This posted was written by Dr. Owen Allen, one of our contributors, and shared with permission.
For us Christians, one thing that’s confusing is to pray for healing and not see any result. Whether we’re praying for ourselves, a family member, another Christian, or a stranger – and whether we’re praying for cancer, an infection, or a broken leg – we often see wonderful results. But sometimes we don’t. And not seeing a result can test our faith.
But in God’s miraculous ways, the truth is that all prayers for healing do have a result. It’s just that we sometimes don’t see that result. So the purpose of this article is to explain how healing is part of God’s plan for all people, and how He answers all healing prayers within the boundaries of His plan for each person’s life. So let’s start with some background. First let’s remember what happened when Jesus prayed for people’s healings.
What Happened When Jesus Prayed for People’s Healings?
In 40 different Scriptures throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts, the New Testament shows that everyone Jesus prayed for was healed. There are no Scriptures showing that Jesus prayed for someone who was not healed. Jesus healed every type of disease and sickness – from blindness, deafness, demon possession, epilepsy, birth defects, paralysis, emotional illnesses, and leprosy – to raising the dead. His apostles witnessed these healings, and recorded them for us in the pages of history. But what does all that mean for us today?
The Good News is that when we became Christians, the Holy Spirit (whom the Bible also calls the Spirit of Jesus) indwelled us and took up residence within us, bringing all of His Spiritual powers with Him from heaven. And one of the Spiritual powers He brought with Him from heaven is a supernatural gift called the Gifts of Healings.
Today, the Holy Spirit uses that gift within us to do the same kinds of healings that Jesus did in the First Century. The Spirit makes us “channels of blessing” to heal ourselves and others. But – if that’s true, why don’t we see more First Century type healings these days?
To answer this question, let’s look more carefully what the Gifts of Healings are.
What are the Gifts of Healings?
The Gifts of Healings are Spiritual powers that cure people’s illnesses, diseases, and all other afflictions in ways that are beyond human skill and beyond the laws of nature. So they are supernatural cures. The word “supernatural” means beyond what happens naturally. So these cures come directly from the throne room of heaven. They don’t originate with any person, thing, time, place, or group or organization here on earth.
It’s important to notice that the name of this gift – the Gifts of Healings – is composed of two plural words. Some people call it the “Gift of Healing.” They use singular words. But the Early Christians didn’t do that. Three times in his first letter to the Christian small groups in the city of Corinth, the apostle Paul calls this gift:
The Gifts of Healings.
Both words are plural. There are two reasons why this gift has a plural name. First, there are dozens of kinds of illnesses, diseases, and other afflictions of all kinds in people, and this gift heals them all. So this gift is a package gift that heals multiple afflictions, and thus the word “gifts” is plural.
Second, there are dozens of ways that diseases, illnesses, and other afflictions can be healed. They can be healed immediately; gradually; partially; temporarily, and so on. So this gift is a package gift that uses multiple healing methods, and thus the word “healings” is plural.
How Do the Gifts of Healings Work?
It’s important to know that the power of this gift is never given to Christians themselves. No Christian person, Christian group, or Christian organization has ever been given the power to heal. The Gifts of Healings are only expressed through Christians by the Holy Spirit, using Christians as “conduits” for His healings. Sometimes He expresses His healings through individual Christians. Other times He expresses His healings through groups of Christians. And other times He expresses His healings as sovereign acts that He alone decides to take.
So to summarize, the Holy Spirit expresses the Gifts of Healings four basic ways:
1. Sometimes the Holy Spirit uses the prayers of individual Christians as a “channel of blessing” to heal their own illnesses, diseases, and afflictions.
2. Sometimes the Holy Spirit uses the prayers of individual Christians as a “channel of blessing” to heal other people’s illnesses, diseases, and afflictions.
3. Sometimes the Holy Spirit uses the prayers of Christian groups (prayer groups, prayer meetings, etc.) as a “channel of blessing” to heal other people’s illnesses, diseases, and afflictions.
4. Sometimes the Holy Spirit acts privately and sovereignly to heal people’s illnesses, diseases, and afflictions without using any Christian or Christian group as a “channel” for the healings.
Examples of How the Gifts of Healings Work
One of the most confusing things about the Gifts of Healings is that many Christians expect healing prayers to be answered immediately. They think that all healing prayers were answered immediately in the First Century, and therefore all healing prayers should be answered immediately today.
