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The Healing Gifts of the Spirit
This practical guide to spiritual healing blends insightful spiritual reflection and the wisdom of hard-won experience in a reliable and inspiring handbook for developing our innate capacity for richer living and richer giving through the healing gifts of the Spirit. Many years ago, Agnes Sanford was cured of acute depression by a minister who believed in the healing power of prayer. Subsequently, she herself became very active and successful in healing others of mental and physical ailments by drawing upon the same resources for inner well-being. In The Healing Gifts of the Spirit, she shares the simple, practicable ways of self-help she discovered, and gives step-by-step advice on how to help others. She discusses not only her own cure but also the gift of healing in general and its growing recognition in the contemporary church. She devotes a chapter to the gift of miracles, and another -- especially interesting -- to the gift of tongues. Her exploration of these topics is richly inspiring, offering readers one of the most detailed, informative discussions of the nature, dynamics, and potential rewards of these unique manifestations of God's presence. At the same time, she demonstrates how anyone can draw upon this healing power for good in the world. As evidence of how these gifts can -- and do -- reveal themselves, the author cites many examples from observation and personal encounters with the healing power of the Spirit.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 28, 1966
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February 2, 2021
Despite (or perhaps because of) a slightly troubled relationship with the more... dramatic gifts of the spirit, I have studied the gifts rather extensively. Sanford brings something unique to the conversation. Her presentation is entirely practical. Her theology is well-grounded in Scripture (expect in a few clearly identified cases of speculation). She finds the meeting place between intellect, emotion, and spirituality and manages without any hint of arrogance to present herself as an authority. I can’t say I agree with everything in the book, or that I would recommend it to just anyone, but I can say that I learned a lot from reading it.
For those who already have some experiences encountering the Holy Spirit and are looking for a deeper understanding of spiritual healing, this is an excellent place to start. Also, for those struggling under heavy emotional burdens, depression in particular, Sanford offers some very practical advice on how to seek restoration and healing in a way that is both psychologically and spiritually sound.
For those who already have some experiences encountering the Holy Spirit and are looking for a deeper understanding of spiritual healing, this is an excellent place to start. Also, for those struggling under heavy emotional burdens, depression in particular, Sanford offers some very practical advice on how to seek restoration and healing in a way that is both psychologically and spiritually sound.
September 22, 2011
This starts out slow and deals with some very controversial subjects. Agnes Sanford takes a novice to the healing world through her experience of emotional and physical healing. I found this book very enlightening and encouraging, though I had to discern what was scriptural and what was simply opinion.
December 24, 2014
This is an interesting book. It has a lot of good advice about how to pray for healing of the soul, but is also rather clunky and amateurish at times. It has its share of questionable theology too. The book starts off very dark and gloomy, and is rather difficult to wade through at first. But once you get through the first two chapters, it's mostly pretty easy reading after that.
It seems that this book wasn't titled or formatted very well. Although it does discuss some of the gifts of the Spirit to different degrees, it isn't really a "textbook" on the gifts of the Spirit. Instead, it's more a book about how to pray for people who need healing of the soul. It actually starts off telling you what to do if you're depressed, and then how to pray for others, and only quite a few pages in does it really start to delve into the gifts of the Spirit. Even then, Sanford doesn't really go into adequate detail on all 9 gifts of the Spirit. I did like the fact, though, that she mentions that the list of the gifts of the Spirit in the Bible is not necessarily exhaustive--that the Spirit can (and does) do many more things than those. Anyway, this book probably should have been called "How the Holy Spirit Can Heal Your Soul" or something like that. The book was poorly typeset as well--most of the printing is way too close to the center, making it hard to read. However, you eventually get used to that for the most part.
As she begins the book with the introduction, Sanford keep things not only dark and gloomy, but also rather pretentious. You get the impression that she's trying to impress you with what she knows, but the effect is actually the opposite. For instance, she starts throwing around showy words like "circumambient," "illimitable," and "pulsebeat," when their normal synonyms would do just fine. And she even uses words that don't exist, such as "awarely" and (much later in the book) "self-builded." She also misuses the obscure verb "extrovert" on p. 46, and there are typos like "peoples'" as well. Anyway, this book could definitely have used better editing, and Sanford would have sounded more impressive if she had simply reined herself in a bit more. But after the first couple of chapters, interestingly enough, she drops most of the pretentious language. It's sort of like a guest at a party who puts on airs for the first half hour or so, but then becomes more comfortable and starts to be herself for the rest of the party.
