Boldness to Minister Healing
The bolder you are about healing, the better results you will get, for multiple reasons. I am not talking about a boldness that you work up, though – I’m talking about a Holy Spirit-given boldness that you can pray for.
When the apostles were first persecuted, they did not pray for more anointing (whether a double portion, triple portion, or whatever). They realized that they didn’t need more anointing – they needed more boldness, and so they prayed for boldness. God honored this prayer and they went out boldly proclaiming the Word. God did signs and wonders through them as they did this (Acts 4:29-33).
The first reason boldness is important is that it will stop you for shying away from presenting the fullness of the gospel, which includes healing, in the first place. This was the primary issue above. They were being threatened and ordered to cease teaching in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18). It would be a “natural” fleshly reaction to say, “This is getting very uncomfortable. Our freedom and maybe even our lives are at risk because we’re doing this. Maybe we should adopt a more subtle approach and spare ourselves the risk and aggravation.” But if they had yielded to that mindset of compromise, the signs and wonders would never have happened and the gospel would have been hindered. We need this kind of boldness that we will present Christ in His fullness no matter what men say or do and no matter what the cost. I’ve been fortunate to have had only a small number of instances where I was threatened for preaching the gospel, and I’m glad that I never backed down. In my case, no one ever made good on a threat. Satan just wanted to shoo me away with cheap words. Not many people REALLY want to risk prison time by making good on a threat, and they might not realize that they can go to jail for “criminal threatening” even if they don’t make good on their threats. (You can inform them of this!) My mindset was that if I ever DID get beaten for sharing the gospel, I wouldn’t be the first, and my life is not my own anyway. I wouldn’t let it stop me. I had a friend who was beaten multiple times for sharing the gospel, and he kept going back out there anyway. I’ve been where drug pushers and pimps hung out, but they are sinners in need of Jesus like so many other people. You’d be surprised – some of them can be more polite to you than some church people. You have what they need, and deep down they know it. I even preached one tent meeting in an area where the assassins whom the drug pushers hire live, but I did not get assassinated. God can really use people who realize that their lives are not their own; they’re crucified with Christ and they only live to please Him now, no matter what the cost. This kind of boldness is essential so that Satan does not hinder your efforts with his cheap threats.
The second reason boldness is important is that it lets people know that you really believe in what you’re doing. It will inspire confidence in your hearers. If you act like you’re not really sure that the name of Jesus really works against diseases, other people will be unsure too! Just remember that we are talking about Holy Spirit boldness, not a boldness you work up in the natural as any public speaker might try to do. The Word does not say, “And the disciples really tried extra hard to be bold after they were threatened.” They were strong in the Lord, not in themselves. People recognized their unusual boldness.
The third reason boldness is important comes into play if you are one of the people that God uses in gifts of healings, working of miracles and the gift of faith. Not everyone has a special anointing in these areas, but if you do, be bold to let people know that God uses you this way. I remember one faith teacher who made a point every time he did a healing service to talk about the special anointing Jesus had given him to heal the sick. I can understand why the Lord told him to share that everywhere he went. It let people know that God used him that way so that people could expect to receive from that anointing.
I have found in practice myself that when I’m dealing with someone who knows little or nothing about divine healing, it is helpful to let that person know that God uses me along these lines. That will help them expect something when I lay hands on them. Now if God hasn’t given you a ministry along these lines, don’t fake a claim that He does just to get someone excited! You might give the most accurate prophecies around but never flow in the “power gifts” and that’s fine. God wants to use EVERYONE is some manner or another in the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7), but He does not use everyone the same way. But if He uses you along the lines of healing, I think you SHOULD let people know that. The gift God put in me is for other people’s benefit anyway, not for my own benefit!
