There was a stage in my college career where I became interested in chaos theory. One of the professors had mentioned something to me about, well, to the class that on the first day of class he would ask certain questions about when your birthday is and that type of thing and kind of take note of it. And he said he was just doing a little experiment and he just found that there were these patterns that started developing certain people with certain birth dates would sit in a certain section. There would be a higher probability and things like that. It's called chaos theory. And as I was reading about this, I learned about something that was coined by Edward Lawrence. It was an effect about the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences at a later state. I didn't know what that meant until I saw what it was called. It's called the butterfly effect. Maybe you've heard of the butterfly effect in chaos theory. Just to sum it up, what that means is that initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a, don't worry about the rest, can result in large differences at a later stage. in a system. And it became known as the butterfly effect, you know, the idea that if a butterfly flaps its wings over here it can start a tornado on the other side of the world. That's actually not true, by the way, but the reason it was called that is because of this lecture that was given in 1972 It was the 139th meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Science. And in 1972, Lawrence, Edward Lawrence, was the speaker, and he didn't have a title for his nonlinear chaos theory presentation. And so, Philip Meireles, who was the one who was in charge of just naming these things, just came up with that title on the fly, and he called it, Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas. I mean, that sounds like something you would go if you were one of these science nerds and you had to pick a lecture, a seminar to sit in. I would go and see that. Unfortunately, the answer is no. But that idea of the butterfly effect did take root in pop culture, and we do sometimes talk about that, how little things that you do can have a ripple effect, can start a chain reaction that can have great, massive effects later on for other people. And this is what we see in 1 Samuel chapter 1. And we'll see something that is actually true, the real butterfly effect, the real ripple effect that you can have in your life. You may be somebody that you consider yourself completely inconsequential, anonymous, I'm just a little cog in a big wheel of human history, and yet there is something that you can do that may seem little to you, but has a ripple effect that can have very large consequences, even eternal consequences. And we're going to see that played out and exemplified in 1 Samuel chapter 1. Now, last week when we introduced the book, just in case you weren't there, this is following from the time of the judges. You've got judges, the book of Ruth is like a little snapshot of normality in the chaos of the moral and spiritual darkness and chaos of the time of the judges. when there was no king in Israel, and everyone was just doing whatever they thought was right. Nobody really knew what God's will was. That's why you've got Jephthah making a vow that he'll sacrifice whatever comes out of his house first if God gives him the victory, and then he gets the victory, and if his daughter, now he doesn't know what to do, he ends up killing her. She ends up thinking that that's the right thing to do. Why? Because nobody has any clue what God wants in the days of the judges. Except for these pockets of faithful believers here and there, and that's what the book of Ruth talks about, right? After that, you have this transition period. You've got Joshua leads the nation. When Joshua dies, no one leads the nation except these judges, these military leaders that God raises up. And then after 1 and 2 Samuel, we're going to get to 1 and 2 Kings. And that's a long line of the kings of Israel. And so this is a transition book where the kingdom is started, where the kingdom is established, the kingdom of Israel. Up until now, they haven't had a king, but they want a king. And so God is starting to do something that's eventually going to result in his son the king of kings who's going to rule the whole world forever. And it all starts with this childless lady by the name of Hannah and a little mumbling prayer that she prays one day. And so this is what we're going to see. We're going to look at the three ripple effects of God's reply to your prayers to show how prayer changes the world. Three ripple effects. We're going to see how prayer changes things personally, historically and even possibly eternally. So let's look at the first ripple effect of when God replies to your prayers and answers your prayers. And the first ripple effect starts with personally. I'm going to read for you 1 Samuel 1. And we will pick it up. Just to remind you what we read last week, that we start off with this man, Elkanah. Alcana has two wives, Penina and Hanna. And Penina has children. She's able to have children. Hanna does not have children. And Penina, you can always just remember, she's a bit of a pain in the neck. Penina, the pain in the neck, right? So she's a pain in Hanna's neck. Because not only does she have children, she likes to rub it in Hanna's face. Now, you know, one solution is only have one wife. That's what's going on here. And so Penina is constantly mocking and provoking and teasing Hannah that she's childless. And this is causing trouble in the family, of course. So we'll pick it up in verse eight. Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, Why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?" And after they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli, the priest, was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh. Now just a pause there. You might get confused by the word temple because the temple, if you know your Bible timeline, hasn't been built yet. Who builds the temple? Who can remember? Which king Solomon builds a temple. Solomon's dad, David, wants to build a temple, but he doesn't get to. Solomon does. We don't even have a king yet. So I looked it up this week, and the reason that there's that confusion there is because the word that's used in Hebrew here can mean tent, tabernacle, temple. It can mean all those things. And so it's a very specific word that's used for the tabernacle, which means tent, which is the Hebrew word ochel. And then there's a very specific word for temple, the one that Solomon's going to build and it's referred to. But this is a word that can mean, it's the place you go, the sanctuary that you go. So it's not an anachronism that it says temple there. The point is what we would call the tabernacle, a temporary dwelling for the Ark of the Covenant that's made out of various materials outlined in the Book of Exodus. Okay, so that's where he is. Verse 9, then verse 10, she was deeply distressed, Hannah was, and prayed to Yahweh and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, O Yahweh of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, Then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head. Can you think of someone else that has that little phrase attached to them, no razor shall touch his head? Samson. Yeah, Samson. Can you think of someone in the New Testament? John the Baptist. That's right. These are called Nazarites. And we'll look at that a little bit more in depth later. But a Nazarite was a person, not a Nazarene from Nazareth, a Nazarite vow. And part of it is you don't cut your hair, you're not allowed to touch anything dead, and you're not allowed to have any alcohol or any fruit of the grape. And so you're set apart in a very special way. So remember, Samuel is a, spoiler alert, there's going to be a baby. Samuel ends up being a prophet. and a priest and a transition between the judges and the kings, okay? So it's important that she's vowing already that if this child comes, I will dedicate him to the Lord in a very special way. Verse 12, as she continued praying before Yahweh, Eli, the high priest, observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart. Only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli took her to be a drunken woman. So just to pause there for a moment, what we know about Israel is that when people prayed, when Jews prayed, and even to this day, when Jews pray, they pray aloud, almost always. In Christian circles, you can pray aloud or you can pray silently. Maybe you pray aloud when you're at home, maybe you pray silently. How do we know that you can pray silently? Well, because of this verse. Here's an example of, she's praying in her heart, she's praying in her mind, her thinking, but you know what it's like sometimes when you're, you know, if you're sitting in your car and you're praying or whatever and your eyes are closed, you're sitting in the parking lot and your lips are moving and someone walks past, then you pretend you're on the phone. So her lips are moving as she's mouthing these words, but she's not even speaking, and so he thinks that she's drunk. That's how unusual it was to pray in this way. She's just sitting there sad and mumbling to herself, but she's not drunk. So verse 14, he said to her, how long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you. but hannah answered no my lord i'm a woman troubled in spirit i've drunk neither wine or strong drink but i've been pouring out my soul before yaweh do not regard your servant as a worthless woman for all along i've been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation then eli answered go in peace and the god of israel grant your petition that you have made to him he's just kind of wishing well whatever you were praying about may god grant you that And she said, let your servant find favor in your eyes. Then the woman went her way and ate. And her face was no longer sad. She had handed it over to the Lord. She's unburdened herself. This is in God's hand. She's trusting him. Verse 19, they rose early in the morning. They worshiped before Yahweh as a family. Then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife. That's a euphemism. They slept together. And Yahweh remembered her, meaning that he heard her prayer. And in due time, nine months later, Hannah, well in due time, Hannah conceived and nine months later bore a son and she called his name Shmuel, Samuel. Shmuel means to hear. For she said, I have asked for him from Yahweh. So the Hebrew word maybe you know of, you've heard of the great Shema. You've heard of that term, the great