Frankly, the introduction is not very helpful. She seems to use terminology in it that borders on "New Age." The most serious problem, though, is that she seems to confuse the spirit and the soul. For instance, she puzzles over the fact that we go around saying, "I'm saved," even though we may be filled with despair, hopelessness, etc. And then she concludes, "In one sense probably we are saved." Probably?? Huh? If you are a Christian, no matter how bad you may feel, that doesn't change the fact that your spirit is united with Christ's. Of course, your soul may need lots of healing, and I don't want to minimize that. But it's dangerous to imply that something is amiss with a person's spirit when it's actually his soul that needs healing. Somehow Sanford seems unable to differentiate between the two. She does this again on p. 51, saying that sometimes a person's spirit has gone out (like a light)--or is dormant. And then toward the end of a book, she says that a person's spirit can burn low. Where does she get all this stuff from? Her confusion between spirit and soul is quite serious.
After the clumsy introduction, she starts out with the first chapter: "To the Mental Depressive." It is never a good idea to place labels like "mental depressive" on people, because doing so over-identifies with their problems. It would have been much better to call the chapter something like "To Those Who May Be Struggling with Depression" instead.
Then in the second chapter, "To Those Who Care," she seems to fall into misplaced empathy and almost a messiah complex concerning the role of helpers. She basically asserts that you need to keep your eyes open for people in serious need of prayer help, and then be ready to cut to the chase if the opportunity presents itself. That is not a very wise approach, even though she seems well-meaning enough. Thankfully, a couple of chapters later, she corrects this error by quoting the Bible verse "Lay hands on no man suddenly" and talking about the need to pray foremost for the gift of wisdom, but unfortunately she got the order wrong. That warning should have been issued in the second chapter. I mean, what if some people only read the first two chapters of her book??? They could easily end up causing serious damage to someone in desperate need of help, as Sanford admits she herself did once. More about this serious mistake that she confesses to shortly.
.
Sometimes she makes rather silly statements as well. For instance, she talks about praying for a young woman who had been seriously depressed all her life, but was miraculously healed during the very first prayer session. This woman also had diabetes. Then Sanford oddly states, "Her diabetes, while wonderfully controlled by insulin and diet so that she lives as a well woman, has not actually been healed. Why? I don't know." Well, it turns out that most cases of diabetes are reversible (especially in those who are younger), but that usually requires extensive lifestyle changes. You may have to strictly limit your carbohydrates, for instance. Most of the time, God isn't going to do for you something that you are fully capable of doing yourself, even though it may be hard work. I mean, if Sanford had prayed for an obese person and then didn't notice any change later, would she have also said, "That person's obesity hasn't actually been healed. Why? I don't know"? ;) Things like this are what make the book seem rather amateurish at times. Yes, I realize that Sanford wasn't a doctor, but you really don't have to be an M.D. to know things like this.
On p. 74, she starts to gives the following profoundly disturbing account: "Moved by compassion, I went forth in faith to help a young man in critical mental illness. And I failed. I failed miserably and, so far as I know, permanently. Why?....Why...did I fail in such a heartbreaking way that if the Lord had not kept pushing me (I sometimes wished He would stop), I would never again have tried the prayer of faith? It was because I had not prayed...for...the gift of wisdom...[which would have helped me] translate God's guidance accurately. God was not saying, 'Pray for him and he will be healed.' God was saying, 'Learn how to pray for cases like this.'...You can surely protect yourself from so shattering a failure as mine by praying for the gift of wisdom, [which has now helped me to] decide when to stretch forth my hand and when to abstain." Well, what ever happened to this young man with whom she "failed miserably"?? I'm sorry, but you don't just drop a bomb like that on your readers and then expect them to simply forget all about it. After that point, she never mentions him again, leaving you wondering. That's almost as disturbing as her huge mistake in the first place. And it's all enough to never trust her again to pray for anybody else IMO. I mean, if a doctor kills a patient by incompetence, he might have to find a new profession. So, why should Sanford have even been allowed to "try again" with anybody else? Furthermore, did she continue to pray for the young man (at a distance, of course)--that God would "undo" the terrible damage that she did??? She never says. And that question stayed with me for the rest of the book. Because she never bothers to give an answer, it is unlikely that I will ever read another book of hers.
