The Before Principle 2 Kings 5:14NKJ
What would you do for a healing, an answer, or maybe peace in you or your family?
So he (Naaman) 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 5:1-14NLT The king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy. 2 At this time Aramean raiders had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid. 3 One day the girl said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy.” 4 So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. 5 “Go and visit the prophet,” the king of Aram told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel.” So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter to the king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.” 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, “This man sends me a leper to heal! Am I God, that I can give life and take it away? I can see that he’s just trying to pick a fight with me.” 8 But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him: “Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.” 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy.” 11 But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! 12 Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” The Text from the NLT again, 2 Kings 5:14 So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child’s, and he was healed!
Hear the CHARACTER OF CAPTAIN NAAMAN.
1. He was Captain of the Host of King of Syria.
He was the general - a man who had been successful in life. Disciplined. Trained, a leader. He had risen to the top of his profession.
2. He was also a servant.
3. He was a great man with his Master.
4. He was an honorable man.
5. He was a mighty man of valor. (A warrior.)
. . .but he was a leper. (Say, unclean.)
A letter in a can tied to an old water pump on a trail across the Amargosa Desert read as follows: This pump is all right as of June 1932. Under the white rock I buried a bottle of water, out of the sun and cork end up. There’s enough water in it to prime the pump, but not if you drink some first. The well has never run dry. Have faith. When you get watered up, fill the bottle and put it back like you found it for the next feller. - Desert Pete
PS. Don’t go drinking up the water first. Prime the pump with it, and you’ll get all you can hold.
Q&A: If you were a lonely traveler shuffling down that parched desert trail with your canteen bone-dry, would you trust this guy Desert Pete? There are no guarantees that what he claims is true. It’s a risk. Do you do it?
* God honors radical-risk-taking faith. God favors people who apply the “before principle.”
Will you believe before there’s any prove? Naaman found it hard to swallow, that Elisha sent out a servant to give him this word.
Naaman’s first reply after hearing Elisha’s servant, “I know of two clean rivers.” (The River Jordan is dirty.)
However, in 2 Kings 5, verse 14, Naaman obeyed and dipped six times in the River Jordan, but on the seventh time, he was healed of leprosy. (Don’t quit!)
“Completeness follows obedience; healing adheres to attitudes, miracles wait for the hungry and passionate.” P.H.
* In Scripture the “before principle” is repeated many times, God always gives out great rewards to the obedient.
*The Red Sea didn’t spilt until Moses approached the problem with his staff of faith. Peter didn’t catch a boat-load of fish until he obeyed Jesus, and fished in deeper water.
In Matthew 8:1-3TM Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, “Master, if you want to, you can heal my body.”3. Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be clean.” Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone.
Matthew 8:5-10NKJ When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” 7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” 8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.
The principle of before, deals with our waiting, our consecration, and our faith. It plays out in our life in the following manners:
1. When I take the risk of giving generously, I discover that I really can trust God to take care of me - but first I have to get my feet wet.
2. When I take the risk of asking forgiveness of another person, I discover that God really will honor my confession - but first I have to get my feet wet.
3. When I risk using my spiritual gift, I can know the joy of being used by God - but first I have to get my feet wet.
4. When I risk making a phone call or visit to encourage or show concern, I can know the satisfaction of touching another human being at their point of need - but first I have to get my feet wet.
5. Where do you need to risk? How is God calling you to get your feet wet?
You might be like Naaman, you have it all together, but one thing! (The Before Principle is all about faith.)
2 Kings 5:14TM So he did it. He went down and immersed himself in the Jordan seven times, following the orders of the Holy Man. His skin was healed; it was like the skin of a little baby. He was as good as new.
Q&A: “Will you obey before the miracle, before the supernatural?” “Before the breakthrough?”
Benediction.
