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00:00One of the worst things the devil could do is to provoke you and I to get down on our knees
00:07and cry out to our God. Don't waste the irritation and the difficult.
00:17What the devil intends for you, you better work it for good. Take that energy and turn it to God
00:23and be like, devil, you ought not never mess with me. You're not a never ever put me on my knees.
00:29Devil, you going to regret everything you did to my family, everything you ever did to me.
00:42Amen. We're going to be in first Samuel chapter one and verse one.
00:49Verse one, now there was a certain man. Language like that is telling us that what is recorded
00:58here was not a fairy tale. This was a real man with a real life and real problems.
01:08Now, I don't care who you are or who you think you are. We all have problems.
01:14Show me a person without problems, I'll show you a person who is no longer living.
01:23So there was this certain individual, the certain man of Ramathan, Jophim of the mountains of Ephraim
01:29and his name was Elkanah, the son of Joram, the son of Elihu and the son of Tuhu, the son of Zuth
01:37and Ephraimite. That's a long list of his family roots here, but that's the point. He wanted us
01:44to know that he came from a solid family. He was a true Israelite. First Chronicles 6 and 23 tells
01:52us that actually he was not only an Israelite, but actually he was a Levite and this is very
01:57important. Never think that just because you're in ministry that will automatically exempt you
02:02from pain. It's important. Jesus experienced pain, the apostles experienced pain, our mothers and
02:11fathers and forefathers experienced pain and guess what? We will too. And this Elkanah
02:22had two wives. Now, whenever you have two women and one man, you know you got a problem.
02:32In fact, every example of this in the Bible is cautionary. You see, the problem is
02:43that every side chick catches main chick feelings.
02:54I just lived long enough to, not that I've ever done that, okay,
02:58but I've lived long enough to watch that.
03:05A comedian said it this way, he said, there are rules to being the side chick.
03:12Rule number one is you'll always be number two.
03:19So ladies, think again before you entertain such relationships.
03:28Well, he had two wives and one of them was named Hannah.
03:35Hannah, the name literally means favored or grace. But have you ever had the reputation
03:44for something, but your life tends to scream something else?
03:49And the name of the other wife was Penina, and her name means pearl. Now,
04:00pearls, anyone know where pearls come from? Well, okay, well, let me just remind you.
04:04Pearls typically come from an irritant that gets inside the soft tissue of a clam.
04:10And then what the clam does to protect itself, it deposits layers of protective coating
04:16over that irritant. So a little piece of sand or whatever gets in there,
04:19and it just keeps coating it and coating it and coating it to protect itself from it.
04:24And what we see here is Penina would become to Hannah what her name literally portrays.
04:33She was an irritant that made Hannah grow into something even more valuable.
04:40And there are some irritations in your life that if you let God work it,
04:49it could become a value, a pearl of great price if you stick to the process.
04:57Some folks say it this way, no pain, no what? So Penina had children. So we're about to discover
05:04that Penina was a regular baby-making machine. So if Elkanah just winked at Penina, she got
05:11pregnant. But Hannah, on the other hand, have you ever had people describe you with a butt in front
05:20of your name? Well, she's nice butt. She's successful butt. She's spiritual butt, smart butt.
05:36So Hannah was favored but barren because Hannah had no children. You see, every woman doesn't
05:47necessarily want children. But for Hannah, this was the thing she wanted the most. So what do you
05:56do when God has blessed you every other way except the way you want the most? How many of you in this
06:06room have a victory in a whole lot of areas but still have that one area that is literally eating
06:13you alive? This is Hannah. They said, this man Elkanah went up from the city yearly to worship
06:24and sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh. So it seems here that life had thrown Elkanah
06:33and Hannah some real, some very, very real curves here. Now in this period in history,
06:40if a woman could not have children, they had no one to protect them when they grew old. There was
06:46no social security. So actually your children were your social security in old age. So the fact that
06:54the wife he loved couldn't have a baby, that's probably why they brought on this additional
06:59woman. But what I want you to see here is despite the problems that were going on in his life,
07:05he kept worshiping on Sundays. Here's what I know. If you can't worship because of things,
07:11you got to learn to worship through things. That's important.
07:19And Elkanah had many things in his life he could not worship because of,
07:23but we see a man that worshiped through. Also the two sons of Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas,
07:30the priests of the Lord were there. Now if you know the Bible, this is a very gracious description
07:37of those priests that were just mentioned because in Samuel 2 and 12, the Bible calls them corrupt.
