Shaking Hands; Laying On Of Hands, Raising Hands
Shaking hands can bring a bond of agreement, defining a man’s “word” as truth. The laying on of hands is a powerful tool in the Church to bring healing, impartations, consecrations, and releasing. The raising of hands can be an act of worship of releasing and receiving.
I remember going to Jesus 74 in Western Pennsylvania, not knowing what I was attending when I arrived. I had just been introduced into the baptism of the Holy Spirit and began witnessing healings, deliverances, and spiritual warfare. I met several other people from my hometown and decided to “hang out” with them through this event. I remember one night, the Spirit was heavy, falling on entire youth groups as they collapsed into piles while being “slain in the spirit”, something I had never seen before. One young man in our group stood with hands raised in worship, but his face soon became contorted, distraught, in anguish and pain as he faced an inward struggle. All of a sudden he turned his palms around, as if to be holding on to something, and his knees gave out as if hanging in mid air. All of us around him looked in amazement as his knees again grew strong, his hands dropped, and he dropped to the ground. Later he confided in me that he was having a vision where satan was attacking him, trying to rob him of everything he had, and he reached out his hands to heaven crying out for help. He said it was as if the “hand of god” reached down and grabbed his and held him until he could stand on his own. We could not deny his vision from what we had seen with our vision watching him.
The “hand of God” is powerful, for when His hand is upon you there is confidence, fulfillment, healing, protection, and victory. It is a powerful tool of strength. Today, I believe, the “hand of god” manifests itself through the Church. The Church is His hands and His feet, I have sung often in a chorus. Let’s look at the power of the use of the “hand of God” upon our lives.
First, a man “handshake” was equal to his bond, his word, his truth and worth. In a business deal, if two shook hands, it was a sealed deal. Today it has to be written incase one fails to back his word and the court has to be called to settle the differences. Trust has been lost. Today we have even lost the power of the marriage vow to prenuptial agreements because one of the two does not keep their word even though rings were placed on fingers on one’s hand as a sign of the sealed deal.
Second, the “hand of god” brings healing and deliverance. I have seen the laying on of hands as an effective tool that has brought healing and deliverance to people. It was like those hands grasped the sickness or demonic influences in one’s life and then released that person of them in healing when their hands were released. I have seen the power of the laying on of hands as “impartation” to receive the Holy Spirit, then the releasing of those hands as the Spirit was released on that person’s life. I have seen the laying on of hands as an act of support, backing, then release for someone being “sent out”, fulfilling the Great Commission, with the blessing of a local body of Christ, the Church. Of course all this is scriptural and happened in the book of Acts.
Third, the raising of “holy hands” is an act of surrender, an act of receiving, and an act of worship. My simple definition of worship is “giving back to God what He has given you.” I have heaved a Charleston Grey watermelon above my head in worship, giving back the watermelon to God that He had given me as worship. You use your hands to give, and you use your hands to receive. If the Church wants to give and receive corporately, then they need to extend their fingers and hands in praise (see the last blog).
Last, two folded hands in unity, fingers interlocking, different gifting, passions, and points of view, ten distinctly different fingers overlapping in unity becomes “praying hands”. Praying hands is an excellent visual image of unity that the body of Christ needs to practice.
A hand, composed of fingers that are distinctly different from one another, yet working together, is a powerful tool of the kingdom of god. The “hand of god” is an extension of the different gifting, passions, and points of view working in service together to bring unity with power, the Church. The Church is the “hand of god.”