Recently, I was in a fairly intimate group setting, and a person came forth who had a physical ailment, for which he needed God‘s healing touch.  Right away, I began to hear the group utter, “Where’s Hannah?  Hannah, come lay hands on him.”

First of all, let me just very candidly say that my initial response was, well, THIS. IS. AWESOME!!  I mean, just to be really honest about it, I loved the fact that I was in a group of people, whom I consider to be big time giants for the Kingdom, and they regarded me as “the anointed one” who could come and effectively usher God’s healing, through the laying on of hands.  Wow!!  Excuse me?  How did that happen?  How, exactly, did I get to this place??

But, my second response, deep in my gut, was a humbling check in my spirit, that made me want to say, “Whoa!  Hold the phone. I am, by no means, the only one here who can effectively pray for God’s healing!”  See, the gift of healing is available to everyone who believes in Jesus!!

“And these signs will accompany those who believe:  In my name….they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
Mark 16:17-18 (NIV)

The passage doesn’t say, “These signs may accompany…”  No, it says, “These signs will accompany.”  In fact, Jesus gave a mandate in Matthew 10:8, as He commissioned His original 12 disciples, “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.”

So, I return to my original question:  How did I get to this place, of being regarded as one who will boldly, and effectively partner with God to usher His healing.  Well, here’s where I feel like I can offer some experiential advice.

I can’t say I always operated in the boldness that I have in the past year, in praying for the sick.  I had an experience that awakened the gift inside of me, and I’m here to tell you, it is available to YOU, too.  See, I have actually been chasing after the gift of healing.  I had been prophesied over, that I carry a gift of healing, but I wasn’t seeing any fruit from it, and I didn’t exactly believe it.  Of course, a couple of key reasons I wasn’t seeing fruit from it, were because:
A) I wasn’t praying over all that many people, and
B) I had the wrong idea of what the gift of healing looked like

My Misconception About the Gift of Healing
For the longest time, I had the gift of healing and the gift of miracles combined, in my mind.  I thought that the gift of healing meant that when I prayed for someone, I would see instantaneous and profound results, right in front of my eyes.  When I didn’t see these things, I lost hope that my prayers for healing were really effective at all.  And, consequently, I really didn’t go out of my way to boldly and confidently pray for healing for someone.

However, this was a big misconception.  See, the gift of miracles and the gift of healing are separate (though often seen together) gifts.  Ofttimes (until recently) when praying for someone’s healing, I saw absolutely no immediate results.  However, I have received multiple testimonies of people, over whom I have prayed, who have reported back to me a week or so later, that their chronic ailment has subsided (sometimes so subtly that the person, him/herself didn’t even realize the healing had come).  In one case, a woman had been taking ibuprofen multiple times daily to address severe chronic throat pain for months, for which she was waiting to see an ENT for specialty treatment.  Within days of praying for her, she realized that the pain had completely subsided.  She did not end up needing to see the specialist.  This is just one of many similar testimonies of gradual and subtle healing that I have witnessed, following the laying on of my hands, which still blows my mind, every single time!!

Fan Into Flame the Gifts
So, where did my boldness come from, to begin praying over people, you may ask?  Remember when I said I chased after it?  Well, that’s the truth.  I read books, studied the Word, went to conferences on healing, and soaked up the testimonies I would hear of people laying hands on others and experiencing, first hand, bold displays of God’s healing.  But, things really changed for me when I attended a conference at a local church, almost exactly one year ago.  One of the speakers at the conference was Chris Gore, who is the Pastor of Healing Ministries at Bethel Church in Redding, California.  The Healing Rooms at Bethel have a remarkable healing rate amongst those who come to receive God’s touch.  Chris gave a wonderful, practical teaching on the gift of healing, which helped me tremendously.  However, the bottom line is that I knew that some gifts get truly stirred up and awakened inside of you through the laying on of hands.  As I once heard someone put it:  All believers possess the fullness of God inside.  Sometimes, it just takes having someone who is operating strongly in certain gifts to awaken (through the laying on of hands) that particular gift that is there, but laying dormant, inside of you.  So, you better believe, I chalked all manner of pride out the window, and hunted down Chris Gore to ask him to lay hands on me and release an impartation.  In other words, to awaken the gift of healing inside of me.

