This was Hannah's response before Eli concerning the Lord's gift of a son, Samuel (I Samuel 1:27). Her posture of heart should be the common consciousness of any parent for each child God grants to them. Equally, perhaps, this should also be our prayer for those who have been spiritually born into the family of God. Likewise, it easily may be our response to spiritual desires born in the heart that the Lord has granted for our Christian life. No matter the application, we should remember that just as the Devil is trying to destroy our children through the enticements of the world and the flesh, he is also desiring to destroy the spiritual babes in Christ after their spiritual birth into the kingdom.

Satan Ready to Devour the Child

Revelation 12:4-5 reminds us of Satan's desire against the godly:

And his [Satan's] tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

The Devil's hatred for the godly child goes back to the time of Pharaoh (a type of Satan) in Egypt (a type of the world). Pharaoh's initial hatred was manifested by his increasing the labor and burden of Israel in making bricks. His hatred greatly intensified with his edict that all Hebrew baby boys must be destroyed; hundreds, no doubt were killed. When the midwives were unable to fulfill his edict, he called for the drowning of all male babies in the Nile River.

Apart from the days of Pharaoh, other instances of hatred against Hebrew children are found. During the journey into Babylonian captivity, the Chaldeans callously slaughtered newborn infants (Ezekiel 16:1-5). Even at the time of Christ's birth, Herod the Great sought to slay all the infants in the vicinity of Bethlehem.

This hatred against the godly seed is being reenacted spiritually in our time against the new babes in Christ. The God of this world aggressively works at blinding the minds of them who believe not:

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them (2 Cor. 4:3-4).

This blindness is truly deepening in our country, for fewer souls are truly being saved in contrast to the number in previous decades. Additionally, this blindness is accompanied by an indifference that plagues the human heart concerning the biblical Christ and the need of a radical change of life through the New Birth. These two factors of blindness (from Satan) and indifference (from the heart) make biblical soul winning more difficult. Note the words of Mark 4:15:

And these are they by the way side where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

Although it must be acknowledged that there are fewer truly saved than so declared by statistics of the institutional church, there are those who do come to know the power of biblical conversion. Where Satan cannot pervert conversion's truth, he will seek to slay these newborn sons. This is noted in Revelation 12:4-5 of the Dragon, Satan, waiting for the child to be delivered or birthed. As Pharaoh sought to throw those newborn sons into the Nile, equally Satan would fling the infant Christian into the swirling current of this present evil world. He seeks to cut short the work of grace in the heart of the newly born babe; Satan knows better than the babe in Christ the power found in the Word and grace of God. He knows that if God's power ever lays hold in a dominant fashion upon that babe, he will overcome the greatest of the wiles of the Devil.

There are a number of ways that the adversary Satan will endeavor to aggressively call the babe back to the world, to the flesh, and to the old life and its pleasures. If he cannot at once fling the babe back into the river of Egypt, he will try to starve him to death by keeping him from the Word. One of his ploys is to immediately sow weeds and thorns to choke the good seed: "And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful" (Mark 4:19). Satan knows like begets like; he knows that if Christ takes full control of that babe, that babe will become more and more in the likeness of Christ.

Another way to destroy this newborn one is to appear as an "angel of light" (II Corinthians 11:13-15) deceiving the babe in Christ by twisting truth or bringing other "religious" influences into his life. Satan may also come as a roaring lion to scare the babe: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (I Peter 5:8). If he cannot at once fling you back into the river of Egypt, he will try to starve you to death by keeping you from the Word, or he will try to discourage you into unbelief. Young Christians must be warned yet comforted, for "Greater is he that is within you than he that is in the world."

In these days when the Church is so loose in its living, we must press in our words with others about the biblical Christ, the Seed, and the offspring of His likeness. There must be a desire for a "goodly child" as seen in Moses. God wants all of His children to be so; babes in Christ must have that "goodly" character of the Seed, the likeness of the Seed. If there are those who are cast into the sea, we must pray for their protection and calling back. We must pray for the reeds and bulrushes of providence to keep them from being swept down the Nile of this age.

