Zach Peters' Podcast
A place for sermons, reflections, and general pondering on life and stuff.
Zach Peters' Podcast
The Potential of Normal Part Two
Prayer transforms us even before God answers - that's the heart of Hannah's story in 1 Samuel 1 and the surprising power available to every "normal" person facing seemingly impossible situations.
• God uses normal people and normal problems to accomplish extraordinary things
• Dedication to God isn't just a one-time event but a lifelong commitment through every season
• When facing grief, your response pattern reveals what you truly believe about God
• Prayer should be passionate and honest, not just quick or generic requests
• True transformation often happens during prayer, before circumstances change
• Like Jesus in Gethsemane, we can pray honestly about our pain while submitting to God's purposes
• Sometimes God answers our prayers with a miracle; sometimes He makes us the miracle
• Prayer should be our first response to problems, not our last resort
• God doesn't waste our pain but uses it to reach others experiencing similar struggles
• Jesus taught "when you pray" not "if you pray" - prayer is essential, not optional
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Good morning, glad you're here again. I love you guys. I'm so glad you're here. I'm always slightly excited, slightly nervous to be up here and do this. It's a great morning, beautiful morning. Who's enjoyed the beautiful weather we've been having. I know some of you maybe don't like the cold. I love when it's colder, I don't like when it's hot. So this is right on the edge for me of being perfect. Okay. So I love this. We're gonna have a good day today. I'm excited about what God has for us this morning and we're in part two of a series.
Speaker 1:Essentially and again, I don't normally name series, but if this series does have a title, it's the potential of normal. The potential of normal as a bit of a reminder of where we're at in the history of Israel and sort of for context of the scripture that we're reading today, that we also read last week. Israel in this scripture, they're sort of in trouble. They're in a very interesting time in their history and the people, the leaders, the people in charge of Israel, the family and clan leaders, they're sort of doing whatever they want to do. Okay, they're not living by the precepts that God has given them. And even worse than probably, that is that the priests, the people who should have been the best, the most closest to God, the people responsible for reminding Israel how they got to where they are and where their blessings come from. They were doing whatever they wanted to do as well, and so they have that sort of spiritual problem going on. And then, on top of that, there's also practical problems. The Philistines are growing in strength and growing in boldness again, and so they're at this critical juncture in their history. Israel is, and at this critical juncture we have the introduction of 1 Samuel, 1.
Speaker 1:And at the beginning of this story, the beginning of these two books, 1 and 2 Samuel, we have the story of a normal family dealing with normal, if not painful, issues of Elkanah, pananiah and Hannah, and eventually Samuel. And we probably know, in here at least, that Samuel becomes a priest. He's considered a sort of a judge and leader of Israel before they have kings. He's a prophet and, probably most importantly, he's a kingmaker. He anoints King Saul, he anoints King David to be kings, and he's a pretty big deal. But before we get to Samuel and who he is and what he accomplished and what he did, we start with this normal family dealing with normal problems, and I just think it's interesting. It's just sort of a juxtaposition of this book of the Bible that's mainly about awesome kings, the birth of a nation, and yet it starts with this little normal family sort of doing their thing Out of normal. God produces something extraordinary Normal family, normal people, normal problems but God uses them anyways. There's potential in normal. So, by the way, if you don't feel extraordinary this morning, if you feel normal or even less than normal, that's okay. God can still use you anyways.
Speaker 1:One of the reasons and this was the focus point of last week's sermon one of the reasons that God was able to use this normal family is that they were dedicated. Everyone say dedicated. They were dedicated, dedicated. They were dedicated and so their lives, hannah and Elkanah, this family, they were dedicated to serving God.
Speaker 1:Over time. It wasn't a one day, a week sort of thing. It wasn't a one-time event. As we read the scripture, it might seem like it's just a one-time event, this dedication event, but it was more than that. Before there was a problem in Elkanah and Hannah's marriage, there was dedication. When there was a problem, there was dedication. When there was a problem in Elkanah and Hannah's marriage, there was dedication. When there was a problem, there was dedication. When there was trouble and pain, there was dedication. When God provided a miracle, there was dedication. It was this continuation of something they had been doing a long time that enabled God to use this family to do extraordinary things.
