“ANSWERING THE PRAYERS IN HIS OWN WAYS”

2 Kings 5:9-11 KJV
So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
[10] And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.

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[11] But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.

Naaman, the Syrian General, the Leper man had come from Syria to Samaria to seek for healing from the Man of God, Elisha. He came with a load of gift he would give to the man of God after healing him of his leprosy.

The Leper man came with his entourage and stood in the front of Elisha’s house. He expected him to come out of his house out of respect for a Military General of another nation; he expected him to come out and wave his hand into heavens and lay the hand on the leprous place of his body and heal it instantly. But the Man of God sent a message to Naaman instead, a simple message:

“… Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.”
Naaman became angry at that unexpected message from the Prophet who never came out to even see. That was not what he was expecting. that was not the way he wanted the prayers to be answered. He expected the answer in another format, but The Prophet was saying something else.

Naaman turned away angrily from the house of Elisha and was going back to his land in anger. Then one of his servants spoke reasons into his head and he turned again to try what the prophet said. He would go and bath seven times in Jordan River. So he went to the River as instructed by the Prophet and bathed seven times.
Then, the unexpected happened:

2 Kings 5:14 KJV
Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Jesus said the same thing to a blind man in John 9:6-7. After He had spat on clay and plastered the blind man’s eyes with the clay, He told him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. One would wonder, why did Jesus not finish the miracles He began right there.

Why didn’t He just lay His hands on the eyes of the man, like he did to the blind Bartimeaus and healed him. Why plastering the man’s eyes with clay and telling him to take another walk again to a far away pool of Siloam, to wash there and be healed?
John 9:6-7 KJV

When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
[7] And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

The blind man went and wash in the pool and came back seeing. Naaman went to Jordan river and came back healed. the Lord answered their prayers not according to their expectations. Not according to the way they thought He would answer. He answered the prayers anyway.
Several years ago, I made the same mistake. It was a very costly one. After the broadcast of “AGBARA-NLA” on many Television channels and the news went viral and the ministry became famous, I went on the telly, in the last episode of the tele-serial to announce to millions of viewers to come and help us build our retreat centre: Habitation of Faith.

To my shameful astonishment, no one responded to my call for help. the only tipper-load of sand that came on the land was bought by a member of our ministry. I was embarrased and ashamed. Then the Lord came to me and asked: “Did I tell you to do that?” Instead of moving people to rise up to help us in the building project, it was a huge money the Lord provided for us that kicked off the project half-way in less than two months. He decided not to answer the prayers in our own way, but in His own way.

Have you felt disappointed because the Lord has not answered your prayers in the way you had expected? Have you become angry at Him for delaying the answer you wanted very fast? You had thought you would find your spouse in a the NYSC orientation camp or during the Service year, but No, the person never showed up. You were angry? You had prayed that the Lord would use somebody to bless you and that person had let you down?

DON’T WORRY, ALLOW HIM TO ANSWER THE PRAYERS IN HIS OWN WAY AND BY HIS OWN METHOD.
HE WILL ANSWER YOUR PRAYERS….but do not turn away from Him in anger like Naaman wanted to do. Because you may never get the answer again.

Stay with Him.
Stick to Him even when He is not answering the prayers at the time and in the way you had expected.