Basics of Healing - Part 9 - Healing School - Pastor Philip Steele - September 15th, 2026

Hi, my name is Michelle Steele.

Dr.

Philip and I want to thank you for listening to this message from Life of Faith First.

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And um This is now the ninth part of this.

And um last week we talked about God will speed up the healing process.

And today we want to deal with this uh topic of seek the wisdom of God first.

Uh seek the wisdom of God first.

There are some things I've been thinking about years ago, decades ago.

Um course we started we were greatly impacted by Brother Copeland's ministry.

Um and some of the things that impacted me the most uh concerning his ministry, I think I think the first thing that it just revolutionized, transformed my life was the fact that he was so matter-of-fact about everything.

There was no there was no questions.

You you never went away from his messages thinking, well, we don't know why God.

Or we don't know how.

It was this is what the word says, that's what we believe.

And he taught so strongly about uh laws, that there are spiritual laws that govern everything, and uh both spiritual and natural.

Now here's here's the thing is when I was hearing that, I also knew something.

I've got a choice.

Right?

I can believe that for for instance the law of words, people will say the law of words, and they say, Yes, what I say, I'll have what I say.

And then all day long they talk about I don't know, I don't understand, I can't figure out.

But yet they say they believe that there's the law of words, but they're setting a law in motion, they're they're setting themselves up not to know because they're using that law.

And so, and that's just uh uh uh elementary example, but the thing is, what impacted me was I begin to look at the word and I begin to see, okay, this is spiritual law.

Right?

You can't this works every time, right?

Or or I can't work against this and expect things to turn out the way that they should turn.

Um, so it just impacted my life.

It it totally transformed my thinking.

Then one of the second things, I say the second, I don't know that it was the exact second, but another thing, was I heard him make a statement, and this has been 30 years ago, probably, and he said, every problem you have is a wisdom problem.

Every problem you have is a wisdom problem.

And I just had to think about that.

And you know, when it comes to divine healing, well, there are laws that govern divine healing.

I mean, if if there were not, then it would be just as simple as praying for everybody, and everybody would get healed.

But when you when you look at the word of God and you look at other things, I remember one time, Brother Hagin, uh, a man, actually that had worked for him.

And uh when he was 39 years old, I think he just sort of mysteriously went into a coma, lapsed into a coma.

And uh they called him, of course, to come pray for him.

He went up to the hospital and was going to pray for him.

And he said, as I put my hand on his head, the Lord said, uh, no, don't pray.

And he said, Well, you know, Lord, why?

And he said, Because laws have been set in motion that cannot be changed at this time.

And so, you know, you would think, well, of course he can pray.

But the man did pass away, and his brother came to the funeral, twin brother.

And uh, well, they weren't no, excuse me, they weren't twins.

They looked like twins, but they weren't twins.

Anyway, he said, you know, he was 39 when he died.

He said he had said since he was 12 years old, I'll never live to see 40.

I'll never live to see 40.

Now that's you know that's challenging, but here's the thing: his words set a law in motion, and it could not be changed.

But here's a man with the healing anointing, sees numerous people healed, but there's a law working, right?

That cannot be overcome.

Why?

Because he had said, I'll never live to see 40, lapsed into a coma.

He couldn't take those words back, he couldn't cancel them out, right?

I can't, I cannot change with the healing anointing what a person consistently confesses they have.

See, it will not work because healing is a law.

But the the higher law is what you say about you.

All right?

So if if you're talking health, if you're talking healing, if you're talking more uh uh uh uh freedom from sickness and these different things, then it's easy for the healing anointing to get in there and work in concert with what you are declaring.

All right?

And that's that's why sometimes in healing people make mistakes because you got to understand something.

With every healing, and this is not what I'm teaching on, but I feel like I need to say it.

In every instance of healing, faith is involved.

All right, there are people that are not healed because they just don't know.

They just don't have faith.

Right?

And they don't have faith for one of two reasons.

They've never been taught what the word of God says, or they just refuse to believe it.

Right?

Well, you can build their faith, you can strengthen their faith, but you can't overcome it.

Does that make sense?

If a person will not believe, the healing anointing cannot overcome their unbelief.

If a person doesn't know, right, and they won't believe because they don't know.

Right?

Remember the man with the son?

He said, Lord, I do believe.

I believe you can do it.

And where I where I'm not believing, help me.

Right?

He didn't know.

And so what we got to understand is there are laws that govern it.

One of the laws that govern divine healing is this seek the wisdom of God first.

Seek the wisdom of God first in Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 5.

Proverbs 4 · chapter mention

He says, Get wisdom, get understanding, do not forget it, neither decline from the words of my mouth.

Forsake her not, and she will preserve you.

Love her, and she shall keep you.

Wisdom is the principal thing.

And we're gonna read more in that verse, but principal thing meaning preeminent, first, most important.

