by Francis MacNutt
May/Jun 2005

You probably have heard speakers say, “It really shouldn’t make any difference who you go to for prayer. After all, it’s Christ who heals, not the human person.”

In a way the speakers are right, and we certainly agree with what they are trying to say, that “it’s Jesus who heals” and anyone can ask him. We are trying to escape those withering times when very few — or no one at all — were taught to pray for healing. “Everyone gets to play” was the way John Wimber put it. And many of our talks are emphatic in encouraging everyone to learn to pray for healing with expectant faith — especially in our families and churches. Over and over, when we ask people in churches (and I have asked thousands) whether they can remember their parents ever praying with them for healing when they were sick as children, only about 3 percent can remember their fathers praying for them, and only about 20 percent can remember their mothers ever doing this. Clearly, most Christians in mainline churches never learned that they could pray with the sick and that prayer would really work.

o the first thing we have tried to do is to encourage everyone to learn to pray for the sick with expectant faith. Hopefully, within a generation all this will change and every Christian will know about their happy privilege of healing the sick. Truly everyone can do this, not just holy people, not just priests and ministers, and not just the stars.

Having said this, though, it does make a difference who prays. Otherwise, Paul (in 1 Corinthians 12:29–30) would not have mentioned among such special ministries as preachers and prophets, those who were healers. “Are all of them apostles? Are all teachers?… Do all have the gifts of healing?” Clearly the answer to Paul’s rhetorical question is, “No, not all have the gifts of healing.”

These are not contradictory teachings, and it’s easy to put them together. All of us need to learn to pray for healing, especially with our families and our friends; and yet, there is a special gift that some have of praying for the sick. We see this happening in several ways:

1. When some people pray, more people than ordinary seem to get healed;
2. When certain individuals pray, more serious sicknesses (such as cancer) than ordinary are healed;
3. Some people are more patient in praying and do not give up praying over a long period of time. Read the parable in Luke (18:1–8) about “the need to pray continually and never lose heart.”
4. Some individuals are more approachable and compassionate and are naturally gifted in praying for spiritual and emotional sickness (“grace builds on nature”).
5. Other individuals have learned more about healing and, at the very least, this knowledge helps them avoid hurting people. For example, if someone has wrongly learned that all depression is caused by evil spirits, they will confuse or harm depressed people who are not oppressed by evil spirits. A noteworthy example of this is when we encounter victims of satanic ritual abuse who ordinarily need the ministry of someone who understands SRA. (This is why we conduct our Schools of Healing Prayer.)
6. Some individuals have special charismatic gifts, such as “discernment of spirits” and “the word of knowledge,” which greatly help in ministering to the sick.

For all these reasons (and more) some Christians become ministers of healing either in large groups or in a quieter, individual setting.

An excellent analogy for this is sports: all of us (unless we are crippled) can walk or jog, but only some are gifted enough to be chosen for the track team, or, beyond that, to run in the Olympics. Just as all of us can be encouraged to walk every day, we should also be encouraged to pray daily for our sick friends to be healed. Then, if enough people are healed through your prayers, and people notice it, you may some day discover that Jesus has shared with you a special ministry of healing.

It’s not "all or nothing," as if some pray for healing and others don’t. It’s a "more or less." All of us get to play. But there are many fields in the Father’s park (cf. John 14:2), and some are called to spend most of their time in the field of healing.

Francis MacNutt is a Founding Director and Executive Committee member of CHM.

by Mike Evans
May/Jun 2005

Taken from Wholeness Ministries' email newsletter, with permission.

Power is what people of the world are looking for today. They have problems with no answers. They’re sick. They’re hooked on alcohol and drugs. Their relationships are tearing them apart. Satan has turned their lives so upside down, they don’t know where to go or what to do to get things fixed.

They don’t care if you talk in tongues or dance in the aisles or sit up straight and sing out of a hymnal. But if you have the power to get their bodies healed and their lives straightened out, they’ll come to wherever you are. Not only that, they’ll listen to what you say.

It’s always intrigued me to read the passage in Acts 8:4 when Philip went down to Samaria. “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.”

That’s the kind of credibility God wants to establish. He wants the Church in our day to have the same reputation Jesus had when He was on the earth. He wants people to say about us what they said about those first–generation disciples, “If you go where they are, you can get healed.”

