We’ve been seeing a whole bunch of healings throughout this trip and I’ve refrained from sharing a lot of them because I think it could possibly be a bit irritating to see posts about them all. Additionally, I don’t want to be revered as a healer when this gift of healing is readily available to followers of Christ. In this blog, I want to equip all of you to heal since people have asked me for guidance in this area.
Initially, I want to clearly differentiate New Age from Christian healing since I have a lot of friends involved in the New Age. New Age healing such as reiki requires much energy and time whereas healing through Jesus is nearly effortless. Reiki healing requires doing sessions; Jesus healing, on the other hand, is often as simple as saying, “In the Name of Jesus, be healed.” For instance, recently my friend Ryan and I prayed for a backpacker from Denmark who had lost all sensation in his fingers a while back due to cutting his wrist with glass accidentally while trying to open a wine bottle. We said a simple prayer of healing which took less than a minute and asked him how his hand felt. He said that he was experiencing a tremendous amount of heat in his hand. Heat and tingling sensations are often signs of the Holy Spirit at work after prayer. We then had him close his eyes and open his fingers. Ryan randomly would touch a finger and then ask him to move the finger he tapped. Each time, the Danish guy responded accurately and then later stated that his hand felt much different. This was the result of a simple prayer to Jesus as opposed to a long-drawn-out reiki session which might result in subtle energetic shifts in people but rarely results in nerve endings being restored! Another major difference between New Age and Christian healing is that no channeling is involved in Christian healing. In the New Age, healers might channel spirit guides or light beings to work through them, a process that could be draining to the medium. The belief, as a follower of Jesus, is that the Holy Spirit continuously abides in us (no need to channel) and that healing is the result of what Jesus did on the cross 2,000 years ago. As the Bible states, “by His stripes, we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) I’m not invoking Jesus Himself to be present in each healing but am rather calling upon the power of His death on the cross. Finally, a major difference that is worth noting is that healing through Jesus doesn’t cost any money! New Age healing often requires a fee whereas Jesus stated, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8)
That being said, let’s get down to the basics of healing. Jesus stated in John 14:12, “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do.” Despite being familiar with this passage, I was hesitant to pray directly for people to get healed in my early Christian walk because I thought: What if this person doesn’t get healed? Will they not believe in Jesus as a result? My friend Jon Evans, who taught me everything I needed to know about healing in the span of 5 minutes while walking around the Electric Forest music festival praying for people, said that even if people don’t get healed, they’ll be grateful that I prayed for them and will often times experience a great degree of peace through the prayer. Due to my Buddhist/Hindu background, I also questioned whether it was God’s Will for the person to get healed since Buddhists and Hindus would often times believe that its merely their karma to suffer and that one shouldn’t interfere with them paying off their negative karmic debt since they’ll have to do it eventually. (Read my blog “Meeting Everyone Where They’re At” for more of an understanding about that.) Jon reassured me that it is not God’s Will for people to suffer. Jesus healed everyone. He never said that He couldn’t heal someone because they needed to suffer more. There is an actual negative force in the world that is trying to enforce pain and punishment upon people but that isn’t the heart of Jesus.
With these concerns out of the way, here’s a step-by-step approach to healing. First, ask the person if you could pray for them and find out their illness or injury. If they’re experiencing pain, ask them on a scale of 1 to 10, how much pain they’re experiencing with 1 being nearly none and 10 being excruciating. Then place your hand on the injured area when appropriate and pray something simple like the following:
Father, in the Name of Jesus, I thank you so much for (person’s name). I ask that all pain and sickness be removed from this area of their body.
Sometimes a “spirit of affliction” could be causing the illness. This is especially true when you pray for someone and the pain moves from the knee to the ankle for instance. To be on the safe side, I also add the following to conclude each healing prayer:
I command any spirit of affliction to be removed right now in the Name of Jesus. Thank You, Jesus!
These simple prayers I find to be really effective. When healing prayer becomes too wordy and lengthy, it sometimes becomes more about us than Jesus or it might reveal a lack of faith on our part. Jesus kept it simple and would often just say, “Be healed.”
Also, it’s important to know that we have authority to heal through Jesus and that, as previously stated, it’s God’s Will for people to be healed, so there is no need to beg God for healing or conclude healing prayers with “if it be Your Will.” Instead, it is important to pray with authority and an unwavering spirit.
After praying, the crucial element is to check in with them and ask them if the pain dropped or if they could try doing something they couldn’t do before, i.e., bend their knee, rotate their shoulder, etc.. If the pain dropped even one notch from a 9 to an 8 for instance, give thanks and pray again. Often when the pain drops slightly, it’ll continue to drop all the way after a few more prayers. That is basically all one needs to know. The healing of course is meant to point towards Jesus and His love for that individual. An additional piece of advice I have is don’t stop if you fail to see healings right away. Jon saw someone get healed the first time he prayed for anyone but it took me 6 months to see a healing and my favorite healing evangelist Todd White who has incredible healing accuracy prayed for nearly 1,000 people before seeing a healing. Lastly, I’d encourage you to watch lots of healing testimonies on YouTube. You can search for “healing testimony” followed by “Bethel Church,” “Global Awakening,” or “Todd White” to get started. Hearing healing testimonies strengthens one’s faith and makes it clear that healing is common and should be expected; it isn’t a miracle performed only by saints. Jon told me that when he first felt guidance from the Holy Spirit to heal people, he questioned his personal adequacy to do that. He didn’t feel he was “holy” enough, but God reassured Jon that he isn’t the healer, Jesus is. I hope this inspires all of you to go out and heal the world!
