God caused a part of a certain man’s life to be recorded in His Bible so you could see some important principles about Jesus’ love. This man named Naaman lived way back in Old Testament times; he had a life-problem that was just as painful to him as yours is to you. Even though his problem wasn’t the same as yours, he was suffering like you. He had a disease called leprosy; there was no chance of him ever being cured. It would eat away on his body until it killed him. It was like cancer; but, it only attacked and destroyed the body from the outside in. If you will let Jesus take you through this man’s life; He will help you see how following God’s instructions to the letter will work miracles in your life.

2 Ki 5:1 (NIV) Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.

Everyone has some kind of major problem that they are having to face. It may not be anything like your problem with guilt; but, it is causing them just as much stress, difficulty, and challenge. If you feel like no one understands your problem or can identify with your pain, you will feel like there are no answers or solutions that address you and your problem. If you don’t know that Jesus totally understands and cares deeply about what you are suffering, then you exclude Him from your life.

2 Ki 5:2 (NIV) Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. Jesus caused you to find someone or something that helped you find this course with Jesus. It wasn’t an accident that you discovered the answer to your problems. Jesus was making sure that you got the help you needed. You didn’t have to listen or make the moves into reaching out to this help; but, Jesus made sure you were helped to find it. Spend a little time thanking Jesus for making sure you found the help you needed.

2 Ki 5:3 (NIV) She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” Just like it was important for this young girl to share this information, it was important for people to make sure you got Jesus’ kind of help. Jesus can do what no other person can do; everyone who is helped by Him needs to spread the word.

The main issue that needs to be considered is, this girl was saying something that was very unlikely. She was saying that God could heal a disease that these people thought was incurable. They had NEVER seen ANYONE get leprosy and survive the disease. But, this young girl knew what God was able to do; AND, she shared it. Even though sharing such information could have caused her to be laughed at, ridiculed, or rejected, she did it anyway. Even though the world is telling you that you have to go through major steps of grief because of the problem you are going through, Jesus wants to take you through wonderful steps of healing.

2 Ki 5:4 (NIV) Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. Finding the possible answer is only part of the issue; it needs to be acted on. If you found out about what Jesus is able to do for you and you just thought about it, it wouldn’t help you. Naaman took action and started heading toward the answer. James 2:17 says: “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

Here is an important Biblical principle; if Jesus gives you the faith to believe something, it becomes your responsibility to ACT on it; but, this action isn’t human action. When Jesus gives you faith for something and it empowers you to believe you have your answer, your next important spiritual step is to pray and ask Jesus to empower you to ACT. This prayer takes it from your human action to Jesus’ supernatural action.

2 Ki 5:5 (NIV) “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. The things of God are always gifts; it is offensive to God for Christians to try to earn or deserve His gifts. But, when you come out of a system where you typically have to do or pay something to get help, it is difficult to make the transition.

Eph 2:8-9 (NIV) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. Here is another important Biblical principle: EVERYTHING in Christianity that comes through God comes as a gift. It doesn’t have anything to do with earning them, buying them, or deserving them. He is healing you from your issues with guilt as a love gift from Him.

2 Ki 5:6-7 (NIV) The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”

It is typical for Christians to misunderstand where they must go to get the help they need. You may have gone a lot of places that you thought could help you. BUT, just because the first things you tried didn’t work does NOT mean THERE IS NO ANSWER. Like Naaman, you kept seeking and God saw to it that you came to these studies and prayers. God is seeing to it that you get the right type of help from the right type of ministry.

2 Ki 5:8 (NIV) When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

God was using the king of Isreal in a mighty way for leading the people. But, He was using Elisha in a mighty way for helping people like Naaman. If Christians and people seeking a relationship with Jesus go to a person who is a Christian, but, they want something that, that person isn’t being used by Jesus for, then it can have disappointing results. That person could be being used by Jesus in other areas in a mighty way; they just aren’t spiritually qualified for that particular assignment. Jesus is helping you by seeing to it you are getting the help you need through people who He is using to meet your needs.

