In the previous chapter, we began to look at two vital ingredients for receiving healing: faith and power. I mentioned that there are a number of methods for receiving healing recorded in the Word of God, such as: simple faith; the laying on of hands by believers and by those specially anointed to minister to the sick; and supernatural manifestations of the healing power of God. But I also noted that all of them require your faith and the power of God.
Remember concerning the power, Acts 10:38 indicates that the terms “the anointing,” “the Holy Ghost,” and “power” are virtually synonymous. This means that we are able to use them interchangeably when discussing the subject of the healing anointing and the power of God.
Remember that a good analogy for understanding the anointing or the power of God was made by Rev. John G. Lake when he said, “Electricity is God’s power in the natural realm; Holy Ghost power is God’s power in the spirit realm.” As I stated previously, just as electricity is in existence in the natural world, the power of God is in existence in the spirit world.
And just as man had to learn how to “plug in” to electricity and make it work for him, we much learn how to “plug in” to the heavenly electricity—the healing power of God—for it to be manifested in our life.
In the natural, when you turn a light switch on, electricity flows right into the lighting fixtures and lights up the room. When you turn the switch off, the lights go out. So in the spiritual realm, the thing that turns on the heavenly power could be called the switch of faith!
We’ve got to learn how to mix faith with the power!
Let’s look at Acts chapter 6, and you’ll see that what I’m saying is proven by
God’s Word.
ACTS 6:3-6
3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy
Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of FAITH
and of THE HOLY GHOST, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and
Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:
6 Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
Just to give you some background and history, here in Acts chapter 6 during
the early days of the Church, the believers had “all things in common” (Acts
2:44). The disciples, the twelve apostles, were the only ministers the believers had at the beginning of the Early Church. It was a baby Church, just starting, and the Church didn’t exist anywhere except in Jerusalem at that time.
You see, Jesus had said to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). He also said in Acts 1:8 that “. . . after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you . . . ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Yet the believers hadn’t witnessed to anyone anywhere except in Jerusalem.
So there in Jerusalem, the believers had all things in common, but some of them felt as though they were being neglected in the daily ministrations. So the Twelve said, “Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of HONEST REPORT, FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST and WISDOM, whom we may appoint over this business” (Acts 6:3).
The men they were looking for had to meet three requirements. They had to:
1) have an honest report; 2) be full of the Holy Ghost; and 3) be full of wisdom.
Full of Faith and Power
Verse 5 goes on to list the seven men who were chosen to oversee the daily ministrations. Now all seven of these men were full of the Holy Ghost. That was one of the qualifications—that they be full of the Holy Ghost. But it says about Stephen that he was full of faith and the Holy Ghost or power. And there were certain miracles and signs that followed Stephen’s mix of faith and power.
ACTS 6:8
8 And Stephen, FULL OF FAITH AND POWER, did great wonders and miracles among the people.
You see, if you are full of the Holy Ghost, you’re full of power. I mean, you’ve got the Powerhouse in you! Well, every one of those seven men were full of power. But that doesn’t mean that every one of them was full of faith.
Did you ever stop to think about the fact that every Spirit-filled believer— every believer who maintains the Spirit-filled experience—is full of power. He doesn’t have to get full; he is full.
Now to be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with power. Jesus said in Acts
1:8, “But ye shall receive POWER, after that the HOLY GHOST is come upon you. . . .”
So we read in Acts 6:3 that the apostles said, “. . . look ye out among you seven men of honest report, FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST [power] and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.”
All seven men listed in Acts 6:5 were full of the Holy Ghost. That means that all seven of these men were full of power. But apparently, there was only one of them who did any miracles and signs among the people, and that was Stephen.
Every one of them had the power to do the miracles and signs. Why didn’t they do them then? Because it takes faith to give action to the power!
Faith Activates the Power
You can see where we as Spirit-filled believers and Pentecostal people, particularly in days gone by, have missed it. We’ve thought that if we had the power, the miracles and the wonders would just automatically follow.
But they won’t. We saw that in Acts chapter 6. All seven of those men were full of power, but only one of them did any miracles or wonders, and that was Stephen. And Stephen wasn’t even one of the Twelve. He wasn’t a preacher or an apostle or an evangelist. In fact, according to the Scripture, he never did become an evangelist or an apostle or pastor; he lived and died a deacon.
ACTS 6:8
8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.
Stephen didn’t do great wonders and miracles just by being full of power. No, he was full of faith and power. And so we know that power by itself won’t get the job done. You have to mix faith with the power to get the power to work.
