Should We Wait Until We Sense the Anointing to Lay Hands on the Sick?
That depends upon the context. Mark 16:15-18 does not say that you have to wait to sense the anointing. You can lay hands on the sick in faith in the name of Jesus and expect them to recover. There is no mention of waiting for the anointing in James 5:14-15 because the prayer is offered in faith according to God’s promise. There is no indication that the apostles did any special “waiting” before ministering to the sick.
It is unnecessary to sense the anointing. You are anointed to lay hands on the sick and bring deliverance to the captives. You may not always feel as though you are, but you still are. That is why you don’t have to wait for some kind of physical sensation that the anointing is present. You simply believe that you are anointed by God to lay hands on the sick on the basis of His Word.
Sometimes when you step out in faith and lay hands on the sick, you’ll sense the anointing flowing through you once you’ve already placed your hands on the person. If you waited to sense that anointing before you laid hands on the person, you might never have sensed it.
That much being said, if you are ministering from the pulpit, you should be sensitive to the Spirit. There will be a greater anointing if you lay hands on the sick at a time when the Holy Spirit specifically directs it than if you just go ahead and do it. If you lay hands on the sick when the healing anointing is specifically present (i.e., the Holy Spirit wants to use you in “gifts of healings” or “working of miracles” or “special faith”), you will likely see greater results than if you just lay hands on people in faith. The reason is that some people are not in faith and they will not be healed if it is simply a faith transaction, whereas when it comes to the gifts of the Spirit, people who are not in faith at all can be healed.
Some “old-time” healing evangelists would not even get up to minister until they sensed the anointing, but that isn’t how I prefer to operate. If there is no special anointing to lay hands on the sick early on in the service, I will start teaching the Word to build the people’s faith. I would rather do that than stand on the sidelines having everyone repeat a certain chorus for the fortieth time just because I don’t want to get up there yet without sensing the anointing to flow in the gifts of the Spirit. What would you do if you never sensed a special anointing during the whole service? That could happen, as the Holy Spirit doesn’t move the same way all the time. I’m not throwing stones at the old-timers. I understand why they waited. They wanted to make sure that God was moving. There was certainly a healthy reverence for the Holy Spirit that went along with that. And certain ministers, if they DID get up to teach, you’d be sorry they did. I’ve met people who flow strongly in the Holy Spirit who can barely teach their way out of a paper bag, yet they continue to see miracles. Different people are gifted different ways. Some people have stronger teaching gifts that others, while others have stronger flows of the anointing when they lay hands on people. I think it’s best to strive to be the best we can be in BOTH areas – our ministry of teaching the Word by which faith comes, and our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s “flow” in a service. If you’re already a strong teacher, work on cooperating with the Spirit and spend time praying in other tongues. If you’re already strong in the area of flowing with the Spirit, spend time in the Word and work on your preaching. In either case, you’ll become an even more effective minister of the gospel.
It is certainly never a sin to lay hands on the sick at ANY time since Jesus gave you the authority to do so!
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