Suggested reading: 1 Samuel chapter 1 verses 19-27.

I should like to commence our meditations this week by asking each one of you to answer this question: Is there anything to which I can point and say, ‘For this I prayed?’

It is one thing to say that I believe in prayer but it is quite another to confess that I believe in the power of prayer. In the Old Testament we are introduced to a remarkable woman of prayer, called HANNAH. She was a bright light, shining for God in a very dark day in Israel. However, there was a great void in her life that she longed to be filled – SHE WAS BARREN – SHE HAD NO CHILD!

The stigma and shame associated with her condition were unbearable. She felt empty, which led her to fret, weep, grieve and lose her appetite. What was true of her physically, was true of the nation, spiritually. It is so easy for us to become spiritually barren as individuals and as a nation. Sadly, we become accustomed to it. Hannah was not prepared to accept things as they were and so she made it a matter of prayer.

• When were you last concerned about the spiritual emptiness of your country and / or your own life? When did you last pray about it?
• When did you last pray, believing that God can change things? Hannah’s prayer was short and simple: ‘GIVE your maidservant a male child, then I will give Him to the Lord all the days of his life’, 1 Samuel chapter 1 verse 11. She realised that the spiritual state of the nation was so low that God needed a male child more than she did!
• Are you prepared to join with Hannah today about the spiritual state of the country of which you are a part? Are you prepared to pray for you own spiritual condition? Are you prepared to GIVE to God in return for the blessings he gives you?