The second gift in the supernatural power category is the gift of healing. This is a blessed gift of God for many people in the Church and in the world who are suffering--hospitals are full, and institutions of all kinds are filled with people with every sort of sickness. If you notice the Word refers to the gifts of the Spirit. "Gifts" in the plural--it appears that God's people can all have this gift. I believe this is a special gift, but some have a plurality of gifts, too. Some have faith in operating in the realm of healing for bad backs, some for rheumatism, some for deaf ears, etc.
We read Paul where he says, "diversities of operations." (I Cor. 12:6) In Mark 16:18 it says: "...they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." This signifies that believers, such as mothers and fathers, can lay hands on their own children, praying for one another, not only in the church but in the home. The Scriptures seem to indicate this. What a blessing this could be in our homes--a gift to be dearly coveted! The early church realized the value of healing when persecution came and their lives were threatened.
The first thing they prayed in Acts 4:30, was, "...By stretching forth thine hand to heal...."
I am reminded of a housewife in Hibbing, Minnesota. We had prayed with her at church some time before this, and prophecy was given over her that she had the gift of healing. Her brother was hurt by a Caterpillar tractor in a mining accident near that city, and was near death. They called Ruth at her home, so she went to the hospital to pray. As she went, she remembered the word of the Lord that God had given her the gifts of healing. As a result, she had confidence in God.
She got to the hospital and on the way to her brother's room, she passed a man, lying under an oxygen tent, dying of heart failure. Feeling led of the Lord, she slipped her hand underneath the oxygen tent, and the man was healed immediately! Then she went down the hall to her brother's room, and laid hands on him. He, too, was healed immediately! Both men were dismissed from the hospital that evening! You can believe that Ruth came to our service that night riding on "Cloud 9."
God's divine purpose applies to all nine gifts of the Spirit. When Jesus was here in person walking the shores of Galilee and the old Judean hills, the Bible says that He came "preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people." (Matt. 4:23) He was here on earth in His physical body, just as we are in a physical body. He revealed the heart of God in compassion, not only towards the sick and suffering but also meeting the greatest need of all, the salvation of souls.
As it is declared in Luke 19:10: "For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." When Jesus was here, He had only one body and could be only in one place! However, in the mind of God He planned that there would be a host of believers after the Lord ascended into heaven! It was God's plan that a many-membered body of Christ would reflect and demonstrate the power of God in all the earth--and this happened after the death and resurrection of Christ.
At His ascension He "gave gifts to men" and (in John 16:7) said that"...it was necessary that he go away so that the Comforter would come." He told them to "tarry in the upper room until ye be endued with power from on high." (Luke 24:49) In other words, the Holy Ghost would fill the disciples and they would preach the Gospel with the same power that Christ demonstrated while He was on earth.
In fact, Jesus said, "Greater things shall ye do because I go to my father." (John 14:12)
So we can clearly understand the purpose of the gifts of God by what is written in Scripture, and what will happen until the end of the Church Age. In God's divine plan it was His intention that He would work through all His people in the Church. We have many, many examples in the Bible of the operation of the gifts. One instance is of Paul on the island of Melita. Remember the shipwreck in Acts 28:7-11? Paul had journeyed on the ship, in that tempestuous storm and weather, and been shipwrecked. After they had landed on the island, they built a fire and a viper came out of it and bit Paul on the arm!
There were heathen on the island who saw this and they looked at him, saying, "Well, he'll die for sure!"
They thought, "...this man is a murderer, whom though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live."
But Paul "shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm." At that point, the heathen changed their minds! Now they decided Paul was a god!
Not only didn't he die, but he prayed for Publius' father--who was healed of a fever and a bloody flux! We can conclude from the text that many were healed and saved. And Paul stayed there around three months. What a healing campaign! It looked like a disastrous journey on the ship--but because he had the gift of healing, Paul stayed and preached to them for three months.
To my mind, the gifts of healing are not only to heal bodies but to alert people that God is truly with us. We are not to worship the gift but the Giver! We are admonished by Paul in I Cor. 1:7, "So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus." We are to covet the best gift. That gift is the one that complements your ministry.
In the opening chapter where I talked about the carpenter, I explained that he had to have carpenter's tools. The mechanic had to have the mechanic's tools. The electrician had to have the electrician's tools. The dentist has to have dentist's tools. We need the tools of God to be able to operate in the Church and make an impact on the world today. I believe we could also say there is an overlapping of gifts.
For instance, the gift of healing would be a complementary gift for a person who operates in the ministry of mercy. That person is filled with compassion, and with this ministry of showing mercy and having a heart for the sick, the gift of healing would be very important. On the other hand, the gift of discernment and a word of knowledge would be most helpful to know what is wrong with the sick person. I cannot go into all of the ramifications of these gifts, but I am sure that God is willing to bestow whatever is needed.