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The Ministry of Health and Healing
years of communion with Him in the mountain solitudes. Before
he delivered God’s message to Pharaoh, he spoke with the angel in
the burning bush. Before receiving God’s law as the representative
of His people, he was called into the mount and beheld His glory.
Before executing justice on the idolaters, he was hidden in the cleft
of the rock, and the Lord said, “‘I will proclaim the name of the Lord
before you,’ ‘merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding
in goodness and truth, ... by no means clearing the guilty.’”
Exodus
33:19
;
34:6, 7
. Before Moses laid down, with his life, his burden
for Israel, God called him to the top of Pisgah and spread out before
him the glory of the Promised Land.
Before the disciples went forth on their mission, they were called
up into the mount with Jesus. Before the power and glory of Pen-
tecost, came the night of communion with the Savior, the meeting
on the mountain in Galilee, the parting scene on Olivet, with the
angels’ promise, and the days of prayer and communion in the upper
chamber.
When preparing for some great trial or some especially impor-
tant work, Jesus would resort to the solitude of the mountains and
spend the night in prayer to His Father. A night of prayer preceded
the ordination of the apostles and the Sermon on the Mount, the
transfiguration, the agony of the judgment hall and the cross, and
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the resurrection glory.
The Privilege of Prayer
We too must have times set apart for meditation and prayer and
for receiving spiritual refreshing. We do not value the power and
efficacy of prayer as we should. Prayer and faith will do what no
power on earth can accomplish. We are seldom, in all respects,
placed in the same position twice. We continually have new scenes
and new trials to pass through, where past experience cannot be a
sufficient guide. We must have the continual light that comes from
God.
Christ is ever sending messages to those who listen for His voice.
On the night of His agony in Gethsemane, the sleeping disciples
did not hear the voice of Jesus. They had a dim sense of the angels’
presence but lost the power and glory of the scene. Because of their