(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

I'm focusing on her mistake here and the fact that she's never happy because she is characterized by envy. Now, think about this statement that she made in verse 1, Give me children or else I die. Here's what's ironic about that statement. Eventually, she has children and minutes after she has children, she's dead. Now stop and think about that. Give me children or else I die. That's pretty ironic given the fact that having children literally kills her. So it's literally the opposite. Having children so that I do die, okay, is actually what happened. And so that goes to show that sometimes what we feel like is just so missing from our lives and, you know, if we just had this one thing that would make us happy, you know, when you get it, maybe it's going to be your downfall. Maybe it's your doom. Maybe it's your destruction. You know, I wonder if she wishes that she would have just gotten pregnant with those two kids right away and then maybe died right away. I mean, think about that. You know, by God making her wait to have children, he's actually prolonging her life if she's going to die giving birth to the second child. So it's kind of ironic that she says give me children or else I die when her second son literally is why she dies. She dies giving birth. But look at Jacob's response when she says this to him. She says to Jacob, give me children or else I die. And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel. And he said, am I in God's stead who has withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? He's like, I'm not God. I can't make you get pregnant. God is the one who has withheld the fruit of the womb from you. And, you know, this is an accurate statement because the Bible says that God saw that Leah was hated. He opened Leah's womb and he did not allow Rachel to have children. This is God's choice. God has made this decision. And the Bible does teach that God is the one who opens and closes the womb. And so if you're unable to have children, you need to just pray about it and then trust God with the outcome. OK, now, if you don't pray about it, then, yeah, maybe you should be having children or something like that, because if we don't pray about things, we can't expect God to necessarily get involved, can we? I mean, if I don't pray, I can't expect God to get involved in my life. Praying is when we invite God to get involved and do something in our life. And when we ask God to do something, then he's either going to do it or he's going to not do it. But if we don't pray, then we'll never know, will we? Because the Bible clearly says you have not because you ask not. And so I'm not one of these people who thinks, oh, you know, God's will is just going to happen anyway. And when we pray, it's just kind of an exercise that we go through. No, no, no. Praying is asking God for things. And if I pray to God and I ask him for something, you know, that actually is a meaningful act. If I don't do it, God's not getting involved. You have not because you ask not. When I ask God for something, now I'm going to get an answer. It may not necessarily be the answer that I want. It may not necessarily be in the timing that I want, but God is going to answer my prayer. Period. Fact. God's not just ignoring me up in heaven. Now, you know, if I'm unsaved or if I'm out living in sin or something, then, yeah, obviously, then God's going to ignore me at that point. But, you know, obviously I'm saved. I'm living for God. If I'm praying to God, he hears me whatsoever I ask. That's what the Bible says. And if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire. And this is why the Bible says, be careful for nothing. What does careful mean? Full of care, full of worry, full of anxiety. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your request be made known unto God and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds to Christ Jesus. So if I with prayer and Thanksgiving and supplication make my request known to God, at that point, I should be filled with peace at that point, right? The peace of God, which passes all understanding, is now ready to keep my heart and mind in Christ Jesus, because I've put the ball in God's court. Once the ball is in God's court, I need you to stop worrying about it. Now, if you haven't prayed, then go ahead and worry. Be afraid, be very afraid if you haven't prayed about it. But once you've prayed and said, God, this is what I'm worried about. This is what I'm concerned about. This is what I need you to do in Jesus name. Amen. At that point, you know what? You just go about your day, smile, be happy. Don't worry about it. Why? Because it's done. Consider it done. It's as good as that. If I had a really reliable employee and I give him a job to do, I don't even need to follow up, because once I give him that job, I just consider it done. Well, you know what? When we put things into God's hands, we need to just consider it done. Just check that off my list. I don't even need to worry about that. God's got that under control. God's got that taken care of. That's faith. Now, does that mean that God is just this thing where I just wish for something and it just appears the next day or something? That's not the point, because, you know, when we pray unto God, the Holy Ghost makes intercession for us according to the will of God. So he takes what we pray and translates it into what's actually good for us and what's actually good for the will of God and for the kingdom of God. So, you know, I remember speaking to a friend of mine who had written down like a prayer journal. And every time they had a prayer request, they'd write it in this prayer journal. And then they would revisit that years later. And they'd look at that a year later and they'd go down the list. And pretty much everything was either that was answered or I don't even want that anymore. I don't even know why I wanted that because that wasn't even the right thing for me. I'm glad that didn't work out or, you know, something along the lines of, well, that didn't happen exactly the way I asked, but what I got was better. You know, and so that's the way it works. When you pray about things, they get done, period. They get done. But a lot of people are just impatient and they give up. You know, Isaac and Rebecca, they could have just said, well, we prayed to God and that didn't work out. And so, you know, we're seeking other options now, you know. But here's the thing about that is that they just had to be patient for like 20 years. Okay. And so you're not necessarily going to get your prayers answered overnight.