Kenneth Hagin

. . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. — MARK 16:18

Does this scripture in Mark say that all people who are prayed for will instantly get well? No. It says that they shall recover. As a Baptist minister, before I received the baptism in the Holy Ghost or ever spoke with tongues, I prayed for a woman in the hospital who was scheduled to have major surgery. The doctors said they didn’t know whether or not she would make it.

I remember that as I was walking into the hospital, the Lord seemed to say to my spirit, “They’ll lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Just give her that verse and tell her she will recover.”

This woman had not been taught about healing. She had just heard that I prayed for the sick. So she wanted me to come and pray for her. I simply read the verse of Scripture to her from my New Testament. Then I let her read it. Then I said, “I’m going to lay hands on you and pray, and you will recover.”

The doctors operated on her and said afterward, “We operate on people like this all the time. We’ve never seen anybody come out of it like she did.” Now nature could have healed her up quickly enough, but there was something working here beyond nature.

She said to me afterward, “Why, I knew all the time that I would recover, because that verse says, ‘You shall recover.’ When the doctors said, ‘You might not make it,’ I just kept telling them, ‘Oh, yes, I am going to recover.’” And she did.

Confession: I am going to recover because Mark 16:18 says, “. . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

Joseph Prince

Proverbs 3:12 NLT

For the LORD corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.

Let me teach you how to test every doctrine, teaching, and scriptural interpretation. Just ask yourself—how is our Lord Jesus valued in this teaching?

Does it make you want to worship, praise, and glorify the Lord Jesus with your life? Or does it put more value on you and what you have to perform? Does it cause you to be centered on and occupied with the person of Jesus? Or does it cause you to be centered on and occupied with yourself and whether you have failed or succeeded?

Pastor Prince, are you saying that performance is unimportant?

Absolutely not! I am sharing with you that the key to performance comes by the power of His love, grace, and unmerited favor in your life! You will be able to perform when you know you are perfectly loved.

Look at children who are bold, confident, and secure. They come from families that are full of love and affirmation. Families that free them to succeed. These children are not afraid to fail and they stand out in the crowd because they dare to be different for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

They dare to say no to the influences of the world. They are not ashamed when their peers mock their Christian values. At the same time, in an environment of love, grace, and affirmation, the child’s parents are also able to discipline, correct, and guide the child in learning to make good decisions for himself without crushing his spirit.

Some people have the erroneous idea that when you are under grace, there is no correction and every and anything goes. There are those who argue that if we are indeed always highly favored by the Lord, then there is no need for Him to correct and to discipline us.

My dear friend, let me help you understand it from the perspective of a parent. When my kids do something wrong, Wendy and I certainly correct and discipline them. But in our hearts they are always loved and favored by us even when they have failed and even while being corrected by us.

Why? Simply because they are our children! No matter how they perform, we will always love them and they will always be favored in our hearts.

How highly favored they are to us is a matter of their identity, not their performance. It is based on who they are and whose they are, not what they have or have not done.

In the same way, our state of being loved and favored by our Father in heaven is a result of our identity as the sons and daughters of God through the finished work of Jesus Christ. We can call God our Father and God can call us His children because of what Jesus has done on the cross on our behalf!

As we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, He will correct, discipline, and guide us. But it is vital for you to know that our Lord will never correct us with tragic accidents, sicknesses, and diseases.

Today’s scripture says, “For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.” In other words, the Lord corrects those whom He highly favors, just as an earthly father would correct a child he loves.

Would a father correct a child in whom he delights by inflicting pain and suffering on that child? Of course not!

In the same way, our heavenly Father corrects us not by inflicting pain and suffering but with His Word (2 Tim. 3:16). Correction may come through the preaching of His Word, or through godly leaders whom He surrounds you with in a local church, leaders who love you and who care enough to speak into your life.

The truth is, when people know that their heavenly Father loves them, they can receive correction and discipline with gratitude and humility. That is why it is so important for every child of God to experience the grace revolution—to become established in His perfect love and anchored in His unconditional grace toward them.

Grace imparts to us the power to perform and to live a life above defeat. Grace is the key to holiness.

Joseph Prince 

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow.

The Bible declares that the Word of God is the opposite of death—it is living and powerful. No wonder our Lord Jesus, when explaining the parable of the sower, tells us that when the sower sows the Word, “Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts” (Mark 4:15).

