Ladies Bible Study: A Glimpse of Anna ... Lesson 7

A Glimpse of Anna  ...  (Lesson 7)

By Patsy Norwood © 2026.  All rights reserved.  Any and all commercial use of this study is prohibited.  Permission is given for use in ladies Bible classes as long as there are no changes made in the study and no monetary gain involved.  This Bible study is written for women.

Luke 2: 36-38  (NASB)

And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.  She was advanced in years and lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four.  She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers.  At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

It's all about serving in this week's portion of Scripture.  We see that Anna served ...

 “… serving night and day with fastings and prayers”

What did Anna do?  She … SERVED ...

What was included as part of her serving ... fastings and prayers.

Fasting for spiritual purposes puts us in the right frame of mind to serve God, as does praying.

According to Strongs, the word ‘serve’ in this verse means to minister (to God), that is, render  religious homage: - serve, do the service, worship

Who was Anna serving? Anna was serving God through those who came to the temple.  When we do for others we are in actuality, doing for God … serving God. 

 LOOK IT UP!  Read Matthew 25:31-40, what does this passage of Scripture say in regards to ‘doing for others?’

When did Anna serve with ‘fastings and prayers?’ Night and day!  Anna was a prayer warrior!  Her fasting and praying was not a hit or miss, when I have time I’ll work it in kind of commitment, it was a priority.  It was also most likely the first thing she thought of to do, instead of the last.

What had Anna been fasting and praying for?  The promised Messiah for sure, in addition Scripture indicates that Anna also fasted and prayed for others as well.

Prayer is a petition, request or supplication but what exactly is fasting?  Fasting, in the biblical sense, is voluntary abstinence from food for religious purposes.

So what did Anna do?  She petitioned God for others and I’m sure for herself as well, and if praying wasn’t enough she also fasted.  Matthew 17:21 … “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (NASB) seems to indicate that fasting combined with praying adds to the effectiveness of our petitions.

Mark in your Bible

Underline the word ‘serving’ in Luke 2:37, draw a squiggly line under night and day and circle fastings and prayers.  In the margin by verse 37 write: service to God includes fasting and praying.

How are we doing in the serving area?  

How am I doing personally in serving God through serving others?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I love reading your comments, so don't be shy!

I'll meet you back here next Thursday for the next lesson.  

May you be blessed by this study!

patsy @ From This Heart of Mine

~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~ 

Ladies Bible Class: A Glimpse of Anna ... Lesson 6

A Glimpse of Anna

By Patsy Norwood © 2026.  All rights reserved.  Any and all commercial use of this study is prohibited.  Permission is given for use in ladies Bible classes as long as there are no changes made in the study and no monetary gain involved.  This Bible study is written for women.

Luke 2: 36-38  (NASB)

And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.  She was advanced in years and lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four.  She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers.  At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

We're moving on in our study of Anna, here's where we'll park for this lesson “… she never left the temple.” 

To begin this lesson we’re going to talk about the temple and in so doing we’ll better understand what ‘she never left the temple’ most likely means.

Here are some temple facts:

Solomon built the first temple.  (I King 6:1)

… Zerubbabel built the second temple when the Jews returned from captivity in Babylon. (Ezra 3:6)

 … Herod the Great built the Temple where Anna worshipped.  The temple that Anna worshipped in had four courts: 

… The outer court, which was the only place where Gentiles were allowed, was called the Court of Gentiles.

… The inner court which was divided into two parts (1) the women’s court where both Jewish men and women could enter.  This is where Anna worshipped and (2) the court of Israel where only Jewish men were  allowed.

… The fourth court was the Court of Priests. 

