7 Times  (Naaman)


Today we will be looking at a man in The Bible whose name was Naaman.   Naaman met with a problem that seemed impossible, but what he didn’t understand is that with GOD nothing is impossible.  As we look at the accounts of his life, please relate this in your own life to your own problems that you may be facing and know that there is ONE ALMIGHTY GOD and HE is in control and everything that happens in our lives is for a purpose and you and I can trust HIM!  He’s working all things out for our good if we will trust and obey HIM.  I love you all. :o)

Handout:  7 Times (Namaan)


2 Kings 5:1-7 “5 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. 


And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. 3 And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy. 4 And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.
And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. 6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.  7 And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.”

Ok…before we move on in the lesson, let’s just take a look at Naaman’s Bio.  Let’s dissect and see what The Word of GOD tells us about this man.
1.  Captain of the Host (Commander of the army)

2.  A mighty man of Valor (A great warrior)

3.  Very respected and honorable

4.  He was admired by the King

BUT…

5.  He was a Leper…He had Leprosy


Each and every person ever born…no matter how good life is going…will ALWAYS be a “but”  There’s no way around it, no matter how good life may be right now, eventually there will be a huge gap in the road of life and we will have to deal with.  It pays to know The One who can handle all difficulties!  His name is JESUS CHRIST.

So things had been going pretty well for Naaman this far, and then there came that huge problem…Leprosy!  It was devastating to Naaman, for this disease for which there was no cure. 


Leprosy is a chronic disease that would cause permanent damage to his skin, his nerves, his limbs and even his eyes.    It would eat away at a person and take them down to nothing.


That meant the end of everything he had worked for, his military career, his position, his appearance, his livelihood.  There was no cure…it was hopeless for him.


BUT…there’s that word again…BUT, What Naaman didn’t understand, is that with GOD NOTHING is impossible…Nothing is hopeless! 


Jeremiah 32:27 Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?”


Thank You LORD…GOD had allowed this to happen to him, because he wanted to introduce HIMSELF to Naaman.    Naaman had been honored and acquainted with the earthly king…But he was about to be introduced to THE KING OF KINGS!!! In what seemed like a hopeless situation Naaman was being honored and chosen by GOD!  Praise The LORD!!!


Are you being tested and chosen right now?  Has GOD allowed you to be put through a fire and it seems there is no escape?  Take heart…HE WILL NOT LEAVE YOU!  He is allowing this time in your life to teach you more about HIMSELF…to show you HIS great love and faithfulness to you.


Now Naaman had a choice…he could get bitter, or he could humble himself down and accept this path.  You and I have a choice as well.  We can follow The LORD, or we can go our own way.


“Men may pass through God's hottest furnaces and only come out harder than ever. It is only when the Holy Spirit uses our sorrows — when we put them into His hands to use that they will ever be made a blessing to us.”  Whitfield


See the world may seem fine in appearance…but we are all eat up with a disease which to humanity is hopeless and incurable…it’s called SIN!


Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”


There is only one hope, one cure and it is The BLOOD OF JESUS!  We need it to be saved…but we need it every day that we live and breathe because we are all infected with this disease.  It stays around in our flesh for all of our days upon the earth.  EVERY SINGLE DAY OF OUR LIVES WE MUST DEAL WITH IT, and just like Leprosy…its chronic, and if not treated.  it will ruin us!


Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of GOD is eternal life through JESUS CHRIST our LORD!”


Now, in those days, people who had Leprosy were separated from everyone, their families, their friends, from society.  It meant pretty much living a life alone or in a leper colony with other people with the disease. 

Do you realize that our chronic disease Sin, separates us from GOD?  

Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated between you and your GOD, and your sins have hid HIS face from you, that he will not hear.”


Even we who have believed and accepted JESUS and the plan of salvation…we still have this fleshly nature that is enmity against GOD…it must be dealt with daily…ignoring it will not help


Romans 8:7-8 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against GOD: for it is not subject to the law of GOD, neither indeed can be.  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please GOD.


Trying to cover it up will not help.  Don’t you know Naaman may have tried to cover up his leprosy, but that did not make it go away.  Trying to pretty it up or make it seem ok, it will not help.  We can try to be good enough…but there it is…always there…SIN and it’s ugly and it’s not going away easily!

