DO NOT SETTLE DOWN HERE

This is a continuation of the above that I did not complete. I hope you are blessed in the way the word of God has blessed me. This my personal devotion and I pray that God will enrich you with the same message.


Who is Hannah? Hannah – favoured, an Israelite

She is the bride that is not satisfied with where she is in her blessing. Even though the man who purchased her with His precious blood loves her, she wants more. She knows that to be barren according to the word of God is to be cursed by God, yet she knows that she can move the hand of her maker to bring her desires to pass (Ps. 37:4) Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your hearts desires. Vrs 23, the steps of the godly are directed by the Lord, He delights in every detail of their lives. Delight means to be soft or pliable – luxurious and pleasant e.g. velvet cloth.
God uses a burden of Hannah’s heart to bring a surprising larger solution to a burden of His own heart. She knew she was barren but she was not going to allow the situation to stop her from asking the Lord continually. She can pray and worship God in truth and in spirit. She is not going to quit or run away from her circumstances or problems.

The Bible says that after eating and drinking Hannah rose up. There are times in life where one has to get up and say: ‘No, I am not having what is being dished out to me.’ We have to make a stand and let the enemy know where we stand in this situation. A lot of people get so pushed down to the ground that they are not able to stand up, but know that there is more movement when one is standing than lying down.

There is a process in greatness. You don’t just become great by sitting around. In order to be great, one has to go through afflictions and persecutions. Think of Joseph. I don’t care how much they hate you but if you have favour, nothing will stop you. Just know God has set you up if you are hated. When trouble is at its worst, God is about to get you out. Understand the process to get to where God wants you to be. Enough trouble will even make an atheist call out: ‘O God!’ The more they persecute you, the more God will bless you.

Ecclesiastes 7:8: ‘The end of a thing is better than its beginning’.

God was preparing Hannah’s heart to give her first child away. When God touches us and makes tender our hearts, we will be willing to give away whatever is precious to us. Hannah knew that giving her first child away will open doors for more children.

It is better to wrestle with God like Jacob than with men. (Gen.32: 22-32). There are times in our lives where we have to be left alone to wrestle with God. Remember his father already blessed Jacob but he knew that there was more. When the angel was trying to leave, Jacob persisted to be blessed. When Jacob declare who he was, the angel must have checked heaven and found out that Jacob was not Jacob but Israel. If he did not wrestle with God, he would have died without knowing his true identity, and his brother Esau would have killed him. You don’t visit your brother with 500 men just to say ‘Hello’, do you? It is when we wrestle with God that we have revelation of who God is and who we are in Him. Jacob has to be inbalance in the natural to be dependent on supernatural God.

Penninah was so blessed that she became complacent and was unable to hear God. She was prayerless and so her walk with God was shaky. She looked okay on the outside with the blessing of her children, but her heart did not change. We cannot change the world or people, till God changes our own hearts. We must allow God to break us.

Hannah did not take matters into her own hands. She trusted the Lord to fight for her but she spent time with God in prayer and worship. When we spend time with God, we become tender hearted to obey God and do His will.

Why settle down here when the heavens are the limit? There are lots of men and women in the Bible who move the hand of their redeemer, e.g.: Abraham leaving his country for a new country, Ruth leaving her home to see the purposes of God fulfilled, Esther orphaned, Gideon mighty man of valour.

What does the Word of God say about you? Will you choose to be like Penninah or Hannah and rise up to stand on the word of God till the one who purchased you comes and recover you from where you are?

May God bless you richly.