The Gifts of the Spirit

Ministry of Healing

Prayers of Healing

The Bible says that Jesus healed the sick in dependence upon the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14-21; Acts 10:38).

In fact, Jesus insisted that he didn’t do anything on his own, but always acted in concert with God the Father (John 5:19).

Jack Deere says in Surprised By the Holy Spirit that “Both Luke and Jesus made it absolutely clear that the source of power in Jesus’ ministry was not his deity, but rather his dependence on the Holy Spirit.”

In that same vein of dependence on the Holy Spirit, Jesus commissioned his followers to carry on his healing ministry and that the Bible shows them doing exactly that.

God cares for our world of sin and suffering - “The face of God is not a cosmic, unblinking stare!”(Dallas Willard).

God is a Person with personality and feelings and he is engaged in a real relationship with us in which he allows himself to be influenced but not controlled by us and our prayers.

Jesus modelled this for us when He was approached by a a leper who said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.”(Matt 8:2-3). 

God is “touched with a feeling of our infimrties” and the Psalmist reassures us “as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him, for He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust!”(Psa 103:13-14).

So, when it comes to our need for healing we can’t demand it of him; but neither can we deny its possibility and so we must ask him

James 5:13-16 “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

God is God. Sometimes we pray and he intervenes supernaturally in ways that we see and other times he does not, at least not yet.

Do we still believe that God is good?

Do we still love and trust him?

While we wait for the healing that hasn’t come do we still believe that God is doing other lovely things for our well-being and our formation in Christ?

Are we learning to see and participate in what God is doing in the spiritual world that interpenetrates the physical world?

So, when we pray for healing we are not guaranteeing anything.

We are simply providing a “safe place where faith is encouraged and we expect people to be healed while at the same time pain and suffering are allowed without shame.”

A place where the physically sick or emotionally wounded and vulnerable are treated with great respect and gentleness, because every person is more important than their healing.

We are “practicing God’s healing presence”(Richardson) which  facilitates receiving the gift of divine healing.

In The Divine Conspiracy Dallas Willard calls this enthralling the mind with God. Rick describes how a woman named Sharon experienced emotional healing from a painful relational crash: “As she began to taste and see that the Lord is good, she gained strength to face her pain and receive truth and healing. She went on to experience deep healing for her soul and strength to make new choices.” (p. 54)

Neother are we ignoring the great importance of medicine. 

· Healing ministry is not to be practiced in isolation from modern medicine. All truth is God’s truth and all good is God’s good.

· God uses doctors, medicines, and all kinds of caregivers and treatments to minister divine health to people. He inspires scientists to discover new cures. He gives supernatural insight, ability, and strength to doctors and counselors.

· Sometimes prayer and the help and insight of medical, psychological, and other forms of health care will lead to healing and plenty of studies have shown that it is at its most effective when we also pray for God to supernaturally intervene.

· But, sometimes God chooses to heal without medical care.

And we remember that “Healing is primarily about the transformation of the person into a truer and more whole follower, worshiper and lover of God.” (Experiencing Healing Prayer, Rick Richardson writes,2005 edition, p. 27) Healing gives glory to God, reveal Jesus as the Son of God and Saviour from sin.

The Healing Prayer Session

When you’re meeting with someone to pray for their healing there are a few aspects to consider. If the person needing healing is receptive and their is time then you may want to incorporate some or all of these steps for ministering healing prayer.

Interview the Person Who Needs Healing

When praying for someone in need we shouldn’t just jump in and pray — we need to invite people to share what’s going on with them, how they feel, and what they need from God. We need to establish rapport. Ask questions. Listen. Discern what’s most important for them. Empathy is a from of prayer, or it can be, especially if you shoot up silent prayer phrases now and again as you listen or simply have a heart that is attending to God as you care for someone.

Jesus often asked questions of people he interacted with. In John’s Gospel the first words that Jesus says are a question: “What do you want?” (John 1:37). Mark shows Jesus asking blind Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” Why did Jesus ask that? He knew what Bartimaeus wanted — he was a blind man stooped over at the side of the road irritating everyone with his constant begging for money! Everybody ignored Bartimaeus, but Jesus called for him. He was showing concern for him, establishing a connection. He was also inviting him to take some personal responsibility and initiative toward being healed. Jesus was cultivating Bartimaeus’ faith.

There are various questions we might ask in the spirit that Jesus models:

· “What do you need?”

· “What is this problem like for you?”

· “What has your doctor said about this?” (Learn details about what to pray for.)

· “How do you feel about this?”

· “When did it start?”

· “What was happening in your life at that time?” (Maybe a stress reaction is part of the problem.)

· “Have you prayed about this situation and if so what has your experience been?”

· “Has God led you to any particular Scriptures or given you any insights about this?”

· “How do you feel about me praying for you to be healed?” (You’ll learn how to approach your prayer in way that the person can better receive. Or sometimes it’s not appropriate to pray for healing.)

These are just some sample questions. Depending on the situation you may ask a few of these questions or similar ones.

Discern The Best Prayer Strategy

In Francis MacNutt’s book Healing he identifies four basic healing prayer strategies that differ depending on the need. Discernment is key. Prayer ministers need to listen to God as they listen to people. Long before the interview they need to be students of people and their pains and problems, and of the Bible and psychology, so that they have some ideas of what to look for.