Did you notice that the same thing is true in the case of an individual’s healing? For example, in the case of the woman with the issue of blood, Jesus knew immediately that power had gone out of Him. But He didn’t say, “Daughter, My power hath made thee whole.” No, He said, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole” (Mark 5:34). It was her faith mixed with the power that healed her.
Faith Comes by Hearing
Also, notice that when Jesus and His disciples crossed over the Sea of Galilee
to the land of Gennesaret in Matthew chapter 14, the people of that place “had knowledge of Jesus” and brought the sick and diseased to Him. As the sick and the diseased touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, they were made whole (vv.
35,36).
But notice the men of Gennesaret did that when they “had knowledge of Him.” They had to have heard about Jesus to have knowledge of Him. Well, we know that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom.
10:17). So again, faith was involved.
Then in Luke chapter 6, it says the multitude came to hear Jesus and to be healed of their
diseases. It said they sought to touch Jesus, for there went virtue or power out of Him and healed them all. But notice they came to hear and to be healed. They heard first, then faith came, and then they sought to touch Him.
People need to understand the healing anointing. They need to know that it exists, but just as importantly, they need to know how to get that anointing to work and produce results in their lives. They need to believe or have faith in the healing power of God.
Sometimes, the healing power of God is ministered to a sick person so that the person is manifestly supercharged with heavenly electricity. Yet no real or final healing takes place until something occurs that releases the faith of the individual.
After I started preaching, I would teach people faith. Once in a while, we’d have manifestations of the Spirit or the anointing, and folks would receive healing as a result of their faith mixed with the power of God. But I’d see a lot of people healed when we didn’t feel anything. We just believed, and it happened!
Yet, right on the other hand, even back then, people I’d pray for would say sometimes, “Something’s all over me!” Well, I knew they were talking about the same thing that happened to me when I was healed. And those people were healed, because the Spirit was present! And they mixed faith with the power and were healed!
Manifested Power
Now I want to show you something about mixing faith with the power to receive healing. When I was young and the new pastor of a Full Gospel church in northcentral Texas, we had just moved into the parsonage and were unloading boxes and straightening things up.
There was a knock on the parsonage door. I went to the door and there stood a
little cotton-headed boy. Now someone asked me, “What do you mean, ‘cotton- headed’?” Well, I just mean his hair was white like cotton. He was about nine years old. He said, “Momma wants you to come and pray for her.”
I said, “Who’s momma?” because I didn’t know him—I had only been the pastor for two Sundays. I hadn’t gotten acquainted with everyone yet.
The little boy told me his momma’s name, and I recognized her as being one of the Sunday school teachers. So I said, “Son, stand right there. I’ll put on my tie and coat, and you can show me the way to go because I don’t know where you live.”
I took the little bottle of anointing oil that I had, and we went to the little boy’s house. I anointed this boy’s momma with oil, laid hands on her, prayed, and got up to leave.
She said, “Brother B [and she gave the name of the former pastor]
always prayed till the power fell.”
I knew that the power of God does “fall” because the Bible said that while Peter yet spake unto them, the Holy Ghost fell on them (Acts 10:44). And Acts 8 also refers to the Holy Ghost this way.
ACTS 8:14-16
14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:
15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:
16 (For as yet he was FALLEN UPON none of them…)
That’s the part I want you to get. The Holy Ghost does fall on people—like
rain. In fact, the latter rain is a type of the Holy Ghost.
‘Praying the Power Down’
Back in 1939, I didn’t know exactly what to do when she said “pray the power down” because I was new in Pentecostal circles. I didn’t know how they did things. But I figured if that was the way the former pastor did it, then that was the way to do it. So I got back down on my knees and prayed till the power fell. It took me an hour and a half, but I prayed the power down! The house shook, the bed shook, and the woman shook.
It was summertime—the sky was blue with just a few white clouds. There wasn’t a leaf stirring on any tree. And yet the windows rattled! Well, I got up off my knees and went home to the parsonage.
That afternoon there was a knock on the parsonage door. I went to the door and there stood that little cotton-headed boy. He said, “Momma wants you to come and pray for her.”
I said, “I thought she got healed this morning.” He said, “She did, but she’s worse now.”
So I went down there and prayed the power down again—the power fell, she
shook, the bed shook, the house shook, and the windows shook. So I went back to the parsonage.
The next day there was another knock on the door. I went to the door, and there stood that little cotton-headed boy. He said, “Momma wants you to come and pray for her.”
I said, “I thought she got healed twice yesterday.” “Well, she did, but she’s hurting worse today.”
So I went down there again and prayed the power down. By that time, I was becoming an expert at praying the power down, so it didn’t take an hour and a half to pray it down. I did it in an hour, and then I went home.