Wisdom is the first thing.

Then he says, Therefore, get wisdom.

And with all of your getting, get understanding.

So get wisdom, get understanding.

Why wisdom is the principal thing.

And so every problem that a person is facing is a wisdom problem.

And seeking the wisdom of God is a spiritual law.

It's the first place to start.

Hallelujah.

And as I said, it's one of the laws that govern healing.

Now, the wisdom of God can come through different avenues.

The primary source, one of the primary sources, is the word of God.

Obviously, all the way through the book of Proverbs, all the way through the Word, it calls the Word of God the wisdom of God.

So the wisdom of God can come through the Word of God.

It can come through the inner witness in your spirit.

Your inner the inner witness.

He would say, you know, I hadn't been sick, and and he would name ever how many years.

And uh then he would go to the Lord and he'd say, Now, Lord, where did I miss it?

Or where am I missing it?

Now, see, people over the years have used that, his teaching, to say, well, then if you're sick, you're missing it somewhere, or you're in sin, or something like that.

That was not his intent.

His intent was that's not to say that every person six missed it.

It's to say he would immediately look for the wisdom of God.

Right, right, because in his mind, I shouldn't be sick.

So there's a lack of wisdom here somewhere.

And I need you to tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Or if, or tell me what it what needs to change.

But the point is, there's no substitute for just getting quiet and looking on the inside for the wisdom of God.

All right?

I'll talk to people and they'll say, I've been to this doctor, I've been to that doctor, I've been to this doctor, and they can't help me.

Well, have you just got quiet and looked on the inside?

Because that's where the Holy Spirit's at.

Right?

See, this is the challenge that a lot of people face.

Is they're hearing a lot of voices, but are they hearing the voice?

Well, this is your problem, and that's your problem, and this is your problem, and this is the problem, and this is the issue.

What's the Holy Spirit saying?

What is the wisdom of God saying the issue is?

Because he said the key, and I'll show you some more things about wisdom in a moment.

He says it's the principal thing.

Hallelujah.

I've talked to people before, and and uh they would tell me the diagnosis, and just right here, I would, I would just right here, I would sense they don't have that.

Now it's not my place to tell people that.

I'm not a medical professional, I'm I'm their pastor or a minister.

But right here, I just I just because I don't answer quickly.

When somebody calls and says, I went to the doctor and they said I have this, I don't just start confessing scriptures, I stop and listen.

Right?

Because I'm dealing with somebody's life here.

This is this is not just right, this is this is not a game.

And so I stop and listen, and I've had the Lord say, they don't have that.

They don't have that.

And I've told people, you know, I don't I don't think you have it.

Now that's just, you know, you can say that's my opinion or whatever, but if you're asking me what I'm sensing, I don't think that's correct.

Amen.

Well, where'd that come from?

I don't just say that, it came from the wisdom of God.

Now that person then has to take that and and decide if they believe that's from God or not.

Right?

They have to make that decision.

But here's the point there's no substitute for just getting quiet and looking on the inside for the wisdom of God.

I've known people before that went and the and the doctor gave them a terminal diagnosis and they just stopped and and and got quiet.

Said, now Lord, is that right?

Do I have to die with that?

Now, see, immediately a lot of people would start just quoting, uh-uh, I'll not die, but I'll live.

Now hang on.

I understand what you're doing, and I believe you should do that.

But you got to stop.

Don't just start machine gunning scriptures.

Go here.

Go inside first.

Right?

What do I need to say?

You know, Pastor Nancy Dufresne says this all the time.

She says, you know, when you need something specific from the Lord, not just any scripture will do.

You you gotta hear what, right?

If if I'm believing God for a certain thing in my body, healing in my body, well, I'm not focused on scriptures about abundance.

I'm focused on what does the word say about what I'm dealing with.

Amen.

And you're you're better off to have one scripture that is right in the wheelhouse of what you're believing than to try to out to try to outdistance that thing by just speaking a lot.

It's not the abundance of your confession, it's the power of your confession.

Because you can have an abundance of confession with no power.

And so what I've got to do is sit back and find out what do I need.

I'll give you an example from today, and I won't go into everything that we're we're talking about.

My wife and I were talking about something yesterday, and uh some things that the Lord was dealing with us to do.

And here's the thing is as I'm meditating on that and I'm seeking the Lord and I'm just getting quiet, eventually something will float up in my spirit.

Uh uh a verse, go here, read this, whatever the case may be.

Well, I've been reading along a certain uh area uh most days, and I went over there today, and and I've read the scripture before, but as I went across those two verses, different things begin to show up, and the Holy Spirit said, There's the answer.

Right?

Well, I I here's here's the thing is I didn't allow a lot of other voices to muddy the water.

I need wisdom's voice.

I don't need to know what you think.

