2 Timothy 1:6-7 “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. (7) For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
The above quoted passage of scripture is a record of the fourth account of the saints being filled with the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, for in this passage the apostle Paul reminds Timothy that he received the baptism of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of Paul’s hands. We know that Paul is speaking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit in this passage, because when Paul encourages Timothy to stir up the gift of God that is within him, he goes on to describe some of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit by telling him that he had not received a spirit of fear, but rather a Spirit of power, love and a sound mind, i.e. the Holy Spirit. And so the fact that there are four accounts in scripture of being filled with the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, and half that number of accounts of being filled directly from heaven, indicates to us that the laying on of hands is the most common method used by the Lord to fill His saints. Both methods require faith on the part of the recipient in order to be filled. This fact points us to the reason as to why the Lord uses the laying on of hands method more frequently to fill His saints. The reason is because the laying on of hands is a method that assists the recipient to be able to release their faith when the point of contact is made through this method. But there is also the added dimension which we discussed earlier, i.e. there are certain individuals who receive a specific anointing from the Lord to lay hands on believers for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. And so because these individuals are anointed in this area they will always have more success when they lay hands on individuals to be filled with the Spirit. There is another truth that we need to recognize from the examples discussed in this section, which is that only saints who have themselves been baptized with the Holy Spirit can be used by the Lord to lay hands on fellow believers to be filled with the Spirit. The reason for that is because there is a transference of anointing that takes place through the laying on of hands.
Michael E.B. Maher
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