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.

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.

Turn, Turn, Turn

With gratitude to God, I write these words overlooking the walls of Jerusalem just two hours before the holyday of Sukot starts and just two miles from where King David himself celebrated Tabernacles. 

Yet, even while wrapped in Jerusalem’s eternal spiritual transcendence, I am typing on a first rate computer connected to high speed Internet in an air-conditioned office.

Many cities like Istanbul, Prague, and Tallinn display similar contrasts between ancient and modern.  But Israel’s ever-present ancient aura is the fuel propelling the country into modernity.

With fewer than 10% of the population of her four contiguous neighbors, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, Israel’s Gross Domestic Product is about equivalent to the aggregate of those four countries.  Imagine if tiny Rhode Island produced more wealth than Georgia.  Instead, as you’d expect, Rhode Island’s GDP is about 1/10th of Georgia, which has about ten times the population of Rhode Island.

One explanation routinely offered for the abysmal economic performance by Israel’s four neighbors is Israel’s existence.  There are problems with that excuse.  One, they weren’t doing any better before 1948 or before they launched several unsuccessful wars against Israel.  Two, being surrounded by enemies, the monumental costs of self-defense impose a disproportionate burden upon the tiny Jewish state.