Called and Sent: Trusting God's Authority to Heal

Mar 01, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: God Loves You Completely, Just As You Are

We often hide parts of ourselves, believing we must appear a certain way. Yet the profound truth is that we are fully known and fully loved by God. There is no darkness, doubt, or worry within us that He does not see and embrace. We can come to Him with complete honesty, allowing Him to do what only He can do: heal, help, guide, and ultimately bring us home. This is the foundation of our relationship with Him. [07:37]

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1, NIV)

Reflection: What is one area of your life that you feel the need to hide from God, and what would it look like to bring that into His loving presence this week?

Day 2: Jesus Calls and Works Through Imperfect People

The disciples Jesus called were ordinary, gritty people with flaws and limitations. They were not the intellectuals or the elite that the world would have chosen. Jesus does not wait for us to be perfect to use us; if He did, nothing would ever get done. His power is made perfect in our weakness, and He specializes in working through our imperfections to bring about His purposes. [28:54]

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27, NIV)

Reflection: Where do you feel your own imperfections or limitations disqualify you from being used by God, and how might He want to work through those very things?

Day 3: Trusting God’s Provision in Vulnerable Obedience

Jesus sent His disciples out with nothing, instructing them to take no extra provisions, money, or supplies. This was an invitation to radical dependence, forcing them to rely entirely on His provision and authority. Such vulnerability is not a lack of planning but a profound act of faith, trusting that God will supply everything needed to accomplish what He has called us to do. [30:10]

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’” (Matthew 16:24, NIV)

Reflection: In what specific area of your life is God inviting you to step out in vulnerable obedience, trusting His provision rather than your own resources?

Day 4: Praying According to God’s Will and Authority

Prayer is not about presenting God with our wish list but about aligning our hearts with His will. It is like seeking a “PO number” from heaven—asking for insight into what God wants to accomplish so we can pray with authority and faith. This requires humility, listening, and a desire for His kingdom to come more than for our own desires to be met. [40:02]

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” (1 John 5:14, NIV)

Reflection: As you pray for a specific need or person this week, what would it look like to first pause and ask, “God, what is Your will in this situation?”

Day 5: Partnering with God to Bring His Joy

When the disciples returned from their mission, Jesus was filled with joy. Their faithful, vulnerable obedience resulted in the tangible coming of God’s kingdom. We are invited into this same partnership, where listening for His direction and then acting in faith brings joy to His heart. Our ultimate purpose is to participate in bringing His healing, hope, and love to a broken world. [48:36]

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” (Matthew 25:21, NIV)

Reflection: What is one practical “chore” God has given you in His family, and how might faithfully doing it bring joy to His heart and His kingdom to earth?

Sermon Summary

Worship begins with an invitation to bring whole selves—doubts, wounds, and all—because God's love welcomes honesty and brings healing. Scripture recounts Jesus sending ordinary, flawed followers out in pairs with authority to heal, cast out unclean spirits, and proclaim that the kingdom of God is near. The mission detaches ministry from material security: the travelers receive power but take no money or extra provisions, forcing radical dependence on God’s provision and the hospitality of those they serve. Stories and images—such as a portrayal of Thomas wrestling with disability and an account of an orphanage in Uruguay—illustrate how vulnerability and ordinary people can witness extraordinary encounters with God.

The narrative emphasizes authority rooted in relationship with God rather than human merit. The disciples act with a “faith card” of delegated power; their success depends on listening to God’s will, asking for guidance, and praying in alignment with that will. Practical metaphors—like a PO number guaranteeing payment—encourage humility in requesting specific direction before petitioning for healing or intervention. Prayer, when tuned to God’s intentions, releases authority that invites heaven into broken human situations; when outcome differs from desire, prayer often brings peace and presence as tangible signs of God’s care.

The text presses for reproducible practice: take responsibility for intentional prayer by adopting specific families to pray for daily, wait for precise insights from God, and then act on those impressions. The return of the disciples with reports of fruit elicits joy, framed as God’s response to faithful obedience. Worship closes with a responsive reading and a benediction that sends the community out as ordinary people assigned meaningful chores—small acts that extend mercy, heal, and reveal God’s glory. The overall call focuses on courage to be vulnerable, discipline to seek God’s will, and faith to serve without personal gain, so that the kingdom’s reality becomes visible and invites joy at the heart of God.

