April 24

Luke 22:31-32

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you Simon, that your faith may not fail.  And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

When I was in my first small group, this verse took a while for me to understand.  My mentor took the time by beginning to explain to me that much like in the passage of Job 1, Satan needs to ask God before he can reek havoc in our lives, (hard to believe sometimes).  Satan wanted to crush Job, here he wants to crush Simon, and on the daily he wants to crush us.  Through his attempts, Satan hopes to find only chaff that would blow away in the wind. So, what does that mean? If you've ever read the book The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis, you see a glimpse into the twisted thinking of the enemy. The attempt is to take our focus off of God and thus diminish our faith.  In this passage, Jesus assured Peter that his faith, although it would falter, would not be destroyed. So it is for us as well. I often find myself paying more attention to the challenging situation and less attention to focusing on the presence of God which is the source of my strength and faith. Lord, please forgive me. Our faith may falter and Jesus knows that, but as we learned on Sunday, our faith and hope rests in the empty tomb. It is there we find renewal, not only for ourselves but for our brothers and sisters around us. It is so crucial that we remember Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father and He prays over us every day (John 17).  I pray that even as the darkness grows around us, Father give us strength to remember we are called to be light.  I pray that we stay focused on the resurrected King and that even though we falter, give us strength to know that our faith in You will never fail us.  I pray that the same power that raised our Lord Jesus from the dead is the power that ignites a fire in our souls so that we can encourage our brothers and sisters in the the body of Christ and that others can only stop and ask us "what is the hope that we believe in?"  Lord, we thank You and come into agreement with every blessing You have spoken over us leaving our enemy helpless and defeated.

Randi