Evening Devotion: to read after dinner on Thursday as you start your fast.

Read 1 Samuel 1 and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Did you know that Paul lays out God’s will for our life in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18? One of the three things that he says is God’s will for our life is to pray continually! Prayer is communion with God. It’s pouring out our soul before the One who made it, just like Hannah did in 1 Samuel chapter one. Hannah was experiencing grief, and she knew that only God was her hope and could bear her burdens. Not only do we see God remember Hannah and answer her prayers, but we see Hannah’s prayers impact the next generation through her son Samuel, whose name means “God heard.” We can give our grief, our anxiety, our fears, our heartache, our every thought and emotion to God by communing with Him through the avenue of prayer. If your burdens weigh heavy and you don’t know how to pray, look to Hannah’s example in 1 Samuel 1:13, and be reminded that Romans 8:26 tells us, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”

Reflection: What does your daily prayer life look like? Are you continually pouring out your soul to God?

“Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” Psalms 62:8 NIV