A Prayer like Hannah’s Prayer
At the end of this sermon, we should understand better how to pray.
Hannah prayed because she had:
An important “request” to make,
An important “purpose” to affirm,
An important “work” to pledge,
An important “confidence” to express.
1 Sam 1:8-11 Then Elkanah her husband said to her,
"Hannah, why do you weep?
Why do you not eat?
And why is your heart grieved?
"O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of Your
maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but
will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord
all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head."
We all understand that we need to grow spiritually.
We understand that there are many dimensions to our growth.
We need to grow spiritually in our relationship with God.
We need to grow spiritually in our relationship with members.
We need to grow spiritually in our relationship with the world
That means to grow “away” from the world.
But all of these are outward signs of a growth that must “first” occur
internally
Spiritual growth down deep inside.
Today, I want to talk about one area, for that down-deep-inside
spiritual growth.
That area is: spiritual growth through personal and private prayer.
What makes some prayers personal and private?
It is private because it is the prayer that is offered while we are alone,
that no one else hears.
It is personal because it speaks of things that involve us personally.
Isn’t that what we need prayer to be?
Isn’t that what prayer is intended to be, a sharing of personal things
with God?
Hannah’s prayer was that Down deep inside her heart
It is those things deep inside us that make us or break us.
Those are the things about which we need to be able to pray.
Those are the things for which Hannah was praying in I Samuel
Hannah’s problem was that she was not able to have a child.
Having a child was not just a matter of a personal desire to have joy
from children.
In the Jewish nation, childbearing was considered part of having honor
A woman who did not bear children had a great sense of failure
Toward her husband and the nation.
Hannah was greatly distraught because she was not able to have a child.
Her husband perhaps surprisingly understood and tried to comfort her.
1 Sam 1:8 Then Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do
you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I
not better to you than ten sons?"
But she was not comforted
So she took her sorrow and her problem to God in prayer.
1 Sam 1:10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord
and wept in anguish.
The way Hannah prayed
She wept and prayed that God would give her a child.
That prayer was effective with God.
In the prayer that Hannah prayed and the way she prayed it,
We see some important principles.
Principles that we can follow to help us grow spiritually through
“personal, private” prayer.
Today we will look at the prayer that Hannah offered to God, and we
will apply
four insights from her prayer to our own personal prayer life.
Hannah had an important request
Hannah had some important purposes
Hannah had an important work to pledge
Hannah had a confidence to express
Hannah has an important request to make.
Mat 6:7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen
do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”
First, we will be able to offer a prayer like Hannah’s prayer
When we have an important request to make.
Someone said you can measure a person by the things for which he
prays.
You can certainly measure your own spiritual growth by what you pray
for.
When we pray we disclose something …
About the focus of our life,
About what we consider the purpose of our life, and
About what we consider important in this life
I have heard of people praying over trivial matters.
There was a woman in Virginia that prayed to find a parking place
close to the mall.
Here is where we can learn something about prayer from the woman
Hannah.
The item over which she prayed was not trivial.
The item over which she prayed was vitally affecting her husband and
her entire family
And affecting their spiritual service to their religious nation.
It was dramatically affecting her spiritually.
1 Sam 1:10 And she was in bitterness of soul …
Hannah was bowed and pleading.
Her prayer was in private
There is no pretense or ulterior motive here.
Her prayer was personal
There is a deep sense of personal failure and unbearable grief over that
failure.
Hannah cannot help herself with this problem.
It is out of her control.
No one else could help - not in those days.
Today we have many medical procedures that can assist men & women
So, there is only one place to take her need.
Hannah goes to God
Why was her prayer effective?
Hannah had an important request to make.
Do we have important requests in our prayers today?
What are our reasons for praying?
Do we pray because we have a reason to pray,
Or because it is just time to pray?
The Jews said a prayer called the Shema every day.
Being a kind of confession of faith, every Israelite was to repeat it twice
a day
They prayed it because it was time to pray it.
They prayed what they were expected to pray.
Do we pray what we are expected to pray?
Our private prayers - as well as our public prayers
Are they filled with same phrases?
Even good phrases that we say so many times
In our silent prayers are we really touching our hearts.
We need to pray, not just what we are expected to pray, or accustomed
to praying,
But because we have reason to pray.
We need to pray because our hearts are filled with important concerns,
We know that without the help of the Almighty, we are helpless.
When we have reason to pray, how different our prayers are.
Hannah said she had:
1 Sam 1:15 … poured out my soul before the Lord.
The unknown poet said it this way:
I often say my prayers, but do I ever pray?
And do the wishes of my heart go with the words I say?
I may as well kneel down and worship gods of stone,
As offer to the living God a prayer of words alone.
For words without the heart the Lord will never hear;
Nor will He those lips attend whose prayers are not sincere.
When we pray are we expressing our heart?
Are we praying about things so important to us that we cannot pray
without emotion?
Are we praying because our heart is so heavy or
So joyful that we just had to pour it out to Him who cares about us?
For us to be able to offer a Hannah prayer,
We need to have an important request to make.
Hannah has some important purposes to affirm.
We will be able to offer a prayer like Hannah’s prayer
When we have some important purposes to affirm.
James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you
may spend it on your pleasures.
Listen to Hannah’s words.
1 Sam 1:11 Then she made a vow and said, "O Lord of hosts, if You will
indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me,
and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a
male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, …
Is this bargaining with God?
I don’t think so.
I think many people today do try to bargain with God.
If you will just do this for me, God, then I will do all these things for
you.
You give me a million dollars, Lord, and I will give one fourth to the
church.