2 Ki 5:9 (NIV) So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.

As you are searching for help concerning your struggles with guilt, you will start getting great help from Jesus using this program. But, you may find something else that you would like to try. Jesus will give you very important steps through this program. However, the new program you try will have you do things that are contrary to what Jesus is teaching you do. If you decide to go ahead and do things that are different or contrary to what Jesus is leading you into, HE WILL STEP BACK. Jesus is very gentle and free will honoring; He will require that you give up anything that is different or contrary to what He is telling you to do. He will NOT allow you to mix other things with His methods. He requires all Christians to be pure and fully commited to the TRUTH.

2 Ki 5:10 (NIV) Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

The Bible makes a lot of statements like this; it is very positive that you WILL get the RESULTS you are seeking. However, it is MANDATORY that you do what it says. If you come up with ANY reason to try to improve on it, change it, ignore parts of it, mix other systems with it, or refuse to follow it, it WILL NOT work! Then it will be up to you as to how you react. You can claim that you tried it and it failed to work; or, you can go over your failure and find out what you did wrong that kept it from working. If you allow Jesus to convice you that His system works, then you will be able to trust Him and doubt your procedures; you will realize that you did something wrong.

2 Ki 5:11 (NIV) But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. If you find yourself offended by something Jesus is asking you to do, you can ALWAYS ask Him to help you with your attitudes. Jesus doesn’t mind helping you understand WHY He is asking you to do something. BUT, if you walk away, then you will walk away unhealed, not blessed, and not helped.

2 Ki 5:12 (NIV) Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.

Pride is your enemy; when you get to a place where you think you know better, you are jeopardizing your OWN healing, blessings, and help. What did Naaman have to lose? Why wouldn’t he just give it a try? How hard would it be for him to go to the river Jordan and wash himself seven times? Wouldn’t it be worth it to at least try and SEE IF it cleansed him from the deadly disease of leprosy? Jesus is all about results! As you read the Gospels and the rest of the Bible, it is all about supernatural, miraculous, and God-sized results. In Naaman’s case, he didn’t YET have any results from doing what Elisha said; but, you do have results from doing things Jesus has asked you to do!

2 Ki 5:13 (NIV) Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” You are dealing with something that is causing you a lot of problems, difficulties, and pain. You have too much at stake to get so prideful that you refuse to let Jesus prove Himself to you. Finding the right method is just the beginning; using the right method brings Jesus’ results. The more results you get from Him, the more you will be able to do everything He says. BUT, you can’t experience that results if you won’t just go ahead and give His instructions a try.

Jesus’ instructions are just as strict as the instructions of Elisha. If Naaman hadn’t dipped seven time in the right river, he wouldn’t have been healed. If he went to the right river and washed six times, he wouldn’t have been healed. If he went to the right river and did something else seven times, he wouldn’t have been healed. He had to follow the instructions to the letter. “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

2 Ki 5:14 (NIV) So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

This part of Naaman’s journey was simple, easy, and fast. Your studies that are taking you into Jesus’ healing process may seem to be a lot longer and a lot more complicated. There are some important things you need to consider. Naaman’s journey started way back in his own country when he first heard about the possibility of being cured. A lot had to take place before he got this result; his journey wasn’t just washing seven times in the river Jordan. Plus, as wonderful as it was that Naaman got healed, that was all he got. He wasn’t going to die of leprosy anymore; but, the rest of his life remained unchanged. Jesus is going to do A LOT more for you than just heal you of your issues with guilt.

Jesus is going to use your problems with guilt to lead you into a set of methods that will change your entire life. He is just USING your issues with guilt to teach you these important procedures. He is preparing you for being extremely trained, skillful, and experienced in how to live as a child of God in His eternal Kingdom. It is when you are DOING those things the Bible tells you to do that you start getting the results you are looking for.

Many have tried to get things from God without being willing to find out what it takes. These people have failed to get the results they were looking for and concluded that God doesn’t answer prayer. So they got discouraged and started looking elsewhere for help. Then when someone tries to get them to look to Jesus for their help, they feel like they have already tried that. Naaman only got the results he was looking for by doing what it took to get that result from God.