Have you ever experienced the laying on of hands? Do you know what it means to lay hands on someone? If you have had hands laid on you, did you experience a strange feeling, joy, or peace afterward? Do you regularly ask God to speak to you through the Holy Spirit?
Depending on the denomination you worship with, we may or may not see or experience the laying on of hands. The laying on of hands may take place during a baptism, ordination, or while praying for healing. Each denomination has their own traditions.
When infants are baptized, often hands are placed on them during a portion of the ceremony. When men and women are being ordained into the ministry, hands are typically laid on them during the ceremony. The laying on of hands is to impart upon the recipient the blessings of God through the person or persons who are laying on their hands.
While praying with someone in the hospital for healing, laying on of hands may take place. However, rather than laying on of hands, the touch may come by holding the hand of the person seeking healing. The intent is the same—to pass on God’s blessing through the person who is praying for the healing.
We see in today’s passage two of the apostles’ laying hands on new believers to give them the Holy Spirit. Though this may seem odd to us, the apostles had been gifted with additional gifts by Jesus that we don’t typically see today. During the infancy of the church, knowledge and experience was being passed along in fragments and it took time to piece them together.
Today, we have the full set of Scripture and can educate ourselves and others more quickly. When we baptize someone, we baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, thereby passing on the blessing and the gift of the Holy Spirit at that time. For those who have been baptized, they have received the Holy Spirit.
I pray we all realize blessings come by laying on hands. I pray we experience the laying on of hands. I pray each one of us know we have the gift of the Holy Spirit and lean on him for guidance. Blessing come through laying on of hands. Know you have the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:17 Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Marty Pressey 