I heard Bill Johnson say, “The Gospel without power is not good news.” If all we have to offer people is religion, a new set of rules to live by or a new set of standards to live up to, without power which can heal their bodies and transform their lives, what good is that? We’ve merely bound them up with another set of “shoulds.” I “should” read my bible, I “should” go to church, I “should” pray more.

Wouldn’t it be much more exciting to do the works that Jesus did? It’s fun to be spiritually on fire, going all–out for God. When you live like that, you never know what’s going to happen. You don’t know where you’ll wind up or who you’ll be ministering to or what amazing things the Spirit of God will be doing next.

Often people will wait around until they receive the gift of healing. If you want to receive the gifts of the Spirit, it won’t happen until you start ministering. As much as you might want to, you can’t wait around until you receive the gift of healing and then go lay hands on the sick. The power manifests as you give out. Once you step out to do the works of Jesus, the Spirit of God will back you up with His power.

I often say to people, “If you’re going to pray for the sick you must be willing to take a risk.” If you’re willing to take a risk and pray for the sick, you’re doing what God sent you to do. And, as people watch what you do, they will listen to what you have to say. Then they will begin to care about what you believe.*

*Some of this teaching was adapted from a daily reading by Gloria Copeland.

Compiled by Anne Early
May/Jun 2005

From the Emerging Leaders in Healing Conference, Jacksonville, April 4 – 8:

I’m planning to include some of these teachings as I train Wycliffe members, hoping they will return to the countries where they work and share these teachings with others. So, thanks for the scholarship!

At the Tuesday evening prayer time for baptizing in the Holy Spirit, I was praying for a difficult emotional problem and actually received physical healing. I had experienced back pain for about a month. As I prayed, my spine snapped into place. Inner healing also has started.

A generational curse was lifted. I have had tension (stress knots) in both shoulders for my entire adult life. After I rested in the Spirit, they were completely gone.

My right hip was healed from an injury sustained during an accident.

The prayer team helped me to sense more direction from the Lord in a situation at home requiring healing.

I was set free from fear and finally received a prayer language!

I experienced great improvement in attitude, growing much closer to God and much more motivated and confident to move on in this ministry.

The prayer times were especially meaningful to me. I experienced significant inner healing.

The work God has done in me is sealed. The unforgiveness that lived in me is gone, and I go forth in the Joy of the Lord. I have received tools, knowledge and power to resist and banish evil.

I received healing from shame and an in–pouring of God’s healing light. Thank God!

The teachings have given a foundation for jump starting a large ministry.

I will incorporate physical healing and do more deliverance healing in my ministry.

I experienced freedom from guilt, fear, anxiety, and shame, and will be a better vessel that the Holy Spirit can use to help people.

I experienced great healing in the area of sexual temptation and unforgiveness, and inner healing for the trauma of abuse in my life.

I experienced inner healing from childhood wounds, seeing God in a more loving way.

I experienced generational healing of trauma from my family’s past, and freedom from occult bondage.

Some sinful strongholds were broken.

I received inner peace and answers to the direction I should take.

From our mail and email:

I am reading Francis’ book, The Power to Heal. As when reading his other books, not only am I “taught to greater heights” but I occasionally get a good laugh.

All glory to God for a wonderful day of healing prayer in February. My skin is healing, and my husband is seeking help to overcome his alcohol/drug addiction.

God has been with us, and has led me to Francis MacNutt’s books on healing and deliverance.

My sister gave me a copy of Healing by Francis MacNutt, in July, when I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma cancer. It helped me immensely and inspired me to attend healing services. In December, I learned the cancer was gone and that my bones had substantially healed. Praise God!

You have been praying for Pat, a young man with brain cancer who, last August, was given six months to live. Yesterday, his body scan showed no cancer and the brain scan showed the two tumors significantly reduced. His doctors asked, “What are you doing?”

Our friend and minister came back after visiting you, and shared with us some of the healing she had experienced while at CHM. We have been so blessed by her testimony, and how God and Jesus Christ have worked to heal her.

I came to CHM in March for intensive prayer. God surely met me there! He set me free from many things keeping me “stuck.” He also graciously enabled me to forgive some people who are important in my life.

I often remember the peace and love I received at CHM. God bless you all.

(The Praise Reports have been edited for readability.)