Hannah is one example of how God answers prayer. Thank God for women like Hannah. She lived in a difficult time. It was the time connected with the book of Judges. Everyone did what seemed right to him (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 21:25). It was a time of infidelity to God on the part of his people. God had raised up judges to lead God's people, but even so, His people continued to go astray. There had been no prophet since Moses, and the word of God was in short supply. The priests lived in a ruthless manner (1 Samuel 3:1). Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were wicked, and Eli did nothing to prevent them. Hannah's prayer would be part of the solution to the spiritual condition of God's people.

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Ana es un ejemplo (de los muchos) de cómo Dios contesta la oración. Gracias a Dios por mujeres como Ana. Ana nos enseña lo que es orar la voluntad de Dios y no la nuestra. Nos enseña con su ejemplo lo que es ser una “guerrera de oración.” Además Ana nos enseña que cuando Dios contesta a nuestras oraciones debemos serle fiel y adorarle como es digno.

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Today we will learn from a man, a Christian named Barnabas. His life teaches us what are the values of the kingdom by which we must live the Christian life. These values are lived, they are expressed in the community of believers, in the Church of Christ. In Acts 4 we find the description of Barnabas and the context is the Church living according to Christ's design, a community dedicated to living and impacting the values of His kingdom.

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The Bible is a realistic book. It shows us the human side of every person, even those who serve God.

Elijah, the prophet is in one of them. After the great event of defying the prophets of the god Baal Elijah in 1 Kings 18, he experiences a crisis.Despite being a man of God with so much power, he experienced fear, so much discouragement that it lead him to ask God to take his life. Why did this happen? First of all because Elijah was human like us.

The Bible says of Elijah: “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” - James 5:17-18 All of us relate to Elijah.

We will all reach some moment of fear and discouragement. We all need God to intervene in those moments. Elijah teaches us how God comforts and encourages us in times of crisis.

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Psalm 23 gives us a glimpse of what it means to be a guest of honor to our Great Shepherd. Even though the metaphor of the shepherd seems to move into more human form, there is no reason to believe that we are not the sheep anymore. He as the Shepherd gives us great honor in our relationship with him. If you are a Christian, there are good news. To God you are His special guest. He invites you to fellowship with him. He gives you the best reception. Someday not too far away you will be in his mansion. You will be their special guest. Forever.

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The Good Shepherd restores us and guides us in the path of righteousness. As we live our life with the Lord as our Shepherd, there will be times when we need to him to restore or renew our life. Jesus said his sheep hear his voice and follow him. But often we think we know better.Our Good Shepherd is with us ALL the time. He never leaves us. He never forsakes us.

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Many people today say they believe in God. They believe in God in a very superficial way because it does not affect their daily life. This may be because they do not know how to have an intimate relationship with God. They can’t say, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” This is what we want to explore in this Psalm. What does it mean to have the Lord as our Shepherd?

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There's a man in the Old Testament who teaches us what it is to have spiritual victory. His name is Jabez. We want to learn from him.

 What does it mean to be victorious?

 To be victorious means: "To use all my spiritual resources to overcome all the spiritual obstacles that prevent me from being faithful to God to the end."

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There are many Christians today who live mediocre lives that impact no one because they don't know or understand their true spiritual identity. They are "religious" but not spiritual. As a result, they live lives devoid of authority and spiritual power and no influence over others. Many of us Christians have grown up in a very “normal". We just think of ourselves as “normal” people. We are afraid of doing anything that would make us be seen as weird, freaks or charismatics. A person from from the Old Testament illustrates what it means to have true spiritual identity (influence and authority) is Elijah (the Lord is my God). He was a prophet of God who impacted others because he knew his identity in God and exercised it without fear.

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Why do some Christians make progress in their Christian walk more than others? It has to do with our devotion to God. But today we want to find out how to be a Christian that is devoted to God (or how to resolve the problem of mediocrity or incomplete surrender). Some Christians today live a life of incomplete surrender to God. In the Old Testament we find an example of incomplete surrender: King Solomon. The wisest man who ever lived.  He started with full devotion but lost it at the end of his life. We who are Christians should heed this. Being older doesn’t give us the option of  “coasting” the Christian life as we have already arrived at perfection.

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