Unfortunately, there is a chasm in the body of Christ with regard to this phenomenon. In some churches, it is practiced on a regular basis. At the other end of the spectrum, other churches do not accept it as scriptural. As such I will not attempt to bridge this gap in a single article, but will limit my words to the role of this practice in healing and evangelism, not necessarily within the confines of a church service. In the context of church, there have doubtlessly occurred many instances in which the Holy Spirit has come upon believers with power, and they involuntarily fall (or "float," as some have reported) to the floor. While they are in this state, the Spirit ministers to them, whether physically, emotionally, spiritually---in some redemptive way. On the other hand, the practice in some other churches can almost become a ritual where it might not be so much the work of the Holy Spirit, but of sincere ministers who with the best of intentions may want to see people fall and of seeking, thirsty people who want and allow themselves to fall.
There are instances in Scripture of people unable to stand because of God's presence. Daniel fell forward to the ground in the presence of God's holy angel Gabriel: "Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground." (Daniel 10:9) In John 18:6, it is recorded that Roman soldiers drew back and fell to the ground when Jesus identified himself to them. But let us simply consider the ministries of Jesus and the early disciples in the gospels and Acts and determine whether or not this phenomenon occurred specifically while they were preaching the gospel, healing the sick, and casting out demons. Was there a role of this practice in healing and evangelism?The answer is we do not see any direct reference to anyone being "slain in the Spirit" in that context. What we do see is people being healed and the Scripture immediately testifying to the miracle, bringing glory to God. We see demonized people thrown to the ground, but of course these are not manifestations of the Holy Spirit, but of the devil. We see these demonized people set free by Jesus or in his name, and souls are drawn to Christ. In short, the miracles we see in the evangelistic ministries of Jesus and his disciples are not people falling down, but people being healed and freed from demonic oppression quite apart from this manifestation.
We also note that there is no reference in the gospels and Acts to a believer speaking in unknown heavenly tongues while healing the sick or casting out demons. In Acts, the instances of people speaking in heavenly tongues had to do with the baptism or infilling of the Holy Spirit. In I Corinthians we are taught that speaking to God in an unknown tongue is a form of prayer or worship unto Him. But speaking in tongues did not accompany the ministry of healing the sick or casting out demons. The reason is simple: speaking in a heavenly tongue is directed in humility toward God, while healing and deliverance require speaking to disease and demons with spiritually-violent authority. We are not saying that it is wrong to speak in tongues at such times. But what we are saying is that speaking in tongues in general does not result in miraculous healing and deliverance. Rather, it is the believer speaking with authority over disease and demons, sometimes with the laying on of hands, that results in the miracle.If we are called to do what we see Jesus doing in the gospels, we should preach the gospel and heal the sick, not simply desire that people will be slain in the Spirit. Our job is to heal the sick (as confirmation of the gospel), not to see people fall down when we minister to them. There may be reasons why we would rather have people simply fall down.
When a person we pray over falls down, we feel we have done our job and can move on to the next person. We feel that now God can do what He wants in that person. Although at times this may in fact be the case, often the person has specific physical or spiritual needs over which we have been given a measure of authority. In general, only by directly speaking forth in Jesus' name are these needs effectively met. But it is less risky to have someone fall down and let God "do whatever He wants to do" than to command their miraculous healing in Jesus' name. Thus sometimes when a person falls down, whether by the Spirit or not, the minister feels "off the hook" and can proceed to the next person who needs prayer. There is also the factor of the euphoria a minister might feel when someone falls down at his feet. It may be difficult to resist the desire to see everyone fall down.
In contrast, when a blind person came to Jesus, he opened the blind eyes. When a deaf person asked for his hearing to be restored, he opened deaf ears. He did not cause them to fall down and ask the Father to have His way in them. Jesus got the job done. When we merely want people to fall down, we might not be getting the job done. Our job as soul-winners is to visibly heal the sick so that souls will be open to accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior. When people fall down in an evangelistic context, it may sometimes be counterproductive, for the unbelievers who are watching may become confused. They may not understand what is happening. All they know is that someone has fallen down. As far as they can see, there has been no miracle.
But when a witness of Christ says to a deaf person, "ears be opened in Jesus' name!" and the deaf begin to hear and testify to it publicly, it is clear to all the spectators that a miracle has occurred in Christ's name. This is what brought multitudes of precious souls to seek and hear Jesus Christ in the gospels.In the past, we may have chosen to pursue a ministry where people are "slain in the Spirit" in part because we did not witness the blind see and the deaf hear when we ministered. We were not able to minister with the authority we see given to the disciples in the gospels and Acts. We did not see disease and demons submit to our commands as they did for Jesus and the early disciples. But now is God's chronos, the time at which He is restoring His power and authority to His people for completing the Great Commission!
