676 The Spiritual Man
cured. If they cling to self-love and are mindful of themselves all the
time, God will give them increased cause to pity themselves. He will
show them that earthly medicine cannot permanently heal. God
intends His children to know that a strong and healthy body is
neither for the sake of pleasing one’s self nor to be used in
accordance with one’s desires but is wholly for God. The spirit of
healing is a spirit of holiness. What we lack is not healing but
holiness. What we need to be delivered from initially is not sickness
but self.
When a child of God has denied the use of human means and
medicine and has trusted in the Father with singleness of heart, he
notices his faith waxing stronger than usual. He has launched upon a
new relationship with God; he begins to live by that life he formerly
did not trust. He commits his body as well as his spirit and soul to his
heavenly Father. He discovers that the will of God is to manifest the
power of the Lord Jesus and the love of the Father. He is led to
exercise faith unto proving that the Lord redeems the body as well as
the spirit and soul.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life” (Matt.
6.25). The Lord will care for whatever we commit to Him. If we
secure instant healing, let us praise God. should our symptoms grow
more severe, let us not doubt but let us look away instead to God’s
promise and furnish no occasion for self-love to be revived. God may
be using this very situation to extinguish the last drops of our love for
self. Were we to regard our body we would commence to doubt; but
if we behold God’s promise we will draw nearer to Him, our faith
will be increased, and healing eventually will come to us.
We must nevertheless be careful lest we fall into extremes. though
God aims for us to rely exclusively upon Him, yet once we have
definitely denied our own activities and trusted him in perfect faith,
He may delight in our using some natural means to render help to our
body. We mean such articles as “a little wine” prescribed for