Let God Do It His Way

"Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean. But Naaman was angry." (2 Kings 5:10-11, The Amplified Bible)

So often we miss out on what God wants to do for us because He doesn't do it the way we think He should. We work up an idea in our minds about how He's going to heal us, for instance. We think He's going to send some famous preacher to lay hands on us or that He's going to knock us off our feet with a blast of His power. When He doesn't, we let our faith drop and foul up what He had actually planned to do.

That's what Naaman did. He went to Elisha expecting to be healed in a particular way. When it didn't happen that way, the Bible says, he went away in a rage.

What Elisha told him to do was simple. Dip seven times in the Jordan. Naaman could do that. But it didn't fit his idea of how his healing should take place. He thought Elisha would heal him by waving his hands around and calling on the Name of the Lord.

No Going Back

Written by Kristi Huseby

Take our online study to explore the value and necessity of self-control in our lives today.

“Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family. But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9: 61-62, NLT)

Have you ever told yourself, “I’m done with that sin and I’m never going back to it?” I have – about a bazillion times! I get so disgusted with my sin that I dissociate myself from it. However, this dissociation only lasts a couple of days before I begin to miss my comfortable sin. At the point of missing it, I wish I had it back.

Why do we go back? Here are some reasons: the past always seems to be better, we don’t like the present, we’re afraid of the future, we can’t let go, our sin feels so much more comfortable than the unknown. These are all excuses, excuses and more excuses.

Naaman's Servant Girl

One of my heroes is a child. I hope she made it to heaven because I want to meet her. I don't even know her name.

"Now [raiding] bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, 'If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy'"(2 Kings 5:2,3).

If I had been captured by raiders, taken from my family, and now forced to work as an unpaid slave for some foreigner, I would hate it. Worse-Naaman was a high-ranking military officer in the dreaded Aramean army, Israel's bitter foes on their troubled northern frontier.

I would work every day in a cold rage, burying my feelings under a bland mask and plotting either escape or revenge. Instead, this little girl showed kindness to her owner. She felt sorry for him because he had leprosy and urged him to see Elisha, Israel's great man of God.

Circumstantial Faith!

The word circumstance is a compound word that means, to stand in a circle. 

Sometimes you're surrounded by problems that are trying to defeat you and attack you on every side. In 2 Kings chapter 6 Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the Syrians all around the city by horses and chariots.

The servant of Elisha was afraid and asked his master what should they do? Elisha simply prayed that God would open up the eyes of his servant that he would see that there were more for them than against them. The Lord opened up the eyes of the servant to see that Elisha and the servant were surrounded by horses and chariots of fire roundabout on the mountains.

Let God Do It His Way

"Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean. But Naaman was angry." (2 Kings 5:10-11, The Amplified Bible)

So often we miss out on what God wants to do for us because He doesn't do it the way we think He should. We work up an idea in our minds about how He's going to heal us, for instance. We think He's going to send some famous preacher to lay hands on us or that He's going to knock us off our feet with a blast of His power. When He doesn't, we let our faith drop and foul up what He had actually planned to do.

That's what Naaman did. He went to Elisha expecting to be healed in a particular way. When it didn't happen that way, the Bible says, he went away in a rage.

Victorious Warfare

Written by Brigitte Straub

If you feel surrounded today, come talk to a mentor.

“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  (2 Kings 6:16)

You are never alone! One thing is for sure: there is a realm our physical eyes cannot see.  There is a host of angels ministering to us, guarding us, and working for us and on our behalf.  Whatever you may be experiencing remember first that God is for you, and there is much more taking place in the invisible realm.

Elisha lived from that realm.  The things that took place in the natural world did not shake Elisha. Instead, he moved in something beyond what he could see physically.  He was taken and possessed by what he could see with his spiritual eyes.

“From Empty to Full” – Part 3 “What Shall I Do for You?”

“As the hart pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for You, O God.”  

Psalm 42:1 Amplified Bible

EXPLORATION:

“From Empty to Full” – Part 3

“What Shall I Do for You?”

“Fullness” – Containing all that is possible. Complete in every detail.

What do I have of “value” within myself?

“God does not love us because we are valuable. We are valuable because God loves us.”

Fulton J. Sheen

INSPIRATION:

“It is the heart that makes a (woman) rich. (She) is rich according to what (she) is…not according to what (she) has.”

Henry Ward Beecher

“From Empty to Full” – Part 4 “Nothing – Except”

“As a deer longs for a stream of cool water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for you, the living God.” Psalm 42:1
The Good News Bible

EXPLORATION: “From Empty to Full” – Part 4

“Nothing – Except”

“Fullness” – Containing all that is possible. Complete in every detail.

If I feel like I have nothing in my life, what is the “except” I can bring to Jesus?

“She said, ‘your handmaid has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.’” 2 Kings 4:2 Amplified Bible

"THE MAGIC IS NOT IN THE FAUCET!"

Matthew 17:14-21

14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, 15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. 16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. 17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. 18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? 20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

"THE MAGIC IS NOT IN THE FAUCET!"

by Rev. Michael Phelps

INTRO:

Thomas Edward (T.E.) Lawrence was born on August 16, 1888 in Wales. Popularly known as Lawrence of Arabia, Lawrence became famous for his exploits as British Military liason to the Arab Revolt during the First World War.

Let God Do It His Way

"Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean. But Naaman was angry." (2 Kings 5:10-11, The Amplified Bible)

So often we miss out on what God wants to do for us because He doesn't do it the way we think He should. We work up an idea in our minds about how He's going to heal us, for instance. We think He's going to send some famous preacher to lay hands on us or that He's going to knock us off our feet with a blast of His power. When He doesn't, we let our faith drop and foul up what He had actually planned to do.

Don't Just Sit There...Arise!

"Now four men who were lepers were at the entrance of the city's gate; and they said to one another, Why do we sit here until we die.... So they arose." (2 Kings 7:3,5, The Amplified Bible)

No matter how bad the problem is you may be facing today, no matter how far under the circumstances you may be, in 24 hours you can be back on top!

"Oh, Brother Copeland, that would be impossible!"

That's what the Samaritans thought in 2 Kings 7. Their land was being ravaged by famine. Enemy troops had surrounded them and cut off all source of supply. Mothers were eating their own children just to survive.

The Miracle Worker

Miracles! Think of the range of them in the Bible. 

The waters parted at the Red Sea and again at the Jordan River. 

Elisha made a metal axe head float in the water. 

Sarah and Elizabeth had babies long after the menopausal years. 

For forty years, God supplied a food called manna to the Israelites as they trekked across the land. 

Peter was locked in prison and an angel unlocked the doors and freed him. 

Jesus turned plain drinking water into first-class, grade-A wine. 

What about the healing miracles? The first miracle Luke records is Jesus' healing of a man with a withered arm. After hemorrhaging for twelve years, a woman was healed by Jesus. Peter's mother-in-law received a healing touch. Jesus restored sight to Bartimaeus.