But, it is foolish to try to bargain with God.
He is not dependent on us for anything
We have nothing with which to bargain!
I do not think Hannah’s words should be seen as bargaining with God.
They are not a bribe to God;
They are words affirming an important purpose.
If you will grant me this request for the birth of a son,
Then I will be sure that this blessing you give to me is used in God’s
service.
Hannah is not asking for a son solely for a selfish motive.
She has a spiritual motive.
She does not ask for a son that will be keep to herself.
She asks for a son to be dedicated to God.
How different we would be—how different our children would be
If we had that kind of attitude as parents:
Our children should not be our selfish possession,
But a trust from God for His service.
Are our children dedicated to God?
Our interest would not be in ourselves,
Our focus would be on the best interest of that child
But how that child could be used in the Lord’s kingdom.
Are we raising gospel preachers?
James warns us:
James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you
may spend it on your pleasures.
Do you have an important purpose to affirm?
Hannah shows us a practical way to ask for something we want
Without violating the principle that James sets forth.
If what we ask for has a “value or use” in spiritual service to God,
Then pledge it to that use.
If what we pray for has no spiritual value in our lives
Or the lives of others, then perhaps we had better reconsider that
prayer.
Hannah has some important work to pledge.
2 Cor 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that
you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance
for every good work.
Third, we will be able to offer a prayer like Hannah’s prayer when we
have some
Important work to pledge.
We see that when it came to the blessing Hannah requested,
Hannah pledged to do her part.
Do we pledge to do our part?
She pledged to rear the child with a priority on spiritual things.
If you will grant me the birth of a son, then I will do my job in being a
Godly mother
It is true that she prayed for God to do what she simply could not do
Ensuring the birth of a child.
She pledged to do the part that she could do.
Do we ever ask God to do things we can do
That we should be doing.
The story is told of a wealthy man who led eloquent prayers for the
needs of the missionaries overseas. One of his sons commented how he
loved to hear his father pray for the missionaries. Another commented
that if the man were to open up his checkbook he could single-handedly
answer most of his own prayers.
Hannah was willing to do her part.
In fulfilling that pledge, we learn later in the story
That she gave up the pleasure of being with the child.
She was so willing to do her part when she took the child to the
Tabernacle to be reared
So she saw him only once a year.
She wanted her son to be of spiritual usefulness
She was willing to do her part, even sacrificing being with the child.
Those who pray for another, child, a spouse, a relative, a friend, a
brother
Need to see in the prayer of Hannah - her pledge to do her part.
Do we commit to do our part when asking God?
So, the third thing that Hannah included in her prayer
Needs to be in our prayers is that when we ask something of God,
We need to be willing to work to do our part.
Hannah has an important confidence to express.
James 1:6-7 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who
doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let
not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
There is one final thing for us to learn from Hannah’s prayer.
We will be able to offer a prayer like Hannah’s prayer
When we have an important confidence to express.
Listen to how much confidence Hannah had in what God could do.
1 Sam 1:11 Remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will
give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all
the days of his life.
A barren woman prays not just for a child, but specifically for a male
child!
The way she pleads with God, you know she believes that it can happen.
Her faith was obvious.
Do we have confidence in our prayers?
Some time ago a missionary told the story about a letter he received
from a little girl whose Bible School class had been writing to foreign
missionaries.
Evidently, their teacher had told them missionaries were very busy and
might not have time to answer their letters.
The letter the missionary received from this little girl simply said:
“Dear Sir, We are praying for you.
We are not expecting an answer.”
Of course, she was saying that the missionaries might not have time to
answer her letter.
But, without intending it, by putting those sentences together,
That little girl summed up the prayer life of many Christians:
We do not expect an answer!
Most of us are more surprised when our prayers are answered with a
“yes
When we pray, we must have confidence that God can give us the
request that we make
James wrote:
James 1:6-7 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who
doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let
not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
I do not think this verse says that God will always give us everything we
ask
Because we see that is simply not true.
But, this verse says that when we pray,
There should be absolute confidence that “God can” answer that
request.
And, we know that our continued confident in our prayer can
Influence whether or not God will grant our request.
James also wrote
James 5:16 The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails
much.
Those who do not ask, those who do not ask in faith, nothing doubting,
Will not receive a positive response to their prayers.
We see an example of that confidence in what God can do in the prayer
of Hannah.
She asked, not for just any child, but for a “male child”.
We will be able to offer a prayer like Hannah’s prayer?
Can pray with the confidence of Hannah?
Who among us does not need to improve his prayer life?
Who among us does not need to have as an objective
In our lives to grow spiritually?
One way to accomplish both of these is to have spiritual growth in
Our personal and private prayers.
As a practical model for effective prayer we have Hannah.
What Helps Your Prayer Life?
Article in Magazine I received this week.
Place to pray
Time every day
Praying for me
Struggles
On my knees
Prayer group
Daily devotional
Wife and children
God is there
Prayers answered
To pray a prayer like Hannah’s prayer, we must:
Have an important request to make.
Have important purposes to affirm.
We must show our commitment to use the results of that prayer in
spiritual service.
Have some important work to pledge.
We must commit to do our part in accomplishing the things we pray for.
Believe in results from prayer.
To pray a prayer like Hannah’s prayer,
We must have important confidence to express in God’s capacity to
answer our prayer.
May we increasingly strive to pray prayers like Hannah’s prayer.
Invitation
If you are not a Christian - You need to become one today.
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God.
Luke 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
perish.
Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Acts 22:16 And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and
wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
END