“Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these.”  (John 14:12)

These are Jesus’ words to the disciples the night before his arrest.  He goes on to say, “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Jesus wants to act on the faith of our requests to him in order to bring glory to the Father.  Jesus wants us to have faith in him, to live by his words, and pray in his name. 

I have a friend, Sheri, who is a physical therapist in Arizona.  She had a co-worker, Ashley, who was scheduled for an MRI to check on a piece of brain tumor that could not be removed from a prior surgery.  Every time Ashley would have an MRI to check on the status of the tumor, she would get very anxious.  On this occasion it turns out that Sheri was able to see Ashley right before she left for her appointment.  Sheri sensed that the Lord wanted her to pray with Ashley that this time the MRI would show no presence of the tumor.  While Sheri had reservations about whether she should follow what she deemed a prompting of the Holy Spirit, she nevertheless placed her hand on Ashley’s forehead and prayed in the name of Jesus that the tumor would be gone. 

Sheri reports, “The next time we saw each other, I was walking down the hallway past Ashley’s office when she yelled, ‘Sheri, THE TUMOR IS GONE!’  Not a trace of it was on the MRI, even though it had been present on every MRI for several years.” 

We see in Sheri’s story someone who not only believes in Jesus, but also has the confidence in him to step out and boldly offer to pray with her friend that God would heal her and take away all trace of the remaining piece of brain tumor. 

Whether Sheri realized it or not, by her faith in praying for Shelley in the name of Jesus, she was also bringing glory to the Father.

The Gospels share many promises of Jesus like this one.  How much confidence do you have in Jesus’ promises?