Gifts of the Spirit Series: The Gift of Healings,Ep 2-48
Welcome Back! I am your host Dawn Simmons and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are continuing our discussion of the spiritual gifts and in this episode we are discussing the gift of healings. This gift is pretty controversial, almost as much as tongues and can be misused. This gift has caused some men to exalt themselves and be greatly humbled. Our purpose is to reveal what the Bible tells us about it, look at some healings in the Bible, and I will share a story. This is the 8th of the 9 gifts. Both of these gifts are Power gifts. Next week, as we close out the year, we will discuss miraculous powers to complete this series on the Spiritual Gifts.
As always, we want to start off by laying the biblical foundation. This foundation can be found in 1 Corinthians which summarizes all of the gifts. Let’s start there, and then we will dig in and look at what this gift looks like in operation.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11.
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b] 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
To summarize what Paul shared, the 9 Spiritual Gifts are: wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healings, miraculous powers, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues.
The gifts can be categorized by what they provide to the receiver. The Holy Spirit is the giver of the gift and we, Holy Spirit filled believers, are the receivers of the gifts.
· Gifts we use out of the Power we have from the Holy Spirit are: faith, healings, miraculous powers
· Gifts we have where the Holy Spirit uses us in Revelation are: wisdom, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits
· Gifts where the Holy Spirit uses us and are Spoken are: prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues
One of the misconceptions I want to clear up is we are truly speaking of gifts of the Holy Spirit. Specifically, an action or a behavior that produces an outcome as a result of the Holy Spirit’s supernatural activity provided to us in a gift.
The gift of healings. This gift is often treated with such skepticism and those who have it are frequently maligned and dishonored. It’s sad really because this is such an exciting, beautiful, loving gift from God. I suspect what is behind that is the enemy and here is one of the reasons why.
In our world today, we rely so much on science, on being able to prove things definitively that we won’t allow a place in our world for healings. Our rational mind won’t accept them, it’s like a veil covering our eyes from the truth of God. The enemy is the one that has created that veil and one of the reasons is because there are many, many healings that are a result of the work of demons on our bodies. Many healings are needed as a are a result of our being influenced by demons and making poor choices with our bodies. If we allow ourselves to believe in miraculous healings, we can rid ourselves of these demons.
Secondarily to that, when we do have medical issues not as a result of demonic influences, believing in, seeking, and showing up to receive a healing requires faith and belief in a God that heals, in a God that loves, in a God that is willing to intervene in your life and change it. The enemy doesn’t want that either.
The gift of healings is a gift that is misunderstood, and I wasn’t to clarify what it is and what it isn’t. The gift of healings is not where people are praying for someone to be healed. The gift of healings is not where the elders come and lay hands on and anoint someone who is ill. That is, dare I say, regular healing, what I mean by that is that is what we should be doing, but it does not require an anointing to do. The gift of healings is a spiritual gift, a supernatural gift that requires the working or the presence of the Holy Spirit in order for the gift to function. Even someone who has been anointed with the gift of healings, if they try to do it in their own power, it will not work. It will only function out of the power of the Holy Spirit. That is why it is a Power gift, we have no power of our own. We only have Power when we are working with the Holy Spirit and it is entirely the power of the Holy Spirit, we are just the vessel. It is this reason why the gift can be misused. Once the Holy Spirit gives you a gift, He will not take it back, even if you misuse it. What He will do, is cut your ministry down. That can happen by your life being cut short, or He can release you to the devil who will then use and abuse and tear apart the life that person had. There are many examples of this in the last few hundred years. Email me if you want some names. I don’t want to spend my time here discussing them. They made their choices.
What I do want to do is look at someone who did use his anointing correctly and for that we are going into the Book of Acts. Let’s take a look at Paul, this is Acts 28, he aftermath of the shipwreck, Paul and the men washed ashore onto Malta.
“Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. 2 The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. 3 Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4 When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” 5 But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. 6 The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.
7 There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. 8 His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. 9 When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. 10 They honored us in many ways; and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.”
Paul not only took care of himself, which had an impact on the people of Malta and essentially opened the door for his ministry to begin there. Notice that it says that everyone was cured. With this gift, that is not always the case. It is the Holy Spirit who does the healing, so no man, other than Jesus, will always have 100% track record. If a healing is not the Lord’s plan, then it doesn’t happen. We don’t always know why, we just know that is the way it is.