But we tend to forget that some of Jesus’s healing prayers were answered in stages, not immediately. An example of a person that Jesus’s prayers didn’t heal immediately is the blind man in the fishing village of Bethsaida on Lake Galilee. Jesus laid hands on him and prayed for his blindness, and then Jesus stopped and asked him, “Do you see anything yet?”
And the blind man answered, “I see men who look like trees walking around.” In other words, the man’s eyesight wasn’t fully healed at that point. So Jesus prayed a second time, and this time the man’s eyesight was completely healed. The lesson in this story is that some afflictions were healed in stages in the First Century, and some afflictions are still healed in stages today.
But let’s go deeper. Research into the Gifts of Healings reveals even more surprises. Here’s a snapshot of some of the multiple ways the Gifts of Healings work:
• Some afflictions are healed immediately.
• Some afflictions are healed gradually.
• Some afflictions are healed partially.
• Some afflictions are healed in stages.
• Some afflictions are healed temporarily.
• Some afflictions are healed weeks or months later.
• Some afflictions are healed in people who don’t believe in healing.
• Some afflictions are not healed in people who do believe in healing.
There are many more twists and turns to how this gift works. But the principle is that there’s no pattern to how the Gifts of Healings work. Only the Holy Spirit, in His sovereign majesty, knows the plan God has for each person’s life – and only He knows when, where, and how each person’s afflictions should be healed to fit that plan. So the only thing we do know for sure is that God has a plan for each person’s life, and that He will heal their afflictions in the way, time, and place that best fits that plan. To see this principle even more clearly, let’s consider the career of a Christian woman by the name of Kathryn Kuhlman.
What Happened When Kathryn Kuhlman Preached?
Kathryn Kuhlman was a Christian evangelist who died in 1976 after a 50-year career as a traveling preacher similar to Billy Graham. Her goal was to lead others to Christ, and she preached about Jesus on the radio, on TV, in churches, and in public auditoriums worldwide. For the first 20 years of her career, Kuhlman was simply a female evangelist who led many people to Christ, despite the fact that she had many personal struggles and a failed marriage.
But one Sunday morning everything changed. Kuhlman was preaching in Pittsburgh, when suddenly a woman in the audience was healed of a tumor. Then, the next time Kuhlman preached, a man in the audience was suddenly healed of terminal illness. After that, the healings mushroomed in her services, so that for the final 30 years of her career she was known as a “Faith Healer,” instead of an evangelist.
The problem is that neither the position or the title of “Faith Healer” are in the Bible, and Kuhlman also rejected them. She called herself an “evangelist” to the end, and often said that she never knew when – or if – the Holy Spirit would heal anyone while she was preaching.
So Kuhlman’s career is additional proof that the ways in which the Holy Spirit heals are unpredictable and unknowable to us mere humans. To see even more proof of that, here are some of the ways the Holy Spirit healed people in Kuhlman’s preaching services.
There were chartered buses at the time that brought people to Kuhlman’s services. And some of the people riding those buses were healed before they even got to the services. Other people were healed riding home in the buses after the services. Still others were healed at home – hours, days, or weeks after the services. Some people in the services didn’t believe in God or healing, but were healed. Other people in the services did believe in God and healing, but were not healed. And the amazing but puzzling stories roll on. But these facts reveal that the ways the Holy Spirit heals are up to Him alone. To cast that law in concrete, let’s see one last example.
The Man Who was in the Wrong Auditorium
One of my favorite Kathryn Kuhlman stories is still more proof that the Holy Spirit alone knows when, where, and how He heals people. A man who had no religion, and who was deaf in one ear, arrived by taxi one time at a Kuhlman service. The problem was that the man was at the wrong auditorium. He had asked the taxi to take him to a certain public auction in town. But the driver dropped him off at the wrong auditorium. And as the man stood in the doorway of Kuhlman’s service trying to figure out what kind of auction he was in – his deaf ear was suddenly healed. So a man who didn’t believe in healing; and wasn’t praying for healing; and wasn’t expecting healing – was healed anyway.
