Prayer and Promises

The Promise 

Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons. 

— Mark 13:14,15, NKJV 

The Testimony 

The Saviour of the world devoted more time and labor to healing the sick than to preaching. His last injunction to his apostles, his representatives upon earth, was to lay hands on the sick, that they might recover. And when the Master shall come again, he will commend those who have visited the sick, and relieved the necessities of the afflicted. “Well done, good and faithful servant,” he will say; “enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” 

The disciples…were not to enter into controversies; this was not their work. They were to reveal and advocate the truth in their own characters, through earnest prayer and meditation revealing personal experience in genuine Christianity. 

Christ designed that his disciples should learn by experience the meaning of faith in him. In healing the sick and casting out devils they would obtain an experience which was new to them, and thus would be brought where they needed special wisdom from above. They desired in all things to exercise sound discretion, and when brought, as they often were, into painful perplexity, they dared not act independently. How they longed to have their Master by their side, that he might tell them what course to pursue! But they obtained an experience by relying on the promises given them by Christ. They claimed the promise, “Ask, and it shall be given you.” They did pray most earnestly, and were not left without the Holy Spirit. At times they were tempted to move unadvisedly; but the words of the prophet, “Lean not unto thine own understanding,”…led them to One who would not err in counsel. 

This is the experience that the workers of today are to obtain. You are to lean wholly on God. You must not trust to your own wisdom. If you desire to put forth the energies of your spiritual life, if you would have your heart illumined by the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness, remove every obstruction, throw open the passage of communication between Christ and the soul, that the life which is in him may flow freely to you, and that you may impart the same to others. 

— The Review and Herald, February 1, 1898 

The Response 

Gracious Heavenly Father, I pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit that I may live Your truth in my own life. I remove every thing that separates me from You, let Your life freely flow through me that may reveal to others Your healing touch. Be with me that I will not move rashly. I lean on You and not my own understanding, relying on Your sure promise to ask and it shall be given me!