HAPPY WITH CHURCH TONIGHT
The evening prayer meeting was very good. We prayed against the evil spirit of religion who uses minor hindrances like ‘mosquitoes’ to block the progress of the might ‘caterpillar’ of the Holy Ghost. We rejected any excuse to stop praying and stop believing. We prayed until we entered a place of victory. Then the word came:
“Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife. Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.” (2 Kg 5:1-3)
Man’s primary longing is for love and success. General Naaman was a very successful man. His wife loved him. He had it all… or so you think… The story of Naaman is a proof that it is possible to be successful in this world and dead in the same time. It shows the failure of worldly success. The name of Naaman means ‘pleasant’. He was a good pagan man. At that time, the King of Syria was the highest monarch in the world. Naaman was in charge of his army. He was one of the greatest most decorated generals in the Syrian army. Naaman was a mighty man of valor ‘but a leper’. Oh… this little word ‘but’… how it spoils the success of this world, how it kills the dreams of the flesh… Naaman was sick and dying. He had leprosy. His fingers were probably falling; his skin was peeling and his body was smelly like a corpse. He was dying little by little. He was isolated socially and religiously. He was forced to avoid people. He became a very lonely man. He was successful but because of his leprosy, in reality, he was a failure. If money could save, he could have bought salvation. If rank could heal, he could have promoted himself to health. If peace and joy were for sale, he could have purchased the factory where these were manufactured. He served the Syrian idol, Rimmon, the god of storm and thunder. Everybody at that time believed that if the juju likes you, he will give you money and success. His god gave him that. But the same juju could not heal him from this terrifying disease. Who can help? Where to go? What to do?
The leprosy humiliated the general. In the past he hated to talk to lowly people. But this time, anyone who had a word of hope for him, he will be welcomed and rewarded. Out of all people, God chose a girl he captured as a slave from Israel. A teenager was to be the messenger of good news for Naaman. She was a slave captured from war. Naaman possible killed her parents and carried her as a slave. He gave her to his wife to be a ‘house girl’. Against all odds, the girl obeys God’s word: love your enemies! From the day she gave him hope, Naaman started seeking the living God, who alone could heal him. He clings to her word of faith and hope. The salve her become the master! This is the power of grace! She said that he should go to Elisha, the prophet who lives in Samaria. She said that the prophet will heal him. This is faith! How did she know about the power of healing? It means that her parents trained her well, in the ways of the Lord! Her parents were dead but she kept the faith! She was an arrow in the hand of the Lord!
This girl has no name. In the natural she was a ‘low class’ girl. But in the Spirit she was royalty! This girl was a daughter of Jehovah; a child of the covenant! She could have been bitter against her ‘master’. She could have hated him for what he did to her. She could have rejoiced in his suffering thinking that God has punished him for the wrong done against her family. Her future in Syria (the country of ISIS of today) was dark. She is a slave. Once she becomes an adult, she will not see a Jewish man to marry there. She herself had no hope for herself. But this girl shines like a star in the darkness. She is a servant of God! She is an evangelist! She did not look to herself or to her circumstances. She looked unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of her faith! She had God in her heart. His grace was sufficient for her to change tragedy into triumph! She drew strength from the Holy Spirit, her Comforter! From the supernatural hope deposited in her heart she gave hope to her enemy. Her word of faith triggers a series of events that will eventually end in her master’s healing and salvation, to the praise of the Living God of Israel.
What is the lesson for us? God can use you any place you find yourself! You are not too poor, too young or too sick to be a blessing to another. But if you are bound in the chains of bitter angry feelings against some injustice of the past, God cannot use you to bless others. You cannot enter into the blessed land of ‘Shalom’. You cannot lead others to partake from the promised peace. Right now, forget about your pain, lack and suffering! By the power of the Holy Spirit, stand up and speak words of faith! May God use you to bless someone today, be him a friend or an enemy! In Jesus name, amen! Glory to God!
Green Pastures 