Another Child for Which to Pray

Still there are other babes born: babes of habits, babes of desire, and babes of spiritual longing. How often when reading a biography of a godly man or woman, or perhaps when reading the Scriptures or hearing a message concerning godly living and character, our hearts are called to long for such a life. This is one babe that the evil Pharaoh would like to strangle at birth. He knows that all greatly used men and women of God were men and women of prayer. He knows that prayer habitually given by a Christian develops and empowers him. Satan knows that prayer takes away worldly desires and increases spiritual wisdom. Yes, he knows that "the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

We must pray for such babes of desire to be formed in the heart by the Holy Spirit and birthed in the life. How often when such conceptions are brought to the heart, we long for them at the moment, yet time has a way of destroying them. When Hezekiah sent word to the prophet Isaiah concerning Rabshakeh, he declared, "For the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth" (II Kings 19:3b). The world has a way of aborting newly birthed noble desires of the heart by using the world to draw the heart away. The devil has a way of convincing the soul, "You have too many things to do to get caught up in this spiritual pursuit," or "You are too old now to develop spiritual habits." Behind every excuse is the cry of Satan, "Kill that babe!"

However, we must daub an ark with the pitch of the Atonement of Christ and place the babe in that ark of safety. We must pray for God to feed us the desire and then deal with the will to forward it. The babe may be conceived, but we must now pray for God to give us the strength to birth the child of holy desire.

There is another babe whose conception we must pray for, and it is the babe of the hunger for holiness and purity of heart. This is an important babe for which we need to pray. We need not only righteousness imputed but also Christ's righteousness "imparted," holiness "imparted." We need sanctification theoretically, theologically, and at the right hand of God; but we also need sanctification experientially.

Another babe to pray for is the babe of consecration. It seems the world and even the church is providing every excuse to kill this child of desire. Every excuse is brought to us. We are told that such a life is impossible, that such a blessing is only imaginary, or that we will end up legalistic if we desire such a hope. Everywhere we hear "slay that babe!" But heaven and God's Word is calling unto us that there is hope for such a babe in Christ and in His great Atonement!

We must also pray for the babe of revival to be conceived in our hearts and churches. Oh, the beginnings of revival—this is most important. The institutional church is against this babe because it disturbs its lifestyle, believing that people will become too concerned for God. We have come to an hour that people do not desire to come to an altar for prayer, and if they do, it is only for a few minutes and then right back to the pew. Tarrying before the Lord is a babe that the Church will not tolerate; it proclaims, "If God wants us to have revival, He will sovereignly send it, but we must not seek it. Such moves of God are not for today." Such are the words of the gossipers, criticizers, and talebearers behind the scene. They are busy talking against such hopes of a child, slandering those who are longing for such children. The Devil uses them to abort the child of revival before it gets out of the womb of Truth. Whisperers within the church are often greater abortionists than the scoffers outside the church. Pray for the babe of revival to escape the hatred and talk of malignity!

Conclusion

The Bible speaks of a dear lady named Hannah whose prayer and longing for a child God answered. She says in First Samuel 1:27, "For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him." In these days of apostasy, as it was in the days of Hannah, we must begin praying for these spiritual babes to be conceived and birthed in our lives. When God conceives the spiritual child, we must also pray that God will enable the child to be born in our lives. The road to heaven is often paved with good intentions that never become a reality in the life. The churches and many professing Christians are spiritually childless; there seems to be much lack of passion and desire for Christ in the services. Where are those who are praying for the conception and birth of spiritual habits and desires in the life? We truly are in the day when even Fundamental churches have no desire for spiritual children among their people. The pulpits tend to frown upon a God-consuming, consecrated life. It is no longer simply the world that is against a godly life, but the churches have now become enemies to such a hope. How sad it is!

We pray for the conception; we pray for the birth. Nevertheless, with such spiritual children, there is another need. Once God enables us to birth the child, we must "nurse" it, aided by the Holy Spirit, through prayer and the Word of God. This was the command of Pharaoh's daughter concerning the babe Moses: "Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it" (Exodus 2:9). Pastors must rise with regularity and nurse spirituality when God begins to bring such hunger and thirst to the people. Parents must do this when they discern that God is dealing with their children.

May the Lord's Spirit conceive spiritual desires in our hearts and bring them to birth. Then let us do all we can to nurse them to fruition and maturity.