“But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me!
But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed!”
2 Kings 5:11, 13-14 NLT
Imagine a scenario where you suddenly walk up on a scene where you observe an adult holding a small child across their knees while administering sharp blows to the child’s back.
Deciding to intervene, you run up to neutralize the threat against the child, only to discover that this person was actually frantically attempting to dislodge an object from the child’s throat to save its life.
Context is everything. In our daily lives we subconsciously use perceived context to make judgments, and, indeed, sometimes snap decisions.
But here’s the thing about God. He, Himself, is the only context within which He can be rightly understood.
Think about it, we have a need, concern, etc., and we bring it to the Lord. However, we invariably do so within the context of our own predetermined idea of how the Lord should remedy the problem or meet the need. But in all honesty, we may not even know what the actual problem is, much less know how it should be solved.
God has a view, a vantage point, we do not have, neither can begin to imagine. Only He sees all things from the beginning to the end.
““Do not forget this! Keep it in mind! Remember this, you guilty ones. Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me. Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.”
Isaiah 46:8-10 NLT
We would be embarrassed to admit that we often think our analysis of a situation is better than God’s. But isn’t that estimation exactly true of the way we act when the Lord doesn’t answer according to our prescribed direction for Him?
In our opening scripture we see that Naaman nearly forfeited his healing, all because the prophet did not act according to what he had imagined.
Child of God, let’s repent for trying to package God, limiting Who He is, how He works, and what He should do, to the confines of our own understanding.
Make no mistake, we may well forfeit our relief, our answer, our blessing, when we try to limit an almighty, omniscient, eternal, God, to the box of our idea of how things should work.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7 NLT
Part of an old song we used to sing had a line that went, “Oh, what needless pain we bear; all because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.”
Now, most Christians know about the need to thank God for our food and other blessings (at least, I pray most Christians know/do this).
However, when it comes to our petitions to the Lord, many Christians bring to the Lord only those things considered prayer “worthy” material. That is, we pray about things we can’t work out for ourselves. Generally, it’s some sort of crisis scenario in which we turn to the Lord, seeking relief or an answer, when our efforts have failed.
Just imagine how much better our lives would be if we genuinely operated in a prayerful manner. In other words, how different might our lives be if we were constantly in communication with our Father concerning every aspect, every moment, every activity, in our lives?
This prayerful way of being and doing is not what people might imagine. You know the stereotypes associated with prayerful people: solemn souls, walking around with bowed heads, communicating with God, oblivious to everything and everyone else around them.
Far to the contrary, living in a prayerful attitude, actually brings a heightened sense of knowledge and understanding in which we can live, move, and have our being, directed and protected, constantly connected, with our Heavenly Father!
Let’s ask the Lord to forgive us for setting arbitrary boundaries to what should be prayed about. Let’s take EVERYTHING to God in prayer, living our lives in constant contact with Him.
Remember, prayers we pray on our knees, alone before the Lord, are good and certainly necessary. With that, there is a whole different level of spiritual operation available to the one who is never “out of contact” with the Father, always mindful of Him. Always open to His leading.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”
Ephesians 4:31-32 NLT
Once, when I was talking to the Lord about an offense that had been perpetrated against me, He answered me in a way that was, at first, perplexing.
The Holy Spirit clearly spoke to me, saying, “You need to repent of that.” Confused, I responded that I was the victim in this scenario. What the Lord then helped me to understand was that although I was the victim in terms of the offense, I had developed an attitude because of the offense that was now offensive to Him.
You see, as the Lord instructed me when I was facing another very similar situation, my attitude was actually saying that what had been done to me could somehow revoke God’s goodness and His plan for me.
I find it much easier now to let go of an offense, not allowing it to be a part of me in any way, knowing that continuing to nurse an offense, is offensive to the Lord.
Now, most people know a bad attitude when they see it. But to clarify, let’s look a little closer.
A bad attitude is actually what happens when we allow an offense (reaction or emotion to perceived personal affront) to inform our behavior (including our thoughts).
Face it, hurt happens. Disappointment happens. Injustice happens. Certainly, we don’t like everything that happens around us or to us. However, our part, as children of God, is to limit that reaction or emotion to the moment it happens and not allow it to become a bad attitude—a directing factor in terms of our lives.
Sadly, there are people whose lives are still being directed and affected by hurts they experienced decades ago!
You see, hurt can become a “rudder” in our lives directing in a certain direction, coloring everything, I mean EVERYTHING, we do!
Child of God. Our lives must be directed only by the Holy Spirit. Our thoughts must spring from the knowledge of God’s goodness. Our reactions must reflect God’s mercy.
Let’s repent of our bad attitudes. Let’s make sure we don’t walk in offense. Let’s access that mercy, faithfulness, healing, and newness of life, continually available to God’s children!
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!