How To Pray And Make No Request

Sometimes in prayer, it is not time to make a request. Sometimes you just need to praise God for what He has already done! Continue the journey with us through the prayers of the Bible as Hannah demonstrates a prayer of praise!

#prayer 

#prayers 

#pray 

#christianprayer 

#howtopray  

#biblestudy 

#biblestudyforbeginners 

#biblestudyforteens 

#Christian

#pentecostal 

#apostolic 

#press 

#pressmovement

Follow us on Facebook or Instagram or enjoy our blogs and even more episodes at www.presstopray.com!

Transcript

Press means to apply force. When God said press, prayer reaches every single situation. He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through.

And in this podcast, we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us. Greetings, everyone. And we are in 1 Samuel chapter 2 today.

I'm excited about this prayer because the Bible calls it a prayer or says that Hannah prayed. The word there is palal, which is the most common word for praying in the Bible in the Old Testament. And so it's a prayer just like the other prayers.

But this prayer, Hannah has a praise. You don't see her actually asking God for anything. I love this prayer just because she's not asking God for anything.

She's taking the time to make sure that she talks to God and communicates her heart to him because of what he has done. Now, if you didn't listen to last week's podcast, then you may not know the story of Hannah. It is in 1 Samuel chapter 1, and you can either read it to understand where we're going today, or you can listen to the podcast from last week.

Either way, when we get to 1 Samuel chapter 2 and Hannah has this praise, I am excited about this praise because I'm of the mindset that I shouldn't spend more time asking God for something than thanking him when he does it. Hannah's whole prayer that's noted in 1 Samuel 1 and 11, where she's asking for a child, is only 50 some odd words. She's going to take these first 10 verses here to praise God for what he has done.

And what he had done was give her the answer to what she prayed for. Wouldn't it be incredible if when you spend a year praying for something, or two years, or 10 years, you don't just thank God one time when he answers? There's some things that I know I carried in my heart and had to ask the Lord to do more than one time, and I never want to forget to stop and tell him thank you, but I don't want my thank yous to be shorter than my prayer, my tears were, in terms of offering to God time, quality, quantity. I want him to have more thanks out of me than tears.

And I know there's seasons where we have to cry, there's seasons where we have to go through, but if we learn to give him praise for what he's done and let our praise outlast our request, I just believe you'll see that God will do even more for you. I don't know if she had any more children. I don't know if she even asked for any more children.

What I do know is that Hannah we met in chapter one, who wept sore and was provoked and was talked about, she left her prayer time in chapter one already excited about what God would do, though she hadn't seen it yet. But when we meet her in chapter two, she's a mother now. She has had a child.

She didn't just have a child and forget what she promised God though. She actually had a child. His name was Samuel.

The Bible says that she didn't go up to the house of the Lord to offer anything until Samuel was weaned, meaning he no longer needed to be breastfed. And in that culture it would probably be somewhere between three and five years old where he's now weaned because when she went up again with her child, she was taking him to leave him at the house of the Lord. She remembered her vow to God.

She remembered God, if you bless me with this child, just as I told you, I'm giving this child to you. And so she takes Samuel and she brings the child to Eli the priest. And she said, and I'm in chapter one, verse 26 and 27, Oh my Lord, as I so live it, my Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here praying unto the Lord.

For this child I prayed and the Lord had given me my petition, which I asked of him. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord.

And he worshiped the Lord there. That's not saying she worshiped the Lord there. We're talking about this child that she weaned that had to be somewhere between three and five years old, understood the assignment.

He understood what it meant to be a worshiper. She had made this child ready to be a servant of God for the rest of his life, just because God honored her request. She wasn't one to forget her promise, but she also was not one to forget her praise because the Bible says after it says he worshiped the Lord there and Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoiced within the Lord.

Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God.

Talk no more so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogance come out of your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed. The bowels of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.

They that were full have hired out themselves for bread, and they that were hungry ceased, so that the barren hath born seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The Lord killeth and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up.

The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. He raised up the poor out of the dust and lifted up the beggar down from the dunghill to set them among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory.

For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces.

Out of heaven shall he thunder upon them. For the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give strength unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. That was her prayer.

That was her praise. Do you know how great this God is? After all I've asked him, after all he's done, do you understand how great he is? That he can close the mouth of the enemies. That there's nobody like him.

That those who once had a lot to say, he shut their mouth. That he's a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. He knows how.

He knows when. He knows how to tip that scale in your favor, and he's got the right timing in doing it. Even the strong men, the mighty men are broken before him.

They stumble. Those that look like they're unable to be defeated, God can bring them down. The people who thought they had an advantage, God can give you one too, or take theirs.

The Lord controls life. He controls death. He can bring you down to the grave, and he can bring you up too.

The Lord, he can make you poor, rich, and bring lower, bring you high. But she wanted to give God praise in her prayer, because she recognized, no matter high, low, barren, with child, when my enemies are talking, when they stop talking, he's still God. What kind of praise do you have for God today? Can you tell him, even in your prayer, or even take a whole day of prayer just to praise God? Have you ever gone into a prayer time and said, I'm not going to ask for anything.

All I want to do is praise you here. Try going into prayer and saying, God, all I want to do is talk about your greatness in my life. All I want to do is thank you for what you've already been.

All I want to do is thank you for how you've showed yourself this time and that time. I just want to give you praise today. That counts as a prayer time.

That counts as communicating with God. And when you do that, you are going to get heaven's attention. Psalms 22 verse three says, but thou art holy, O thou that inhabit the praises of Israel.

He knows where to find the praisers. He dwells there. If you really want to get heaven's attention, sometimes it's not in your cry.

Sometimes it's not in your petition. Sometimes it's just in your praise. Take a day and just give God praise.

And you'll find out that's a type of prayer too. And it's still reaches every single situation. Join the movement, join the community, like, share, and subscribe to this podcast.

Visit us at PressToPray.com or find us on Instagram or Facebook. Did you know that when you are quiet, your voice is missing to God's ears? I know some of us have prayed and we're wondering how long should I pray about this? Why should I pray if God already knows? How will I know God is answering? And what do I do when I feel like God's not listening? But God is listening for your voice. It's too quiet in this world for the troubles we have.

You have to raise your voice and God wants to hear from you. It's Too Quiet, a book about prayer, is designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith. Visit PressToPray.com

Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.