One good thing about the book is that overall Sanford comes across as pretty humble, readily admitting her own weaknesses and faults. She also seems quite "real" rather than "kum-ba-yah." Or at least for the most part. But then one time she says, "I was a good president [of a local women's club]," which sounds conceited. She also says about 3 times, "All things may be possible with God, but all things are not possible with Agnes," or some close variation on this. That statement seems rather self-centered. Does God really want Christians saying, "All these are possible with God, but all things are not possible with me"? Besides, isn't that just stating the obvious? When were "all things" ever possible with us? Our faith isn't supposed to be in ourselves--or even in our own faith. Not only that, God says, "My strength is made perfect in weakness." But then Sanford contradicts herself on p. 219, basically saying that all things are indeed possible with God. So, which is it, Ms. Sanford?
Because she struggled with serious depression herself, it's obvious that Sanford has a lot of empathy for those in similar situations. As a result, she doesn't state that "faith" is required of them for healing--no, she realizes that someone who is struggling with such issues is not capable of any faith. So, she emphasizes that those who pray for such individuals should have faith for them, in a sense carrying those who are weak.
In the chapter "The Gift of Wisdom," it's good that she emphasizes how important wisdom is and that it should be the very first gift of the Spirit that we seek. Nevertheless, there are a couple of problems: 1) She never distinguishes the gift of wisdom from the "general" wisdom mentioned in James 1:5. Or is there a difference? 2) She never gives any real-life examples of someone engaging in an activity and then receiving a word of wisdom from the Holy Spirit.
Then in her chapter "The Way of Love," she makes some excellent points about forgiveness, but her discussion is a bit simplistic, with several problems:
1) She implies that if a Christian doesn't forgive, then he loses his redemption. No, he is still saved, but his relationship with God suffers. (She also implies in another chapter that unconfessed sins might keep a person out of heaven.)
2) She fails to point out that we do not forgive sin per se (in fact, we are called to hate sin), but rather *people*. She doesn't mention that we are not commanded to forgive Satan or demons either.
3) She never points out that forgiveness isn't a feeling. Just because you forgive someone, that doesn't mean you will automatically start liking that person or that your negative feelings toward him will suddenly disappear. In fact, you may decide to end a relationship with someone permanently (depending on the seriousness of the offense), even after forgiving him.
In a nutshell, the whole chapter on forgiveness comes across as half-baked (and even sentimental at times), and I didn't find it to be particularly helpful. And then in the next chapter, "The Gift of Knowledge," she gives only two small real-life examples, both of which concern something buried in her subconscious. She also never gives an explanation of how a word of knowledge differs from a word of wisdom, even though the two are related.
Throughout the book, Sanford scatters a lot of helpful insights. Here's one: The body acts in many ways as a shock absorber for the deep heart (or unconscious mind). That means that often the body needs a certain amount of tension in it in order to cope with painful matter that may be buried deep inside the heart. This tension can manifest itself in various physical problems, such as migraines, etc. The lesson here is that you have to be careful about praying too vigorously to heal someone's physical ailments, because doing so may put the body out of balance with the soul, causing even greater difficulties. Because of this, Sanford suggests that it is often better for a person to learn to pray for himself (when he becomes strong enough), because a slow method of healing is often more effective and more lasting, and can be a lot less stressful overall where the balance between body and soul is concerned.