I need to, I don't need to know what the doctor thinks.

I need to know what wisdom says.

Right?

Hallelujah.

Look at Proverbs 3 and verse 13.

Happy is the man that finds wisdom.

And Pastor Caldwell says that's his verse.

Happy is the man that finds wisdom, and the man that gets understanding.

Now this is important because other than that being Pastor's verse, it says, if you find wisdom and understanding, you'll be happy.

I don't know anybody that's happy sick.

I just don't know them.

And so here's the thing if I find wisdom and understanding, I'll get happy.

Well, that would mean I'll be well.

Right?

He said, for the merchandise of it, of what?

Wisdom is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain of wisdom is more than fine gold.

She wisdom is more precious than rubies, and all the things you can desire are not to be compared to wisdom.

Verse 16, length of days is in the right hand of wisdom, and in her left hand, riches and honor.

Hallelujah.

One translation says, with her right hand, wisdom offers long life.

With her right hand, wisdom offers long life.

Another says, she offers you long life in her right hand.

Another says, the Young's literal says, length of days is in her right hand.

So godly wisdom does what?

It produces long life, joy, and peace.

Godly wisdom.

And so the secret to a long life is to get wisdom.

You know, sometimes you hear just things that are just absolutely ridiculous.

I don't know if you ever hear ridiculous things.

But I saw a guy one time, they were interviewing him, and he was like 101, 102, something like that.

And they said, uh, uh, you know what's the secret to long life?

And his secret to long life was a shot of bourbon and a good cigar every day.

That's stupid.

That's just ridiculous.

That's not the secret to long life, right?

According to these verses, godly wisdom produces long life and joy and peace.

Right?

Godly wisdom produces long life and joy and peace.

And so I get the wisdom and I get the long life.

I get the wisdom and I get the joy and the peace.

Amen.

Do you see this?

And uh this this is important, you know, and and I and I'm using these references because maybe you've heard them, maybe you haven't.

I remember being at a minister's conference at KCM some years ago now, and Brother Copeland was talking about when he started getting healthy.

You know, when Brother Copeland got into the ministry, he only stands about maybe 5'8, 5'9.

He's he's a short guy.

And he weighed 267 pounds.

267 pounds.

And so what he did to start that journey, he went on a 40-day fast and didn't need anything.

And so you you can lose a lot of weight in 40 days.

And the guy that that was tailoring his clothes, uh, he kept taking his pants up and taking his pants up.

He didn't have any money for a new suit.

And the man finally came and said, if I take these up one more time, you're just gonna have one big pocket back there.

You're not gonna have two pockets, just one big one.

Well, here's the thing.

And so he said, now this is something he said publicly.

I'm not I'm not putting words in his mouth.

He made this statement.

He said, Health and weight was something I always fought.

Right?

He said, I'd go get a fresh baked loaf of bread and I'd just poke a hole in it and stick a stick of butter in the hole and just eat it.

Right?

Now, well, well, here's the thing.

So what did he not have?

He didn't have wisdom.

He didn't have wisdom.

And he was talking in the ministers' conference, and he said, the Lord, years ago, now this was listen, decades ago, years ago, he said, the Lord started talking to me, and he said, I want you to get on the treadmill and keep walking till I tell you to stop.

What was that?

Wisdom.

What did he not do?

Get on the treadmill and keep walking.

Right?

He wasn't taking care of his body.

There was no wisdom there.

You know, I come from the generation of ministers that here's what they said.

I'd rather wear out than rust out.

And they all did.

They all wore out because they didn't use no wisdom.

See, it doesn't matter how great a revelation you have if you die too young to get it across to people.

This is important.

And so the reason I'm telling you this is the Lord would say, This is what you need to do.

And there were a couple things that would go on there.

He said, I would go to the gym, and the whole time I was going, I'd say, Oh, I hate this.

Oh, I just hate this.

I hate doing this.

And the Lord talked to him.

And the Lord said, You're hating my wisdom.

Right?

And he had gone through all those physical things, and the disc in his back blew out, and all these other things.

And he's been through a lot of physical stuff now.

But here's the thing: if he had not taken the wisdom of God to heart like he did over the last 10 or 12 years, what he went through recently would have been the end.

It would have been the end because he just couldn't have put up with it.

But he was healthy enough to deal with it.

Does that make sense?

But what was the Lord telling him when he said, Get on the treadmill and walk till I tell you to stop?

The wisdom of God.

Wisdom of God.

Right?

This is so important.

Godly wisdom produces long life and joy and peace.

Look here at Proverbs 3 and verse 18.

It says, concerning wisdom, she is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is everyone that retaineth her.

One translation says, wisdom is like a life-giving tree to those that hold on to her.

The expanded Bible says, as a tree produces fruit, wisdom gives life to those who use it.

Notice to those who use it.

Wisdom gives life to those who use it.

