How to Prepare for a Healing Service
by Pastor Mike Mercurio
This Sunday, January 18 we will be having a Healing Service in conjunction with our 40-Days of Prayer Campaign. Over the past few Sundays, we have talked about Christ, Our Savior and Christ, Our Sanctifier. This week, we will talk about Christ, Our Healer. Pastor Grimes will be preaching and sharing how God offers us the opportunity for healing through his sacrifice on the cross.
A key verse is a prophecy that Jesus fulfilled and it is found in Isaiah 53:5, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
This verse has a clear application for spiritual healing and the forgiveness of sins.
Physical, emotional and relational healing can also be prayed for as each of these things are addressed throughout the pages of the Bible.
At the end of the service, an invitation will be made for you to come forward to kneel/stand at the altar (the front of the stage) or sit in the front row. A pastor, elder or one of the other leaders of the church will come alongside and ask how they can pray for you - how you would like to be healed. They will then anoint you with oil (a symbol of the Holy Spirit) by putting a small amount on your forehead. This will be followed by at least two people praying for you in Jesus’ name.
Here is how you can prepare: If you would like to be prayed for, spend some quality time with God ahead of time. Tell him your need directly and ask for his will to be done. God’s will may be to heal you directly, as Jesus did for people on many occasions or to heal you over time, which he also did.
He may choose not to heal you in the manner that you ask, but instead give you an inner strength that is sufficient to endure whatever you are facing. Here is Paul’s testimony: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Also, be sure to present to God any unconfessed sin. James 5:14-16, “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”