Receiving Answers To Prayer: Date: READ TEXT: I Samuel 1:1 - 20

A MANUAL FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE #2
RECEIVING ANSWERS
TO PRAYER
DATE:
READ TEXT: I Samuel 1:1 - 20
INTRODUCTION:
Last week we began looking at what I am calling the
Instruction Manual for the Christian Life
We are not just thinking about what we should do as
Christians …
But How
to do what we know we should do
For example, last week we thought about How to read the
Bible
It is one thing to say we need to read our Bible …
But another thing to know How to read our Bible
to
This week I want us to think about our Prayer Life and How
have an effective prayerlife
We know that prayer is important in our life as a Christian …
But How
should we pray?
Receiving Answers to Prayer – I Samuel 1:1-
20
How can we Pray and actually get answers from God when we
pray?
Ill. D.L. Moody said, “I’d rather be able to pray than be a great
preacher; Jesus Christ never taught his disciples how to preach, but only
how to pray.” D.L. Moody was well aware of the importance of prayer
in the Christian life.
I have often preached on how important prayer is, but today, I
want us to think about How
to Pray
When it comes to learning how to pray, I don’t think there is a
greater example in the entire Bible than Hannah the mother of
Samuel
We not only see her praying, but we also see her getting an
answer to her prayer
We’ve read in 1 Samuel 1:20
“Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about
after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called
his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the
LORD.”
She named the son she received from God, in answer to
prayer, Samuel, which means “asked of God”
Her son was a testimony to how Hannah prayed and that God
answers prayer
2
20
Let’s look at this great example of prayer and learn how we
can pray and get Answers from God as Hannah did
~~~OPENING PRAYER~~~
First, think with me for a moment about:
I. THE “PURPOSE” OF PRAYER
V.10 says that Hannah “prayed unto the Lord”

Why did Hannah pray?
Why do we
pray?
What is The Reason and Purpose of Prayer?
Ill. Phillips Brooks, the great preacher from Boston in the 1800’s said,
“A prayer in its simplest definition is merely a wish turned Godward.”
Let me sum up The “Purpose” of Prayer in two thoughts
First, The “Purpose” of Prayer is:
A. To ‘Request’ Needs from God
That is what we see Hannah doing
3
20
In v.11 we find her asking “give unto thine handmaid a
man child”
In vs.5 & 6 we read that the “LORD had shut up her
womb”
Hannah was barren, unable to have a child, and when we
see her praying, we find her requesting that God give her a
son
Prayer simply defined is our coming to God and asking Him
for certain needs
At times, we ask for what concerns ourselves personally
This is often indicated by the word “supplication”
This word is very common in the Bible and it usually
speaks of our bringing our own personal needs to the Lord
At other times, what we ask for concerns others
This is indicated by the word “intercession”
Intercession is prayer with a focus, not so much on our
own needs, but on the needs of others
Prayer, whether asking for things that concern ourselves
personally or for others, is a matter of asking
4
20
The Bible says in 1 Kings 3:5 – “In Gibeon the LORD
appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said,
Ask what I shall give thee”
Jesus said in Matthew 21:22, “And all things,
whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall
receive.”
At the end of James 4:2 he says – “… ye have not,
because ye ask not”
Prayer is asking
Furthermore, The Purpose of Prayer is not only To
‘Request’ Needs from God …
But also:
B. To ‘Receive’ Answers from God
Hannah not only ‘Requested’ a son from the Lord …
She also ‘Received’ a son from the Lord
We read in v.17 – “Then Eli answered and said, Go in
peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that
thou hast asked of him”
5
20
And in v.20 we read “and she bare a son”
There was a ‘Request’ on her part and as well a
‘Reception’
Jesus defined prayer when He said “Ask, and it shall be
given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be
opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7; Luke 11:9)
The “Purpose” of Prayer is to ‘Request’ Needs from God that
we might ‘Receive’ Answers from God
Ill. One of the earliest books that I read on prayer was John R.
Rice’s book entitled Prayer is Asking and Receiving. It is not only
one of the best I have ever read on prayer, its title tells us what
prayer really is. It is asking and receiving. As Dr. Rice would say,
“”Prayer is asking, and the answer to prayer is receiving.”
The very “Purpose” of Prayer tells us that prayer is to be a
spiritual exercise in which we go to God for our needs
Prayer is to be more than a mere muttering of words to
look spiritual
Prayer is the means (Ordained of God) by which we ascend
to the very throne of God, ask God for something, and then
actually get from God the things we ask for
The very definition of prayer indicates that God answers
prayer!
6
20
The wonderful experience of answered prayer can be and
should be a common experience in the life of a Christian
Maybe James understood why there is not more answered
prayer in the life of God’s people
This is The “Purpose” of Prayer—
To ‘Request’ Needs of God and To ‘Receive’ Answers from
God
Secondly, think with me about:
II. THE “PROCEDURES” OF PRAYER
In Hannah we not only have an example of one who “prayed
unto the LORD” ….
But we also have in her a great example of How to Pray
She asked and received
How did she pray?