And then another translation says, wisdom is like a tree whose fruit gives life to those who hold on to it.

And so I've got to get the wisdom and then I've got to hold on to the wisdom.

See, healing is not a quick fix.

Healing is not just, I want to be better.

Healing goes to the core of the issue and removes it.

And so wisdom does not only tell you what you may be dealing with, it tells you how to deal with it.

The direction that you need to go.

Amen.

So he says again and again the life to those who hold on to it, to those who use it.

So to violate wisdom is to inhibit health and healing.

If I violate wisdom, it inhibits health and healing.

I've told over and over again about the Lord having those issues in my body, and the Lord kept pointing that one food item out to me and saying, don't eat that.

Right?

Well, as long as I insisted on eating it, I was inhibiting health and healing.

It's just the reality of it.

You know, from time to time, I'll still see people in their car or walking down the street smoking a cigarette.

And I think with all the knowledge that we have about how could anyone light up a cigarette and smoke it?

Because they're not listening to wisdom.

Right?

Well, it's the same way with anything.

And I'm not going to get into what people eat and how they do, that's not my business.

But here's the point.

If I know, if the wisdom is saying, that is something, now, not just the Lord spoke to me, that is something that I should not partake of.

Right?

It's just evident.

The studies have proven I don't need to be eating that.

Though that's wisdom.

Right?

That's wisdom.

When you take into consideration that the statistics are that somewhere around 80% of chronic illness is food related.

80% of chronic illness.

In other words, just things that people are dealing with consistently.

It's food related.

Hallelujah.

And now here's why I'm saying that.

And so some some some the Lord will speak to somebody and say, take this out of your diet.

Well, I don't understand.

How can that be whatever the problem is?

That's the wisdom of God.

Is that right?

Amen.

Thank you, Lord.

So it's life to those that hold on to it.

To violate wisdom is to inhibit health and healing.

In Ecclesiastes chapter seven.

It says in verse twelve, for wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense, but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to them that have it.

The excellency of knowledge.

The advantage of wisdom, one translation says, is it gives life to those who have it.

Another says, but wisdom is better than money because it can save a person's life.

Wisdom is better than money because it can save a person's life.

Another translation says, wisdom restores life to its possessor.

And so everywhere a person finds themselves in their health, wisdom can restore health.

And so that does not take away from the supernatural.

We'll show a couple instances here in a moment.

That doesn't take away from the supernatural.

God's the healer.

But here's the thing.

If I'm doing something to inhibit health, if I'm doing something to inhibit it, you know, I've talked to people over the years and they would say, uh, you know, whatever you name the disease.

What I've mainly dealt with is like sugar diabetes and things of that nature.

And you'd talk to that person and they would sit down and eat a big old piece of pie saying, I don't need this, then why are you eating it?

If you know you don't need it, why are you eating it?

And and my wife used to say this to me.

She said, Philip, you can't hold everybody else to your standards.

And I can't.

I mean, I right, I can't do that.

And so what I mean by that is if I determine that something's not right for me, it's gone.

It's it's I'm not going back to it.

It's just that's just how it is.

Hallelujah.

My wife gave me a Reese's yesterday, and her and Denise were laughing at me because I don't eat sugar.

I'm still trying to determine if that's going to be on the uh report, you know, the employee evaluation this year.

Anyway, hallelujah.

I I determined a long time ago I don't need sugar.

So I don't need it.

Now, I don't tell you what to do, but here's my point in saying all this wisdom keeps the owners of it alive.

If I know I don't need something, why do I want to put it in my body?

Wisdom is crying, don't do that.

Right?

Ever what it may be.

Hallelujah.

So wisdom gives life, wisdom saves life, and wisdom keeps life.

Wisdom gives life, wisdom saves life, and wisdom keeps life.

I think most of us in here are probably old enough to remember when they mandated seatbelt use.

Right?

Now I don't know how many of you thought, dear Lord, we're turning into a communist nation.

They're making us wear our seat belts.

Right?

But eventually we saw the wisdom of it.

Right?

And now we just get in and put them on.

And we think, hey, put on your seatbelt.

We tell our kids what?

Put your seatbelt on.

Right?

I won't drive, I won't leave until everybody has their seatbelt on.

Well, that's just wisdom.

It's just just wisdom.

They save lives.

But in the beginning, people were like, oh my goodness, why would we want to do that?

Why do I got to put my seatbelt?

It's a violation of my personal rights.

And I get it.

I mean, how people could think that way, but here's the thing: wisdom gives life.

Wisdom saves life, wisdom keeps life.

We talked about cigarette smoking earlier.

I saw a statistic one time that no matter how long a person has been smoking, if they will just stop and not do it anymore, their health starts springing back.

Right?

Why?

Because wisdom, it makes sense.

