Creating an Atmosphere of Faith for Healing

by Randy Clark
Fall 2014

Note from the editor: Randy Clark was a part of the 1994 Toronto Blessing where the Holy Spirit came and fell in what is now called the Toronto Airport Church. The following article is an excerpt from a project Randy is writing that allows us to peek into his inner thoughts as he ponders healing in one of its many facets.

Healing has become normative in my life — an imperative from the very emphasis of Scripture itself. It is my assumption that healing should be a normal occurrence for the Church. Unfortunately sometimes it is not. Since 1984 I have been continuously involved in the ministry of praying for the sick. I have also spent more than twenty–eight years trying to better understand the variables that can affect the probability of healing and what creates an atmosphere for healing.

In trying to understand what I have experienced, I have concluded that healings occur with many variables. Some healings have taken place while I am on the platform during a service, while others have happened during one–on–one ministry time off the platform. I have seen healing follow "words of knowledge" and healing come spontaneously during worship.

Skeptics of divine healing often doubt the occurrence of healings due to the absence of their own personal experience and mistrust of what is being represented by certain people in charge of praying. There are at least three contexts in which healing happens regularly; these make me believe that skeptics could be turned in their thinking. The first example is that "spontaneous" healings occur, and they are usually a surprise. People in the audience are healed with no one from the prayer team laying hands on them. The second circumstance is one in which the internal body–mind–spirit mechanism clearly cannot be used as the explanation for a miracle. This is true for the phenomenon of the raising of the dead, especially when those who have been raised were certified as dead for more than an hour. The third pattern is inconsistent prayer results when the same person prays for different people. For example, a prayer team member might pray for ten people and see nothing happen to six, while two receive complete healing, and two receive partial healing. My conclusion from this kind of scenario is that healing is not dependent upon the person praying, but rather, it is dependent upon the power of God that works through us, and the results are not predictable.

I have seen healings take place when the person healed did not even believe in divine healing. One such "surprise" healing of a skeptical person happened in a meeting during a School of Healing and Impartation in Colorado, where we were praying in Jesus' name. The person came to mock and criticize the meetings. While standing in the back of the room, she was suddenly healed. The woman’s relative, who was a believer, shared this story with me a few days after the healing occurred.

Healings can also be inconsistent even for seasoned prayer ministers (myself included). For example, two brothers came for prayer in a meeting in southern India. Neither of them was able to walk due to the same condition in their legs. One was healed, whereas the other had no improvement. There was no way to know the inner workings of their minds and whether they had expectations regarding their own healing. Many times it is not the faith of the person in need of healing that determines whether a healing occurs; in this case both brothers were Hindus. In this instance I believe that the faith of the person ministering was very important, and in fact, the faith of the person ministering can be the determining factor.

Another example of this principle dates back to 1984 when John Wimber allowed me to shadow him at several healing meetings. The instruction given to me was to watch and listen, and at the end of the meeting I was to ask John any questions from what was observed. One night at a church in Houston, almost every person John prayed for was healed. The following night nobody was healed. At the end of the second night, I said, "John, I have a question," to which John responded, "Let me tell you what your question is. You want to know why everyone was healed last night and no one was healed tonight, don't you?" I responded, "Yes." John asked, "You don't get it, do you? Last night, when everyone I prayed for was healed, I didn't go to bed thinking I was some great healer, that I was somebody. And tonight when I go to bed I am not going to be thinking I am a great failure. I didn't have any more faith last night than I did tonight, and I don't have any more sin in my life tonight than I did last night. Tomorrow I will get up and pray for the sick again. All I did both nights was to stick my fat hand out and say, 'Come, Holy Spirit.'"

This dialogue with John was a turning point for me. The answer to a breakthrough in healing was not some secret to be learned. Neither was it based upon the merit of the person praying. It was wrapped in mystery, but related to faithfulness and the willingness to persevere in ministering God's love to those in need of healing regardless of the results.

Though healing is wrapped in mystery, some things are better understood as one seeks to better understand the "ways of God." Exodus 33:13 states, "If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people." Discovering the ways of God relates to knowing Him better, and is key to finding favor with God. To say it another way, the ministry of healing is much more successful when we stop focusing on trying to get God to bless what we are doing, and instead, we realize what He is doing, and bless what He is doing! This is based upon revelation from God and out of intimacy with God. It is rooted in the operation of His gifts, which are "gracelets" of His divine energy.

There remains a mystery to healing with many questions left unanswered. If one waits until all questions are answered before praying for healing, one will never pray for healing and miracles. Some of the answers are hidden in the unknown contingencies of the human context, including the power of the mind. Some of the answers are hidden in the mystery of faith itself — the faith of the individual, corporate faith, and the gift of faith. In addition, some of the answers are hidden in the sovereign purposes of God. Even though there is much more to learn and understand, I have grown to better comprehend many of God’s ways pertaining to healing. One of these ways concerns faith. Some of God's ways concern the relationship between declarations and faith, and the relationship between healing and the divine revelations through the gifts of the Holy Spirit — especially words of knowledge, prophecy, faith, gifts of healings, and miraculous powers.

Perhaps God has determined to link healing to the gospel, intentionally making healing a sign to confirm the gospel, or — more accurately and biblically — perhaps healing is part of the gospel, and is included in the good news that Jesus bore our sins, sicknesses, and sorrows on the cross. The good news is that the energy of the Kingdom of God has broken into present day time and space, and that the energy of Heaven has begun to come to earth.

Randy Clark is an author and President and Founder of Global Awakening.