"Now concerning spiritual gifts,
brethren, I would not have you ignorant...But the manifestation of the
Spirit is given to every man to profit withal... to another the gifts of
healing by the same Spirit..." Paul clearly stated that we were not to
be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts. It is frightening to consider
that in spite of the Apostle's command there is a great deal of
ignorance concerning spiritual gifts. In fact some teach that I
Corinthians chapter twelve was never intended for the modern church.
They state that it was written only to rebuke the church at Corinth for
the abuse of spiritual gifts. These same teachers claim that the last
twelve verses of Mark chapter sixteen should not be used because they
supposedly were not in the original manuscripts of the ancient Greek
texts. Don't allow these ideas to influence you. Such teaching is
inconsistent and robs people of faith. All Scripture is God-breathed and
profitable for instruction.
We should be filled with the Holy Spirit. Here I would like to delve into the operation of the gifts of healing. Notice that Paul said that "the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." The gifts of healing are a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Now, if the gifts of the Spirit are in fact manifestations of the Holy Spirit, then it only makes sense that we be filled with the Spirit if we desire to be used in such gifts. Yes, we have many examples of people in the Old Testament who were used of GOD to heal the sick, yet they didn't have the infilling with the Holy Spirit. I operated in the Word of Knowledge the first time I preached a sermon. For the first few years of my ministry I operated in the Word of Knowledge, but I hadn't been filled with the Holy Spirit. In my case I accepted my call as I sat in a mighty man of GOD'S service. This man called out total strangers and told them details about their lives as the Lord revealed them to him. I suppose that just rubbed off on me. However, it wasn't until I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit that I really began to flow in the gifts. After that I was much more detailed when operating in the Word of Knowledge. I was never used in the gifts of healing until long after I had been filled with the Holy Spirit. We would wisely instruct a person seeking salvation to seek the Savior. To the one in need of healing we would say, "Seek the Healer". Then it is only logical to instruct those desiring to be used in the gifts of the Spirit to seek first the Spirit!
Faith is a major key to the gifts of healing. Faith works both ways. We should have faith to appropriate the gifts of healing and the sick should have faith in the manifestation of the Spirit that works through the minister. Concerning the gift of prophecy the Apostle Paul says, "let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith." I like the way the International Standard Version puts it, "use your gift in proportion to your faith." The gifts of healing do not come at your beck and call, they operate as the Spirit wills. That said, with each manifestation of the gifts of healing will come an infusion of faith that is in proportion to the gift. A young man came to me after a service one night with wide eyed enthusiasm. Rightly so, the Lord had moved in a mighty way. Many had been healed that night through the operation of the gifts. He said, "I could never do what you have done here! I could never be bold enough to tell a blind eye, or a deaf ear to open in front of all these people." I said, "You could if the gifts of healing were moving through you because with the gift would come the faith to operate in it." Now I can pray the prayer of faith any time. You can get the same results by praying the prayer of faith as you can by the gifts of healing, it may just take a little longer. I can set my faith and pray for someone whether they have faith or not. I just keep blasting the disease with my faith until it looses its hold. I can come into a prayer of agreement with someone any time. In this case I will pray for them, often laying my hands on them. The moment I lay hands on them we release our faith to GOD at one time. We praise the Lord as if the healing were already accomplished. From that time forward we do not break our agreement regardless of what symptoms persist. The gifts of healing are different. I do not control the gifts. I can't decide when I want to flow in the gifts of healing. I know that when I have a healing service scheduled the Lord will not let me down. I know the gifts of healing will most likely begin to flow through me at some point. If they don't I do not pretend. I will still pray the prayer of faith or pray in agreement with the people. I will preach the Word, trusting that the Word will be instantly transformed into the power of GOD to heal once the people believe it.