If you're not polluting your body anymore with carbon monoxide and smoke, you're going to get better.

Is that right?

So wisdom very often will say, don't do this, take this out, or whatever the case may be.

Wisdom can also see when a person, there's something revealed to them by the Holy Spirit.

That's wisdom.

Maybe the Holy Spirit, I've had people say, you know, well, the Lord revealed to me that I had offense against this person.

That's the wisdom of God.

Repent, ask him to forgive you, right?

What will happen?

Health will spring forth speedily.

Because that's the wisdom of God.

Amen.

2 Chronicles 16.

Am I helping you today?

2 Chronicles 16 and verse 12.

And this is a reference to King Asa.

And remember, Asa was a godly king.

He had some problems, but he fixed them.

But it says in verse 12, and Asa in the 39th year of his reign was diseased in his feet until his disease was exceeding great.

Yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but to the physicians.

To the physicians.

Now, there's a couple things to see here.

Let me read you some other translations first.

In the 39th year of his reign, Asa developed a serious foot disease, new living.

Yet even with the severity of his disease, he did not seek the Lord's help, but turned only, notice the word, to his physicians.

The CSB says, in the 39th year of his reign, Asa developed a disease in his feet, and the disease became increasingly severe, yet even in his disease he didn't seek the Lord, but only the physicians.

Young's literal says, and also in his disease, he has not sought Jehovah, but among physicians.

Now there have been groups over the years that said, well, the reason that you know he died was he went to the doctor.

No, that's not what it says.

It says the reason he died is he did not seek the Lord, but only the physicians.

Well, why is that so important?

Because especially in this day, they were so limited.

They couldn't see inside.

They didn't know what was going on.

They couldn't check blood.

They couldn't test the blood.

So there's a limit.

So God knows.

But notice only the physicians.

He wasn't wrong for going to the physician.

The problem is where he fell short, is that's where he stopped.

That's where he stopped.

When someone will call me and they'll or talk to me, or however it is, and they'll say, Well, I went to the doctor and the doctor said this.

Well, what do you think?

See, what do you think?

Because that that's that's where it's at.

And so where he stopped short, where he fell short is that's where he stopped.

There were things the physicians didn't know that God did.

All right, there's there's no evidence in this verse that this disease was judgment, that it was sin because of sin.

It says, even though his disease was exceeding great, he didn't seek the Lord.

He went to the physicians.

What do we seek first?

The wisdom of God first.

That's the spiritual law is I seek the wisdom of God first.

Now to be just very forthright, sometimes you'll seek the wisdom of God and he'll tell you to do something, go somewhere, talk to somebody.

I've seen that happen.

But here's the thing I'm seeking the wisdom of God first.

Why?

Asa had a deficit of wisdom.

Scripture says wisdom is the principal thing.

And it said, and all you're getting, get wisdom.

And so in anything, if if a person tells me that they're having a financial shortage, they don't have a money problem, they have a wisdom problem.

Right?

Anytime I face financial pressures in the church, I always go to the Lord and say, okay, now where is the wisdom here?

Right?

What's the issue?

When EMTs pull up on an accident scene, if if there's a person and they they recognize that their blood pressure is dropping, but yet they don't see any wounds and they don't see anything, they're immediately aware, hey, there's some internal bleeding going on here.

We've got a problem.

Usually it's with their pelvis and it's broken and it's and something's bleeding.

They got to get a binder on that to stop that bleeding.

It's gonna be painful, it's not gonna feel good, but we gotta stop the bleeding.

The wisdom is we got to stop the bleeding.

Right?

See, if I don't find where that, whatever that issue is, health, finances, whatever it is, where it's getting away from me, if I don't find that exit and stop it, right, all the healing that comes is not, it's it's not gonna keep up with it.

Right?

If if I've got finances just going away, I can throw finances at it, they're just gonna go out the same hole.

I have a wisdom issue.

And so Asa had a deficit of wisdom.

Hallelujah.

Wisdom is the principal thing.

See, too many reports can muddy the water.

Too many reports can muddy the water.

Well, this one said, and this one said, and that one said, and this one said.

Amen.

And and I'm not, again, saying that you shouldn't get a report or go see what someone says, but but here's the thing.

How many times do I have to hear this is the problem before I seek the wisdom of God?

Right?

How many times do I have to hear this is the problem before I seek the wisdom of God?

I'm telling you, there are people that are dealing with things in their mind that every little thing makes them think something's wrong.

And there's really nothing wrong.

But if you keep looking long enough, somebody will find a diagnosis that agrees with what you're thinking.

Because the Bible says the way you think is how you're going to be.

And again, I'm very careful with this because I'm not I'm not telling you anybody not to go to the doctor.

That's that's absolutely not what I'm saying.

But here's the thing is my mind, my thinking, my body is designed to respond to how I think and how I speak.

Right?

