Do you sometimes feel as if you just can’t take any more bad news? One day I realized I could see each challenge as a prayer assignment—a call for prayer—and that I should be not only willing, but happy, to answer each call.
It occurred to me that when Jesus was about to ascend, he did not say to the disciples, “Well, I’m leaving. Now everything will be perfect.” Instead, he said, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; . . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:17, 18). He had told them before that difficult challenges would arise in the world, but he had also taught them how to heal. He had encouraged them: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). And he had also promised that God would empower their healing works: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).
Why would he teach such things unless they were provable?