Here's another excellent insight she gives: Creative play is very healthful and important for a Christian. So, you should try to do something that you *like* for at least half an hour each day, in order to keep a proper balance in your life. That's definitely good advice in general, but she fails to warn that recreation can become an idol if you're not careful. For instance, it's so easy to spend hours surfing the Web instead of reading the Bible or praying. She also doesn't mention that you need to be discerning about your recreational activities. Obviously, things like gardening and knitting would be fine, but competitive sports might not be. Why not? Because the Bible warns repeatedly against selfish ambition and emulation, which is what competitive sports are all about. Now, that doesn't mean that a Christian should never ever watch sports (although it might not be the most productive activity), but engaging in them competitively is another matter. Of course, that's different from playing catch or frisbee just for fun, or a similar non-competitive game.
On p. 158, Sanford seems to confuse being born again with receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit, saying that, before she received this baptism, "The Holy Spirit was *with* me, and strove through me to heal others. But the Holy Spirit was not *in* me." Where does she get these ideas from? As I said earlier, her theology is often very questionable.
In her fine chapter on tongues and interpretation, she presents at least 4 novel insights: 1) Speaking in tongues is not a litmus test for baptism in the Holy Spirit, and it is a mistake to insist that someone speak in tongues right after receiving prayer for baptism in the Spirit. The best test is being filled with power to do the works of Christ; 2) The unconscious mind, deep down inside, can understand the language of tongues even though the conscious mind cannot; 3) We should not focus too closely on words when it comes to communicating with God, because much of the most important communication with Him cannot be verbalized in an earthly language; 4) The primary purpose of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is not simply to make us joyful, but to equip us with power to serve God and others, helping build His Kingdom on earth. In other words, it's not just for *us*, a concept that many charismatics do not seem to grasp. Otherwise, we become just like the self-centered Corinthian church, in which the gifts of the Spirit "clanged."
Her chapter on the gift of discerning of spirits is interesting, but lacking in many areas. Although she gives some rough guidelines, she doesn't really tell you how to discern beyond doubt when evil spirits are present in a person/situation, or when they're gone--in fact, she gives you just enough information to be dangerous. In addition, she quotes a minister who refers to "benign" but imperfect spirits who live out in the spiritual realm. Huh? Is that even biblical? At the end of the chapter, she also mentions that besides demons, there are "lost souls" wandering around in the spirit world who are not inherently evil but might try to hold on to a person's psyche in order to cling to life. And then she describes telling one of these "lost souls"--gently--to leave another person whom it was bothering, and apparently it did. Again, is this biblical? I don't know, but it sure is fascinating to think about.
Also in this chapter, she fails to differentiate between oppression, demonization, and possession. And she never mentions that what opens the door to harassing spirits is either sin (by either the person himself or someone who sinned against him) or a wound, and that--at least most of the time--you need to first deal with these issues before trying to expel any evil spirits. Otherwise, the spirit(s) may simply hide, or even if they do leave, will just return and often bring back others with them. As an article on the Web puts it: "Demons work on legal grounds most of the time. It's like they have a 'lease' to be in you. If you were in the occult at one time, this would be legal grounds. You can command them to leave all day, but they don't have to until the occult is renounced by the person. This 'renouncement' breaks the lease....Sometimes the demons will not leave until you find out what their legal grounds are."
It's interesting that she states that after commanding an evil spirit to leave, she doesn't actually condemn or hate it, saying that there may be something in it yet that God can redeem. She also mentions that she commands the evil spirit not to enter the earthly plane again. Can we as Christians actually enforce that? I don't know, but it's definitely something to think about. She also never brings up the use of holy water to expel evil spirits, which can make deliverance so much easier and quicker. Furthermore, on p. 207, she implies that mental illness is caused by demons, which is not always true. It's possible to have "uncomprehended fears and irrational thoughts and uncontrollable emotions" that are simply symptoms of an illness, not demonic activity.
Concerning exorcism, she provides several helpful insights: 1) Christians who are oppressed/demonized very often realize it; 2) When such Christians tell other Christians that they are being harassed by demons, most of the time no one believes them; 3) In general, a prayer for deliverance should be said aloud only if the person realizes that he is probably oppressed/demonized--otherwise, it should be said *silently*. (This presumes that the Holy Spirit has already revealed the presence of demons.); 4) You can do a lot of harm to someone by trying to "cast out" demons that aren't really there, making him much worse off than before. No wonder Satan loves to tempt Christians to "exorcise" others and see demons behind everything.
