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A Study Of Prayer
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A Study Of Prayer Chapter 2
The Birth Of The Prophet Samuel (Judg 13:2-7 NIV) A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines." Then the woman went to her husband and told him, "A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. But he said to me, 'You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.'" An angel appeared to the wife of a man of Israel named Manoah and told her that she would have a son who would deliver Israel from the hands of it’s enemies. (Judg 13:8 NIV) Then Manoah prayed to the LORD: "O Lord, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born." Manoah prayed to the Lord for the angel to return once again and give him directly the message that was given to his wife and also to receive additional information on how to go about bring up the boy, who would be named Samson. Manoah, as the head of the household, wanted to confirm the word that his wife had spoken to him before he made any changes to their lifestyle or future plans. He did not want to do it on her say so alone. He was correct in doing so, according to the scriptures. As the leader of the family he had the right to have the Lord answer his prayer for guidance. This is important. To pray prayers that will be answered, we must align ourselves correctly with God’s word. God will always confirm his word to the leader, whether it be simply the husband or head of a household (which may very well be a woman in many cases) or the leader of a nation. We should not act on the word of only one witness, as this can only lead to trouble and Satan can easily get us off the right track when we do so. God has already told us what we should do for counsel, and if we don’t follow his instructions and fall into the trap of the devil or the schemes of some other person, the fault is entirely our own. (2 Cor 13:1 NIV) ..."Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." That does not mean that God will send an angel to tell us what to do every time we pray for guidance, but he will send more than one voice or sign to lead us along the correct path. Never go off half cocked or on a wild goose chase due to a prophecy or a supposed word of the Lord to you from someone, whether it be a wife, a friend, a preacher, or even yourself by a thought or a dream. Let what God is saying be confirmed in more than one way, by two or three witnesses, and you will stay on the correct road. (Judg 13:9-14 NIV) God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. The woman hurried to tell her husband, "He's here! The man who appeared to me the other day!" Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, "Are you the one who talked to my wife?" "I am," he said. So Manoah asked him, "When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy's life and work?" The angel of the LORD answered, "Your wife must do all that I have told her. She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her." (Judg 13:15-20 NIV) Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you." The angel of the LORD replied, "Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD." (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the LORD.) Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?" He replied, "Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding." Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the LORD. And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground (Psa 37:23 NKJV) The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way. God wants us to know his will and follow his leading. It is always correct to ask to know what God would have us do next. It is even in the Lords Prayer that Jesus taught the disciples to pray “Thy Will Be Done.” In order for us to do God’s will we have to know what it is. We can always ask with confidence the prayer “God, what is your will for me?, for we know that he wants us to both know it and do it and that he will hear us and answer us. Then the question is, once his will is revealed, will we do it? (Eph 5:17 NKJV) Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. In plain English Paul is saying, “Don’t be ignorant or stupid, but know what the will of the Lord is.” We will know his will when we pray for it to be revealed to us and our answers are confirmed by two or three trustworthy sources. If you are in a position of leadership in your home or in authority anywhere else, even the workplace, you have the right and the obligation to both know and to do God's will. Hannah And Samuel
(1 Sam 1:1-8 NIV) There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD. Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb. And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Elkanah her husband would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?" Hannah Prays According To God’s Will Revealed
In His Word