Speaker 1:And so, for your own lives, there is a calling of dedication. You're called to dedicate your life to God. You're called to as a parent, you're called to dedicate your children to God one way or another. And it's not a one day a week sort of thing, it's not a Sunday thing, it's an every moment thing. And while that can be a burden if you think about it, that you've always got to be on for God, you've always got to have him in your mind and in your heart. Amen, it's amen. No, it's everybody, everybody. Right now, they're just excited to be here, right? But your dedication to God, it's more than a moment, it's a lifestyle, and it can be tough. It can be difficult to wrap your head around that because and it can be tough it can be difficult to wrap your head around that because, to be frank, I know how distracting life can be and how weak we can be in certain moments, and so we gotta remember that God also grants us the grace and the mercy and the love and the tools that we need to live a life of dedication. We're not doing this thing on our own, you're not by yourself. So never be overwhelmed by the calling of dedication, because it's not a calling where God doesn't also give you the exact thing that you need to accomplish it. Even when you make mistakes and have bad days, you're still not done with your life of dedication because there's grace and mercy for your life. And so this normal family in 1 Samuel 1 is dedicated, and that dedication is partially responsible for number one, god being able to do what Hannah needed her to do, but also, outside of Hannah, doing something great for the entire nation of Israel.
Speaker 1:Let's read this scripture. We're going to focus on sort of Hannah's response today. That'll be our focus point, will be our focus point. But let's read the scripture one more time. It's pretty long but it's okay. We can work our way through it and then we will jump into sort of the application. 1 Samuel, chapter 1, verses 1 through 18.
Speaker 1:There's a certain man of Arimatheum Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, the son of Draham, and Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zoph and the Ephrathite, whatever that is. He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, the name of the other was Penaniah, and Penaniah had children, but Hannah had no children, which is a pretty big deal in this day and age. Now, this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, hophniah and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Penaniah, his wife, and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb and her rival used to provoke her grievously, to irritate her because the Lord had closed up her womb. And so it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore, hannah wept and would not eat, and Elkanah, her husband, said to her Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons? Classic husband right there Doesn't quite get it.
Speaker 1:After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, hannah rose. Now Eli, the priest, was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord and she was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life and no razor shall touch his head. As she continued to pray because this was apparently a very long process for her before the Lord, eli observed her mouth and Hannah was speaking in her heart. Only her lips moved and her voice was not heard. Therefore, eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli said to her how long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you. But Hannah answered no, my Lord, I'm a woman troubled in spirit. I've drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman. For all along I've been speaking out about my great anxiety and vexation. Then Eli answered go in peace and the the Lord and the God of Israel, grant your petition that you have made him and pay attention to this. She said let your servant find favor in your eyes. And then the woman went her way and she ate, and her face was no longer sad, even though Samuel wasn't there yet, even though she wasn't pregnant yet. Immediately her situation changed. We'll talk about that in a minute.
Speaker 1:But today's point and the focus of what I want to talk about today, from this ordinary family, is what does your grief make you do? What does your trouble make you do? Well, what's your response pattern to your grief? Because, for Hannah, it shows us something. Okay, it shows us something that we need to adopt in our life, because life has thrown Hannah a curve curveball and she's in the process of striking out. She is struggling, she is hurting, she's grieved to the point where she can't eat. She's so upset she can't stop crying. She's so downtrodden that she can't worship God with the rest of her family. And so what does she do in this moment? Again, this is a process that's been going on year by year, by year. This isn't a one-time thing. This is a burden on her shoulders. Every single day she wakes up and she's not pregnant again. What does she do? She prays. She goes to God, she goes to the tabernacle and she prays.
Speaker 1:Let's have a moment of honesty in our lives right now, a bit of reflection. Have any of us ever had a moment like Kana is having right now? A bit of reflection? Have any of us ever had a moment like Canada is having right now? Have we struggled with some pain? Have we struggled with some problems? Have we struggled with some fear, some anxiety, some stress, something that weighs on us so heavily that we can't even find it within ourselves to eat? We can't be normal, we can't associate with people the right way, we cry uncontrollably, we can't sleep, whatever it might be.
Speaker 1:Listen, I am old enough to know that we're going to go through some stuff. Everybody in this room has been through things and maybe you're not having the same response she is emotionally but it's still something that we're going to go through. We go through pain, we go through problems. We see it throughout the entire Bible, right? There's droughts, there's famines, there's enemies that destroy everything, possessions and families. There's disasters, there's plagues, there's wars, there's battles, there's sickness, there's death. All throughout the Bible Old Testament, new Testament. Jesus himself went through some stuff Stuff.
