The Holy Spirit and His Gifts | Page 173

period of several years. And in ninety-nine cases out of one hundred, these types of afflictions were eventually all healed. Some of the growths disappear within a month. Others sometimes take several months before they completely disappear. But in most cases these growths disappear and the people are healed. That is a manifestation of the gifts of healings. One fellow who was greatly used of God in praying for people who were deaf, said by his own admission that he very seldom got any other type of malady except deaf folks. I watched him several times in various meetings, and I never saw a deaf person fail to receive healing under this man's ministry. In the ministry of Jesus, every manner of sickness and every manner of disease was healed (Matt. 9:35). That's because Jesus had the Spirit without measure and all the gifts of healings were in manifestation in His life and ministry. Gifts of Healings vs. Receiving by Faith There is a difference between receiving healing through the manifestation of gifts of healings and just simply receiving healing by our own faith in God's Word. God has taught me through the years the difference between the two. Both are scriptural ways to receive healing. When I received healing for my own body, for example, no one laid hands on me. In fact, I didn't really know there was any church group that believed in divine healing. I didn't know there was such a thing as a Full Gospel movement. But as a Baptist boy on the bed of sickness, I read Grandma's Methodist Bible and I was healed, not just because I believed in divine healing necessarily, but because I acted on and stood on Mark 11:24: ". . . What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." So I prayed and began to say, "I believe I receive healing for my deformed heart. I believe I receive healing for my paralyzed body. I believe I receive healing from the top of my head to the soles of my feet." And God's healing power was manifested in my body. My healing came because I acted in faith on God's Word. You can do the same thing. God's Word will work for you if you believe and act on it. Gifts of healings are manifested through another person to you. All healings are done by God, of course, but the difference is in the channel through which healing is manifested. Someone has said that any time you receive healing, it is done by the gifts of healings in operation. In one sense of the word "gift," healing by any method is a gift because anything you get from God is a gift generally speaking. However, all healing is not necessarily the gifts of healings in manifestation. My own healing, for example, was manifested as I believed God's Word and acted on it in faith. Ministering by the Gifts of Healings Look again at First Corinthians 12:28: "And God hath set some in the church. ..." Paul was not talking here about spiritual gifts, or the gifts of the Spirit when he said, "And God hath set