07:45Other translations called them scoundrels. If it was today, we would call them trifling, trifling,
07:51trifling, trifling. So what we see here is Elkanah had real family problems,
08:00but he also had church problems. But he wouldn't let any of that get in the way of his worship.
08:10And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Peninnah,
08:15his wife, and to all her sons and daughters. So the first portion went to God, the remaining went
08:23to Peninnah, his wives, actually Peninnah and Hannah, and sons. And this is important. People
08:29who put God first financially tend to last. But to Hannah, he would give a double portion.
08:38And here's the question. Have you ever received twice as much in one area of your life,
08:45but zero in another? A double portion and a zero portion. But what I've learned
08:58is when life doesn't seem fair, all we can do is look to the one who is.
09:05So watch this next clause. For Elkanah loved Hannah. And Elkanah here is a picture
09:15of God who loves us despite of all that we can't do, all that we don't have to offer.
09:23And Elkanah loved Hannah, though Hannah couldn't do what you would expect a woman to do.
09:31So according to Scripture, and this may trouble you, the New Testament gives us a little clearer
09:36insight, but the short of it is, according to Scripture, God had something to do with her
09:42infertility. Now, in the New Testament, we see it clearer, but in the New Testament,
09:49God had something to do with her infertility. And in the New Testament, God had something to do with
09:55her pain. Now, in the New Testament, we see it clearer, but the devil may have been the
10:02instrument of a problem, but God still had a purpose in her pain.
10:11What the devil intends for evil, God can still work for good. Now, everything's not good,
10:20but God can work good purposes in bad things. There is a purpose for your pain.
10:30There is a purpose for our pain. The God who shuts doors can also open doors.
10:40The God who closes the womb can also open the womb. But what we learn from this text,
10:46in order for that to happen, you got to call on Him, call on Him, call on Him.
10:57And her rival became that irritant in that soft part of her.
11:08And she began to provoke her severely, intending to make her miserable.
11:16Because she would always make mention of the thing Hannah couldn't do, that Penina could do,
11:22because the Lord had closed her womb. So if looks could kill, Hannah would have been dead.
11:27So it was year by year, not sometimes, but all the time,
11:31that this was not an incident in the life of Hannah. This was her life.
11:39Year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that Penina provoked her.
11:47So what do you do when your enemy attends your church?
11:52What do you do when your enemy is part of your family?
11:57What do you do when your enemy happens to live under the same roof? I'm about to tell you. I
12:02just need you to hang on. Just hang on. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to
12:05tell you. That's what she did. Therefore, she reached across the table and smacked her in the
12:13face. Some of you all wish that was in there, don't you? But therefore, she wept and did not
12:31eat. Like I said last week, she finally got sick and tired of being sick and tired.
12:40And at some point, enough is enough. So the irritant in the situation is about to cause
12:52her to cry out to the Lord. But let me tell you something. The last thing the devil wants
12:58is for you and I to cry out to the Lord with our whole heart.
13:09Then Elk and her husband said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Sometimes
13:16men don't get it. Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than 10 sons? You know, we all
13:31So you're with me in the book. I appreciate that.
13:39You see, we all have needs and aspirations and dreams that even having a good man or
13:44woman doesn't satisfy or resolve. Sometimes, fella, it's more than you.
13:53So Hannah arose after they'd finished eating and drinking in Shiloh.
13:58Normally, when she got up, her shoulders would be bent over and she'd be looking down,
14:04her eyes would be red, she'd be sad and just kind of slink away because she didn't feel like
14:10she was of the same value as the other women. A lot of the ladies didn't invite her to the places
14:17where they brought their kids and she dealt with a level of isolation. In that culture,
14:22the greatest blessing for a woman was a child, but also the greatest curse was barrenness.
14:28So this woman lived with a heavy head, but after dinner, she had finally had enough.
14:38She got up with a look on her face, and yes, it was about to go down.
14:45So she leaves the messy family situation and she goes to the place of prayer. Now,
14:52Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord,
14:57and watch this, and she was in bitterness of soul. Hannah was an Israelite, married to a man
15:05in ministry, but she still had pain and bitterness, things she had to work through in her soul.
15:14But watch what she did, and she prayed to the Lord. Again, one of the worst things the devil
15:21could do is to provoke you and I to get down on our knees and cry out to our God.
15:31You see, the devil knows as well as we know, Jeremiah 29 and 13 said,
15:34you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. See, the issue is
15:40often I give God a little piece of my heart, a little part of my heart. You know, I got things
15:44to do, you know, a world to reach and all the rest. And, you know, I kind of, yeah, yeah,
15:48I'm going to mention this and then I'm going to move on to the next. But when life gets serious
15:53enough, you start to hold… And with the devil intends for you, please don't waste your pain.
