God Already has Your Answer

God has heard your prayer and He already has the answer. He is the answer. As with Peninnah, who prayed every year to have a child, He will answer your prayer. It is His delight to prompt you to pray and then to be the answer to that prayer. God loves communicating with us. Jesus came for His people, for the church and we are part of that church. God will answer your prayer because He loves you. You can be relaxed in the knowledge that God is in control. You must accept this as Mary accepted what the angel told her, because God does love you and with God all things are possible.

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It’s wonderful to know that when things are seemingly barren and wrong, and you’re not sure if God is sorting things out, that it is God’s delight every time, to be the answer. He outworks His solution in a way we don’t expect. His solution is the best. I want to look at two episodes in two ladies lives. The first one just hung in there and God’s solution came. And the second realised the eternal purposes of God as she was to be the one to bear the Messiah. By the end of this morning I want you to know that at this point in time, no matter what has been an attempt to write things off, to hold up the white flag and say there is no answer, I want you to know in your heart of hearts that God is in control and He knows what He is doing. He has heard you.

1 Samuel 1:1-5

The situation was obvious, but to Hannah it was grievous. Her grief was that Peninnah had produced children, but she had not.

1 Samuel 1:6-8

With Hannah it was that things were not as she wanted them to be. It got to her because she wanted to have a baby. The taunting of Peninnah was unkind and uncalled for. There’s something about a taunt to someone who’s standing up for what is right that is from the pit. Don’t taunt anyone who is trying to go right. Don’t write a family off because they have one child who is in a predicament at the moment. You have to stand together and help each other.

1 Samuel 1:9-22

1 Samuel 1:26-28

God has not forgotten the prayers you have made for your children. The more these weeks progress the more it becomes apparent that in quite a few lives there has been a reassertion in the faith that God has given you. He’s caused you to believe that what you prayed before He has heard. God answered Hannah’s prayer. I don’t care what taunt there has been in the past to you. I want to confirm to you that God is a God of love and what He has done in your life of late is to form a relationship with you. The pressure has caused you to pray more and He has heard your prayers. Hannah’s song will be echoed later when we read the song of Mary. This is the song she prayed after she had dedicated Samuel.

1 Samuel 2:1-10

No gloating there. No going round to Peninnah and saying ‘you see’. My God has heard me. It’s not the fact that He’s my God, it’s who God is. This song is so wonderful because it reveals how God doesn’t take what the world views as strong – 1 Samuel 2: 2. The enemy of your souls might point the finger at you and convince that you’re never going to get blessed because of what you have done. Your God, who is a God of love, is someone who listens, draws alongside and knows what He’s doing in response to your prayer. It is God’s delight to prompt us to pray. We are then co-workers with Him because He has prompted us to pray and we then witness His answer. God loves communication with us. God’s nature is to communicate His life with you and me.

Luke 1:28-37

That was news to Mary because she didn’t know her cousin was pregnant. She thought that Elizabeth was too old, but with God nothing is impossible.

Luke 1:38

Your life based on the Word of God and with His life inside you will stand sure. Your God is someone who hears you. He is the King of Kings. He created heaven and earth. I want to confirm to you that your God is a faithful God. All the way through the circumstances you’ve had over the past weeks He has been there, He’s heard you. It’s His delight to be the answers to the prayers that He has prompted you to pray.

Luke 1:40-45

You can’t stop God’s goodness to you. You can’t stop God’s love for you. It doesn’t matter what people have said to you, you cannot stop the love of God operating in your life. For Mary, Elizabeth’s child was a confirmation.

Luke 1:46-54

These words are an echo of what Hannah says. Mary knew, from the book of the Prophets, what Hannah had said. The common denominator between there words was that they both glorified God. I want to encourage you to stand your ground and to realise that your faith is rightly placed in Him. I believe in my God who has saved me and given me life. You can trust Him. The word to you is that the prayers that you have prayed have been heard. I am particularly making reference to any of you who have family members who aren’t here this morning. The prayer that you prayed has been prompted by God.

How old was Mary? Some say she was fifteen. There was an awareness that somehow she was going to be the one that would bear the Messiah.

Luke 1:54

In those words she linked the father of the faithful, Abraham, the seed of Abraham, right through to Jesus, the One who would save us from our sins.

Genesis 17:1-8

The everlasting Covenant given to Abraham means that God forever and ever is with His people. His people are to as many as God will call. It includes you all. In physical terms we were talking there about the gathering of Canaan. But as you know this is a picture of us possessing our souls. Mary knew that there would be a son born of God, who is in a direct line of outworking God’s purposes from Abraham. And at the end of time the church would be the bride of Christ. That’s why He’s interested in you because you are part of the bride of Christ.

Luke 1:46-54

Galations 3:13-14
Galations 3:28-29

What’s that promise? The promise is that the Holy Spirit was given. In your life you can be at ease knowing that God is outworking His purposes for good in your life. Stand your ground. The pressures that you’re in at the moment don’t let the enemy of your soul taunt you. Stand fast in your God. Lift Him up. During this coming week find some time when you can think about this word and apply it to your life. We need to be witnesses of God’s love to others.

God has heard your prayer. He will step in and help because He loves you. It’s not that you have to chalk up brownie points for Him to answer; He loves you. In the same way with Hannah, where the taunting year after year was hellish, so it was that God answered He prayer. With Mary there was that immediate acceptance of ‘be it according to thy word’. And Jesus was born in Bethlehem. His life was given that you and I could be made free from the penalty and power of sin. We can be in relationship with God because of what Jesus did for us.