The Charismatic Gifts of the Spirit Part 6
This is the sixth lesson in our series on The Gifts of the Spirit. In the past lessons we have discussed the nine gifts of the spirit as listed in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11.
1 Corinthians 12:7-11: But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8. for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9. to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10. to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
These gifts are a manifestation of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit in an individual believer’s life as opposed to the ministry gifts as described later in the chapter and again in Ephesians 4:7, 11-13.
We learned that the giving of these gifts is a manifestation of God’s Grace in our lives.
We said God’s grace was a key attribute of God, it is free, it is God’s Sovereign choice,
it comes only through Jesus Christ, it is only given to the humble, it comes only by faith and is administered by the Holy Spirit, it is revealed in Jesus and applied in our lives by the Holy Spirit. Several examples of grace gifts are salvation, healing, the giving of the law, God’s longsuffering and forbearance being only a few. As we continue with this study I want you to remember to concentrate on three things, the riches of God’s grace, the abundance of God’s grace and the variety of God’s grace.
We then differentiated between the ministry Gifts as listed in the latter part of 1 Corinthians 12 and also in Ephesians 4 from the gifts of our text. I refer you to lesson 2 for further information.
Gifts of the Spirit: Ministry Gifts:
Word of Wisdom Apostles
Word of God Knowledge Prophets
Discerning of spirits Evangelist
The Gift of Faith PastorsGift of Healings Teachers
Gift of Miracles Gifts of Healings
Gift of Prophecy Gifts of Miracles
Tongues Helps
Interpretation of Tongues Adminstrations
So we see that God in his infinite wisdom and grace has given us gifts, both individually and as a church for the benefit of all. They are for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all come into the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man to the measure of the fullness of Christ.
Today we are continuing our study of the “power gifts” or those gifts that do something as opposed to the previous three gifts of Word of Wisdom, Knowledge and Discerning of Spirits that reveal something. We discussed “the gift of faith” in our last lesson, today we will be discussing “gift of healings.”
I was reading and studying Kenneth Hagin’s study course on the gifts of the spirit, Concerning Spiritual Gifts and in it he states that he believes the gift of faith is listed first because it is the greater of the three . I also believe that the gift of faith in addition to helping us receive from God on a level we do not understand, it also helps us perform miracles and healing.
As with all the gift, both miracles and healings work separately yet hand in hand. We see mainly the gift of miracles at work in the Old Testament while we see both in the New Testament in the lives of Jesus and in the lives of the apostles. There are some incidences of healing in the Old Testament as well. It is very important for us to remember that God expects us as spirit filled believers to believe for all of these gifts to be manifested in our individual lives and in the church as a whole. These gifts are given to the church for the edification and building up of the church. They are pertinent and relevant for today and always, always give glory to God and never, never to a specific individual.
We as Ladies need to pray for them to be manifested in our lives as individuals and in our church. We are living in perilous times and we need the power of God Almighty manifested in our lives now more than ever. Amen! We also need to remember that the gifts flowing in our lives or worship services should be the norm, not the exception. However, just as the Apostle Paul had to correct the Church in Corinth, they should be reverent fearful manifestations of the Holy Spirit and not an out of control “circus” atmosphere. Amen?
1 Corinthians 12:9-12a: to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10. to another the working of miracles…
Let’s begin with gifts of healing. We need to understand that in many cases healings and miracles occur at the same time, as we have stated before these gifts are separate but very interrelated at the same time.
Derek Prince differentiates healings and miracles by saying that healings relieve the body of disease or suffering and can be gradual, miracles are generally instantaneous. Miracles may include the re-growth of organs or limbs, raising of dead and also include the control over natural forces of nature such as weather etc. Healings are just that, healing of diseases and it is something we all can do.
Mark 16:17-18: 17. "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18. "they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.''
Interestingly enough the Greek word used here for recover is karpophoreo pronounce phonetically as kar-pof-or-eh'-o. It is defined as to be fertile (literally or figuratively): --be (bear, bring forth) fruit(-ful).
That made me really stop and think. ‘They will lay hands on the sick and they will bear fruit”? Then the Holy Spirit quickened in my spirit, “what kind of fruit can a sick person under the influence of faith and power of the Holy Spirit bear except wellness. And wellness is how Strong’s Greek New Testament defines karpophoreo as wellness.
So we lay hands in faith and people bear the fruit of recovery. Generally speaking recovery can be gradual instead of instantaneous. We know from the life of Jesus that in many instances “they were healed in that same hour.” (see Matthew 8:13).
Let’s look now at instances of healings. According to Derek Prince whose Book The Gifts of The Spirit is the main resource for this course, the gifts of healings supernaturally restore people to physical wholeness. It is a gift of God given through the Holy Spirit and manifested through a particular person. Gifts of healing can be affected through three ways.
- The resurrection power of the Holy Spirit.