Speaker 1:Now, whether people sort of walk themselves into that stuff or not doesn't really matter. Hannah, in this situation, has no control. Sometimes we have no control over the stuff that we end up walking into. Now, sometimes we do, sometimes we do. Sometimes, well, frankly, we are dumb. Okay, we're dumb, we do dumb things, we do silly things and we make mistakes and we walk right into the stuff that we are now anguishing and languishing in.
Speaker 1:Okay, moses murders a man. Right, david is an adulterer. Okay, moses murders a man. And God then has to work with that horrible choice to still enact God's perfect will for the people of Israel, which I think is sort of awesome. By the way, again, moses doesn't kill a guy. It's not an accident. He, out of anger, murders a man. God's not pleased with it. It's not what God wants to do and what God wants to happen. And yet God still works his will and works his way, so that Moses is still you. So, in your own life, never doubt that, even if you have a mistake, a failure, even a pretty significant one, that you are now disqualified from pleasing God in a life of dedication, the story's never over in your life.
Speaker 1:Amen, and this is not a sermon about excusing your sins. It's not a sermon about making your sins feel less impactful and being less negative in your life, because it should impact your life. It is negative. There are things, there are consequences for your sin, no matter what. But the Bible is replete with examples of God using broken, hurt people doing amazing, spectacular things because of his grace and because of his mercy. It's not any different for your own life. So, wherever you are, whatever you've done, whatever your past looks like, whatever you did before you walked in here that wasn't something God would be pleased with Pick up grace, pick up mercy and walk out of here transformed and changed, so that you can walk into purpose and power in Christ Jesus, amen.
Speaker 1:And so we have problems. Sometimes we cause them, sometimes we don't. Either way, they cause us grief, they cause us pain, they make us uncomfortable, they change how we do things, they change how we see people, they change how we see ourselves. How do we respond? This is not just some sort of like.
Speaker 1:I hope you have healthy coping techniques because, while that's important, it goes beyond that. It's got to start somewhere beyond. Well, when I'm struggling, I do this because, while that's important, it goes beyond that. Right. It's got to start somewhere beyond. Well, when I'm struggling, I do this, I do that. It's got to start here where Hannah starts, and she started with prayer. She started with going to God, she went to the source. Listen, we can develop all sorts of strategies and good, healthy things of how we handle life, and those are good things, those are gifts, those are tools, but it all starts with us connecting back to our Father, who truly can take care of us in a way that we can't. Hannah understood that Somehow, someway, she knew that this was the only option I had.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, I think we sort of confuse ourselves and get a little confused in how we operate and how we do things, and we think that somehow we can always work our way out of a problem and maybe we get lucky. Maybe we get lucky and it seems like we can't sort of polish over an issue or something and get over it. But ultimately, every problem we ever face it's the only real solution is getting to God and talking to Him. Prayer. She prayed passionately and she prayed honestly. She prayed passionately and honestly. By the way, I never really tell Carrie what I'm preaching on, okay, and so I think these songs fit perfectly with what we're talking about praying to God and asking God to help us, remembering who he is, remembering what he can do. But Hannah prayed passionately and honestly.
Speaker 1:There's passion in her prayer, a deep passion, clearly a deep passion. And this passion sort of makes me think about my own prayer life. I don't know your prayer lives so I can't talk for you. So just for a couple of minutes I'm going to talk about my prayer life and my response to the Scripture and hopefully maybe you can connect with it. But I look at her passionate prayer, her long prayer, this really, really deep prayer, and I look at my own prayer.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I'm like what am I doing? Because how often do I have this problem that I'm dealing with and I offer God a little five second. God help me out here. Okay, I'm not saying that's bad, by the way. I'm not saying God doesn't hear that. I'm not saying God won't respond to that, especially if that's all you got left, because I think all of us in here know if we got something going on long enough in our life and we've prayed to God long enough, sometimes all we get, all we got, is like five seconds at a time because we just can't handle it anymore. So I'm not saying that. But how often am I just a little bit lazy? How often am I just like all right, god, help me out with this or even worse. God, this or even worse.
