What is the Gift of Healing?

 

Many people claim to have the gift of healing. Often, those who claim this gift utilize it in large crowds and in front of TV cameras. They often whip up the enthusiasm in the crowd by chanting, "Jesus heals! Jesus heals!" and similar phrases.

Such people claim a certain success, admitting that about sixty percent of those they pray for are healed. I am not aware of any who have had a one hundred percent success rate in praying for the sick.

But is this the gift of healing?

Jesus must be considered the ultimate faith healer. Notice some characteristics of His healing ministry.

• There is no record of Him praying for the healing of a sick person. Rather, He commanded healing.
  
• He did not use crowd enthusiasm to induce healings. Frequently, though not always, He left crowds to heal someone in private. There's no record of His ever asking the crowds to participate in the healings.
  
• Usually, faith was evident in the person (or parents) requesting a healing, but often it was not. No faith is mentioned in the healings of the blind man (John 9:1-7), the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-44), or the raising of the young man of Nain. But Jesus' faith was always present.
  
• Sometimes Jesus instructed the sick person to do something, but usually He did not. He simply commanded healing.
  
• Jesus never failed! He was one hundred percent successful.

The apostles, particularly in their early ministry, healed in the same way Jesus had. They commanded healing, often without prayer. Many times, no faith was evidenced in the person being healed (Acts 3:1-11; 5:15; 20:9-11); sometimes it was (14:8, 9). However, the apostles always had faith. Like Jesus, they had a one hundred percent success rate. They never failed when they commanded someone to be healed.

Based on the example of Jesus and the apostles, I suggest the following definition for the gift of healing: the delegation of God's miracle-working power to a person who administers it directly to the sick. Whatever gift modern faith healers have, they do not have the gift of healing as Jesus and the apostles had, for they are only partially successful. Modern faith healers require faith on the part of the sick, and blame the sick person's lack of faith if they are not made well. Faith healers frequently do pray for healing rather than command it, and they many times do use crowd psychology. Their approach simply doesn't match up with that of Jesus and the apostles.