A teaching by Rev. Barbara Williams, President of the Ministry of the Watchman International
Week of July 22-26, 2024
MONDAY
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.”
And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel.”
2 Kings 5:1-4
Have you ever wondered why some people get healed and others don’t? If you wonder about these things in the right manner, God will begin to bring answers to your questions. Perhaps this teaching will help some of you who have such questions. When I study miracles, I always like to look at the key persons and what they do in a miracle situation. In every miracle, there are certain elements present. Faith in God’s healing power is the key element, and obedience to that faith on the part of the sick person is the other key element. The healing power of God works in His realm, the realm of the spirit and in heavenly places. How does one ascend into God’s realm and receive a miracle?
Naaman the leper had been used by God to bring deliverance to Syria. The Syrians were not God’s called-out people like Israel, but they received God’s deliverance and obviously had God’s favor and attention. Naaman used his talents to help God’s cause. Be careful when you allow God to use you. You may be in line for a miracle. Naaman’s wife’s maid was a daughter of Israel. Just because there are Christians in your circle, it does not mean God will give you a miracle through them, but this little girl was a believing Israelite. There lies the difference. This little girl believed in the healing power of God that worked through the prophet. She was a prophetic person because she walked through the house proclaiming God’s healing power, if Naaman could just get to the man of God. She declared it so loud and with such faith, that she apparently got someone else to believe it and tell Naaman. Faith for a miracle has entered the atmosphere.
If you are in need of healing, there is good news! Proverbs 4:20-22 SAYS:
My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
So there is life and health in God’s word. Since God’s word is medicine, we must take it like we would a prescription. I suggest three times a day, like you would your food. Remember, healing is the children’s bread. Consider this your “dose” for today. Remember, read, and meditate three times a day the following:
Rx: Hebrews 13:8 ~ Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forevermore.
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
2 Timothy 2:15
If you’ve never studied the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, we invite you to join us as we read through the Bible in a year. Read and meditate on these chapters this week:
July 22: Judges 5, Acts 9, Jeremiah 18, Mark 4
July 23: Judges 6, Acts 10, Jeremiah 19, Mark 5
July 24: Judges 7, Acts 11, Jeremiah 20, Mark 6
July 25: Judges 8, Acts 12, Jeremiah 21, Mark 7
July 26: Judges 9, Acts 13, Jeremiah 22, Mark 8
July 27: Judges 10:1-11:11, Acts 14, Jeremiah 23, Mark 9
July 28: Judges 11:12-40, Acts 15, Jeremiah 24, Mark 10
TUESDAY
Then the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, “Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.”
2 Kings 5:5-6
This little girl’s faith was so strong that her words reached the ears of the King of Syria. Not bad for a little servant girl. Actually, this girl was a slave. She had been brought captive to work in the master’s house. This is the way it is sometimes with people of faith. They may find themselves in unusual places because their faith is needed there. Even though circumstances are not favorable, God will elevate them if they use their faith to show mercy and compassion to others.
Since faith works by love, this little slave girl apparently had a forgiving heart and was not resentful of her captors. Could you do that? Even in the workplace we sometimes have adversarial relationships with bosses and co-workers. Jealousy and competition cause us to view that fellow human being as more of an enemy than a friend. We have to determine to walk in love if we are to play a part in God’s miracles.
So love, the essential ingredient in all of God’s work, was present in this girl’s heart toward her master. This caused her words to have faith, to be heard, and to be carried to the highest authority in Syria. Will your words stand before Kings and Presidents?
WEDNESDAY
And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me.”
So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
2 Kings 5:7-8
Sometimes people are looking for a miracle from the wrong source. Many believers make this mistake. They assume that because they are a member of a certain church that they can get all their needs met there. Maybe that is not your hang-up. Perhaps you are bound by your denomination. It makes no difference: bondage is bondage. Jesus warns us not to become entangled again with a yoke of bondage once we are set free. If you are looking for God to work miracles in your comfort zone, I’m here to warn you… He probably won’t do it. Since God is the source of your miracle, you must go to one who ministers under the miracle working power of God. I hope your church does, but if not, ask God to lead you to the person who can get you healed. He knows who His servants are.
The King of Syria, while intervening for Naaman, writes a letter to the King of Israel requesting him to heal Naaman, even though the servant girl has told them to go to the prophet. Do different ministry gifts have different abilities? Of course, they do. Ministers differ by virtue of office, and whether or not they pay the price and gain the knowledge to minister healing. Some ministers could no more get you healed than that King could cure Naaman. At least the King of Israel had the good sense to let them know that he wasn’t the one for the job. Many times we pray for people and have no faith, or sometimes even tell people that God perhaps does not want to heal them. It is not wise to assume abilities in God.
We must know we have power, or we may give people a false sense of security or condemn them to remain in their infirmity. After some delay, the message finally gets to the man of God, who wants Naaman to know God’s power. Is your miracle delayed? Keep pressing and hang on to faith. God will come for your faith. The delay may be testing your faith to determine the strength of it. It takes strong, persevering faith to get a miracle.
THURSDAY
Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.”
2 Kings 5:9-10
So Naaman is in the right atmosphere for his miracle. This is the other key element. We’ve seen the power of the preached or prophetic word to stir the heart of the recipient to put his faith in God. We’ve seen the tactic of the enemy: assumption that the one we choose will bring our miracle to us. Now we see the person with the power reveal himself to the receiver. What else is necessary? We will soon see that the attitude of the recipient is the last factor that must be aligned correctly in order for a miracle to be received. Elisha the prophet sends his messenger out with the Word of faith that will heal Naaman. Will Naaman believe and obey the servant’s words?
The bible says that God sends His word and heals us, and that attending to the Word is medicine to us. Naaman, however, is unaware of this. He is looking for some type of honor from the prophet when he really needs to humble himself and obey the words that he hears. He has already delayed his healing by going to the wrong source. Going to the correct source always requires humility. Many sicknesses are a result of our pride. Pride causes us to sometimes neglect our health, destroy our health, or it causes us to neglect to incline our ears to the Word in order to be healed. Humility is the last factor to be dealt with here.
FRIDAY
But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?”
So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”
So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
2 Kings 5:11-14
Naaman was angry at the instruction of God. An angry spirit keeps the atmosphere around us tense and the Spirit of God is unable to penetrate that resistance until we repent. Sometimes we may feel anger if we have to wait for our healing, or if illness has stolen our ability to pursue what we desire. Naaman was angry because the healing was not going according to military protocol. He seemed to have a preconceived idea about how he was going to be ministered to and it wasn’t working his way.
Sound familiar? We want miracles, but we resent what we have to do to get one. Is your life not going your way? You may be on the path to your miracle.
The bible says a soft answer turns away wrath. When you are angry, God will send someone to you to give you a soft answer so that you can accept God’s conditions for your healing. Naaman’s anger was most likely the result of ignorance. Maybe he had been in charge so long that it was hard for him to admit his ignorance and submit to one higher in God’s realm than he. God still holds us accountable to obey knowledge once it is given to us.
Because of the entreaty of his servants, Naaman’s heart was turned, he obeyed the Words of the prophet’s servant, and he was healed. So the last element of the miracle was provided: the humble recipient obeys the servant whom God chooses to carry His word. Please take His word like medicine. It is life and health to all your flesh.