PositionPaper_BiblicalHealingAtWOL_HalfPage_HR

your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.

Another barrier goes beyond unbelief to fear and despair, as well as, those who have no faith for healing. These all impede the ability to pray with faith for healing. Finally, many people are not healed because those praying expect an instant response and when they don’t get one they quit praying. Those who persevere are often the blessed recipients of the miracle they are seeking. Always continue to seek, ask and knock on the Father’s heart until the Holy Spirit has released you to stop asking (Luke 11:1-13). Practical Issues of Healing Prayer Praying for the sick is a wonderful opportunity for both you and the ill person to grow. Often our first response to the Holy Spirit prompting us to pray for those who are sick is, “No way, I will look like a fool, and God what if you don’t show up, what if you don’t do anything?” The reality is that almost any time we pray for the sick, they are blessed and encouraged whether or not they are immediately healed. At Water of Life, we follow the biblical pattern found throughout the Word of laying on hands while praying for the sick. There are multiple pictures of Jesus doing this in the New Testament including, Mark 5:23, 6:5, 8:23-25, 10:16, Luke 4:40, 13:13. The Apostles followed Jesus’ example in Acts 6:6, 8:17-19, 9:12, 17, 13:3. We will also often anoint a person with oil before praying. This oil represents the working and touch of the Holy Spirit, this is also a very biblical thing to do according to James 5:14 which states, Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Conclusion Finally, it is important to remember that of the nine spiritual gifts listed in I Corinthians 12, only one is plural, the gift of healings. It is not the

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