Hannah Prays

Hannah Prays - River and Tree

Hannah Prays – River and Tree

The priest, Eli, noticed Hannah praying. For some reason Eli thought she was drunk.  If you read the first few chapters of I Samuel, you realize that Eli, the priest, was not serving the Lord very well, and his heart was no so much on God. In fact, his sons were doing things against the temple. This indicates to me that Eli was probably too close to the world and was used to seeing people drunk and that is why he thought this lady was drunk. We don’t want to be like Eli; we want to be like Hannah, a person who prays before the Lord.

We see in verse 15 that Hannah went on to say, “…No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD.” Eli answered her in verse 1, “… Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.” Eli eventually recognized that she was praying to the Lord and he joined in with her prayer. That is a very important point. Our passage says that the Lord remembered Hannah and gave her a son. That little phrase in verse 19, “The Lord remembered her” really means something. God remembers prayer. Sometimes we pray and we think, “I don’t know if God will remember this or if God will do anything.”  God remembers every prayer.  God answers every prayer. It may not be answered in the time we expect or in the way we expect.  Sometimes the thing we specifically pray for may not be God’s will so God kind of turns that prayer around and uses it in the proper way.  Never forget that the Lord remembers prayer and He answers prayer.

Hannah Prays for a Son – Samuel

Bible Prayer - Beach Flowers

Bible Prayer – Beach Flowers

Lets look at the  background on the life of Samuel. There was a woman named Hannah. She had no children and she was quite depressed and despondent about the situation. She cried out to the Lord and prayed:  “Lord, I have no children and people are looking down on me.”  She desperately wanted a child. She went to the temple one day in great distress and she prayed.  She said, “Lord, I ask You for a child, and if You give me a child I will give him to You for all the days of his life.” Samuel was produced out of the prayer of his mother. If you are a mother, never despise the prayers that you make for your children. God answers prayer and God remembers prayer.

Let’s read from I Samuel 1:10, “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. 11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life…”  Here we see that Hannah prayed out of her distress, out of her distressing situation. You could even say that her situation seemed impossible.  It looked like it was impossible for her to have a child. I don’t know what her situation was medically, but the point is that she prayed and God answered her prayer.

Prayer of Declaration

Bible Prayer of Declaration - Sunrise over Sea of Galilee in Israel

Bible Prayer of Declaration – Sunrise over Sea of Galilee in Israel

Here is a prayer of declaration to the Lord:  “Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations” ( Ps.  90:1 ).  Only the Lord satisfies. Places, things and projects do not replace Him.  We try to do many things to get satisfied, but only the Lord can satisfy us in reality. So this is also another example of a Bible prayer.

In Psalms 119 there are many more examples.  Psalm 119:89, “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.” In other words, in the heavenlies there is no problem with the Word of God, but on the earth there is some problem. That’s why the Lord Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, indicating that in Heaven there is no problem with the Word of God. Yet, Jesus taught us to pray to bring the will of God from the heavens to the earth.

Psalm 119:89 says, “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.” Yet it is God’s intention that His Word would also be established on the earth.   This is another prayer of declaration. Declaring this prayer on earth reminds us and God that His word should also be settled in our hearts while we are on the earth.  Why should His word only be settled in the heavens and not in us on the earth.

Bible Prayers

Bible Prayers - Sunrise over Sea of Galilee

Bible Prayers – Sunrise over Sea of Galilee

The Bible is full of sample prayers. Let’s call these Bible Prayers. Consider the prayers of Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus Christ, Peter, Paul and John.  These top seven people in the Bible all prayed in the Bible.  Their prayers, their talking to God are all recorded in the Bible. Also consider the prayers of Samuel and Elijah.

Consider the prayer of  Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:20 And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.”

The Bible is full of sample prayers like the last prayer in the Bible in Revelation 22:20 “Come, Lord Jesus”.

