Persevere – Preaching
Preaching Outline on Samuel 1:12 – “And it came to pass, as she continued to pray before the Lord, that Eli paid attention to her mouth.”
Introduction to 1 Samuel 1:12
Circumstances in a believer’s life arise because God has a purpose. What is this purpose? It’s up to God to know. But one of them is to lead us to have an experience with prayer. That’s what happened to Hannah. Her bitterness led her to go beyond the natural limits of man to reach the supernatural limits of God.
Development
We began this message by stressing one thing: there is a difference between praying and persevering in prayer. Here we can learn some wonderful lessons from Anna’s experience.
PERSEVERE: CONTINUE
Anna’s prayer was a prayer of PERSEVERANCE, that is, she continued in faith. Many people don’t persevere when they are tested, their minds aren’t the same, they wear out over time. Anna’s mind did not change. Her faith didn’t change. The prayer that goes up to the Lord is from the one who perseveres, who does not change, who has the same unshakeable faith that time has not been able to corrupt.
Example: “Tell the people to march…” (Exodus 14)
They were supposed to keep walking. God didn’t say he was going to open the sea, he said the people had to keep going…PERSEVERE.
When believers persevere, we don’t know what will happen, but something will happen. Not that God’s grace depends on man to achieve it, but the faith exercised by the believer takes him from the earthly plane to the prophetic plane.
The result of persevering = The sea opened up
We don’t persevere before men, we don’t persevere because we are strong. We persevere BEFORE THE LORD.
- ANA HAD MANY NEEDS, BUT ONE OF THEM WAS WHAT MADE HER PERSEVERE: THE DESIRE TO BEGET
Hannah’s will was also God’s will, because it would bring about the restoration of Israel.
Pray that your experience through prayer will serve as a testimony to EDIFY other brothers and sisters.
What made her persevere was the need to beget. When we pray understanding and discerning that what we are asking for is in accordance with God’s will and we feel the intense desire for his Work to be generated within us, we are able to persevere for as long as it takes.
- ANA DIDN’T PRAY FOR THE SAKE OF PRAYING. SHE DEPENDED ON PRAYER
- The fervor to pray exists to the extent that the servant depends on prayer;
- His peace, his rest, his relief, were not in the state of circumstances, in other words, it didn’t depend on circumstances, it didn’t depend on Penina. It depended on prayer. Prayer is a resource of grace that calms the
ELI WATCHED HIS MOUTH
When people went to the temple in Shiloh to pray (which was a tent that was set up for the tabernacle after it was established in Shiloh, according to Joshua 18:1), the prayers were usually loud and short. Hannah’s prayer was different.
Here is the difference in the servant’s life: When the servant perseveres, he leaves the earthly plane, what can be seen with natural eyes (the loud voice) and things in his life start to happen moved by the prophetic plane, of intimacy with God, which can only be seen in revelation (the silent voice).
The prayer of the faithful church is hidden from the eyes of reason because the church perseveres (Anna’s prayer). And this attitude led Anna to live the experience of begetting.
When this doesn’t happen, we don’t see the spiritual, only the external.
Why did Eli observe Hannah’s mouth? Because he couldn’t see the spiritual and was probably sitting down (the priests used to sit in the temple, observing the prayers).
When you get old and complacent, it’s because you haven’t persevered and you don’t see the value of prayer. You don’t see the spiritual, you don’t have access to the mysteries of God. That’s why those who don’t persevere see God’s miracles from afar (Eli was sitting and saw everything from afar).
Conclusion of Persevere
Here are the two experiences with prayer:
1- PERSEVERE IN PRAYER
When you persevere in prayer, you have access to spiritual things and God’s miracles;
2- SEE ONLY THE MOUTH
When you don’t persevere in prayer, you only have access to the material and you don’t have access to God’s intimacy or spiritual things.
Perseverance and fidelity are proven in the little… When we have little to offer. Little peace, joy, fulfilled dreams and expectations, little resources, in sickness, pain, frustration, persecution, clashes.
When we persevere in the midst of all this, we will be placed over much. We serve, we are faithful, we persevere, not because of the present circumstances that surround us, but because of the much that is reserved for us. The quality of all that is eternal: Life, peace, joy, satisfaction. Everything in abundance.
“Looking not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, and the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18
What experience of prayer do you want? To persevere or to see only the mouth?
Preaching Outline on Samuel 1:12 – “And it came to pass, as she continued to pray before the Lord, that Eli paid attention to her mouth.”
More Preaching Outlines
- I am that woman… – I Samuel 1:26
- Hannah’s affliction – I Samuel 1:13
- Zechariah 14:17 – Delivery without reserve