This story, and many like it in the books about Kuhlman’s career, prove that what an afflicted person thinks or believes is a neutral factor to the Holy Spirit. Instead, what’s important to the Holy Spirit is God’s eternal plan for a person. He then applies the type of healing (immediately, gradually, partially, etc.) that best fits God’s plan for the person. In other words, the Holy Spirit is sovereign. He alone knows God’s plan for each person, and He alone chooses the method of healing that best fits God’s plan.
The Holy Spirit Makes His Own Decisions
First, let’s establish a founding fact. The Gifts of Healings are real, true, and for today. Most Christians have read Hebrews 13:8 in the Bible. It’s the verse that says, “Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” And since the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is also the same yesterday, today, and forever. And since the Holy Spirit is in charge of the Gifts of Healings, they also are the same yesterday, today, and forever.
So the Gifts of Healings are eternal, and the Holy Spirit is sovereign in how they’re used. The word “sovereign” means that the Holy Spirit has supreme, permanent, and total authority over who is healed – and when, where, and how they’re healed. For example, in the story of the man standing in the doorway of the Kuhlman service by mistake, only the sovereign Holy Spirit knows how healing that man’s deaf ear impacted his life. Did the healing cause him to become a Christian? Did the healing save his marriage, or solve some other problem in his life? Did he become a pastor later? We won’t know any of these things until we get to heaven. But we do know that the man’s healing served some eternal purpose in his life.
Here’s the overriding principle. As humans, we can’t know why someone was healed in a certain place, at a certain time, in a certain way – and it’s presumptuous for us to try to know. Another important verse in the Bible is Isaiah 55:9. God is speaking to the prophet Isaiah in the verse, but His words apply to us today, and to everything that happens to us, including when, where, and how we’re healed. Here’s what God said about our healings:
“Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
This verse means that we can’t predict when, where, or how the Holy Spirit will heal us, or will heal anyone else. What we can accurately predict is God’s plan for us and for others is good, positive, beneficial, purposeful, and eternal. And we can predict that the Holy Spirit will heal us that same exact way. Indeed, speaking of eternal things, it’s important to remember that the word “saved” in the Bible can also be translated “healed.” So every Christian – regardless of his or her afflictions here on earth – will one day be completely, totally, gloriously healed. And every Christian will one day walk with Jesus and the apostles on the shining golden streets of heaven in perfect and radiant health.
Heaven is the permanent and perfect healing that every Christian will eventually enjoy. And that’s why we said all prayers for healing do have a result, and whether we’re praying for cancer, an infection, or a broken leg, our prayers do assist the Holy Spirit’s result in our case. But now, with all that being true, where do doctors, nurses, medicines, and hospitals fit in with the Gifts of Healings?
Should Christians Use Doctors, Nurses, Medicines, and Hospitals?
In the First Century, Jesus and His apostles and disciples accepted doctors, nurses, medicines, and hospitals as having a role in the healing process. The Bible refers to doctors 12 different times between the books of Genesis and Luke. And First Century doctors had a working knowledge of anatomy and surgery, and could diagnose many diseases, such as cancer and diabetes. It’s also interesting that the Hebrew word for “healing” is also the word for “doctor” in Hebrew.
Thus, doctors, nurses, medicines, and hospitals existed in the First Century, and were included in God’s healing plans for people. We said earlier that the Gifts of Healings worked in “multiple” ways. And doctors, nurses, medicines, and hospitals are included in those “multiple” ways. Of course, the Early Christians didn’t use secular doctors and hospitals very often because they met in small groups in private homes, and their own Christian doctors treated them in those small groups. And by the way that brings up the story of Dr. Loukas.
The man we call “the apostle Luke” was actually a First Century Greek physician by the name of Dr. Loukas from Antioch, Turkey. Dr. Loukas was originally a Christian doctor whose practice was among the Christian small groups in Antioch. And later in his career he became the traveling apostle who wrote the Books of Luke and Acts in the New Testament. Thus, the fact that one of the early apostles was a medical doctor, and the fact that he wrote
30 percent of the New Testament, proves that it’s totally appropriate for Christians to use doctors, nurses, medicines, and hospitals. But we must always use them as support for our healing prayers – not instead of our healing prayers. Our first trust must always be in the Holy Spirit and the Gifts of Healings. After that, we can use doctors as “Plan B,” while the Gifts of Healings are working.
For example, when I pray for people to be healed, and if after the prayer they seem better, I always urge them to return to their doctor, and have their healing medically verified before they discontinue any medical treatments. It’s also fascinating that 74 percent of today’s doctors believe in supernatural healings. And that 55 percent of them have had supernatural healings in their own medical practices.