In the final chapter on the gift of miracles, Sanford relates some compelling stories. A couple, however, sound far-fetched and are difficult to believe. (For details on these two, please see my review on Amazon, which allows longer reviews.) Besides, Sanford did not witness either "miracle" herself, so all the more reason to take them with a grain of salt. Could they have happened? Yes. But why should we believe that they did?
Not long after those accounts, the books ends--and rather abruptly. Unfortunately, Sanford never seems to tie things together in a way that closes the book out effectively. It's almost as if she just ran out of things to say.
Overall, this is an insightful book, and I'm glad that I read it. When it's good, it's really good. But as I've described above, it has quite a few problems as well, including some theology that doesn't line up with what the Bible teaches--and even has some New Age overtones. However, I think the biggest problem is that Sanford keeps us in the dark about what happened to the young man with whom she "failed miserably," and whether she continued to pray that God would undo all the awful damage that she did. It should have been obvious to her that you can't just leave your readers hanging like that. Because of this, as I said earlier, I probably won't be reading any more of her books, even though I would give this one a qualified recommendation.
3 1/2 stars
It seems that this book wasn't titled or formatted very well. Although it does discuss some of the gifts of the Spirit to different degrees, it isn't really a "textbook" on the gifts of the Spirit. Instead, it's more a book about how to pray for people who need healing of the soul. It actually starts off telling you what to do if you're depressed, and then how to pray for others, and only quite a few pages in does it really start to delve into the gifts of the Spirit. Even then, Sanford doesn't really go into adequate detail on all 9 gifts of the Spirit. I did like the fact, though, that she mentions that the list of the gifts of the Spirit in the Bible is not necessarily exhaustive--that the Spirit can (and does) do many more things than those. Anyway, this book probably should have been called "How the Holy Spirit Can Heal Your Soul" or something like that. The book was poorly typeset as well--most of the printing is way too close to the center, making it hard to read. However, you eventually get used to that for the most part.
As she begins the book with the introduction, Sanford keep things not only dark and gloomy, but also rather pretentious. You get the impression that she's trying to impress you with what she knows, but the effect is actually the opposite. For instance, she starts throwing around showy words like "circumambient," "illimitable," and "pulsebeat," when their normal synonyms would do just fine. And she even uses words that don't exist, such as "awarely" and (much later in the book) "self-builded." She also misuses the obscure verb "extrovert" on p. 46, and there are typos like "peoples'" as well. Anyway, this book could definitely have used better editing, and Sanford would have sounded more impressive if she had simply reined herself in a bit more. But after the first couple of chapters, interestingly enough, she drops most of the pretentious language. It's sort of like a guest at a party who puts on airs for the first half hour or so, but then becomes more comfortable and starts to be herself for the rest of the party.
Frankly, the introduction is not very helpful. She seems to use terminology in it that borders on "New Age." The most serious problem, though, is that she seems to confuse the spirit and the soul. For instance, she puzzles over the fact that we go around saying, "I'm saved," even though we may be filled with despair, hopelessness, etc. And then she concludes, "In one sense probably we are saved." Probably?? Huh? If you are a Christian, no matter how bad you may feel, that doesn't change the fact that your spirit is united with Christ's. Of course, your soul may need lots of healing, and I don't want to minimize that. But it's dangerous to imply that something is amiss with a person's spirit when it's actually his soul that needs healing. Somehow Sanford seems unable to differentiate between the two. She does this again on p. 51, saying that sometimes a person's spirit has gone out (like a light)--or is dormant. And then toward the end of a book, she says that a person's spirit can burn low. Where does she get all this stuff from? Her confusion between spirit and soul is quite serious.
After the clumsy introduction, she starts out with the first chapter: "To the Mental Depressive." It is never a good idea to place labels like "mental depressive" on people, because doing so over-identifies with their problems. It would have been much better to call the chapter something like "To Those Who May Be Struggling with Depression" instead.