Key Takeaways

1. God uses imperfect ordinary people Ordinary flaws do not disqualify participation in God’s mission; instead, brokenness becomes the context where divine authority and mercy show up most clearly. Accepting limitation frees dependence on God’s power rather than human capability. This shifts ministry from personal performance to faithful obedience and presence, where authenticity invites transformation in others. [28:54]
2. Radical dependence on God's provision Being sent without money or extras forces reliance on God and community rather than self-reliance or transactional ministry. Vulnerability in provision exposes motives and deepens trust in God’s provision through hospitality and grace. This posture cultivates gospel credibility: ministry given freely reflects the kingdom’s generosity, not entrepreneurial gain. [30:10]
3. Pray specifically for God's will Asking first, “What is God’s will here?” reframes petition from wishful thinking to discerning partnership with the Author of life. Specific, humble inquiry functions like requesting a PO number that authorizes effective action; it aligns prayer with the purposes God intends to accomplish. Prayer thus becomes a listening-then-sending discipline that increases spiritual fruitfulness. [37:52]
4. Listen for direct prayer guidance Waiting for concrete impressions, images, or promptings trains spiritual sensitivity and yields targeted intercession. Recording brief impressions and acting on them cultivates confidence in the Spirit’s guidance and opens doors for unexpected encounters of healing and peace. Small, faithful experiments in listening create a culture where heaven’s activity becomes more visible. [43:31]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[07:37] - Honest worship and God's embrace
[08:18] - The call to encounter Christ
[08:35] - Singing and corporate worship
[11:53] - Christ as exact representation
[14:12] - Prayer of confession and doubt
[16:28] - Commissioning the twelve to go
[21:32] - The Chosen clip: Thomas' struggle
[27:03] - Barriers to following Jesus
[30:10] - Traveling light: trust and provision
[37:52] - Pray according to God's will
[43:31] - Listening for specific prayer guidance
[48:36] - Disciples return: Jesus' joy
[51:50] - Chores of discipleship and growth
[56:44] - Responsive reading and benediction

Bible Study Guide

Based on the sermon summary provided, here is a Bible study discussion guide.

Bible Reading
Luke 9:1-6 (ESV)
And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

1 John 5:14 (ESV)
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

Observation questions

According to Luke 9:1-3, what two things did Jesus give the disciples, and what specific items were they instructed not to take?
What specific tasks were the disciples commissioned to do in the villages they entered?
The sermon described the authority given to the disciples as a "faith card." [31:00] What does this metaphor help us understand about the source and purpose of their power?
What does 1 John 5:14 identify as the key condition for our prayers to be heard?

Interpretation questions

Why do you think Jesus intentionally sent his disciples out with no money or extra provisions? What was he trying to teach them about the nature of ministry and their relationship with him?
The sermon suggested that asking for God's will in prayer is like requesting a "PO number" that authorizes the request. [39:26] How does this analogy change our understanding of what it means to pray effectively?
The disciples included ordinary, flawed people like a tax collector and a political zealot. What does their selection reveal about God's criteria for using people in his mission?
When the disciples returned with reports of what happened, Jesus was "full of joy." [48:36] What is the connection between their vulnerable obedience and his joy?

Application questions

What is one area of your life—a doubt, a wound, or an imperfection—that you sometimes feel disqualifies you from being used by God? How can accepting your limitation actually free you to depend more on his power?
The call is to "radical dependence on God's provision." Where in your life are you most tempted to rely on your own "extra tunics" or resources (e.g., financial security, personal skills, a backup plan) instead of on God? What would it look like to take a small step of vulnerability in that area this week?
Think about your typical prayer life. When you bring a request to God, how often do you first pause to ask, "Lord, what is your will in this situation?" [38:32] What practical step could you take this week to listen for his "PO number" before making your petition?
You have been given a card with five families to pray for. [47:40] Beyond a general blessing, what might it look like to set aside a few minutes to quietly ask God for a specific impression, word, or image for one of those families? Are you willing to write it down and pray into it, even if it feels like a reach?
The sermon described that even when a physical healing doesn't occur, prayer often brings a profound sense of peace and God's presence. [41:44] Who in your life needs to experience that peace right now? How could you offer to pray for them, not with a guarantee of a specific outcome, but with the confidence that you can bring Christ's love and presence into their situation?
Discipleship was compared to being given "chores" that bring life and hope. [52:08] What is one simple, ordinary "chore" God might be assigning you this week—a conversation, an act of service, a gesture of mercy—that could extend his kingdom and bring him joy?