Regardless of how gifted a minister is, more times than not the sick person needs to be in a position to receive. Naturally they get into position through faith. I am not saying that GOD will not heal in spite of unbelief, HE certainly will! Again, I repeat that more times than not the sick person needs to be primed for their miracle. Honestly, GOD never promised that everyone who comes to "The Gospel Gun" Will Nichols for prayer will be healed. In the Scripture we see that all who came to Jesus were healed. It is the same today. Every one who comes to Jesus can be healed. If a person will get their heart and mind full of GOD'S Word and get alone with HIM in prayer until HIS Word is a living reality in them they will likely get healed before I even get a chance to minister to them. One lady came to a service with painful arthritis in the back, legs and feet. She was so full of the promises of GOD that she had said that she would be healed the moment she got to church. Sure enough she was healed out in the parking lot before I ever got the chance to minister to her. Another lady was brought in on a wheelchair. She had said to her mother that she knew she was going to be healed that night. Before I even got around to her she got up out of that wheelchair and walked up to me for prayer! GOD began healing her before I even prayed for her!
When the Lord called William Branham into the healing ministry HE told him that nothing could stand before him, not even cancer, IF he could get the people to believe. When William Freeman heard the voice of the Lord he was told the same thing. As T.L. Osborn sat speechlessly observing the miracles under William Branham's ministry he heard the voice of the Lord in his heart say that he was called to do the same things Branham was doing, that no disease could stand before him IF he could get the people to believe GOD'S Word! I'll be honest with you, we see as many miracles as anyone has ever seen. We see Christ healing the sick on an unprecedented scale. The reason so many in the United States don't seem to receive their healing is because most are full of unbelief. At the very least they haven't spent a great deal of time truly seeking GOD with their whole heart. They would rather run to the evangelist for a quick fix and leave GOD out of it. It just doesn't work that way. Many won't fight to keep their healing. They will walk out of a wheelchair during the service. All the old pains will be gone. A few days later, when those old pains return the first thing they do is go jump back into that wheelchair. Then everyone turns around and calls the evangelist a charlatan! Well if the evangelist is a charlatan then I suppose Jesus would be too because HE wouldn't have any better success if the person absolutely refused to hold on to their deliverance. With all my heart I believe that every one who desires healing could be healed almost immediately in our great healing services if they would get right with GOD and seek HIM with all their heart until they had the assurance that healing was theirs. They wouldn't lose their healing then a week after the evangelist leaves town because they would have an infusion of faith based on the Word of GOD to fight the devil off with!
We should be filled with the Holy Spirit. Here I would like to delve into the operation of the gifts of healing. Notice that Paul said that "the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." The gifts of healing are a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Now, if the gifts of the Spirit are in fact manifestations of the Holy Spirit, then it only makes sense that we be filled with the Spirit if we desire to be used in such gifts. Yes, we have many examples of people in the Old Testament who were used of GOD to heal the sick, yet they didn't have the infilling with the Holy Spirit. I operated in the Word of Knowledge the first time I preached a sermon. For the first few years of my ministry I operated in the Word of Knowledge, but I hadn't been filled with the Holy Spirit. In my case I accepted my call as I sat in a mighty man of GOD'S service. This man called out total strangers and told them details about their lives as the Lord revealed them to him. I suppose that just rubbed off on me. However, it wasn't until I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit that I really began to flow in the gifts. After that I was much more detailed when operating in the Word of Knowledge. I was never used in the gifts of healing until long after I had been filled with the Holy Spirit. We would wisely instruct a person seeking salvation to seek the Savior. To the one in need of healing we would say, "Seek the Healer". Then it is only logical to instruct those desiring to be used in the gifts of the Spirit to seek first the Spirit!
