Anointed Handkerchiefs: Testimonies of Healing
We need to be very close to God so that every day can bring us closer to our “goal” to glory, which has many wonderful things in it.
I look forward to receiving the terrestrial body, which will be beautiful in every way (1 Corinthians 15:40). It will take in all the glories and all the expression of heaven.
I want to provoke you to this holy, inward interest so that you, too, may have a share in it. I look forward to the fulfillment of the Word of God, which says that He will bring many sons into glory (Hebrews 2:10).
I long to make you hungry to be sons of God; hungry to be worthy of redemption. I want to make you unable to rest unless you are feeling you are reaching the prize of the mark of your high calling in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14).
Be Ready
You must come into a place where you can earnestly contend for the faith delivered unto you. It is then that there will be no lack in your life. You will be filled with the grace of the Spirit and moved by almightiness. You will be ready for the many things God has for us in this day. And we must be ready. That is why I try to provoke you to holiness, intensity of desire, and an inward cry after God.
Pray, “O Lord help me! Help me, that I may earnestly contend for the faith, leaving all things behind me and pressing forward to the prize.”
Are you ready today? Are you anxious today? Are you willing today? Oh, it was wonderful that some were willing in the day of their visitation from God! It is lovely to be in a place such as they were, where we can say, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation” (Luke 2:30).
Are you ready? What for? To be so moved by the power of God that this day shall be eclipsed on every line, because of God taking me on with Him.
Are you ready? What for? To so lose yourself in God today that you will not claim your earthly rights, but claim the rights of your heavenly Father.
Are you ready? What for? To be able to so cry aloud that the Lord Himself will be the only one who can satisfy the desire of your heart.
Fresh Bread from God
If you are going on with God, you cannot be fed with natural bread. The people who are going on with God have to have the spiritual bread; bread that came down from heaven (John 6:51). This bread is fresh every day. It is very special, because it perfectly meets the need of every heart.
The disciples knew of this bread. They were listening to Jesus as He spoke marvelous words about it. They knew that there was a freshness about it, and they said, “Give us this bread!”
This is the bread that came down from heaven: the Son of God, who gave His life for the world ( John 6:50-51). He is the bread of life ( John 6:48). He has so wonderfully overcome the power of Satan, all the powers of disease, all the powers of sin, until there is a perfect place in Him where we may have abundant life. We may be free from all sin, sickness, disease, and death! It is one of the greatest positions that God has for us.
If I were to select a message to meet your need, you would find it in Romans 8:
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2).
Reigning on the Rock
You see my message to you is as clear, definite, and personal as it could be: In Christ Jesus you are free from the law of sin and death and all condemnation!
As we enter into the knowledge of this divine plan, you will find that sin is dethroned, disease cannot hold its seat, death has lost its sting, and victory is in Christ Jesus.
You are reigning in life by Christ Jesus! To reign in life means that you are over every human weakness in every area of life. To reign means that you are standing on the Rock, and everything is under your feet.
Jesus has made a place of victory for all of us, that we may reign as a king over our bodies in every way and over all thoughts of evil. (Remember, thoughts of evil are from Satan. Evil thoughts come from within, so you must be wholly cleansed inwardly.)
If you are sick, you can experience healing!
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray... (James 5:13).
Whenever I go to homes to pray for the sick, I turn to this, because this Scripture belongs to the Church. Are any in the Church sick? They should call for the elders. The elders will pray over them in the Name of the Lord and anoint the sick ones with oil—and they will be healed. (See James 5:14,15.)
I have had many revelations along the line of sicknesses, but I realize I must speak to you in as simple a form as possible. This is the keynote of many marvelous words God has been revealing to me: “Are you afflicted? Pray” ( James 5:13, paraphrased). There must be prayer.
Healing Through Anointed Handkerchiefs
We were having some meetings in Belfast, Ireland, and the Lord was very graciously blessing us. The crowds were gathering. Many needy cases were helped. God was touching souls. A great many people began inviting us to pray for the sick in their homes.
This is a very difficult thing to do, but God has made a plan for us to take care of such emergencies. Consider Sister Aimee Semple McPherson [1]. We know as well as anything that she cannot reach the hundreds which are longing for her to minister personally to them. She will never reach them; she cannot reach them. She has neither the strength nor the power to run from place to place.
Paul was in the same predicament at Ephesus. The cry for help was coming from many places. Paul knew there must be something that could reach this kind of need. He had a revelation. Paul was great on revelation, and then he wrote it down. We find that word in Acts 19.
And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them (Acts 19:11-12).
Paul would pray over a handkerchief or apron and then send it to a suffering one. The person’s disease would be healed!
A woman sent a handkerchief to me to pray over. She had cancer and was at the point of death. I returned the handkerchief, and those close to her placed it on her. Instantly, God sent a new life through her. She was healed that day.
