It's Just a Prayer Meeting

1 Samuel 1:10

And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.

A church prayer meeting is often one of the most unpopular meetings in a church. I believe there are several reasons church prayer meetings don't seem to be important. I think they are not important because many are afraid that others will know how anemic their prayer life is. I also believe prayer meetings are unimportant because we don't believe in the power of prayer as we say we do.

Hannah was a lady of prayer. Hannah desired a son, but for some reason, God had shut up her womb. Instead of getting bitter and angry at God, she understood the only way to turn her situation around was to go to God in prayer and ask Him to open her womb and give her a child. The verse above says that when she was in bitterness of soul that she prayed. In verse 12, it says that she continued praying. In verse 13, she not only prayed, but she prayed in her heart silently. Hannah absolutely believed that the way to turn her situation around was to tap into the Almighty God and ask Him to give her a son. Her faith in God's power is what moved God to give her a son, and not just any boy, but Samuel, the prophet whom God used to anoint kings.

The power of prayer can not be overemphasized. We must understand that when we pray, we are touching heaven to bring its power down to earth. When we pray, we are talking to the Almighty to help us where we are unable to change our situation. When we pray, we are talking to the One who can turn the impossible into a reality. If we truly believed in the power of prayer as we say we do, our prayer lives would be so much different and much more fervent. Let me share a couple of thoughts about the importance of prayer.

First, prayer is man's way of communicating with God. God could have chosen many other ways for us to bring our petitions to Him, but He chose for us to bring them to Him through prayer. It is not that God does not know what our problems are; it is just that He wants to know that we need Him enough that we will go to Him to ask for His help.

Second, a fervent prayer life is the only way to keep you from becoming bitter towards God. Hannah was in bitterness of soul, but it was her prayer life that kept bitterness from controlling her life. You can get upset with God for not giving you what you want, or you can let the passion that bitterness brings to your heart cause you to go to God in prayer to ask for His intervention with your situation.

Third, prayer is the only way to build your faith. God commands us to live by faith, but we cannot build our faith without prayer. You cannot separate a strong life of faith from a strong prayer life; they go hand in hand. The person of strong faith is also a person of a great prayer life. You show me how much you pray and I will show you how great your faith is. You will never see the great work of faith if you don't spend much time in prayer.

Fourth, prayer is what makes the impossible a reality. What is your impossible situation that you faced today? That impossibility will either make you bitter, or you can use it as the catalyst to move you to tap into the Almighty God who can make it a reality. Prayer is the answer to making the impossibility that you face a reality in your life because it is in prayer where we touch the power of the Almighty to get Him to work on our behalf.