This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day three of our Look Through First Samuel. We're
looking at chapters one through three this week. And today we're going to focus
on how you model to those around you, those people that you love, how to love
with a clear heart, with an open heart.

Yesterday we talked about the fact that the first thing you have to do is you
have to get your love in order. The second thing you've got to do is you've got
to get your life in line. You have to get your life in line with God's Word,
God's directions.

You've got to model God's Word in your life. Now you're not perfect, you're
never going to be a perfect model, none of us are perfect, but you can be a
model of growth, of God's Word, of God at work in your life. And I want to show
you today a couple of very simple things you can do, especially in the life of
children that can make a huge difference.

These will make a difference in the life of everybody that's around you. Get
your life in line. To encourage an open heart, you have to exemplify, to show an
open heart.

And Hannah especially exemplifies just that. As you look at her first
experiences with Samuel, there are two very practical keys here to exemplifying
this open heart that she helps us to understand. What do you need to do as a
parent, particularly?

We're focusing on that because Hannah's a parent, but also you can do this in
any relationship that helps other people to have an open heart before God. Well
as a parent, the lesson here number one is of the two is your children need to
hear you pray. Now this is true if you're a businessman, this is true if you're
a spiritual leader, this is true in a friendship.

If you want to help people to have an open heart before God, they need to hear
you pray. They need to hear you open your heart before God. What I'm saying is
this, having them say bedtime prayers as children doesn't teach them nearly so
much as allowing them to hear you pray prayers.

It's good to have them pray prayers, but they also need to hear you pray. The
heartfelt prayer is the ultimate expression of an open heart before God. It says
God I need you, Lord I care about others, Father I depend on you all at once.

And Hannah prays prayers that help us to understand how you and I can pray in
front of our children. Prayers that praise God. Prayers that are honest about
our hurts and our needs.

Prayers that express our dependence on him. I want you to listen with me to this
prayer that starts at the end of chapter one and goes into chapter two. Chapter
one verse twenty seven, I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what
I asked of him.

So now I give him to the Lord for his whole life who will be given over to the
Lord. And then in chapter two verses one to ten she continues to pray this long
and beautiful prayer. Listen to this prayer of Hannah.

Then Hannah prayed my heart rejoices in the Lord. The Lord has made me strong.
Now I have an answer for my enemies.

I rejoice because you rescued me. No one is holy like the Lord. There is no one
besides you.

There is no rock like our God. Stop acting so proud and haughty. Don't speak
with such arrogance for the Lord is a God who knows what you have done.

He will judge your actions. The bow of the mighty is now broken and those who
stumbled are now strong. Those who were well fed are now starving and those who
were starving are now full.

The childless woman has now has seven children and the woman with many children
waste away. The Lord gives both death and life. He brings some down to the grave
and he raises others up.

The Lord makes some poor and others rich. He brings some down and he lifts
others up. He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump.

He sets them among princes, placing them in seats of honor. For all the earth is
the Lord's and he has set the world in order. He will protect his faithful ones.

The wicked will disappear in darkness. No one will succeed by strength alone.
Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered.

He thunders against them from heaven. The Lord judges throughout the earth. He
gives power to his king.

He increases the strength of his anointed one. This is an amazing prayer. This
prayer that Hannah prayed, it shaped Samuel's life.

Even as his life is beginning, she doesn't know what's going to happen. She's
praying about anointing others. She's praying about kings.

God gave her insight in this prayer and can you just imagine Samuel later in his
life as he writes down the history of Israel, writing down this prayer of his
mother. This prayer that had so shaped, so influenced him. It's an amazing
prayer.

It reminds you, if you've read the New Testament in some ways, of the prayer
that Mary prayed when Jesus was born. Both of those prayers have to do with God
raising up the humble. This prayer shaped Samuel's heart.

You're listening to this prayer thinking, "Oh great, I can't pray prayers like
that. I have nothing in me that could pray a prayer like that. How am I going to
do this?

