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One of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in 1 Cor. 12 is gifts of healing. How do these gifts operate?
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As Paul does inform us that there is first a Manifestation of the Spirit with healings in 1Cor 12:9, he also says in 1Cor 12:28 that healings is one of the 8 Congregational Offices.One of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in 1 Cor. 12 is a gift of healing. How does this gift operate?
That's a great testimony. Thankyou 'dragongunner'My pastor had the gift of healing, seen it happen so many times including myself. I believe any member in Christ can have any of the gifts including healing. I have also received healing, Praise the Lord, in just praying to him myself without my former pastor or the elders also. Its always been very interesting because even though there are times myself or others have been healed, there are times we are not. What I have found is do we take it to God first or last. Some people go to the doctor and get better then give God praise for healing…..thats not all bad, but thats not God divine healing we see in the scriptures. I remember my Dad in the hospital and my pastor and I went to pray for him, when we were done a woman who spoke broken english came over and asked us to pray for her husband who didn;t speak english…..maybe they were italian or greek..? My mom said the doctors told her he was going to die, nothing they could do. My pastor had me come with him and we prayed over him, he looked very bad but his eyes seemed alive with love for us, and his wife thanked us….the next day I visited my dad and saw that the man in the room was gone and my heart began to sink…I asked my mom did that man pass away during the night…,,"NO, in the morning he was up out of bed yakking away at his wife, the doctors couldn't believe it, he seem ok and he insisted on going home!!! So they released him, he told his wife to tell my mom to thank that man who prayed over him…….Oh so many stories I could tell. Praise ye the Lord.
Thanks for those observations 'tturt'. I think none of us have the gift of healing or everyone would be healed! As the Holy Spirit distributes some receive gifts of healing that are used to bring glory to His Name. We have to be open to receive these gifts.I love reading testimonies like that. Thanks for posting!
Also, think Yahweh hears our prayers and answers them so no matter which believer is praying that's why whether we have the gifts of healing or not, folks are healed. In terms of folks being prayed for at the end of services individually, don't see anything in Scripture where it's prohibited.
Do think it's interesting that it's the gifts of healing. After decades of being in services, there are certain congregational services where the healings that occur are of particular illnesses more than others.
Also, one of the criticisms by those who don't believe in the manifestations of the gifts, is if we really believed in healings that we would go to hospitals and clear them out. I know Yahweh can do this but for the believer - think a pride problem would probably have to be dealt with afterwards.
Plus word would spread and there would be thousands of prayer requests within a few days (know this just happened).
Great study 'talitha'.Thankyou!my thoughts after studying the gifts of healing......
Gifts of Healing
Gifts of Healing, like all of the manifestations of the Spirit, demonstrate something about God. One of the names of God is Jehovah Rapha, God the Healer. That is who He is, because life emanates from Him. When Jesus healed people during his earthly life, He was demonstrating this character of God, and the same is true when we manifest the Holy Spirit with gifts of healing.
The Greek word for healing is iaomi – to cure or make whole. The interesting thing about this term as it is used in the list of manifestations is that it is in the plural – whether the translator puts the “s” by “gift” or “healing”, there is always an “s”. This would seem to indicate either a variety of methods or kinds of healing, or a plurality of times it happens. I’d say probably both as we look at the ministry of Jesus.
The first instance of healing in the Bible was in Genesis (20:17) when Abraham prayed for Abimelech and his wife – and He opened her womb (which he had shut). This shows me that it is not only sickness that God heals but also anything that is not perfectly working the way that it should be. There are many examples of healings in the Old Testament, including these:
· God healed Miriam after He had struck her with leprosy (Numbers 12:13).
· Elijah “healed” (NASB says “purified”, but it’s the same Hebrew word) the waters of Jericho so they would no longer cause death or unfruitfulness (2 Kings 2:21).
· Naaman was healed of leprosy after submitting to the humbling instructions of Elisha via his servant (2 Kings 5)
· God healed King Hezekiah of his mortal illness (2 Kings 20) by the word of the prophet Isaiah.
Jesus had a traveling ministry of healing. He healed “every kind of disease and every kind of sickness” (Mt. 4:23), including demoniacs, epileptic, and paralytics (Mt. 4:24). He used a variety of methods to heal people:
· He healed by the laying on of hands (Luke 4:40, et. al.)
· “Virtue” went out from Jesus and healed the woman who touched his garment (Luke 8:46-48) - this had happened before with others, apparently (Luke 6:19).
· He sent the word and healed the centurion’s servant.
· He healed many blind - one by appling mud made with his spit! (John 9:6-7)
Jesus also gave authority to His followers to heal.
· Twice during his own earthly life, he sent out followers to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, and proclaim His kingdom!
· Peter and John told a lame man to walk, and he walked, leapt, and praised God! (Acts 3:6-8)
· Signs and wonders in the nascent church included many healings. People brought the sick and those afflicted by demonic spirits to the apostles, and they were all healed (Acts 5:16).
· Many who were paralyzed ad lame were healed by Philip in Samaria, and also the demonized were healed (Acts 8:6-7).
· When Paul was shipwrecked on Malta, he healed everyone who came to him (Acts 28:8-9).
It is clear from this list that there are many kinds of healing, including freeing the demonized. Whatever it takes to make a person whole, that is healing. I have participated in freeing the demonized; on one occasion in Mexico, the Lord led me to dance and play the tambourine around a woman during worship, and that night she was delivered from demonic bondage. In 1 Chronicles (7:14), God promises (with some conditions) to heal the land. I have heard of evidence that this can refer to removing political corruption and also to literally healing the geological condition of the earth. Ray Hughes, who is known as a worshiper, has followed the instructions the Lord gave him and healed rivers just as Elisha did. My husband and I are speaking healing over the nation where we serve as missionaries, both politically and geologically, and he is following the Lord’s directions to him, believing that the piece of land we live on will be healed and that the trees here will produce much fruit. Jesus read from Isaiah a prophecy about himself, that he was sent to “heal the brokenhearted” (Is. 61:1; Luke 4:18 KJV). Inner healing is crucial for walking victoriously in Christ, as is freedom from the bondage of sin. In Hosea (14:4) God promises to “heal [the] waywardness” of His people.
I am noticing another thing in these examples I have provided – the healer needs to rely upon God to know the recipe for each healing. Sometimes it is as simple as a “prayer of faith” (James 5:15) or a laying on of hands; other times it may be as complicated as applying spit-mud to the eyes or dipping seven times in the Jordan river. Sometimes the healer does nothing - just his presence is enough because of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I have been in meetings where people are spontaneously healed during praise and worship; a friend of mine was healed of a brain tumour during such a meeting. It seems that God likes to heal in a great variety of ways, and it can be fun to see what He will do.
One day God will dwell with us, the God of life, Jehovah Rapha, and there will be no more sorrow, no more sickness, no more death, and no more pain. There will be no political corruption, as Jesus will reign as King of all, and all of the demons will be cast in into the lake of fire. There will be no need for healing in that day. Until then, we have a foretaste of that day whenever the Holy Spirit manifests through gifts of healing.