Healing Prayer Is God’s IdeaParaugs

We know that throughout the Gospels, healing prayer was regularly practiced by both the Lord and His disciples. It often accompanied the teaching of Jesus; it was also imprinted in the life of the early church recorded in Acts. Healing is embedded in Paul’s letters and the General Epistles, including his teaching on spiritual gifts. Scripture beckons believers to the experienced infilling of the Holy Spirit’s Presence and power; this includes gifts of healing from the Holy Spirit as a regular gift to the body of Christ . Most scholars estimate that Jesus spent between six months and a year preaching, teaching, and healing before calling the twelve apostles. Many disciples who began to follow Jesus did so specifically because they witnessed or experienced divine healing. In fact, it is astonishing to notice how Luke, the physician, speaks of the expectations of the crowds of followers. They didn’t merely show up to hear a pleasant word. Most came because they knew that Jesus’s teaching was packed with power; they were desperately ill, and they gathered to hear Him with a hope of being healed. Power flowed from Jesus to them. Long before MRIs, antibiotics, or anesthesia, the sick became well. They came without qualification, recommendation, or status and received healing freely. Jesus walked in this ministry as the Word made flesh and was God with us . He was overflowing withcompassion for the marginalized, the wounded, the powerless, the weary, and the sick. Jesus, born as a human, received the power of God’s Spirit as a human so that every human, born of God, might receive the power of God’s Spirit. God’s purpose in sending Jesus was to grant the gift of God’s empowering Presence—Himself—to every human who would receive Him. What a marvelous exchange! Jesus came to save us . We believe that and embrace it as the foundation of the gospel. Even more importantly, Jesus came to infill and saturate every pore of our beings with His Spirit! Christ came to empower us with the very nature, character, and power of God. God’s desire is that we do the same works He did, including entering into praying in the Spirit’s power ; in this way, we will see gifts of healing as a part of the ministry of His church all across the earth. Healing prayer is God’s idea—not ours. God invented it, and God commands it. Who are we to disobey the God of healing?