" Well, I encourage you, start simple. Do not try to pray a prayer like Hannah
from the very beginning. This is a very important moment in history and I think
God came upon her in a very unusual way.

Just start simple. The greatest opportunity you have for praying in front of
your kids, your family, is when you pray before meals, praying grace. Those few
minutes before a meal can truly open the door to an open heart.

But many times we don't pray at all. If we do pray, we just pray the same thing
over and over and over and over again. If you'll take a few minutes to think
about what you're praying and express a heartfelt dependence on God and love for
God in that prayer, that lets your heart be seen.

Instead of praying, "God is good, thank you God, thank you for this food," and
then you're done every time, "God, thanks for this day," or "Lord, we're
dependent on you for this struggle," or "Lord, thanks that you helped my child
with this today. " Chuck Swindoll in his book, "The Home Where Life Makes Up Its
Mind," gives four real practical examples for how to pray before a meal. He
says, number one, you think before you pray, because if you don't, you just pray
the same thing over and over again.

Number two, you involve others in prayer, you let other people pray. Number
three, you occasionally sing your blessing. That's good for some homes, maybe
your family can't sing, I don't know.

But number four, and most importantly, you keep it brief, just short prayers.
Your children need to see you pray. If you're a Christian businessman, if you're
a spiritual leader in any way, those that you lead need to see you pray.

That's one of the keys to seeing your open heart before God. Second thing is,
your children need to see you keep your word. This is true in business, this is
true in any leadership position.

Those you are leading need to see you keep your word. Hannah kept her word.
First Samuel 1, 11, "She made a vow, saying, 'O Lord Almighty, if you will only
look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant,
but give her a son, and I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his
life, all the days of his life.

'" And she kept that word. She did as God had called her to do. Now, it was very
unusual that at such a young age, she would take this child to serve the Lord.

But she had a sense of what God wanted to do. God may not ask that of you, but
whatever he asks of you, when your children see you keep your word, it means
everything. Hannah kept her word to the Lord, and the Lord blessed her because
of that.

If you read in 1 Samuel 2, 18-21, it says there that Samuel was ministering
before the Lord, a boy wearing a linen ephod. Each year his mother made him a
little robe, and she took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer
the annual sacrifice. And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife saying, "May the
Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for
and gave to the Lord.

" And then they would go home. And the Lord was gracious to Hannah. She
conceded, and she gave birth to three sons and two daughters.

Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord. Samuel got to see
the fact that even though it tore her heart out, she kept her word before God.
So you keep your word.

You keep your word to your children. And when you can't, you tell them why.
Sometimes we say things to our kids that all take you to the park and something
happens and we can't.

You tell them why. You don't just ignore it. But even more importantly here, you
let your children see you keeping your word to others even when it hurts.

Truth is, you can get away with all kinds of things in this world, and unless
your commitment is down on paper or they're willing to take you to court, you
might feel like you're getting off scot-free. You didn't have to pay the money.
You didn't have to go through that.

But your children might have to eventually pay the price. And in those times
when you have to keep your word even though it hurts, it hurts. But there's also
the opportunity there.

You're teaching your kids about what's really important in life. You're keeping
your life in line with God's word even though it's difficult for you to do. Two
simple things you can do as a leader, starting in the home, starting as a
parent.

Let people see you pray. Let people see you keep your word. Let's pray for God's
strength to do that.

Our Father, all these things we're talking about, living this way before you, we
can't do it without your strength, Jesus. We need your strength. And so we ask
for it.

Help us to depend on you in prayer, not depend on ourselves. Give us the
strength to have integrity and keep our word, even when it hurts, to trust you
that your blessing is going to come. Your blessing is going to come someday.

And thank you that through it all, we can live in the presence of God because of
your Spirit. We can trust in you. And we do right now.

We trust in you. In Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow we're going to talk together
about the third key to teaching others to live with an open heart.