Up to this point in this series on Christian Healing, I have shared my journey into the healing ministry; discussed the foundations of Christian healing in the Bible; looked at whether healing is for today; and spent a few posts discussing the authority of every believer to heal (here, here, and here).
In this post, I will begin to shift the focus from the authority of all believers to heal, and begin to look at the special anointing for healing given in the Bible, to some believers. It is in this and the next post that we will discuss the empowerment of the Holy Spirit which multiplies the believer’s authority for the church age, and the “gifts of healing” spoken of by the Apostle Paul in His letter to the Corinthian church.
Understanding God’s Anointing
Right before Jesus left this earth, He told his disciples:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 1:8
This “power” was something different than the “authority” which He had already given them to proclaim His Kingdom, heal the sick and cast out demons (Matthew 10:1). This power was something new; something they had not yet experienced.
In the greek text, the word “authority” is “ousia” which, according to one dictionary, means, “a state of control over something” or the ability to “command, control or govern.”
This is in direct contrast the the word for “power,” which is ”dynamai” in Acts 1:8, which comes from the root word “dunamis.” According to the same dictionary, this word means the“potential for functioning in some way, power, might, strength, force, capability… specifically, the power that works wonders.” This greek word is where we get our English word, dynamite. This is an explosive power, much bigger than can be contained in ourselves.
I have stated before that while both of these are gifts for believers which come from God, I do believe they are received in different ways. Authority is given by Jesus to all believers. This is why He can command His disciples to command others to do the same things He commissioned them to do (Matthew 28:18-20).
Power, on the other hand, is given through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and each believer will receive different aspects of His anointing, as their specific needs, callings, and even pursuits will determine. While all have the authority to heal, not everyone will have His anointing for the healing gift.
How the Anointing Comes
Jesus directly tied the power-anointing to the coming of the Holy Spirit. This was something He had promised many times in His earthly ministry. (See, for instance, John 16:4-15.) Whereas Jesus was Emmanuel – “God with us” – the Holy Spirit’s presence would be different. He would be “God in us.” This would be the divine union of God and mankind, which up to that point, had only been seen in a select few prophets and leaders in Israel’s history. This would be the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy:
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.”
Joel 2:28-29
As Jesus left the earth, His final instruction to the disciples was to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to bring this anointing on them (Acts 1:4).
The Day of Pentecost
Finally, on the day of Pentecost, 40 days after Jesus had been crucified for the sin of the world, God released the Holy Spirit on His church with that power. We read about this in Acts 2:
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Acts 2:1-4
As they take this Holy Spirit party to the streets, there is a lot of commotion in the crowd. People are hearing these uneducated Jews speaking in various languages; proclaiming the Kingdom of God. This spectacle was too much for many in the crowds, leading some to believe they were drunk and rambling, but Peter stands up and announces that this is the fulfillments of Joel’s prophecy.
In a matter of minutes, this new power from on High escalated the effectiveness of the Apostles ministries beyond anything they had seen before, and that day, over 3000 people chose to give their lives to Christ.
The Power Gifts
As time went on, the Apostles learned to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading and came to understand more about ministry under His anointing. They began to share this knowledge among the churches. The most famous passage regarding the Holy Spirit and His giftings was from the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth:
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed… Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-7
Paul goes on to list 9 particular gifts He had seen in use (though other gifts are listed elsewhere in the Bible.) These gifts are:
- words of wisdom,
- words of knowledge,
- gifts of faith,
- gifts of healing,
- working of miracles,
- prophetic utterances,
- discerning of spirits,
- various forms of tongues, and
- interpretation of unknown tongues.
The word for “gifts” here is the Greek word, “charis” or “charismata” which can be interpreted as “grace-gifts.” The same dictionary refers to them as, “special gifts of a non-material sort, bestowed through God’s generosity on individual Christians.” It is from this word for gifts that we get our word “charismatic.”
Everyone Gets Power; Just Not The Same Gifts
Paul makes it clear that although all believers were to be filled with the Holy Spirit and walking in His power, the particular gifts each one receives were determined based on the individual.
While it is impossible to clearly articulate all the reasons God would choose to give some gifts to certain believers, and not to others, I do believe scripture gives us some clear understanding on a few of these reasons.
Gifted For Our Calling
The first reason is that our gifts will likely be suited to our specific calling in God’s service. For instance, scripture seems to record that the first Apostles were able, at times, to act in every one of the gifts, though they likely did not walk in every gift all the time. This makes sense, since the Apostles were foundational in establishing every part of the church.
