WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING WHEN WE LAY HANDS ON SOMEBODY AND WHEN WE TOUCH EACH OTHER?
WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING WHEN WE LAY HANDS ON SOMEBODY OR TOUCH EACH OTHER?
I seriously believe that the Lord wants me to write about this. It actually started when I greeted a man who is functioning as a prophet. We were shaking hands and he was very conscious of the fact that a power went out of him. He really knows the person, Jesus, living on the inside of him and His power is very strong, so strong that it can raise people from the dead. Jesus Himself was raised from the dead.
I want to share a Bible verse and how some of my friends practice this verse. In Mark 16:18 it says: “Lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” I do lay hands on the sick, but my friends go out on the streets, in the market places and shopping malls. They ask if people have any pains in their bodies. If the answer is yes, they ask if they may pray for them. Some people say no and others ask who has given them authority to pray. They always refer to Jesus as The Healer and they always pray in His name. Most of them pray a short prayer and ask if the person feel any improvement? They might pray three and four times and many are reported to be without any symptoms. Some of them are only laying their hands on the sick and that is not wrong since the Bible say that we should lay hands on the sick. It actually doesn’t say that we should pray. I have wondered about this many times. It must mean that power is coming out of our hands. We do hear about people with “warm hands”. Is that the same? If a person practice healing without using Jesus as The Healer, it is not the same. Some people experience heat when I or others are laying hands on them, but I do not have “warm hands”, but the power of God in me has been activated. I might not feel the same heat as the receiver does.
I want to finish my report from those reaching the unsaved. I said that many get free from symptoms and the leaders have gotten reports from many that they are experiencing a lasting healing. The people practicing laying hands on the sick, increase their faith and pray for more and more serious diseases. They are really seeing signs and wonders. When people experience healing, they are more open to receive the gospel about Jesus. If people are open, they might receive a Bible or parts of the Bible and some people are saved directly at the first meeting with The Healer Jesus. Salvation is absolutely the most important, but healing can be a tool for opening up for the Good News.
Should all and can all lay hands on the sick? Mark 16 says that all believers should lay hands on the sick. It doesn’t say that you should have a special gift. That is explained other places in the Bible. Mark 16 emphasizes that:
All believers should lay hands on the sick and the sick will recover.
I want you to come with me to Mark 5:25. We read here about the woman with a great bleeding for twelve years. She pushed herself through the crowd that followed Jesus and touched His garment and she was immediately healed. Jesus understood that somebody had touched Him since He felt that power went out of Him. Jesus lives inside of us who are saved with His Spirit and we have His power inside of us.
We can have faith in total healing because Jesus carried all our sins and diseases on the Cross and we have His power and authority. The Bible doesn’t come with question-marks about healing, nor should we. If you have some, get rid of them!
Doubt, unbelief and religion might be reasons for lack of faith and a wanted healing. God doesn’t keep anything back. Healing is like a gift that we have to unpack and open.
I do not want everybody’s hands on me. I have left quite a few times when prophets and evangelists have wanted to lay hands on everybody present. In those cases when I left, I felt The Holy Spirit showed me demonic spirits in the person and an opening to the occult world. The person might not know about that. On the contrary, they thought everything they heard was from God. We must check with the Word and the Spirit and it isn’t wrong to take advice from a person with the gift of discernment either. Don’t misunderstand me, none of the people praying for me is perfect. A perfect man only exists in Christ. I can almost hear some of you saying: “Isn’t God’s power strong enough to protect us from the negative power?” I believe in God’s protection, but I do not see in the Bible that I should receive the wrong power when I know it comes from the wrong source. I do not drink poison in order to test God. Mark 16 says that if we drink poison, it shouldn’t harm us. I interpret this as something I do without knowing that I drink poison.
We will meet a lot of alternative medicines in health services all over the world. I would recommend you to be careful about helpers that are influenced by this. Many practicing massage are influenced by other religions. You have a right to ask the helper about this and you should always pray before any kind of treatment. The devil might be like an angel of light. I went to a physiotherapist, and he didn’t get very friendly when I refused yoga as part of the treatment.
Our bodies are temples of The Holy Spirit and should not be destroyed by the enemy.
If you are treated with revelations from occult sources, the person treating you hover demonic powers and might transfer these to you or you might come under the influence of demonic powers.
Our hands are created by God and He has meant us to use them for good. A new-born child can die without physical touch. God has created us to touch each other. We all need someone holding our hand, giving us a hug or caress our cheek. Doctors say that we get healthier by being touched. I also believe that. We should naturally being touched in a loving and respectful way. Hands are unfortunately used to hit and sexually abuse both children and adults. God has created sex, but it is supposed to be practiced within the frame of marriage. It is meant to be both positive and beautiful and it is meant to give joy.
When I worked in psychiatry, I met cases where the patient had great fear for physical touch. They were misused in some way or the other and I naturally had great respect for them and their desires of not being touched. I now know a dog that doesn’t want to be touched or caressed by any strangers. This is because of fear. He was scared when he was very small. Even animals know the difference between a loving touch and a demanding one. I think most of us like to see the satisfaction of an animal when we caress them.
I easily touch people and I have seen how some tense people relax and regain their deep breath when I have been holding them. I am very careful when I touch a man. I do not want any misunderstanding or arousing of emotions that should not be aroused by me.
Any kind of touch activates our emotions either positively or negatively.
Back to the Biblical perspective: The Bible talks about transferring by laying our hands on others. The apostle Paul says that Timothy shouldn’t neglect the gift that he got by a prophesy and the laying on of the hands of the eldership.(1.Tim.4:14) We are often laying our hands on a person asking for prayers. We do it by showing love, but we are also transferring power and healing. The disciples said to the lame man: “What we have, we will give to you.” They had a power inside them that they used and this was so strong that is raised the man from his bed and he could walk.
We read in 1.Tim.5:22 that we shouldn’t be too quick to lay hands on people. We are warned against participating in other people’s sins in the same verse. I remember the Holy Spirit warning me to lay hands on a man that had unclean spirits. I feel that all of us need more wisdom and guidance when it comes to when we should lay hands on someone and when we shouldn’t.
LET US BE CONSCIOUS OF THE FACT THAT JESUS LIVES IN US AND IT IS HIS LIFE THAT SHOULD FLOW THROUGH OUR HANDS.
Mother Else