If Healing Comes by Faith, Why Use Anointing Oil, Handkerchiefs, etc.?
The covenant (contract) that the believer has with God thru Christ is a covenant of faith (Hebrews 11:6, Romans 4:16 & Galatians 3:6-9) and so everything we receive in our covenant is by faith, including eternal salvation (Ephesians 2:8) and answers to prayer (Mark 11:22-24). The same goes for receiving a healing, as observed in these two examples:
He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
In both cases Christ was the conduit of God’s healing power — the channel through which divine power flowed — yet Jesus didn’t say that he healed them, but rather they were healed via faith, which is belief. The Messiah was simply the conduit of God’s healing power. In short, a person or even a thing can be a channel of God’s power, yet this doesn’t change the fact that faith is the key for a person to receive and maintain a healing, which can be observed in this passage:
13Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.
James 5:13-15
Notice that it does not say the elder or the anointing oil heals the sick person, but rather the prayer offered in faith.
It was pointed out above that a person or even a thing can be a conduit of God’s power, which can be observed in the early days of the Church wherein Paul touched certain articles, like handkerchiefs and aprons, and these “were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them” (Acts 19:11-12). It was the same thing with Peter’s shadow (Acts 5:15-16). These things had the anointing of God on them and thus physically or mentally ill people exposed to them were healed and demons fled!
Yet the Bible stresses that the believer can receive something by faith directly from God without any conduit, including an awesome healing. Christ plainly said: “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24). If this is so, why do we need conduits of God’s healing power, whether a person or a thing, such as elders and handkerchiefs? Obviously because certain people need something physical — whether a person or thing — to bolster there faith and thus successfully receive. It’s just the way it is and has to do with where a person is at as far as their spiritual growth goes.
Here’s a 23-minute video that goes over these things in further detail (the issue of conduits of God’s healing power is covered from the 8:00-minute mark to about the 11:21 mark):
If you are interested in being a conduit of God’s healing power you can learn details about the laying on of hands in this article, just scroll down to the section 4. The Laying on of Hands.
What about receiving a healing via the gifts of the Spirit?
Even if a person receives a healing through the manifestation of a gift of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) they’re going to have to learn faith if they want to maintain their healing. Remember, everything in our covenant with God is by faith.
Verse 11 plainly points out that the gifts of the Spirit are distributed to believers “as the Spirit determines.” In other words, a believer (anyone who’s ministering to people in need of a healing or what have you) cannot turn ‘on’ a gift of the Spirit at will; rather the gifts of the Spirit manifest as the Spirit wills and this is in response to the faith of the ministering believer and their calling. For details on receiving a healing through the manifestation of a gift of the spirit, see this article, just scroll down to the section on Healing.
Interestingly, the Pool of Béthesda was a type of the gifts of the Spirit, which you can read about here.
Related Topics:
Should I get the Surgery or BELIEVE for Healing?
When You should ASK and when You should SPEAK IN FAITH, aka DEMAND
Faith — What Is It? Why Is It Important? How Does It Grow?
Can the Power/Anointing of God Rest on an Object?
WORDS have the Power of Life and Death
The Seven Keys to SPIRITUAL GROWTH
The Six Basic Doctrines of Christianity
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