How often do you lay hands on and pray?
I'm not talking about "keeping" someone in your prayers, or a prayer list.
How often do you physically lay hands on the sick and command the sickness to go?
I am learning this truth!
Jesus never told anyone to "pray" for the sick ( "Father, please heal that person in Jesus' Name"), but instead He told us to lay hands and command sickness to go away. There's a big difference! We're not doing it the way they did it in the New Testament, and that's a big reason why we're not seeing the results that they saw.
When people are not far away from us, the Bible tells us to do something quite unexpected! In the Gospels, there are three times when Jesus commissioned people to go out and heal the sick, and not once did He say to pray for the sick. Notice what He said:
Matthew 10:5: "These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans."
Matthew 10:6: "Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel."
Matthew 10:7: "As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.'"
Matthew 10:8: "
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give."
Luke 10:1: "After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go."
Luke 10:2: "He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." ...
Luke 10:9: "
Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'"
Mark 16:15: "He [Jesus] said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."
Mark 16:16: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."
Mark 16:17: "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;"
Mark 16:18: "they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all;
they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.""
In the above passages, notice that Jesus never commissioned anyone to "pray" for the sick, but instead He commissioned us to heal the sick. There's a big difference! For example, when we're talking to a sick person, most of us will go home and pray for the person at a more convenient time, but no-one in the entire New Testament ever did such a thing.
Ever notice how healings were done after the cross?
If we have someone who is ill at our church, we'll ask if they want us to pray over them and anoint them and if they do, we will do it.