Some people shy away from saying anything about their giftings because they fear that it will attract glory and attention to themselves and away from Jesus, but that is an unfounded fear. It is the Holy Spirit who graces you a certain way, and acting like you’re hiding His giftings is false humility. Remember that Peter said, “Look on us” (Acts 3:4) instead of “Look only to Jesus; only He can help you!” The latter might sound “humbler” but it does not deny Jesus glory to let people know that He uses you in a special way to lay hands on the sick. Remember that people glorified God who had given such power to men (Luke 5:17-26). If they would do that then, they would do it today. I have yet to have anyone try to worship me because I laid hands on a sick person and he was healed. I did have one experience where they were looking to me as if it were my power, and I had to make it clear that it was Jesus’ power flowing through me. The apostles did have an encounter like that once, but they dealt with it and people didn’t sacrifice to them after all.
Whether or not you ever “feel bold” is beside the point – you need to trust in the Holy Spirit’s boldness. You do not have to “feel bold” to BE bold! I had issues with shyness and felt like I was the last person God should ever send out on the street in front of strangers. Yet He told me to write, print and hand out original gospel tracts in Knox County and Lincoln County, Maine when I lived there. I figured that only a few people would take any, but after a few hundred people took them, I realized that I was mistaken about that. But I was still shy and felt uncomfortable about approaching strangers with the gospel even after that. Well, before I left Maine, I had personally handed out more tracts in those two counties than the combined populations of those counties! (I handed out over 84,000 tracts and the combined population of those counties was less than 75,000. And that was all hand-to-hand deliveries, not any of those annoying cheap practices of leaving them as litter in bathrooms and stuck in people’s windshield wipers.) And you know what? Even after all that, I STILL find it personally uncomfortable to approach strangers with the gospel! I suppose I’m not quite as uncomfortable as I was at first, but I never got to the point where I felt it was “natural” for me. I could never trust in my own boldness. But I can tell you, there was a Holy Spirit boldness that would come on me once I got out there! People were saved and several suicides were prevented because I was willing to put my own discomfort on the shelf. I realized that a little temporary discomfort for my flesh could spare others eternal discomfort. It was easier to go out when I had that perspective. Even if I didn’t feel bold, I had a “track record” going with the Lord and I knew that He would supply the needed boldness once I got out there and needed it.
Because boldness is so important, it is important to know how to become bolder. There are five main ways.
First, it is biblical to pray for boldness. If the disciples could pray for boldness, so can you. And you should! I do. Pray that a Holy Spirit boldness will come upon you. Then don’t be surprised when it does, sometimes when you least expect it.
Second, spend time thinking about what the Word says. The more of the Word that you have in you, the more certain you will be that Jesus offers healing freely to everyone and that you have authority over disease in His name. You can’t minister boldly if you are theologically unsettled on the issue of divine healing. When you are SURE about what the Word says about healing, you will be much bolder about it!
Third, get out and ACT on the Word! Don’t wait for “feelings” of boldness, which might never come before you act. The more you lay hands on the sick, the more natural it will become for you. My knees were shaking (and probably the rest of me too) the first time I offered to lay hands on a sick sinner. But now it’s easier because I’ve gotten used to it. The more you go out and use the authority that Jesus has given you as a believer, the easier it gets. If it’s tough at first, don’t quit. I became a concert-grade pianist and gave my own recitals as well as soloing with a symphony orchestra twice. But I didn’t get there the first time I sat down to play the piano! I had a natural gift for it that I know was from God, but 12 years of lessons and practice definitely helped me get to the point where eventually people were willing to buy tickets to listen to me play classical music for an hour in a rented auditorium. The more I played and practiced, the easier it got. Laying hands on the sick is like that too – the more you do it, the easier it gets.
Fourth, believe and act on Proverbs 28:1 – because you’re the righteous, you should be bold as a lion!
The fifth reason is little-known, but it IS found in the Bible – if you are faithful to serve as a deacon in your local church, you will increase in boldness, because this Scripture guarantees it:
1 Timothy 3:13:
For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
While this only specifically mentions deacons, I believe anyone who serves faithfully will become bolder in the faith. This MAY be partly because you will encounter opportunities at church where you have to be bold to obey God in your duties. God doesn’t specify how exactly this great boldness comes on the deacons, only that it does.
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