Recently, while reading Mark 7, I noticed something about the way Jesus heals people: He doesn’t seem to have a method.

In this chapter alone, a Gentile woman comes to Jesus because her daughter is possessed by a demon. The daughter isn’t even there. She’s at home. Her mother is the one pleading with Jesus, and after some back and forth, Jesus simply tells her that the demon has left her daughter.

A few verses later, some people bring Jesus a man who is deaf and can hardly speak. This time Jesus gets incredibly hands-on. He puts His fingers in the man’s ears. He spits. He touches the man’s tongue.

Which, if we’re being honest, is not exactly the healing ministry strategy I would have come up with. (Just ew.)

So I started thinking back through Mark, and I realized this is pretty normal for Jesus.

Jairus’s daughter is dead, and Jesus takes her by the hand and tells her to get up.

The woman who had been bleeding for twelve years reaches out and touches Jesus. He doesn’t touch her at all.

Sometimes Jesus touches people. Sometimes people touch Him. Sometimes He speaks. Sometimes the person being healed isn’t even in the room.

There is no formula.

And I wonder if that’s intentional.

Because we really like formulas.

Just tell me what to do!

Tell me how long to pray. Tell me what words to say. Give me the Scripture to pray, the book to read, the plan to follow. Give me the three steps and preferably a checklist because I do love checking a box.

And none of those things are necessarily bad.

Even Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus gave them a pattern. Scripture gives us words to pray. Christians have been praying written and liturgical prayers together for centuries. I’ve used prayer prompts, prayer books, Scripture, fasting, and plenty of other scaffolding to help me pray when I don’t know what to say.

Methods can be helpful.

They just aren’t where the power is.

The power is in the Source.

That’s what all these different healings are showing me. Jesus isn’t giving His disciples a technique to master. He’s revealing Himself to them.

I need that reminder too.

I don’t need to find the perfect words or discover the right formula that finally gets God’s attention. Prayer isn’t an incantation where, if I get all the words in the right order, something happens.

I can use the prayer book. I can follow the prompt. I can pray the Scripture. I can stumble through a prayer that barely makes sense because I don’t know what else to say.

But my confidence isn’t in how I approached Him.

It’s in the One I’m approaching.