Do You Have the Spiritual Gift of Healing?

SPIRITUAL GIFT OF HEALING

Please read the following  Spiritual Gift of Healing description and then rate yourself on a scale of 1 through 5 both in passion and experience. This is to help you from ignoring a gift God may have for you. For example you may be high in passion in the gift of  “discernmen” but as of yet God has not manifested Himself in that way to you. If all you rated was experience you may skip over this very important passion God has given you. Likewise if you are deeply involved in “service” but are more pragmatic and less passionate about it you may be tempted to ignore developing the gift of service in the way God wants you to.

Rate Your Passion For This Gift

The first rating has to do with your passion for the gift. Are you really motivated to act this way? 1 means that you have no interest in or passion to use the gift. 5 means that the definition describes you very accurately, or that you do have a strong interest/passion in the ability.

Next Rate Your Experience With or Evidence For This Gift

The second rating has to do with your experience/evidence of the gift. Rate your experience with or evidence of the gift.

1 means that you have no experience with or evidence of the gift. 5 means that you have a lot of experience with or evidence of the gift.

SPIRITUAL GIFT OF HEALING
 In I Corinthians 12:9,28,30 it says, “ to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit” (NIV). In the Biblical language healing means to effect a cure through God’s supernatural power. This gift is similar to faith. When a person with this gift hears of certain situations that need healing whether physical, emotional or spiritual, God seems to lead them to step out and affirm God through believing Him for healing. God gives them assurance in His ability and desire to work in the situation. A person with this gift feels free to ask God for His intervention without usurping His sovereignty. There is a deep understanding that they do not have a personal power to heal anyone, but that they have been given a great conviction to pray for healing and to believe in God’s power. Along with giving this conviction to pray, in most cases, God chooses to heal.

Benefits
This gift used in the local church can encourage faith and hope. Healing can often spark revival and repentance. God often used this as a sign gift to the Jews both in the Old and New Testament. The gift encourages those new in the faith. Healing ultimately leads to God’s glory.

Pitfalls
With any dramatic gift there are many people watching. There is temptation to “hero” worship the person with the gift creating an expectancy that is not of God. The result can be disappointment or bitterness when God does not answer in the way we think that He should. Pride can also be a problem causing someone with this gift to exaggerate, make false claims, or steer away from greater need so they do not lose their self importance. There is potential jealousy, fear of failure and anger if God chooses to use someone else too. It is easy to judge others that may not have the same faith in the situation that you do. Finally, there is temptation to acquire riches by using the gift.

Ministry Opportunities
This gift could be used in a visitation ministry to the sick and elderly. It could be part of a need based evangelism program. A person with this gift could be on a prayer team. There is also the call to a more private prayer life for those that we know that are sick and hurting physically and emotionally.

Further Training
This is similar to the gift of faith in that a journal will help you stay focused and trusting God when situations get rough. Meeting with others who have this gift or have the gift of faith or miracles will be beneficial. Reading the scriptures is good for encouragement and faith. Asking your pastoral staff at church for biographies of men and women that God has used this way will help your understanding.

RATE YOURSELF ON THE GIFT OF HEALING

Passion
Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you have a passion for using the gift of healing. 
(1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Passion Score ______

Experience/Evidence
Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you have had significant experience in or evidence of the gift of healing.
(1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Experience/Evidence Score __
 

How to Rate Your Score
 To be more accurate on the Spiritual Gift you need to look both at your passion with the gift and the experience with or evidence of the gift. If your passion is 3 – 5 then it is high. If your passion is 1 – 2 then it is low. It is the same with the experience with or evidence of the gift. Is the experience/evidence high (3 – 5) or is it low (1 – 2)?

Plot your scores on the grid
 Notice that Experience/Evidence is on the vertical axis and Passion is on the horizontal axis. So a Experience/Evidence score of  3 and a Passion score of 2 and would be in the number 2 quadrant.

Quadrants

Quadrant 1 = High Passion and High Experience/Evidence
A Spiritual Gift that is in this quadrant seems to be one that God has given you. You are passionate about the gift and have experience and evidence in your life that seems to confirm this. Continue to grow in this gift and use it for His glory.

Quadrant 2 = Low Passion and High Experience/Evidence
A Spiritual Gift in this quadrant may indicate that circumstances have called upon you to exhibit this skill or ministry in your life. For example you don’t have to have a high Passion to be merciful to those that are hungry around you. However your church may have a large feeding program. Just because you are recruited and spend a lot of time doesn’t mean that you have the Gift of Mercy. Rather it simply could mean that you were obedient to God by helping with a need.

Quadrant 3 = High Passion and Low Experience/Evidence
Scoring in this quadrant is common among the Supernatural gifts. Healing , faith, miracles – you may feel really burdened in situations to pray for God’s intervention in mighty ways. You pray believing and trusting that God can and will act. If this is true then you must rate yourself high on Passion. However though you are passionate in your praying for healing your experience may not be successful. You would rate your experience/evidence score low. However, this does not mean give up. It is just an indicator of your personal experience up to this moment in time. If God moves you deeply to pray for the supernatural let Him take care of the results. It is better to pray believing and not see the results you anticipated then to be disobedient and not pray. God has given you the gift, He will use it according to His will. Be faithful to the passion He has given you.

Quadrant 4 = Low Passion and Low Experience/Evidence
A score in this quadrant is usually a good indicator that God, up to this point in time, has not birthed in you this Spiritual Gift. This does not mean that in time God may call upon you to work in this area. God can give any gift at any time. He is sovereign.

Now that you have finished this self assessment, how do you feel about your discovery? Were you surprised or did you find the answer that you expected?  Are you intimidated by the significance of the gift and what God may expect from you or are you confident that God has and will continue to use you in this way?
 One way to confirm your findings is to ask those Godly people that know you well. Ask them to read the definitions of the gifts that you selected and confirm whether they see this same gift in your life or not. Ask them what they think you need to improve on. Ask them to pray for you that you may have understanding and wisdom in using these gifts.
 Another way to grow in your gift is to report to the member of your pastoral staff at church that would be in charge of volunteers in the church. Share with them your discovery and ask them for materials to study and opportunities for service. Perhaps there is someone that they know that could mentor you in this gift.
 Finally, seek out others in your church that have the same gift(s). Meet regularly as a group to learn, share stories and pray for each other. As a church you function as a body of believers. You were given these gifts to help each other. There is no limit to what God could do as you and the others in your church are Spirit led in the use of these gifts. __________________________________________________________

What are some ways that you can use your gifts? You can find out more about that in our workbook How Am I Wired For Ministry?  CLICK HERE for your FREE download of How Am I Wired for Ministry.

Want to know more about Spiritual Gifts? Download your FREE copy of our Spiritual Gifts Test and Workbook.  CLICK HERE for a Spiritual Gifts Test and workbook