Prophetic Word 2024 - Day 22: Clinging to your own way will divert you from His way.

“Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.“

‭‭Luke‬ ‭9‬:‭23‬-‭26‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Naaman was a mighty commander over the army of the king of Syria. But, he was also a leper. Now, the king of Syria sent a letter to the king of Israel, asking him to heal Naaman of his leprosy. Upon reading the request, the king of Israel became afraid, knowing that he did not have the power to heal a leper. The prophet Elisha, hearing about this, says that Naaman should be brought to him for his healing. However, the prophet’s instructions to Naaman went over like a lead balloon.

“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.” 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.“

‭‭II Kings‬ ‭5‬:‭9‬-‭12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Notice that Naaman already had a picture in his mind of how the prophet would heal his leprosy: “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.”

So, when the prophet did not do as he had expected, when the prophet did not do things Naaman’s way, Naaman became enraged, and would have lost his opportunity to be healed, if not for his servants’ intervention.

“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.“

‭‭II Kings‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

When Naaman did things God’s way, he received the healing he desired.

Certainly, as the proverbial writer informs us, we all have our own idea of the right way, in terms of our being and doing.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.“

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭14‬:‭12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

If we hold tenaciously to our own way of being and doing, if we will not relinquish what we think is right to what God says is right, we will, at best, come short of all that God has for us, but, at worst, fall from following Jesus, losing everything.

Yesterday we talked about Peter’s denial of Jesus, and the fact that it came after he had failed to give heed to the various warnings from the Lord.

In order to better understand what might’ve happened, causing Peter to deny the Lord, let us take a look at an exchange between Peter and Jesus, when Jesus was being betrayed by Judas.

“When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, “Permit even this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.“

‭‭Luke‬ ‭22‬:‭49‬-‭51‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

We find out from John’s Gospel, that the disciple who cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant, was Peter.

“Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?””

‭‭John‬ ‭18‬:‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Notice that in Luke’s account of this incident, the Lord scolds Peter, telling him to “Permit even this.”

Peter, who was the only disciple to get out of the boat to walk on the water with Jesus (Matthew 14, Mark 6, John 6), Peter, the one who wanted to build shrines to Moses and Elijah at the spot of the transfiguration of Jesus (Luke 9, Mark 9, Matthew 17), Peter, who proclaimed Jesus to be the Christ, the son of the living God (Matthew 16, Mark 8, Luke 9), found it hard to not do things his own way. Peter was a man of action. But, you see, our idea of what kind of action is called for, may be far afield from what God wants.

In our opening scripture, we see Jesus explaining to His disciples the cost of discipleship. To follow Him, our way of being and doing, our agenda, our ideas and expectations, must be abandoned. To truly follow Him, we must take up our own cross, and do His will, His way.

We are discussing the Great Apostasy preceding the return of Jesus Christ. And, as we discussed earlier, this falling away has most certainly begun.

One of the reasons some people will fall away from following Christ is their unwillingness to do things God‘s way. At some point, our refusal to follow Him completely, will cause us to diverge from His path.

Thankfully, in the case of Peter, after denying Christ, he got back into alignment with what the Lord wanted. Not only that, he followed the Lord all the way to his own crucifixion. Yes, having been ordered to be crucified by Nero, Peter requested to be crucified upside down, feeling unworthy to die in the same manner as Christ.

Tomorrow we’ll talk more about avoiding being part of the Great Apostasy.

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

#resolveforhim