Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit…to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit…But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.
—1 Corinthians 12:4, 9, 11
What is it that distinguishes the children of God? It is that God dwells in the midst of them and reveals Himself to them in power. God sends the Holy Spirit to His church to act in her with power. Her life and her prosperity depend on Him. In every age, the church may look for manifestations of the Spirit, for they form our indissoluble unity: “one body, and one Spirit” (Ephesians 4:4).
The Spirit operates in various members of the church at different times. It is possible to be filled with the Spirit for one special work and not for another. There are also times in the history of the church when certain gifts of the Spirit are given with power, while at the same time unbelief may hinder other gifts. Wherever the more abundant life of the Spirit is to be found, we may expect Him to manifest all His gifts.
The gift of healing is one of the most beautiful manifestations of the Spirit. It is recorded of Jesus, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil” (Acts 10:38). The Holy Spirit in Him was a healing Spirit, and He was the same in the disciples after Pentecost. The abundant outpouring of the Spirit produced abundant healings in the early churches. (See Acts 3:7; 4:30; 5:12, 15–16; 9:41; 14:9–10; 16:18–19; 19:12; 28:8–9.)
Christ’s redemption extends its powerful working to the body, and the Holy Spirit is in charge of transmitting and maintaining it in us. It is Jesus who heals, Jesus who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, and Jesus who baptized His disciples with the same Spirit. It is He who sends us the Holy Spirit here on earth to take sickness away from us and to restore us to health.
Divine healing takes place wherever the Spirit of God works in power. Examples of this are to be found in the lives of the Reformers, and in other men of God called to His service over the centuries. But there are even more promises accompanying the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that have not been fulfilled up to this time. Let us live in a holy expectation, praying for the Lord to accomplish them in us.