However, there are situations where our argument may not apply. For example, in the context of a meeting for believers, a person may come forward for prayer and for some reason does not or cannot reveal his or her need. Thus the minister may not be able to speak specifically over the need, and rather entrust the situation to God, letting Him do whatever He wants to do since He knows their needs. Sometimes there may be too many believers to pray over, or not enough time to give them all focused individual attention. In such situations we can understand the validity of the phenomenon of being "slain in the Spirit."
We know that God is sovereign. Should He desire to do so, He can directly put disease on someone. However, let us understand the origin of disease, which is ultimately sin, whether personal sin or original sin. Satan's work is to sin and cause us to sin, and through sin, we are subject to disease and death. Sin, disease, and death are the work of Satan. Can God allow Satan to torment us in order to produce a greater ultimate good for us? Absolutely. God allowed a messenger of Satan to buffet Paul to keep him from becoming conceited.
3 On the day the LORD gives you relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage, 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended!
12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart,
"I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."
15 But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.Perhaps the most profound example of this is found very early in Genesis. God allowed the serpent to tempt Adam and Eve from the tree. For what purpose? So that they (and we) would fall into sin, and ultimately have to trust His Son Jesus Christ for deliverance and willingly worship Him!
What is our perspective on all of this? We take the perspective of Jesus, which is a "ground-level" New Testament approach. Although God the Father has definitely allowed the sin, disease, and suffering, we see it as the work of Satan to be destroyed in the name of Jesus. Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan.
Matthew 17:14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him."
17 "O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"
20 He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.In this incident Jesus is clearly disappointed with the disciples' failure to cast out the demon. He clearly expected them to succeed. He had already given them and seventy-two others authority to heal the sick and cast out demons:
Luke 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. …6 So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.
Luke 10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. …9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' 17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
Not only had he given them the authority to do it, he had personally trained them by demonstrating to them how it was done as he went about healing the sick and casting out demons in the course of his ministry. His expectation was that now they could take on part of the burden of the ministry. But the demon would not submit to the disciples. And so he himself took over ("Bring the boy here to me") and got the job done, healing the boy with dispatch. Then he proceeded to teach the disciples why they had failed. They needed to develop mountain-moving faith if they wanted to do the miraculous works that they had seen him do. Eventually they did, and the rest of the gospels and especially the Book of Acts record that they did in fact succeed in doing the works that Jesus himself did.
We can learn something important here concerning how the Lord heals the sick. Jesus is now no longer on earth, and he has commissioned his disciples to perform this ministry in his name. This is his preferred way of healing the sick. Of course we may pray for the sick, but Christ has in fact given us a measure of his authority to actually heal the sick in his name, not just to pray for them.
Sometimes, like the disciples in the account of Matthew 17 above, we appear to "fail" for some reason or another, perhaps because we lack understanding of how to minister with mountain-moving faith. Then the Lord might very well show up, essentially saying "get out of the way, bring the boy here to me," and we witness a manifestation of power for healing or deliverance that is beyond our faith. The person stands before us healed and delivered.
So we see at least two ways in which the Lord heals. Scripture appears to teach that he would prefer us to do it in his name according to our mountain-moving faith. But at times, for some reason or another, he may simply show up. Perhaps he really wants the job to be done and knows that our mountain-moving faith is not quite as strong as it should be. And so he says, "get out of my way, let me do it!" When he does this, the miracle happens almost easily, without much faith or effort on our part. His name is glorified. But we ought not to expect that the Lord will always "show up" in this way. When he does, we certainly welcome it and rejoice because we will witness very powerful miracles. But it is generally his preferred will to use us and the authority he has entrusted to us to get the job done.
As we persevere in using this authority over disease and demons, we will grow in power and effectiveness in healing the sick. We will become more and more like him, not only in character, but also in power as well.
We are soldiers of Christ, and he is our commander-in-chief. He calls us into his army, trains us, equips us with weapons superior to anything the enemy has---specifically, authority for us to heal the sick and cast out demons---and then sends us out to do the works for him and in his name. He has completed the work that the Father sent him to do. Now it is our turn to complete the work that he began. He sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven above; he commands and directs us. On the other hand, we are on the battlefield, we are engaged in firefights with the enemy, we are destroying the works of the enemy, we are preaching the gospel and savings souls, we are healing the sick, and we are casting out demons in his name. And sometimes when we falter, he may graciously "leave the throne room in heaven" so to speak and "show up" on the battlefield and himself get the job done. He works through the Holy Spirit in different ways.