Then in the second chapter, "To Those Who Care," she seems to fall into misplaced empathy and almost a messiah complex concerning the role of helpers. She basically asserts that you need to keep your eyes open for people in serious need of prayer help, and then be ready to cut to the chase if the opportunity presents itself. That is not a very wise approach, even though she seems well-meaning enough. Thankfully, a couple of chapters later, she corrects this error by quoting the Bible verse "Lay hands on no man suddenly" and talking about the need to pray foremost for the gift of wisdom, but unfortunately she got the order wrong. That warning should have been issued in the second chapter. I mean, what if some people only read the first two chapters of her book??? They could easily end up causing serious damage to someone in desperate need of help, as Sanford admits she herself did once. More about this serious mistake that she confesses to shortly.
.
Sometimes she makes rather silly statements as well. For instance, she talks about praying for a young woman who had been seriously depressed all her life, but was miraculously healed during the very first prayer session. This woman also had diabetes. Then Sanford oddly states, "Her diabetes, while wonderfully controlled by insulin and diet so that she lives as a well woman, has not actually been healed. Why? I don't know." Well, it turns out that most cases of diabetes are reversible (especially in those who are younger), but that usually requires extensive lifestyle changes. You may have to strictly limit your carbohydrates, for instance. Most of the time, God isn't going to do for you something that you are fully capable of doing yourself, even though it may be hard work. I mean, if Sanford had prayed for an obese person and then didn't notice any change later, would she have also said, "That person's obesity hasn't actually been healed. Why? I don't know"? ;) Things like this are what make the book seem rather amateurish at times. Yes, I realize that Sanford wasn't a doctor, but you really don't have to be an M.D. to know things like this.
On p. 74, she starts to gives the following profoundly disturbing account: "Moved by compassion, I went forth in faith to help a young man in critical mental illness. And I failed. I failed miserably and, so far as I know, permanently. Why?....Why...did I fail in such a heartbreaking way that if the Lord had not kept pushing me (I sometimes wished He would stop), I would never again have tried the prayer of faith? It was because I had not prayed...for...the gift of wisdom...[which would have helped me] translate God's guidance accurately. God was not saying, 'Pray for him and he will be healed.' God was saying, 'Learn how to pray for cases like this.'...You can surely protect yourself from so shattering a failure as mine by praying for the gift of wisdom, [which has now helped me to] decide when to stretch forth my hand and when to abstain." Well, what ever happened to this young man with whom she "failed miserably"?? I'm sorry, but you don't just drop a bomb like that on your readers and then expect them to simply forget all about it. After that point, she never mentions him again, leaving you wondering. That's almost as disturbing as her huge mistake in the first place. And it's all enough to never trust her again to pray for anybody else IMO. I mean, if a doctor kills a patient by incompetence, he might have to find a new profession. So, why should Sanford have even been allowed to "try again" with anybody else? Furthermore, did she continue to pray for the young man (at a distance, of course)--that God would "undo" the terrible damage that she did??? She never says. And that question stayed with me for the rest of the book. Because she never bothers to give an answer, it is unlikely that I will ever read another book of hers.
One good thing about the book is that overall Sanford comes across as pretty humble, readily admitting her own weaknesses and faults. She also seems quite "real" rather than "kum-ba-yah." Or at least for the most part. But then one time she says, "I was a good president [of a local women's club]," which sounds conceited. She also says about 3 times, "All things may be possible with God, but all things are not possible with Agnes," or some close variation on this. That statement seems rather self-centered. Does God really want Christians saying, "All these are possible with God, but all things are not possible with me"? Besides, isn't that just stating the obvious? When were "all things" ever possible with us? Our faith isn't supposed to be in ourselves--or even in our own faith. Not only that, God says, "My strength is made perfect in weakness." But then Sanford contradicts herself on p. 219, basically saying that all things are indeed possible with God. So, which is it, Ms. Sanford?
Because she struggled with serious depression herself, it's obvious that Sanford has a lot of empathy for those in similar situations. As a result, she doesn't state that "faith" is required of them for healing--no, she realizes that someone who is struggling with such issues is not capable of any faith. So, she emphasizes that those who pray for such individuals should have faith for them, in a sense carrying those who are weak.
