Saturday: Speaking in Your Heart

Introduction

We are so glad you are joining us for these daily prayer posts. Over the next four weeks we are going to listen to the prayers of the Bible, and the saints of God. Their prayers are going to teach us how to pray.

Each devotion will take five to seven minutes of your time.

  1. We will look at an insight from those who know something important about prayer.
  2. We will listen to the prayers of people in the Bible—people just like us. And to people who gained a deep measure of spiritual intimacy with God because they prayed.
  3. We will reflect, asking the same four questions each day that invites us to look and listen with intent.
  4. And we will pray, for it is in praying that we learn to pray. And it is in praying that the Spirit changes our hearts.

May we encourage you to grab a notebook, a journal, something to write on as you do each prayer guide. Yes, it will add a few minutes to the time it takes to do the devotion, and it will also deepen your experience and shape your walk with God for years to come.

Look

Crying to God is not done with the physical voice, but with the heart…if then, you cry to God, cry out inwardly where he hears you.

Augustine

Listen

She was barren for almost 20 years. Her prayer for a child was so deep within, the Scripture tells us she was praying “in her heart.” (1 Samuel 1:13) She had promised that if she had a son, she would give him to serve in the temple when he was six years old. God answered her prayer, and this mother kept her promise. What kind of prayer would arise from the heart of this mother as she took her son to the temple in Jerusalem, left him there and made the journey home? Again, she prays from the heart, only this time we get to hear Hannah’s words…

1 Samuel 2:1–10

Then Hannah prayed and said:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
    in the Lord my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
    for I delight in your deliverance.

“There is no one holy like the Lord;
    there is no one besides you;
    there is no Rock like our God.

“Do not keep talking so proudly
    or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the Lord is a God who knows,
    and by him deeds are weighed.

“The bows of the warriors are broken,
    but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
    but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
    but she who has had many sons pines away.

“The Lord brings death and makes alive;
    he brings down to the grave and raises up.
The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
    he humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
    and has them inherit a throne of honor.

“For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s;
    on them he has set the world.
He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,
    but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.

“It is not by strength that one prevails;
10     those who oppose the Lord will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven;
    the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

“He will give strength to his king
    and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Reflect

  1. Having read the Word, sit silently for a minute and give God’s Word a moment to settle within you.
  2. Re-read the verses slowly and write down some thoughts that resonate with you.
  3. Ask the Spirit to help you see the deeper longings, desires or motives in your heart that those thoughts are pointing to. (For example: you may write down, “Hannah spares no sympathy for the wicked.” The Spirit can help you recognize that made in God’s image there resides in each of us the longing for justice – for wickedness to be justly punished.)
  4. What are some elements Hannah’s prayer of gratitude, judgement and the sovereignty of God that can guide you in a world where good and bad things are part of life?

Pray

Using Hannah’s prayer as your template and guide, make it your own today. You can start by simply reading her words. When you sense the need, add your own words to her prayer. You can personalize her references to God by simply saying something like…”You O’God” or “You Lord.”