An Individual’s Practical Path to Healing (Concluded)

John Lake, the founder of the Healing Rooms at the turn of the 20th century, had an interesting test for believers who wanted to become healing room workers. They assigned you a sick person and if that person was healed, you were in. If not, you stayed out. They took things seriously in those days.

It seems to me that today, the onus is more on the individual seeking healing, as opposed to their church or cell group. You have to look far and wide to find others who believe, and those who hold large-scale meetings with tangible results are few enough to be counted on the fingers of two hands. That just grieves me.

Thankfully, we have the Word and we have online access to many resources about Christian healing. Use them, as I have at different times. Seek out like-minded believers and encourage each other, especially if healing is neither taught nor practiced in your church community. I also keep a list of friends and pastors I have met or known over the years that I can reach if I need to.

Back to the individual path. Of all the means by which God heals, several are God-initiated, others are initiated by us. What I mean is that you can pray or lay hand on yourself etc. You initiate those. Gifts of the Spirit on the other hand, are initiated by God through others. You cannot force them in any way. All you can do is eagerly desire spiritual gifts, and have a clean vessel to receive them.

In ministering to yourself, rule out the use of spiritual gifts anyhow, because as the Word says, they are given for the common good, not yours (1 Corinthians 12: 7),

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

So that means that if you are sick and ministering to yourself, you can:

1. Pray for yourself
2. Declare your healing
3. Lay hands on yourself
4. Anoint yourself with oil
5. Perform self-deliverance
6. Take Communion

Is there a recommended order or sequence? Thankfully, not. The more you are in prayer and the more you seek Him, what to do next will come naturally. Personally, I give a petition a little time for results to appear. If not, I’ll minister to myself again. I just keep at it until relief comes. We inherit the promises through prayer and persistence. If relief is not forthcoming, then I will seek the assistance of others, which is when the other means of healing come into play.

By the way, if I need a painkiller, I’ll take it with no qualms. I’ve never equated testing my pain tolerance with faith. Tylenol never healed you of anything anyway. It just stops the pain from reaching your brain. In addition, as I mentioned earlier, I’ve never been afraid to go to the doctor for a diagnosis, as well as for those important regular checkups.

That concludes my line of thought about the individual path to healing. Was it helpful? Next, I will look at how churches can become “healing organizations” and prepare themselves for more effective healing ministry.