Why did she get an answer to her prayer?
What were the procedures that made her prayer an effective
prayer?
7
20
Let me point out before we consider How she Prayed that the
story says nothing about her Posture
In the Bible we find people praying in various postures
 In I Kings 8:54 we find Solomon “kneeling on his knees
with his hands spread up to heaven”
 In Genesis 19:27 we find Abraham as he “stood before the
LORD”
 In II Samuel 7:18 we read that David “sat before the
LORD”
As far as our Posture is concerned, I don’t believe God is so
concerned with whether we are kneeling, standing, or sitting
What He is concerned about is that we pray!
The question I want to ask is How
should we pray?
Let’s let Hannah continue to be our teacher
How she prayed is a sermon within itself, but let me briefly
point out 6 things about how she prayed
First of all, she prayed:
A. ‘Specifically’
8
20
As I mentioned earlier, she prayed and asked God to give
her a son
Please note that she did not pray for a child
A child could either be a boy or girl
No, she did not ask for a child but for a son
V.11 says she prayed “give unto thine handmaid a man
child”
She prayed specifically for a son
One of the most important lessons I have learned in prayer
is to be specific when I ask God for something
We often pray – “Lord, I want you to bless my life”
How do you want God to bless your life?
When we pray specifically we ask for specific ways in
which we want God to bless our life, such as, “Lord, I
want your power in my life,” or, “Lord, I want you use me
to win others to Christ”
On Pray nights we pray for Specifics, a specific
missionary, a specific Sunday school teacher, and a
specific ministry of the Church, a specific family member
9
20
It is one thing to pray, “Lord, bless our missionaries
around the world,” but another thing to pray, “Lord,
would you bless the Lutrick Family in Germany”
It is one thing to ask God to bless the ministries of our
Church but when we pray, “Lord, bless our Bus ministry,”
that is being specific
Hannah prayed specifically!
She asked for “a man child”
Furthermore, Hannah prayed:
B. ‘Submissively’
It has been well said that nothing lies outside the reach of
prayer except that which lies outside the will of God
When we look at Hannah in prayer we find that she placed
her prayer within the boundaries of God’s will
In v.11 she prays “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”
Hannah never doubted that God could give her a son, but
her prayer was that He would
10
20
“If thou wilt,” was what she asked
She was asking God to give her a son if it was His will
The Bible says in I John 5:14 – “And this is the
confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing
according to His will, He heareth us:”
We need to remember this about prayer –
Prayer is never our getting our will done in heaven, but
rather God getting His will done on earth
James 4:3 – “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask
amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts”
God only answers prayers that are aligned with His will
With Jesus we must pray – “Not my will, but Thy will be
done”
Furthermore, Hannah prayed:
C. ‘Continually’
We read in v.12 – “And it came to pass, as she continued
praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth”
Eli marking her mouth means that he watched her mouth
11
20
It would seem that Hannah did not pray out loud, but
expressed her petitions quietly, and Eli saw her lips as they
moved in prayer
The truth that I want you to see though is that she prayed
continually – “she continued praying before the LORD.”
Vs. 6 & 7 speak of how Hannah was provoked by her
adversary (Elkanah’s other wife) year after year when she
and her husband went up to the temple
Perhaps, year after year she prayed that God would give
her a son
When we see her in the temple praying, she lingers before
the Lord
She doesn’t hastily exit the temple
She stays before God continuing in prayer
How easy we give up when we pray
Never quit praying for the things you are asking for
Just because God does not answer your prayer immediately
does not mean He will not answer your prayer
12
20
Jesus taught us the important of importunity (persistence)
in prayer in Luke 11 and the parable of the man that
continued to ask for bread
Furthermore, we see that Hannah prayed:
D. ‘Fervently’
We read in v.10 “And she was in bitterness of soul, and
prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore”
She tells Eli in v.15 – that she has “poured out my soul
before the LORD”
This is no casual, halfhearted, and lackadaisical praying
on Hannah’s part
We find her weeping before God
She is pouring her heart out to the Lord
There is great fervency and intensity in her praying
James 5:16 says that “the effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much”
Ill. E.M. Bounds, whose writings on prayer rise to a class all to
themselves, wrote: “PRAYER, without fervor, stakes nothing on the
13
20
issue, because it has nothing at stake. It comes with empty hands.
Hands, too, which are listless, as well as empty, which have never
learned the lesson of clinging to the cross. Fervorless prayer has no
heart in it; it is an empty thing, an unfit vessel. Heart, soul, and life,
must find place in all real praying. Heaven must be made to feel the
force of this crying unto God.”
He described fervency in prayer as: “Fervency has its seat in the
heart, not in the brain, nor in the intellectual faculties of the mind.
Fervency therefore, is not an expression of the intellect. Fervency of
spirit is something far transcending poetical fancy or sentimental
imagery. It is something else besides mere preference, the
contrasting of like with dislike. Fervency is the throb and gesture of
the emotional nature.”
