It says: these signs will follow those who believe. In other words, as you begin to share the gospel, as you make Christ known to people, as you engage with those who are lost and unsaved and in desperate need - you can expect God to do something. “These signs follow those who believe: In My name, they'll cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they'll take up serpents; if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they will recover”. They will recover!
So “Healing the sick” is associated with the gospel. The gospel is not just words, it's about God moving to endorse His words; and so the Bible calls you to lay hands on the sick people. How many know some sick people? We're called to lay hands on them in faith, believing that they will recover. That word ‘recover’ means ‘become well again’.
Sometimes people recover; it takes time, a gradual process. Sometimes it's immediate; but you know we're called to do our part, which is: pray and lay hands on people. Lay hands on them, and believe for God to flow through and touch them. When you lay hands on people, sometimes they feel the power. Sometimes you feel the power. It can be like warmth, it can be like electricity. Sometimes you feel nothing. Don't look for what you feel - just do what God says to do - lay hands, expecting God to do something.
Faith is always necessary for people to be healed. Without faith, people are not healed. I've noticed an interesting thing. I was in a church in Taiwan, and there was a man there in a wheelchair, and we prayed for him and helped him out of the wheelchair, and he began to walk. He began to walk so quickly, he didn't want me to hold his hand. He just began to walk up and down, and he was incredibly excited about walking; but what I noticed was, people who were with him were almost in a panic.
Notice what they're seeing: they're seeing him walk, for the first time unaided in years; and you know what's the uppermost thing in their minds? Get him back in the wheelchair - he'll hurt himself! In other words, their natural mind had not caught up with what God had done. Their natural mind was saying: oh, oh! It just actually wasn't registering he was healed. The natural mind was saying: he can't be out of a wheelchair - he needs a wheelchair! In other words, they were frozen in time in their thinking, and in their mentality; and God had moved, and they hadn't caught up with the miracle.
I said: no, fold up the wheelchair - because this is what I've learnt, that if you put him back in it, they probably won't get out of it again. I've learnt that when you pray for someone - this is some of the things I've discovered, in praying for people to be healed.
The first thing is, many people wait until they feel something; and if they don't feel anything, they don't think anything's happened. The second thing that many people do is this: they have felt something, and found a little freedom; but they focus on what God hasn't done yet - they focus on their sickness. I ask them this question: did you feel God touch you? Yes, I did. Has the pain gone a little? Are you freer in that limb? Can you move a little more? Yes, I can. Well, then don't focus on what hasn't happened - start praising God, and thanking God for what's happened - and the miracle will continue to go right through your body, until it is complete!
Sometimes miracles are progressive. When you see when blind eyes are opened - it's usually instantaneous. Well, I've had that come in stages too – I prayed for one person, they could see a little. Prayed again, see a little better. By the time I prayed the fourth time, they could see clearly – I just kept praying and believing. So an important thing in this area of faith healing, or healing by faith, is that people keep their faith active.