Sermon Clips

39s

#ComeAsYouAre

“We often come to worship, and there's a part of us that we hide. We're good Canadians. We always wanna look good on the inside, but sometimes there's some things in us, some heaviness, some darkness, some doubt, some worry. And the good news is that when you're loved as you are by the Lord, you can come and reveal all of who you are because he loves every bit of you. And we can be honest and allow for him to do what only he can do, embrace us and heal us and help us and guide us and get us home.”

66s

#PrayingHisWill

“That got me thinking, like, like, in my own prayer life, am I asking God for the PO number? Am I humbling myself to say, Lord, you have the authority. You can heal. But but you have also the wisdom to know more than I know. And so would you just give me insight about how you wanna advance your kingdom? So that I can pray according to your will. Because more than anything else, I want his kingdom to come. I want him to be glorified. I I want what I read in the scriptures to not be locked away in a time two thousand years ago but to be unlocked today. I I want to I want I I I do want that.”

63s

#CalledAndSent

“Lord, we thank you that you take ordinary people and you call them. You give them that strange sense of call, and you adopt them into your kingdom, and then you begin to disciple us to become sons and daughters of nobility bit by bit by bit, growing us up and then giving us chores. As everyone in the family knows, you're part of the family when you have chores. But your chores are one ones that bring life and bring healing and hope and bring glory to your name. Thank you for the chores that you give us, the small ones and the big ones. We pray for the grace to listen for you and then the faith to follow you. And most of all, the joy that comes when we see that we brought joy to your heart.”

48s

#BringHeavenHere

“Exercise the authority so that heaven would come. And it's not about me or about you. It's about that yearning that we have for the broken to be healed, for the lost to be found for the love that Christ that we see in scripture to not be distant but to be right here, right now and most of all, to be part of that. That when we see him, he will say you were faithful to all I wanted done. You asked and I revealed. You were faithful.”

66s

#PrayerWithAuthority

“And then that got me thinking, maybe I've been praying wrong. Like like, maybe what I need to be doing when I'm praying is asking god. Lord, what is your will for this person in this place? What's your will for my brother-in-law? And like wrestling with God, a sense of what he wants done. So that when I can hear that and see that and know that, not presume it but really get a sense of it, then I can begin to exercise faith and pray asking God to bring healing. Because then the tap has the authority.”

49s

#PrayerBringsPeace

“Like, a miraculous healing, which is very, very, very, very rare. But what always seems to happen is that they get a sense of peace. That that's what Jesus wants people to know who are wrestling with sickness is that they're loved. And that he's with them in it. And I say, I I will anoint with oil. I will pray for people. I I have I have the faith card to let people know in Jesus name, you are loved. And he's with you in it and sometimes people are, I don't know if they're demon possessed but they they have like anxiety or whatever and and they often say to me afterwards, after some prayer that they have a sense of peace.”

57s

#OrdinaryCalled

“Because we find all these reasons why it's hard to follow Jesus. And maybe we don't have a physical limitation. Maybe some people do. Sometimes it's an emotional one. Sometimes it's we we find our own pain and brokenness, and we think it disqualifies us from Jesus working in and through us. And I think Jesus chooses when he when he lets us in on his disciples, he doesn't choose the ones that the intellectuals would choose or he chooses ordinary people, farmers, and actually people that others would pass by. Like, in the culture, he chooses a tax collector, which be be akin to a swindler in our our culture.”

38s

#TravelLightTrustGod

“And so he is telling them, you gotta totally trust me with all over your provision. In fact, he says to them, you can't take any gold or silver or copper. And what they would do in that day is they'd have a belt around them, and they would put the kinda hide the it's like a money belt. They kinda hide the money in the belt. And if you're wealthy, you'd have a gold Visa card. If you're not so much, maybe a silver and then a bra some bronze. And so he's saying, listen, don't take any money. I need you to trust me. And but he does give them authority.”

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How does authority for healing get given?

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