THE PERSISTANT PRAYER OF HANNAH

Prayer for a believer is very crucial because it allows us to speak to the one who understands us the most.

But what if time after time we stand at the altar with the same prayer points to God and they go unanswered,

The frustration we feel, wondering if maybe God has opened his ears for everyone else except us.

It’s in times like these where we begin to question ourselves, wondering if we are using our words correctly or maybe God knows we don’t need it as much as we say we do

Or perhaps our heart is not in its honest state , asking ourselves what we can do for God to grant us our desire.

The bible says that God already knows the desires of our heart and knows what we’ll ask for even before we ask for it.

The very thing that we long for him to give us, he placed it in our heart and he wants to see it happen just as much as we do.

It’s also important to note that God works out things in his own time

Process is very important to God because it’s a heart check to see if we are sticking around because of who God is or just for what He is able to provide.

Will we still stand on the promises that He has made us even when it looks impossible for things to turn in our favor

Are you still going to declare the goodness of God even when things in your life are not at their best.

The key is to have faith through it all and not doubt but continue seeking him just like Hannah (1 Samuel 1v 1-28) did.

When we read the story of Hannah, we learn to have a heart of persistence in God even when things do not go our way after prayer.

For years God placed it in Hannah’s heart that she would mother a child, year after year she would pray to the Lord and went back home with an unanswered prayer

But she continued to seek him regardless of the criticism that she faced from her rival Peninnah.

It was in that time that she should have given up, it’s already hard enough that her prayer was not being answered but to add salt to the injury she was being mocked by people who know the situation

But she chose not to settle because she knew the will of God for her life.

 During her unfruitful season, her faith never shifted, through it all she remained consistent and never settled for other methods to make her promise come to pass.

She remained humble through it all put her focus on the one that will bring her through it. She teaches us to continue to stand humbly on God’s word until we see a release from him.

Hannah did not let the pain of her heart control her faith in God, in that time, it is natural to assume that she grew closer to God.

It may be in those times that God developed maturity in her prayers to help her understand the throne of his glory.

 When God placed the desire in her heart, she perhaps saw his promise as something only she was to benefit from.

See, sometimes we may want the same desires that God wants for us but if our heart posture for the same things we long for aren’t in alignment with God’s will we end up delaying them

Before Hannah’s prayers were answered She had to confront what was hindering them from happening

Perhaps in the beginning it was to get back at her rival Peninnah but then she realized different

Because notice that it was only after in verse 11 when she decided to surrender her promise to God that she saw the manifestation of the promise.

The Lord gives us promises that are so much bigger than us, but at times we selfishly want them to manifest without thinking of how other generations would be impacted by them

Or if the manifestation of the prayer is even needed on earth at that particular time we need it

Hannah did not know that God not answering her prayer right when she wanted was very vital to his kingdom, but what if God had answered her prayer right when she asked for a son

How much of that outcome was she going to value or praise the supernatural father that God is making the impossible possible

She would have probably seen it as just another promise that God was “supposed” to grant her in her life

If God gave her son to her right when she wanted, Samuel would have probably just been an ordinary child, another one of Elkanah sons (her husband).

 While it’s important to have the persistence prayer life of Hannah, it’s also important to use wisdom to know that selfish prayers ruin the original design in which they were meant to be birthed by God

We need to remember that selfishness limits God’s hand to move in extraordinary ways in our lives because we have a perception of how things are to turn-out should God release the Amen in our lives

It was only when Hannah surrendered her prayer to God to use it for his glory was she then able to see the extraordinary move of God through her son Samuel

Because it was less of what she needed and more of what God would do though her prayer to advice his kingdom.

Samuel later became an instrumental part God’s kingdom anointing both kings Saul and David where Jesus’s linage derives from.

Our job in the Christian community is to serve, which also includes being of service through prayers

Because it’s not about what we can benefit from being a Christ follower but how much of ourselves we are willing to give up to be used as his vessels that future generations will benefit from our obedience.

I pray that the Lord releases a strong spirit of persistence in our lives just like Hannah and teach us to pray the exact prayers that He needs us to pray in order for our promises to manifest

To remember His will on the situation and not our own, to not be taken down by the criticism of our rivals and focus our faith on Him because He knows the outcome

To help us stand on His promise no matter how the situation looks like and to give us a heart of patience as He sends His promise to us.