16:05Don't waste the irritation and the difficulty. With the devil intends for you, you better work
16:12it for good. Take that energy and turn it to God and be like, devil, you ought not never mess with
16:18me. You're not going to never, ever put me on my knees. Devil, you're going to regret everything
16:24you did to my family, everything you ever did to me. So, she prayed to the Lord and wept.
16:39A lot of y'all got this soft religion. Just, you know, money's supposed to fall out the sky,
16:45everything's supposed to be, you know, roses and… Read the Bible.
16:57Weeping does endure for a night,
17:01but you got to get through the night because joy comes in the morning.
17:07But morning don't come without night.
17:09Weeping endures. Some nights will be long. Some nights will last,
17:22but you got to hold on till morning. Let's get back to the text here.
17:28And she wept in prayer, in anguish. You see, it's okay to get upset.
17:46It's okay to sometimes even get mad, but just don't forget to pray.
17:50Ephesians 4 and 26 says, it says, be angry and do not sin.
17:58You see, the problem is we get mad and we post it on Facebook and Instagram.
18:06Then we go out at midnight and key the car instead of bringing the issue to the Lord.
18:15Watch verse 11.
18:19Then this quiet, demure, sensitive soul made a vow.
18:28When someone who doesn't swear starts swearing, you got yourself a situation.
18:35And she said, watch what she calls God. Oh, Lord of hosts, the Lord of a multitude,
18:46the Lord of all. She had a problem with barrenness, a problem with aloneness,
18:51and she called on the name that was the answer. You get it? Barren, no babies, host, an army.
19:00And you got to call God what you need in your life.
19:09I mean, y'all know the Bible.
19:13The Bible says, when it speaks, it says, I am what? The healer. Everything you need,
19:21just fill in. I am your righteousness. I am your redeemer. I'm your shepherd.
19:28He, that's why he calls himself, I am, so you could fill in the blank in your life.
19:40So she made a vow and she starts talking to God and calling on the answer in the problem.
19:48If you will indeed look upon the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and don't forget
19:52your maidservant. Am I the only one that's ever felt forgotten? You will have moments in your
19:58journey. Now, if you've only been in this thing for, you know, two weeks, you don't know what
20:03I'm talking about yet, but keep walking. You will have moments in your journey where you felt
20:11forgotten or feel forgotten, but God's word says, call upon me and I shall answer.
20:18He said, give your maidservant a male child. Then I will give him to the Lord all the days
20:24of his life and no razor shall come upon his head. I want you to notice something.
20:29The prayer she prayed had three things. She was sincere, she was specific, and she was sacrificial.
20:40And for us today, that last piece is probably the most important.
20:44She didn't ask anything of God that she wasn't willing to give back to God. Pay attention to
20:49what I'm saying. Anything we get from God but won't give back to God or trust God with becomes
20:57an idol. Let me see if I can say that better. Anything we cannot give back to God will get
21:04in the way of our relationship with God. So, I'm grateful for what God has given me,
21:14but with every gift, we have to be willing at times to give it back.
21:22Say, Lord, I thank you for it, but I release it back to you. God, I let it.
21:28And it happened as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli, the priest, watched her mouth.
21:37Now, Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.
21:43Sometimes what's in our heart, what God is doing in us, and what we need to say to God
21:48is bigger than English words. And there she was, in the midst of all of this,
21:56there she was. And you see, Eli wasn't used to the move of the Spirit because, you know,
22:03it's just a whole mess in Israel at this time. And when they saw God move, they accused it of
22:10being something else. Therefore, Eli thought she was drunk. So, Eli said to her, how long will you
22:16be drunk? Pour your wine away from you. And you need to understand, this is very important,
22:23everyone's not always going to understand what's going on on the inside of you. Everyone's not
22:27going to get you all the time. Her husband didn't understand it. Now, here, Pastor Eli didn't get
22:32it either. But if it's really God, He will fight your battle. And the people who need to be with
22:38you will eventually come around. But Hannah, again, her husband didn't get it, and then her pastor
22:47didn't get it. So, Hannah answered it and started telling them off. Is that what it said?
22:54No. She remained polite, respectful, honorable. Raising your voice does not improve your arguments.
23:07And when you run into some opposition, people don't get you, how you respond matters.
23:14And she said, watch this, know my Lord. She calls Him not out of His name, an honorable name.
23:21I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. Listen, I'm not drunk. I have not drunk wine or intoxicating drink,
23:30but I've been pouring out my soul before the Lord. And I know that Jeremiah promises in 29 and 13,
23:39you will seek me and find me. When I seek God with my whole heart, skip to 17.
