The Gifts Of Healing
The person who needs the gift of healing is the one who is sick. The Lord works in many different ways in healing the sick and often uses more than one gift to do so. The Lord can use any or all of the nine gifts to work his healing through, to the person in need.
1) Discernment
Why is the person sick? What is behind the cause? Is it a spirit of infirmity? Is the demon of infirmity causing the spirit of cancer or arthritis? If so we will cast it out in Jesus’ name and the person will be healed as the spirit of that sickness leaves.eg. in deaf people it can be the ‘deaf spirit’ behind the deafness; as you cast it out with the word, suddenly the person will be able to hear. You need the gift of discernment to know if it is the ‘deaf spirit’ causing the deafness or an injury or something else.
Another time I prayed for for the blockage to be removed in the eardrums and suddenly fluid started to come out of the ears and within a few minutes the man could hear as the fluid that had blocked his hearing had been removed.
Study Matthew 9:3 and Luke 13:11-16
How can I receive the discernment I need?
In the book of John on eleven occasions Jesus points to the Father. Jesus did nothing on His own strength or authority. He only did what he saw the father doing. He obeyed the father on all occasions. He never guessed or took a chance; He only did as He heard from the Father.
Read John 5:19-21, 30-31, 7:16-18, 8:12&16, 28-29, 7:38, 10:27, 12:49-50, 14:10, 16:12-15 & 17:16-19.
These scriptures transformed the way I did everything for the Lord: for I was determined that from that moment on that I would do only what Jesus did and He only did what the Father did.
In prayer you can come to know the Father as Jesus knew the Father. When you know the Father and the Father knows you, He will show you what He is doing, He will reveal to you the discernment you need and as you then move forward in faith you will KNOW that the Father will do it and the healing or miracle will be accomplished.
2. The word of knowledge or wisdom
It is not always a spirit of infirmity that causes an illness so the discernment of spirits will not always be in operation. Here you need the gift of knowledge or the gift of wisdom. Did the sickness come to the person naturally or supernaturally? Is it passed through the family? Or through unforgiveness or through a trauma? Or through guilt? Or through a weakness in the body?
How to receive the word of knowledge or wisdom
a) Again we have to stop and pray, then listen for the gift of knowledge or wisdom to show us
the cause and how to pray for the person. Read Acts 28:8
b) Sometimes the Lord will reveal to you the word of knowledge or wisdom through an impression or a vision where we see ourselves ministering to that person in a certain way –when we do it the way we have seen us doing it the healing will happen.
c) Another time we will be given the root problem and as we tell the person what we have heard, the person will be set free and healed at the same time. eg. In Latvia I prayed for a girl who wanted to be set free from a serious stutter. I prayed and asked the Lord how to pray for her, and saw in the spirit a tractor approaching a very young girl. I told her what I saw and she burst into tears and told me of the tractor that had run over her when she was 4 years old. Although she was unhurt as the wheels had gone either side of her, she had had such a fright that she had been stuttering ever since. I told her that Jesus knew about this and had been there for her all the time wanting to comfort her, she cried out to Jesus; the fear left and her stutter was completely healed from that moment.
- 3. Healing through the gift of faith
The gift of faith is a supernatural gift for that specific time and purpose.
a) The lord wants to heal someone, that you do not yet have the faith for. eg. In Latvia I had to pray for an 18 year old girl born with a deformed jaw that caused the point of her chin to come on the left of her face and very crooked teeth to form. I did not have the faith to pray for her, yet still I saw myself praying for her, so I prayed for her. I saw nothing happen but that night she ran up to us shouting “look at my jaw, look at my teeth”. She was completely healed. We all burst into tears at the glorious miracle that had taken place. She looked so beautiful with a normal jaw.
b) The gift of faith can also be given through a vision, which will give you the faith to know that the person will be healed, regardless of how impossible it may look. eg. in South Africa I saw a 17 year old girl in a wheelchair from birth. She had been born with a twisted spine. My heart went out to her. What was such a pretty young girl doing in this old people’s home?
I saw her walking, in my spirit, and could hardly wait to pray for her. My chance came, I prayed for her and asked her to stand. She told me that she had never stood on her legs before, so I got 2 nurses to take one arm and help lift her to her feet and she stood for the first time in her life, but now did not know how to walk. I told her to take off her shiny red shoes and once they were removed, she managed to walk with the nurses to aid her balance. Within the next half-hour we showed her how to walk with the aid of a walker with a nurse holding the walker. After I left the Lord continued to heal her and within three months she could walk without even a walking stick.
Read Acts 3:6
QUESTIONS
1. How can God release these gifts through you? – discuss
2. What is the most important thing to do, for you to receive these gifts?
3. What are your personal experiences?