clever and stay sick or I could be simple and get healed.
· He was glad that he became simple enough to get healed.
· 1 Cor 1:25 – The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is wiser than men.
· Have a single, simple eye. Read the bible as it is, and take it as meaning what it says.

4. Keep them in the midst of thine heart

· A key principle of education states that there’s something called a ear gate and an eye gate. Need to engage students through both gates, then it will get into their hearts. When it gets into their hearts, positive results will follow. (God anticipated the psychology of modern education!)
· When you take medicine, if doesn’t get into bloodstream, then it’s not going to do what it’s supposed to do.
· The previous 3 directions have to do with getting the medicine to where it will do what it promised – the HEART.
· Prov 4:23. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
· What you have in your heart will determine all that you experience in life. If you have the right thing in your heart, your life will go right. If you have the wrong thing in your heart, your life will go wrong.
· Keep God’s Words in the central place of your life and personality. They are going to affect the whole way you live.
· Hebrews 4:12 – God’s Word penetrates. It can penetrate into every illness and every problem you face – where doctors, psychiatrists do not have the solution, God’s Word will get there.

CONCLUSION
What is important is that we take God’s Word the way He Himself requires that we take it.

1. We must take it with our undivided attention and with a humble/teachable attitude.
2. We must lay down our barriers of prejudice and preconception.
3. Look at God’s Word with a single, sincere wholehearted eye.

We do not want to quibble, we do not want to theorise too much. We must take God’s Word as meaning what it says. We must lay down the barriers of rationalization and sophistication, and then we can let it (God’s Word) enter and do its work.