They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover (Mark 16:18)......Jesus Himself said it, He cannot lie (Numbers 23:19). He wasn't somniloquising when He said it, neither was He drunk. If He said it, it is so. What then happened when I laid hands on that 2-year old girl with meningitis? Why did she die? Or the lame man, why did he not walk? The blind man, why did he not see? Or the people you've laid hands on and "nothing" happened? When you lay hands on the sick and they don't recover, what do you do?
Just before you beat yourself up, consider Jesus, when He went to His hometown of Nazareth, how that their unbelief prevented Him from performing any miracle of, except for a few sick folks he laid hands on and healed (Mark 6:5&6). For a healing to take place, there must be power to heal (Luke 5:17) and usually, faith to receive the healing power/anointing (Matthew 9:29, Mark 5:34&10:52, Acts 3:16&14:9). In Nazareth, power met unbelief and the result was that the power could not find expression as it ought. Mind you, he healed a few sick folks despite their unbelief. This, in conjunction with some other scriptures, suggests a few things:
1. Sometimes, some minor sicknesses get healed without the sick person's faith (Mark 6:5)
2. A person may be healed on the faith of another, USUALLY one in some measure of authority over them (Matthew 8:13&15:28, Mark 2:5)
3. In some instances, possibly by the operation of the gifts of the Spirit, healings take place without any faith, usually SO THAT people might believe, especially among unbelievers. This is shown in instances where faith (or faith-based actions) were not mentioned, unbelief was mentioned or it was obvious that faith was absent (Matthew 12:15 &22, Mark 9:22-27, John 4:47-53 & 5:6-15)
It's obvious that all these are not the rule, but the exception. Again and again, we see that there's a strong emphasis on faith (Mark 5:34, 10:52 & 16:18, Acts 3:16 & 14:9) and faith-based actions (Luke 17:14, John 9:7). It's safe to say, therefore, that when faith is absent or hindered by things like unforgiveness (Mark 11:23-25), nothing usually happens.
Sometimes too, there may be a problem with the technique or method. For instance, praying for healing when a person is oppressed by a demon MAY not yield any result, but casting out the demon will. Praying for a lame man to walk MAY not work because the consistent way they were healed in scriptures was by the command of faith "rise up and walk". The same thing with a withered hand and a dead body (Matthew 9:6, Mark 9:25, Mark 5:41, Luke 6:10).
Also, there are times the Holy Spirit prompts us to do things differently, like rubbing mud on empty eye sockets (John 9:6), but we may miss it and nothing happens. The solution to this is to maintain sensitivity to the Holy Spirit while ministering to the sick.
There are probably a thousand and one reasons the sick sometimes don't get healed when you and I lay hands on them, but there is ONE reason they MUST get healed: because God said so! The solution then is to keep hearing, believing, speaking and DOING Mark 16:18 while yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit to teach us. Whatever you do, don't stop laying hands on the sick.
If you lay hands on a sick child and he dies, raise him from the dead! If he stays dead, lay hands on the next sick child you find as if the first one rose from the dead! Don't stop working the Word because the Word works! As I speak to you, I speak to myself. I have shied away from Mark 16:18 at times because of bad experiences, but NO MORE! Yes the 2-year old girl died, no the blind man didn't see, but I have also seen amazing miracles, and I'll still see more! I AM a believer, I lay hands on the sick and the sick do recover!
