28. Continuous Prayer

FLASHBACK

What did you experience with God this week?
In the last few days, did you have the opportunity to share an experience with God with someone close to you that doesn’t know Jesus yet? Or could you pray for them or help them practically?
Do you need God‘s help in an area of your life?

■ Pray together: Give thanks for your experiences, ask God for help where you need it.

■ Pray together to learn new things about God and that your relationship with God deepens and gets stronger.

BIBLE STUDY

Read the passage silently. What words or phrases stick out?
One person reads the passage out loud.
One person retells the passage in his/her own words (Bibles closed).
If necessary, the others complement what was said (Bibles closed).

1 Samuel 1:1-26

¹There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.²He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

³Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord.⁴Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.⁵But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb.⁶Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her.⁷This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.⁸Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

⁹Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house.¹⁰In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.¹¹And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

¹²As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth.¹³Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk¹⁴and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

¹⁵“Not so, my Lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord.¹⁶Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

¹⁷Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

¹⁸She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

¹⁹Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.²⁰So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”

²¹When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow,²²Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.”

²³“Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

²⁴After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh.²⁵When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli,²⁶and she said to him, “Pardon me, my Lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord.

Colossians 4:2

²Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

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Acts 1:12-14

¹²Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.¹³When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.¹⁴They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Everyone by themselves:
- What words or phrases stick out now? Are there any differences to what you noticed before?
- Why do you feel drawn to those words or phrases?
- What can you learn about people?
- What could God be telling you?
Share in the group.

SPECIFIC QUESTIONS & ACTION STEPS

What was the last prayer that God answered and that you had been praying for for a long time? Share in the group.

What you can pray to God for together (choose two topics from below):

For things that discomfort you: “Don‘t worry about anything. Instead, tell God about everything. Ask and pray. Give thanks to Him. Then God’s peace will watch over your hearts and your minds because you belong to Christ Jesus. God’s peace can never be completely understood” (Philippians 4:6-7).
For more Christian students who want to lead an evangelistic lifestyle and are ready to invest themselves in God’s Kingdom on your campus: Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field” (Matthew 9:37-38).
For open doors in your everyday life that you can witness to nonbelievers what you experience with Jesus: ”Pray for us, too. Pray that God will open a door for our message. Then we can preach the mystery of Christ ...” (Colossians 4:3).
For someone (for example, in your group) who needs healing: “Are any of you sick? Then send for the elders of the church to pray over you. Ask them to anoint you with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer offered by those who have faith will make you well. The Lord will heal you. If you have sinned, you will be forgiven” (James 5:14-15).

SCRIPTURE COMMENTS

True intercession is also based on the desire to unify with God and not just on an attempt to make Him do something. Intercession is born when you have the same attitude that John had during the Last Supper – put our heads on his chest, where we can feel his heartbeat. Then our heart will start to beat in synchrony to His and what moves His heart will deeply move our hearts, too. That is what it truly means to pray in the name of the Father. To pray “in the name of Jesus Christ” does not mean to simply say “Jesus”, but to be in unity with Him and from there pray with His authority.

From: Visions of the Harvest, Rick Joyner, 1994.

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