We must believe that miracles are still for today. The first thing that we must understand about the Gifts of Healing is that in order for a person to be used in this gift he must first believe that Christ is still in the healing business. I have never heard of anyone who was used in the gifts of healing that believed that the age of miracles had passed away. In order to develop strong faith in Divine healing we must go to GOD'S Word and get HIS perspective on it. Faith comes by hearing the Word of GOD. You will get whatever you are listening to. If you sit idly by listening to unbelievers curse, tell filthy jokes and speak callously against GOD you will begin to curse, tell filthy jokes and speak callously against GOD! However, if you attend to the Word of GOD, reading about all of HIS mighty miracles then there won't be enough skeptics on planet Earth to talk you out of your faith. Fill your heart and mind with GOD'S Word until out of the abundance of your heart faith spills out every time you open your mouth to speak!
Start acting in the light of faith that you have now. When you do GOD will add more to it. If GOD wants to use you in the gifts of healing HE will be more apt to use you if you are already using what faith you already have to pray for the sick. I remember seeking GOD for months to use me to heal the sick. Finally one night as I was laying on my back in the middle of the floor praying Mark 16:17-18 came into my mind. "These signs shall follow them that believe; in My Name...they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." That verse continued to repeat itself in my mind until I began to dissect it. I began to think, "These signs shall follow them that believe. These signs shall follow them that believe in My Name. These signs shall follow them that believe in My Name...they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Then I understood it! I would lay hands on the sick and they would recover when I started believing that in His Name I would lay hands on the sick and they would recover! Immediately I began laying hands on the sick every chance I got! As my faith increased I saw more and more healed of more and more things. After a few years the Lord began using me in the gifts of healing. The more I yielded to the Holy Spirit in this area the more HE used me in the gifts of healing!
We must get alone with GOD. Don't misunderstand me, you don't have to be a hermit to be used in the gifts of healing. This really goes hand in hand with what I was just talking about. If we spend all day every day around people then we are confined to what they think, say and do. If we get alone with GOD and spend a majority of our time with HIM then we will begin to take on HIS characteristics. We won't be intimidated by people when we have spent time in the Presence of GOD. I used to hear the old timers talk about "paying the price". This is part of "paying the price". This includes times spent in fasting and prayer. Fasting is best done when we let the Lord lead us into it. I know a great man of GOD who started every year with a 21 day fast. As long as the Lord was leading him to do this he experienced a mighty move of GOD in every service. I know an old general of the faith who went on seven forty day fasts in his life. As long as he followed the Lord he had mighty miracles in his meetings. Another powerful servant of GOD fasted every other day for years as long as the Lord led him to do so. He saw the dead raised on numerous occasions. There is no power in fasting itself. Some treat fasting as if it were a sort of payment, or special merit that earned GOD'S goodness. No, what GOD honors is obedience to HIS command. That is really what we mean when we talk about paying the price. We simply mean that we step out in obedience and do whatever it is that we feel that GOD is leading us to do.
There were times when Jesus drew the disciples away to be alone with HIM. When they went back out into the public again they were primed and ready for greater works. At times Jesus tarried all night in prayer. Sometimes you will begin to pray when you go to bed and get so caught up in the Spirit that you will pray all night long. There are times when I suddenly have a strong urge to pray. It is a pressure that builds up in my spirit. When I yield to the Spirit and pray until that pressure lifts I can move into the gifts more easily. When the Lord leads me on a fast HE usually shows me what day to start on and what day to end it. I don't know until I count it up whether it's a five day fast or a twenty one day fast. Twice the Lord led me on a forty day fast, but I knew both times that they would be forty days. I could fast for forty days every year and get nothing. It isn't in the fasting, it is in the obedience. I could get as much out of a half a day of Spirit-led fasting as I could a full forty day fast that I had put myself on!
We must be moved with compassion. Often when Jesus healed the sick HE was first moved with compassion. One of the reasons that GOD heals in the first place is because of HIS great love for people. Concerning spiritual gifts the Apostle Paul said that if we had all faith so that we could move mountains, but didn't have love we wouldn't amount to anything. Many times the gifts of healing begin to stir in me when genuine love and compassion for the sick surges up in my heart. When this happens you will speak from the heart. What you say will mean something. Love is projected out of your innermost being right into the sick persons body. The Bible says that faith works by love. Faith and love go hand in hand. Again, when that compassion rises up in you it is the pure love of Christ. When you speak to the afflicted one that love and faith is projected out of you and into them.
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