Shema? Hear O Israel. Shema Yisrael Elahenu, that phrase that the Jews say, that Shema. Shema means to hear. Sh'ma u'el, or sh'mul is the way you would say it. The el part there is Elohim, for God. So it's God hears. And that's important because the name of Samuel that she calls her son is because God has heard my prayer. She knows that the birth of this child is a direct answer to a prayer that God has heard, a personal prayer. But also, remember, Israel has been crying out to God for what? For a king. They want a king to be like the other nations, and God hears them. And so with the birth of Samuel, we see that God hearing his nation cry out to them, being paralleled by this woman crying out to him, is answered in this person. And so he is now going to grow up and be an answer to prayer, not only to his mom's prayer, but to the prayer of the nation for a king, because he's going to be the kingmaker. So there's a parallel going on here. OK, so his name was Samuel. She said, I've asked for him from the Lord. Now, verse 21. The man, Elkanah, and all his house went up to offer to Yahweh the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, as soon as the child is weaned, when he stopped being nursed, I will bring him so that he may appear in the presence of Yahweh and dwell there forever. In other words, permanently. Elkanah, her husband, said to her, do what seems best to you, wait until you've weaned him, only may Yahweh establish his word. So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah flower, a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of Yahweh at Shiloh. And the child was young. And they slaughtered the bull, they brought the child to Eli, and she said, oh my Lord, As you live, my Lord, I am the woman who was standing in your presence praying to Yahweh. For this child, I prayed. And Yahweh has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore, I have lent him to Yahweh as long as he lives. He is lent to Yahweh, and he worshipped Yahweh there. Verse 1 of the next chapter says, Hannah prayed and said, My heart exalts in Yahweh. My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. OK. So just until there. And we're looking at the first ripple effect, how the prayer affects things personally. And then we'll look at historically and eternally. So. She dedicates this child to the Lord because he's an answer to prayer. She weans the child. So we don't know exactly how old Samuel is at this point. These days, moms kind of sometimes wean their kids earlier than in those days. It could be that he was no longer breastfeeding by the time he was two or three or four or even five in those days. This little kid, five-year-old, three-year-old, I would put him maybe at least three years old, he probably has no clue what's going on here. But after three years, his mom, three, four, five years, takes him to the temple and dedicates him to the Lord and leaves him there. And yeah, we send the babies home with you after you dedicate them here. You know, after we did Lion King today, we gave the little baby and we said, now you take him home, don't leave him here at church, okay? But this is exactly what happens. The mom comes, they dedicate the baby, they say, there you go. And the priest is like, OK, mazel tov, I guess I'm a dad now. So Eli raises Samuel as his own son. And he's sort of adopted there. And as we shall see, Hannah goes up every year when they go to the temple to sacrifice and visits him and brings him clothes and a little packet. But I mean, it's a pretty strange thing. that this child is born and grows up without a nuclear family. He grows up raised by the temple, as it were, by the high priest serving. He's wearing an ephod, we'll see later on, which is a priestly garment, even from young, the only case that we see of that. And his whole life is about the Lord. And he's a Nazirite, so they never cut his hair as well. So this is a real sacrifice, is my point. She's making a sacrifice. But what this shows us is that her motives when she prayed were the right motives. I'll comment on what she did in a moment, but it's very clear she's not asking God for a child for selfish reasons because she doesn't even keep the child. Now, it is true that her social reproach is removed, because in those days, if you couldn't have children, it was a big deal socially, and that's what Penina keeps mocking her about. Now she has this child, so at least that's going to stop, and she ends up having more children. But this one, she prayed to the Lord for the child and said, her heart was pure. I want to do something for Yahweh's kingdom, and I wanted to do it through having a child. And then God gives her a child, and she sticks with her commitment. She sticks with her vow, and she honors it, and she takes this child and dedicates him to God, and it's a massive sacrifice for her and a real commitment to God's glory. Now, let me just mention, this is a narrative. Now, when you interpret scripture, you're always looking for prescriptive or Descriptive those are your two big categories of how to interpret There's some parts of scripture that are prescriptive saying when you read this you have to do this. So for example Husbands love your wives as Christ loves the church. That is an instruction to Christian men You have to do that when it says thou shalt