As we continue on with Part 2 of, “Are you being sifted” let’s take a look at the main verses again:
NKJV – Luke 22:31-34
31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” 33 But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” 34 Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.”
Jesus said something powerful to Peter in verse 32 He said:
Luke 22:32
32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
Jesus told Peter that He had prayed for him for unfailing faith. So here we have the King of Kings the Son of God encouraging Peter and letting him know that He is praying for him, that’s powerful!!! The verse continues on with a confident word from the Lord. Jesus knew that Peter would return to Him, meaning repent and turn back to Jesus after He denied Him 3 times. Part of verse 32 is written in different translations as follows: NIV, and when you have turned back, NLT when you have repented and turned to me again, KJ when thou are converted, ….. and there are others but you get the point. Even though Peter made those mistakes the Love of Jesus Christ was still waiting for him after he came back. Jesus also asked Peter once He had repented and returned to Christ to also build up his brothers, meaning the Apostles in their faith. In a way it was like Jesus commissioned Peter to be the leader once he returned.
Luke 22:33-34
33 But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” 34 Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.”
Sadly Peter had no idea of what he was going to do when he was asked about knowing Jesus 3 times. In Peter’s eyes all he knew was he was going to stand by Jesus’ side no matter what. Jesus in turn hits him with the truth that Peter would deny him a few hours later. That’s not what Peter expected to hear at all. What a complete conversation killer, could this be true? What was going on in Peter’s mind when Jesus said those words to him? I can’t even imagine…
Jesus knew what Peter was going to do because He knew Peter, He also knew that Peter would return and follow Him soon and become a great vessel for the Kingdom of God!
Now how do we apply verses like these to our daily walk? For starters as we look at verse 31, are we making a big enough impact as Christian to cause satan to want to sift us like Peter? Or does he look at us like we aren’t even worth wasting his time on because we are not impacting anyone for Christ. It’s time for us to step up and become a threat, to become like Jesus and actually believe it and act like it. Some of you have heard the saying that we need to be so powerful as Christians that the devil gets scared when we wake up and put our feet on the floor to start a victorious day for Christ.
The enemy is getting restless; remember the closer we get to Christ’s return the harder he is going to work to take as many souls with him as he can. He is trying to Sift, Stir and shake the faith out of every Christian he comes in contact with especially the ones who know their potential. The goal is to mess up our judgment, cause us to sin and doubt our faith. He will come at us with confusion, indecisiveness, bitterness, greed, prejudice, hate, sexual preferences and so forth. The Enemies goal is to also keep us focused on the foolish things of the world instead of on an eternity with our Lord. We need to be ready and built up in Christ, and be a strong Church Body, we need to know who we are in Christ as a Family so that we can stand strong together for those times when we are being sifted so that our faith will be strong.
I hope you will stay tuned for the last Part (Part 3) of this teaching as we learn about being Sifted and who we should be in Christ, God Bless You and Yours!
