Prescription, Claim Promises, Follow Commands

We cannot claim God's promises if we have no interest in His commands. 

It is "America's other drug problem." The term for it is medical non-adherence. It's a serious issue as it leads to 125,000 deaths per year.

What is medical non-adherence? Medical non-adherence is the failure to follow prescriptions. Did you know that you are 10x more likely to die from making an error with your own medications than you are to die from homicide? If you are over 50, that number jumps to you being 30x. 

Read your prescription instructions and follow them!

Medically, healing comes from not just having pills, but from following the instructions on how and when to take them.

Jesus' Prescription for Leprosy

Jesus met ten lepers, and they asked for His healing. Jesus responded with an unusual prescription. 

He told them to, 

"Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed.

Luke 17:14

A visit to a priest sounds like an odd prescription for healing. But it was Biblical. 

In Leviticus 13 and 14, the Bible records 116 verses of material outlining God's instructions to Israel on how to deal with leprosy. The passage is extensive and detailed. 

When Jesus told the lepers to go to the priest, if they were familiar with Leviticus 13 and 14, they knew that they were in for an extended visit. But they did as Jesus said. The Bible indicates that healing happened before they even arrived. The healing took place, "as they went."

Their healing came out of obedience.

The Healing Power of Obedience

Many of the things we deal with in life would have been preventable had we been obedient to what the Bible says. 

Many of the things we deal with in life are curable, fixable, repairable, changeable if we are willing to do what the Bible says.  

We think prayer is a quick fix. That's a problem. 

We just want to be healed. We do not want to be made well.

The Bible promises great things. 

The Bible also asks us to do hard things.

We cannot claim God's promises if we have no interest in His commands. 

Healing is not just a magical answer to prayer. Healing is not merely freedom from physical sickness.

Healing is submitting to leadership.

Healing is confessing sin.

Healing is the community of faith gathering and believing.

Healing is repentance.

Healing is obedience.

These themes often converge in the Bible, but none better than in James 5:13-20. Check it out.

Failing to follow your prescriptions can kill you. Doing what the doctor says brings benefits.

Doing what God says brings blessings. True healing comes from the fruit of a consistently believing and obedient life. Biblical obedience keeps us from bringing undue harm to ourselves and others as it establishes a holy way of living. 

Let's not only be interested in what God can do. Let's also be diligent in doing what God says. Follow His prescription!

Bible Study

Read James 5:13-20.

• List the promises in this passage.
• What do you learn about prayer from this passage?
• What principles can you apply from this passage?

Challenge

Find a strong believer in Christ who you have long fellowship with. If you are a man, meet with another man. If a woman, meet with another woman. Set up a time to get together and agree beforehand that you will have a confessional conversation together. Discuss some things that need to be confessed. Don't just tell one another what you think about the issue, but search the Scriptures together for answers. Pray with and for one another.