The Holy Ghost Said!
I Will Heal Anybody
One summer, something began to cause pain in my right elbow. It had become quite painful for several days and I had begun to favor it and even hold my left hand on it when I was sitting down. My wife and I were watching Benny Hinn's program on television one day and I was thinking about the words of knowledge that the guest had been speaking out. A word of knowledge is a manifestation of one of the gifts of the spirit when the Holy Ghost reveals knowledge about something that currently exists. Many times when this gift is in operation the Holy Spirit will reveal a person with a problem, sickness, or disease to whom God wants to minister.
I had been wondering about people like Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson, Richard Roberts, and others who would call out various problems that people in the television audience were experiencing and tell them that God was correcting that problem. I wondered if they truly were hearing from God or were calling out things in random knowing that the audience was big enough so that someone had about any problem you could name. The "Tell Sister Shelba" account describes one of the few times that God has given me a word of knowledge, and I just wasn't sure that those guys were truly receiving those words from the Holy Spirit. Also, if the word was true, was it only for a single individual?
As we watched the program and I thought on these things, the Holy Ghost said, "I will heal anybody who believes that the word is for them." I thought to myself, "That's great, and it shows that God is not a respecter of persons but honors faith wherever he finds it." I told my wife what the Holy Spirit had said and we continued to watch the program as I thought on the revelation.
Toward the end of the program, Benny Hinn said, "Someone in the audience has a problem with your right elbow and God is healing it right now." Even though my elbow had been causing me problems, I knew healing belonged to me and the pain would have to leave at some point so I wasn't concerned about it. I had heard it, but I didn't take note of what Benny Hinn had said, until my wife looked over at me and said, "That's for you. God just told you that he would perform it if you would believe it." I slapped my elbow and said, "That's right, In the name of Jesus, elbow you are healed." The pain began to leave my elbow that afternoon and was completely gone by the next day. It has been several years and I haven't experienced any other problems with my elbow.
In Philippians 1:15-18, Paul says that some preach Christ out of envy and others of good will. Whether in pretence or in truth, he was going to rejoice that Christ was preached. The Holy Ghost made no comment on the men that I was wondering about or the genuineness of their words. He just let me know that he would perform them for everyone who would receive them in faith. As such, I suppose that we should rejoice that people are believing God and seeing miracles and leave the judgement of the messenger in God's hands. When we consider that he used a donkey to speak to a prophet, the message becomes much more important than the messenger.