Acts 14:6-22 “they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region. (7) And they were preaching the gospel there. (8) And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother's womb, who had never walked. (9) This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, (10) said with a loud voice, "Stand up straight on your feet!" And he leaped and walked. (11) Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!" … (21) And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, (22) strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”
In the above quoted account we see that the apostle Paul and his ministry team had come to the town of Lystra, where they preached the gospel for the first time. During one of his meetings the Lord used the apostle Paul to heal this unsaved, crippled man, and because of that sign being performed many in Lystra and the surrounding towns were saved, having witnessed God’s power being displayed. Although in this instance, because of the idol worship taking place in those cities at the time, when the people saw what Paul had done there was an unfortunate spinoff of some of the people trying to worship Paul and Barnabas as gods. And so Paul and Barnabas had to correct their erroneous thinking by explaining to the people that it was God and not Paul’s power that had healed the man. And so we can see from these examples that scripture clearly reveals to us that our Lord Jesus wants His saints to lay hands on the unsaved so that He can perform His signs of healing and deliverance. Our Lord performs these signs so that the unsaved can witness God’s power displayed, and thus believe the message of the gospel and be saved.
1 Corinthians 14:24-25 “But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. (25) And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.”
Although, as I mentioned earlier, the gift of the word of knowledge is not always used through the laying on of hands, the Holy Spirit does manifest this gift on occasions to minister to the unsaved. He does that so that the unsaved can be exposed to the power of God and believe in Him and thus be saved. Clearly from the above quoted passage of scripture we can see that it is the will of the Holy Spirit that we as believers, allow Him to make Himself manifest through us in this gift for the specific purpose of ministering to the unsaved. The whole purpose of this gift being used for the unsaved is so that they can recognize that God is real and that He is in the church. And so the result of them encountering the supernatural power of God will be that they will give their lives to the Lord. Clearly as believers, we should expect the Holy Spirit to use us in this manner in ministering the supernatural power of God to the unsaved and yield to Him when He does.
Michael E.B. Maher
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