Fervency in prayer is pouring out the heart before God
It’s our emotions being engaged in prayer
We come before God with a longing heart
We weep before God as we cry out to Him in prayer
Lord, teach us to pray fervently
Fifthly, we see that Hannah prayed:
E. ‘Selflessly’
Notice her promise to God in v.11 – “And she vowed a
vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look
14
20
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, and there shall no razor
come upon his head.”
Her vow and promise to God was that she would give her
son to the Lord and consecrate him to His service
When she said that no razor would come upon his head,
she was speaking of the Nazarite vow which one took as an
expression of total consecration to God
She was not
praying for her benefit alone, but that God would
get glory from her prayer being answered
There were no selfish pursuits in her praying, but spiritual
She wanted a son, yes; but only if it would bring glory to
God
James said in James 4:3 – “Ye ask, and receive not,
because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your
lusts.”
Selfishness is a great hindrance to effective praying
15
20
If we are only praying to satisfy our own wants and
desires, we must not expect God to answer our prayers
God’s Glory must always motivate us in what we ask for in
prayer
Lord, teach us to pray selflessly
Lastly, we see that Hannah prayed:
F. ‘Reverently’
In v.11, she addressed God in prayer as, “O LORD of
hosts”
She comes to God with great respect and reverence
There is none of this “man upstairs” attitude in her
praying
As the “LORD of hosts,” God is the LORD of armies
She acknowledges and worships Him as a God who is in
charge and in control
There is worship in her praying
At all occasions, we must come before God reverently and
in a spirit of worship
16
20
We must always remember Who we are talking to and into
Whose presence we are entering
There must always be a spirit of awe and amazement
There must always be a sense of worthlessness and
littleness when we come to God
He is great! He is glorious! He is God!
This is how Hannah prayed
She prayed Specifically, Submissively, Continually,
Fervently, Selflessly, and Reverently
These are the ingredients for an effective prayerlife
This is how to ‘Request’ needs of God and then ‘Receive’
Answers from God
THE “PURPOSE” OF PRAYER
THE “PROCEDURES” OF PRAYER
Lastly, in Hannah we see
III. THE “POWER” OF PRAYER
Ill. Alfred Lord Tennyson said:
17
20
More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.
Wherefore, let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
Leonard Ravenhill said:
“One might estimate the weight of the world, tell the size of the celestial
city, count the stars of heaven, measure the speed of lightning, and tell
the time of the rising and the setting of the sun—but you cannot estimate
prayerpower. Prayer is as vast as God because He is behind it. Prayer
is as mighty as God because He has committed Himself to answer it.”
R.A. Torrey said:
“Prayer is the key that unlocks all the storehouses of God's infinite
grace and power. All that God is, and all that God has, is at the disposal
of prayer.”
Prayer is the greatest force in this world
There is no greater means or powerful source at our disposal
than prayer
In short, prayer gets things done!
We have already seen how Hannah’s prayer was answered
Eli said to her in v.17 – “Go in peace: and the God of Israel
grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of Him”
Hannah prayed, God was moved
18
20
Hannah asked, God answered
God granted Hannah the very thing she asked for
There is “Power” in Prayer
When I think of The “Power” of Prayer I think of:
A. It’s ‘Undeniable’
I can say with absolute certainty that there is an undeniable
power in prayer
There have been things that have happened when people
prayed and there are things that can happen when people pray
that cannot be explained apart from the power of God seen in
answer to prayer
I think also of:
B. It’s ‘Unlimited’
The Bible says in Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto Him that is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think, according to the power that worketh in us.”
There is nothing we can ask for that is beyond the ability of
God
19
20
We can’t even think of something that exceeds God’s ability
Ill. R. A Torrey in his book "The Power of Prayer" comments on James
4:2 "ye have not because ye ask not." He writes, "These seven words
contain the secret of the poverty and powerlessness of the average
Christian, of the average minister, and of the average church. "Why is
it," they are asking, "that I make such poor progress in my Christian
life? Why do I have so little victory over sin? Why do I win so few souls
to Christ? Why do I grow so slowly into the likeness of my Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ?" And God answers in the words of the text:
"Neglect of prayer. You have not, because you ask not."
CONCLUSION
The unlimited power that is available to us through prayer is
missed because we do not pray
How can we pray and get things from God in prayer?
Let Hannah be your teacher
If we picked up our manual on the Christian life, you will find
that how she prayed is how it teaches us to pray
THE “PURPOSE” OF PRAYER
To ‘Request’ Needs from God
To ‘Receive’ Answers from God
THE “PROCEDURES” OF PRAYER
20
20
‘Specifically’ ‘Submissively’ ‘Continually’ ‘Fervently’
‘Selflessly’ ‘Reverently’
THE “POWER” OF PRAYER
It’s ‘Undeniable’
It’s ‘Unlimited’
21

Receiving Answers To Prayer: Date: READ TEXT: I Samuel 1:1 - 20

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Оригинальное название

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Receiving Answers To Prayer: Date: READ TEXT: I Samuel 1:1 - 20

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

A MANUAL FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE #2

READ TEXT: I Samuel 1:1 - 20

Вам также может понравиться