So like just like Naaman, we have a choice to make.  We can go our own way, or seek JESUS, the one that can heal us…everyday!


Now D.L. Moody stated that “Naaman had two diseases”  or issues.


1.  Leprosy
2. Pride


Both needed to be healed.  The pride needed dealt with even more than the Leprosy. 

What did JESUS say? 


Matthew 10:28 “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”


This body, this life is only temporary…yes bad things can happen, but there is a forever coming and we must focus on that more than here, it’s hard to do sometimes but a wise person will do so.  It’s better to live a life pleasing to The LORD in this life and be with HIM forever in the next, than to live according to our own desires and have to stand before HIM one day knowing that we wasted the life HE gave to us. 


So first, GOD was going to deal with Naaman’s bigger issue, which was:


A. Pride. 


He was going to get a huge lesson in humility and it wasn’t going to be fun for him!


2 Kings 5:8:12 “8 And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. 


So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. 


11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.”


Mr. Naaman is a man of high position, no doubt he has worked hard to get where he is and he is used to the “red carpet” treatment.  He is used to being treated with great respect and honor.  So here he went down to the man of GOD and The Word of GOD says that he gathered up all these riches.  See Naaman was going to pay for his healing.  He was going to use what he had earned to take care of himself.   Have you ever thought that?  GOD if you will do this, this and this, then I will stop this and do that and …bargaining with GOD.  See we can’t pay for or earn salvation, it’s a free gift of GOD.  Let’s see what the apostle Paul says about this.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of GOD: Not of works, lest any many should boast.”

So Naaman makes this journey for this miraculous healing that he is going to pay for himself and he gets to the man of GOD’S house and Elisha didn’t even come outside!
No special treatment for Naaman, AND HE WAS FURIOUS!


Elisha sent a servant to tell Naaman to go dip 7 times in the muddiest river around.  How dare this man tell me to go dip 7 times in JORDAN?  Are you kidding me???  Muddy Jordan???   He didn’t even come out…I thought he would come out to me, stand and call on the name of his GOD, wave his hands around and POOF I’m HEALED!!!  He didn’t even come outside and he’s gonna tell me to go dip 7 times in a river and my incurable disease will suddenly disappear!? 


When we are going through a trial…don’t we want some huge gesture from GOD so that we can see that HE is taking care of everything?  We want All the bells and whistles and the thunder and lightening…and WHOOSH…it’s gone instead of just trusting HIM and believing HIS Word when HE has already promised us that HE will never leave us or forsake us and that HE is working all things out for our good.


Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”


Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in The LORD with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge HIM and HE shall direct thy paths.”


Bells and whistles, thunder and lightening…remember when Elijah was having a hard time there and feeling all alone and wanting to die and GOD told him to go to on the mountain?  (1 Kings 19)


1.  There was a great wind that caused damage to the rocks…but GOD was not in the wind

2.  then an earthquake…but The LORD was not in the earthquake…

3.  After the earthquake…a fire but The LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire…

4.  Then a still small voice!


Sometimes GOD whispers so that we will get up close enough to HIM to hear what HE is saying!  Praise The LORD.  He was whispering to Naaman!  Is he whispering to you?  MOVE CLOSER!


So Naaman had traveled with his riches to pay for something spectacular and NOTHING happened.  He was mad, and disappointed.  Ever tried to pay GOD for salvation?  Or be good enough…can’t be done.  We like to earn it, to be lifted up to say to ourselves and the world, look what I’ve done!  See Naaman wanted to be healed…but he wanted it done his way and in his own strength. 


We want deliverance too and we start to think maybe if I give to the poor, or maybe if I go to church more…It’s hard sometimes for us to just admit…GOD I CAN’T make it without YOU and if you don’t do it…it won’t be done!  All I know, is I can’t make it LORD without YOU!


GOD is not interested in what we can do without HIM, HE wants us to be obedient to HIS HOLY SPIRIT and all HIM to work THROUGH us.  HIS strength. 


2 Corinthians 12:9 Paul writes, “And HE said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of CHRIST may rest upon me.”


