The Lord Jesus called me to a healing ministry in 1993. Through the years I’ve had opportunity to speak to many ministers and read many books about healing, but most spoke about praying for the sick, and it didn’t seem to produce a great percentage of results.  It made me wonder why all these prayers weren’t getting the sick healed.
 Most of my Bible study is spent in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Why?  Because I want to know how Jesus did things, and what He taught His disciples to do.  One day when asking the Lord why so many people were not being healed these days, the Holy Spirit impressed very strongly on me,  I didn’t tell My disciples to pray for the sick.  I told them HEAL the sick.
   I did a search through the Gospels looking for every time that Jesus prayed for the sick, and could not find any.  Nor could I find any place where Jesus instructed His disciples to pray for the sick.  However, He did command them in Matthew 10:8, Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.   Obviously, if Jesus commanded the disciples to heal the sick, then the backing from heaven was there to do it, otherwise Jesus would have been at fault for commanding them to do something they were not empowered or enabled to do. 
Then revelation became clear to me, Jesus never once prayed for the sick, asking His Father to heal them.  He simply commanded them to be healed, or said I will, be thou healed, and it was done.  Sometimes He rebuked a sickness and it left, such as when He rebuked a fever from Peter’s mother-in-law.  This may strike you as being very controversial, and “out there on the edge”.  But what I’m telling you is absolutely scriptural, please, check it out for yourself.
   Many have been the prayers sent up for the sick through the ages, and through the mercy of God in answer to those praying, there have been people healed.  But there is a better way, and it’s the way Jesus healed, and instructed His disciples to do.  Did Jesus pray?  Yes, of course, the Bible says he sometimes stayed up all night praying to His Father.  Was He asking His Father to heal people?  Not that the Bible shows.  He was simply communicating with His Father in heaven, worshipping Him and seeking His Father’s will.  In John 5:19-21 it is written,
Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
    When the Lord Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He prayed, but not asking God to raise Lazarus.  He just commanded Lazarus to come forth.  And he did, too..  Let’s read about it in John 15:41-44,
Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.  And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

   We know the Lord Jesus healed people because of His great compassion, but also to prove He was who He said He was.  Some people say Jesus healed because He was the Son of God.  There’s no arguing with that.  But later when Jesus empowered His disciples to heal, in Matthew 10:8, that opened the door for ALL of Jesus’ disciples (that’s you and me) to be empowered to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils.  Jesus said, …Freely ye have received, freely give.   How can we know this command is to us today?  It is written in Acts 2:36-39,
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

   With the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost, comes the power unto the believer. We need to be using that power to do the works that the Lord Jesus commanded us, including healing the sick.  But how freely have we been giving out healing?  How many lepers have been cleansed?  How many dead raised? Not very many.  Yes, we’ve prayed a lot, but looking back, how convincing are the results?
   I propose to you that most of Jesus’ followers since the early church have not been taking advantage of the resources the Lord Jesus made available to them.  Once in a while there have been those who through much study and prayer and revelation, have operated powerfully in areas not even touched by the majority of believers.  And it isn’t because it isn’t available to all of Jesus’ followers, it’s because they fail to believe it’s for them.  You can’t operate in a gift of God if you don’t believe you have it.  Let’s look at an example written of the disciple Peter, in Acts 9:36-40.
Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.
And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber.
And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them.
Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.
But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

Peter had been with Jesus, and heard His teachings. After Peter received the Holy Spirit, and the power thereof, he healed the sick and raised the dead, even after Jesus had returned to heaven..  The Apostle Paul was not a follower of Jesus until after Jesus had ascended into heaven, yet the power of the Holy Ghost was in Paul to heal, we can read of an example in Acts 28:8:
And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. 
I want you to notice something here, Paul prayed, then laid his hands on him AND healed him.  It doesn’t say he prayed asking God TO heal him.  We don’t actually know WHAT Paul prayed, it doesn’t say.  But I focus on the part where it says AND  HEALED HIM.  That was an act of obedience by walking in the authority granted him by Christ Jesus.
   The custom of praying for the sick may have been started by James, who wrote the first book in the New Testament.  It is written in James 5:14-15,
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

   I don’t necessarily see anything in these verses that indicate the person was physically healed by the prayer of faith, simply that the sick would be saved, and the Lord shall raise him up (at the last day), and his sins shall be forgiven him.   The context of this passage was talking about salvation.  But healing comes by command as Jesus taught His disciples.
   It’s time we stopped “praying for the sick” and started HEALING them, according to the commandment of Jesus.  Remember, YOU are not the healer, CHRIST JESUS is.  You’re merely His servant here on earth, carrying out His work.