The Touch of Faith
//Timeless Teachings of Kenneth E. Hagin
Jesus used different methods to minister healing to people. He told a lame man to “rise, take up your bed, and walk,” and the crippled man was healed. A blind man was healed after he washed mud from his eyes in the pool of Siloam. Jesus told 10 lepers to show themselves to the priest, and as they went, they were healed. A deaf man who could hardly talk was healed after Jesus put His fingers in the man’s ears, spit, and then touched the man’s tongue. The most prominent way Jesus healed was by the laying on of hands. People also sought to touch Him. And the woman with the issue of blood was healed after touching the hem of His garment.
Jesus laid hands on the sick in obedience to a spiritual law. There are spiritual laws, just as there are natural laws. For example, there are natural laws that govern the operation of electricity. And if we don’t obey these laws, we’ll get into trouble! There are also spiritual laws that govern the operation of God’s power in the spiritual realm.
The Law of Contact and Transmission
Healing power is transferred by touch. The spiritual law of contact and transmission enabled Jesus to lay His hands on the sick to heal them. Power flowed out of Him and into the sick person, effecting a healing and a cure in his or her body.
Healing power can also be transmitted when cloths are laid on a sick person. In Acts 19:11–12 we see how this spiritual law works. Special miracles were wrought by the hands of the Apostle Paul when he laid his hands on cloths or handkerchiefs. The anointing of God’s healing power that emanated from Paul transformed those handkerchiefs into storage batteries of Holy Ghost power. When those cloths were then laid on the sick, they surcharged the body, and healing resulted. Both the sick and the insane were healed by this method.
Faith in Action |
‘I Shall Be Whole’ 1. Say it. She said, “If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole.” 2. Do it. She came in the press behind and touched Jesus’ garment. |
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Healing Cloths Countless people have been healed by God’s power through healing cloths from Kenneth Hagin Ministries. The staff and volunteers of the Prayer and Healing Center pray earnestly |
Healing Cloths
Some have called healing cloths superstition. They’re not superstition; they’re a Bible fact. When hands are laid on a handkerchief or cloth, power is transmitted into the cloth. The cloth becomes a point of contact for the person to release his or her faith for healing. When it touches the body of the sick, it’s just as if hands were laid on the person.
Power will flow out of the cloth unless doubt or unbelief is there to stop the flow. Doubt and unbelief stop the flow of the Holy Ghost the way a dam in a river keeps water from flowing. Faith, however, gives action to the power of God.
In Mark chapter 5, the faith of the woman with the issue of blood activated the power of God when she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. We see in verse 31 that a multitude thronged Jesus. It’s likely that several people touched Him accidentally. Others may have touched Him casually. And some could have touched Jesus just to see if anything would happen. But of all the people who touched Jesus that day, only the woman with the issue of blood was healed.
When she touched Jesus with the touch of faith, He was instantly aware of an outflow of virtue, or power. And the woman knew immediately that she had been healed. This shows us that the healing power of God is a tangible substance. It can be felt.
Both the woman’s faith and the power of God were apparent, because Jesus told her, “Your faith has made you whole” (see Mark 5:25–34.) Her faith activated God’s power.
Faith Activates the Power
It is evident then that the healing power of God can go into a sick person, yet no healing takes place until something happens that releases that person’s faith. This is why some people aren’t healed instantly. Although the power of God went into them, the healing process was not consummated until something happened that released their faith.
Healing becomes a process when people don’t mix sufficient faith with the power of God. Healing, then, is by degree based on two conditions: the degree of healing power administered, and the degree of faith of the individual that gives action to that anointing. The power of God to heal is still available today. But it’s up to us to activate that power with our faith. So let’s reach out in faith and receive everything that has been promised to us in the Word of God.
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(Editor’s Note: This article was adapted from the lesson Kenneth E. Hagin taught at Prayer and Healing School on January 8, 1982.)