He Knows us...
Updated: Jan 13, 2022
Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So, when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers. (Luke 22: 31-32 NLT)
Jesus knew! He knew Simon would succumb to being sifted by Satan and would fall into the temptation that lay before him. But then look at what Jesus did next… He prayed! Jesus did not try to swoop in and save Simon from falling into temptation. No, he prayed to His Father God, not for the temptation to be removed from Simon, but that Simon’s faith would not fail.
How many of our prayers are centered around taking away the pain or the hurt or the temptation versus praying boldly that we would walk through our own ‘sifting’ and that our faith would not fail? Being a Christian does not mean we will not stumble. In fact, we will many times. But by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, our faith will not fail if we stay connected to the Vine.
Look at what Jesus shared with Simon in Luke 22 verse 32 before Simon was ‘sifted’ by Satan. Jesus told Simon that when (not if) he repents and turns to Jesus again for him to strengthen his brothers. Jesus KNEW not only that Simon would succumb to the temptation but that in time he would repent and turn back to Jesus. I wonder as Simon succumbed to Satan’s plot if Jesus’s word that had been spoken to Simon in advance would be heard louder in Simon’s heart than the accuser’s words? I wonder how long Simon stayed in the bondage before he allowed the light of Jesus’s grace and love to shine into the darkness of his heart?
How about you? How about me? What do we find ourselves doing when we stumble when Satan ‘sifts’ us like wheat? Do we allow the negative talk and the untruths to replay in our minds and hearts more than the truth? Maybe you have been in a long season of being ‘sifted’ or have been in bondage for so long it has become to feel more ‘real’ than the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey. The question is, are we willing to allow Him to show us the extent of our chains of bondage and allow the strength of His truth to break through the chains and set us free?
As I sat in the stillness on Christmas Day eve, I rejoiced that our Savior came to this earth to live among us. He came to pave a way and to show us the way. He came humbly. Out of love, He came to bring light to the darkness and to set captives free. He came, my friends because He KNEW what we face daily and our need to have a Savior. A Savior that would die the death we deserve so we could have eternal life we do not deserve with God.
Today, are you in bondage? Are you being held in captivity by sin? If so, take comfort that our Savior KNOWS! AND He is pleading for you to His Father, our God, in prayer that your faith would not fail. He wants you to repent and to turn back towards Him again and then use the story woven in your life by Him to strengthen those around you.
What if in 2022, your faith was so bold that it would allow Him to lead you out of captivity and into the life He intended? Go ahead friend, take the leap of faith. He has you safely tucked under His wings. So go and journey with Him into the Promised Land.
He came to save, He came to rescue, He came to restore… He came because He knew!