not kill thou shalt not covet that's telling us all what we should do. Then there's descriptive passages that just talk about the history. This is what happened. This is something that happened. And you always have to read those very carefully because sometimes things happen, and they happen as an example to us and to teach us something, but sometimes they happen as an example of what not to do. And sometimes it's just recording, hey, that's what happened. That's what Jephthah did. He killed his daughter. That doesn't make it right. It just tells you what he decided. And so you can't always look at narrative and say, well, I'm learning, I have to do this. You know, you see Jesus' apostles cast out demons when a boy has epilepsy. Therefore, if I see a boy has epilepsy, I need to cast out the demon? No, that is just a description of what happened in that case. So don't think here that this is very confusing. Are we supposed to dedicate one of our children to the church? No. You take them all home with you, for sure. OK? Just ask the nursery workers. But it's a narrative. She did this. There's no comment on whether what she did was right or wrong. But the point is that God blessed her. She had the right motives. And in this particular case, as we will see, her desires lined up with God's desires for the nation. Right, so this time God uses this woman's sacrifice in a very special way. Now there is a point of application for us. Hannah prayed and God answered because her prayer lined up with his will. Now she didn't know at the time, she doesn't know that God's about to make a king maker so that he can make kings. She doesn't know any of that. So she comes to the Lord and she prays to him. And then before the prayer was even answered, remember she went home and she was fine. She handed over to the Lord. She trusted the Lord. And in a very real way, Hannah's prayer changed the world. Even though she had no idea if it was going to be answered, how it was going to be answered, what the significance of the answer was going to be, she prayed the prayer because that was her heart. That was her desire. It was not an ungodly desire. She did not want the child just so that she could have something to say back to Penina the Pain in the Neck. No, she wanted to have a child for the right reasons for God's glory. And so her motives, God's will, line up. He answers the prayer. Now, you might have a question. What if she had not prayed? Would there have been no little kingmaker growing up under the high priest? Would there be no transitional person? Would there be no king? And the answer is, we'll never know, because she did pray. She did pray. And God used that prayer. And think about the privilege that Hannah availed herself of, that she was able to go straight to the king of the universe and ask a favor, and he said yes. And she was blessed, and the nation would become blessed. And you have that same privilege. Now, that's not a very satisfying answer, I know. What if she hadn't prayed? Would none of these things have happened? Would that chain of events not have started? And I just said, well, we'll never know. But it is possible that God would have used someone else's prayer and someone else's child and someone else's desires and that. And of course, if he was going to give them a king, he would have been able to do that anyway. But she was the one that he chose because she asked for it. She was the one that had that desire. She was the one that asked him for this thing. She was the one that came up with this plan. And so she gets to be part of history. And we know her name. And there's girls named after her to this day. because of what she did. And you have that exact same privilege if you are a child of God. If you are a Christian and you can approach God through the righteousness of Christ, who lived for you, who died for you, that you've put your trust in Him, He's cleansed you, He's made you able to have access to come to the throne of grace in a time of need and ask for what you want. And you might not know if that's God's will or not. But if it's a desire in your heart, feel free to ask Him. And you might say, well, I don't know why I have to pray, because God knows the future anyway. God's all-powerful anyway. He's got the plan all staked out anyway. So what do my prayers help? He's going to do what He wants anyway. And the answer is, maybe, but this way you get to be part of it. It's not like, well, if I don't pray for my child to be saved, my child will never be saved. If that child is elect, then God's going to save that child. Maybe someone else prays for my child. Maybe no one prays for my child, but my child hears the gospel, believes the gospel anyway. But then I didn't get to be part of my child's salvation. I had that wonderful privilege of being able to pray for my child and see that onset, and I didn't avail myself of that. So never think, well, why should we pray? Because God's going to do what he does anyway. Yes, but he's inviting you to come along. He's inviting you to be the one that He chooses to answer that prayer and that way you see those prayers being answered and you share that with other people and He gets glory and you get part of it and you get reward from it and that's how He's designed His world to work. That's how He wants to do it. And so this