I could go on and on like this, but there is no need. Look—it is the Book. It is not Wigglesworth; it is the Book. Praying over handkerchiefs is God’s remedy in the Book for people like me, Mrs. McPerson, and others of us who cannot reach the people to bring healing to them.
When God moves, He will move you biblically. When you move biblically, you will move savingly, healingly, cleansingly, and heavenly.
In our meetings in Norway and Sweden, five hundred handkerchiefs were brought for prayer at one meeting. In Ceylon, one thousand were brought at one meeting!
“When God moves, He will move you biblically. When you move biblically, you will move savingly, healingly, cleansingly, and heavenly.”
“Is Anyone Sick?’’
“Is there anyone sick? Is there anyone sick in this placer”—this is what I ask when I go into a room with sick people in it. Why? I will tell you a story which will explain.
I am interested in and help support missionaries all over the world. My own daughter is a missionary in Africa. I love missionary work. We had a missionary in China who, one way or another, got rheumatism.
I have no definition for rheumatism except “devil possessed.” Rheumatism, cancers, tumors, lumbago, neuralgia—to all these things I give only one name: “the power of the devil working in humanity.” When I see sickness, I see demon-working power.
But all these things can be removed by the power of God!
When Jesus went into Peter’s mother-in-law’s house, what did He do when He found out she was sick? Did He cover her up with a blanket and put a hot water bottle to her feet? If He didn’t, why didn’t He? Because He knew it was demons that had all the heat of hell in them. He did the right thing; He rebuked the fever, and it left.
We, too, ought to do the right thing with diseases. We should rebuke them in the Name of Jesus!
The missionary with rheumatism came home to Belfast from China, enraged against the work of God, enraged against God, enraged against everything. She was absolutely outside the plan of God.
While in Belfast, God allowed this missionary to fall down the steps and dislocate her backbone. She had to be lifted up and carried to her bed. God allowed it.
Be careful about falling out with God because of something wrong with your body. Get right with God, and stay right with Him.
She asked me to come visit her. When I walked into her room, I looked at her and said, “Is there anyone sick in this room?’’
No response.
“Is there anyone sick in the room?’’ No response again.
“Well,” I said, “we will wait until someone moves,” By and by, she said, “Yes, I am sick.”
“We have found you out then. You are in the room. Now, the Word of God says that when you are sick, you are to pray. When you pray,” I said, “I will anoint you and I will pray for you—but not before.”
It took her almost a quarter of an hour to yield, because the devil had such possession of her. But she finally yielded, thank God. Then she cried and cried, and her body, by the power of God, was shaken loose from the disease. She was made free when she repented, but not before.
What would happen if everybody in this meeting would repent today? Talk about blessings! The glory would fall so much, the people wouldn’t be able to get out of the place. We need to see that God wants us to be blessed; but, first of all, He wants us to be ready for the blessing by being right with Him.
Healed with His Stripes
I like the thought that “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses” (Matthew 8:17). It is a powerful thought!
One day I was standing at the bottom of Shanklin Road, Belfast, Ireland, with a piece of paper in my hand, looking at the addresses of where I had to go. A man came over and said to me, “Are you visiting the sick?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Go there,” he said, pointing to a nearby house.
I knocked at the door, but there was no reply. I knocked again, and then a voice inside said, “Come in!”
I opened the door and walked in. A young man pointed for me to go up the stairway. When I got up onto the landing, I saw a wide-open door. I walked right into the doorway and found a woman sitting up on the bed. As soon as I looked at her, I knew she couldn’t speak to me, so I began to pray. She was moving backwards and forwards, gasping for breath. I knew she was beyond answering me.
When I prayed, the Lord distinctly said to me, Read Isaiah 53.
I opened the Book and began to read from the beginning, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground.”
When I got to the fifth verse—“He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised or our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed”—the woman shouted, “I am healed!”
“Oh, woman,” I said, “tell me.”
“Three weeks ago, I was cleaning the house,” she said. “In moving some furniture, I strained my heart. It moved out of its place. The doctors examined me and said that I would die with suffocation— and, truly, it often has been as though I would die with suffocation.
“But in the middle of the night last night, I saw you come into the room. When you saw me, you knew I could not speak, so you began to pray. Then you opened to Isaiah 53 and read until you came to the fifth verse. And when you read the fifth verse, I was completely healed. That was a vision; now it is a fact!”
So I know the Word of God is still true!
Now, that is a Word from the Lord. You will never get anything more distinctly than that from the Lord. Yes, people miss the greatest plan of healing because of moving from one thing to another. Become stationary.
God wants you to take the Word; claim the Word; believe the Word. That is the perfect way of healing. Turn neither to the right hand nor the left, but BELIEVE GOD!
God wants you to have a living faith NOW, to get a vital touch NOW that shakes the foundation of all weakness. When you were saved, you were saved the MOMENT you believed. And you will be healed the MOMENT you believe, too.
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Notes
1 Aimee Semple McPherson, a minister of the Gospel who founded the Foursquare denomination and built Angelus Temple in Los Angeles