 If Herod the Great stayed true to the architectural plans of the previous temple then we know by reading Nehemiah 13:7-9 that there were rooms suitable for dwelling in the outer courts.  We also know by reading Luke 1:8 that Zacharias, the father of John, was at the temple to do the ‘appointed order of his division’ which according to I Chronicles 9:25 lasted for seven days.  Perhaps the rooms suitable for dwelling that we read about in Nehemiah were where the priests slept/dwelt while at the temple when they were not busy fulfilling their appointed roles.  It’s possible that Anna lived in one of these rooms or one of the many that are mentioned in the description of the Temple in I and II Kings and I and II Chronicles.  Scripture does not tell us where in the Temple that Anna lived; just that she ‘never left the temple.’

In this lesson we’ve focused on some possible physical dwelling places where Anna could have lived in the Temple, but there is also another dwelling place we need to talk about … it’s where Anna’s heart dwelt.  It seems that while Anna’s physical body dwelt in the Temple, her heart dwelt with God.  What does it mean for one’s heart to dwell with God?  Let’s take a look at Anna’s heart to see what we can find out by dissecting her actions.  We all know that our actions are a direct result from what’s in our hearts so let’s see if we can figure out what was in Anna’s heart or ‘where it dwelt?’ 

Look at verse 37 (Luke 2:37) and highlight some things that indicate where Anna’s heart dwelt.

Here are the things that I marked:

She showed up at her 'place of work' day after day ... "did not depart from the Temple"

"She served God", notice there is no mention of 'self' anywhere.

She 'fasted' ...

She 'prayed' ...

I also took notice of how frequent she 'fasted' and 'prayed' ... "night and day."

Hmmm .... are you getting the picture of Anna that I'm getting?

Let's move on ...

Circle ‘she never left the temple’ and write in the margin ‘she immersed herself in all things   godly.’  Anna’s surroundings were the epitome of godliness and while we don’t have the Temple to live in, we do have the option of choosing what we allow ourselves to be involved in, where we go and what we expose ourselves to.  Do we immerse ourselves in all things godly?

One more thing ...

Draw a squiggly line under ‘serving night and day with fastings and prayers’ and write in the margin ‘Anna was a prayer warrior.’ We’ll talk more about that in the next lesson.

It’s obvious that Anna’s heart dwelt with God, her actions tell us so.  

Where do our hearts dwell?  

Can others tell where our hearts dwell by our actions?  

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I love reading your comments, so don't be shy!

I'll meet you back here next Thursday for the next lesson.  

May you be blessed by this study!

patsy @ From This Heart of Mine

~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~ 

Ladies Bible Class: A Glimpse of Anna ... Lesson 5

A Glimpse of Anna

(Lesson 5)

By Patsy Norwood © 2026.  All rights reserved.  Any and all commercial use of this study is prohibited.  Permission is given for use in ladies Bible classes as long as there are no changes made in the study and no monetary gain involved.  This Bible study is written for women.

Luke 2: 36-38  (NASB)

And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.  She was advanced in years and lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four.  She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers.  At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Here's the portion of these verses we're going to dissect in today's lesson “ … and lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four.” 

The name of Anna’s husband is not given but we do know that he died after only seven years of  marriage … how sad.  We have no record of Anna having any children either.  It seems that she was young, alone and most  likely childless in a society that was extremely difficult and that pretty much guaranteed a life of poverty for widows.  Yet, even as a young widow, she chose God.  I’m sure her Christian heritage, which we talked about in lesson three, had something to do with her choice.

What will our heritage/legacy say about our choices?

For whatever reason Anna never remarried but instead of focusing on what she didn’t have, she focused on what she could do … which was to devote her life to serving God. 

Is there a lesson in that for us?

When life gets difficult, do we focus on the negative and what we can't do, or do we purposefully and intentionally focus on what we can do?

Do we purposefully and intentionally devote our lives to serving God even through the tough times?

Questions:

 What does ‘choosing God’ look like in the life of a godly senior citizen woman?  

Think about a godly senior citizen woman you know?  How does she serve God?  

Take away lesson:  When life hands us difficult situations we should follow Anna’s example and choose God.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I love reading your comments, so don't be shy!

I'll meet you back here next Thursday for the next lesson.  

May you be blessed by this study!

patsy @ From This Heart of Mine

~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~