Topic:The Shouting Side
Text: I Samuel 1:9-13

There are many prayer patterns. There are times when we have to shout to verbalize our burdens in prayers. “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:1,7). With the permission of the Almighty God, one may say that there is a time to keep silent and a time to shout. There is a time for silent prayers: the time when only your lips move in prayer. We have a good example in our text. It is the story of Hannah, when she poured out her heart to God. When Eli saw her, he thought she was drunk.

This tells us straight away that, in the olden days, when people prayed in the temple, they prayed aloud. On this occasion, Hannah was doing the exception; praying without making a sound. This made Eli think that she was drunk. There is a time when all you need do is to sign and God will hear. God heard the sign of the children of Israel in Egypt (Exodus 3:7. They had prayed for 400 years without anything happening and all that they could do was to sign. According to Palms 46:10 the Bible says: “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” There is a time when you have to be still in the presence of the Lord. In Habakkuk 22:20, the Bible says: “But the Lord is in His holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.” On some occasions when you feel the presence of God, the best thing to do is to be silent.

In Zechariah 2:13, Bible also says: “Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD, for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.” Occasionally, when we feel the Almighty God rising up in our midst, it is time for silence. However, there is also the time to shout. As a matter of fact, the Almighty God prefers that His children should shout. The shouting side is the winning side. Wherever there is a shout there is life. In Psalm 100:1, it is written: “Make a joyful noise unto the
LORD, all ye lands.”

Memory Verse: Psalms 46:10 - “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”