City Life Starter

Written by Stefan Johnsson

The Word

¹⁷ So Ananias left and entered the house. Then he placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you can regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸ At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. ¹⁹ And after taking some food, he regained his strength. -Acts 9:17-19 (HCSB)

²⁴ Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe! Help my unbelief.” -Mark 9:24

Reflection

If you have not read the prior devotionals regarding the laying on of hands, you can read the first one here and the second one here.

We’ve discussed two prior situations where laying of hands had a unique purpose. The first was for commissioning, and the second was for receiving the power of the Holy Spirit. Now we come across a third scenario, that of healing. Healing through the laying on of hands is an outpouring of God’s Spirit to show His presence and power through a specific miracle so He can be glorified.

We have to be careful on how we interpret the laying on of hands because of how certain churches are abusing it. It has become part of an “experience” for some and because it is used in this way, there is a desperate need for it to continue every week in each service to keep that “spiritual high.” And that’s when you begin to see fake healings.

God uses healings where there is a need of the miraculous to spread His Word to a group of people or to move in and around a community of believers. I remember in college when the Campus Crusade leader told of a story where there was a laying on of hands to a boy in a village in Southeast Asia. The boy was miraculously healed from a crippling leg injury and they were able to share the good news of the Gospel to that village because of this open door. God moved; God was glorified.

Pastor Chris has often mentioned the story of the healing of a demon possessed man in a church service from his time in California through the laying on of hands. Robert Ramirez, a member of our deacon team, was miraculously healed through the laying on of hands where his leg grew to the proper length. These aren’t just stories of other people, these are stories from our church. God moves through the laying on of hands where He is ultimately glorified and not a person or a church.

Can’t miracles of healing be done like Jesus did in the New Testament by just speaking? Probably. Though, there is an important symbolic purpose behind the laying on of hands when it comes to healing miracles. It shows others that it wasn’t just a spiritual force of nature, but that it came from a person whom is filled with the Holy Spirit. God loves to work through His people.

Application

I come from a very strict Evangelical Baptist background where much of the hermeneutics taught was based on cessationism. It is the interpretation that God’s miracles were limited after the great outpouring through the apostles. In essence, miracles only came through the apostolic ministry and ceased when the New Testament was written and Christianity was established. This greatly stunted my faith in the Holy Spirit’s work and limited my belief that the miraculous still happens today.

It was not an easy path to move away from this thinking and believing in the gifts of the Spirit going on today around the world. I believe in them being active now, but it’s still difficult to have faith that God would do this through me. That is an ongoing struggle that will take a long time for me to fully overcome. As the father of the dying child cried out to Jesus in Mark 9:24, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Where are you in the belief that one can be healed through the laying on of hands? Pray, like I do, that God will continue to show His spiritual power in and through you and that you can believe in the miraculous.

Prayer

Father in heaven, I believe; help my unbelief! You are a miracle worker and a loving God. I want to experience more of Your goodness and power. Let me be open to the gifts that only You can provide. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.