I didn’t feel anything, at the time he prayed over me.  No manifestations of the Spirit.  No rush of heat or wind or chills.  No falling down under the weight of God’s glory.  Nope.  I felt nothing.  So, I wondered if anything had actually taken place.  Which brings me to an aside point.  You do not have to feel something, in order for the Holy Spirit to be at work.  God will do things as He wishes, how and when He wishes.  So, please do not think that if you see someone falling under the weight of God’s glory, while you are still standing, that God isn’t doing something equally as powerful in you!  Seriously!  Get that!!  Receive it, and believe it.  (Okay, I’m done with that little soap box…)

Even though I felt nothing at the time he prayed over me, I noticed, immediately, a newfound boldness to pray for healing over people.  If I saw someone with an ailment, or heard someone complaining about an ailment (which, incidentally, it is amazing how many people you will notice complaining about physical ailments, once you start paying attention, with the intent to bring the Kingdom into their pain!!), I felt boldness rise up inside of me to offer to pray for them.  It was as if the fear of man broke right off of me, and I was ready to go after nearly any and everything put before me.  So, I did.  I embraced 2 Timothy 1:7 – a verse that many people are completely familiar with: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.”  So, I began praying over lots and LOTS of people.  But, if you look at the verse immediately before the “spirit of power” verse, you will find my personal “game changer” verse:

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”
2 Timothy 1:6

Other translations say “keep ablaze” “stir up” or “rouse.”  In other words, once your gift is awakened, you have a responsibility to keep it at the surface.  How do you do that?  You keep practicing.  (And, that goes for any gift.  If it’s the gift of prophecy, keep asking the Lord for a word for someone.  If it’s the gift of teaching, seek opportunities to teach.  If it’s the gift of healing, keep praying for people!)  My job, from the moment the gift of healing was awakened in me, was to begin praying over people, and keep praying over people.  I have made an absolutely intentional and concerted effort to keep on praying for the sick, no matter how many times doubt and fear of man try to creep back in.  1 Timothy 4:14 says it in another way: “Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.”

One of the coolest things is that I am, now, seeing more and more fruits of this gift, and, in fact, within the past month, I have witnessed multiple immediate (miraculous) healings, including:

1. An injured shoulder completely restored (without me actually even praying for that particular issue!!)
2. 1 headache immediately healed
3. 2 migraine headaches immediately healed
4. After praying for a friend with a migraine (which was healed on the spot), after I left, she had a major coughing fit, and was cured immediately of an upper respiratory infection she had been battling for a week.
5. Bulging lower disk with substantial debilitating back pain immediately relieved during the laying on of hands.

I attribute this recent “increase” to the parable of the talents (see Matthew 25:14-28).  A master gave a servant 5 talents, and another 2 talents.  Each of the servants went and put their money to work and doubled their money.  But, to another, he gave only one talent.  This servant went and buried it, to make sure he could come back with a talent.  The master rewarded those who were faithful, putting their talents to work, saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your Master’s happiness.”

So, what is my point is saying all of this?  It is to say that the gift of healing is available to all who believe!!  God is eager to do His work on the earth, and He is calling forth those who would believe He is who He says He is!  To believe Hebrews 13:8 — that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  I write this, not to boast about a gift of healing, because it is not anything that I have done, of my own accord.  I give 100% of the glory to God.  I don’t take it personally when a healing doesn’t take place, in the same way that I don’t claim personal glory when a healing does take place!  It is all about Him, who loves to lavish good gifts on His children.  So, I write this to empower you to eagerly and expectantly chase after the gift of healing.  Find someone who operates in the gift, ask them to lay hands on you to awaken the gift within you! (And, NEWSFLASH — God doesn’t require you to have the gift awakened by the laying on of hands.  He is sovereign and perfectly capable of awakening the gift, simply in response to you asking).  Then, stir up that gift!  Start praying for people.  And, expect an increase!!  Don’t take it personally, if they’re not healed, and don’t try to take credit if they are healed!  You don’t have to know what you’re doing!!  He’s the one doing everything.  All you have to know how to do is put your hands on someone.  The rest is in HIS hands!!!

(Stay tuned for Part 2, in which I will cover some practicalities on the Gift of Healing)