Must Christians Have Faith to be Healed?
Sometimes when we pray for people’s healings, and they don’t seem immediately better, somebody will say, “Well, they must not have had enough faith.” But that’s an unfortunate idea. Because that places the burden for healing on the afflicted person, instead of on the Holy Spirit where it belongs. That idea also doesn’t take into account the many ways in which the Holy Spirit heals people – gradually, partially, slowly, in stages, etc.
Of course, it’s true that in some Bible verses Jesus says to people, “Your faith has healed you.” But in those verses, Jesus meant that the healed person had faith in Him. Not that the healed person had faith in his or her healing. In fact, in some of those verses, the afflicted person didn’t have faith in either Jesus or healing.
An example is the paralytic man lying beside the Bethesda Pool in Jerusalem. Not only did he not expect to be healed, but he didn’t even know Jesus. So clearly he had no faith in either Jesus or healing. Yet he was healed.
We also saw earlier that some of the people in Kathryn Kuhlman’s services didn’t have faith in either God or healing. And they too were healed. We also saw in the case of the man standing in the doorway of the Kuhlman service who thought he was in an auction, that he didn’t have faith in God or healing either. Yet he was healed too. And for contrast, just to
see the opposite view, we know that the apostles Paul and Timothy both had afflictions that were not healed, and yet they had the dynamic faith of First Century apostles.
So what does all this mean? What’s the connection between faith and the Gifts of Healings? The principle is that the level to which an afflicted person has faith in God or in healing is a “neutral” fact to the Holy Spirit. It’s wonderful if an afflicted person does have faith
in God and in healing. But it’s not required. There are no Bible verses saying people can’t be healed unless they have faith in healing. Instead, the Bible places the burden for healing on the Holy Spirit and on God’s eternal plan for people, so all people everywhere are healed in conformance to God’s plan for them. And that leaves us with the key underlying principle of healing. It’s the principle of trust.
The Role of Trust in Healing
“Faith” and “trust” are two different things in the New Testament. In the First Century, the noun “faith” meant to be persuaded. That is, to be persuaded that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are real and to believe in them. So in the simplest terms, “faith” means to be a Christian.
On the other hand, in the First Century the verb “trust” meant to hopefully rely on something. That is, to wait confidently for something to happen. So in the simplest terms, in the case of healing, “trust” means to wait confidently for a healing that we know is coming.
“Trust” is the act of knowing that the Holy Spirit will – and is – healing us and our family and friends in His own way, in His own time, and in His own place.
Thus, regardless of how we feel, and regardless of what we see with our eyes, we must trust that all of our illnesses, diseases, and afflictions will be fully healed in the time, place, and way that best fits God’s eternal plan for us. To use the words of an old Christian hymn, our task is to:
“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way.”
What’s the Biggest Lesson in the Gifts of Healings?
The biggest lesson we’ve learned about the Gifts of Healings is that all healing prayers are answered, and all healing prayers have a positive result. That means our healing prayers for ourselves and others are extremely important and necessary. They do reinforce God’s plan for us and our family and friends. The key point to remember is that every healing prayer isn’t answered immediately. Some are. But some aren’t. Because the Holy Spirit doesn’t work on our timetable. He works on heaven’s timetable.
Thus, if you have an affliction as you read these lines, and if you’re praying for the healing of that affliction, don’t make the frequent mistake of expecting the affliction to be healed immediately. Because it may be God’s plan to heal it gradually, partially, in stages, or some other way. Our role is to pray constantly – and to trust that the result of our prayers – whether or not we can see it, is on the way from the throne room of heaven.
In closing, I once had a friend named Roland. He’s in heaven now, but whenever something confusing and discouraging happened to him, he always said, “I give God all the credit, and none of the blame.”
Let’s agree with Roland. Let’s trust the power and majesty of the Holy Spirit. Let’s trust the powerful and supernatural Gifts of Healings. Let’s trust that our healing prayers will soon produce the result God has for us. And while we wait, let’s pray for the Holy Spirit to fill us with the Fruit of the Spirit, and to give us all of the love, joy, peace, patience, and hope we need to stand strong until God’s plan unfolds.
And let’s always remember to “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way.”
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