Does the sickness or dysfunction have to do with the person’s spirit, their heart and emotions, their body, or are they being harassed by a demon? The prayer remedies differ. If the problem is sin in the spirit then repentance is needed. If the heart is wounded then inner healing is the need. If there is physical sickness or disease then a prayer of faith for healing is called for. If the person is wrestling with demons (plagued by Satan’s lies or oppressed) then deliverance ministry is the strategy.

Pray With Faith

Jesus said, “You don’t have because you haven’t asked. Ask and keep asking… Your heavenly Father loves to give you the best gifts!” (Matthew 7:7, paraphrase).

Don’t worry about whether or not your prayer will be answered — that’s God’s business not yours! As you listen, discern what good thing God wants to do. God is all-knowing, all-powerful, always present, and perfectly loving.

Pray With Authority

When you ask for God to heal, guide, or intervene supernaturally in some other way don’t be pleading, hesitant, or feeble about it — be bold! Jesus gave you authority to heal the sick and cast out devils in his name! (Matthew 10:1, Mark 16:15-20, Luke 10:9, Acts 3:6, James 5:14-16) When you’re sick or have a disease you don’t want someone to pray, “Please Lord, if it’s your will heal my friend.” You want a prayer of faith in God’s love and power to help you!

Be confident in God (that he’ll do what’s good), bold, and optimistic when you pray for others. Express hope and faith in God’s readiness to care for your friend’s health (or your own) and to use the situation to form you and others to be more like Jesus.

James teaches, “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.” (4:7-8) Then as part of his instructions for the sick to seek prayer ministry from an elder he says, “The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned they will be forgiven.” (5:15)

“Father, I thank you for your love for my friend _________. Manifest your presence Holy Spirit and show us how to pray and minister the Father’s love and healing… I bless you, _________, my friend with peace, healing, love, etc… I thank you dear Father for the healing that you are doing in the precious and mighty name of Jesus Christ.”

I find it important and powerful to use Scripture to guide my imagination. Personally and in my prayer ministry to others I usually use stories of Jesus healing someone or an image from the Psalms. This can be something simple like imaging the hand of the Lord reaching down from the heavens to bring help, which is a common visual meditation of the Psalmist (17:7, 18:35, 60:5, 89:21, 98:1, 104:28, 108:6, 119:73, 123:2, 136:12, 139:10, 144:7, 145:16). Adding in the healing hand of Jesus from the Gospels adds a huge source of power to this prayer.

Quietly Wait on God

Depending on the person and their particular prayer need, you may want to let there be some silent prayer for listening to God and sensing his movements. Silent prayer is essential as part of the ministry of healing prayer and often it’s helpful as part of prayer for physical healing. If the person I’m praying for is unfamiliar with silent prayer, I simply say something like, “Let’s wait quietly before the Lord and see if we sense a thought or impression from him.”

Look For Manifestations of the Holy Spirit

Joe Johnson says that as you pray for people (verbally and if you wait silently afterwards) face them and open your eyes. Look to see if you notice any movements of the Holy Spirit on the person’s body. You might see laughter, tears, glowing on the face, heat somewhere on their body, perspiration, shaking, eyelids fluttering, or “resting in the Spirit” (being “slain” in the Spirit, but not pushed!)

You might feel one of these things in your own body as a sign of God’s healing presence. Papa Joe feels heat in his hands — and I’ve felt it myself when he prays for me! I often feel warmth in my heart, like the “Jesus burn” that the disciples on the Road to Emmaus experienced when the risen Christ talked with them without them knowing it was him. Sometimes as I’m praying for people or speaking to a group I experience a sweet, warm heat on the back of my neck and shoulders. Rick Richardson says he often feels sympathy pain for the person in need who is seeking prayer ministry and this is before they tell him what hurts! Then he experiences God’s healing power flow through him.

After the Prayer Resume Your Interview

Really, by praying in the way that I’m describing you haven’t stopped interviewing. Watching what God is doing on the person’s body and listening to God personally are part of the interview. But once you sense that God has done something or there’s been a long enough period of waiting on God or maybe the person seems to have become uncomfortable with the silence, then it’s good to check in. You might say, “What’s happening for you?” Or “What is your experience with this prayer time?”

Depending on their answer you might pray again for healing. Sometimes Jesus ministered healing in stages; he modeled “process healing.” In other words, even Jesus’ healing interventions didn’t always happen immediately! In fact, sometimes he wasn’t able to heal people because they didn’t trust him, they didn’t have confidence in him or in God (Matt 13:58).

With the blind man at Bethsaida he led him by the hand outside the village to minister healing by putting mud on his eyelids. Then he asked him, “Do you see anything?” The man looked up and replied, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Mark says, “Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.” (Mark 8:22-26)

When you pray for someone to experience God’s healing love in a painful memory or other emotional wound or struggle receiving that healing is normally a process that takes time. It is a supernatural work of the Spirit when God touches an emotional wound and their may be instantaneous comfort and change in the person, but the whole personality will not be instantaneously transformed. Inner healing is in the realm of sanctification or becoming like Jesus in our character and that requires faith-development and obedience over time. It’s a journey.