From His Heart

Dr. Jeff Schreve: You can pray. I can pray. We can pray. We can get serious about prayer and we can pour out our hearts to the Lord. We can trust God to answer and we can follow through with our promises to the Lord. We can see Him do great things in our lives, in our children, and in our grandchildren. But it's not going to happen unless we pray.

Guest (Male): The Old Testament prophet Samuel had a godly mother who made such a difference in his life. So, here's the question for today's From His Heart broadcast: How can you and I make a difference with our lives? I mean a real, meaningful, lasting, eternal difference with our lives.

Pretty simple question, right? Well, not so much. Today, Pastor Jeff Schreve will explore the clear answers to this profound question. The message today is entitled, "Dedicated Before Day One." It's from Pastor Jeff's new eight-message series we began last time called, "Leaving a Legacy: Lessons from the Life of Samuel."

This series is also our special gift of thanks to you for your support of From His Heart this month of any amount. You can find out more when you go to FromHisHeart.org or I'll tell you more later. Now, open your Bible to the book of First Samuel. Turn to chapter one and let's hear part two of this timely message from Pastor Jeff, "Dedicated Before Day One."

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Hannah made such a difference in the life of her son Samuel, even before he was born. So, here's the question: How can you and I make a difference with our lives? Well, three key steps that you can take, that I can take, that we can take to make a difference. Number one, we can get serious in prayer.

It says in verse ten that Hannah prayed to the Lord. In her prayer, she was greatly distressed and very bitter in her soul because of what Peninnah was doing, because she couldn't have children and Peninnah could. She went with all her grief, all her bitterness of heart, and she went to the Rock of Ages. She went to the Lord of hosts and she poured out her heart to Him.

Now, remember this about prayer: we are privileged to enter the throne room of God and we're privileged to pray to a God who cares. God is not a God who is indifferent to our infirmities. Not only is the Lord the God who cares, but He's the God who can do something about it because He is Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of angel armies, the Lord Almighty.

So, that's the first step we can take. We can get serious in prayer. She was serious in prayer. Secondly, we can know that God answers prayer. Prayer makes a difference. Now, remember this: prayer does not coerce God to do our will. Prayer is not getting God to do your will. And why would we want that anyway? Because God's will is good and acceptable and perfect.

We want God's will. Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance but it's getting in and entering into His willingness. When we ask according to God's will with the right motive, then the Lord says, "That's right, that's what I want to do for you." So, step number one, we can get serious in prayer. Step number two, we can know that God answers prayer. Step number three, and this is critical: we can follow through on our promises to God.

Hannah made a vow to God. A vow is a solemn promise. Her promise to the Lord was this: "Lord, if you give me a son, I will give him back to you as a Nazirite for all of his life." Now, the Bible tells us that we're not to vow and break the vow. Ecclesiastes five says if you make a vow to the Lord and break it, it's better to not vow at all than to make a vow and break it. Pay what you vow. The Lord does not take delight in fools.

Psalm 76, verse 11, says make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them. Everyone who is married has stood at the altar to make a vow to that special someone. To your husband, to your wife, you made vows: "I'll be with you in sickness and in health, in good times and bad times, for richer, for poorer. I will be to you a true and faithful husband or true and faithful wife until death." That's a vow before God. Pay what you vow.

Well, she made a vow. And this is what the Lord says after three years she weaned the child: she told her husband, Elkanah. He said, "Come up to Shiloh for the sacrifice," and she said no. She said, "I'm going to be here with the boy Samuel until he's weaned," typically about three years of age, and then I'm going to bring him to the Lord.

In verse 27, she brings him when he's weaned. They have a big sacrifice and she says to Eli the priest, "O my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. For this boy I prayed and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him. So, I have also dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he's dedicated to the Lord." And he worshiped the Lord there.