Consider the prayer in the Psalms 4:1 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness; Thou hast set me at large when I was in distress: Have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

I Will Pray in the Morning

Pray in the Morning - three beach rocks

Pray in the Morning – three beach rocks

David prays in psalm 5.  David the author of  this psalm, lifts up his voice to God in prayer in the morning. What a great time to pray and think about God, the source of our life. Morning sets the direction for the day. Our time reading the Bible and praying in the morning is crucial to the atmosphere of the day. The morning prayer time is little like breakfast in the morning, giving us energy to start the day.

Psalm 5:2 Hearken unto the voice of my crying, my king and my God; for to thee will I pray. 3 Jehovah, in the morning shalt thou hear my voice; in the morning will I address myself to thee, and will look up.

The Lord is My Strength – Prayer

Consider this verse:  Exodus 15:2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.   In this verse, it does not say to “pray for strength”, it says the Lord is my strength. So the prayer for strength is simply to say “The Lord is my strength”.  Just say this a few times, and the realization will hit you, it’s not  asking for strength, it’s declaring the fact about where our strength comes from. Our strength is not a thing, but a person Jesus Christ. This is the best prayer for strength.

Prayer in the Middle of Anything

How do we prepare to pray to pray?

Sometimes we feel very insecure. We are very fumbly and wobbly in ourselves. We try to hide it from other people but a lot of times we feel this way. David had that experience too. But many times he prayed by calling upon the name of the Lord and the Lord became like a rock to him. In his experience in himself he was sinking. It looked like everything was all over. And to him nothing was going to happen. But God came to him. David experienced God like a rock—stable, secure, and unmovable. A rock is protection. You can hide behind a rock.  David had this type of experience and Paul had this type of experience.  David had prayer in the middle of anything.

I encourage you to all have this type of experience, to pray and call on Jesus for help.  Suppose you are in the middle of something.  For instance, this television program we’re doing was potentially a real problem for me because in my natural self I’m not that aggressive, and I’m even afraid to talk in front of people.  Here I am with three cameras staring me in the face and people watching this thing and they are thinking good, or thinking bad—I don’t know.  Potentially this could be a very dangerous situation for my soul, my psychology. Consider what you would do if you were up here talking like this? Well anyway, today I have the experience of just trusting in Jesus and relying on Him. How? Just by speaking His name.  Jesus, “You’ve got to come and help me. Jesus I’m a little insecure today. You’ve got to come and help me today.” He wants to come. So I encourage you to have this experience.

God’s created man for a purpose, to express God’s image and to represent Him.  God created man with three parts; body, soul, and spirit. Don’t forget that our spirit was made for us to experience and contact God Himself because the Bible says that God is Spirit.

As the God-Man, with all His virtue, His wisdom, and His life experiences, He went to the cross and dealt with every negative thing, including sickness.  He rose from the dead. He rose out of death, out of negative things, and He is Lord of lords. And today He is the Spirit—so available for us to enjoy.  Receive Him today as your Savior.   So feel free to contact God in prayer in the middle of anything.

Prayer Experiences of King David

Prayer Experiences of King David

In the Old Testament, King David had many prayer experiences. If you ever read the Psalms you realize how many times he called upon the name of the Lord.  In fact many times he was being pursued by his enemies. He was in a lot of trouble and didn’t know what to do. If you read those Psalms you’ll find out that he called upon the name of the Lord and the Lord was his salvation–not just eternal salvation in the future, but David was saved right then.  You and I can get saved right now if we just call upon Jesus. Other times David had the experience because of his enemies and the situations and turmoil he faced in his kingdom, when he felt very insecure. He just wasn’t sure what was going to happen and wasn’t sure God was going to come and do anything for him. When you read those verses where he’s down and discouraged and ready to give up, all of a sudden you see him call on the Lord. The Lord comes in and David says, “Oh Lord You are my help.”  Of course he didn’t know it was the Lord Jesus. He just called on the Lord. He said it was like his feet were set on a rock. A rock is something very stable. In all these situations David was learning to pray right in the middle of difficult situations.

Consider David’s prayer in Psalm 5:3  O Jehovah, in the morning shalt thou hear my voice; In the morning will I order my prayer unto thee, and will keep watch.