Did you notice that the enemy comes immediately? Jesus was referring to the seeds that “fell by the wayside,” but the principle I want you to see is that the enemy wants to steal the Word from our hearts because he does not want you to “believe and be saved” (Luke 8:5, 12).

The devil knows that if you receive the Word and believe it, you will be saved. This is why he will do all he can to stop the Word of God from taking root in your heart. He knows that if it stays long enough, it will be your victory and his defeat!

The word used for saved in the original Greek is the word sozo, which means “to save one from injury or peril; to save a suffering one from perishing, for example, one suffering from disease; to make well, heal, restore to health.”

The enemy knows how potent the Word of God is. Do you?

No matter what channel you use to spend time in His Word, make sure you are well watered with the Word. As you keep yourself drenched and watered with the Word of God, I believe you will unconsciously and effortlessly get stronger and stronger, healthier and healthier.

While the healing you are believing for may not be immediate, believe that it is on its way. If you have been waiting for a while for your healing and you are feeling discouraged, let this promise from God strengthen you:

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

—Isaiah 55:10–11

God’s Word of healing is so powerful that it will not return to Him void, but it shall accomplish His purpose. Maybe you have partaken of the Communion, and you have prayed, but nothing seems to be happening. You may even feel like you are just going through the motions because discouragement has set in. What do you do?

Keep on watering the seed of the Word of God with the rain of His Word. Don’t give up. The harvest is coming!

Joseph Prince

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When I was a teenager, I got hold of a teaching that said a Christian could commit the “unpardonable sin.” Have you heard this “unpardonable sin” teaching before? This erroneous teaching says that all sins can be forgiven, but if you commit the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit (Matt. 12:31), there is no forgiveness.

As a young Christian, it really frightened me. The more I thought about the possibility of committing the unpardonable sin, the more I was convinced I had committed the sin! My thoughts became increasingly negative and I even started to doubt God, giving me even more reason to believe that I had indeed blasphemed against the Holy Spirit.

I went to my church leaders to seek counsel, but instead of leading me to the new covenant of grace, they told me that it was indeed possible for a Christian to commit the unpardonable sin.

By then, I was getting more and more depressed. The devil was oppressing me with thoughts of guilt and condemnation. The more I believed that I still had unforgiven sins, the more I believed that I had used up all of God’s grace in my life.

No one taught me about the blood of Jesus, or showed me that my thinking and believing were actually dishonoring the blood of Christ and negating Jesus’ work on the cross for me. I really thought that my sins were greater than God’s grace. I felt like I was losing my mind and on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

It was through this tumultuous journey that I began to understand the grace of our Lord Jesus. I now know beyond the shadow of a doubt that a Christian cannot commit the unpardonable sin.

Here’s why. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit came to testify of and witness about Jesus Christ (John 15:26). To blaspheme the Holy Spirit is therefore to continually reject the person of Christ whom the Holy Spirit testifies of.

Study the Word of God carefully. Who was Jesus speaking to when He spoke of the unpardonable sin? He was speaking to the Pharisees, who continually rejected Him as their Savior and even accused Him of having an unclean spirit.

Jesus’ response was, “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven . . . but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation” (Mark 3:28–29).

Why did He say that? The next verse tells us that it is “because they said, ‘He has an unclean spirit."

Therefore, in the context of the Bible, Jesus was warning the Pharisees to stop committing the sin of rejecting Him, the only Savior, and depending on their own efforts to be saved. This clearly does not apply to the believer.

You see, in reading the Bible, it is important to note who the words were spoken to and to ascertain if the words are relevant for the believer. In this case, Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees who had rejected Him and who even made claims that He had an unclean spirit. Imagine their audacity!

As for you, my friend, have full assurance in your heart that it is impossible for a believer to commit the unpardonable sin. Today’s scripture shows us that a believer (who is in Christ) has already received the gift of eternal life and will never be “subject to eternal condemnation.”

Beloved, do not be deceived. Because we are in His Son, Jesus Christ, we will never experience God’s anger or rejection.

Be anchored and secure in the Father’s love and your complete acceptance in Christ. His finished work on the cross has wiped out your entire life’s sins—past, present, and future—once and for all, bar none!