…Pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.Because God wants us well, He has provided healing in His redemptive plan...healing for our physical bodies belongs to us (Isa. 53:4-5; Matt. 8:17; 1 Peter 2:24). God desires so much for us to be well that He provided a number of different methods by which people can be healed. For instance, the Word of God teaches that we can be healed through prayer.
(James 5:16)
In this article, we will deal with different aspects of prayer as it relates to healing.
The redemptive plan of God still belongs to us today. Someone might say, "If healing belongs to us, why don't we have it?" Did you ever stop to think about the fact that salvation belongs to the worst person you know, just as much as it does to you? Well, why doesn't he have salvation if it belongs to him? It's either because he hasn't heard about salvation, or he heard about it and rejected it.
We have been given the Word of God, and we can either accept it or reject it. If we accept God's Word and walk in the light of it, the blessings and promises of God become ours. If a person doesn't accept the Word of God, he cannot partake of all the benefits it has to offer.
I like what The Amplified Bible says about the power of prayer. It says that the earnest heart-felt prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available (James 5:16). God's power is potentially present everywhere, but through prayer we can make it available to us.
When a person knows for himself what the Word of God has to say about his situation, he won't have to wait for someone to pray for him. He doesn't have to wait for the church to pray, or wait to go to church for prayer. A believer who is able to stand on the Word of God for himself can take God's Word, look the devil right in the face, and put him in his place.
If you'll notice in James 5:16, it tells you exactly what to pray for: "that you may be healed." Although some folks might try to say healing is not for us, God's Word tells us to "pray one for another that you may be healed." Thank God, people can be healed through prayer.
There's Power In Prayer
Let's examine the gifts of the Spirit and their importance in the area of healing. The gifts of the Spirit provide another way a person might access God's healing power. Notice the following verses and how they deal with healing and supernatural manifestations.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.The gifts of the Spirit are manifested in nine ways. In verse 11, Paul says that the gifts or manifestations of the Spirit are divided as the Holy Spirit wills. In other words, the manifestation of the Spirit is manifested through believers as the Spirit wills. It's not as you will, but as He wills.
(1 Cor. 12:7-11)
Since we're talking about healing, notice that verses 9 says, "gifts of healing." Now let's look at verse 28: "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts OF healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues" (1 Cor. 12:28).
Notice the Word of God deals with gifts (plural) of healing. Now why would there be gifts of healing? Why wouldn't there be just one gift of healing that would cover everything?
Personally, I believe the best explanation lies in the fact that there are different kinds of disease and sickness and one gift wouldn't heal them all.
I remember the days of the Voice of Healing when there was a great healing revival in America that lasted from 1947 through 1958. I was a member of the Voice of Healing during those days, along with 120 other ministers. We would have a convention every year, and I would often talk to different preachers along the lines of healing.
For instance, one minister told me he had phenomenal success praying for deaf and mute people. Very seldom would he have any person who was deaf and mute fail to receive healing. However, he said he never had a blind person healed under his ministry. Another dear brother spoke up and said that nearly every blind person or anyone having trouble with his eyes would be healed under his ministry, but he seldom had a deaf or mute person healed.
I spoke up and said that I'd had a sprinkling of healing in certain areas. Every once in a while, I'd have a blind or deaf person healed, but it wouldn't happen very often. Yet, on the other hand, nearly every person who had a tumor of any sort would get healed. Understand that this is where my gift was. I could pray for others in faith, but because of supernatural gifts and manifestations, I had greater success with growths and tumors.
It's As He Wills
It's important to realize that special manifestations occur as the Spirit wills, not as you or I will. You can't just "push a button" and start operating the gifts of the Spirit. I can't promise you that certain things will happen through the gifts of the Spirit, and I can't promise you they won't. They operate as the Spirit wills.
There is yet another method for obtaining healing through God's Word. Notice what Mark 16:18 says: "...they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
When it comes to receiving healing through the laying on of hands or any of the other methods, there are certain things a believer should understand.
It's important to realize what hinders many from receiving their healing and other blessings of God is their lack of faith and understanding of the Word of God. In this verse, for example, what is the sign that will follow after believers lay hands on the sick? They will instantly be made well? No, it says they will recover.
In the Book of John it says that Jesus had the Spirit without measure (John 3:34). In other words, when Jesus walked the earth, He couldn't have any more of the Spirit than He already had, because He had the Spirit without measure. But this means you and I only have the Spirit by measure. The whole Body of Christ today has the Spirit in the same measure that He did, but we as individuals only have a measure.
Now the point I want to make is that although Jesus had the Holy Spirit without measure under His own ministry, not everyone was healed instantly. Although the majority of people were healed instantly, not everyone was.
The Bible has many accounts of people who were healed instantly. Remember the story about the ten lepers? We learn that they were healed as they went (Luke 17:14).
Understanding The Difference
Another thing that hinders people in understanding healing is that people get confused between healings and miracles. It's important to understand that healing is a renewal or recovery of the body from a diseased condition, and a miracle is more in the creative order of things.
People often have their minds on an instant manifestation or a miracle, which does happen sometime. But when they don't see results right away, they turn off the switch of faith, and the healing power quits flowing and the recovery stops.
Let's allow God's healing power to continue by keeping the switch of faith on as we pray according to the Word of God for the healing of the brethren.
Rev. Hagin served in Christian ministry for nearly 70 years and was known as the "father of the modern faith movement." His teachings and books are filled with vivid stories that show God's power and truth working in his life and the lives of others.
