Before we can approach Jesus about a need intelligently, we must know what the need is, or at least what we think the need is. This involves putting into practice the first principle of counseling: Get all the objective facts.

This is the second principle of counseling; Take the need to Jesus through prayer. Jesus is the answer to our need or needs, not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who delivers the answer to our need. So the second step, once the need is established, is to then look to Jesus through worship and praise and in Spirit and truth to lead you to the root cause of the problem mentioned or sought about.

Once the root of the problem is established, we then need to look to Jesus for further instructions as to how to pray in order to bring about the needed healing. As we do this, Jesus Himself will automatically by His Holy Spirit begin manifesting to us which manifestations of the Holy Spirit he wants us to apply to the root of the problem to bring about the healing that is really needed, in the way it is really needed, and especially in the way that will best meet the need.

Once Jesus establishes through the Spirit which manifestations of the Spirit are needed and you are sure it does not contradict the third and fourth principles of counseling (Does it agree with Jesus’ Word, And does it agree with facts outside of Scripture but not in contradiction to it?), finally, look to Jesus to show you how to best apply them in words and then pray as you are led in the name of Jesus and expect manifested results.

In Sections 2-4 we dealt extensively with the application of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as related to counseling, Evangelism and sanctification. What we want to deal with here is the application of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit through prayer to any spiritual, soulish or physical need.

Some people believe that the healing aspect of Jesus’ ministry was only for the first century Church to confirm the message of the Gospel: Jesus saves! But what people, who hold this view point, do not understand is that healings took place not as confirmation of the Gospel, but because that is the Gospel: Jesus’ stripes have healed us! Because that is the message of the Gospel it naturally follows that there should be substantial evidence of it in our lives spiritually, soulishly as well as physically when one believes on the Gospel. Francis MacNutt states in his book, Healing,

"A doctrine of God’s salvation without the salvation actually taking place, is empty rhetoric. (Perhaps this is why so much of today’s preaching impresses people as abstract and irrelevant)."^13/46

Jesus’ death on the cross saved us: Us meaning all that we are. Man is not a spirit or a soul or a body or a conscience or a mind or a heart or emotions. Man is "spirit, soul and body which includes mind, conscience, heart, and emotions." That is what man is. Man will be this throughout eternity.

It is true that this present body will die and the rest of what we are will go to be with the Lord, but the promise of Scripture is that we will receive a redeemed transformed resurrected body to house the rest of what man is for the rest of eternity.³¹ Man is not man without a body any more than he is not man without a spirit or a soul. When man fell in the garden of Eden, all that man is fell: spirit, soul and body as well as mind, conscience, heart and emotions.

The Bible says about the mind and heart,

"Where will you be stricken again, as you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint." (Is 1:5).

"This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart." (Eph 4:17-18).

"The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jer 17:9).

The Bible says about the body,

"But I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Rom 7:23-24).

The Bible says that man outside of Christ is dead spiritually. Jesus said,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must receive birth from above.’" (John 3:5-7).

Jesus said about man’s soul,

"If any one wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his soul shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul for My sake shall find it." (Matt 16:24-25).

The Bible says about man’s conscience,

"To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled." (Titus 1:15).

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10;22).

All of man became sick and warped; therefore, all that man is needed to be redeemed. When Jesus died on the cross for man’s sin so that man could be redeemed, that redemption did not just involve his soul, but the redemption of Man period. Jesus did not just physically die on the cross. Jesus experienced the shame of man’s sin;³² the reproach of man’s sin;³³ the sicknesses of all men’s sin;³⁴ a broken body because of man’s sin;³⁵ spiritual abandonment of God the Father, the consequences of man’s sin;³⁶ the shedding of His blood, the only means of man’s redemption from his sins;³⁷ and death, the consequences of man’s sin.³⁸ Because this is true, then it naturally follows that when man receives the message of the gospel that he should experience Jesus’ salvation in all that he is: spirit, soul and body. The writer of Hebrews states,

"How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also bearing witness with them, both by signs⁵⁸ and wonders⁵⁹ and by various-works-of-power⁶⁰ and through distribution of the Holy Spirit according to His own will." (Heb 2:3-4).

Salvation of man is instantaneous. It happens the moment a person confesses Jesus as Lord and receives Him as Savior.³⁹ But the full manifestation of this in all that man is, is not experienced until Jesus comes back and the resurrection of the saints occurs. But 1 Corinthians 13 does state that a partial reality of Jesus’ redemption in all parts of who man is can be realized through the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the operation of the gifts and manifestations of the Spirit for the common good.⁴⁰ Therefore, when we preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ we should expect the message to be manifested through healings of the spirit, soul and body and heart, mind, conscience and emotions of those who hear and receive its message. Maybe not a perfect reality, but enough of a reality in all these areas as proof of the first fruits of the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives concerning our redemption.⁴¹

"And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." (Rom 8:23).

What does it mean to pray according to Jesus’ will? It simply means that we only pray as He leads us through worship and praise and in Spirit and truth. Jesus said about His ministry,