TEXT:1 Samuel 1:17
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.” 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. We not only see her praying, but we also see her getting an answer to her prayer. We 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.
Let’s look at this great example of prayer and learn how we can pray and get things from God as did Hannah. First, think with me for a moment about:
1. THE PURPOSE OF PRAYER
Verse 10 says that Hannah “prayed unto the Lord.” Why did Hannah pray? Why do we pray? What is the reason and purpose of prayer? 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 THINGS FROM GOD
That is what we see Hannah doing. In verse 11 we find her asking “give unto thine handmaid a man child.” In verse 5 and 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 things. 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, as the needs of others.
Prayer, whether asking for things that concern ourselves personally or others, is a matter of asking. 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.” Prayer is asking.
Furthermore, the purpose of prayer is not only to request things from God, but also:
B) TO RECEIVE THINGS FROM GOD
Hannah not only requested a son from the Lord, she also received a son from the Lord. We read in verse 17, “Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.” And in verse 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.” The purpose of prayer is to request things from God that we might receive things from God.
“”Prayer is asking, and the answer to prayer is receiving.”
Prayer is to be more than a mere words that rise no higher than the ceiling. Prayer is the means by which we ascend to the very throne of God, ask God for things, and then actually get from God the things we ask for.
ILL. An overweight businessman decided it was time to shed some excess pounds. He took his new diet seriously, even changing his driving route to avoid his favorite bakery. One morning, however, he arrived at work carrying a gigantic coffee cake. Everyone scolded him, but his smile remained cherubic. “This is a very special coffee cake,” he explained. “I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning and there in the window were a host of goodies. I felt this was no accident, so I prayed, ‘Lord, if you want me to have one of these delicious coffee cakes, let me have a parking place directly in front of the bakery.’ And sure enough,” he continued, “the eighth time around the block, there it was!”
Maybe James understood why there is not more answered prayer in the life of God’s people. He declared “ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2).
This is the purpose of prayer-to request things from God and to receive things from God. Secondly, think with me about:
1. THE PURPOSE OF PRAYER
2. 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 and effective prayer?
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
1 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 2 Samuel 7:18 we read that David “sat before the LORD.”
When it comes to our posture in prayer, I think of the prayer of Cyrus Brown:
As far as our posture is concerned, God is not concerned with whether we are kneeling, standing, or sitting. What He is concerned about is that 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
Verse 11 says she prayed “give unto thine handmaid a man child.” She prayed specifically for a son.
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 verse 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 that he would. “If thou wilt,” was what she asked. She was asking God to give her son if it was His will.
The Bible says in 1 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:” This we need to remember about prayer. Prayer is never our getting our will done in heaven, but God getting His will done on earth.
With Jesus we must pray, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” Furthermore, Hannah prayed:
C)CONTINUALLY
We read in verse 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. 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 is that she prayed continually; “she continued praying before the LORD.”
Verse 7 speaks of how Hannah was provoked by her adversary 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.
Furthermore, we see that Hannah prayed:
D) FERVENTLY
We read in verse 10, “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.” She tells Eli in verse 15, I “have poured out my soul before the LORD.” This is no casual, half-hearted, and lackadaisical praying on Hannah’s part. We find her weeping before God. She is pouring her soul out to the Lord. There is great fervency and intensity in her praying.
The Bible says in James 5:16 that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
E.M. Bounds, whose writings on prayer rise to class all to themselves, wrote: “PRAYER, without fervor, stakes nothing on the issue, because it has nothing to 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 else besides mere preference, the contrasting of like with dislike.
Fervency in prayer is pouring out the soul before God. It is 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 verse 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, 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 the service of the Lord. 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 not 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. 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 verse 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.
1. THE PURPOSE OF PRAYER
2. THE PROCEDURES OF PRAYER
3. THE POWER OF PRAYER
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 power of prayer. 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 verse 17, “Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of Him.” Hannah prayed, God moved. 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) THE UNDENIABLE POWER OF PRAYER
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.
B) THE UNLIMITED POWER OF PRAYER
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. We can’t even think of something that exceeds God’s ability.
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,” many a Christian is 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.”
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