Don't Miss the Move!

Don't Miss the Move! by Steve Montag

I believe we are just at the beginning of what God is doing in this place. I’m convinced that God has a great revival, a great renewal and a great awakening in store for this congregation and the people in this neighborhood. However, you can be in the middle of a move of God like this and still miss it completely. One of the most dangerous positions for a human being is to be privileged to be part of a move of God and still not want to enter into it.

Turn to 2 Kings, chapter 5. We will concentrate on verses 9-14 but I want to give you the background first. It’s the story of Naaman, commander of the Syrian army in the times of Elisha the prophet. I believe there are some truths we need to get a hold of from the story of Naaman’s life that will help us to respond to what God wants to do in our lives.

Verse 1 reads, “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 he was a leper.”

Did you catch that? He was a mighty man of valor, he had some good gifts, and he was a courageous man. He had it going on in his life BUT he was a leper. All of us as believers have been given gifts by the Holy Spirit and we have assets we can give to the Body and to the work of the Lord. But many times we, like Naaman, have a form of leprosy somewhere in our lives. Or we’re like the vessel of clay in the potter’s hands in Jeremiah 18. It’s a vessel the potter’s working on but the vessel is marred in the hands of the potter and he wants to make it another vessel. And so, Naaman, a mighty man of God was also a leper.

To continue the story, the Syrians had gone on raids and bought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel who waited on Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is 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.” So 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.

And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his cloths 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.”

Now beginning in verse 9 is where we want to focus our attention. “Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 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.” 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’?” That’s pretty easy, isn’t it?

“So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and the flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.” Praise God!

Let’s look at 4 truths we need to learn from this incident with Naaman and his encounter, actually, his lack of encounter because the prophet didn’t even bother coming out to see him. We need to learn that there is a correct way and an incorrect way to respond to the Holy Spirit when He wants to do something in our lives.

The first thing is: God doesn’t compromise with us! God is not going to condescend to our preconceived ideas of how and where and when He is supposed to act on our behalf. We get promises from the Lord and immediately we start to guess how God is going to do it. In verse 11, Naaman had a preconceived idea of how God would heal him. He thought himself pretty important and would be received by the prophet and in some theatrical, dramatic way he would be healed of his leprosy. You know, we can miss God if we’re more focused on how we think God is going to move than being focused on Him. If our eyes are just on Him we won’t miss it! He can do it any way He wants and we still won’t miss it.

The second thing is: When God is ready to move He is going to do it according to His terms, not ours! In verse 12, Naaman suggests there is a better way. He can’t conceive that he should wash in a river as filthy as the Jordan. He felt he should get to pick which river to dip in. But it had to be the Jordan because God said so. If you want fulfillment in your life you have to do it on His terms, which aren’t that difficult. He says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Number 3: We need to fully obey what God says! Partial obedience is always disobedience. Look at verse 14. After he threw his fit, Naaman went down and dipped seven times and his flesh was restored and he was clean. Where did he dip? How many times? Why not five times? Had he dipped 5 times or in any other river than the Jordan, he would have gone home a wet leper. But as Naaman fully obeyed the word of the Lord he was made clean. We need to give the same complete obedience to what God says to us.

The last and most important truth is this: Whether or not you want to respond to the Holy Spirit is up to you. No matter what happens or doesn’t happen, you need to fully obey God. Understand this, there comes a moment of decision that you get to make because God gives you free will and depending on your attitude and response you will be a different person. You will be changed either for better or for worse. Naaman could have gone home and still remained a leper. But he wouldn’t have remained just a leper; he would have gone home with his heart a little harder. Sometimes we think, “I’m not going to allow the Lord to move in this particular way,” but who do you think loses at that moment? Isn’t it easier to just go to the Jordan and dip 7 times?

With God there is always a better way. We need to lay down our preconceived ideas and let God be God. God will always have His way and there is always a greater blessing for us when we yield to His will and not our own. Don’t miss the move of God. Allow Him to do whatever He wants to do in your life today!

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