And if I'm constantly talking about the problem, when I was, I remember when I was dealing with uh some things in my body, I've talked about how the Lord healed me, and I was talking to my wife one day, and it wasn't doubt, it was not unbelief.

Please understand that.

But I was just telling her this was this was so pressing on me.

And and I just said, it just feels like this.

And my wife just looked at me and she said, Thank God, it's just a feeling, it's just a feeling.

I know how it feels, right?

I know that that's the way it feels.

And and she was very kind about it, but she was trying to help me see something.

That feelings come and feelings go.

I gotta get the wisdom.

The the feeling, wisdom is not in the feeling.

Right?

You may feel like you have this, that doesn't mean you have it.

I've got to seek the wisdom of God.

Too many reports can muddy the water.

Hallelujah.

I remember when I had to, I was, I was going to I was going to a dermatologist to have a biopsy.

And uh I was talking to my wife about it, and I'm I remember making the statement to her, I said, here now this is where I'm at.

I said, regardless of what they find and regardless of what they say, I'm healed.

And then I went through with the treatment.

See, healed people don't have to worry about the treatment.

I'm healed.

So the only thing it can do is help me.

Because I'm already healed.

Healing's already working in my body.

See, they think, well, boy, the medicine really worked good.

It really worked good because it encountered the healing power of God.

And so it worked really well when it was combined with the healing power of God.

And that that's why this is so important.

Is if if if if you if you go to a doctor and you get a bad report, I'm uh listen, I'm all about second opinions.

I understand that.

But if you go get a second opinion and it's the same report, now why are you going for a third and fourth?

We know what we're dealing with, we got to get the wisdom of God.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

You go to every medical appointment in this manner.

Healing is flowing through my body, and regardless of what I hear, I'm healed.

Because you're gonna hear bad reports from time to time.

Right?

You're gonna hear bad reports from time to time.

You know, no one likes to hear words like that.

Well, we did a biopsy on that, and it's malignant.

Nobody wants to hear that, right?

And I and I don't think anybody ever gets past the okay, there's the initial challenge of okay.

Okay, I've got I'm I'm gonna overcome this.

But here's the thing.

So you're gonna get a bad report from time to time.

Don't forsake the wisdom of God in that moment.

Go back to what the wisdom of God said.

Whose report will I believe?

And uh Isaiah thirty-eight.

And uh we'll start in uh verse one, because I want you to see the severity of this.

In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.

So it tells us that he was very near death.

And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, came to him and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, set your house in order, for you will die and not live.

My goodness.

So evidently he sent for Isaiah, and Isaiah comes and says, Well, here's what I heard.

You'll die and not live.

Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, prayed to the Lord, said, Remember, uh, I beseech you how I walked with you in truth and a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight, and Hezekiah wept sore.

Then came the word of the Lord.

Go say to Hezekiah, thus saith the Lord of the God of David, your father, I've heard your prayer, seen your tears, and I will add unto your days fifteen years.

Alright?

So God is adding unto the days of Hezekiah.

He said, You'll die and not live.

And then he said, I will add unto your days fifteen years, and I'll deliver you in this city out of Assyria.

And he said, This is the sign that I'm going to do this thing.

What is it?

That the sundial will go 10 degrees backwards.

And there's a whole lot in there that I teach on in this series on thankfulness.

But anyway, then in verse 9 it picks up with what Hezekiah wrote and all that he had said in his sickness.

Then he gets down here in verse 18.

For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot celebrate you, they that go down into the pit cannot hope for your truth.

The living, the living, he will praise you.

As I do this day, the father of the children shall make known your truth.

The Lord was ready to save me.

Therefore we'll sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.

For Isaiah said, Let them take a lump of figs and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.

Now notice this.

The Lord said, I'm going to give you 15 more years.

But there's still a problem.

What's causing the problem is still there.

Still there.

Most people believe this is what is referred to as a carbuncle boil.

All right, it causes severe infection in the body.

And again, they would have had no, I mean they could have seen it, but they wouldn't have known what it's doing inside.

And here's the thing that I want you to see.

There's no question that the Lord healed Hezekiah through the avenue of wisdom.

One translation says, then Isaiah said, make a paste from figs, put it on Hezekiah's boil, and then he will get well.

The living Bible says, Isaiah told Hezekiah's servants, make an ointment of figs and spread it over the boil, and he will get well again.

So what is it?

There's something in the treatment that promoted healing.

Now God had already promised him 15 years.

And now we see the avenue that he used.

All healing is supernatural.

Nobody gets healed naturally.

It's all supernatural.

All right?

Medicine cannot heal.

Only God can heal.

But here's the point that I want you to see.

Why is this so important?

Because again, we're seeing the wisdom of God applied here.

There's a lack of wisdom.

What do we do?

Right?

Evidently, he wants to be healed.

