Pentecostals are right to point out that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, so let me start in the Old Testament for this fantastic set of examples. I call this "directionalism" because it is about following God's direction and being humble enough to lay down what you think is most crucial, in favour of following God's fresh direction for each situation.

A general promise doesn't override the need to ask God for daily direction

You would think that being promised the land of Canaan would mean that you could just go up and take it. Why ask? There is no presumption: God has said this will be yours (Joshua 1:1-9). "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force." (Matthew 11:12) Go up and fight!

Yet that's not what God wanted at all.

He wanted the Israelites to come to him continually, and not just for their sake: "He has done this so all the nations of the earth might recognize the Lord’s power and so you might always obey the Lord your God." (Joshua 4:24, NET)

So essentially every battle was different: they marched around the city of Jericho and blew horns (Joshua 6); they set an ambush for the city of Ai (Joshua 8); they defeated a large coalition with surprise, hailstones from God, and a supernaturally long day (Joshua 10:1-27); and another coalition by hamstringing their horses to nullify their chariots (Joshua 11:1-9). The next detailed description is Gideon, many decades later, and once again following the Lord's instruction is particularly important. Most people are sent home so the Israelites cannot brag that their own strength saved them (Judges 7:2), and the tens of thousands of Midianites are defeated by intense fear and confusion from the Lord by a mere 300 men with trumpets and torches (Judges 6-8).

When they did not enquire of the Lord but made their own judgment based on their perceived strength, they were defeated (Joshua 7:1-5). When they did not enquire about the Gibeonites, they made a rash promise to protect them (Joshua 9). Of course, when they did not follow God but went after other gods, they were oppressed.

We could go on but the lesson is already clear. Even though the land was promised to them, they could not presume to simply take matters into their own hands and fight. They needed to listen to the angel of the Lord, enquire of God, or wait for his direction. The reason for doing it this way is so that they would not get the glory, but that God would, and their trust and other nations' trust would grow in God rather than in the Israelites' military prowess.

The matter is exactly parallel today. Today, we have faith healers with all manner of techniques and ways to heal the sick and bring you a breakthrough. People run after these people wherever they go, seeking a miracle. People try out these techniques, hoping for their breakthrough. The Lord would say: stop! Come to me! I am your breakthrough! Seek me with all your heart, and I will show you what to do!

Rather than trusting in man's techniques, or man's military, we need to wait on God and listen to what he wants us to do in each situation. Then, when we do what he wants us to do in that particular situation, he will get the glory and you will get the breakthrough.

As it is, if we rely on presumption that God will do things as he has before, we end up relying on our techniques, our fasting, our prayers, our words, and ourselves. There is a clear difference. One is presumptive on God's past blessing, and the other is depending on God's current direction.

Similarly, the Israelites had direction to go to the Promised Land, but they were only to move when the cloud (or fire) moved, and to stay when cloud (or fire) stayed (Numbers 9:17).

But now you will say: well that was the Old Testament—things are different now! But are they? Does God want to give us glory now, so we trust and rely on mere men and women? Or is God the same yesterday, today and forever? But let's have a look at the same thing in Jesus.

Jesus' healings teach us to trust in God's daily direction

Jesus obviously healed and delivered a lot of people. But when the text goes into the detail of how he did it, we find something that might surprise many.

Jesus' approach varies each time. So once, he made a mud paste with dirt and spit (John 9); another time, he cast out demon-possessed with a word (Matthew 8:28-34); and, he allowed a touch of his cloak to heal (Matthew 14:36); he laid hands on the sick (Luke 4:40); he said a word without even being near the sick person (Matthew 8:5-13); he allowed a leper to ask him for healing, and then touched him and commanded healing (Luke 5:12-15); he commanded a paralytic, without touching him, to get up and walk (Luke 5:24-26); and our final example, he commanded a person with a withered hand to merely stretch out his hand, and he was healed (Luke 6:6-11). I'm sure a more detailed look would find even more variations.

Now, here's the key. Jesus always only did what the Father wanted him to do (John 5:19). So even if some situations were the same as others, there is no one technique or impersonal spiritual force or key for us to learn so that we can, without God's direction, perform a miracle. The power is in God, not the technique.

Bottom line: Jesus listened to the Father, and then did as the Father directed him. Victory was absolutely assured, being God himself, but he still was the type of person who said "nevertheless, not my will but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). He sought God the Father's will for every situation, not presuming that he would go alone and perform miracles outside of that relationship. Jesus' example, if we're to follow in his footsteps, glorifies the Father by showing that the power was not in a particular method of healing but in simply doing what the Father wanted him to do.