She followed through on her vow. Now, when we make vows to the Lord, we do it with all our heart. Many of us, we say, "Lord, this is what I want to do and this is my vow," but then life slaps us in the face. Real life hits us. God does answer our prayer. In her case, he gave her a son, Samuel. And she loved that little boy as much as any mother has ever loved her son. When it came time for him to go to the temple and for her to leave him with Eli, don't you know things started to flood into her mind?

There were reasons why it wasn't a good idea to follow through on her vow. That's the lie coming from the enemy. So, when you make a commitment, a vow, a solemn promise to the Lord, there are three "don'ts" that you need to remember. Number one: don't rationalize disobedience. Don't work things out in your mind that just says, "Well, God wouldn't want me to take little Samuel and give him to Eli."

Eli's not a very good dad. He's got two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, and they're worthless. The Bible calls them sons of Belial, sons of the devil. They're terrible, worthless guys. They're defiling the ministry as priests, because you can read about what they did in chapter two beginning in verse twelve. These guys didn't know the Lord. Eli knew the Lord, but Hophni and Phinehas didn't.

She could have said, "God wouldn't want me to take Samuel from a home where Mom and Dad love him to death and give him to Eli. Surely not." Surely He does, because you made a vow that you would do that. Don't rationalize disobedience. Follow through.

You know, we have people that say, "I prayed to receive Christ." Wonderful. First thing you need to do after you pray to receive Christ is give a testimony through baptism. "Oh, I'll do it. Yes, sign me up." Well, I can't do it that week, and I can't do it the week after. Maybe in about a month. A month passes, two months, three months... they don't do it. They don't follow through. They say they were going to do it, but they don't follow through.

Getting active in church, you see people... sometimes God brings them through some kind of sickness or something that was really severe, and the Lord came through and answered their prayer in such a great way. "And I'm going to get so involved in church." But then they don't do it. They don't follow through. They make these rationalizations why they can't. "I'm just too busy, too much going on right now."

Dumping your marriage for reasons other than what the Bible spells out: continued adultery, abandonment, or abuse. And we get that just knowing the character of God, because God doesn't call any woman to be a punching bag for her husband. But if it's not one of those things, it's just that, "Well, we're just incompatible. I'm just not very happy. And doesn't God want me to be happy?"

God wants you to be holy. That's what He wants you to be. God wants you to trust Him. God wants you to do what He says. God wants you to follow through on your vow. That's what He wants from you. And remember this: when I talk to people in the counseling room with bad marriages, they'll say, "I have this marriage. It's horrible. I hate it. And he doesn't like me, I don't like him. And I know that there's the option of divorce and that's not right and I'm not supposed to do that. But I look at Option A, stay married. Who wants to do that? Option B, I get divorced. But there's life after divorce, God can forgive me. So between the two, B looks a whole lot better."

I say I get that. But what about Option C? They say, "What's Option C?" Option C is you get your life right with God and you begin to trust Him. You begin to be the spouse that God wants you to be. You begin to bombard the throne of heaven and you pray according to His will. You ask God to take your marriage that's so bad right now and do a whole work of revitalization and renewal. That's what you pray for. That's what you do. And as you do that, guess what? You see God answer. That is so much better. Choose Option C. Now, I realize it takes two to tango, and just because one party is all for it, the other has a will and has to be involved. But it's too easy for us to rationalize our disobedience.

Guest (Male): Pastor Jeff Schreve will return in just a moment to conclude today's lesson, "Dedicated Before Day One." Today, we're presenting part two of this first lesson in Pastor Jeff's eight-lesson series, "Leaving a Legacy: Lessons from the Life of Samuel," that will be airing most of the rest of the month.

It's also our gift of thanks to you for your support this month of any amount. In it, he points out whether you realize it or not that you are building a legacy right now with your words, your choices, by your priorities, and with what you stand for when the pressure's on. How's your building project going these days? Is it benefiting the kingdom of God? Will you be happy that you left a legacy like the one you're building?