John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 "For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. 22 "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 "that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. …25 "Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 "and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. …30 "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
What does Jesus mean by "the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner?" It is clear that Jesus humbled and emptied himself and in human form became completely dependent upon the Father. In what way was this relationship worked out? For example, did the Father in some way actually show the Son what he was going to do that day when he sought Him in prayer every morning?
Although this is certainly possible, there are other scenarios we can paint. We are interested in this question because our relationship with Jesus is in some ways parallel to that which he had with the Father.
John 20:21 So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
Jesus could minister with power because of His relationship with the Father; in the same way we hope to minister with power because of our relationship with Jesus. To the extent that we understand the outworking of Jesus' relationship with his Father with regard to the miracles that he did, we may better understand how our relationship with Jesus may lead to greater manifestations of power in our ministry for the gospel.
It may be natural for a committed believer to want to be led by the Lord through the Holy Spirit in everything that he or she does. But is this something that is actually attainable or even the Lord's will for us in this life? There are things in our daily lives for which we may not always need the Lord's leading. For example, everyday we wake up at a certain time (often determined by for what time we set our alarm clock), get dressed, determine what to eat for breakfast, and go to work. These are activities that the Lord normally gives us authority and responsibility to take care of without his direct supervision and leading. The relevant question is: in what area should we simply handle things by ourselves with the wisdom the Lord has given us as human beings, and in what area should we seek His leading and be consciously dependent on Him? The line is not a fine one, and may be shifting slightly from day to day. Nevertheless there must be some scriptural principles which can give us general guidelines. It is obvious that important decisions such as the choice of a spouse, job, ministry, home church, purchase of a house or car are best made after seeking the Lord's guidance. Let us limit this discussion to the realm of the ministry of the supernatural, specifically to healing the sick. To what extent do we seek the Lord's help or guidance in this type of ministry?
For Jesus, this kind of ministry did not begin until after he was baptized in the Holy Spirit at the Jordan River and after the forty days' period of fasting and temptation. With this baptism came power and authority over demons and disease. Those who came to him with some degree of faith that he could heal them were healed. "Your faith has made you well," said Jesus in Mark 5:34 to the woman who was healed of long-term bleeding after she touched the hem of his garment. To two blind men who wanted to see in Matthew 9:29, Jesus said, "According to your faith let it be to you." Many if not most of the healing miracles in the synoptic gospels follow this pattern. The miracles were often apparently not the result of God's specific will to heal, but of faith at work in people on earth. Sometimes it was the faith of the infirm who came to Jesus, sometimes an additional ingredient was added: the exercise of the authority to heal by the minister.
Acts 14:8 And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother's womb, who had never walked. 9 This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, 10 said with a loud voice, "Stand up straight on your feet!" And he leaped and walked.
We do not know whether or not it was specifically God's will to heal this man or not. We do know that the miracle ultimately did not result in a mighty revival and multitudes of souls saved, but rather in Paul getting stoned, nearly to death. So was it actually God's specific intention to heal this man, or was the miracle more a result of the faith of the lame man combined with Paul's exercise of mountain-moving authority? In this instance, we can make a relatively strong argument that it was faith and not so much God's will that produced the healing.
There are three types of healings we see in Scripture. At times, God chooses to exercise His sovereignty and decides categorically not to heal as in the instance of Paul's thorn. Despite Paul's faith, he was not healed. Conversely, there are times in which God decides to heal unconditionally and apart from anyone's faith. In Luke 7, a dead man is brought back to life at his burial without his grieving mother or himself having faith for the miracle. These two instances demonstrate that God is sovereign, and at those times when He chooses to exercise His sovereignty, we ought to seek His leading and do or accept His will. But in between these two extreme ends of the spectrum, God can choose to stand at arm's length, as it were, and allow us to exercise our faith for the healing miracle. This can be the faith of the sick person and/or the mountain-moving faith of the minister of healing. In this middle realm in between the extreme ends, God says to us: "do whatever your hand finds to do, for I am with you." "According to your faith be it to you."
In this middle realm, it is not so much a matter of God's will as it is of exercising the authority over disease and demons He has already given as ministers of the gospel.
Mark 16:15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 "they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." 19 So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.
If God's will is neutral with regard to this type of healing, then will the Lord necessarily show us anything specific when we seek His face early in the morning prior to setting out for ministry? The answer is maybe not. Perhaps that day He might have us minister to the sick by faith, exercising the authority that He has already given us over disease and demons. Certainly there are times when God wants us to walk by faith, not by what we have seen.
Luke 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. …6 So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.
Luke 10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. …9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' 17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
On the other hand, there will be times when, for example, through a word of knowledge, the Lord shows us what He want to do. At such times, we will certainly do what the Father has shown us.
