Reading: 1 Samuel chapter 7 verses 2-17:
Quote
• It was the late Donald Barnhouse the American pastor and author,
• Who stunned his congregation by saying;
“Prayer changes nothing”.
• The church was packed full of people,
• Yet you could have heard a pin drop.
• Now his comment was deliberately designed to make folks think.
• It is God who through prayer changes things!
Ill:
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson went on a camping trip.
• As they lay down for the night,
• Holmes said, "Watson, look up into the sky and tell me what you see."
• Watson said, "I see millions and millions of stars".
• Holmes asked, "And what does that tell you?"
Watson replied,
"Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets.
Theologically, it tells me that God is great and that we are small and insignificant.
Meteorologically, it tells me that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.
What does it tell you?"
• Asked Watson.
• Holmes answered, "Somebody has stolen our tent."
(1). Two quick points regarding victorious praying:
• That I don’t want you to miss this morning is this:
• By way of introduction to our passage.
(1). Right recipient - True God.]
• Prayer in itself changes nothing, people of all ages, colours, creeds & faiths pray,
• The vital ingredient is not just the prayer but the recipient of that prayer.
• It is Prayer to the living God that brought the victory.
• Prayer is only as good as the God it is sourced in.
e.g.
1 Samuel chapter 7.
• Victory was not because they had the ark of the covenant,
• Victory was not t because they had a powerful army,
• Victory was entirely due to the power of God.
(2). Right Lifestyle - The righteous.
• Samuel was a man of prayer.
• He was himself born in answer to his mother’s prayers (Chapter 1).
• Throughout his life, prayer is something that marked him out,
• Now God brings victory, through the prayer of the righteous (right with God).
Ill: Kerry
“I’ve tried praying, it’s a waste of time, it doesn’t work”
• She treats pray like it was a magic spell,
• She wants God to get her out of the mess she is in.
• But she is blowed if she will let him affect her life in anyway,
• Ill: Spare tyre mentality (Only for emergencies) so she will be disappointed.
Quote James chapter 5 verse 16.
“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective”.
Ill:
• Imagine you are in a boat and you are approaching the river bank,
• You throw a rope and hook to the bank and pull.
• Question: Do you pull the river bank to you?
• Or do you pull yourself towards the bank?
• Prayer is not pulling God to my will,
• But the aligning of my will to the will of God.
• For prayer to be effective and bring victory,
• Surrender to God’s will and co-operation with God’s will is essential.
• In this chapter,
• The prayers of Samuel the prophet were powerful and effective.
(1). Background.
(a). Samuel.
• Samuel occupies nearly half of the first book of Samuel:
• Yet this is the only chapter that gives us an insight as to what he did,
• The early part of the book concentrate on his background and early years,
• The last part focus’s on his relationship with Saul.
But these verses give us an insight as to what he actually did:
• Samuel had a threefold ministry;
• He was a prophet, priest and judge.
(a). He was primarily a prophet
• We read about him delivering God’s message,
• Bringing both good and bad news throughout this book.
Ill:
Chapter 8 verse 10.
“Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king”.
(b). He was obviously a priest (verse 9).
• He was active in priestly duties.
• E.g. he offered a sacrifice.
(c). He was also a judge / politician:
ill: Chapter 7 verse 15:
“Samuel continued as judge over Israel all the days of his life.”
It would be impossible for him to judge every case of disagreement:
• He probably had to judge all the difficult cases,
• Which could not easily be dealt with by the local elders.
Verse 16: He did this by establishing three key places that he would go round and visit.
• Samuel had his home in Rammah, but his political base was at Mizpah
• Which is one reason the Philistines attacked there,
• They wanted to establish themselves as the ruling power in the land.
• So they wanted to occupy his ‘Downing Street’ his ‘White House’,
• Samuel was the last of the judges, after him the people wanted a king.
• And he is the first of the national prophets.
(b). The Ark of the Lord or the Ark of the Covenant:
Verse 1-2:
The Ark of the Lord or Ark of the Covenant was a rectangular box overlaid in gold:
• It contained two tablets of stone, on which were written the 10 commandments,
• A golden pot of manna & Aaron’s rod that had blossomed overnight.
• It was made to go into the ‘holy of holies’
• It was thought to be where the invisible presence of God was enthroned,
• It was sometimes carried into battle as a symbol of God’s protection.
• The fact that it was captured by the Philistines showed it had no power of its own.
• Now obviously you cannot tame and confine the power & presence of God.
• Anymore than modern man can restrict God to a church building.
• The ark was a positive potent force in Israel,
• And a negative potent force in the hands of the Philistines.
• Ever since they captured the ark, the Philistines had nothing but trouble,
• So they sent it back to Israel.
• Israel was still reeling from the effects of two defeats in battle,
• The return of the ark, brought fresh hope.
• With the ark came the presence of the Lord,
• And with the Lord came defeat for the enemy.
Verses 1-2:
• Now the ark was not returned to Shiloh,
• It remained at the house of Abinadab for the next twenty years.
• There is no suggestion that Samuel sought to renew his association with the Ark,
• He now lived at Ramah, which is several miles to the south of Shiloh.
• These verses remind us not to look to things, charms for victory,
• But to trust directly in the Lord (as Samuel did!)
