This morning let’s look into the EIGHTH Gift, within Classification #3: The Gifts of Power, the Gift of Healing. This gift of healing is the imparting of power to heal, cure, repair, and make the whole physical body and deliver it from demons and diseases or infirmities. This is supernatural healing without the use of human aids, medicines, or any natural means whatsoever. So much of the mainstream of religious belief has been so watered down that it has become acceptable to believe that Jesus heals through medicines and doctors. This belief is no more scriptural than that He saves from sin through theories and methods of men. The above-stated way is the way of the world, but supernatural healing is God’s way. The supernatural gift of healing is for today and available to all believers, those that ask and believe by faith will receive.
Seven purposes of the gift of healing:
(1) To deliver the sick and to destroy the works of the devil in the human body.
Matthew 8:16-17, That evening, many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. All the spirits fled when he commanded them to leave; and he healed all the sick. This fulfilled the word of the Lord through Isaiah, who said, He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases (NLT). Also stated in Acts 10:38, and no doubt you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil, for God was with him (NLT). Yes, this same anointing and power is available to the believer. Also see 1 Peter 2:24; Isa. 53:3-5; Ps. 103:1-3; James 5:14-16.
(2) To confirm the Word of God. Mark 16:15-20 And then he told them, go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere. Hebrews 2:3-4, What makes us think that we can escape if we are indifferent to this great salvation that was announced by the Lord Jesus himself? It was passed on (or confirmed) to us by those who heard him speak, and God verified the message by signs and wonders and various miracles and by giving gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose to do so (NLT).
(3) To establish the claims of Jesus. Matthew 9:1-8, Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town. Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven” (NLT). John 10:10, The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness (NLT). John 10:36-38, why do you call it blasphemy when the Holy One who was sent into the world by the Father says, “I am the Son of God?” Don’t believe me unless I carry out my father’s work. But if I do his work, believe in what I have done, even if you don’t believe me. Then you will realize that the father is in me, and I am in the father (NLT). John 14:11, Just believe that I am in the father and the father is in me. Or at least believe because of what you have seen me do (NLT).
(4) To establish and prove the doctrine of the resurrection. Acts 3:15-16, You killed the author of life, but God raised him to life. And we are witnesses of this fact! The name of Jesus has healed this man, and you know how lame he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has caused this healing before your very eyes (NLT). Romans 8:11, The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you (NLT).
(5) To attract people to the gospel. Acts 4:11-20, For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, the stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else! There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them. The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men who had had no special training. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. But since the man who had been healed was standing right there among them, the council had nothing to say. So, they sent Peter and John out of the council chamber and conferred among themselves. What should we do with these men? They asked each other. We can’t deny they have done a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it. But perhaps we can stop them from spreading their propaganda. Well, warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again. So, they called the apostles back in and told them never again to speak or teach about Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him?” We cannot stop talking about the wonderful things we have seen and heard (NLT).
(6) To turn people to God. Acts 5:12-16, Meanwhile, the apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. The believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared to join them, though everyone had high regard for them. And more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord crowds of both men and women. As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. Crowds came in from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed (NLT). Acts 9:34-35, Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ, heals you! Get up and make your bed! And he was healed instantly. Then, the whole population of Lydda and Sharon turned to the Lord when they saw Aeneas walking around (NLT).
(7) And to carry on the work that Jesus started. Acts 1:1-2, Dear Theophilus: In my first book (Luke) I told you about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day he ascended to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions from the Holy Spirit (NLT). Also see John 14:11-15.
The supernatural gift of healing is for today and available to all believers, those that ask and believe by faith, they will receive. Faith is necessary for the operations of these gifts, as in the case of all spiritual gifts. Yes, faith is a must to receive healing. Faith must be exercised, and often, conditions must be met. When faith is exercised, God moves.
TO ALL BELIEVERS – Mark 16:15-18: And then he told them (the disciples), go into all the world, and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them (NLT).
In other words, God will intervene and protect. They will be able to place their hands on the sick and heal them. Divine healing may come by these four ways:
1.) Substitutionary faith (intercession) is when the sick one is too weak to believe for himself.
Faith of the sufferer alone. Matthew 9:22 Jesus turned around and said to her, “Daughter, be encouraged!”
2.) Your faith has made you well. And the woman was healed at that moment.
3.) Faith of the minister alone…as for one in a coma, etc. Matthew 9:23-24, When Jesus arrived at the official’s home, he noticed the noisy crowds and heard the funeral music. He said, “Go away, for the girl isn’t dead; she is only asleep. But the crowd laughed at him. The combined faith of the sufferer and of the minister. This is probably the most common. Faith must be exercised for healing to manifest, and often time’s conditions must be met (NLT).
4.) Hindrances may cause these gifts not to operate. The greatest hindrance, of course, is unbelief, as stated in: Matthew 13:58: And so, he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief (NLT). Probably the greatest hindrances are unconfessed sin or acts of disobedience in our lives. 1 John 3:19-22, It is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before the Lord, even if our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our conscience is clear, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive whatever we request because we obey him and do the things that please him (NLT).
It is impossible to have faith for anything from God if we have a guilty conscience! When coming to God for deliverance, then we must search our heart, our conscience, our lives, and make sure that there is nothing to condemn us.
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