We sure pray that that's what you're trying to build. And when you support From His Heart, you are helping to leave a legacy that impacts your community and the world. From His Heart is seen on television in 180 countries around the world each week, heard on over 850 radio stations each day across America and, of course, always online.

We thank you for your support that allows that to happen. When you give a gift this month of any amount to From His Heart, we'll again say thanks by sending you the "Leaving a Legacy" series, "Lessons from the Life of Samuel," in the format of your choice. It's our thank-you gift to you for your support. To make that gift, call 866-40-BIBLE or go online to FromHisHeart.org. When you make that needed gift, you'll be helping to expand the kingdom of God around the world. God bless you for what you can do. Now to the conclusion to this lesson, "Dedicated Before Day One."

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Secondly, don't honor your children above God. Hannah wasn't going to do that. As much as she loved Samuel, she wasn't going to honor him above the Lord. You know who did honor his sons above the Lord? Eli. In chapter two, we read in verse 29 that Eli is rebuked. It says from the Lord, a prophet from the Lord: "Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering which I have commanded in my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of my people Israel?"

That's what Hophni and Phinehas were doing. They were taking things that belonged to God for the sacrifice and they'd take them for themselves. They were sleeping with the women at the door of the tent of meeting. They were immoral guys and they were polluting the priesthood. In chapter three, the Lord says to Samuel, "I'm going to bring judgment on the house of Eli." Why? Because he knew that his sons were doing that and he did not rebuke them. He honored his children above God.

Mom and Dad, don't do that. Don't honor your kids before the Lord. Teach your kids that the most important thing in life is God and serving God, worshiping God, putting Him first, and seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness, knowing that all these things will be added to you. Secondly, teach them that the second most important thing is the marriage. Kids, sorry to break it to you, but you're third on the list of priority.

Our home is not "Kid CEO" where we just do anything that he wants us to do. If Junior or little Missy is involved in sports and sports take her out of church, well, we're just going to be out of church for those ten years that she's involved in this. You've seen the statistic of how many kids that play junior high and high school go on to play college. It's a very small percentage. How many from college play professional sports? A very small percentage.

But how many of those kids are going to stand before God one day to give an account of their lives? 100 percent. All those kids are going to do that. Mom and Dad, you have to teach them that God is the most important thing in our home, in life, and you have to honor Him. You honor Him above your children. Hannah did that. She was willing to trust God, giving her son to Eli. She wasn't going to rationalize disobedience, wasn't going to honor her child above God.

Lots of parents, I've heard this testimony where a parent says, "Well, you know, I had strong feelings about homosexuality being wrong until my child came home and said they were homosexual, and then I had to change my views because I wanted to keep my relationship with my child. So I honored my child above the Word of God and the clear teachings of God."

I heard one lady say, "Well, you know, I was against transgenderism until my child said that they were a man trapped in a woman's body or a woman trapped in a man's body, and I knew it was against scripture, but I chose my child." They say it like they should get a gold star for doing that. They should get a kick in the pants. Listen, God has called you to say, "Hey, are you going to trust Me? Are you going to follow Me, or are your kids going to become more important to you than I am?"

God forbid that should ever happen. And then lastly, don't think that God doesn't notice. He does notice. First Samuel chapter two, verse 18: "Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord as a boy wearing a linen ephod." That's the dress of the priest. His mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, "May the Lord give you children from this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the Lord." They went to their own home. The Lord visited Hannah and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters, and the boy Samuel grew before the Lord.

God noticed that she followed through. What did God do in response to her following through? What did God do when she gave her son by faith to the Lord? He gave to her. The Bible says, "Give and it will be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return."

God gave her three sons and two daughters, and her cup was overflowing and her quiver was full. That wouldn't have happened had she held on to Samuel. We wouldn't be talking about this guy Samuel had she held on to Samuel. But she gave, and the Lord gave back to her. Give and it will be given to you.

