Can I Go Up for Prayer for “a General Overhaul?”

You CAN, but I’d have to say that after MANY years, I’ve never seen that really work.  In other words, I’ve never seen someone come up and say, “I need healing for my back, my lungs, my heart, my right knee, my left kidney, both shoulders and my left eye” and come away healed of all ailments.  I’ve seen more than one condition healed at once in the same person I’ve prayed over (for example, cancer and an ankle problem), but these “general overhaul” scenarios don’t seem to pan out.  In fact, I sometimes cringe on the inside when I get an “overhaul” request like that, even though Jesus’ finished work gives you the right to a general overhaul.

Please understand that if you have problems in all those body parts, Jesus has provided healing for every last one of them.  That isn’t the issue.  The issue is, if you’ve never successfully believed to receive healing for ANY body part so far, it’s a stretch to think that you will receive healing for ALL your body parts at once.

What I usually do is to try to get the person to focus on receiving healing for ONE specific condition.  If the person can receive healing for that, on another occasion it will be easier for that person to receive healing for one of the other conditions.  Going seven directions at once is hard for anyone to do.  On another occasion I might deal with various ailments one by one, though this works better in a small setting where time permits it.

I would be pleasantly surprised if you became the first person I’ve ever seen get everything in a “general overhaul” prayer.  But if I were the one going up in that situation, I’d go up for only one of the conditions in a single service.  Two mentalities I would avoid would be: (1) “If I shoot for the stars, I might at least get across the parking lot, so I’ll name as many conditions as I can and hope that I get healed of one of them.” (2) “What’s the downside?  If nothing happens, I can’t be any worse off than I am now.”  What you DO need to do is to be ready to receive when hands are laid on you.  For me, at least, this would be easier if I went up there for one thing instead of a shotgun blast of different conditions.