He sent for the prophet of God.

And God comes to him through Isaiah and says, this is what's in other words, if you keep going down the road you're going, this is where it's going to end up.

You're not going to live, you're going to die.

And when Hezekiah heard those words, what did he do?

He sought wisdom.

He looked for wisdom.

Lord, you know I've walked before you, I've done these different things.

People say that he repented.

It looks like he told the Lord, you know, if I've missed it anywhere, show me.

But here's the thing: there was something there that was needed to promote healing.

So Hezekiah got the wisdom, and God provided the healing.

Hallelujah.

When you get the wisdom, then God produces the supernatural.

But I have to get the wisdom.

I have to get the wisdom.

And it's wisdom is not always looking for something that's wrong.

It's not always looking, why is this happening?

It can be wisdom to uh stop it.

It can be preventive wisdom, whatever it may be.

But here's the thing wisdom is the principal thing.

And so that's the first thing that I'm looking for.

What's the wisdom of God here?

What do we need to do in this situation?

Is it wisdom to do a thing or another?

Right?

And and a lot of times when people say, is that wisdom?

It's they're trying to make a decision.

And in the midst of that decision, all the pressure tries to come in.

Well, they said, This is what I have.

Okay, well, is it wisdom to do what they're telling you you should do?

Right?

I never want to discount anything.

I never want to discount anything.

I remember when one of the evangelists in the days of voice of healing passed away and he passed away early.

And uh he passed away in the hospital.

You should have, well, I wasn't I wasn't alive then, but uh I heard ministers from that era, a number of them, say the reason he died is because he went to the doctor.

And these same doctors, these same ministers wouldn't go to the doctor.

And a lot of them died because they wouldn't go to the doctor.

But you know uh why a lot of them wouldn't go to the doctor?

They were afraid.

They were afraid of what would be found.

I remember one time I was talking to a minister and he was going blind.

He he couldn't he couldn't see.

And it's a relative of mine.

I was staying with them.

And um, and I mean it was so bad that I was having to drive him around.

I'm a guest and I'm having to drive him.

Why?

Because he would go blind in his right eye and couldn't see while he's driving.

I mean, it was getting so bad that he would trip and fall and walking down the street and just fall.

And I said, Have you been to the doctor?

Oh, I'm not gonna go to the doctor.

And right here, it just came out of me.

I said, You're not going to the doctor because you're afraid.

You're afraid of what they'll find.

And he just kind of looked at me, couldn't deny it.

Can't be afraid and a liar.

You gotta admit it, right?

And and and he said, No, I, you know, we don't have any insurance.

And and why didn't they, let me ask you, why didn't they have any insurance?

Because they thought going to the doctor was a sign of doubt.

So why have insurance?

Now, don't misunderstand me.

There are a lot of people, boy, they use that insurance up.

They use insurance like I use a debit card, right?

It's just, right, they're swiping that insurance card all the time.

They got that good insurance, they're swiping it all the time.

But here's the thing, and I'm not against that, but here's the thing that I'm trying to say.

There there was there was fear there, and because there was fear, there was no access to the wisdom of God.

You know, it could have been something very simple.

You know, it doesn't have to mean you're losing your vision.

What if it was something in the blood that could be corrected?

I don't know.

I'm not a medical professional, but I knew that he was afraid.

I I dealt with that family over and over again with this more than anything.

Is it's it's it was just if we can just hold on long enough, God will heal us.

You need wisdom.

Right?

You need wisdom.

Am I making sense?

Hallelujah.

Listen, a doctor sat in an examination room one time with uh uh uh a lady that was 80 years old in her 80s, and she was there because she had breast cancer, and the doctor, the surgeon, looked at her and said, When was your last mammogram?

And she said, I have never had a mammogram at 80 years of age.

Right?

And had suffered with that cancer until it had ate through the skin of her body, right?

And refusing to go to the doctor because because of what they might find.

Well, it found her, right?

What what now now hear me when I say this, because I know this can sound like it's not we're not talking about the supernatural.

What could have prevented all of that?

Going to the doctor and having a regular mammogram could have stopped all of it.

So, what is going and having that examination yearly?

Wisdom.

That's just wisdom.

Well, what if they find something?

We'll take care of it.

Right?

Listen, it's easier to believe God to heal you of cancer when they first find it than when it eats through the skin of your body.

You if it's outside your body, it's already metastasized to your organs.

Already.

It's already in your blood system, it's already in your lymph nodes.

Here's why I'm trying to say this to you.

Here's the issue.

What is wisdom?

Get it checked.

Look at it.

Take, right?

Take the precautions.

Don't be that person that just says, well, everything will be okay.

Everything will be okay if what?

If you're seeking wisdom.

Because wisdom is what?

A tree of life to those that what?

Find it, hold on to it, possess it.