• The ark had been returned to Israel,
• But Israel had not yet returned to the Lord.
(2). Cleaning up - The return to the Lord:
(a). Repentance (verse 2b-3).
“All the people of Israel mourned and sought after the LORD and Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only”.
• The priesthood was decayed,
• When the nation was defeated,
• And God’s glory had departed.
• At last the people realized they were in a desperate situation,
• And they “Mourned and sought after the LORD”.
Verse 3:
• Samuel tells the people mourning, feeling sorry is a start, but only a start,
• They need to repent, turn from of their sins, and not just feel sorry about them.
Ill:
A man who sent the inland revenue a cheque and a note, the note said:
“I am having trouble sleeping at night, due to undeclared earnings, please find enclosed a cheque for £1,000, If I still can’t sleep, I will send you the rest!”
• Samuel tells the people mourning, feeling sorry is a start, but only a start,
• They need to repent, turn from of their sins, and not just feel sorry about them.
• The root cause of all their problems was idolatry;
• The people had forsaken the true God and started following local Gods..
• Baal was one of the gods of the Canaanites, responsible for rain and fertility,
• Often associated with him is the goddess Astarte.
• These false gods were worshiped with ceremonies of abominable filth.
• Samuel calls for the people to repent and to return and worship of the Lord alone.
(b). Intercession (verse 5).
Ill:
Ian Barcley.
• Speaking a big Christian event,
• After his message a group of people came to see him.
• “We are concerned about our pastor, he seems to be seeing a lot of a certain woman,
• And people are starting to talk, we are getting worried, what should we do?”
• Ian Barcley replied, “Have you tried praying about it?”
• They replied, “No you don’t understand this is serious!”
• Serious situations, requires more pray not less,
• So Samuel calls the leaders and the people to a prayer meeting.
“Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the LORD for you.”
Samuel summoned the people to a prayer meeting.
• Samuel was a man of prayer.
• He was himself born in answer to his mother’s prayers (Chapter 1).
• Prayer is something that marked Samuel out,
• And he has been called ‘God’s emergency man’.
• Prayer does bring victory,
• Or to be more precise, the prayer of Samuel brought the victory.
Quote James chapter 5 verse 16.
“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective”.
(c). Cleansing - Water symbol (verse 6):
• Water was a very precious commodity
• Since no rain at all fell during the six months of summer.
Samuel poured out water before the Lord:
• As a symbol of the nations repentance.
• Their hearts were poured out in sorrow for their sins.
• Often in turning to the Lord,
• It is costly, there is a price to pay.
Quote:
“An experience of God that costs us nothing, is worth nothing and will do nothing”.
(3). Looking up.
The Philistines thought that the gathering together at Mizpah was a preparation for war.
• Such a gathering of the clans, to have all the key leaders in one place,
• Was too good an opportunity for the Philistines to miss, so they prepared to attack.
• Israel was not equipped for battle,
• They would have to use spiritual weapons to defeat the enemy.
Samuels prayer (Verse 9).
• The people were afraid of the Philistines,
• Samuel again interceded and sought the Lord’s help.
“Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it up as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on Israel’s behalf, and the LORD answered him.
10While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites”.
Dynamic answer (vs 10). “The Lord thundered with a mighty voice’
• It refers to an actual violent thunderstorm,
• God used the natural elements to demonstrate his power.
• It wasn’t the thunder itself which frightened the Philistines;
• It was what it represented, namely, the voice of God.
• The result was that they fled back to their own territory,
• Chased by the Israelites.
God gave Israel a great victory:
• Samuel accomplished with one prayer,
• A victory that Samson could not win during the entire 20 years of his leadership!
• The secret was not just prayer,
• But the prayers of a righteous person which “Is powerful and effective”.
(4). Setting up.
• The word Ebenezer (verse 12)
• Means ‘stone of help’
• For Israel ‘Ebenezer’ had been associated with defeat (chapter 4),
• But now God had reversed that situation.
• It was a monument to remind the people of the help that God had given them,
• Once they had returned to worship him alone.
Ill:
Missionary J. Hudson Taylor.
• Had two plaques in his home, the first one read; “Ebenezer”
• The second plaque read; “Jehovah-Jireh”.
Together they mean:
• “Thus far the Lord has helped us” & “The Lord will provide”.
• A daily reminder that God deals with the past, and also with the present!
Ill:
• Hippy who turned up at a job center, looking for work.
• The man interviewing him asked him some questions;
• “Where have you been?”
• The Hippy replied, “Oh just here and there”.
• “What have you been doing?”
• The Hippy replied, “Oh just this and that”.
• “How often have you been doing it?”
• The Hippy replied, “Just off and on”
So the person in the job center reviewed his replies:
• “Oh just here and there”.
• “Oh just this and that”.
• “Just off and on”
• And said, “I think you should come back, just now and then!”
Tough question: Does that describe your prayer life?
• “Oh just here and there”.
• “Oh just this and that”.
• “Just off and on”
This passage of 1 Samuel is a reminder that:
• We are to give God priority in our lives,
• Which may mean we need to repent of some of our modern & sophisticated idols.
• Prayer brings victory,
• So let’s be those who make the effort to participate in it a bit more!.
• Remember prayer is positive, it brings victory,
• ‘Ebenezer’ Even our defeats, can be turned into victory.
