Healing
James 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
This page is a jumping off point for the things that I've learned since I became a part of the healing ministry at Vineyard Community Church in April of 2002.
General discussion.
The most important healing that anyone will ever receive is the healing of salvation. Accepting Jesus as your lord and King enables you to have eternal life. Any healing that we might receive (e.g. from cancer) only lasts as long as we live here on earth. Salvation lasts forever.
That said, the general basis for all healing is the ministry of Jesus while he was on earth. His healings and miracles demonstrated his heart of compassion for his creation as well as fulfilled prophecy. From the miracles, we know that Jesus and The Father care about our physical condition as well as our spiritual condition.
All sickness is a result of the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden. Therefore, sickness in this world can be blamed on Satan, and our sin.
We can also infer that sickness is an affront to the Kingdom of God, because in heaven there is no sickness. Until Jesus returns, the Kingdom of God is also in the hearts of every believer. I believe that God wants his kingdom to be fully manifest in our hearts and bodies.
So, how does sickness come to someone:
- Sin in our lives (John 5:14, James 5:16). This does not mean that God is punishing us with sickness, just that our sin has natural consequences. Smoking has an obvious consequence. Unforgiveness or bitterness are the root of a great number of sicknesses. The enemy uses our sin as authority to cause sickness in our lives.
- General misfortune of living in a sinful world (Matthew 5:45). Jesus said that it rains on the just and unjust. If Adam and Eve had not sinned, we would not have the problem of sickness. Until the Kingdom of God is fully manifest on the entire planet, we will continue to be rained on.
Appropriate scriptures:
Experience.
- Create a atmosphere of Worship when praying for someone. This helps them focus on Jesus and God the Father. Since we are healed because of the sacrifice of Jesus (1 Peter 2:21-25), it's best to point them in his direction.
- Help them to understand the power of the only begotten Son of God, Jesus, the Christ. Jesus created the whole universe as well as heaven. Healing is a small thing compared to that.
- Help them to understand the significance of the sacrifice of Jesus, both in becoming human, and in dying on the cross. Jesus loved us enough to die a long and painful death just so that we might be saved and healed. Jesus was not forced to die for us, he chose to die for us. This is the definition of love, that a man lay down his life for another. If he loves us that much, maybe he loves us enough to heal us.
- Help them to understand that the enemy, Satan, is the source of their suffering, not God. Help them to get angry at the enemy.
- Help them understand that Jesus is the one that heals, not the people praying for them.
- Help them understand that you are there to help them see Jesus. (Mark 2:4)
- Help them to call out to Jesus just as Bartimaeus did at Jericho. (Mark 10:46-51)
- It's always better to have a team of people praying for someone. The amount of power and revelation that is experienced is dramatically greater that if an individual prays.
- If you are praying in a team, be open to God having you lay hands on one of the other team members as well as the person being prayed for. This tends to dramatically increase the effectiveness of the prayer. I've learned this from experience and feedback from the other team members. I also recently discovered that others have known this for a many years.
- If you have a testimony that is relevant to the person being prayed for, share it. It increases faith to know that God has helped someone else in the same circumstances.
- If you have a large number of people that need prayer, pray for them one at a time. It's best to start with the person that the Holy Spirit is already working on. If this person is touched, it helps to increase the faith of the people that haven't been prayed for yet.
- God the Father is the source of healing. It is because of the suffering of Jesus (his stripes) that we have the right to ask for healing.
- God wants to heal the root of the disease, not just it's manifestation. There are many possible roots of sin based disease: unforgiveness, bitterness, fear, and anger to name but a few.
- Pray that the Holy Spirit will bring revelation both to the team praying for the subject, and the subject. Revelation given to directly to the team helps them to know how to pray. Revelation given to the subject can help the subject to understand what they need to do or reveal to the team to help in the prayer.
- Don't be afraid to ask the subject if they are experiencing anything. This allows the team to decide what to do next. If the subject feels completely healed, have them demonstrate their healing by doing something that they couldn't do before. If the subject has received some healing, keep praying, because God is obviously doing something.
- Remember, a miracle is when God instantly heals someone. Healing can take time to manifest.
- If someone receives healing, remind them to thank God. God likes people that are grateful and is more likely to give them more in the future.
Resources:
- "SURPRISED BY THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT" by Jack Deere
- "The John G. Lake Sermons on Dominion ovr Demons, Disease, and Death" edited by Gordon Lindsay
- "Smith Wigglesworth on Healing" by Smith Wigglesworth.
- "A More Excellent Way" by Henery Wright
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