Laying Hands on the Sick
Mark 16:15-18:
And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mark 16:20:
And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
Laying on of hands is one of the six fundamental doctrines of Christ found in Hebrews 6:1-2. As the Body of Christ, we are so much the worse for emphasizing the other fundamental doctrines in that list and ignoring laying on of hands. If there were as much teaching on laying on of hands as there is on eternal judgment, there would probably be as much faith in laying on of hands as there is in eternal judgment. People for the most part believe only what they’re taught; few are diligent enough to study the Scriptures for themselves.
We know that Jesus laid hands on the sick (Mark 6:5, Mark 8:22-25, Luke 4:40-41). They asked him to lay hands on someone (Mark 7:32-37), so we know that He did it a lot. He said that we would do the works that He did (John 14:12), so we should lay hands on the sick and see them recover as well, as He explicitly promised (Mark 16:18).
Laying hands on the sick is not difficult. Don’t make it hard! You find a sick person and lay your hands on him in the name of Jesus, and Jesus, in response to His name being legally used in this manner, heals the person. You don’t have to “feel” like it works. You don’t have to “feel” power on the inside of you flowing into the person. (You might and you might not.) What matters is not what you or the other person feels, but that you are following Jesus’ instructions for dealing with sick people, and that Jesus acts when you invoke His name on the earth.
Jesus did not say, “They will lay hands on the sick, and nothing will happen,” so that should not be your expectation! Don’t let the devil talk you out of doing it for fear that you will look silly when nothing happens.
Two people’s faith is involved here – your faith and the sick person’s faith. That is why you probably don’t want to just waltz in and lay hands on him. Faith comes by hearing God’s Word (Romans 10:17). If the other person has no idea what’s going on, he isn’t in much of a condition to hook up with you. If you have the time, you may not even want to lay hands on him at all, preferring to instruct the person about healing and leaving the actual laying on of hands for a future visit when the person has had a chance to understand what you want to do.
What do you say while you’re laying hands on a sick person? Let me tell you a few things not to say. “Oh God, please heal him!” “Touch him, Lord!” “God, in your mercy, please take away this disease.” “Lord, you KNOW how much he’s hurting. Do something!” I’ve heard enough of this junk to last a lifetime. When you lay hands on a sick person, you do not ask or beg God to do anything. You are following a Bible ordinance and you have a right to expect God to honor it without having to badger Him or plead with Him. Whiny, pleady prayers done in many churches actually prove that there is no faith involved in the process and it’s no wonder that nothing happens. These signs follow them that believe, not them that doubt or whine.
Probably the best approach is to speak to the condition in the name of Jesus and command it to leave. We use the term “praying for the sick,” in the church world, but you’ll have to change your thinking if you want to see results. You are not praying for the sick person. (You might be praying OVER the sick person, but there is a big difference!) You are commanding the disease to go by the authority you have in Christ. If you want to throw in a few prayers for the person while you’re at it, that’s fine, but the bottom line is that you are exercising Christ’s authority in the earth. You are doing the work in His name. Jesus did not pray for the sick. Why should you do it differently than the Person whose name you’re using? That’s right, Jesus did not pray for the sick. He was anointed to heal the sick and He healed them. You can’t find any place when He stopped and “prayed for” the person and did any of the things that are common today among church people. Jesus believed that He was anointed to do what He did and He acted on that fact. He has in turn anointed you to do His works. It’s now up to you to believe that you are anointed to do those works and to act on that fact.
Biblical Examples of Laying Hands on the Sick
Jesus touched a leper with his hand and healed him in Matthew 8:2-4, Mark 1:40-45 and Luke 5:12-15.
Jesus touched Peter’s mother-in-law’s hand and she was healed of a fever in Matthew 8:14-15 and Mark 1:30-31.
Luke 4:40 shows us that laying on of hands was the method Jesus used when He healed everyone one evening.
In Luke 13:11-16, Jesus laid hands on a woman who had been crippled for 18 years and she was healed immediately.
In Nazareth, the people’s unbelief prevented Jesus from doing mighty miracles, but He was still able to lay hands on a few sick people and they were healed (Mark 6:1-6). It is interesting that laying on of hands was the only method cited to work in that difficult environment, which we should consider if we are ever in such a situation.
In the accounts in Matthew 9:18-25, Mark 5:22-43, and Luke 8:41-45, Jairus asked Jesus to lay hands on his daughter. Obviously, he was familiar with Jesus’ track record with laying on of hands. By the time Jesus got there, the daughter was dead, but Jesus took her by the hand and she rose from the dead.
In Mark 7:32-37, Jesus put His fingers in a deaf man’s ears and healed him.
In Mark 8:22-25, Jesus laid hands on the same person twice, and a man went from being blind to seeing clearly. This shows that it is not a sin to lay hands on the same person more than once for the same condition.
In Acts 3:1-16, Peter took a cripple by the hand and lifted him up.
Acts 5:12 says that many signs and wonders were done by the hands (not prayers) of the apostles.
While Paul’s blindness was not a usual condition, Ananias laid hands on him and he was able to see again in Acts 9:10-19.
Acts 14:3 says that signs and wonders were done by the hands of Paul and Barnabas.
Acts 19:11 tells us that God wrought special miracles by Paul’s hands.
In Acts 28:8-9, Paul laid hands on Publius’s father and healed him. This made such an impression that the remaining sick people on the island came and were also healed.
It is interesting to note in passing that another part of the doctrine of laying on of hands is doing so to impart the baptism with the Holy Spirit to someone (Acts 8:17, Acts 9:17, Acts 19:6).
A Challenge to Traditional Thinking
The main biblical way to deal with sick people is to lay hands on them. This is in stark contrast with modern church practice, where the primary way to get someone healed is assumed to be to get everyone and his brother to pray and ask God to heal the sick person. Of course, that is ineffective, while laying on of hands IS effective where there are people who believe the Bible on the matter. It is especially notable that none of the cases above involved anyone asking God to do anything. The closest is Acts 28:8-9, but it doesn’t say that Paul prayed for the sick person – it only says that he prayed before he laid hands on the sick person. We don’t know what his prayer was about.
So instead of doing what no one did, we need to do what worked in the Bible. God and His Word are the same now as they were in the Bible accounts, so laying on of hands still works today. If you’ve been unproductively “praying for the sick,” change what you’re doing to line up with the Bible and lay hands on the sick instead. It’s not some advanced concept; it’s one of the fundamental doctrines of Christ that everyone should know and practice!