Producing the Outcome of God's Purpose - Part I
by Dr. John Tetsola

We all have expectations of what we want God to do in our lives. But promises don’t just manifest on their own. We have a role to play in the manifestation and strength of God’s promises in our lives. Every time God gives a promise, the enemy picks a fight, but God will use the purpose of your battle to bring about a response that produces the outcome of His purpose.

…Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb.
1 Samuel 1:2b, 6

Year after year Hannah went to the temple to pray for a son, only to return home disappointed and vexed by Peninnah’s taunts of fruitfulness. Hannah probably felt like a failure, perhaps even like less than a woman, nevertheless God was in it. The Lord wanted her fruitful, but it was He Who shut up her womb. Not because God was insensitive, but because He had a greater outcome and purpose in mind. Therefore, God used the weapon of the enemy (Peninnah) to get a God result. This was because all Hannah had in mind was a son, but God wanted the purpose of a nation. The devil wanted Hannah to give up in the process, but God wanted the outcome of His purpose, which was a Samuel.

THE PARADOX OF OUR PROMISE

She vowed, saying, O Lord of hosts, if You will…give me a son, I will give him to the Lord all his life; no razor shall touch his head
1 Samuel 1:11 AMP

God allows the ‘Peninnahs’ of our circumstances to drive us to the point that we’re willing to surrender to Him the very thing we’re bombarding heaven for. Like Hannah, He wants us to say, “Give me a son, and I will give him back to You.” When Hannah surrendered her unborn son to God, she became the womb for the outcome of God’s purpose. Notice the paradox of God’s promise here. It is a spiritual paradox - a contradictory reality that is nevertheless true. It is a spiritual catch-22, where something we long for can only be attained by the surrender of our need for it. Many dreams are held up due to our failure to discern the catch-22s of our promise. There are many catch-22s in God’s kingdom: a grain of wheat can’t live unless it dies; save your life and you’ll lose it, lose your life and you’ll find it.

There are lessons to be learned from the life of Hannah. She was persistent. She kept going to Shiloh year after year (1 Sam. 1:7). To be persistent is ‘to continue steadily and firmly in pursuit of a course of action, in spite of opposition.’ She persevered through the pain of seemingly unanswered prayer, and she maintained her faith in God in spite of Peninnah, until she was able to produce the response that God required. Godly results are always tied to godly responses. You may feel provoked by the Peninnah’s of your situation to embrace doubt and unbelief in the areas of ministry, relationship, business, or healing. And you may be worn out with doing all you know to do. But there may be one thing lacking. God may be waiting for a right response from you. He may be waiting for you to surrender your unborn promise to Him for His purpose, because He has a bigger outcome in mind!