As women, I think this study about Hannah and prayer should inspire you. Through intense intercession for a child, Hannah was moving in concert with God. Not only did He give her the desires in her heart, it brought about the will and blessing of God for an entire nation. Think about that for a minute–the burden and deep distress and cries of a woman brought about the will and blessings of God for an entire nation–our individual voices do matter. They matter to God especially because it is a heart issue.

A few key points are 1) Hannah entrusts the longings of her heart to God, 2) the burden on her heart was in alignment with a burden on God’s heart, and 3) God tells us to “Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know…” [Jer.33:3].

Girls, this is divine revelation and spiritual warfare, Faith’s warfare. God promised Jeremiah that if he would call to Him, not only would he answer him, but he would reveal to him great and mighty things that could not otherwise be known. The suggestion is that God would give Jeremiah revelation and insight, revealing things that otherwise would be inaccessible. Such revelational insight has always been essential for clear understanding of victorious spiritual warfare. One cannot pray effectively without insight into how to pray, as well as into what things God truly longs for us to seek after in Prayer.

I encourage all of you to look into the deeper you to find out what you are called to do. If you don’t have a longing in your heart right now, search for it; peel back the layers of your ‘self’. Doing this not only involves prayer, but also digging deeper into the Word. For example, knowing the original definitions of the words ‘call’ and ‘burden’ in the passage above are important in grasping the context for them as well as applying it to our lives today. We ask ourselves, “what burdens my heart?” and “what am I passionate about?” The answers to these questions are clues to what God has called you to do, discovering who you are created to be.   They are extremely important to discover as you begin to know yourself and move into your adult lives and careers. Below, I have provided a few insights from my word studies of ‘call’ and ‘burden’ because they are so important to the point I am trying to make, which is YOU, as individuals, are important to God and His Kingdom business!

CALL: ‘Call’ is the Hebrew word ‘qara’. It means “to call out to someone; cry out, to shout, or speak out, to proclaim.” Qara often describes calling out loudly in an attempt to get someone’s attention or for calling upon the Lord or upon His name. Sometimes qara means to name something or to call it by its name as God did when He called the light Day and the darkness Night….my point is that this isn’t something that isn’t a big deal… to cry out to the Lord or to call upon His name is something you do with conviction and purpose and with emotion, He hears you and answers you, but it must come from your heart.

BURDEN: Many times, the burdens placed on our hearts from the spirit is a burden for us to pray (Col. 4:12). Actually, we cannot pray more than our burden. To continue to pray without a burden is surely ineffective, and it comes from the self-will. The burden of prayer that comes from the Spirit can only be relieved through prayer. In fact, no burdens can truly be alleviated except by finding out God’s will. If God burdens our spirits with a certain burden, we can only relieve the burden in our spirit by fulfilling what God wants us to do, either through prayer or through proclaiming His message. Only when we have a burden in our spirit to pray can we pray in intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered. When there is a burden in our spirit to pray, nothing can alleviate this burden, and nothing can release us except prayer. When the things we pray for are accomplished, the burden is immediately lifted from us; we get His peace on the subject.

Another truth is that we cannot be selfish and have spiritual burdens laid upon our hearts, there has to be a dying to ‘self’ which involves self-sacrifice, that’s why John 15:13 reads: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” In order to get your calling, to get faith inspired purpose, to get Holy Spirit inspired burdens laid upon your hearts, you must put a way selfishness and look beyond yourself. That’s exactly what “take up your cross daily means”. Holy Spirit gives us our Godly passions, convictions, and unwavering faith.

James 3:16
For where you have envy and selfish ambition,
there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

1 Corinthians 13:13
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love…

By Barron Edward Greenwalt 2017-10-30