23:47Then Eli answered. In other words, Eli came around. And sometimes,
23:51you know, everybody's not going to get you the first, you know, time they're exposed to you.
23:57But Eli came around and said, go in peace. By the way, you got to keep your heart sweet.
24:04And the God of Israel grant your petition, which you've asked of Him.
24:12And she responded, let your maidservant find favor in your sight. Now, I've been praying
24:22on this side of the kingdom for almost 40 years. And I, you know, I did my, now I lay me down to
24:32sleep prayers and those type thing. But when I finally met the Lord, in fact, I would tell you,
24:42you know, the Word of God is so important. It's so very important. But if I could teach
24:48people just one thing and couldn't teach them anything else, it would be how to pray.
24:58It's one of the most important things you can ever do. Yes, we pray with the Word and that matters.
25:06But in my years, and the Bible agrees with this, successful prayer doesn't just have one key.
25:19So if you see a book or a sermon, you know, the single key to prayer, just go on to the next
25:23because they'll know what to do. Prayer is more like a combination lock. You got to spin until
25:31it clicks. Her prayer was three things, you know, 10, 15, back to 92. It was sincere,
25:43it was specific, and sacrificial. And when all three of those things lined up,
25:51she heard a click in her spirit. You see, the older saints used to say things like,
25:57I got to go home and pray through. And if you're new to King, you don't quite get that.
26:02And what they were saying is, I got to pray until I hear that click. I got to pray until that thing
26:08unlocks. I got to pray until I know that I know that I know. Prayer is not about ritual, it's
26:16about getting answers from God. When spirit speaks to spirit and spirit knows that God has heard,
26:24that's prayer. So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. Why was her face
26:35no longer sad? Because prayer was not just a five-time-a-day, three-time-a-day ritual.
26:42She stepped into Philippians 4, 6 through 7, be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer
26:49and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. And watch this,
26:56and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and
27:00minds through Christ Jesus. So she prayed until the peace came.
27:12You see, I don't know how long it's going to take you before peace comes.
27:18Listen, I've gone weeks trying to pray through and peace didn't come.
27:23But you pray not until you're, oh, it's been 15 minutes, but until you're done.
27:34And this woman wasn't watching her clock. She was pouring out her heart.
27:42And then when peace that passes understanding came down upon her, all of a sudden she got back
27:49to normal. Now the thing is you say you pray, but did you really pray? You say, Bishop, you know,
27:56I prayed about it, God didn't answer. No, did you pray? Did you stay until it clicked on the inside
28:04and you knew that you knew? Y'all still with me?
28:10So after she prayed, she went away and ate and her face was no longer sad.
28:23And, you know, some people get real churchy and weird and it bothers me
28:28that if you're a Christian, you ought to always smile. That's weird. It's just weird.
28:32Imagine, you know, someone telling you off and you're like, you know, that's the thing.
28:43Joy of the Lord comes out of prayer.
28:50Joy comes when you got that click. You feel that you're entitled to peace and joy just because
28:57you're a Christian. But the Bible says pray always without ceasing. And if you don't have
29:04a prayer life, you're not going to have a joy and peace life. I don't know who I'm talking to.
29:12But I'm helping someone in this room. This is my near final verse. Then they rose early in
29:22the morning and watched as both of them, this is husband and wife, worship before the Lord. But
29:28watch what worship can do. And they returned and came to their house. So Hannah came back into the
29:36house with a peace she could not explain. And Hannah looked at that face, the glory of the Lord
29:44shining on and there was a joy. And then Hannah, now listen, y'all get too spiritual because when
29:50she got back to the house, she started singing, all of me loves all of you. Now, I didn't make
29:57that up. It's in the next, it's in the next clause here. And the Holy Spirit… And Elkanah knew his
30:08wife. God still knows how to put a fire back in a marriage. Y'all don't know whether to clap or not.
30:20And the Lord remembered her because she prayed. So it came to pass in the process of time
30:35that Hannah conceived this barren woman that had no natural hope in an era that all her value and
30:44personal worth depended on the number of children she had. In the process of time when her and
30:52Elkanah got busy doing what they were supposed to do, God did what only he could do. That Hannah
30:59conceived and bore a son. Why did this happen? Because she was sincere, because she was specific,
31:09because she was sacrificial. If you would be sincere, if you would be specific,
31:18if you would be surrendered and sacrificial, God will also meet you here this Mother's Day.
31:26Give God a hallelujah and a hand clap for his word.
32:26you