Healing Believers through Laying on of Hands

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

(James 5:14-16)

As we saw earlier in this teaching, the Lord’s best for His children is to walk in divine health. Nevertheless for believers that for whatever reason, are unable to walk in the light of that truth, God has made provision for them to receive their healing through the laying on of hands. That truth is clearly revealed in the above quoted passage of scripture.

This passage is dealing with the church and not the unsaved, for James makes the statement “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church”. And so clearly James is saying “is anyone among the church sick, then let him call for the elders of the church”. Although the apostle James does not mention the laying on of hands specifically, it is nevertheless implied accompanied with anointing the individual with oil.

Nevertheless, I want you to notice the Holy Spirit teaches that it is the prayer of faith that heals the sick. In other words, as we have already discussed, anointing with oil and laying hands on individuals are simply points of contact used by the Lord to assist believers to exercise their faith to be healed. For in all instances faith is required to release God’s power. And as we have also mentioned earlier, faith must be displayed by both the person laying hands and the person on whom hands are laid.

We also mentioned earlier that the only hindrance for the unsaved from being healed is unbelief. That is not the case with regards to believers however, for there are two primary hindrances that prevent Christians from being healed through the laying on of hands. The first hindrance is the same one that affects the unsaved, i.e. unbelief.

The second hindrance that prevents Christians from being healed is sin; for as we can see in this passage the Holy Spirit clearly links healing to the forgiveness of sin. The sin that James refers to in this passage is sin that the believer is fully aware of and continues to practice. In those instances it is quite probable that the sin is the cause for the saint’s sickness. Therefore the sin will have to be confessed and repented of before the Lord will allow the saint to be healed. It is important to note that the second hindrance is not always present however, which is why the Holy Spirit says “if” he has committed any sin he will be forgiven.

For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

(1 Corinthians 11:30-32)

As an aside I will elaborate a little on the second hindrance encountered by believers in receiving their healing through the laying on of hands. As we have already mentioned, sin is not a hindrance for the unsaved to be healed because invariably their lifestyles are full of sin. So why is it that sin can hinder believers from being healed?

Part of the answer is given in the above quoted passage of scripture, for in this passage the apostle Paul plainly teaches that sickness is one of the mechanisms the Lord uses to chasten His children if they refuse to repent of their sin. Therefore, until the saint repents of their sin the Lord will not remove the sickness that He has allowed to come upon them.

I will end off this section with a personal testimony. The Lord never chastens new born believers for sin, simply because they are young in the Lord and don’t know any better. And so for several reasons, when baby Christians get sick, it is that much easier to lay hands on them to be healed because as those who are newly saved, unbelief is not a problem and they are more receptive to God’s healing power.

I recall on one occasion that I prayed for a woman who had recently been saved and who was totally deaf in her right ear (she had been deaf in that ear since she was a child). I told her about the healing power of the Lord Jesus and that it was a very small thing for Him who created her ear, to restore hearing to that ear.

I personally like to use the word “expect” when I am about to lay hands on individuals, because it is a word that is more easily understood in today’s vernacular. And so I said to her that when I laid hands on her that she should expect God to heal her ear, and that is exactly what He would do. I asked her if she was ready to receive her healing when I laid hands on her and she eagerly answered that she was. You could tell by her countenance that she was in faith and she was expecting to be healed. The moment I put my finger in her ear and prayed, it felt like static electricity jumped from my finger into her ear (remember we spoke about the transference God’s of power through the laying on of hands) and she was instantly healed and could hear perfectly through that ear.

Michael E.B. Maher

Laying on of Hands

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