The next day there was a knock on the door, so I went to the door, and there stood that
cotton-headed boy! The same scenario happened again and again until I finally got to where I could pray the power down in thirty minutes. She shook, the bed shook, the windows rattled, and the house shook. And that went on, and on, and on.
If you think I’m exaggerating, we’ll skip ahead to three years later. This went on for three years! We had been building onto the parsonage, and there was a little work left to finish. I worked a little late on it one night because I didn’t want to have to work the next day. After I finished, I was getting ready for church because we were having revival that night. As I was quickly getting ready, I heard my wife let someone in the house. I looked up, and there was that cotton-headed boy.
Now he and I had been working together so long that we knew what the other was thinking. So I said, before he could say it, “Yeah, I know, momma wants me to come and pray for her.”
When the cotton-headed boy arrived, it was only about ten minutes until the church service was supposed to start. (The parsonage was right next door, so I still had plenty of time to get to the church.)
I was about to say, “Will it be all right to come after church?” I had just started
to speak when he said, “No, she said to come before church. She’s hurting awfully bad!”
I wondered how in the world I was going to get down there, pray the power down, get back, and start church in ten minutes. I quickly put my tie and coat on.
I had a car, but I knew I could get there faster by going down the back alley. So I ran out of the parsonage, ran behind the church, down one alley, back up another alley, across the street, down another alley, and knocked on the door.
She told me to come in. I had my bottle of oil out before I even got in the door. I went in and anointed her with oil. I said, “Oh, God, heal this woman in the Name of Jesus. You said if we’d ask in Your Name, You’d do it, so You’ve done it. Amen.” That’s exactly what I said, and I said it double time!
I put the top on my bottle of oil and headed for the door—I had to go back and start church! She started to say something, but I said, “I know, Sister, you’re hurting worse now than you did when I came in here a few seconds ago. But you’re healed, and the next time I see you, you’ll tell me it’s so.” And I ran out and slammed the door.
I ran up one alley, across the street, up another alley, behind the church, and went in through a side door. I looked at my watch—it was exactly time to start. We started church, sang, took up an offering for the evangelist, and made the announcements.
Just before the evangelist was going to speak, I said, “Let’s have about three testimonies, one from each section. Someone who has been saved, healed, or baptized with the Holy Ghost during this revival, stand up and give your testimony.”
So one person stood and testified. Then another one from a different section stood and testified. About that time, the double doors in the back of the church opened. And this lady, Sister S , who’d been having me pray the power down for three years, came in. I guess she thought we were having a testimony meeting, because she came down the aisle waving her arms and said, “It’s just like you said, Brother Hagin. You hadn’t been gone ten minutes when every pain and every symptom left me.”
Hallelujah! I pastored that woman nearly eighteen more months and never did have to go pray for her again!
Keeping Your Healing
Thank God for the power. But remember this, if you don’t believe God—the
power can shake the house and everything else, and still nothing will happen to you. This lady received her healing and finally kept it because she believed God herself.
The reason I tell this story is to show that although the healing power may be ministered to a person, and though that person may manifestly be supercharged with the power of God, no real and final healing will take place until something occurs that releases the faith of the individual.
The Bible says in Hebrews 4:2, “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them [talking about Israel]: but the word preached did not profit them, NOT BEING MIXED WITH FAITH in them that heard it.”
One way to receive the healing power, of course, is through the laying on of hands (Mark 16:18). Or you could receive it from a cloth or a handkerchief that has absorbed the anointing (Acts 19:11-12). On the other hand, receiving healing that way is only one way to receive. Remember I said you could receive healing by acting in simple faith on the Word of God, as I did to receive my healing (Mark 11:22-24).
The Holy Ghost is ever-present with all the power He has! You can mix your faith with the power that is present, whether the power is in manifestation or not, and receive your healing by faith.
In conclusion, let’s sum up a few things about the healing power of God. When we understand some things about the anointing, we can appropriate it for ourselves and reap the benefit of this power in our own lives.
The healing anointing is a tangible substance. And the Word of God reveals to us the rules and laws that govern its operation.
The Lord Jesus Christ revealed and applied the laws of the Spirit, which demonstrated the fact that the healing power of God is a tangible substance, a heavenly materiality.
Now you’ll not receive any of this power from Heaven if you don’t believe there’s any there. If you don’t believe it exists, you’ll never get it applied to your circumstances so that it will do you any good. The healing power of God will not benefit you until you believe in it, lay hold of it intelligently by faith, and simply receive it.
But, thank God, through your faith in the holy written Word and in the mighty power of God, you can receive divine healing! By believing what God’s Word says about the healing anointing, you can enjoy all the blessings and benefits of this power from Heaven that is available to us today.
