The Holy Spirit: What is Healing Prayer?

I’ve never been to one, but that was my impression of a revival growing up, and I always remember mentally associating those events with zealous Pentecostals praying in gibberish and people falling over.  Oftentimes testimonies would emerge from these gatherings and you’d hear stories of the woman in the front row who was healed of cancer or something else miraculous.

“It was a healin’!” they’d always shout.

Praise Jesus.

I’m not into making blanket statements, but I think that the Church at large isn’t very comfortable with healing prayer.  It took me awhile to get used to it.  I thought for a while that it was something you’d only find in the Church of Scientology or something because they hate taking medicine.  I hate taking medicine too but I’m not a scientologist… I’m just stubborn.  

I had read stories of Heidi Baker or Bill Johnson praying some pretty miraculous healings into people’s lives.  I remember watching Benny Hinn on TV and I swore up and down that that was fake because it looked like he was pushing people over.  Maybe he was, but I don’t know… they got up healed!

We find it scattered all over Scripture.  The prophets of old were sometimes known to release the Lord’s healing into people.  Jesus was notorious for healing people of all kinds of ailments, and then the disciples were also.  Call me nuts, but I think that healing prayer might just be Biblical.

I’ll speak from my own experience because it’s about all I know.  I could quote stories to you all day of other people praying healing into others, but I know what I know to be true to be true.  Make sense?  Probably not, but here I go.

One day in Malawi I was sitting in this small church service minding my own business when the pastor called me forward to pray for this guy who limped his way forward.  I wasn’t sure what to do!  I didn’t have the gift of healing or anything.  

So I sheepishly made my way to the front and asked the translator what this man wanted.  Apparently he had severe joint pain and could barely walk, barely lift his arms, and as a result couldn’t go to work during the day.  I said, “okay,” spread my legs shoulder-width apart, and laid hands on the man’s shoulders.  Not knowing what else to do, I did only what I knew how…

I ask God for help.

I simply and desperately stated, “Lord… I need you to show up and do what I can’t.”  Immediately under my hands I felt his shoulders pop.  I think my jaw probably dropped to the floor because as soon as his joints popped he threw his hands up.  Still in shock, I placed my hands on his knees and said, “God – can you do the same thing?”  And immediately his knees popped.  Confident that the man was healed I asked the translator.  The man’s response?  “ALL BETTER!”

Praise the Lord, right?  And it was so easy.

Since then I’ve prayed healing over headaches, malaria, simple sickness, and more.  Are people always healed?  No.  But Jesus asked us to pray for the sick, so I’m going to be obedient.  Plus it’s a fun game to see how many people’s headaches are cured when you pray.  You can make it a competition or something with your friends and family, I don’t know.  Let’s make healing fun!   What’s your batting average?

So what is healing prayer?  It’s praying for people to be healed.  Pretty simple.