Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: Today, we need to understand that if you have children that are wayward, they're not really walking with the Lord, don't give up on them. Pray for them. Be that example. Love them. Make sure that Satan doesn't get a hold of their lives and destroy them. Fight for your children through the Holy Spirit.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. We're so glad to have you along with us today for our continuing series focused on Christian mothers. As Raul considers his grandmother's powerful influence and outlines the faith journey of a biblical mom named Hannah, he'll urge you to fully entrust your kids to God. You'll see how you can have an eternal impact on your children, guarding them against worldly influences and fighting for them in prayer. In 1 Samuel chapter 1, here's Raul Ries with our study, Hannah, a Godly Mother.

Raul Ries: To me, it is interesting that way back in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 6, God already had instilled to the hearts of the fathers and the mothers to be able to teach their children about God. And the reason is that when the child would grow up, he would not depart from the ways of the Lord.

Now, I know there are people in the church here that maybe you were a Christian already and you trained up your children in the ways of the Lord. But now, years later, you find out that your children have walked away from the Lord and maybe you're blaming yourself. Maybe you have a lot of guilt within you. And your children are pretty messed up and they're really out in the world, and you're really feeling guilty and you feel like you've destroyed their lives.

But I want to share with you this morning that it is never too late for anybody. Because if you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord, if first of all, you become born again of the Holy Spirit and you give your life to Jesus Christ, He will take care of you. He will take care of your husband. He will take care of your children. Because that's the word of the Lord.

God has created every one of us with a will. We make choices, good choices, bad choices. Yet in the history of Israel, the people wanted to do what was right, but as we read the book of Judges chapter 2, verse 10, we find out that eventually the mothers and fathers and grandparents didn't follow up in teaching their children their history and teaching them the word of God. And they were totally destroyed.

They went into the world and became part of the world, and they began to worship other gods. The situation at the time of Samuel is just about the same situation we have today within the church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's really important that we understand that in this situation in the times of Samuel, the priesthood was very corrupted. The church had a lot of problems, the synagogue.

Number one problem is that the people were actually closing the book of Judges where everybody did what was right in their own eyes. And the people of God wanted a king. They did not want God to rule over them. But before Kish has a son by the name of Saul, and Saul is elected to become the first king of Israel. The eyes of the Lord are going to and fro throughout the earth, looking for a young woman that will have a baby boy and he will become a prophet and a judge to the people of the Lord.

Think of how many people never realize what kind of influence our children may have in the world as we bring them up in the ways of the Lord. At this particular time, what we need to get on our minds is that God has not only set us apart for himself, but God has a plan for each one of our lives.

When I look back in my life and I look back when I was a child, being brought up in a Catholic environment, my whole family Catholic. My grandmother became a great influence in my life. My grandmother not only would work at 5:00 in the morning, get up at 4:00 in the morning and go to work every day at the age of 60 years old. I remember that. Why do I remember? Because she used to take me to work with her. I used to go with her.

And I remember sitting in that store where she would work, she was the manager of the store. And the way she treated me, and the way she took care of me while she was working, because my parents were working. And it was amazing that all those things that she did for me and at night I remember her standing around and praying for the family, even though she was Catholic, she was praying. And she would pray for me, she would pray for my brother, she would pray for my dad, she would pray for my mother.

And it's amazing to me the effect that it took on my life that when I became an adult and she was in need, that I began to take care of her financially. That was my priority, and that was my responsibility to do that. Because for everything that she had done in my life, I never, ever have forgotten, and I think we should never forget our heritage with our parents and our grandparents.

We're living in a time where children are trying to forget everything. Erase it. That's a lie of the enemy. Among the Jews, they would always mention from generation to generation, unto the fourth generation, they were always, always reminding them of their heritage, concerning who they were. They were God's people. We have a heritage, especially now in Christ Jesus.

And when God began to deal with the nation of Israel, as God is dealing today with the church. It was a time where the priest, his name is Eli, had two sons. And his two sons were actually born in ministry and they were brought up in the ministry, but they turned out to be a real mess in the synagogue. They were stealing the money from the church. They were laying with women in the temple. They were doing every evil imagination you could ever imagine, and Eli never, ever, ever disciplined his children. Ever.

And you know what God did? God eventually, when you come to chapter 3 of 1 Samuel, God set it up where God killed his children, because they were so evil. And God was looking for a man. A man that would stand in the gap. And he was looking among the women of Israel, as he did in the time of Jesus when he found Mary, the mother of Jesus. Let's read the story. This is an incredible story for mothers today.