First of all we should notice from this narrative that Elkanah was a righteous man who went up to the temple year after year to worship and sacrifice to the Lord. Hannah was desiring to have a child by a Godly husband. She was trying to follow the Word of the Lord as commanded in the scriptures. Although the book of Psalms had not yet been written at the time Hannah was praying, the biblical principles still applied. (Gen 1:28 NCV) God blessed them and said, "Have many children and grow in number. Fill the earth and be its master. Rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Psa 113:5-9 NIV) Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people. He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD. (Psa 127:3 NIV) Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Some may question how Elkanah could be a Godly man and yet have two wives. There was no law against it at that time and indeed if you think about it, in some ways their system was better than ours is today. Elkanah was supporting and feeding both of his wives and all the children that were or would be produced from those marriages. This seems to me to be a better alternative than the widespread divorce problem we have today. In our society we have the taxpayers supporting the wives and children of deadbeat dads, with the government trying to track them down and get the money back from the mans tax returns or garnisheeing his paycheck. At least with their system a man could keep all his wives and children in the same house and pay for them. I’m not advocating a return to that situation, but there are some definite advantages to it. To me, a man who has two wives and supports them and their children is more Godly than a man who divorces a wife to take another and leaves the first one on welfare and doesn’t keep up his child support payments. But, enough on that. Lets get back to Hannah and her prayer. Hannah was barren, she had no children and she desired one greatly. She went to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem and there prayed before the altar with weeping and sorrow for the Lord to bless her with a child. Hannah was praying for something that was God’s will, for a family. She was not praying for wealth and riches or fame and fortune. She was praying for a Godly child fathered by a Godly husband. Hannah Makes A Vow
(1 Sam 1:9-11 NIV) Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord's temple. In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." Hannah promised the Lord that if he would bless her with a child that the child would be dedicated to the Lord. Never make a vow to God to get him to do something and then later forget what you promised the Lord and fail to do it. (Num 30:2 NCV) "If a man makes a promise to the LORD or says he will do something special, he must keep his promise. He must do what he said. (Deu 23:21-23 NCV) If you make a promise to give something to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, because the LORD your God demands it from you. Do not be guilty of sin. But if you do not make the promise, you will not be guilty. You must do whatever you say you will do, because you chose to make the promise to the LORD your God. (Eccl 5:4-7 NIV) When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, "My vow was a mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God. If you make a vow to god in order to get him to answer your prayer, make sure you are able to keep what you promise. If not God may destroy the work of your hands, and reduce your income or whatever you promised by more than what it would have cost you to pay the vow. A thief must pay back double, and god will require at least that much from those who make a pledge and fail to keep it. (Exo 22:7 NCV) "Suppose a man gives his neighbor money or other things to keep for him and those things are stolen from the neighbor's house. If the thief is caught, he must pay back twice as much as he stole. Hannah Continues To Pray Until She Receives A Blessing From The Priest (1 Sam 1:12-18 NIV) As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, "How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine." "Not so, my lord," Hannah replied, "I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief." Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him." She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. Hannah Receives The Child She Prayed For
(1 Sam 1:19-20 NIV) Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the LORD for him." (1 Sam 1:21-23 NIV) When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, "After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always." "Do what seems best to you," Elkanah her husband told her. "Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his word." So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him. Hannah Pays Her Vow And Rejoices In Doing So
(1 Sam 1:24-28 NIV) After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD." And he worshiped the LORD there. (1 Sam 2:1-2 NIV) Then Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the LORD my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. "There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. (1 Sam 2:20 NIV) Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, "May the LORD give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the LORD." Then they would go home. Samuel Becomes A Great Leader In Israel
The son born to Hannah became the great prophet Samuel, who has two books of the old testament named after him. He led Israel for many years and follewed his mothers example and always prayed for the Lord to bless the people of his nation and taught them the ways of the Lord. (1 Sam 8:6 NIV) But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. (1 Sam 12:19 NIV) The people all said to Samuel, "Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king." (1 Sam 12:23 NIV) As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. Notice in the verse above that it is a sin to fail to pray when it is our responsibility to do so. As mentioned earlier, anyone in a position of responsibility has a duty to pray for wisdom and guidance to lead those they are governing down the right road. To fail to pray for wisdom is the same as a truck driver getting in his rig and driving aimlessly while his employer is paying him, and then not delivering his load of goods on time to the proper destination.. Praying for guidance is almost the same thing as consulting a road map when we are traveling. It is the way to determine the route to our desired destination, and our desired destination is God's will for our lives. |