personal access that we have to God is just not something we should ever get tired of thanking Him for. We just appreciate it. It's just such an unusual privilege that other religions don't have. There's so much that they have to do to get the attention of their false gods that don't even exist. And we just come straight to Him. You don't have to go to a priest to pray. You can just pray. You don't have to use a special prayer that's been written for you by the church authorities. You just pray whatever's on your heart. You don't even have to pray aloud, we just found out. You can just mumble a prayer in your heart. He knows what you're thinking. I always think of President Andrew Jackson. He was the seventh president. And in 1828, he had this policy at the White House. Have you ever heard of Andrew Jackson's Great Block of... Do you know what it is? Cheese, yeah? It's a thing. The Great Block of Cheese. He had a half-ton cheddar cheese block in the White House. Cheese. It was open to anybody who wanted to snack on some cheese. I'm sure they had a mouse problem, too. But people could just show up at the White House, walk on in, break a chip of cheese off, and nibble on it while they talked to the president. And he did this as this symbolic gesture that we are here for the people. We're not high and mighty in our White House with security and snipers keeping us safe. We're out there in the lobby. Now, that didn't work out so well for some of the presidents, so they had to up their security. But in those days, you could show up at the White House without an appointment. And if the president was there, he would see you and have some cheese. Times have changed. But we have that kind of access with God, where he just has the doors open. Day and night you wake up at night. You can't sleep. What? What's on your heart? What's what's running through your mind? What's keeping you awake? Talk to him about it You don't even have to do it aloud. Let your spouse sleep. Just talk to him quietly in your heart. He's awake He never slumbers. He never sleeps he cares for you and Psalm 37 verse 4 says delight yourself in Yahweh and he will give you the desires of your heart commit your way to Yahweh and trust in him and he will act and Those desires that you have are desires that He's given you. If you're following His way and delighting yourself in Him and your motives are right and you want what's for His glory, then when you want something, ask for it. James chapter 4 verse 2 says, you have not because you ask not. That's why you don't have, because you didn't ask. Sometimes all you have to do is ask. My mom used to teach me this about If you ever want a certain house, you know, if you're in the market to buy a house and you see like your dream house, but it's not for sale, it doesn't matter. Just go knock on the door and ask the person, say, this is how much I can afford. I would love to buy your house. Are you interested in selling? And she says, what is the worst that's going to happen? I think what she meant was they'll just say no. I think these days you can get into more trouble, but what's the worst that's going to happen? They're just going to say no, but you don't know unless you ask. Because she says, you never know if that person just won the lottery and they're about to upgrade and don't even need the money. You don't know if they've just found out they're going to be transferred for their job and their work is going to pay for all of this, so they don't even need the full price. You don't know if maybe they just had a divorce, maybe they're immigrating. You don't know anything. So just go and ask. And if they say no, they say no. Sometimes people say yes. And I've heard stories of that, where people just, hey, we love your house. Is it for sale? And the spouse kind of looks at each other, and they're like, sure, why not? What are you offering? Time for a change. So here, Hannah didn't know that God was about to provide a king for Israel, and that he wanted a dedicated and holy child that grew up at the temple. who would have authority and be known by everybody, because think about that, everyone comes to the temple and everyone sees this strange little kid that no one else's kids are allowed up there with the high priest doing the high priestly things, and he would have become probably the most well-known person in all of Israel, this child. Year after year after year, people coming with their sacrifice, their children seeing him, older people seeing him, younger people seeing him, everyone's coming there. He's there with Eli. He would have been as famous as the high priest. And then when the high priest dies, he's still there. And so when he shows up in a village and says, I want to have dinner with your family because I'm going to pick a king, Jesse, then Jesse drops what he's doing and oh my goodness, leave the runt out there with the sheep, but get the big boys out here because they knew who he was. They knew that he had authority. They knew that he wasn't just some random homeless dude who thought that he was a prophet saying the end is nigh. Samuel with his long hair and the whole thing, he was well known because of all of this. And Hannah didn't know any of that when she prayed. But God answered her personal prayer. And so prayer changes things personally. But