What was Asa's problem?

He did, he went only to the physicians.

He didn't seek the Lord.

So he was limited in his wisdom.

Everything the doctor tells you is wisdom to an extent, but there's a limit to that wisdom.

There's no limit to God's wisdom.

Oh, hallelujah.

Do you see this?

Hallelujah.

Glory to God.

This is so important.

I remember when our uh second daughter, our middle daughter, was born, Angela.

And I've told you the story of her facing some challenges physically, a collapse along, these different other different things.

Well, we had some friends that came to visit us from Tennessee, and they're in heaven today.

They were good people, but they they they were wrong in some areas.

And they had gotten a hold of the word of God.

Uh they actually used to come to the Bible study.

We used to have Bible study in in Nashville, in the Nashville area, Bible study in their home, and they had really gotten a hold of the Word of Faith.

I say through us.

We I was just preaching Brother Copeland's messages at that time.

But in any event, uh they came to visit after the baby, they wanted to see the baby after the baby was born.

Well, they came to our house and stayed with us at our house, uh apartment actually.

And uh, well, you know, they're in the guest bedroom, which or the bathroom, which was the kids' bathroom.

Uh we had a medicine cabinet, and we hadn't medicine in the medicine cabinet.

That's what you put in it, right?

And uh they uh I don't know why they were snooping through my medicine cabinet, but they were.

And uh, like I wouldn't snoop through yours if I was in your bathroom.

I don't know.

But anyway, the the the the point is is this is that there were two things that they said caused this physical challenge with my daughter.

Number one, we were taking medicine, and number two, we had insurance because we had medicine and insurance, we were putting our trust in something other than God.

Now, my daughter almost died.

You think I didn't want to just grab him up and toss him?

We live in a third-floor apartment, just toss him off the balcony.

See, can you fly?

You got faith?

Walk on the water, brother.

Well, I didn't.

I was nicer than that.

But here's the thing nothing could be further from the truth.

And we know that.

Had we not had the wisdom of those professionals, we would have not known what we were believing against.

Right?

When they came and told us what was going on, we were able to take authority.

God already had us out ahead of it.

He said, Your heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.

Brother Copeland came on TV at what nine, ten o'clock that night and pointed his finger in the camera and said, Your heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.

He already had us out ahead of that.

The wisdom of God.

Do you see this?

This is so important.

So the point is medical help, medical professionals, going to the doctor does not inhibit your wisdom.

It can help your wisdom.

But it's not the only wisdom.

Right?

Because they said that Angela would be at least 21 days in the NICU because that's what they were saying.

Well, she, I'm trying to remember the exact, I think it was a Saturday that she went in the NICU, and she was up there, we starting through Sunday, and uh I worked just across the plaza there in Kansas City, Missouri at the time, and I'd just walk up the hill to the the hospital and see her every day.

But here's the thing they had this meter that was uh showing you uh 6'7, right?

And showing you, if you got elementary kids, you know what that means.

Anyway, the the the point is I was going like this, ask your grandchild, they can tell you.

But anyway, the point is, is this is it would gauge how much room oxygen she was bringing in and how much the ventilator was putting in.

When she started, it was 20% breathing on her own and 80% ventilator.

All right.

Well, the next day that I went up, we're working the word, the next day that I went up, it was it was 30 70.

The next day it was 60-40.

By the middle of the week, it was half and half.

And then they started talking, if she's up to 80 or 90 percent, she can go home.

Well, by the seventh day that she was there, she's at 90-10.

Right?

I was up there on the Friday and I was visiting her over my lunch hour, and the doctor came around.

He had the training doctors, the interns, and they were all up there.

And he came up to me and he said, Are you her dad?

And I said, Yes.

And he turned around to those interns and he said, This is our miracle, baby.

And here's what he said: we didn't do anything, she healed herself.

That's what he said.

No, she didn't heal herself.

God healed her.

Does that make sense?

God healed my child.

But God healed her in the NICU, God healed her in the incubator.

God healed her while the doctors were working on her.

God healed her, but we had wisdom.

Does that make sense?

See, the way the other people were thinking was that we should have just tried to bring her home in that condition and just believed God.

And well, if she died, it must have been God's will.

No, wisdom says, go seek out wisdom, grab wisdom, don't let it go, right?

So they said 21 days, God said seven days.

So seven days later, we took her home.

And she was the loudest child we ever had.

So her lungs and everything works good, still works good.

When I talked to her on the phone, I said, I gotta go, how are you doing?

And say, it's good to hear from you.

Are you in a storm?

Are you yelling for a reason?

Oh, Dad, that's just my voice.

Wisdom.

Say it out loud.

I have the wisdom of God, I have access to the wisdom of God.

Wisdom is life, wisdom is healing, wisdom is health, and I seek the wisdom of God first in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

We'll be here tomorrow.