CHRIST JESUS was the apostle of preparedness. His life was filled with experiences which proved he was always ready to meet every situation that faced him. Whether the problem confronting him required only a momentary lifting of thought away from the crowds in silent prayer for divine aid, or whether he needed to spend forty days and nights in quiet communion with his Father, Jesus met every trial fully prepared to prove the supremacy of Truth over error.
It will be recalled that John the Baptist was referred to as "he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." And developments proved that all of the preaching and teaching and healing which Christ Jesus did was not only for the purpose of preparing his own way to the kingdom of heaven, but also to show others how to gain their salvation.
Although Jesus had spent approximately thirty years in preparation for his healing ministry, we learn that he devoted forty consecutive days to prayer and fasting; that he "was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil," just before he went forth to preach, and teach, and heal. It is significant that Jesus by himself and for himself faced the devil before attempting to prove evil's powerlessness to harm others. Then, after evil had made three more unsuccessful efforts to tempt him into conceding some belief of power to materiality, we are told that the devil "departed from him for a season," and later that "all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them." Does not this indicate that Jesus had so thoroughly prepared his thought against every belief in a power apart from God, good, that no form of error could maintain a semblance of reality in his presence?
