Women Seeking the Heart of God

                                Abraham's Character and Prayer I think it's safe to assume that Abraham was a man of prayer.  How do we know this?  We see it first when Abraham afraid of Abimelech claims his wife Sarah is his sister.  Sarah is, in fact, Abraham's half-sister, but she had become his wife years before.  Even in her older years, Sarah was a woman of great beauty and Abimelech liked what he saw.   Thankfully, God warned Abimelech not to touch Sarah in a dream, we see this in Genesis 20: 1- 7.   "From there Abraham traveled to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar,   2  Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.”  So King Abimelech of Gerar had Sarah brought to him. 3  But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “You are about to die because ...

                 Samuel: God speaks to a small child Samuel was the small son of Hannah and Elkanah - remember we talked about Hannah and her desire for a child?  Hannah yearned for a child and only God could give her that child.  After prayer and Hannah promising God that she would give Samuel to God to serve Him, God opened her womb and Samuel was conceived.  After Samuel Hannah and Elkanah when on to have three sons and two daughters together.  God had heard Hannah's prayer and He was faithful because Hannah was a faithful woman.   Samuel was a small boy serving Eli the high priest.  Eli's sons were wicked though and God had decided they would not serve in Eli's place, so one night as Samuel lay sleeping in the room next to Eli's in case he was needed, a voice called to Samuel.  Let's read about it here.  1 Samuel 3  " The boy Samuel served the   Lord   in Eli’s presenc...

Prayer is important.  In fact the word pray is in the Bible 121 times, the word prayer is used 106 times, and praying is used 36 times, if you combine that with the word prayed which appears 68 the grand total of references int eh Bible for prayer is 375 times - that is 10 more times than we have days in the year.   Prayer has shaped and transformed my life in many ways. But today isn't about me.  One of the neatest examples though comes from the story of Hannah.  Hannah was a woman broken and tired.  She longed for a child.  She loved her husband Elkanah, but his other wife Peninnah made her life miserable.  Peninnah bore children to Elkanah but because he loved Hannah more, she often used what God meant as a blessing to torment Hannah.   Finally, she could take it no more and so she went to the temple to pray. Her family traveled to Shiloh where the temple was at that time and Hannah bowed in reverence but with a heavy heart before...