- Power in an atmosphere of healing
- Healing of specific person under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s look at examples of each.
The Resurrection Power of the Holy Spirit:
Healing power is the power of the Holy Spirit made available to the body of the believer.
Romans 8:11: 11. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
2 Corinthians 4:10-12: 10. always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12. So then death is working in us, but life in you.
I have said before in other classes, and I will say it again, we have the life of God in us. That is all the life God has to give. It has to affect us physically, if we live in faith and allow it to do so. Traditionally, this verse has been simply translated to mean, when our physical bodies are resurrected. I agree with this somewhat, but our resurrection will be a mighty act of God when Jesus returns and I believe that the power of God, the life of God is not lying dormant in our bodies waiting for that event. We are new creations, and that has to affect the physical body in some ways.
Galatians 3:13: 13. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree''),
Being redeemed from the curse of the law in not only saved from eternal death, it also includes poverty and sickness. The true concept of salvation includes eternal live, prosperity of soul and body and health. In this sense if salvation was taught as it should be, we would not only be saved but healed.
1 Peter 2:24: 24. who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.
It is by His stripes we are healed. I truly believe we are to walk in divine health and not satanic sickness. God means for us to reap the blessings of salvation and that includes health, but we have been so mislead by the enemy that we as Christians believe we are to be sick and get healed rather than just walking in divine health.
In my on walk, I have allowed the enemy to put various chronic things on my body, rather than not accepting them. Now I have to walk out my healing, or recovery. I am learning it is much easier to believe “that no plague will come near my dwelling” (Psalms 91:10), than it is to believe for healing from that particular plague!! Amen!! This is really what resurrection power is all about.
However, if you are like me, and have a disease or illness than stop now, draw that line in the sand and say “no more!” Believe according to Mark 16:16 and Mark 11:23-24 that you are healed!
Jesus, as we said before, did nothing outside the Father. His ministry did not start until he received water baptism and was baptized in the Holy Spirit as indicated by the dove at the river Jordan. (Matthew 3:16-17).
John 5:19-21: 19. Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20. "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21. "For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.
John 14:12: 12. "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
We are to do the work Jesus did and greater! Pray for these gifts to be manifested in your life!
- Power in an atmosphere of Healing:
Luke 5:17: 17. Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
Plainly the word tells us that there will be times that the Holy Spirit will manifest the specific power to heal. Many times we have felt that at the altar praying, that specific anointing, that leads to healings if the person is willing to receive.
Mark 5:25-30: 25. Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years,
- and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment; 28. for she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.'' 29. Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. 30. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My clothes?''
The power was there, this women knew deep inside her, all she had to do was touch it, she didn’t need to speak to Jesus or have Him lay hands on her, the Power to heal was present and all she had to do was access it. Interestingly enough, Jesus felt the Power leave Him.
Acts 5:14-16: 14. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15. so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.
- 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.
This power was also manifested in the lives of the Apostles. We need to be sensitive to this flow of the Spirit and respond to it daily.
- Healing of specific persons under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s look at different ways Jesus healed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
At times Jesus simply laid hands on people and they were healed.
Luke 4:40: 40. Now when the sun was setting, all those who had anyone sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.
Let’s back up a few verses and look at an example where he spoke and the person was healed.
Luke 4: 38-39: 38. Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house. But Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her. 39. So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.
At times Jesus was unconventional in His approach.
Mark 7:32-35: 32. Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. 33. And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue.
- Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha,'' that is, "Be opened.'' 35. Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke
Many times Jesus had to take someone aside. I believe that that is because there was such an atmosphere of unbelief present. If you remember this was the reason He could do no great works in Nazareth, because of their unbelief. (Matthew 13:58).
We have to be led by the Holy Spirit on who to lay hands on many times.
John 5:2-8: 2. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 5. Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?'' 7. The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.'' 8. Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk.''
Jesus was at this pool, there were multitudes of sick, lame, blind etc that came waiting for the angel to stir the waters to be healed. Jesus did not heal them all, he chose a certain man. How did he choose him? He was led by the spirit. This is how we are to walk.
We see the Apostles ministering in the same way.
Acts 3:1-8: 1. Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3. who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us.'' 5. So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.'' 7. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them walking, leaping, and praising God.
I think it is interesting to note that Jesus walked by this man all His life, and did nothing. It was Peter and John led by the spirit who looked at this man and saw he was ready to receive. If there is not a person ready to receive or if the faith is not present to receive healing will go forth but it will not be manifested because of the unbelief.
I believe this is why we don’t see more healing today. Our motto is “seeing is believing.”
When it should be “believing is seeing.” We wait and wait to see an actual healing or miracle before we believe. We wait to see the changes in our body, before we believe when actually, we should just see ourselves and others as God sees us, healed and whole!
Amen.
I had hope to cover both miracles and healings in this lesson but once the Holy Spirit started, all I could think about was healing.