That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
(Matt. 8:17)
Based on what the husband said, I knew they weren’t absolutely sure it was God’s will to heal his wife. So I asked him, “How are you going to find out if it’s God’s will to heal her?”
He looked at me sort of startled and said, “I thought you’d lay hands on her and pray. And if it is God’s will, He would heal her. And if it isn’t, He wouldn’t.”
“No,” I said, “I can’t pray, because she wouldn’t be healed.”
“Well, what are we going to do? How are we going to find out whether or not it’s God’s will to heal her?” he asked.
I knew that I had to move them into faith. I had to move them into the will of God. So I said, “What if the Word of God said that Jesus took your wife’s infirmities and bore her sicknesses? Would it be God’s will to heal her?”
“Certainly it would,” he said.
I turned to Matthew 8:17 and laid the Bible in his wife’s lap. I told her to read the verse out loud. The minute she read it, her husband jumped off the altar and said, “The first half of my prayer wasn’t any good, was it? We’re going to have to throw it away.”
Well, I didn’t tell him, but the whole prayer wasn’t any good. He could throw the whole thing away.
He said, “The Bible says that Himself [Jesus] took our infirmities, and that includes my wife’s infirmities.”
I said, “You see that, but does your wife see it? You’re not the one who needs healing.” I turned to his wife and she said, “I see it.”
The husband said, “It’s God’s will then. We’ll just have to throw the first part of that prayer away. All we have to do now is pray that God will give us faith so that she can be healed.”
“No,” I said. “I can’t pray yet. Sit back there on the altar. We have to talk some more.”
Confession:
Jesus took my infirmities and bore my sicknesses. By the stripes of Jesus, I am healed!
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications
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.
Rev. Hagin was born on Aug. 20, 1917, in McKinney, Texas, a son of the late Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin.
Rev. Hagin was sickly as a child, suffering from a deformed heart and an incurable blood disease. He was not expected to live and became bedfast at age 15. In April 1933 during a dramatic conversion experience, he reported dying three times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of hell and then returning to life.
In August of 1934, Rev. Hagin was miraculously healed, raised off a deathbed by the power of God and the revelation of faith in God's Word. Two years later, he preached his first sermon as pastor of a small community church in Roland, Texas.
In 1937, Rev. Hagin was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began ministering in Pentecostal churches. During the next 12 years he pastored five churches in Texas: in the cities of Tom Bean, Farmersville (twice), Talco, Greggton, and Van. In 1949, he began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist.
During the next 14 years, Jesus appeared to Rev. Hagin eight times in visions that changed the course of his ministry. In 1966, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he opened a ministry office. That same year, he taught for the first time on radio—on KSKY in Dallas. In 1967, he began a regular radio broadcast that continues today as Faith Seminar of the Air. Teaching by his son, Rev. Kenneth W. Hagin, is also heard on the program.
In 1968, Rev. Hagin published the first issues of The Word of Faith magazine, which now has a monthly circulation of more than 250,000. The publishing outreach he founded, Faith Library Publications, has circulated more than 65 million copies of books by Rev. Hagin, Rev. Hagin Jr., and several other authors worldwide. Faith Library Publications also has produced more than 9 million audio teaching tapes and CDs.
Other outreaches of Kenneth Hagin Ministries include RHEMA Praise, a weekly television broadcast hosted by Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth W. Hagin; RHEMA Correspondence Bible School; RHEMA Alumni Association; RHEMA Ministerial Association International; RHEMA Supportive Ministries Association; the RHEMA Prayer and Healing Center; and a prison ministry.
In 1974, Rev. Hagin founded RHEMA Bible Training Center USA and in 1976 moved the school and ministry offices to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where they remain. To date, RHEMA Bible Training Center USA has 23,000 alumni, and RHEMA Bible Training Centers have opened in 13 other nations: Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Samoa, Singapore, South Africa, and Thailand. Together, the 14 schools have more than 28,000 graduates worldwide.
RHEMA Bible Church, pastored by Rev. Hagin Jr., began holding services in October of 1985 on the RHEMA campus in Broken Arrow and has since grown to become a thriving congregation with more than 8,000 members.
Rev. Hagin's daughter and son-in-law, Pat Harrison and the late Doyle "Buddy" Harrison, founded Harrison House Publishers in 1975 and Faith Christian Fellowship International Church in 1977. Both organizations are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Until shortly before his death in September 2003, Rev. Hagin continued to travel and teach throughout the United States and into Canada conducting All Faiths' Crusades and other special meetings.