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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.
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– 2 Kings 5:10-11,
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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.
Naaman stormed away and he would have missed out on his healing if one of his servants hadn't talked him into giving Elisha's instructions a try.
I used to be like that. I wanted spectacular experiences from God so badly I was missing out on the experiences God had planned for me. Once I realized that, I quit looking for feelings and spectacular manifestations and just started expecting God to keep His Word.
I remember I went to a meeting one night with my ankle messed up terribly. The pain was so severe it went from my foot all the way up to my shoulder blades. But I went into that meeting expecting God to heal me.
During the praise service, I ignored the pain in my foot and just sang and worshiped with everyone else. When the preaching started, I got my Bible and got involved in the Word. Sure enough, sometime during that service I was healed. I don't know when it was. I didn't feel anything. I didn't see any sparklers go off. I didn't even realize I'd been healed until after the service. I got about halfway to the door and thought, Glory to God, my foot's well! That terrible pain was gone and is still gone over 40 years later. (don’t you want to be ready for heaven)
Don't let your own ideas of how God's going to work rob you of your healing or your deliverance or your prosperity. Just trust Him and let Him do things His way. He will work mightily in you.
A disciplined thought-life is what the Word encourages us to develop. It’s up to you to choose God’s timeless truth over your temporary thoughts. The more you do it, the more you're bending your will to God’s will & conditioning your natural mind to reverence God for who He is.
Leprosy
The King James translators saw the Hebrew "tzaraath" and translated it "leprosy." Compared to our modern definition of leprosy, many of the Biblical symptoms mentioned actually encompassed a variety of diseases The ancients simply did not know what they were dealing with. Only God knew the potential risks to the general population, so these rituals of quarantine and purification were enormously important. Sin was always suspected as the first cause of disease, so religious rites were applied first.
Leviticus 13:9 - "When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest."
The Wave Offering
When Israelites brought their offerings to the Lord, they were considered sacred tokens in the covenant between God and men. Certain offerings were "heaved" into the air as testimony of their presentation, then eaten by the priests. In other cases, the meat was "waved" before the Lord and was eaten by the worshiper. Today, we wave our hands to the Lord as tokens of surrender to Him.
Leviticus 14:24 - "And the priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD."
Touching The Unclean
Touch is one of the five senses. As ears hear, eyes see, noses smell, and tongues taste, the body feels. It receives input from anything it touches. It is impacted and influenced by what it touches. God repeatedly told Israel not to touch unclean (forbidden) things. Holy things become defiled and unholy by touch. Only sanctified things may touch the holy. Once defiled, one had to go through a purification process. In the New Testament, one must repent and be washed in Jesus' blood.
Leviticus 15:27 - "And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash..."
Strange Fire And Strange Incense
God killed Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire. God ordered Aaron to bring fire from the holy altar of sacrifice, and holy incense. God curses phony sacrifices and phony prayers.
Leviticus 16:12-13- "...he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not."
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