{"id":3022,"date":"2017-02-08T21:00:06","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T17:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/?p=3022"},"modified":"2017-02-08T21:00:06","modified_gmt":"2017-02-08T17:00:06","slug":"conditions-to-answered-prayer-part-4-making-a-vow-before-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/conditions-to-answered-prayer-part-4-making-a-vow-before-god\/","title":{"rendered":"CONDITIONS TO ANSWERED PRAYER PART 4. MAKING A VOW BEFORE GOD"},"content":{"rendered":"

CONDITIONS TO ANSWERED PRAYER<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

PART 4. MAKING A VOW BEFORE GOD<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Before passing to the subject, I want to remind you that the life of every Christian is to be built on the love of God. This is according to the Bible. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThough I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails\u2026 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love\u201d (1 Cor. 13).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Having divine love and faith is a prerequisite for answered prayer. \u201cBut without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him\u201d (Heb. 11:6). The Holy Spirit reveals other conditions for the answer according to God\u2019s perfect will in a specific situation. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0We will study an account in 1 Samuel, chapter 1. Elkanah and Hannah could not have children for years. Both of the spouses were godly persons who always prayed and sacrificed to God. However, their prayers remained unanswered; \u201cthe Lord had closed her womb\u201d (1 Sam. 1:6). <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Elkanah had another wife besides Hannah, Peninnah. She already gave sons and daughters to her husband; and she used to provoke Hannah for not having children. Hannah was Elkanah\u2019s favorite wife, and seeing her grieving, he used to say, \u201cHannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?\u201d (1 Sam. 1:8).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0One time, when they again went to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord, Hannah lifted a completely different prayer to the Lord. \u201cAnd she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. Then she made a vow and said, \u2018O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.\u2019\u201d (1 Sam. 1:10-11).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Eli the Priest, who was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple, watched Hannah and thought that she was drunk. \u201cSo Eli said to her, \u2018How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!\u2019 But Hannah answered and said, \u2018No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.\u2019\u201d (1 Sam. 1:14-16).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cLove suffers long and is kind\u2026 does not behave rudely\u2026\u201d Again, remember the Golden Rule. Hannah not only prayed in a different way, that is, made a vow before the Lord, but also gave a kind answer to the offensive words of Eli the Priest. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cSo it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, \u2018Because I have asked for him from the Lord.\u2019 \u2026Then they\u2026 brought the child to Eli. And she said, \u201cO my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition, which I asked of Him. Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord\u2026\u201d (1 Sam. 1:20, 25-28).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Samuel grew up and ministered in the Temple, and became one of the greatest prophets in the Bible. Later Hannah had five more children. The womb closed by the Lord opened only after \u201cthe prayer of a vow\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Hannah did not give up after years of unanswered prayers, and finally she lifted before the Lord the prayer He waited for so long. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cOffer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me\u201d (Ps. 50.14-15). Vow means sacrifice. The Scriptures say, \u201cGather My saints together to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice\u201d (Ps. 50:5). <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0As a rule, it is the Lord Who decides what vow you shall make to Him or what you shall sacrifice to Him. I say as a rule, as there are exceptions, when a person offers a vow to the Lord by themselves; but even then, it must be approved by the Lord. The Holy Spirit leads us in this regard and helps to understand the Lord\u2019s heart. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Years ago, a story happened to me. As the head of the Mercy Ministry, I received an urgent call about a child, the elder sister in a large family. Because of abject poverty, the child did not go to school, was hungry for days and begged in the streets. Her mother did not want to give her to an orphanage, so she asked to take care of the child for a while, until she is out of her crisis. I informed about the situation to the corresponding municipal services, but my calls had no response. I brought the child to my home. We had a friendly talk; I told her that she would live with me until her family conditions get better. I told her that we would have many wonderful months, maybe even years together, that I would take her to school every day and help her with her homework. I further promised to buy beautiful clothes for her and to take her to theatrical performances. We even discussed her hobbies and concluded that we needed to send her to a dance school. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Afterwards I sent her to bed and went<\/span> to<\/span> my room to pray. It was already midnight. I presented the situation before the Lord in prayer; I explained to the King of kings that I needed to make some sacrifices in my ministry to be able to help the child. I was going to reduce my ministry activities and give myself to her care and upbringing. While I was listing the ministry activities I was going to sacrifice for that (and to tell the truth, I was even glad to do it), the Holy Spirit spoke to me. He led me to read Deuteronomy 12:13. \u201cTake heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see, but in the place which the Lord chooses\u2026\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0I was confused. Did not the Lord want her to live well and be happy? I spoke to God again and reminded Him that I received no response from all the places I applied to for the child. The Holy Spirit gave no answer. I was sitting in silence thinking how I could explain to that girl that the Lord of lords forbade our decision. Where could I send her\u2026? <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Praise be to our God! He did not let me to be in uncertainty at midnight. Up to that day and from that day on, I have never received unexpected phone calls in the midnight. However, at that night, I received an unexpected phone call. It was one of my friends from Nor Hachn (a town in Armenia). He apologized for calling so late and said that he could not wait until morning. It turned out that for two months, the Holy Spirit had been prompting him to take care of that child, but he had done nothing. He apologized again and asked my permission to take her in the morning and to take good care of her. <\/span><\/p>\n

The child lived in my friend\u2019s house for around a year. During that time, my friends and I supported her mother and her little siblings, and helped to solve their problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0The Lord wanted another sacrifice or another thing from me. He wanted to help that family in a greater way; and using the obedience of my friends and myself, He gloriously restored that family. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cOnly the holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses\u201d (Deut. 12:26).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Oftentimes, people do not receive the answers to their prayers, because they do not sacrifice to the Lord the thing He wants from them.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CONDITIONS TO ANSWERED PRAYER PART 4. MAKING A VOW BEFORE GOD \u00a0Before passing to the subject, I want to remind you that the life of every Christian is to be built on the love of God. This is according to the Bible. \u00a0\u201cThough I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2615,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-change-your-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3022\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=3022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3022\/revisions\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2615\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=3022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=3022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=3022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}