Speaker 1:God, I'm going to sit down and pray about this problem that I've been suffering with for six months. I'm going to offer you a six-second prayer for that six-month problem. Am I really that desperate? Am I really really that desperate if I can only offer God a little bit of prayer whenever I'm struggling and suffering with something, or even worse for me? I'll go tell you this is something I'll do. I'll sit down to pray and I make the mistake of keeping my phone not on me but nearby, and it doesn't ring, but it vibrates and it makes I don't know it just anywhere. I leave it. God, help me. God I need I'll get back to that later. Okay, god, I need. Oh, it's my boss, I got to boss, I got to take this and whatever it might be. How often do I do that? And I look at Hannah's passionate prayer and I'm thinking am I really doing this thing right?
Speaker 1:Again, I'm not saying I am 0%, saying that God does not respond to a short, desperate prayer. I'm not saying that, I'm not saying that God is not gonna take our little oh goodness gracious, I've only got 30 seconds, but I desperately need to pray. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it's okay to go deeper, it's okay to take some time, it's okay to get a little emotional, it's okay to really dig in, it's okay to put aside everything else and really dive in. And really dive in, but, especially if you've got a problem that you've been dealing with, if it really matters to you and you really believe that God can do what he can say, dig into that process, pray passionately.
Speaker 1:And she prayed with honesty. She knew what was bothering her, she knew exactly what she needed and she brought it before the Lord. And again, sometimes, speaking just for myself because I don't know you, sometimes I give God these little generic prayers and those are okay, it's not bad. But can I get a little honest with God? Can I dig into that relationship? If prayer is just talking, which I promise you, prayer is essentially just talking and communicating to God, like you talk to your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister, your spouse, your kids, right? If prayer is just that, isn't it okay? If I get a little bare and honest with God about what I really need and what I really feel.
Speaker 1:Hannah was honest with God. She bared her emotions to God. We got to get a little honest with him, honest with him. Don't just skimp out. Tell God how you feel. Tell God what's going on. Tell God what you think you need. He's not afraid of that. He's not going to get his feelings hurt because you're not happy with how things are going and how he's doing things. Tell him. Tell him, the best relationships are open and honest to a fault, no different than your relationship with God. By the way, it's not that God doesn't know what you're going through. It's not that God already isn't even trying to work things out for you or move for you. It's not that the Holy Spirit isn't moving right now in your life and for you. It's just prayer is communication with God, and communication is the basis of any relationship. Okay, that's what prayer is. It's not some supernatural hocus-pocus sort of thing. It's conversation with someone that you desperately need a relationship with. It's conversation with someone that you desperately need a relationship with. Be honest in that relationship. He can handle it For Hannah, for Hannah, I can't guarantee that this is what's going to always happen.
Speaker 1:But for Hannah, out of this prayer, a passion, this prayer of honesty, something special happens. And I'm not talking about her getting pregnant and giving birth to Samuel and one day having five more kids. What I'm talking about is that it says that she ate and her face was no longer sad. Her countenance changed. Before her prayer was answered, before she had Samuel, she prayed and automatically, immediately, things were starting to change and shift in her life. Maybe it's easy to look over that or gloss over that, but this is something she'd been struggling with years. And she walks out of this prayer radically transformed and changed. From the way that she walked in to the prayer, the situation technically hadn't changed yet, and yet she changed anyways.
Speaker 1:What would happen if we started believing that when we prayed for something to God, that things were going to change and that sometimes we don't necessarily need a miracle, we don't need for God to answer a prayer right then and there, we just simply need to believe that he hears us. And if he hears us and we believe that he cares for us, we got to understand and know that everything must be under control, even in the chaos. There must be a plan for my pain, even in your hurt and even in the trials and tribulations that you go through, because you believe that God is hearing you and listening to you and you have faith in what he can accomplish. There is something inside of us that has to understand and know that God's not going to waste this moment, god's not going to waste this pain, god's not going to waste this problem, that there is something that can be birthed outside out of this problem that God will do something with. So I don't have to panic, I don't have to freak out, I don't have to think the world is ending, I don't have to think that I'm going to be stuck here forever, because I have faith and trust in God and the person I'm praying to, that something spectacular was going to happen. In fact, when we believe in our prayers and we believe in the one who we're praying to, we can stop asking why this bad thing is happening and we can start asking what does God want to do in this problem? What does he want to do with my pain? Who's he trying to reach in my pain? Where does he want me to go in my pain? Who's he trying to connect me with in my pain Because I promise you, in your pain, if you look around, there are other people in pain right next to you experiencing something similar. So the next level of faith in God, this response that Hannah has, is something that we can develop in our lives so that we're not panicking but we are looking forward and looking for opportunity and potential whenever we are in these moments of stress.
