Spirit-led Healing

I was asked by a friend whether we should always wait for the Holy Spirit to show us who He wants to heal before praying with a stranger. This is one of the most common questions people have about healing.

Being led by the Holy Spirit is always our goal, and we need to cooperate with Him in every healing or deliverance encounter. 

While it's true that He will sometimes highlight certain people for healing that we are not aware of, it is not necessary to always wait for Him to highlight people for healing. The question of whether we should wait for Him to show us certain individuals arises when we are uncertain about whether it is God's will to heal all people or only certain ones.

It is difficult to pray with faith when we are uncertain about God's will for healing. We can know with certainty His will toward healing by looking at the New Testament. The gospels give us a clear understanding of the Father's will through the ministry of Jesus who healed multitudes of people of every kind of disease and demonic oppression:

"When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick." (Matthew 8:16)

Jesus never refused to heal anyone who came to him, in fact, it is likely that He spent entire days doing nothing but healing people until He was exhausted. The will of God for healing was further revealed when Jesus commissioned His disciples to heal the sick and cast out demons making no exceptions about who was to be healed:

"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8)

We see the disciples doing this exact thing in the book of Acts after Jesus ascended into heaven:

“Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed." (Acts 5:16)

The scriptures give no indication that there were any exceptions to healing in the ministry of Jesus or the disciples. If it is the will of God to heal all who are sick and demonized, then being Spirit-led is not an issue of who can be healed, but how they should be healed.

Looking at the model Jesus gave us, we see that with one person, He told them to arise and walk. For another it was a touch that healed their blindness. For someone else it was a little mud in their eye and with another, He told their friend to go home because they were already healed. Jesus used different methods for healing each person based on what the will of the Father was for their unique situation. This is what He meant when He said, "The son only does what He sees the Father doing." (John 5:19)

Being led by the Spirit has to do with the particular method God wants us to use to heal each person. Sometimes it will be a touch, sometimes a command, sometimes we'll ask them to get up from their wheelchair and attempt to walk. Just as Jesus was led to do certain things to release a miracle, we must learn to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in how He wants us to bring healing to each person we encounter.

God's Mercy and Healing Power

This is an excerpt from John Wimber's book Power Healing.

"Lord, I asked, are most people afraid to pray for the sick because their understanding of your nature, who you are and how you work inhibits them?" Again, I sensed him saying, "Yes - most people are hesitant, even fearful, to pray for others healing because they misunderstand my compassion and mercy. They know about me, but they do not always know me."

It really works, I thought as I went on my way toward home, and God used me as a vehicle of his healing mercy. Then I was jolted out of my jubilant mood by an incredible vision.

Suddenly in my minds eye there appeared to be a cloud bank superimposed across the sky. But I had never seen a cloud bank like this one, so I pulled my car over to the side of the road to take a closer look. Then I realized it was not a cloud bank, it was a honeycomb with honey dripping out on to people below. The people were in a variety of postures. Some were reverent; they were weeping and holding their hands out to catch the honey and taste it, even inviting others to take some of their honey. Others acted irritated, wiping the honey off themselves, complaining about the mess. I was awestruck. Not knowing what to think, I prayed, "Lord, what is it?"

He said, It's my mercy, John. For some people it's a blessing, but for others it's a hindrance. There is plenty for everyone. Don't ever beg me for healing again. The problem isn't on my end, John. It's down there. (For readers who have never had a vision or supernaturally heard God in this fashion, I did not physically hear God speak. I experienced more of an impression, a spiritual sense of God speaking to me. Time proved that what I thought I had heard was true.)
That was a moving and profound experience; certainly it revolutionized my life more than any other experience I had since becoming a Christian. I have never looked at healing the same way since that day.

What made this experience so powerful was that it confirmed my newfound conviction, rooted in Scripture, that God's abundant grace included diving healing, if only we would believe him for it. I learned this lesson from the story in Mark 9:14-32 of Christ healing a man's son who was possessed by a spirit and as a consequence was mute. After the disciples had failed to heal the boy, the father approached Jesus asking if he could help. Jesus wasted no time in identifying the reason for the disciples failure: unbelief.

After explaining to Jesus that his son had been possessed by a spirit since childhood, the man asked, "But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us" (v.22). Jesus said, "If you can? Everything is possible for him who believes" (v.23). The key to experiencing Gods healing mercy was belief, belief in the God who heals. "I do believe, the father said. Help me overcome my unbelief! (v.24). With this confession what Jesus called faith as small as a mustard seed in Matthew 17:20 he cast a deaf and mute spirit out of the boy, and the boy was instantly healed.

What God showed me through scriptures like Mark 9, my first healing, and the honeycomb vision was that he is much greater than I ever imagined him to be, and with only the smallest act of faith I could experience his compassion and mercy. I also realized that God's mercy is constantly falling on us, because everything that he does is related to what he is: the Father of compassion (mercies, oiktirmon) and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles. (2 Cor. 1:3; Exod. 34:6, Neh. 9:17). Psalm 145:9 says, "The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made". Titus 3:5 says the Lord saves us because of his mercy.

But too often I did not see God in the fullness of his mercy and grace.

I trusted him to lead me, but I did not trust him to provide for me; I had faith to receive forgiveness of sins and salvation, but I had no faith for divine healing. I never realized God's mercy was as readily and abundantly available to me as the honey was available to all under the honeycomb.

Through the honeycomb vision I also understood that my first healing was only the beginning of my experiencing God's mercy if I would only choose to believe and to receive it. In the vision, some people rejoiced, freely received, and freely gave away. The more they gave away, the more they received. There is plenty for everyone, The Lord said. Don't ever beg me for healing again.

But others, full of unbelief and skepticism, could not receive the grace, blessings, and gifts of God. They could not see that Gods mercy and healing are greater than their understanding of how he works. The problem isn't on my end, the Lord said. It's down there. It is we not God who place limitations and unbelief on Gods compassion and mercy. We are invited to cooperate with his Spirit by entering into a divine partnership, a partnership in which he brings direction and provides for healing.