In the chapter "The Gift of Wisdom," it's good that she emphasizes how important wisdom is and that it should be the very first gift of the Spirit that we seek. Nevertheless, there are a couple of problems: 1) She never distinguishes the gift of wisdom from the "general" wisdom mentioned in James 1:5. Or is there a difference? 2) She never gives any real-life examples of someone engaging in an activity and then receiving a word of wisdom from the Holy Spirit.
Then in her chapter "The Way of Love," she makes some excellent points about forgiveness, but her discussion is a bit simplistic, with several problems:
1) She implies that if a Christian doesn't forgive, then he loses his redemption. No, he is still saved, but his relationship with God suffers. (She also implies in another chapter that unconfessed sins might keep a person out of heaven.)
2) She fails to point out that we do not forgive sin per se (in fact, we are called to hate sin), but rather *people*. She doesn't mention that we are not commanded to forgive Satan or demons either.
3) She never points out that forgiveness isn't a feeling. Just because you forgive someone, that doesn't mean you will automatically start liking that person or that your negative feelings toward him will suddenly disappear. In fact, you may decide to end a relationship with someone permanently (depending on the seriousness of the offense), even after forgiving him.
In a nutshell, the whole chapter on forgiveness comes across as half-baked (and even sentimental at times), and I didn't find it to be particularly helpful. And then in the next chapter, "The Gift of Knowledge," she gives only two small real-life examples, both of which concern something buried in her subconscious. She also never gives an explanation of how a word of knowledge differs from a word of wisdom, even though the two are related.
Throughout the book, Sanford scatters a lot of helpful insights. Here's one: The body acts in many ways as a shock absorber for the deep heart (or unconscious mind). That means that often the body needs a certain amount of tension in it in order to cope with painful matter that may be buried deep inside the heart. This tension can manifest itself in various physical problems, such as migraines, etc. The lesson here is that you have to be careful about praying too vigorously to heal someone's physical ailments, because doing so may put the body out of balance with the soul, causing even greater difficulties. Because of this, Sanford suggests that it is often better for a person to learn to pray for himself (when he becomes strong enough), because a slow method of healing is often more effective and more lasting, and can be a lot less stressful overall where the balance between body and soul is concerned.
Here's another excellent insight she gives: Creative play is very healthful and important for a Christian. So, you should try to do something that you *like* for at least half an hour each day, in order to keep a proper balance in your life. That's definitely good advice in general, but she fails to warn that recreation can become an idol if you're not careful. For instance, it's so easy to spend hours surfing the Web instead of reading the Bible or praying. She also doesn't mention that you need to be discerning about your recreational activities. Obviously, things like gardening and knitting would be fine, but competitive sports might not be. Why not? Because the Bible warns repeatedly against selfish ambition and emulation, which is what competitive sports are all about. Now, that doesn't mean that a Christian should never ever watch sports (although it might not be the most productive activity), but engaging in them competitively is another matter. Of course, that's different from playing catch or frisbee just for fun, or a similar non-competitive game.
On p. 158, Sanford seems to confuse being born again with receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit, saying that, before she received this baptism, "The Holy Spirit was *with* me, and strove through me to heal others. But the Holy Spirit was not *in* me." Where does she get these ideas from? As I said earlier, her theology is often very questionable.
In her fine chapter on tongues and interpretation, she presents at least 4 novel insights: 1) Speaking in tongues is not a litmus test for baptism in the Holy Spirit, and it is a mistake to insist that someone speak in tongues right after receiving prayer for baptism in the Spirit. The best test is being filled with power to do the works of Christ; 2) The unconscious mind, deep down inside, can understand the language of tongues even though the conscious mind cannot; 3) We should not focus too closely on words when it comes to communicating with God, because much of the most important communication with Him cannot be verbalized in an earthly language; 4) The primary purpose of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is not simply to make us joyful, but to equip us with power to serve God and others, helping build His Kingdom on earth. In other words, it's not just for *us*, a concept that many charismatics do not seem to grasp. Otherwise, we become just like the self-centered Corinthian church, in which the gifts of the Spirit "clanged."
