Today’s post is about how we can determine if our faith is in God or man?
We can have faith in man on 3 levels when believing God for healing.
- Faith in medicine
- Faith in the church
- Faith in self
There can be a very fine line because we need to have faith filled Christians around us and often God does use medicine. It’s also easy to have faith in our faith!
I hope by the end of this post, you’ll be more aware of the danger of trusting in the wrong thing and how easy it is to do.
I think most of us would say our faith is in God but when medicine fails us, there is usually a devastating impact.
NAAMAN HAD FAITH IN MAN
Naaman thought his healing would match his worldly greatness. He made an assumption based on his pride.
See LESSONS FROM THE STORY OF NAAMAN. CHECK YOUR EGO.
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.
2 Kings 5:11
Naaman decided in advance, how healing was going to happen. He ‘thought…surely’. He had a made up mind.
His thinking was something like this: ‘because I’m better than everyone else, because I’m someone special, I know that the prophet will perform some theatrical scene to heal me’
Naaman wanted this famous prophet to ‘wave his hand’ for his leprosy to heal. He put his faith in man, not God.
Faith in man can be deceptive. We think our faith is in God, but unconsciously we’ve pinned our expectation on a faith person or doctors instead.
IS YOUR FAITH IN LEADERS?
I wonder if you’re expecting someone with ‘healing gifts’ to lay hands on you? Perhaps you think someone in leadership or some ‘famous preacher’ will pray and you’ll receive?
I can think of a few people who believe because ‘so and so’ is praying for them, they will receive healing.
Now sometimes this does happen.
But what happens next time you need a healing?
I believe God wants us to be in a place where we have our own faith in Him independently from anyone else.
Whilst Naaman was a prestigious wealthy leader, God uses servants to bring about his miracle. First we have the young unnamed servant girl from ‘enemy territory’, then a couple of servants.
God can speak through anyone (even a donkey!). If you only listen to leaders, people on the platform, famous preachers etc, then you’re narrowing your capacity to receive, in my opinion.
What if God wants to speak to you through someone from a different denomination, social status or level of leadership? Maybe even a child?
It was God who healed Naaman of leprosy, not Elisha. Our faith for healing comes from God and God alone, not man.
I remember when I worked in a Nursery, I learned so much from the children. For instance, have you ever seen children play together, best of friends, then before you know it, a fight breaks out? Now they’re enemies.
Not long later, they’re busy playing together again as though the altercation never happened. No grudges and no unforgiveness.
The Holy Spirit speaks to us all the time, in many different ways. Our job is to be open to His voice.
Have you got a fixed idea who God will chose to speak to you?
IS YOUR FAITH IN DOCTORS?
Like me, do you think the answer is through the medical profession?
We may pray to God for healing, or genuinely think our faith is in God but you never really know how much faith in God for healing you have when you know He can use a doctor to bring about the results.
I’m not suggesting at all that we don’t go to doctors or it proves little faith. I encourage anyone who is ill, to seek medical help. I’m just aware of how gutted I was when all medical treatments failed.
Believing God for a healing when doctors can’t help you, in my experience, is far harder.
IS YOUR FAITH IN SELF?
Naaman had faith in the wrong method; he wanted healing his way. This is still faith in man because whilst your faith may be in God, you are still trying to control God’s ways.
Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.
2 Kings 5:12
Naaman didn’t want healing in a simplistic way, he wanted a healing to ‘match his prestige’. But this wasn’t God’s way.
I’ve been to many healing conferences over the years where people have received an instantaneous miracle. Of course many others didn’t. I know that disappointment.
It’s good to be expectant. But we always have to remain open that whilst God does want you well, perhaps it just isn’t God’s way to heal you at that time, in that way.
He was something better for you. Instantaneous isn’t always better or more superior.
Mary and Martha expected Jesus to heal their brother Lazarus. God had something better in mind. He didn’t heal Lazarus, He resurrected him.
The man at the pool of Bethesda spent 38 years thinking his healing was in a certain way.
He sat there waiting for someone to take him to the pool, then for an angel to stir the waters. “I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up” John 5:7
His faith was in the wrong thing and the wrong people. Like Naaman, he had faith in man. See HEALING AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA: WHY SOME DON’T HEAL
SELF-TALK
The problem Naaman had was his self-talk. What is your self-talk saying?
Have you made up your mind how God is healing you? Perhaps you too think God will perform some mighty miracle for the world to see?
Those who like to control, oftentimes listen to their own self-talk about the Bible.
(Image: Rebekah Ballagh Journey to Wellness)
Side-note: I like to journal. It’s a way of getting everything that’s in my head, down on paper. Often when I see my thoughts in front of me, I can see whether or not they are in line with Scripture.
I wonder what your life would look like, if you let go of all your preconceived ideas of how God will work in your life, especially regarding your healing?
Would it change the thoughts you have or the people you speak to?
I don’t believe anything surprises God. He knew about your illness when He wrote the plan for your life. We already know that it is always God’s will to heal.
See IS IT ALWAYS GOD’S WILL TO HEAL?
That must mean He knows what you need, when you need it. He puts the right people in place, the opportunities and has put your breakthrough in motion.
Our responsibility is to keep on trusting even when we don’t understand and to be indifferent regarding his ways of healing. I hope this post and also this website, will encourage you to do just that.
Take care
Lorna x
Have you read the other posts in this series on Naaman:
DO GOD LOOKS AT THE HEART. WHY SHAME HINDERS HEALING?(PART 3)