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.

Changed on the Inside

Pastor Peter Linnecar shares from John 9, from the story of the man born blind, where we see that Jesus is interested in all our lives, and knows what we need. He is the one who seeks us out, even when we are in our darkest moment, and changes everything.

As we look at scriptures today, you’ll see that God is interested in your life, and wants to change you on the inside for the better. Sometimes when we think about God, we forget His ways aren’t our ways, and that His thoughts aren’t our thoughts. He’s good and He loves us – God is love.

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Isaiah 55:8 - 11

Whenever God speaks, the word has a purpose which will be fulfilled. He never says something He regrets. He will always work out His purposes.

Mark 10:27 says things impossible with man are possible with God. He works out things in His way in His time.

Who sinned?

John 9:1 – 2

Jesus and the disciples saw the same thing but reacted differently. To the disciples, it was a blind man, and they wanted an answer as to why he was blind. Sometimes we can’t work out why certain things happen. I don’t claim to have the answer to everything. But as far as God is concerned, we may be trying to get answers to questions we shouldn’t be asking, because Jesus’ answer was completely the opposite of what they expected.

John 9:3

There are circumstances happening in your life because God wants to get your attention and reveal more of Himself than you have ever known before. He’s interested in your life. He was so interested that He came to this earth to seek and save that which was lost. He wanted to change you on the inside. The way you started off in life was wrong. We are sinners, and we know we are.

I am the light of the world

John 9:4 – 5

Jesus Himself is the light of the world, and He’s come to dispel the darkness and sin within us. The disciples couldn’t figure it out. There was a situation and something must have caused it, because things shouldn’t have been that way. But Jesus said the works of God would be manifest in the blind man.

John 9:6 – 7

It didn’t happen there and then. The clay was put on his eyes and he was told to go and wash and when he did, his eyesight was given.

John 9:8 – 12

Jesus made the clay, touched his eyes, sent him off, and while he was away, Jesus went on His way. The man returned having had his miracle, able to see for the first time in his life – and he didn’t know where Jesus was.

John 9:13 – 34

“And they cast him out.”

What a reaction. The Pharisees doubted the man who claimed that he was born blind and that Jesus had healed him. Those five words, “And they cast him out,” struck me, because our sin has shut God out. When we start off in life, we’re against God, and we do not want Him. We want to do our own thing. But we try and try, and it doesn’t work. It’s as if we’ve cast ourselves out – our sin has brought a shutter down between us and God.

Romans 5:6

At the right time God sorted things out, to break through the shutter and get hold of us. He wants to change the sin and wrong thought life with His life inside you.
This man who was given sight for the first time in his life, was asked about Jesus and was trying to work it out – He must be of God because look at what’s happened to my eyes.

When you were at your wits’ end, Jesus heard you when you prayed. God is organising things to increase that relationship with Him - He is your heavenly Father. He loves you and provides for you.

I wonder who told Jesus what had happened to the man.

John 9:35 – 38

“Lord I believe.” The reason you can say that is as a result of Jesus finding you. Through the Cross of Calvary, you were on His mind, and at that point He took in Himself your first life, your sin. It was then a case of God’s Holy Spirit speaking to you and drawing you. He’s brought you to this point in time where He says, “Do you believe on the Son of God?” What do you say?

Romans 10:8 – 10

Lord, I believe

All Jesus asked was, “Do you believe on the Son of God?” The man answered, “Who is He?” I am the one who healed you and the one who is speaking to you now. “Lord, I believe. I’ve been trying to sort things out on my own, and I’ve made a mess.”

Is it fair that some people come across this truth and others don’t? Don’t think like that. I’m talking about God in relation to you. Why did things start out as they did in Israel all those years ago? Why am I preaching like this there in England? I don’t know. But it’s how God speaks to you, how you realise that He gave His son so that you could be born again. You could be thinking, I know I need that. I try to lead a good life, and time and again I fail. There are some things I’ve given up on because I can’t overcome them. Jesus knows that, and He wants to point out you can’t do it on your own. Your sin is preventing the life you want to live. The only way to live that life is when Jesus Christ comes inside and causes you to start again with His life inside you.

This man, born blind, got his sight back and by the end of this encounter with Jesus, he could also see spiritually.

John 9:39 – 41

God loves an honest heart. I know some of you are being honest with yourselves, and realise inside right now that God is speaking to you. Respond to that voice. Say “Lord I believe. Sort me out. Change me from the inside.” And He will.

God has already made provision for what you need. He loves you and He will reveal Himself to you through His provision.

Jesus gets very personal because He loves you.

Going Forward in God

No matter how impossible the circumstances we face, God has provided a way for us as we go forward in Him.

Ephesians 2:5 – 6

As a Christian, you live knowing that Jesus Christ is the answer for everything. His life is inside you, and you know that you can trust God in any circumstances as you go forward. It’s a glorious thing to know your times are in God’s hand.

There was a particular time when the children of Israel faced an impossible situation. When you face the impossible God is able to see you through, He is able to fulfil His destiny in your life.