Listen what he says beginning with verse 1. And now there was a certain man of Ramathaim of Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, and the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. And he had two wives. Polygamy was happening at this time. God did not allow it. It was against God's will, but they had two wives. He says the name of the first one was Hannah and the name of the other was Peninnah, and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

Many times as God is working in our lives, maybe some of you women that are here, young women or older women, maybe you have never been able to get pregnant. But know one thing, that no matter what you are going through today, God is in charge of your womb. That whether you end up adopting, whatever, it will be according to the will of God that you have to pray to God, God, what shall I do in this situation? Because one of his second wives here, he's having a lot of children, but there's also a problem concerning polygamy. That the second wife is making fun of the first wife because she can't have children. So that creates a major problem in the home. Listen, with one wife is enough.

Look what he says. He says, verse 3, "This man went up into the city yearly to worship and sacrifice the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh. And also two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord were there. And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Peninnah, his wife, and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah, he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb." I want you to underline that. The Lord closed her womb. God did not allow her to have children. It wasn't the right time for her to have that child.

You see, God was working in the history of Israel, as God is working in our own time. And who knows these young girls today that are getting married? Who knows what God is doing with those girls and those that already have had children and the time to come before the Lord returns how in the world He's going to use your own children in these last days. Something to think about. You're training little disciples in your home for the future of the church. But Hannah felt bad because she could not bear any children and it says because the Lord closed her womb.

What else does it say? Verse 6. "And then her rival also made fun of her severely to make her miserable because the Lord had closed her womb. And so it was year after year when she went up to the house of the Lord that she provoked her. Therefore, she wept and did not eat." She was making fun of her, "God gave me children and ha-ha, you can't have children." I mean, Hannah was feeling so down, so bummed out, so an outcast in her own home because her husband had all these children from his second wife, and yet Hannah had no children at all.

Guest (Male): This is Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Don't forget, we're committed to helping you guide your children in true faith and devotion. Visit somebodylovesyou.com to look through our full range of resources. You can also download our free app to conveniently infuse the Bible into your daily home life. Now, back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Remember when Sarah told Abraham to go ahead and take his concubine to have a child because Sarah could not have a child either? And what did he do? He listened to his wife. He should have never listened to his wife this time, but he did. And what happened? She got pregnant and then the concubine and the wife had problems. But then at the same time, Sarah didn't realize that at the age of 90 years old, when Sarah was a grandmother, still beautiful, that God would give her a child by the name of Isaac and he would become the son of promise.

Waiting on God's time is all about it. Waiting on the Lord. I mean, if God's in charge, if God's in command, then how late is it for God to do anything in my life? Never too late. Hannah was bummed. But yet God was going to begin to work now. Notice because she was praying. Verse 8. And then Elkanah, her husband, said to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than 10 sons, maybe?" She said, "No."

Notice. "And Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, so there at the house of the Lord. And now Eli, the priest, was sitting on the seat by the door step of the Tabernacle of the Lord. And she was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish." Notice what a godly woman she is. She's pouring her soul out to the Lord. "Lord, You know my needs. Lord, You know that I desire a child, but according to Your will, You do what You want to do." She's praying.

But outside, as she's praying, the priest Eli is standing and he starts to hear and he thinks that she's a little tipsy and she's drunk. Verse 11. "And she made a vow and said, 'Oh, Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies, if You will indeed look on my affliction of your maidservant and remember me, nor forget your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a male child, then I will give him back to You all the days of his life, and a razor shall not come on his head.'" Wow.

"What do you mean, you want a child and you want to give him back to the Lord? Are you crazy?" How desperate are you? No, you don't get it. She was aligning herself with the Lord. She was not selfish. Godly mother. "Lord, give me a child so You can use my son. I want to give him to You." It's really important that our children are dedicated to the Lord. Because they're going to grow up in an environment that's very evil. They're going to grow up in a time where there's only apostasy in the philosophies of the world and they're going to be touched by the world. But yet as we teach them, as long as we have them in our home for 18 years, as the Lord is lending them to you, we need to brainwash them.

We need to show them by example as parents that we love them and they can feel safe in the home. And we need to pray that God may want to do whatever he wants with our children and not saying you're going to be a doctor, you're going to be a fireman, you're going to be this. No, allowing God for them to be what God wants them to be, not what you want them to be. We got to understand that. You have to be willing like Hannah, mothers and grandmothers, to be able to give your child back to the Lord so that God can use that child. When God heard that prayer, guess what God did? He says, "Now I have my will done."

Look what it says. Verse 12. "And then it happened that as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. But now Hannah spoke in her heart, only her lips were moving. But her voice was not heard, and therefore Eli thought that she was drunk." He was presuming upon her. "And so Eli said to her, 'How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you.'" Notice the conditions of the time spiritually. He couldn't even discern that she was a woman in groaning, a woman in need. But she thought she was drunk. He couldn't discern.

