Terminating Reproach by Apostle Johnson Suleman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Story of Naaman

I want to show you something from 2 Kings 5:1. Naaman was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. The Syrians had gone out and brought away captives out of the land of Israel — a little maid, she waited on Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "Would God my lord be with the prophet that is in Samaria, he would recover him of his leprosy."

2 Kings 5:11-14 — 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." 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.

Truths This Story Reveals

There was a man called Naaman who was a captain. He was a military man. He was good at his job, good at his craft. There was so much trophy that came to his nation through him. Because when it comes to combat, when he leads a troop, he comes back with trophies. Naaman was not lacking trophies. When an enemy territory rises up against Syria and the king wants to silence them, he sends Naaman. Naaman was his confidence, his backbone.

But there was a problem. This great general was battling with his own problem. He was plagued with leprosy.

• Truth 1: Nobody has it all. Everybody has something that they desire. Everybody has a vacuum that they are yearning to fill. Everybody has a pursuit. Nobody has everything in totality.
• Truth 2: What destroys great men are small things. Naaman was a captain, but he had a disease. There are great men today whose only pain in their heart is their child. There are great people with all kinds of degrees whose only problem is their health. What destroys great people are small things.

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• Truth 3: Every deliverer needs deliverance. The man was writing out great things, but himself he was dying. He needed help. He needed deliverance. He needed intervention. He had reproach.
• Truth 4: If Satan knows your assignment, if Satan knows what you are going to become, he will fire an impediment. As for a man like Paul, there was an affliction in his body. And three times he fasted, three times he prayed, three times he besought God: "Take this affliction. Take this pain." And God said, "My grace is sufficient." The only answer to affliction is grace. The only answer to pain is grace. The only answer to challenge is grace.

Despite the impediment, despite the pain, Naaman rose in the army to be a general with a skin under attack. He went into battles and he won with his skin attacked. He brought trophies. With the skin attacked, he became the armor bearer of the king.

There is ability in disability. Don't focus on your limitations. Focus on your strength. I know there are so many wrong things in your life. But I also know there is something right. I know many things are not working. But I also know there is something working. I know there are so many attacks. But I also know there is victory.

When you focus on the pain, when you focus on what the enemy is doing, you cry, you feel like retreating. But when you focus on what God is doing, you focus on the goodness of God, you focus on the faithfulness of God, you see reason to press on.

What Is a Reproach?

In Joshua 5:9, God said to Joshua, "This day will I remove the reproach of Egypt that was upon you." Meaning they walked out of Egypt bodily, but there was a reproach on them. Whenever they crossed through nations, people would look at them and say, "These are the people whose fathers and forefathers were slaves."

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Apostle Johnson Suleman

Omega Fire Ministries International

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A reproach is that which makes you an object of mockery. A reproach is what makes you a byword. A reproach is a reputational restriction — when people see you: "Oh, she's talented... but look at this." "Oh, good family... but look at that."

A reproach is whatever puts a 'but' in a man's life. A reproach makes you an explanation, not an exclamation. A reproach is whatever puts a question mark on your introduction, your achievement, your progression.

Naaman was hiding his condition. He was a general, an honorable man. And the Bible tells us he got a recommendation. He went to Elisha and the prophet didn't come out. He said, go and wash yourself seven times. He was upset. He said what is this audacity, what insolence? "Go and wash" — you see why you must be humble? There is no VIP disease. It humbles everybody.

While he was being arrogant about it, one of his servants came to him: "All the while we've been coming for days. If what the prophet is telling you is just too easy, consider it. The difference between those pools and this river: in those ones you wash, in this one you dip." He went down and dipped himself seven times and was clean.

How to Come Out of Reproach

1. You need direction

   Everyone in scripture who got victory got it by divine direction. Divine direction is the joker of champions. Divine direction is the secret card of champions.

   There are times in the Bible God will tell Moses, "Raise your rod." At other times, He will tell them to hold his hands. At other times, He will tell Jehoshaphat to get out a tambourine. Divine direction.

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   In Jeremiah 10:23, "The way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walks to determine his step." I know you are a good accountant or good mathematician, but there are things you need in life. Your education can't help you. Your human connection can't fix it. You need to hear what God is saying. You need to get direction from God.

   In Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge God, and it shall direct thy steps." In Isaiah 30:21, he says you shall hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the way, walk in it." The way to your wealth, the way to your prosperity, the way to your lifting — heaven will show you.

   Do you know that in the Old Testament, no king went to war without inquiry? King David had three: he had a prophet, he had a seer, he had an instructor. In case one missed it, the other cannot miss it. If the second misses, the third cannot miss it. That is why David fought 66 wars and won all. The only war David never won is the war he never fought.

2. Value people

   God used a small girl. If you must come out of reproach, value people, treat people well. In Hebrews 13:2, "Be careful to entertain strangers, for doing so some entertain angels." How you treat people is how heaven treats you. Treat people with a conscience. Treat people how you want to be treated.

   Jesus was asked, "What is the greatest commandment?" He said, "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy might, all thy soul. Then love thy neighbor as thyself."

   If you love Jesus, you must love his disciples. Many are inviting Jesus, but they're closing the door to his disciples.

   When you do something for someone and the person pays you back with evil, don't worry. Your good is not dead. You will reap from someone else. Galatians 6:7, "Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap." You don't reap where you sow, you reap what you sow.

3. Value process

   He dipped the first time, nothing changed. Second time, third time, fourth time.

   When you started praying, that's when the process started. When you started praying, the process of the miracle started. That's not when you see the result. When you started praying, that's when God set the ball in motion.

   Value process. God marched Israel around Jericho for six days to teach them calmness. Soldiers, armed men who are used to combat. He said, "Calm down." On the seventh day, He said, "Shout." They're not trained to shout. They train to shoot. Not your training, not what you are told, not what you are instructed or directed — processed.

   Somebody is saying, "Apostle, I've been praying, things are the same." The process is on. The process is on.

   And when God is through with you, when heaven is through with you, when God shows up — God said to tell you the seventh time is complete already. Some of you have just dipped your seventh time. And in this seventh time the enemy cannot stop you anymore. You are coming out whole. There is perfection going on. There is completion going on.

   The process for your healing, for your testimony, is complete.