Faith is a major key to the gifts of healing. Faith works both ways. We should have faith to appropriate the gifts of healing and the sick should have faith in the manifestation of the Spirit that works through the minister. Concerning the gift of prophecy the Apostle Paul says, "let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith." I like the way the International Standard Version puts it, "use your gift in proportion to your faith." The gifts of healing do not come at your beck and call, they operate as the Spirit wills. That said, with each manifestation of the gifts of healing will come an infusion of faith that is in proportion to the gift. A young man came to me after a service one night with wide eyed enthusiasm. Rightly so, the Lord had moved in a mighty way. Many had been healed that night through the operation of the gifts. He said, "I could never do what you have done here! I could never be bold enough to tell a blind eye, or a deaf ear to open in front of all these people." I said, "You could if the gifts of healing were moving through you because with the gift would come the faith to operate in it." Now I can pray the prayer of faith any time. You can get the same results by praying the prayer of faith as you can by the gifts of healing, it may just take a little longer. I can set my faith and pray for someone whether they have faith or not. I just keep blasting the disease with my faith until it looses its hold. I can come into a prayer of agreement with someone any time. In this case I will pray for them, often laying my hands on them. The moment I lay hands on them we release our faith to GOD at one time. We praise the Lord as if the healing were already accomplished. From that time forward we do not break our agreement regardless of what symptoms persist. The gifts of healing are different. I do not control the gifts. I can't decide when I want to flow in the gifts of healing. I know that when I have a healing service scheduled the Lord will not let me down. I know the gifts of healing will most likely begin to flow through me at some point. If they don't I do not pretend. I will still pray the prayer of faith or pray in agreement with the people. I will preach the Word, trusting that the Word will be instantly transformed into the power of GOD to heal once the people believe it.
Regardless of how gifted a minister is, more times than not the sick person needs to be in a position to receive. Naturally they get into position through faith. I am not saying that GOD will not heal in spite of unbelief, HE certainly will! Again, I repeat that more times than not the sick person needs to be primed for their miracle. Honestly, GOD never promised that everyone who comes to "The Gospel Gun" Will Nichols for prayer will be healed. In the Scripture we see that all who came to Jesus were healed. It is the same today. Every one who comes to Jesus can be healed. If a person will get their heart and mind full of GOD'S Word and get alone with HIM in prayer until HIS Word is a living reality in them they will likely get healed before I even get a chance to minister to them. One lady came to a service with painful arthritis in the back, legs and feet. She was so full of the promises of GOD that she had said that she would be healed the moment she got to church. Sure enough she was healed out in the parking lot before I ever got the chance to minister to her. Another lady was brought in on a wheelchair. She had said to her mother that she knew she was going to be healed that night. Before I even got around to her she got up out of that wheelchair and walked up to me for prayer! GOD began healing her before I even prayed for her!
When the Lord called William Branham into the healing ministry HE told him that nothing could stand before him, not even cancer, IF he could get the people to believe. When William Freeman heard the voice of the Lord he was told the same thing. As T.L. Osborn sat speechlessly observing the miracles under William Branham's ministry he heard the voice of the Lord in his heart say that he was called to do the same things Branham was doing, that no disease could stand before him IF he could get the people to believe GOD'S Word! I'll be honest with you, we see as many miracles as anyone has ever seen. We see Christ healing the sick on an unprecedented scale. The reason so many in the United States don't seem to receive their healing is because most are full of unbelief. At the very least they haven't spent a great deal of time truly seeking GOD with their whole heart. They would rather run to the evangelist for a quick fix and leave GOD out of it. It just doesn't work that way. Many won't fight to keep their healing. They will walk out of a wheelchair during the service. All the old pains will be gone. A few days later, when those old pains return the first thing they do is go jump back into that wheelchair. Then everyone turns around and calls the evangelist a charlatan! Well if the evangelist is a charlatan then I suppose Jesus would be too because HE wouldn't have any better success if the person absolutely refused to hold on to their deliverance. With all my heart I believe that every one who desires healing could be healed almost immediately in our great healing services if they would get right with GOD and seek HIM with all their heart until they had the assurance that healing was theirs. They wouldn't lose their healing then a week after the evangelist leaves town because they would have an infusion of faith based on the Word of GOD to fight the devil off with!
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