We see many people in the New Testament who understood and benefited from the principle of drawing on the anointing of God. One such person was the woman mentioned in Mark chapter five. She had been suffering with an issue of blood for 12 years. The doctors couldn’t help her and she’d grown worse year after year. So when she heard about Jesus, she went to the place where He was, pushed her way through the crowd around Him, and touched His clothes.
Why did she do it?
She did it because she believed that Jesus’ clothes would be permeated with the anointing of God that He carried and by touching Him, she could draw out enough of it to be healed.
Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened.
And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?” But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.” (verses 30 – 34)
What’s particularly amazing about this woman’s healing is that Jesus wasn’t preaching the Word when it took place. He wasn’t praying for the sick. He was just walking through the crowd. Yet when this woman grabbed hold of the hem of His garment, healing power flowed out of Him. She drew it out!
She wasn’t the only one who did it, either. This was not an isolated case. Mark 6 tells us that when Jesus came to the land of Gennesaret, people found out that He was there.
And they ran about the whole countryside, and began to carry around sick people on their sleeping pads or mats to any place where they heard that He was. And … they would lay the sick in the marketplaces and beg Him that they might touch even the fringe of His outer garment, and as many as touched Him were restored to health. (verses 55 – 56 Amp)
Once again, that passage doesn’t say that Jesus prayed for those people. It indicates He simply passed through the midst of them and they drew healing power out of Him!
Scripture Reading: Mark 5:25 – 34
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”