“I have prayed and prayed. I have been in healing meetings all over the country and have been prayed for many times, but still I am not healed. Can you help me?”
This plaintive appeal has been heard many times by ministers. They pray for sick persons, but often the sick leave as they came—not healed.
Why is it that some are healed instantly while others trudge from place to place seeking healing, only to be disappointed time after time?
Why is it that some who are pillars in the church often suffer for years while others who are less devout receive a sudden miracle from God?
Is God a respecter of persons? Or have we failed in our approach to healing, lacking a complete understanding of what God’s Word teaches on the subject?
Much emphasis has been placed on the practice of anointing with oil, laying on of hands, and praying for the sick. But there is more to healing than anointing with oil, just as there is more to salvation than prayer.
The anointing oil, the minister’s prayer, and the laying on of hands are simply methods, or points of contact. In themselves they do not heal. They are avenues through which we can release our faith in God’s Word.
Much emphasis has also been placed on the gifts of healings (1 Cor. 12:28), which are among the gifts of the Spirit mentioned:
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the GIFTS OF HEALING by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues.
(1 Cor. 12:8-10)
Healing As An Attention-Getter
There will be manifestations of these supernatural gifts when people preach them, teach them, believe in them, and yield to the Spirit of God; but these gifts are not always in operation.
Often new Christians are healed by such special manifestations. Then the next time they are sick, instead of believing God’s Word, they expect to be healed in this same way, and they are disappointed when they are not.
I have found in my ministry that supernatural manifestations of healing usually are seen either among sinners or among denominational people who have not heard divine healing taught! I have seldom, if ever, seen them work for Full Gospel people.
Why? Because gifts of healings and supernatural manifestations are given primarily to advertise the Gospel and to gain the attention of those outside the Church.
The believer should be healed by releasing his faith in the Word of God.
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications
Rev. Hagin served in Christian ministry for nearly 70 years and was known as the "father of the modern faith movement." His teachings and books are filled with vivid stories that show God's power and truth working in his life and the lives of others.
Rev. Hagin was born on Aug. 20, 1917, in McKinney, Texas, a son of the late Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin.
Rev. Hagin was sickly as a child, suffering from a deformed heart and an incurable blood disease. He was not expected to live and became bedfast at age 15. In April 1933 during a dramatic conversion experience, he reported dying three times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of hell and then returning to life.
In August of 1934, Rev. Hagin was miraculously healed, raised off a deathbed by the power of God and the revelation of faith in God's Word. Two years later, he preached his first sermon as pastor of a small community church in Roland, Texas.
In 1937, Rev. Hagin was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began ministering in Pentecostal churches. During the next 12 years he pastored five churches in Texas: in the cities of Tom Bean, Farmersville (twice), Talco, Greggton, and Van. In 1949, he began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist.
During the next 14 years, Jesus appeared to Rev. Hagin eight times in visions that changed the course of his ministry. In 1966, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he opened a ministry office. That same year, he taught for the first time on radio—on KSKY in Dallas. In 1967, he began a regular radio broadcast that continues today as Faith Seminar of the Air. Teaching by his son, Rev. Kenneth W. Hagin, is also heard on the program.
In 1968, Rev. Hagin published the first issues of The Word of Faith magazine, which now has a monthly circulation of more than 250,000. The publishing outreach he founded, Faith Library Publications, has circulated more than 65 million copies of books by Rev. Hagin, Rev. Hagin Jr., and several other authors worldwide. Faith Library Publications also has produced more than 9 million audio teaching tapes and CDs.
Other outreaches of Kenneth Hagin Ministries include RHEMA Praise, a weekly television broadcast hosted by Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth W. Hagin; RHEMA Correspondence Bible School; RHEMA Alumni Association; RHEMA Ministerial Association International; RHEMA Supportive Ministries Association; the RHEMA Prayer and Healing Center; and a prison ministry.
In 1974, Rev. Hagin founded RHEMA Bible Training Center USA and in 1976 moved the school and ministry offices to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where they remain. To date, RHEMA Bible Training Center USA has 23,000 alumni, and RHEMA Bible Training Centers have opened in 13 other nations: Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Samoa, Singapore, South Africa, and Thailand. Together, the 14 schools have more than 28,000 graduates worldwide.
RHEMA Bible Church, pastored by Rev. Hagin Jr., began holding services in October of 1985 on the RHEMA campus in Broken Arrow and has since grown to become a thriving congregation with more than 8,000 members.
Rev. Hagin's daughter and son-in-law, Pat Harrison and the late Doyle "Buddy" Harrison, founded Harrison House Publishers in 1975 and Faith Christian Fellowship International Church in 1977. Both organizations are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Until shortly before his death in September 2003, Rev. Hagin continued to travel and teach throughout the United States and into Canada conducting All Faiths' Crusades and other special meetings.