Speaker 1:Before, hannah had a miracle she changed because of faith and because of who she was praying to. We need that in our life. It is so easy to become overwhelmed by the stuff that we face, the hurts that we face, and so, in your struggle, in your pain, in your doubt, in your fear, in your grief, what are you going to do? Hannah prayed and it produced a certain result in her life, sort of in multiple ways. Jesus himself had to answer that same question in his own life before the events of his crucifixion. This is not just a Hannah thing, this is a Jesus thing. Matthew 26, verses 36 through 39.
Speaker 1:Then Jesus went with him to a place called Gethsemane, which basically means the place of pressing, because it was a place where they had an olive press, but also this was a place where Jesus was pressed as he's approaching his crucifixion, because God doesn't do things on accident. So he's in a place called Gethsemane and he said to his disciples sit here while I go over there and pray, and taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. You mean Jesus was sorrowful. You mean Jesus was troubled, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And he said to them my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here, watch with me. I'm going a little further. He fell on his face and prayed, saying my father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me, nonetheless, not as I will, but you will, father.
Speaker 1:Luke, chapter 22, verses 40 through 44. And when he came to the place of the pressing, he said to them pray, that you may not enter into temptation. And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw and he knelt down and prayed, saying Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him and being in agony. Right, jesus is in agony. In this prayer he prayed all the more earnestly there's some passion right there for you. And the sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Speaker 1:This is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This isn't your grandmother, this isn't you, this isn't your brother, your sister. This isn't someone normal. This is the King of Kings, lord of Lords, alpha and Omega, the word. They're at the beginning in all of creation. God, perfectly human, perfectly God.
Speaker 1:And here he is, suffering, fearful, afraid, hurting, troubled, begging God. Please don't let me go through this stuff I'm about to go through which, by the way, if we really break this down and think about this, jesus knows what's about to happen. And not only does he know what's about to happen, he knows the end result. So he knows the good news. He knows he's going to make it through the other side. He just does, and yet he's still begging God, don't let me go through this. And this should bring us a little hope in our own sorrows and troubles. Jesus knew what he was going through and yet he still had dread and fear. We ought to be able to extend ourselves some grace and some mercy and extend others grace and mercy whenever they were struggling with stuff that they're going through, even though they're Christian and even though, maybe, in the back of their mind. They know like the end of the story is good, but they're still living through pain right now. We ought to be able to extend some mercy to ourselves when we go through moments like that. That's human. Jesus was human, and even though we might know that I'm heading somewhere good, even though we might be heading towards somewhere where we know where it's going to be wonderful, you're still living through pain right now and that matters. It's okay. Don't let that discourage you. But Jesus prayed. He prayed very honestly and he prayed passionately and ultimately he submitted himself to what the Father wanted to do. Hannah prayed and she received a miracle. Jesus prayed and he was the miracle. You received a miracle. Jesus prayed and he was the miracle.
Speaker 1:Sometimes what God requires in our prayer, what God requires in our life and our relationship with him, is not necessarily look for a miracle, but look to be used. Look to be used when you're at your lowest. Look to be used Whenever you're hurting. Look to be used. God is faithful. He's going to answer prayers, he's going to do things for you. But ultimately, we are called for the world. We're called to reach out to the world, which means we've got a mission and sometimes we're going to be dragged in some places, walk into some situations that hurt, that are frightening, that we don't know what to do with. Pray passionately, pray honestly. Expect a miracle, but also expect to be the miracle for somebody else. Pray, pray.
Speaker 1:Who can tell what God wants to do in you and through you, in your troubles and through your prayers? I can't. I can't tell you. I can't tell you for sure that God's going to answer every one of your prayers just the way that you want it to be answered. Matter of fact. I can tell you that's not going to happen. Maybe you receive the miracle you so desperately want, but maybe God's going to answer every one of your prayers just the way that you want it to be answered. Matter of fact. I can tell you that's not going to happen. Maybe you receive the miracle you so desperately want, but maybe God's got other plans. Either way, a prayer life is a divine connection to God that will carry you through anything you will ever face and I've been through some stuff. So, again, I'm not talking just out of inexperience. I'm talking from experience that God and a prayer life of God will carry you through any problem that you ever face.
