The Gifts of Faith, Power and Healing

When we speak of spiritual gifts, usually people think of tongues, prophecy and words of knowledge. But I feel that the gifts of faith, power and healing tend to get confused and many who have them aren’t even sure about the gift they operate in. This confusion has left many ministers of the gospel wondering why they can’t do certain things the way others are doing it. Usually, people will just say, “you don’t have enough faith”

In this presentation I will go deeper into these three gifts, looking at how each operates, how you can identify your area of strength within the three, and how you can grow your gift.

 The Verses

1 Corinthians 12:7-10
7. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; 9. to another faith, by the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, by the same Spirit; 10. and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages.

This scripture gives us the 9 gifts of the Spirit but I will only deal with the one in bold.

1. Faith.
2. Working of Miracles.
3. Gifts of Healing.

Differences of Power

In the king James Version there are mainly two words which are interpreted as Power. One is Dunamis where we get the word Dynamite. This is power in the everyday sense that we understand it.

The other is Exusia which relates to authoritative power, or just authority.

Let me give an example of the difference. A world champion wrestler has power, which is Dunamis but a president has Exusia which is authority.

The wrestler can use his Dunamis power to beat up an enemy with his bare hands.

The president has armies and thousands of people who are ready to execute his every word. He does not need to beat you up. He just gives a word of command and his word will be obeyed. That’s authority.

Lets look at this verse….

Luke 10:19: KJV
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Luke 10:19: WEB
Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you.

Notice that the King James Version Does not make a distinction between Exusia and Dunamis, it just says power on both. However, Jesus gave the seventy authority(Exusia) over all the power(Dunamis) of the enemy.

Let’s get back to our verse.

Working of Power

I Corinthians 12:10:
and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages.

The word translated as miracles there, is Dunamis which means power. Dunamis is translated as Power/ Miracle/ Mighty Works at different times in the bible. So the gift of the working or operation of miracles is actually the gift of operating in Dunamis power.

A person who has the gift of faith can heal the sick, a person who has the gift of operating power can heal the sick and a person who has gifts of healing can heal the sick… but how these three will operate will differ.

Disclaimer

Every born again believer has a measure of Faith and Power given to them by God. You can’t be born again without faith. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you receive power.

Romans 12:3: KJV
For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.

Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

However even though everyone has a measure of faith, and everyone received power through the Holy Spirit, in 1 Corithians 12, Paul is saying there are some who are given a special gift of Faith. This gift of Faith allows them to do great supernatural works of faith. The same with this gift of power that allows the holder to perform great miracles without effort.

Its like singing, or soccer. Everyone who can speak, can sing, but there are some people who have the gift. These who have the gift of singing can do things with their voices that other people can not. They can go beyond average in making music. And they don’t have to make any extra effort. It comes naturally to them because it’s their talent, or gift. Same with playing soccer and other talents.

So everyone has faith and power, but not everyone has the special gifts of faith or power.

Faith and Power.
Faith and power are related. They are interconnected but they are different. Stephen was full of both Faith and Power.

Acts 6:8:
And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.

It is possible for someone to be like Stephen and have both gifts at work in their ministry. But even then, it is not always easy to see which is working and how.

How the gift of Faith Works

Faith makes things possible.

Mark 9:23:
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Inasmuch as faith makes things possible, it works according to the word of God. This is because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word. You will then find that people who operate in the gift of faith, will tend to be strong in the word. You will also find that they will tend to preach the word strongly to get people to believe the word, then they will start commanding and performing miracles through words of faith. You will find that faith will also tend to be ministered through speaking words.

Matthew 17:20:
He said to them, “Because of your unbelief. For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you

So a person who has the gift of faith will encounter a situation, let’s say a crippled man. In that moment you’ll will just have a strong conviction that if I tell this person to stand up, they will stand up. You’ll just know it, just as much as you know that the sky is blue. And you’ll say it, and it’ll happen. That strong conviction, that sense of knowing, is deposited into your heart through the gift of faith. It is not always there, but when it comes, it comes.

One important thing about faith is that it grows. You grow in faith. Faith is believing in that which truly is. The more you read the word, the more assurance you have in who God is, what he is able to do for you, what his will for your life is, then the more your faith in him grows. So Faith grows as we get deeper in the word, and get to know God in a deeper way.

How Power Works
A person who works in Power does not need to have special faith in order to work great miracles. It only needs regular faith, simply believing that Jesus is Lord and that Jesus is able. That is enough. The bible tells us that there are times when the Power of God was present to heal in Jesus ministry and many would be healed.

Luke 5:17:
On one of those days, he was teaching; and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every village of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was with him to heal them.

For a person who has this gift of power, when they are ministering, the power descends into the place. As this happens people will begin to be healed. You may even be preaching about Abrahams bosom and people will just start being healed. You yourself may not even have a lot of faith that people will be healed, but as long as they believe, they will be healed.

The people will be able to draw from your power and get healed.

Let’s learn from a bible example.

Mark 5:25:
A certain woman, who had an issue of blood for twelve years, 26. and had suffered many things by many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse, 27. having heard the things concerning Jesus, came up behind him in the crowd, and touched his clothes. 28. For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be made well.” 29. Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30. Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd, and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31. His disciples said to him, “You see the multitude pressing against you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32. He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. 34.  He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease.

This miracle did not require Jesus to exercise faith. If anything he was even unaware. The woman just believed that if she touched Jesus she would be healed, and when she touched him, her faith was enough to draw power from Christ.

This power tends to manifest more during prayer and deep worship. People who operate a lot in power will tend to spend more time in prayer.  They may not be that strong in the word. So while people who operate mainly in Faith, spend more time in the word, to grow their faith, those who operate mainly in power will tend to spend more time fasting and praying, to bring the manifestation of power.

This is why it is dangerous to simply copy other ministers of the gospel. As a person grown in their gift, they can learn how to control and direct it. When Jesus was ministering, he would use different gifts at different situations. For example when he went to a place where people did not have faith, he was unable to use power.

Mark 6
5. He couldn’t perform a miracle there except to lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6. He was utterly amazed at their unbelief. Then he went around to the villages and continued teaching.

The word miracle there is dunamis, which is power. Other versions say mighty work and others say work of power.

So his gift of power required that at least people believed he was a prophet and a healer. But without that basic level of faith it was impossible for him to perform any miracle. So he had to use another principle. The Prayer of faith. He had to use his own faith to pray for a few sick people and they were healed. This required him to actually physically lay hands on the people.

James 5: 14-15
14: Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

Even here you see the prayer of faith would require anointing with oil and perseverance.

 Gifts of Healing
I will not say much on this except that it says gifts, not gift. Meaning there are many gifts of healing. You will find that a person who has a gift of healing, when they pray for the sick, they will be healed. However, because there are several gifts of healing you will find that some people are more geared towards the deaf, while others towards the barren, while others towards cancer, etc.

A person who is geared towards barrenness, when they pray for a deaf person they will have a low success rate, but if they pray for a barren person it’s automatic and instant.