The other thing about a supernatural healing ministry is that for those who have that anointing, and again, this is a gift that is an anointed gift, some people are specialized. There are those who have or have had a healing ministry, and they are exceptional in healing Diabetes, but not as successful in heart conditions. There could be several reasons we could rationalize as to why this is, for example pride, but we don’t really know unless the Holy Spirit tells us and if He chooses not to reveal it, then we move in what He does choose to reveal and that’s that. Too many people act like the Holy Spirit owes them something, an explanation, they want an explanation for something or they just won’t believe it. Believe or don’t believe, it’s your choice and your consequences as a result of your choice.
I want to look at an example with Jesus, and we are looking at this because this was done differently. Most of the time when we see examples of a supernatural healing, it is done intentionally, but we don’t need to limit the Holy Spirit to that. If the person is powerfully anointed, and understand that I mean not all anointings are equal, if a person is so powerfully anointed and they are working with the Holy Spirit, a healing can occur with faith from the one who is seeking that healing. Luke 8 is where we find this example, “As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. 43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,[c] but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
Now before you say, that was Jesus, of course it can happen that way, let’s go to Acts 19, Paul was in Ephesus when this was happening, “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.”
I suspect that when Paul was ministering, he was functioning in all the Spiritual gifts. In order to do what was required of Him, the Holy Spirit would have enabled this level of power to function as a result of his obedience to the Lord. Never forget, the Holy Spirit is not a respecter of persons. We can move in these gifts just as Paul did, but we have to be willing to put in the time with the Lord and let the Holy Spirit move in our lives the way Paul did.
I want to share a story, this story is from about 2008, maybe 2009 and there’s 2 parts to this story. I went to a Conference, it was a Conference but it was a School of Healing Conference for a week. I was there with probably 8 or so people from the church I was with at the time. The first 3 or 4 days was instructional, teaching us how to grow in the gift of healings. At the end of, I think the fourth day, the men who were teaching it, it was 3 men, I can only remember the names of 2 of them, but I remember the shoes of the 3rd man because it was right about the time Skechers came out with those rocker walking shoes, they were like walking with big pillows attached to your feet and they were really expensive. I remember them because I wanted a pair so badly since my feet were hurting. I thought these shoes were the greatest invention in shoe history even if they looked a little silly because there was so much cushion in them. Anyhow, I thought it was an odd choice for him to wear on stage, that’s why I remember the shoes but not his name. Ok, back to the actual story, on the 3rd day, if we wanted to receive the anointing for the gift of healing, we could come forward and these 3 men would anoint us. So we are in day 3. I did all the work all week long, but I still didn’t know if I wanted to receive the anointing. I didn’t know if I wanted to heal people. I knew I needed to decide soon. When the time came, I went forward, but I said this to the Holy Spirit. “If you want me to have this gift, I will receive it and I will use it. The way I want to know if you want me to have this gift is if you have Randy Clark be the one to anoint me.” After having gone through the training all week, I felt Randy Clark was the one who had the highest level of anointing. I only wanted to receive the anointing from the most gifted one. Going forward for the anointing was very active, people came, the 3 men were in different parts of the stage. I walked forward but Bill Johnson was where I was so I just repeated my request and out of nowhere Randy Clark comes over to me, lays his hand on my head and anoints me with the gift of healings.
Now we move on to day 4, the final day of the conference. That evening was to be a healing ministry event where all those who were anointed would use our new gift on the many people who would be arriving seeking a healing from God. About 5 pm, we were all let out to go get dinner. There were hundreds of people in that conference. I felt bad for the taco bell across the street. It was the only food place in walking distance people could see. They were overrun. Anyhow, I waited in the sanctuary for my husband because he was going to join for the evening event. I waited there alone, I sat in the middle of the sanctuary, I have no idea why, I could have at least walked to the door. Anyway, from my spot in the middle I watched this woman walk in, she was my height, so short, dark glasses, then I notice she had a white cane and a golden retriever with her. She was very tentative in the doorway. She had no idea the sanctuary was empty, she arrived early, she was blind. I knew the second I looked at her she was blind and I put my head down and I said “Lord, really, a blind woman, you couldn’t have given me a cold or something” I sighed, and I got up walked to her. I introduced myself and asked her if I could help her. She was looking for a pastor that invited her, I knew who the pastor was, but I let her know everyone was at dinner. I took her to a seat where I thought it would be best for her for the event later, and in the small talk she let me know she was there because she was having financial trouble. She needed rent money in 3 days and she didn’t have it. The pastor invited her to come for her rent money. I was a bit surprised, but I said ok, and let her know I needed to get a quick bite but I would be back and make sure she got connected to the pastor.
