When the anointing comes upon us, we do things that to us are unprecedented — things we’d otherwise never have dreamed of doing.
The prophet Samuel told Saul that after he encountered a group of prophets along the road: “The Spirit of the LORD will come upon you, and you shall prophesy, and be turned into another man.” It took place just as prophesied (1 Samuel 10:6).
Only after the power of the Holy Spirit ‘lifts’ off us after moving on us and through us do we realize how daring were the acts of faith we did while the Spirit of God was using us.
The next verse relates to how Saul should then approach situations and circumstances in his role as Israel’s first king. “And let it be when these signs take place, you shall do as occasion demands: for God is with you.” Saul would not have to find another group of prophets in order for the Spirit of God to work through him, but rather should count on the Spirit of God in his life to lead and instruct him.
It’s easier for us to pray for a new charismatic experience or another Pentecost, than to count on the resident power of the Spirit in us to work through us in less obvious ways. More than 50 years ago, the Lord Jesus grasped my left hand in a meeting at the old Richmond Temple, during a meeting led by US evangelist A C Valdez Jnr. He was right-handed, and the Lord had placed in his hand a powerful gift of healing.
When faith rose in the congregation, it lifted the gift in his life and then he ministered to greater effect. Valdez would encourage those present to release their faith so that could happen, and when they did some wonderful healings took place.
Not that we need always wait until a conscious realization of God’s presence comes before ministering the power of Jesus Christ to the sick and the afflicted. Some of the greatest healings I’ve seen came without feeling the gift of healing in my left hand. One was when asked to minister to an autistic 16-year-old lade in a church on the Island of Jersey in the English Channel. The meeting had finished when the father asked me to pray for his son. I felt nothing before or after I laid my left hand on him. Nor did he fall under the power of God. But about six months later, on the very morning that I was to fly out to the UK, I received a fax (remember them?) from the lad informing me that he was healed and that he had a medical certificate that proved it! (He’d been autistic from his birth.)
On a later trip to Jersey, however, the boy’s father, who pastored the church, asked me to pray for his leg, which his doctor had said needed to be amputated at the knee due to advanced diabetes. I laid my hand on his leg above his knee and the power of God hit him with such force that he jumped around holding his leg and praising the Lord! Totally healed on the spot! Praise the Lord Jesus!
We don’t get to choose how the Lord heals, but there’s nothing quite like the blessing that comes when I do feel the anointing flowing! When it comes to ministering healing, I would exchange a sincere heartfelt wish for a hand felt whoosh! anytime.