““…Hannah replied, “I
am a woman who is deeply troubled…I was pouring out my soul to the Lord...I
have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
I Samuel 1:15-16 (selected)
This week we will
examine three ‘types of faith: warfare, waiting and worship faith.
Warfare faith can be
seen in the life of Hannah.
But what ‘weapons’
did Hannah use as she sought for a child?
You can read I Samuel
chapters 1 and 2 for the entire story.
Hannah used persistent,
prolonged prayer as a weapon.
Hers was not a prayer
spoken as much as it was a prayer wept.
Her prayers were
offered up, not as an attempt to manipulate God, but through much anguish and
grief as she poured out her heart.
Like the persistent
widow that Jesus spoke of in the New Testament, Hannah had a faith toward God
that would not let go until she had received what she sought of Him.
Her prayers were
offered in anguish and grief, not with venom or bitterness.
She never accused
God, she never pointed a finger of anger at God.
She poured out her
heart over and over again to the Lord.
Hers was a prayer to
a Lord she trusted, she loved and she believed could and would answer prayer.
Her desire to give
her son ‘back to God’ was not a fulfillment of some grand bargain made with
God.
Instead it was a
recognition that God had indeed heard and answered her prayer.
Her ‘shared’ son
became a prophet of God who spoke the Word of the Lord faithfully to a nation
which had been in a drought from hearing that declared Word.
Hannah, the
persistent widow, the woman with the issue of blood, blind Bartimaeus all
demonstrated a ‘warfare faith’ that went after the blessing and favor of God
until they received what they sought!
Are you persistent in
faith?
Will you come to a
hard place and continue in faith or cower in fear?
That’s why it’s
called warfare faith and not tea party faith!
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