secondly, we see here that prayer changes things historically. Look at the history being changed here. So in chapter 2, we read verse 1. She's starting to pray. And she prays about this. My heart exalts in Yahweh. My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. There's none holy like Yahweh, for there's none beside you. There's no rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly. Let not arrogance come from your mouth, for Yahweh is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, and the feeble bind on strength. Those who are full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has born seven. But she who has many children is forlorn. Yahweh kills and brings to life. He brings down to Sheol and raises up. Yahweh makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh's, and on them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall man prevail. The adversaries of Yahweh shall be broken to pieces. Against them he will thunder in heaven. Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed." So this prayer of Hannah's is a prayer that is that I commend to you this week you should read it over and over slowly and carefully and just soak it in and then you should go and read Mary's prayer the Magnificat in Luke chapter 2 because Mary's prayer is based on Hannah's prayer Mary knew her Bible very well she knew this prayer and you start seeing the similarities and one of the main themes of the book of first and second Samuel is the theme of reversal And so you see this here, that God is sovereign and he doesn't do things the way man does things. The way man does things, the person sitting on the ash heap, the poor person, the despised person, they don't make it in this world. The people who make it in the world are the movers and shakers and the connected ones and the ones born into the political families and the strong ones and the powerful ones and the connected ones. These are the people that make it in the world. And Israel wants a king to be just like the other nations, and who do they end up picking first? The tall guy, because he's tall and strong, and they want him to be like the other nations. And who does God end up choosing? The runt of the litter, the youngest one in Jesse's breed, the one that was just Nobody. There's this reversal. And so God is sovereign over choosing who He wants. Like He chose Israel, the small nation, and made them mighty. Not because they were good, but because He chose them. And because He chooses Hannah, the one who's barren, to produce this child who's going to change the world. And that's what she's praying about here, is that He's the one that raises up the poor and the despised and the dejected. He's the one that gives them power. He takes the weak and he binds power onto them. He takes the strong and he brings them down. And so you see this constantly. The Lord kills, verse 6, the Lord brings to life. The Lord brings down to Sheol and the Lord raises up. The Lord makes poor. The Lord makes rich. He brings low and He exalts. He raises the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes. And so she's constantly talking about God's sovereignty. And you get to tap into that sovereignty through your prayers You get to be part of that sovereignty not that you're in control. He's in control, but the tools that he's using Are your prayers and and she gets to be part of that and then she makes this amazing statement in verse 10 Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed So now she's talking about a king. Bear in mind, there is no king in Israel. These are the days of the judges. There's no king in Israel. She doesn't know that she's part of first Samuel. She certainly doesn't know that there's a first kings and a second kings coming on. But what she does know is the promises made to Abraham. That through him and his people would come a ruler that would bless all of the earth. And so this prophecy of this person that's coming, she's tapping into that. Now she doesn't realize what a crucial part her prayer was in all of this, starting that chain of events. And she doesn't realize maybe what a crucial part her son is in this. She's just exalting God for what his character is like. And in doing that, she mentions this king, this anointed one. The word anointed is the word Messiah. She's talking about Jesus. And she doesn't know who he is, but she knows he's coming. And she gets to be part of that, and she's praising God for this. And the irony of it is we as readers know what a crucial part her prayer was, and her sacrifice in giving up her child in this way, and how God's gonna use that. God is so powerful that when you make a request, He can answer it without compromising His plan for your life and for all of history and for the whole world. He can answer your prayer in such a way that He then uses that and weaves that into His will to accomplish what He has ordained. You might think, well, God won't answer my little prayer because it's so personal and such a little thing, and He's more interested in managing history and the world, and you need to realize He's so powerful that He can do both at once. Charles Spurgeon says this, when a man has to disarrange his affairs and so to speak stop all his machinery in order to fulfill a promise, it proves he's but a man and that his wisdom and power