It’s hard on our pride and our flesh, but we all need to get to the place where we  say ok GOD…take me, use me…like a puppet on a string…I’m yours!

Finally Naaman decided to obey the LORD.


2 Kings 5:13-14 “13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? 


14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.” 


Notice what it says…Naaman went he DOWN…Naaman had accepted that he had to humble himself down and obey and then he was healed. He had learned that he could not help himself and that he needed GOD to do it or it wasn’t going to be done.  He humbled himself down and trusted and obeyed GOD, and GOD did what Naaman nor anyone else could do!  Praise You FATHER! 


Are you in a situation now that there is no way out?  Beloved, know that Your Father delights to rescue and heal you, trust and obey what HE is saying to you and be healed in the name of JESUS!  Understand that sometimes there are things that we must endure so that we have a special encounter with JESUS, so that we understand who HE is and there is no other like HIM.  See Naaman was healed inside and outwardly, but Paul when he prayed, he wasn’t healed physically, but inwardly.  GOD told him, Paul, My Grace is sufficient for you.  I will be strong for you.  GOD will heal our hearts every single time, but sometimes our bodies are healed and sometimes not, but HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT!


Let me add this…don’t you reckon that every time Naaman dipped himself in that water that satan was right in his ear telling him how foolish he was being, trying to get him to stop?  He will be in your ear as well…tell him “get behind me satan and you can say it on the authority of JESUS name!  Don’t let him rob your blessing!
 
2 Kings 5:15 “15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.”


Through this terrible time, Naaman had been introduced to The GOD of the universe…The GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The Holy One of Israel!  The one true GOD and he knew, there were no doubts that there was but ONE TRUE ALMIGHTY GOD.  Once we have an encounter with The LORD…and HE brings us through a hopeless situation…There is NO DOUBT WHO HE IS!  Praise The LORD!
HE’S wanting from us… Humility, Faith and obedience!

2 Chronicles 7:14 “ If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek MY face, and turn from their wicked ways; Then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”


We live in a world filled with sin sickness and temptation on every corner lurking to have us.  JESUS told Peter in Luke 22:31 that satan desired to have him that he may sift you as wheat, but JESUS prayed for him.  See Dear One, evil is after you and I as well.  No wonder in HIS word we are warned and told to walk in The Holy Spirit!


Galatians 5:16 “Walk in The SPIRIT and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

**Yes we have to humble ourselves down and believe and be saved but it doesn’t stop there…we must stay humble!  Seek HIS face…turn away from our sinful desires.

We must say everyday, Savior please keep saving me from myself and my wicked desires.  Every day, I need JESUS to save my from my self…from my fleshly desires and from my sin.  Every day!  That’s hard to admit, It’s embarrassing, and It’s humbling
It’s sad to know that on my own, I will do the wrong thing every stinkin time!

Any good thing in us, anything that does right, it’s because of The HOLY SPIRIT in us!
I NEED HIM!  GOT TO HAVE HIM!  Many times I get angry at myself, but HE wouldn’t have it any other way, HE wants us to depend upon HIM!  , 

John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold but climbeth up some other way the same is a thief and a robber.”

You and I MUST BE BORN AGAIN.  Nothing but the BLOOD of JESUS!

If we confess our sins, HE is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness! (1 John 1:9)  Confess and repent!  Confession is good for the soul

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as HE is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST HIS SON Cleanseth us from ALL Sin! 


Praise The LORD!!!


What can wash away my sin?  NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS!  What can make me whole again?  NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS!


Dear Righteous, FATHER…

I bow before YOU and thank YOU for who You are.  I thank You for Your written Word so that we can learn and understand more about You.  Help us to stay humble before You and seek Your face and to turn from this sinful flesh and walk according to Your Holy Spirit daily.  Help us to love, as You love, live as You would have us to live and to confess our sins daily in repentance so that we can remain in right standing with You.  Shine through us Beautiful Savior and help us to get ourselves out of the way.  Kill those things in us that are not pleasing to You and give us strength to endure the process.  We love You, trust You and praise You JESUS because You are so worthy.  It is in Your lovely name we pray and ask…Amen

 


~*cindygirl*~
November 18, 2018