God Connection- I want that

Background:Hannah honoured God, for answering her prayer. She kept her vow to God and Samuel served in the Lord's presence. Here's an example of how God kept His child safe in the midst of people, who were disobedient and despised God. As I said earlier, Hannah's prayer was a special one, and Samuel was a special delivery from God. Samuel was to grow up and be an exclusive man of God. The people around him while Samuel was in the temple serving God, were not very good examples, but in Samuel's life, God was working.

Here are a few things I learnt from reading 1 Samuel 2 -3

1. Faith pleases God-God is a respecter of Faith. It doesn't matter who you are, what our parents are, what we do for a living, what our situation is. Hebrews 11:6 (Whole Chapter) "So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him." Hannah asked God for a child, not anyone else, that shows her faith in God. So no matter what the situation, there is nothing impossible with God. No matter how impossible our situation looks, even if people around are there to taunt and make fun of us and salt our wounds, our faith and trust in God, along with prayers, can do marvelous things. The answer will be so powerful, it can impact a whole generation. Like Hannah's answer, Samuel, a prophet for life, showing the way to God, to people.
2. Staying close to God even if we're in the middle of people who don't care about God-When I read 1 Samuel 2 about how Samuel was growing up in the Lord's presence, I saw that he didn't have very good examples before him. How could it be that a boy with such bad examples around him, turn out to be such a wonderful man of God? I found my answer in the following verses. "But Samuel was ministering before the LORD -a boy wearing a linen ephod".(1 Samuel 2:18 ) "Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD. "(1 Samuel 2:21 ) " And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with men. " (1 Samuel 2:26) .Sometimes it can be very difficult to stay in the midst of people who don't honour God, but from Samuel's life we can see how we can still remain connected to God.

The result is profound- you know what I found as a result.

We see the kind of times Samuel was living in -" 1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. "(1 Samuel 3:1). It is a grim time, the word of the LORD was rare, can you imagine a time, without God's Word and no visions. Basically it looks to me, no one lived as per God's ways, all might have been doing their own thing. In the midst of such a time, the Lord Himself calls out to Samuel and speaks to him. At this point I would like to bring to your notice 1 Samuel 2:27 " 27 Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, "This is what the LORD says:...." even with Eli, God sent another man to speak to him, but with Samuel the case is different, God Himself calls him. Isn't that such an honour, to hear God directly, God's voice from heaven. Wow. More than that, when God called Samuel, Eli did not hear God's voice.

I so am glad for Samuel, for his steadfastness in serving God and sticking close to God, even while others around him had let go of their faith and respect for God.

Lesson: After all this I see, God honours people who honour Him, no matter what the people around you are doing, no matter what background we come from, when we honour God in ALL we do, God is watching (like he watched Samuel grow) and will speak, when no one else is hearing. So what if they make fun of you for believing in God, in following His Word, in trusting Him. So what if people around you have become ritualistic in following God, let's stay so connected to God in our rising and our sleeping that we will hear God's voice. I don't see anything special Samuel did, he just stayed around God. How much part of our life is God? If we would like to hear straight from God, lets get around God, lets go closer to Him, in all we do.

God Bless.