NIcole Voelkel wrote us a great post on Monday detailing a wonderful healing story and how she goes about partnering with Jesus in evangelism and miraculous breakthrough. Read the post here. Now she is going to lay out for us 7 tips in praying for healing. Enjoy!
The Approach
Often, these situations present ourselves to us every day, without us even being aware. At work, or at school people will complain about symptoms or illnesses they are experiencing. Make it a habit to stop and pray for them. Most people will say yes if you ask if you can pray for them. “Can I pray for you right now?” At restaurants I often end up asking the waiters or waitresses if they are experiencing any back pain, or areas that need healing. Some guys in my church regularly go to hospices, or regularly cruise by the pharmacy sections of Walmart when they’re out running errands. If you want to see people healed, you have to pray for sick people. The approach can be simple though. I usually walk up to people and simply say I’m looking for people to pray for, and if there is any sickness they need healing for.
Be Clear, and ask permission.
Explain you’re going to pray for them for God to heal them right now. Ask permission to place hand on them if it’s appropriate. If it’s a woman, I usually ask her husband or her friends for them to put their hand on her. This is sometimes a good idea too with children and their parents. It’s okay if they say no, but power is often transmitted by touch. Help make people feel comfortable, and explain what you’re doing. People are often more open and grateful than you might expect. Especially when approaching strangers, you want to help make them feel comfortable and safe. This goes for yourself and others in your group as well. Don’t close your eyes. Keep them open and be aware of what’s going on around you.
Gather Information.
Ask if the person is currently experiencing any pain or symptoms. After they describe the issue, I ask them to think of it as a scale from one to ten, ten being the level of pain or discomfort they started out at before we prayed. Sometimes I ask them what’s something they can’t currently do, that if they could do they would know was a sign of healing (such as being able to bend a hurt knee, or move in a certain way without pain). Healing is often a process, and understanding what the issue is and how it’s affecting them helps us know how to pray, and be attentive to what God is doing.
Listen for clues of what God wants to do.
As carriers of the kingdom, the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit is within us. We pray with authority and release healing over people. What we are doing is within the Father’s will, at the same time He may prompt you in a specific way of healing. This may be through sympathy pains or certain instructions. You might feel led to use anointing oil. Sometimes He may lead you to an area that needs forgiveness. I will discuss these circumstances more in depth later, but every time you pray be attentive to the Father’s leading. These clues can show up as sensations or impressions or as feelings in your body. If you experience something, ask the other person if they experience that. He will often confirm what He’s doing through them, or others praying with you.
Tell the Body What you Want it to do.
We are not asking God, or even begging him. I like to think of it as a police officer that captures a criminal, and then calls down to the police station and asks the commander to come arrest him. The commander would probably yell at him for wasting his time. “You do it! I gave you authority to arrest him.” Christ has given us the authority to heal.[1] We are not battling God for healing, we are battling against the Prince of this world, and his kingdom of brokenness, sickness and death.[2] When I pray for healing I don’t hedge. We can be direct, straightforward, and telling the body what to do.
Check in and Ask the Person what is happening. If needed, pray again.
After you pray ask them how they feel. Quantifying this is a good way to be specific, and honest. Sometimes people will say they feel better. When I started asking people to give me a number on a scale from one to ten, I often found that what they meant by that is that their pain level had dropped to a two or three, or sometimes a five. I always ask if I can pray again. In Mark 8:22-26 we see Jesus praying for the blind man twice. If Jesus gets two times, I figure that gives me at least twelve times, maybe even thirty chances. There is no need to rush, or feel flustered. As you pray, people will often experience physical sensations of peace, heat, tingling, electricity. These can all be different manifestations of the Holy Spirit at work, God making himself real to them. When the pain is completely gone, I sometimes ask for them to try to do something that they couldn’t do before. I thank God for what He is doing, even with partial healings. Sometimes there is only a partial healing, and the next day it’s fully gone. Other times people experience nothing at all, but then find at their next doctor’s visit that they have been completely healed. I try not to worry too much about the results. My job is to take authority and pray for healing; God’s job is the results.
Thank God, Point to Jesus.
This is all about God. I always praise God for healing, and explain what I’m doing as a demonstration of God’s reality, His love for us, and His closeness. Healing isn’t the center of what we do, God’s love is. We take authority over sickness, but what we are ministering is the presence of God to people. There’s power in the presence, but our goal in everything is for people to encounter the reality of God’s presence and love for themselves. When people are healed, I often take them with me to pray for their friends and neighbors, or just other people there on the street.
What If I pray for people, and they aren’t healed?
One of the most common reasons people don’t pray for healing is the experience of praying for healing, and not seeing people healed. I have seen new believers rush out into the street and see God heal half a dozen people through them in one afternoon. Healing can be simple, instantaneous, and clearly apparent to onlookers. We all wish every healing happened that way, and many of us grow disheartened and disillusioned when it doesn’t. Doubts, fears, uncertainties, mysteries, are a normal part of Christian life.
Our simple acts of faith in praying for healing in these environments are like a weapon of mass destruction against the kingdom of darkness. Sometimes it feels more like trench warfare. As we’ve continued to send teams of people to certain areas in our city, we’ve seen the numbers of healings begin to grow exponentially. We’ve come to see certain zones as healing “hotspots” that were originally some of the darkest and most intimidating places to approach. It’s like once the enemy suffers “casualties” in that area, he begins to run screaming the moment he sees us coming. Healing is the kingdom of heaven breaking in, and it doesn’t come without resistance. James 4:7 says resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Too many times we miss out on healing blaming lack of faith on our part, or on the person being prayed for, (though both times mentioned in the bible). I’ve seen people healed when I had no faith, I’ve seen people healed who had no faith, I’ve seen people healed when NEITHER of us had faith.
We have been given a great commission, and as we go out bearing the good news of Jesus Christ, God accompanies us with healings, signs and wonders. If someone doesn’t get healed, don’t get frustrated, just move on to the next one. If you continue praying for sick people you will see them healed. The main thing I have always taught is that if you want to see people healed, you just have to keep praying for sick people. You will see it happen.
Which of these points encourages you today? Share in the comments by click here.
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This article is very encouraging. It left me with a great deal of information and understanding. Thank you.
I was searching on how to approach people to heal them & found this. Thank you