Rescuing your Miracle from the Enemy

2 Kings 5:1-14

Naaman •Position: captain of the host•Preference: he was in good favor with the king •Praise: honorable •Performance: he had achieved great success

Need for a Miracle •If you keep on living, you will need a miracle in some area of your life •This need for a miracle in some area of your life has no economic preference, racial preference, no particular echelon of intelligence •Naaman was great, but he was a leper

Leprosy • Defiling: He was considered unclean. He had virtually everything a person could want, but lacked one thing–purity • Disfiguring: Missing nose, ears, lips, fingers, etc. • Deadening: Numbs the senses. Sometimes it was not the disease that caused them to lose their extremities, but the rats that fed on them while they slept because they had no feeling in their limbs. • Dissociating: Banished or isolated from everyone • Deadly: Someone said, lepers were walking sepulcher

The Messenger: Naaman’s Maid

•God’s messenger •God working through our circumstances•She knew where to go get a miracle•God is asking us, through Back to Church Sunday, to be the go-between of another person’s miracle. We have an opportunity to participate in another person’s miracle.

What’s Standing in the Way of Naaman’s Miracle •Elisha’s social status: “Surely he would come out to me” •Elisha’s simplicity: He will strike his hand over the place •Elisha’s stream: He did not like the choice of rivers

Pride–The Sin No One Admits to

•Pride was the reason Satan was thrown out of heaven • I Peter 5:5 • God resists the proud

•Proverbs 13:10• Pride leads to quarrels (ESV) • Pride leads to conflict; those who take advice are wise (NIV) • By pride comes nothing but strife; but with the well of advice is wisdom (KJV)

Pride–The Sin No One Admits to

•Humiliation and God’s destruction • The Lord tears down the house of the proud–Proverbs 15:25•Proverbs 16:18• First pride, then the crash, the bigger the ego, the harder the fall (MSG)• Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before the fall (NLT)• Destruction–Ruin, disaster, downfall • Fall–calamity

Pride–The Sin No One Admits to

•Humiliation and God’s destruction •Proverbs 18:12•Before destruction, the heart of man is haughty, but humility goes before honor

•Proverbs 29: 23•A man’s pride will bring him low; but a humble spirit will obtain favor

Symptoms of Pride • Critical: put others down in order to feel good about themselves• Lack of self-examination: self-examination is unnatural to the

proud because prideful people cannot admit their faults or problems

• Self-preoccupation: pride will not take into consideration another person’s feelings, point of view or agenda. This is the heart of marital and family conflict.

• Defensive: defensiveness in communication can indicate an unwillingness to consider thoughts beyond personal comfort zones.

• Unwilling to listen: interrupts or dominates a conversation • Making excuses: lame excuses for a mistake • Blame-shifter

Symptoms of Pride • Craves attention: lives for attention or the limelight • Silent treatment: nonverbally communicates, “I have a

very low regard for you, so I am going to gloat or parade in my own correctness even as I try to make you feel inferior to me.” Ask yourself: Is my withdrawal from conversation an attempt to punish you or contribute to a peaceful atmosphere?• Habitual anger and wrath: you are locked in the selfish,

intimidation and temper tantrum zone

Key to Your Miracle • God gives a greater grace. “God is opposed to the

proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit therefore to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:6-7).• “Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another,

God is opposed to the proud , but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you” (1 Peter 5:5).• Naaman submitted to the servants• He submitted to the streams • He submitted to the instructions

The Holy Spirit is the Ultimate Coach

• The Holy Spirit is the ultimate relationship coach–we can grieve Him by how we treat one another

1. You feel bad 2. We don’t obey his coaching instructions–our heart

hardens

Miracle Activating Vocabulary

1. Miracle vocabulary 2. Vocabulary of imperfect, growing, maturing

people in relationships1. I love you2. I need you 3. I admit that I was wrong for doing… 4. I am sorry for…5. Will you forgive me?6. I forgive you7. Thank you 8. What is your opinion about…?