Today’s Reading –
I’m struggling to find a word from God today. Maybe because I am lacking sleep. Oh, the joys of being a parent! I prayed and ask the Holy Spirit to fall afresh on me. But what I got was “Just write”. So here goes nothing.
I got freaked out after having read that Hannah left her child Samuel in the temple. Being a parent, I could not fathom that day when my children would fly away on their own. So now I can relate to my parents also. I told myself “How can this woman just leave her child in the temple?” Well if we read the whole story on 1 Samuel Chapter 1 you will find that Hannah was childless before, for the Lord has closed her womb and she was the second of the two wives of Elkanah. Man! Those days are messed up! Two wives? Is this ok in the sight of the Lord? Absolutely not! If you look at the salvation history, all those people chosen by God in the Old and the New Testament are all sinners, just like us. For we all have fallen short. But just as God has raised the sinners in the past and exalted them, in the same manner He will exalt us too. You see, Hannah was being persecuted by the other wife because of her barren state. And this made her sorrowful, and so she went to the temple of the Lord to pray and weep. She was in total deep prayer that the priest at the door post thought she was drunk. Remember when the Israelites thought the disciples after having been baptized in the Holy Spirit thought that they were drunk? Could it be that Hannah was in such a deep state of prayer that she was praying in tongues? Quite possible. But anyway, the point is, you see how powerful a prayer can be, when you are in union with God, He hears your prayer and so He remembers you in time of your need. So when we pray, don’t treat God like the Roomba vacuum (I’m going to trademark this use of Roomba as an analogy now). You can’t just pray and be in the presence of God and just pray lightly. You have to express to God your sorrows and your deepest of heart. So what happens to Hannah? She bore a son and named him Samuel. And as you know, Samuel became a prophet. So not only did God give Hannah a son, He made him a mighty one for God. You see once you made a vow to God, you have to follow through. And that is why vow, covenants, promise, consecration and the likes are a serious matter.
So Hannah, having been answered by God, proclaimed Gods mercy and power. She sang with praise and thanksgiving see (1 Samuel Chapter 2). In the same manner, that when our prayers have been answered it pleases God that we sing praises and glorifying His name. Because all things happen for the glory of His name. You see when you ask for a miracle or a healing, or for an answer, or for anything that you are praying for, we have to realize that all things whether good or bad happens so that the name of the Lord will be glorified (1 Peter 4:11-17). So pray to God, that you will glorify Him when you get healed, when He gives you a miracle or even when He wants you to be patient. Glorify His Name!
Now in the gospel, Mary, in the same manner as Hannah would lose her Son on the cross. Remember that Mary also brought her son Jesus to the temple to offer Him up to the Lord. So what did Mary do when she conceived Jesus in her womb? She prayed and glorified the Lord!:
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
for he has looked upon his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever."
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
for he has looked upon his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever."
Such a profound prayer! See when you are in deep prayer, when you are one with the Lord, the Holy Spirit takes over you and just watch and listen to the words that you will utter in your mouth. In the end, you’ll be saying, “Where did I get that?”…”How did I come up with that prayer?”. You see, our human brain can only pray so much, later on we will run out of words to say, but when we let the Holy Spirit guide us and overpower us in our prayer, the prayer becomes much more powerful, and in turn it lifts you up to a higher prayer from the depths of your hearts. Praying in tongues is another powerful form of prayer, though it can be hard sometimes, but just let your insecurities and fear go, and allow the Holy Spirit to move your tongue. As per Fr. Lehman, God will not pry off your mouth open, He doesn’t want to force it one anyone. Start by saying Abba Father over and over or Yahweh. You may be surprise sometimes that you’ll start to understand your gibberish words.
And so I pray, like Mary and Hannah, let’s pray from the depths of our hearts, that when we pray we don’t take things for granted and treat prayer lightly. For when we pray we come into the presence of God and that is something to be revered.
So much for “here goes nothing”…I should have said “here goes something”. Thank you Holy Spirit!
Jesus loves you!
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