2 Kings 5:13 Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, “My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”

The New Living Translation reads this way:
2 Kings 5:12-13
But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’”

As many of you know I wrote a book entitled “Simple Spirit” (Xulon Press; Barnes and Noble; Amazon) to engage readers to understand and hopefully experience the fullness of the Spirit – in a simple manner. I love this passage in 2 Kings because it points to the fact that Naaman almost missed a chance to be healed. He was more focused on the “high profile” rivers than he was the simple instruction of the prophets.

I have spent a week in Alaska. We poured ourselves into pastors on Thursday and Friday at the 2014 Alaska Camp Meeting with Administrative Bishop Stan and Teresa Holder. It was an honor to speak at this meeting along with Administrative Bishop Tim and Rhonda Brown from Missouri. This week was probably more of a blessing to me then it was for the pastors in Alaska. I was humbled every night to have the opportunity to engage with these incredible pastors and their wives. It was an amazing four nights and three days of meetings. Much was accomplished for the kingdom of God.

What struck me this week was the simple life of the Alaskan people. Now I know there are a number of dynamics that they deal with that we don’t. Eternally long days, endless nights and some pretty cold weather for several months out of the year. But the Alaskan people are survivors. They adapt to their circumstances and simply live life comfortably. I never cease to be amazed at how people make it through their life experiences. The economic and social atmospheres in Alaska can be depressing at times. But yet…they survive their circumstances. They don’t look for all the bells and whistles in life – they look for what they have in their hands and they simply survive.

Naaman must have watched too much glitz and glamor on “Christian” television. He expected something he didn’t initially receive and he was angry about it. Imagine that! Our churches today are full of people who are looking for a prophetic word, someone to speak into their lives with a fantasy for them to seek out, to be slain in the spirit or transliterated to another world…somewhere, anywhere. In doing so we can miss the simple way God wants to touch our lives. I watched a small group of Somoan’s lead us in worship for four nights. No big band, no lighting, no incredible visual effects for their leading. They just opened up their hearts and led us. Night after night I wept as they lead with an anointed humility that I am not sure everyone can find or master. They found it but I wouldn’t want them to master it. When we “master” something we usually let it die somehow. These folks in Alaska know how to engage themselves in simple worship and therefore were able to engage us in worship. It starts with us. Obeying the simple directions given to us by God. When we clothe obedience in humility we seldom go wrong in life.