About 20 minutes later I was back, and the sanctuary was filled with people. The pastor she was looking for however, was not one of them. He left. So now there is a blind woman who knows no one there except me and I can’t leave her on her own, that would be a horrible thing to do. So I sat with her and when the time comes to pray for the people for a healing, she and I pray over her rent situation. Since that wasn’t really a “healing” and there was nothing I could offer her about the rent situation as a result of the prayer, we were just sitting there. Everyone around us was still praying for all sorts of healings, so I turned to her and I said, “hey, I know you came about your rent, but since you’re here, do you want me to pray about your sight?” Mind you, we hadn’t discussed her being blind, so it was a little awkward for me. She said ok. She had no sight at all, completely black, I don’t recall if she was born that way or it happened at some point, but she had been blind for a very long time, that much I do remember. So, I started praying, speaking to her eyes, doing everything I was taught. The Holy Spirit was there giving me courage and we prayed for a while. I didn’t fully grasp the vastness of what I was asking for because I was focused on the details of doing it right. Nothing was really happening, but I kept going, and then she said, “hey, I think I see something. I can see light, nothing clear, but I can see something” So I started praying with excitement, and her vision kept improving, and then she says, “Your shirt, it’s black, but I can see the patterns on your shirt.” I was wearing a black shirt with a design of about an inch or so, some weird squiggly design all over the shirt.” I still have that shirt by the way, I can’t fit into it, but I kept it as a reminder to me of what God does.
As we continued, her sight continued to improve. She left there seeing colors and shapes and the blurry kept clearing for her. I wish I had thought to get her name. I should have shared that with Randy Clark, I should have followed up with that pastor she was looking for but at the end of the day I know what the Lord did for her and I was honored to be a part of it.
I do use the gift, not as much as I would like but the time is coming when I will be able to do more and healings will be a part of it. There is a move of God in my area and I am teaching as many people as are willing on how to develop their relationship with the Lord and learn about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. By listening to this, you are a part of the move of God as well.
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I hope this has been time that inspires you to want to learn to grow in your relationship with the Lord and build your desire to partner with Him at a supernatural level. We want to grow in Him and learn how to work with Him to build the Kingdom and Conquer Our Unseen Enemies. The more we grow the more our life will change, and you can help change the lives of anyone around you who is willing.
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As always, let’s discuss our Top Show points:
· We continued our discussion of the spiritual gifts and in this episode we discussed the gift of healings.
· This is the 8th of the 9 gifts. Both of these gifts are Power gifts.
· 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, where Paul lays out the Spiritual gifts for us
· To summarize what Paul shared, the 9 Spiritual Gifts are: wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healings, miraculous powers, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues.
· There are Power gifts, Revelation gifts and Spoken gifts
· The gift of healings. This gift is often treated with such skepticism and those who have it are frequently maligned and dishonored.
· Today, we rely on science, on being able to prove things definitively that we won’t allow a place in our world for healings. Our rational mind won’t accept them, it’s like a veil covering our eyes from the truth of God. The enemy is the one that has created that veil.
· The gift of healings is not where people are praying for someone to be healed. The gift of healings is not where the elders come and lay hands on and anoint someone who is ill. That is what we should be doing, but it does not require an anointing to do.
· The gift of healings is a spiritual gift, a supernatural gift. It will only function out of the power of the Holy Spirit.
· Paul, Acts 28, he aftermath of the shipwreck, Paul and the men washed ashore onto Malta and healed everyone.
· There are those who have or have had a healing ministry, and they are exceptional in healing Diabetes, but not as successful in heart conditions.
· Example with Jesus, Luke 8 where woman was healed just by touching his cloak
· Acts 19, Paul was in Ephesus and people were healed by touching his cloak without him being present, just a piece of it.
· Shared a story from years ago when I received my anointing for gift of healing from Randy Clark
· Shared story of praying for woman over her rent and then praying over her eyes, to recover from blindness
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, it will be helpful in gaining wisdom and understanding and it is required for the gift of spiritual discernment
· If you want to learn more about how to Hear God's Voice, visit our website, lovingconversationssalo.com. My book, Loving Conversations: How to Pray and Hear God's Voice has helped so many people in their relationship with the Lord, check out the testimonials. There is also a companion Study Guide and two devotionals out based on the Loving Conversations Book. Those are available on the website www.lovingconversationssalo.com.
· Follow us in Instagram, @conqueringourunseenenemies
I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!