Speaker 1:When Jesus starts his lessons about how to pray when he's doing the Lord's prayer. He says lots of great things Maybe I preached on this probably about a year and a half ago. Maybe we'll revisit this sometime about prayer, but he starts his lesson on how to pray with a little phrase and it's real simple when you pray, when you pray, do not do this. When you pray, do not do this. When you pray, say this it's when you pray, not if you pray. It's not optional, it's not when you have time to pray, it's not when you get a chance to pray, it's not when it's convenient to pray, it's when you pray.
Speaker 1:As a Christian, you have to have a prayer life. You have to talk to God. You have to communicate with him. I'm not saying you've got to go and have a passionate prayer right after this because you feel convicted. What I'm saying is develop a habit of talking to God. Like you talk to your mom every day, talk to your dad every day or every week, you better develop some habits about talking to God on a regular basis when you pray, not if, when, when you pray.
Speaker 1:Develop a prayer life. Develop a prayer life Before you develop any other coping mechanism to deal with the stress in your life. Up a prayer life Before you develop any other coping mechanism to deal with the stress in your life. Develop a prayer life right. But before you turn to alcohol, pray Before you turn to substance, pray Before you turn to pornography. Pray Before you turn to gossip. Pray Before you turn to any number of things, even healthy things, even before you turn to exercise. Pray Before you turn to a brand new diet. Pray Before you go to the doctor. Pray Before you go talk to your accountant. Pray Before you get a raise. Pray. Pray At the front end of your life, at the front end of everything that you face in your life. Pray. Go to God. Step number one. Step number one I was a youth pastor for 10 years. Step number one. Step number one. I was a youth pastor for 10 years and at some point I sort of aged out because, as much as I understand that heartache in high school hurts whenever you're going through breakups and stuff like that, as a 31 year old I was sort of done with that stuff. But I do remember that. I do have empathy for that. What I struggle with, and what I struggle with now, even in my own life, is when they would come to me with pains and problems and they wanted me to snap my fingers and make it better, but they would have never gone to prayer to God by themselves. Right, it's so frustrating in my own life whenever I'm complaining about something, when I'm worrying about something, whenever I'm complaining about something, when I'm worrying about something, whenever I'm hurt about something and I'm remunerating in my head about all the different options that I might. How am I gonna tackle this? How am I gonna deal with this? And then I realized, like a day, a week, a month into a problem, that I've not once stopped to pray and ask God to help me with this issue. Pray, pray. He is faithful, he is good, he answers prayers. Maybe they're not answered the way you want them to, but they're answered in a way that we desperately need them to be. Ultimately, what Hannah was doing and ultimately what Jesus was doing, was running to the Father. And maybe you had a good relationship with your father in here. Maybe you didn't, but I can promise you this he's a perfect father. He's a perfect father. He's not going to let you down. He's got every solution, he's got every resource, he's got the perfect plan. He knows exactly what you need. Go, pray to your father. Jesus teaches us once again. When he starts the Lord's prayer, he says our Father, our Father, go to your dad, right? And if you again I know life's not perfect If you've got a bad dad situation, ignore that and just idealize something in your head and multiply it by 100. That's God plus some. Okay, go to the Father. There's no one else better to run to with your problems and with your pain and with your needs. Amen, and we're not done yet. But I just want to say this real quick I want every head bowed, every eye closed. I used to always accidentally say every eye bowed and every head closed, but it doesn't make any sense. I guess you can try that if you want to, but anyways, no one looking around Real fast. I know we already prayed for some needs in this place, but I'm going to pray one more time. If you've got a need in this place, I don't care what it is we just slip your hand up real fast, all right, you can put your hands down. Put your hands down, all your hand up real fast, all right, you can put your hands down. Put your hands down, all right, let's pray. There's some people in here who raised their hands. If you'd have nothing that you need to pray for, pray that God hears their prayers and answers their prayers. Can we pray together for a moment, heavenly Father? Thank you. There are needs in this house, needs in this place, and only you can meet them. Only you can do something about them. I pray that you would soften hearts, soften minds. I pray that you would bring restoration and healing and bring resources. Lord, I pray that you would just answer prayers in this place. God, and I pray for every single person in this room, wherever they are in their walk with you. I pray that you would draw them closer. God, let them walk out of here encouraged, strengthened and, lord, I pray that you would just be with them the rest of this day and the rest of this week and use them for your glory and for your honor. In Jesus' name, we pray and we all said amen.