It therefore makes sense to me that other callings would also receive gifts from the Holy Spirit, specific to their role in the body. I think of evangelists who work primarily with non-believers. Their calling would likely make use of gifts of prophecy, healing, or working miracles, to demonstrate the power of God. Pastors, on the other hand, might be better served by gifts like word of knowledge or word of wisdom, as they instruct the body of Christ to become more like Jesus. Intercessory callings, as well, would need gifts like tongues and interpretation of tongues.
I know that I am speaking hypothetically, as I cannot prove this theory from scripture. My point, however, is not without some basis in the writings of other ministers. Dr. Randy Clark, for instance, lumps the giftings together into groupings, which he sees as being interconnected for similar purposes.
Gifted for Our Season
The second reason a person might get particular gifts is that Holy Spirit might distribute certain ones to you based on the season He created you to minister in.
History has taught us that although all of the gifts of the Spirit have been active in every age, there are seasons in which some gifts take priority on the larger, global stage. Think about the great healing revival that took place in the U.S. and spread around the world in the 1950’s, or the restoration movement of the prophetic gifting in the 1980’s. Other gifts were still taking place in those seasons, but as God gifted certain ministers with stronger anointings in these giftings, it was directly linked to what He was doing on a large scale in that season. His global purposes in those seasons demanded more of one particular gifting than others.
Gifted Through Impartation
A third way a person receives particular giftings, is through the transference of anointing from another minister. I won’t take long to discuss this here, as I have shared in depth on the subject in a podcast episode. Suffice it to say that gifts of the spirit being passed through the laying on of hands, is a foundational teaching of the church (see Hebrews 6:1-2) and one that is demonstrated repeatedly in scripture (for example, 2 Timothy 1:6 and Romans 1:11).
Gifted Because of Our Desires
A fourth determining factor, and the one I put more stock in than the other theories, is that God distributes His giftings based on the passions and desires of the one receiving.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:1,
Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
And again in verse 39,
So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy…
If Paul, two chapters earlier tells us that gifts are given at the sole discretion of the Holy Spirit, why then would he tell the believers to “desire” specific gifts, unless their desire plays into the gifts they receive?
The word, “desire” means, to “be positively and intensely interested in something, strive, desire, exert oneself earnestly, be dedicated” to that thing. It carries the weight of English words like “be jealous for,” “burn with desire for,” or even “to lust after,” if it is possible to read lust without a sinful connotation.
Paul tells us very clearly that the Holy Spirit determines which gifts we get, and therefore, we need to live our lives with such passion for His works in our lives, that He will give us the gifts we are seeking.
Jesus Himself said,
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:8-11
As a good Father, God responds to our desires when they are glorifying to Him.
Seeking an Anointing for Healing
To bring our focus back to the matter at hand — an anointing for healing — I think there is one undeniable way a person can receive an anointing for healing from the Lord: Go out and pray for the sick!
You can pray for the gift. You can study the gift. You can read every one of my blog posts on healing. You can follow others with the gift of healing. You can attend healing schools and healing conferences. And all of those things may be helpful to you in one way or another, but until you begin to actually move in such a way that gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to anoint you and use you for healing, it will never happen.
The healing anointing comes when we are actually seeking God’s power to heal the sick. That is how we show the Lord we are serious. We take the risk, and expect Him to meet us in the moment.
In my experience, when our desire is to serve His Kingdom with His power and gifts, He makes a way for us to grow in those gifts and anointing. As I shared before, I was praying for the sick every week for months when I lived in Haiti, and no one was getting healed. I began reading books and watching videos, trying to learn more about how He works this gift, and God met me through it all. My desire for healing moved God’s heart and He directed me to Dr. Randy Clark’s conference, where I received an impartation, and I began seeing healing the next week when the blind man in South Sudan received his healing. The gifting has continued to increase exponentially since that time.
What About You?
In the next post, we will look specifically at the “gift of healing” and how it works in the body of Christ. For now, I just want to ask you: what gift of the Holy Spirit are you burning for? If you could have any of His power gifts discussed in scripture, which one would it be, and why? Are you pursuing it? Are you studying how the gift works and looking for opportunities to learn from others in that area? Are you taking risks, and stepping out in faith to see what God might do? That is the way you are going to find His anointing coming upon you!
Whether it’s healing you are seeking, or not, I would love to hear about your pursuit in the comments below.
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© Anthony Scott Ingram 2020. All Rights Reserved.
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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
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