"And Hannah answered and said, 'No, my lord, I'm a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink. But I have poured out my soul before the Lord.'" Underline that. She poured out her soul before the Lord. That's when God heard her. When she emptied herself of self. "Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman. For out of the abundance of my complaint and grief, I have spoken even until now." It's not for me, it's for the Lord. "And Eli answered and said, 'Go in peace and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of him.' And she said, 'Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.' So the woman went her way and ate and her face was no longer sad." Why do you think? She stepped out by faith and she said, "God's going to answer my prayer." She waited. She waited a whole year. Watch what happens. Verse 19.

"And then they rose up early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord and returned and came to the house of Ramah. And Elkanah knew, notice, Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered." Underline that. "And the Lord remembered her." How come not other times? Because God was waiting for the perfect time. The perfect time is always the problem. We always want to get ahead of God. And yet God says, "No, it's my perfect time." He remembered her. And then it says this, "So it came to pass, in the process of time, that Hannah conceived and bore a son. And he called his name Samuel, saying, 'Because I have asked of him from the Lord.'" Samuel means, asked of God. "I prayed and He answered me." Notice that.

"And then, notice, and then the man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord yearly sacrifices, notice, and his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, 'I will not go up again until the child is weaned. And then I will take him,' notice, 'that he may appear before the Lord and remain there forever.'" Forever, she gives him back to the Lord. Five years later, she weaned him for five years. At five years of age, she took him back to the house of the Lord. Watch what it says.

"And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, 'Do what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned the child. And only let the Lord establish his word.' So the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him. And now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her and three bulls of an Ephah, of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh, and the child was young. And then they slaughtered the bull, they brought the child to Eli, and she said, 'Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am, remember, I am the woman who stood here five years ago praying to the Lord. This is the child I prayed for, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I have asked of him.'" Can you imagine that? Here he is. The Lord gave me what I prayed for. What a confirmation for Eli. What a confirmation for the nation. What a confirmation for the family.

And yet today we need to understand that if you have children that are wayward, they're not really walking with the Lord, don't give up on them. Pray for them. Be that example. Love them. Don't cast them off. Love them. Make sure that Satan doesn't get a hold of their lives and destroy them. Fight for your children through the Holy Spirit. Fight for them. God will give them back to you if you seek the Lord first. God wants you to seek him. Mothers, don't be jealous of grandmother, or grandpa, or whoever else.

God has given us family. God has given a mother and father and grandpa and grandma and great grandpa and great grandma to keep the heritage going. Because every one can share something with the children, they can learn. They can become something in this life. Yet to me, it's amazing how the Lord has his hand upon every one of our children in these last days. And we, as parents and grandparents, need to pray for our children, that God would allow the parents to really be sensitive to their children and not forcing them to do anything, but teaching them in love the ways of the Lord and allowing God to work through each individual personality. So that one day they can rise up and say to you, mothers, "Mother, you are blessed." You are blessed. Your children will say that to you. Because you stayed home with them. Because you took care of them. Because you watched with them. Because you taught them the Bible. Because you prayed with them. They're going to remember the things that you do for God. The other things are not going to be remembered. The most important thing is that our children may know the Lord.

Guest (Male): Well, as we've heard today, young people are facing enormous challenges in these spiritually dark times. So it's more important than ever that we stand for them in prayer. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's study was titled Hannah, A Godly Mother. If you'd like to get an unedited version with much more teaching, we'll be happy to send a copy to you for a donation of $5 or more. Just call us at 800-634-9165. And as you consider how you can best participate in God's plans for your children, we'd like to offer you Raul's six-part series for mothers. It's available on CD and USB. Every lesson explores how to walk closely with the Lord in genuine faith and trusting submission, setting an example for your kids as they journey with the Lord. You'll also gain assurance that God has good plans for every child, and his timing is perfect in seeing them come to fruition. To order Raul's six-message series for mothers, visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165. We'll send you the CD set for $20 or the thumb drive for just $12. That's 800-634-9165, or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. This ministry with Raul Ries is entirely listener-supported, and your tax-deductible gifts are a great blessing to us. Thanks so much for your partnership. And join us again next time as we quiet our hearts and minds before the Lord, asking Him to speak life-shaping truth to us through the pages of His Word. Now here's Raul once again with a closing comment.

Raul Ries: Look what else he says. "Therefore, in conclusion, I also have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he shall be lent to the Lord and they worship the Lord there." Listen, it's not your child, the Lord has loaned them to you. It's a loan for 18 years. And God expects you to bring them up in the ways of the Lord. So when they leave your home, wherever they're going to go and travel, whatever they're going to become, whether a fireman, whether a lawyer, whether a teacher, that they can do it in the Lord. The Lord has to be number one in each one of our lives, including mothers and daughters and sons.