I want to close with this story: the power of prayer. I was reading about a man named James. He was born in the early part of the 1900s. He married a girl named Myrtle. That was Esther's name; they changed Esther's name from Myrtle to Esther. I like Esther better than Myrtle, but he marries Myrtle. Myrtle was small in stature and they wanted to have a family. The doctor said Myrtle can't have kids. It's going to be too dangerous. Just the way her hips are and everything, she can't birth kids. This is back in the 30s. They didn't have C-sections and things like that; they weren't just easy to do. They said you can't have any children.

James and Myrtle were brokenhearted. James was a man in the ministry, he was an evangelist, and he prayed and he prayed. He told his wife, "The Lord has spoken to my heart that we're going to have a child and we're going to have a son." Sure as the world, in 1936, they had a son. It was very dicey. She had to have a C-section and the doctor told her, "Listen, don't do this again. You probably will not survive if you try and have another child." So they never did, but they had that one son.

That one son was the apple of Mom and Dad's eye, especially the dad. The dad and the son, they were just thick as thieves. The dad traveled a lot because he was a traveling evangelist, but when he came home, he spent so much time with his little boy. They named him James Jr. They called him Jimmy. Jimmy comes to know Christ in a real way at a very young age.

His dad's gone a lot. James Sr. is gone a lot. Finally he sees this isn't good and so he becomes a pastor at a little town in a place called Sulphur Springs, Texas. He moved around some to little churches, but he was there in Sulphur Springs. He was a man known for prayer. He prayed and he prayed and he had such a heart, James Sr., to reach people for Christ.

He was fasting and praying because he got a bad report at the doctor and he didn't think he was going to live long. His prayer was to reach millions for Christ. He said as he was fasting and praying, asking the Lord to give him more time so he could reach millions for Christ, God spoke to his heart and said, "I'm going to answer that prayer. But James, I'm not doing it through you. I'm going to do it through your son, Jimmy."

The next day, after the Lord spoke that to his heart, James Sr. had a heart attack and he died. He wasn't able to tell his son Jimmy what the Lord had shared with him. It was seven years later where Jimmy heard from his aunt, "Hey, did your dad never tell you this? He had this encounter with the Lord as he was fasting and praying that God was going to use him, not him specifically, but his son to reach millions."

In the year his dad died, 1977, that was the same year that James Dobson started Focus on the Family. James Dobson said, "The reason that God has used me so greatly is because my dad prayed. And I owe all my success in ministry obviously to the Lord, but to the prayers of my dad." His mother and father are buried in a cemetery in Olathe, Kansas, called Oak Lawn Memorial Gardens. On James C. Dobson Sr.'s tombstone are written two words: "He Prayed."

You can pray. I can pray. We can pray. We can get serious about prayer and we can pour out our hearts to the Lord. We can trust God to answer and we can follow through with our promises to the Lord. We can see Him do great things in our lives and in our children and in our grandchildren. But it's not going to happen unless we pray.

Guest (Male): Well, we've seen today how prayer really is being used by God for great things. We hope that these have been encouraging insights for you today. The message, "Dedicated on Day One, Part Two," from Pastor Jeff's eight-lesson series, "Leaving a Legacy: Lessons from the Life of Samuel."

It's a life-changing series and our gift to you in the format of your choice when you make a gift this month to From His Heart. Just call 866-40-BIBLE or go to FromHisHeart.org. We also offer many powerful resources online for free when you go to FromHisHeart.org. We hope you'll take advantage of those.

God bless you for supporting and listening each and every day to From His Heart. Well, thank you for being here today on From His Heart and we hope you'll be here tomorrow when he'll present the second message from the "Leaving a Legacy" series. It's called, "From Bondage to Freedom."

Thank you for joining us today on From His Heart, a listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Schreve, who believes that no matter how badly you may have messed up in life, God still loves you and has a plan for your life. Find out more at FromHisHeart.org.