Her chapter on the gift of discerning of spirits is interesting, but lacking in many areas. Although she gives some rough guidelines, she doesn't really tell you how to discern beyond doubt when evil spirits are present in a person/situation, or when they're gone--in fact, she gives you just enough information to be dangerous. In addition, she quotes a minister who refers to "benign" but imperfect spirits who live out in the spiritual realm. Huh? Is that even biblical? At the end of the chapter, she also mentions that besides demons, there are "lost souls" wandering around in the spirit world who are not inherently evil but might try to hold on to a person's psyche in order to cling to life. And then she describes telling one of these "lost souls"--gently--to leave another person whom it was bothering, and apparently it did. Again, is this biblical? I don't know, but it sure is fascinating to think about.
Also in this chapter, she fails to differentiate between oppression, demonization, and possession. And she never mentions that what opens the door to harassing spirits is either sin (by either the person himself or someone who sinned against him) or a wound, and that--at least most of the time--you need to first deal with these issues before trying to expel any evil spirits. Otherwise, the spirit(s) may simply hide, or even if they do leave, will just return and often bring back others with them. As an article on the Web puts it: "Demons work on legal grounds most of the time. It's like they have a 'lease' to be in you. If you were in the occult at one time, this would be legal grounds. You can command them to leave all day, but they don't have to until the occult is renounced by the person. This 'renouncement' breaks the lease....Sometimes the demons will not leave until you find out what their legal grounds are."
It's interesting that she states that after commanding an evil spirit to leave, she doesn't actually condemn or hate it, saying that there may be something in it yet that God can redeem. She also mentions that she commands the evil spirit not to enter the earthly plane again. Can we as Christians actually enforce that? I don't know, but it's definitely something to think about. She also never brings up the use of holy water to expel evil spirits, which can make deliverance so much easier and quicker. Furthermore, on p. 207, she implies that mental illness is caused by demons, which is not always true. It's possible to have "uncomprehended fears and irrational thoughts and uncontrollable emotions" that are simply symptoms of an illness, not demonic activity.
Concerning exorcism, she provides several helpful insights: 1) Christians who are oppressed/demonized very often realize it; 2) When such Christians tell other Christians that they are being harassed by demons, most of the time no one believes them; 3) In general, a prayer for deliverance should be said aloud only if the person realizes that he is probably oppressed/demonized--otherwise, it should be said *silently*. (This presumes that the Holy Spirit has already revealed the presence of demons.); 4) You can do a lot of harm to someone by trying to "cast out" demons that aren't really there, making him much worse off than before. No wonder Satan loves to tempt Christians to "exorcise" others and see demons behind everything.
In the final chapter on the gift of miracles, Sanford relates some compelling stories. A couple, however, sound far-fetched and are difficult to believe. (For details on these two, please see my review on Amazon, which allows longer reviews.) Besides, Sanford did not witness either "miracle" herself, so all the more reason to take them with a grain of salt. Could they have happened? Yes. But why should we believe that they did?
Not long after those accounts, the books ends--and rather abruptly. Unfortunately, Sanford never seems to tie things together in a way that closes the book out effectively. It's almost as if she just ran out of things to say.
Overall, this is an insightful book, and I'm glad that I read it. When it's good, it's really good. But as I've described above, it has quite a few problems as well, including some theology that doesn't line up with what the Bible teaches--and even has some New Age overtones. However, I think the biggest problem is that Sanford keeps us in the dark about what happened to the young man with whom she "failed miserably," and whether she continued to pray that God would undo all the awful damage that she did. It should have been obvious to her that you can't just leave your readers hanging like that. Because of this, as I said earlier, I probably won't be reading any more of her books, even though I would give this one a qualified recommendation.
3 1/2 stars
October 20, 2022
A very practical book from a person who used the methods she described in healing (both physically and mentally). You can't go better than learning from an actual practitioner of gifts of the Spirit. Very easy to understand and faith building. Mrs. Sanford was a person of the traditional Christian protestant denomination who also showed others how to heal and built up prayer groups to experience the touch of God in people's lives. And because it was successful she drew many to those groups. The book is very easy to understand and helpful to everyday living.
December 28, 2020
Very interesting, but only if you're already interested in the subject.
October 12, 2023
Did read the swedish edition, Andens Helande gåvor
September 29, 2025
Occult and new thought mixed with Christian concepts.
December 16, 2011
Very thought provoking
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