are limited. However, He is God indeed, who, without traversing the engine or moving a single cog from the wheel, fulfills the desires of His people as they come up before Him. The Lord is so omnipotent that He can work results tantamount to miracles without, in the slightest degree, suspending any of His laws. What he's saying is, if you make a promise to me, and you're trying to keep that promise, you might have to completely rearrange your schedule and your plans and everything else. And this happens in families sometimes. Our kids have a work commitment, and something else comes up, and now we've got to drive them there or do this and change this. Well, we were going to do this, but we can't do that now because we made this commitment. We need to stick to it. And that's good, but that just proves that we're human. God doesn't have to do that. God doesn't say, well, I want to answer this person's prayer, but man, I got this whole plan going here. I don't know how I'm going to do this. He just does it. He makes it work. He's that powerful. He doesn't have to change the machinery of his plan. He just works you into it. John 14, 13, Jesus said, whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. So this is why you should not pray for things that are out of sync with God's will that go contrary to what he has revealed. So if he has revealed something, you can pray in line with it, because you know that's his will. You'll use your prayers. So he's revealed things like that his kingdom will come and that his will will be done on earth. So guess what? You can pray. May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Because he's told you that's going to happen. So you can pray. And when the kingdom comes, you can say, I did that. I mean, you and everyone else has prayed that. I mean, you're part of it. And then there's things that he hasn't revealed, like who you should marry, or what college you should go to, or those types of things. And so you just, what your desire is, you pray. And you pray. If he says no, he says no. That's OK. I want his will done. And then there's things that he has revealed that he wants so you should not pray against that. So for example, he has revealed, thou shalt not covet your neighbor's wife. So you can't pray that God kill your neighbor so you can marry his wife. No, that's not something you should want. Don't pray to God for something he said you shouldn't want. That's against his will. So that's how you pray. If you pray in my name, according my reputation according to my revealed will according to what God wants and you ask for it then ask for it and you'll get it and that way the son is glorified because you're praying in his name and so you might say well if I can only pray in line with God's will anyway then my prayers aren't really changing anything ah but they are they are they can change your life they can change the world, and they can change eternity. It's kind of like if you tell your kids, we're going on a family vacation. We're going to drive from here in Alabama. We're going to go to California. And we're going to go see Yosemite. And we're going to head west. And are there any other state parks or monuments or sites that you want to see on the way? Well, if your child says, yes, I want to see the Grand Canyon, you can say, we can make that work. What do you want to see? But if your child says, I want to see the Statue of Liberty. So for our South African viewers, that's in the opposite direction by a lot. So that's not asking in line with the revealed plan. So God doesn't reveal every nook and cranny and bend of the road. He reveals the general plan. And as you're praying in line with that, He incorporates your prayers. So if He's heading towards California and you ask to go past the Grand Canyon, He can make that work. But if He's heading this way and you ask to go that way, He's going to say, no, that's not my plan. I told you my plan. You see how that works? So you can, and are, and your prayers are being used to affect things in your life and in the world around you as you are praying. And he's working that into his plan. But he will never do the opposite of what he said he's going to do. So you could never pray the prayer, may your kingdom not come. That's just not going to work. You shouldn't be asking that. And then finally, let's look at just the final way that we've looked at how prayer can affect your life personally. Hannah has a baby, because she asked for that. Historically, Hannah sets off a chain of events that leads to a king being appointed. But even eternally, verse 10 says, the adversaries of Yahweh shall be broken to pieces. Against them, he will thunder in heaven. Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth and give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. So here we see this prayer reaching not only the kingdom of Israel, but she's talking about the Messiah here as well. And we know that this chain of events, she prays her prayer, she gets pregnant, she has a child, she dedicates him to the Lord, he grows up, he chooses the right king for Israel, David, different from what anyone else would have chosen, David becomes the line that Jesus comes from. And God makes a promise to David and builds a house for David, and that leads to Jesus coming. And then Jesus came and did what he did to conquer sin and left, and he left us a promise he's going to come back. and he's going to establish his kingdom and he's revealed that to us so we can pray in line with that and all of this started when the little butterfly wing of Hannah's mumbled prayer was uttered that day and she had no clue she had no clue that this eternal kingdom was being established traced it all the way back to her praying this prayer and you might have no clue about what's happening in your life in the future, in eternity, and how this is used. But God uses what you pray. And if you're praying in line with His will, you may one day find out, maybe it's only in heaven, but maybe even in this life, somebody comes to you one day and says, you know, I got saved, and I'm now gonna live forever, and my entire eternity has been impacted because of something that you said, or that you did, or an example that you were, or a prayer that you prayed. We heard that today in baptism, didn't we? My wife got saved, and then she prayed for me, and she was faithful to pray for me, and then I got saved. That faithfulness of prayer gets used not only, okay, that's going to help your marriage be better, sure, there's a personal effect, but there's also this eternal effect that the soul now lives in heaven forever because of those prayers. And so this is what she's talking about when she's talking about the Messiah, the Anointed One. We are told as Christians to pray for the salvation of unbelievers and even our leaders. 2 Timothy 2, verses 1 to 4. There's a lot going on about what we need to do to help our nation now that it's an election year and the stewardship of your vote. But your vote's just a vote. Imagine our leaders got saved and lined their decision-making up with the Word of God. Imagine the impact that that would have. And I know we kind of look at the people we have to choose from and think, I mean, should we even bother? Well, yeah. You're no better or worse than them, and you got saved. That's how it works. You pray. God answers prayer. And it affects, sure, your taxes might be better because of it or whatever. Nobody cares. That's your little personal world. It's going to affect history. It could affect eternity for an individual and all the people that they affect. Just think of all the prayers that have been answered about ending abortion. and how the law shifted so suddenly in favor of being able to protect unborn lives, that there are going to be children who are born, who get saved, who live forever, who have an impact that they're going to have families, and they're going to make children, and they're going to get those children saved, and it's going to have this entire impact because of prayers that you have prayed against abortion. And you're not keeping track of that. You have no idea. But you know who is? God is. So pray. It changes the world. So the butterfly effect, it's not actually true. Butterflies don't cause tornadoes. But the butterfly effect of your prayers is true. It does have a ripple effect. The Bible makes sure that we know that it's true, that every single silent prayer offered by a faithful mom under her breath or any faithful believer can have a ripple effect on your own destiny personally, the destiny of a nation historically, and even redemptive history eternally. Application? Simple. Pray. Doesn't that make you want to pray? Knowing that God actually hears your prayers? Knowing that he's actually using your prayers? That you can actually change things? So spend this week in prayer for yourself, and for your family, and for your church, and for your country, and for the kingdom of God worldwide. And I promise you, nothing else that you do this week will have more impact on eternity than your faithful prayers. For your life, our church, the country, the world, nothing is more important than the earnest prayers of God's saints. Let's pray. Father, praying to you is such a privilege, and we do it often without even thinking of what a wonder it is that you can hear us and that you love to hear from us, and that you answer our prayers, and that you use our prayers, all because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. And that if it was not for his sacrifice, we would never be able to catch your attention, for we deserve nothing from you. And yet, he has covered us in his righteousness and borne our sin away so that we can get your attention, that we can ask for the things we need, the things that we love, the things that we want, in line with your will, for your glory. And so we do that even tonight, Lord. Bless our country during this election year. Help us to be good stewards. Choose the person that you want for us, Lord. But we pray above all that you would save those that are making decisions about our nation, that you would cause them to repent of their sins. And Lord, for anyone who hears a sermon that's not yet in Christ, I pray that you would turn their hearts towards the Savior, that you would melt their heart of stone and grant them repentance, and that perhaps one day we would see them in eternity and know that we affected eternity by our prayers for them, even without knowing their names. We thank you for the example of Hannah and her faithfulness to pray, and I ask that you make us a praying people too. In Jesus' name, amen.