FAITH THAT WILL NOT FAIL

FAITH THAT WILL NOT FAIL by Howard Vanderwell

“I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.” Luke 22:32

It must have been a jarring moment there in the upper room. So many important things had happened. Judas had left. Jesus had instituted a “new covenant” of love (Luke 22:20). And now he turned to Peter and stated that Satan wanted to ruin him.

Satan is the prince of evil. He rules the kingdom of darkness that Christ came to destroy. The prince of evil wanted to work intensely on Peter, one of Jesus’ closest disciples. He wanted to “sift [Peter] as wheat,” Jesus said. In those days a farmer would place his grain in a sieve and shake it vigorously. It wasn’t pleasant for the wheat, but it was the only way for the chaff and dust to be separated from the grain.

Yet at the same time Jesus gave Peter a precious promise. He reassured Peter that he had prayed for him. With all that must have been going through Jesus’ mind and heart as he faced his coming betrayal, trial, and crucifixion, Jesus was willing to focus his prayers on Peter, asking that Peter’s faith would not fail.

Jesus was referring, of course, to the temptations Peter would soon face as the devil worked on him to deny his Lord.

I’ve been sifted too.
Have you?
Are you aware that your Savior, who now rules in heaven, is constantly praying for us, praying that our faith will not fail when those times come? (See Romans 8:34.)

PRAYER: O Lord, just as you prayed for Simon Peter, pray for me today. I can often feel Satan shaking me and tempting me. Pray, O Lord, that my faith will not fail today. And pray for my loved ones too. In your name I ask this. Amen.