“The Lord ends speaking and begins working; He comes down from the pulpit and enters the hospital [Matthew 8:1-3]. Such is His whole life: words and deeds intermingled; words of health and deeds of health.
“[The leper] wants to be made clean, and he casts himself on Christ for this. He is the Hyssop, the Water, the Blood, the Ashes, the Priest, the Physician, all in one. Thus we still come, doubting neither the willingness nor the power, yet casting ourselves on the will of the Lord; not presuming to dictate, yet appealing to His sovereign grace. As the needy, the sick, the unclean, we come; for the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
“… Jesus speaks, ‘I will, be thou clean.’ … It is the voice of authority. It reminds us of Genesis 1:2-3. He speaks as One Who knew that He could cure. Not hesitatingly. Nor are the words a prayer, but a command. He speaks, and it is done. … Thus love, authority, and power are all conjoined. It is the voice of Omnipotence.
“He is the same Christ still; with the same love, and authority, and power. He is still the Healer, and the worst of diseases fly from His touch and voice. Let us go to Him with all that afflicts us. … Be persuaded to present thyself to Him, just as thou art. Give this divine Healer thy simple confidence. Take Him for what He is, and He will take thee for what thou art. Thus shalt thou meet in love; thou to be healed, and He to heal; thou to have the joy of being healed, and He to have the joy of healing thee, and to announce to heaven, in the presence of the angels of God, that another leper has been healed!” —Horatius Bonar (emphasis added)
“How absolutely necessary is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit! It is not possible for us to promote the glory of God or to bless the souls of men, unless the Holy Spirit shall be in us and with us. Those who were assembled on that memorable day of Pentecost, were all men of prayer and faith; but even these precious gifts are only available when the celestial fire sets them on a blaze. They were all men of experience; most of them had been preachers of the Word and workers of miracles; they had endured trials and troubles in company with their Lord, and had been with Him in His temptation. Among them were the apostles and the seventy evangelists, and with them were those honored women in whose houses the Lord had often been entertained, and who had ministered to Him of their substance; yet even these favored and honored saints can do nothing without the breath of God the Holy Spirit. Apostles and evangelists dare not even attempt anything alone; they must tarry at Jerusalem till power be given them from on high. It was not a want of education; they had been for three years in the college of Christ, with perfect wisdom as their tutor, matchless eloquence as their instructor, and immaculate perfection as their example; yet they must not venture to open their mouths to testify of the mystery of Jesus, until the anointing Spirit has come with blessed unction from above. Surely if so it was with them, much more must it be the case with us.” —Charles Spurgeon
Craig T. Owens 