One, you claim that faith is required BEFORE healing can happen, but there are some Biblical accounts that don’t indicate any faith prior to healing. Matthew 12:9-13 talks about a guy who had a shriveled hand, and Jesus healed him to spite the Pharisees, no mention is given of the man’s faith. Another example is the invalid at the pool of Bethesda in John 5. He doesn’t know who Jesus is, just asks Him to help him down to the pool. Jesus instead heals him and takes off before the guy can find out who He is. (Interesting side note: Jesus later comes back to him and tells him to stop sinning or something worse will happen to him.) The best example comes from John 9 and the healing of the blind man with mud. John specifically tells us that the man doesn’t have faith in Jesus until much later AFTER the healing has taken place. You are correct that USUALLY the Bible mentions faith in connection with healing, but NOT always.

Two, there ARE examples of apostles praying in connection with healing. In Acts 9:40 and 28:8, Paul prays over a person before that person is healed. I don’t think this undermines any portion of your argument, but I just wanted to make sure you got your facts straight.

No, Darius. I did not make this claim. I am only dealing with one aspect of receiving healing in this article. I have limited this series to 10 articles. In truth, I could write an entire book on the subject - not that I would since so many others have already done a thorough job.

The manifestations of the Spirit, particularly gifts of healings, the gift of faith, and the working of miracles would need to be examined to get the full picture of the operation of the Spirit in the ministry of healing. I chose not to delve into those aspects of the healing ministry because I wanted to emphasize the faith aspect; it is just more practical because anyone can develop faith in the Word, while the manifestations of the Spirit work only as the Spirit wills (1 Corinthians 12:11).

With respect to Acts 9:40 you are correct that Peter prayed prior to raising the woman from the dead. But he didn’t pray, “Lord please raise up this dead woman.” He prayed to get direction from the Spirit so that he would know what to do. After praying he commanded her to get up. So while prayer was involved, it really served as a catalyst for Peter to work a miracle. He basically did the same thing Jesus did when he commanded the little girl to arise from the dead (Mark 5:41). Plus I would have to say that raising the dead goes beyond simple healing, but I think you were right to point that out.

I think Acts 28:8 is a similar example. I don’t think Paul prayed for this man’s healing in the way people traditionally think. I could be wrong about this, but I think Paul probably prayed first and then laid hands on this man for healing. But it is entirely possible that he prayed the prayer of faith while laying his hands on the man. If so, that would be the precedent for such an act. Here is the verse:

“And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.”

This reminds me of a story a missionary to Chile once told me. He and his companions had gone into a village and he had laid hands on a woman with a tumor with no visible results. He then prayed and asked God for tangible healing power to be made manifest. At that time, the Spirit of God came upon him and he laid hands on her a second time. This time the tumor completely dematerialized.