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Isaiah 51:15

It was an impossible situation, but He divided the sea. He rebuked the sea and, according to Nahum made it dry. It was not until 800 years later Isaiah wrote these words. This was an event of such significance that it was still recalled.

There came a time in the history of the children of Israel when their situation couldn’t have got any worse. They had been slaves of the Egyptians, ten plagues had been brought on the Egyptians, and still Pharaoh would not let them go. The Passover came and the firstborn of every Egyptian died, and the children of Israel thought that now they had made it. Pharoah finally agreed to let them leave Egypt.

There are some people today who need to realise that when it seems impossible to go forward, God is opening the way for you. God can sort things out.

Exodus 12:31 – 32

The following is history...

Exodus 14:1 – 5

Suddenly the Egyptians realised that they were letting their slaves go. To the Israelites it must have appeared that everything was sorted out for them but suddenly they were facing another problem.

Exodus 14:6 – 9

The Israelites must have been thinking “We thought it was sorted, Lord. There was an agreement. What are you doing?”

When the Passover happened the firstborn of every Egyptian family had died. But the one thing the plagues hadn’t touched was the army, and Pharaoh trusted the army.

Sometimes we look at situations which we thought were resolved, and fear comes inside. But fear not. Jesus Christ lives on the inside. Perfect love casts out fear. Don’t be afraid.

Exodus 14:10 – 12

The children of Israel were trapped at a dead end with 600 relentless chariots coming after them. There really was nowhere to go. There were over 1.5 million people, with the sea ahead of them, the wilderness behind, and the chariots approaching. What they thought was sorted out apparently was not. And the complaints and murmuring set in.

Exodus 14:13

“Fear not”. God used those same words with Abraham in Genesis 5, to Joshua, to Gideon, to Daniel.

Luke 12:31 - 32

Without God in this world, there is fear – fear of the economy, of the credit crunch, of the knife culture. You can’t but fear without God.

If you’re not a Christian, God wants to show you something. He’s saying that this Christianity you have heard about is something you need to get involved in. Jesus is speaking to you right now. You know you’ve been worried about the way things are, about your own life.

God is on the throne. Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God. He has a future for each person on this earth.

The children of Israel heard Moses say, “Fear not”.

Isaiah 26:3

The only way to get peace inside and going forward is in God.

You have only to look at the news these days, and it’s as though each day brings something worse than the day before. People are asking what is the answer, what is the way forward, what is the fabric of society meant to be? Do politicians have the answer? The more it goes on, the more imperative it is that we should not be silent about our faith. Jesus Christ is on the throne. He has the answer. There is a way for society He knows about. It involves one person at a time coming to know Him.

Ephesians 1:19 – 23

The reason why we have an empty cross is that when He went to the cross, He took our sin, broke the power of it, was buried and rose from the dead – and the power of God that brought Him up from the dead is the power which comes by His Holy Spirit to live within an individual.

God has everything under His feet. There isn’t one thing God doesn’t know about, and isn’t involved in. He loves you, and there is peace in heaven. There is never a ripple of any fear or doubt, because in heaven everything has been completed.

As you evaluate your circumstances, you can have confidence that God is taking you forward, that He will see you through. On our own, we can’t do it. The world does not have an answer. The children of Israel did not have an answer.

“Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.”

Some of the children of Israel thought there was no chance it would happen. Others said they didn’t know how it would happen, but they believed.

Exodus 14:14

Forget your way of working things out, your way of coming up with an answer. It’s the Lord who fights for us and sees us through. Fear not, stand still. It’s the Lord who fights for us and we will see the salvation of the Lord. Don’t worry about whether it will work out or not. Of course it will.

Exodus 14:15-18

I wonder what Moses thought when God said that. He’d been used to miraculous power. He’d seen the burning bush. He’d seen the plagues. And now, something else miraculous was to happen – something we would still talk about today. God had the solution. It’s something you’d never dream of, because humanly speaking it is not possible.

Exodus 14:19

God provided a solution the children of Israel didn’t think of. In their mind they followed the cloud. Suddenly it was switched about. You think there is no way forward, but God has the solution.

Exodus 14:20-31

This was an incredible miracle because there was no way forward. Humanly speaking it was impossible. You may think that the situation you are facing is impossible, but God has prepared the solution. It doesn’t matter what anyone says. God knows what He is doing, and He has already provided a way forward for you in the circumstances of your life.

Philippians 4:19

The guarantee is that God is who He is. The God who has started a work in your life will complete it. And whatever your need, God will supply all that need.

Hebrews 11:29

I don’t think there was a motorway formed through the sea which they just strolled through. I think the people started, and as they went forward it moved apart, and they kept going. Each step they took, the miracle provision continued, by faith. And there were a lot of people, over 1.5 million. Step by step by step. Our God is a God of miracles. He has done everything, and it’s perfect to provide a solution for your life.

Ephesians 2:5 – 6

Jesus Christ living on the inside

His Holy Spirit lives in us now. And the pillar of fire is a type of the Holy Spirit, the protection. With Jesus Christ living on the inside, as you go forward, remind yourself that we have a God who makes the impossible possible. He will and He does. Everything begins and ends in Him.