Big Healing Book - Should I Just Go to the Big-Box Store and Lay Hands on People

Should I Just Go to the Big-Box Store and Lay Hands on People in Wheelchairs?

I don’t see any Bible support for the idea that you can just go to a store, see someone in a wheelchair, and just lay hands on him and command him to be healed without doing anything else first. I’m not saying that God could never use you that way, but it would be an extreme exception, not something you should set out to do.

First, signs shall FOLLOW those people who are preaching the Word! If you don’t share the Word with the person in the wheelchair, he has no basis for faith. Even if something were to happen when you laid hands on him, it is doubtful that he could keep his healing. The biblical pattern is to present the Word and THEN heal the sick. If you just lay hands on the person, there is no Word for a sign to follow.

Second, Jesus did not just go up to people at random and heal them without saying anything. Even in John 5:2-19, where the crippled man was clearly not in faith, He asked him first, “Do you want to be made well?” His answer could be taken as a backhanded yes – he was there because he wanted to get in that water and be made well, after all, but other people were beating him to it. This is similar to what could happen where you minister by the “gift of faith” – the person might not be in faith, but God uses you to raise the person up anyway. Perhaps someday you will just lay hands on someone in a wheelchair and see him walk by the gift of faith – but you cannot depend on the gift of faith operating all the time. Faith for healing comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17), so if you never present the good news about healing to the person, you can’t count on him being in faith for his healing.

Third, the multitudes came to hear and be healed. They did not come ONLY to receive healing without hearing the Good News of the kingdom first. If we expect people to just be healed without hearing, we are not following Jesus’ pattern. It was not the norm for Him or His disciples to go around looking for sick people and slapping hands on them at the first opportunity. When the disciples were commanded to HEAL the sick, they were told to PREACH first that the kingdom of heaven had come near. The healing followed the preaching.

Fourth, Jesus and His disciples usually had the sick either come to them or be brought to them. In a few cases, they were sought out by others to come minister to a specific person. Just going up to “random” sick people was not the norm.

Fifth, you don’t know if the person WANTS to be healed! Many sick people are not gung-ho about getting healed. They are content to stay as they are. If the person has no strong motivation to be well, you are wasting your time. Even at the Pool of Bethesda, Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be made whole before He did anything else.

Sixth, you don’t know whether the person in the wheelchair knows Jesus. It is infinitely better to go to heaven after living sick than to go to hell after being healed. His MOST important need is to be saved from his sins. That is more important than being healed or having his “felt needs” ministered to. The same good news tells about forgiveness of sins AND healing; you should not present one at the expense of the other.

I’ll share something I’ve learned about many people in wheelchairs. They get tired of people coming over and trying to raise them up in the name of Jesus. Unfortunately, there are some egotists whose real motivation is to see an “awesome” healing testimony with their name in lights because they pulled someone out of a wheelchair. For some people, a wheelchair is a “target” for healing ministry. So if the person seems cynical at first, that’s could be the reason. Make sure that you are motivated by real concern about the person, not a desire to brag about your accomplishment if the person gets up and walks.

I’ll just share one more thing I’ve learned about some people in wheelchairs. Some of them actually CAN walk for short distances and using the wheelchair is just easier for extended periods. So if someone gets up and walks, it’s only a real testimony if that person could not previously get up and walk at all! If you’re in a wheelchair and someone pre-screens you to see if you can get up and walk briefly and then assigns up-front seating if you can and back-row seating if you can’t, you know you’re dealing with a minister who plans to put on a show instead of a Holy Spirit-led service. You can bet that he will ask people in wheelchairs to walk, and the people down front will make quite an impression on the crowd, though the impression will mean nothing.