People who know our ministry more closely have heard many testimonies of sick people receiving healing in their bodies after a word of knowledge was spoken. This happens often.
(1 Cor. 12:8–10) 8 To one person the Spirit gives a word of wisdom; to another, the same Spirit gives a word of knowledge; 9 to someone else, by the same Spirit, faith is given; to another, gifts of healings by that one Spirit. 10 To one, miraculous powers; to another, prophecy; to a third, the ability to distinguish between spirits; to another, different kinds of tongues; and to someone else, the ability to interpret what is said in those tongues.
I want to clarify that this is most likely not the gift of the “word of knowledge,” but one of the “gifts of healings.” I call it “knowledge of the illness being healed” or “knowledge of the work of the Holy Spirit.”
How does this work in practice?
Usually, this gift manifests suddenly, not at our “request” or desire. You simply begin to receive it. Most often, this happens during a corporate (mass) prayer for the sick. It does not happen every time, but in 8 out of 10 cases.
Many people confuse this gift with sensations in their bodies, and that is dangerous. I am sure that during services, half of the people feel something. They feel warmth somewhere, pain somewhere, numbness somewhere, and so on; this is their body’s reaction to the healing power in that place. In other words, they feel that they are receiving, but that does not mean they are currently sensing the work of the Holy Spirit in other people’s bodies. That is the difference.
The Holy Spirit, knowing that His person is standing at the pulpit, releasing the word, faith, and power into the congregation—and that people in the congregation are receiving the word, faith, and power—accordingly, enables the leader to sense what is happening in people’s bodies, while the people in the congregation, in turn, sense that something is happening in their bodies.
In other words, when people feel something in their bodies, the Holy Spirit sends these sensations to the leader so that he, too, knows what is happening.
The host may or may not respond to this.
If there is time during the ministry, I can share what is happening. If I see that time is short, I simply continue ministering without releasing what I know or see. I am at peace, knowing that the Holy Spirit will do what is needed.
There are many nuances to this gift, but the main thing is not to make anything up or confuse your personal sensations with what comes from the Spirit. It is also very important to be a perfectly healthy person so that, for example, when a sudden pain appears in your elbow, you can be sure that it is not yours, but that healing is taking place in the room.
The more often you practice operating in this gift, the more sensitive you become to this manifestation of the gift. This is how we develop our spiritual sensors.
