Healing by the Word and the Christ in me
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
I’m often accused of having a gift of healing or a Special Healing Anointing when I go out and work with churches.
I would spend hours explaining the authority of the believer and about our completeness in Christ. At the end when I challenge the audience to come and pray for the sick, they always resort back to trusting in men rather than in the Christ in them.
When I teach about healing, I never talk about gifts, anointing or mantles. I speak about Jesus. The simple reason is, if I perform healing because I have a gift, then you cannot do what I can unless you have the same gift.
But if I perform healing by the Word and the Christ in me, then I can teach you to heal because you have the same Word and Spirit living inside you.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit
As believers we tend to emphasize the gifts of the Spirit, but all too often we forget that the gifts came with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, first upon the Jews and then upon the Gentiles.
Yet, healing was happening before that, in the old testament (2 Kings 5:9-14), as well as through Jesus (Matthew 14:14) and the hands of the disciples (Luke 9:1-2).
If the gifts were not given until the outpouring of the Spirit, how did Jesus and the disciples do it, if not by the authority and power given to them? How much more as, believer can we exercise that power, with the risen Christ, dwelling inside of us.
The gifts of the Spirit
We misunderstand the heart of God when it comes to the gifts of the Spirit. When Paul was addressing the Corinthian Church, he noted that they were carnal (1 Corinthians 3:3), immature (1 Corinthians 3:1) and had sin in the church (1 Corinthians 5:1).
Yet they had all the gifts! It is in this environment that we see the heart of the Father.
As a natural parent, as our children are growing up, we give gifts, such as blocks, to help them develop their motor skills, perspective and hand-eye coordination.
Through their use of these gifts, our children develop abilities that they will need in this life. It is in this same light, that God gives gifts to the Church, to teach us how to access the Spirit through different manifestations to use in the new life that Christ gave us. The more we exercise the gift the more we can have access to the various manifestations of the Spirit.
We need to mature
God wants us to mature. So while we may start accessing the Spirit with the gift of tongues, we can learn that the Holy Spirit is all we need in every situation.
If someone stands before me who needs healing, I may not have the gift of healing. But I have the Holy Spirit, and He is healing.
If someone stands before me and they need a word of encouragement, I may not have the gift of Prophecy, but I have the Holy Spirit, and He is the Spirit of Prophecy.
Now, as mature believers, we can minister to every person according to their need, relying on the Spirit in us, because He is everything we need and we learned to access Him through the Gifts.
Joshua Tongol talking new covenant healing.