Perhaps what Jesus meant was that he could only do what the Father had given him authority to do. He could only do in accordance with the authority that the Father had shown him. I see this principle at work in my own ministry. When I began the present form of our evangelistic healing ministry in 2000, it was by faith in God's word and by His leading in a general sense. The occasion was a mission trip in March 2000 to north India to which I had been invited by Windows of Opportunity director Brent Knapton. The final leg of this trip involved open-air mass Crusades where thousands came to hear the Word of God. I was the speaker at the Sunday afternoon meeting. Many had received Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit at the morning service led by Simon Haqq of New Delhi, and in the afternoon I purposed to teach them how to minister in the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit for the sake of the gospel.
The last several verses of Mark 16 speak of the measure of authority over disease and demons that every believer who preaches the gospel has been given. Based on that, I told the assembled crowd that God willed to use them to lay hands on the sick to minister healing for soul-winning. I would first teach them and show them how to do it, and then afterwards would have them to lay hands on the infirm, and the Lord would do miracles through them. I proceeded to teach them the scriptural basis of healing, then came the moment of truth---the demonstration of healing before the crowd of thousands. For some reason, I chose to attempt a type of physical healing that is relatively "difficult." As anyone in the healing ministry can tell you, it is "easier" to minister healing to someone with a temporary headache than to someone who has chronic problems with their eyesight. At that moment I felt very bold and announced to the crowd that those with impaired vision should come forward for healing ministry. To my knowledge, I had not received a word of knowledge from the Lord to do this, but I simply sensed great boldness and confidence.
Many with impaired eyesight came forward to the front. Then I instructed believers to come forward and lay hands on their eyes. I had them repeat after me. "In the name of Jesus, any spirits of blindness, leave! In the name of Jesus, eyes be opened!" Then I asked the people to check their eyesight, and those who had been healed to come forward to testify from the stage. After a moment, people began to approach the stage. One by one, they testified that their vision had been healed in the name of Jesus. One woman had not been able to read her Bible; all she saw was a thick black line across the page where the print was. But now she could read the print clearly. This is what Jesus showed me.
Because of what I saw the Lord do, I began to minister with more and more boldness, taking on greater and greater challenges for the sake of the gospel. At one open-air Crusade in Tamil Nadu, south India, I boldly proclaimed to the unbelievers and Hindus present that Jesus was the Son of the only true God, and that as proof, He could do miracles that their gods could not do. To demonstrate this, I asked the infirm to come forward for healing ministry. A young man with a severe heart defect appeared; he could only walk ten steps at a time before stopping to catch his breath. As an unknown believer laid hands on him at the front, God restored his heart. Up on the platform in front of thousands, he ran vigorously in place to demonstrate to the crowd that he had indeed been instantly healed in the name of Jesus. Quickly I said to the crowd, "See? My God is the true God! Believe on Him tonight, and you shall be saved!"
This is what I have seen Jesus do. Yes, I freely acknowledge that I can do nothing of myself. But Jesus has given me (as well as everyone who is called to preach the gospel) a measure of authority to heal the sick as confirmation of the gospel. I purposely exercise this authority by faith, and the Lord shows me miracles. Because of this, I grow in faith and boldness, and will take on greater challenges for the gospel. Because of what I have seen Jesus do in our overseas Crusades and in African-American and Hispanic churches stateside, I am now planning to hold open-air evangelistic healing services in Black and Hispanic communities in the city of Houston where I live. This is yet a greater challenge, for it is well-known that God does miracles on the mission field, but not here in North America.
Before I minister on a given day, the Lord does not show me what he will do that day as I seek Him in prayer. That does not mean I will refuse to budge. Based on His word and my calling, I will go forth to preach the gospel, heal the sick, and cast out demons with the authority the Word of God says I have. That day I will see Him do certain miracles. Based on that I am encouraged to attempt still greater things for the sake of winning souls on the next occasion. Perhaps we do not need to expect that someday the Lord will show us every detail of what we are to do before we do it. Perhaps it would be better to use by faith what we already have according to God's word, and then to watch what He does. In this way He can direct and lead us for future occasions of ministry.
This is not to say that we do not seek the Lord or wait on Him. But perhaps we ought not to have excessive hope that He will show us everything in advance. There is room for moving by faith in the written Word. There ought to be a healthy balance between the truth and the Spirit, or the logos and the rhema. I would believe that this may be how Jesus moved and ministered from day to day, except that unlike us he had been given all authority. And with that authority the learning curve was likely very rapid. He starting out rebuking demons and fevers (Luke 4:31-39), and quickly advanced to raising the dead (Luke 7:11-17). Since he became like us (except for sin, Hebrews 4:15), even having to learn obedience and perfection (Hebrews 5:8-9), did he not also have to learn how to grow in his ministry of healing and deliverance?